The Grass Python Hero

At the instant the four-way melee reached its end—

A flash of white light suddenly flared, then vanished in the blink of an eye.

A sword rode the wind from the west, moving neither fast nor slow.

It was seven feet long, half a foot wide, and an inch thick.

Gleaming with a coarse black light, it carried a fierce wind and faint ripples of spiritual energy as it flew toward Liu Xuanye's Three Thousand Sword Formation.

Lu Ya took a sip of wine and felt a pleasant ease wash over him.

At last, a guest had arrived...

On the Sword Terrace.

Her graceful figure, as serene as green bamboo, instantly turned as cold and sharp as a sword hanging overhead.

Liu Xuanye's swordlike brows furrowed slightly. A rare solemnity appeared between her picturesque features.

This black sword was too bizarre!

Its immortal pressure was exactly the same as hers, that of a one-star Immortal Sect Master.

It flew neither fast nor slow, as if giving her ample time to meet it with her sword.

Liu Xuanye swept out her sleeve with a flourish.

In an instant, the Three Thousand Sword Formation condensed into a single sword.

A sword hung like the moon, its radiance flaring in every direction.

At the same time—

The black sword suddenly accelerated, striking straight at the enormous moonlike sword.

Their immortal pressures surged against each other, distorting space and sending the Ink Immortal Sect Master tumbling away in a wretched heap.

The moonlike sword shattered abruptly and vanished in an instant.

The black sword continued onward!

Liu Xuanye calmed her Immortal Platform, and her picturesque swordlike brows relaxed slightly.

She sensed a familiar aura. Suddenly, a figure appeared in her mind.

"This is..."

The black sword did not stop. It continued flying forward.

Its immortal pressure grew slightly stronger as its speed increased.

It stabbed straight toward the swaying Crimson Fox Shadow, blazing like fire!

Hm?

Wine Fox Immortal sensed something familiar in the pressure. With no time to think, she immediately released Illumination Immortal Sect Master Zhao Shanbai and flicked her long tail.

"Wine Sea Overlapping Waves!"

In an instant, space began to ripple like a surging tide, swaying with a powerful, drunken haze. Even Zhao Shanbai, beside her, staggered as if he were about to fall.

Her fox claws opened.

Her three tails swayed.

Wine Fox Immortal prepared to catch the sword with her bare hands!

The more Liu Xuanye had failed, the more she wanted to succeed!

"Come on!"

The black sword shot into the sea of wine like lightning. With a flamboyant, twisting maneuver, it slipped past the waves and whirlpools, then pierced the red fox's shoulder from a bizarre angle.

Wine Fox Immortal's fox form was broken outright, forcing her to revert to human form.

A gash opened across her delicate shoulder, and blood stained half her immortal robes.

Looking at Liu Xuanye, unharmed on the distant Sword Terrace, she felt a sudden sting of defeat.

Wait, this sword pressure—

It was him!

The whole scene fell silent.

That sword was too powerful.

Powerful enough to lift the spirits of the Immortal Court guards and inspection officers. They forgot their earlier humiliation, all wondering which high-ranking Immortal Court official had arrived.

There was no need to wonder.

He was already here.

A tall figure, radiating tremendous power, strode through the air from the west. Each step carried him a hundred yards, and he quickly caught up to the black sword's speed as he made his way toward Lu Ya at the flagship's bow.

He was a tall man in a loose black robe, with unkempt hair and a scraggly beard. His features were striking and heroic, his angular face as sharply defined as a carving.

Heavy bags beneath his eyes spoke of the wind and frost he had weathered.

His half-lidded gaze looked down on all things!

It was a face everyone in the East Floating Immortal District knew.

He was the former Chief of the East Floating Immortal Court, banished to the edge of the Colored Cloud Immortal Domain to herd sheep for a hundred years—the strongest man in the history of the East Floating Immortal District—

Li Wuxie!

At the edge of the plaza cliff in Azure Phoenix City,

Ning Zhongzi gazed at that long-unseen face, her expression full of worry. This is going to be trouble.

No matter how much faith she had in Lu Ya, she couldn't believe he was stronger than Li Wuxie!

Li Wuxie had the highest cultivation in the East Floating Immortal District—a Seven Star Immortal Venerable!

But he wasn't merely a Seven Star Immortal Venerable.

That was only his lowest cultivation level!

In his youth...

He had been an Immortal Emperor!

Legend had it that Li Wuxie had reached the Immortal Emperor realm at the age of three thousand and enjoyed tremendous prestige on the West Court Continent. He had once been expected to take a post at the Immortal Court Headquarters.

Instead, because of a disastrous affair three thousand years ago with a Snake Immortal from the Immortal Tail, he was banished to the East Floating Immortal Court and made a district chief.

That ill-fated affair also damaged his foundations, causing his cultivation to plummet from Nine Star Immortal Emperor all the way to Seven Star Immortal Venerable.

People mockingly called him—

The Grass Python Hero.

To this day, Ning Zhongzi still hadn't figured out what the nickname meant.

But that wasn't the only tragedy in Li Wuxie's life.

A hundred years ago, Li Wuxie sent Wine Fox Immortal deep into the Beast Nest Forest to investigate the East Floating District's largest independent cultivator organization—the Zhai Tan. While she was away, he happened to look through her records and, for no apparent reason, was banished to herd sheep in a remote district of the Colored Cloud Immortal Domain. He had remained there ever since.

His fate had been full of twists and turns, but his strength was still formidable—far beyond that of an ordinary Immortal Venerable!

Ning Zhongzi had never imagined that Li Wuxie, who had disappeared for a hundred years, would suddenly show up!

And Lu Ya had just crushed Xu Yinglong's skull and even threatened to take the Immortal Court's inspection ships...

Ning Zhongzi didn't dare think any further.

In the air,

Wine Fox Immortal was injured, but in high spirits.

At last, she could watch the show without having to fight.

Haha, this was Li Wuxie, the Grass Python Hero!

Lu Ya, you're in for it now.

That's for making me roll onto your bed, for making me dance, for making me fight my fellow sect members...

The Heavenly Dao comes full circle.

Retribution never misses.

Hahahaha!

At the same time,

aboard the other six Immortal Ships,

the Immortal Court guards and inspection officers erupted when they saw Li Wuxie arrive.

Even Immortal Sect Master Han, who had been about to return to his cave abode to tend to the fire, turned back.

"It's... it's... it's Chief Li!"

"Chief Li is back!"

"Chief Li looks even stronger than before!"

"One sword, with his cultivation suppressed, and he defeated both Liu Xuanye and Wine Fox Immortal! Chief Li is too strong!"

"Look, his Purple Clay Teapot is gone. His eyes and his bearing are different, too. He's recovered!"

"It looks like Chief Li is here to punish the traitors!"

"With Chief Li here, can Lu Ya still act so high and mighty?"

Li Wuxie strode through the air with his head held high, savoring a kind of swagger he hadn't felt in ages.

Back in the day, these people hadn't whispered behind his back. Now that they'd been beaten like dogs, they suddenly remembered him.

The Eastern Divine Wolfberry was potent, but a single sip would only last half an hour. It couldn't keep him going for long, so he'd have to settle things quickly.

With that in mind, he blurted out:

"I've been gone for less than a hundred years, and you've already disgraced the entire East Floating Immortal Court."

The two Nine Star Immortal Sect Masters looked especially wretched. They didn't dare meet Li Wuxie's eyes and simply bowed with their heads lowered.

"Mo Yuzi pays his respects to Chief Li."

"Zhao Shanbai pays his respects to Chief Li."

Li Wuxie ignored them and continued straight ahead.

When he was a hundred yards from Lu Ya, he suddenly asked:

"You're Lu Ya?"

He had already seen that Lu Ya was no ordinary man.

His cultivation looked to be only at the Seven Star Immortal Venerable level, but he had clearly fallen to it from the Immortal Emperor realm.

Of all the people Lu Ya had met, his talent was second only to Liu Xuanye's.

And judging from that single sword that had defeated both Liu Xuanye and Wine Fox Immortal, his swordsmanship far surpassed Liu Xuanye's.

By Lu Ya's maxed-out swordsmanship standards, Liu Xuanye's swordsmanship scored seventy points, while this man's scored over ninety.

In swordsmanship alone, he had reached the level of a god.

But the funny thing was, the man suffered from severe kidney deficiency—so severe that he probably couldn't urinate naturally and could only squeeze out a few drops with the help of spiritual power...

Fortunately, it seemed he had just taken a powerful tonic!

Perhaps he could give Lu Ya a chance to stretch his muscles.

With that thought, Lu Ya didn't bother with pleasantries.

"My name doesn't matter. I've been waiting for you."

"???"

Li Wuxie was completely baffled by Lu Ya's words. After a long pause, he finally said:

"On behalf of the East Floating Immortal Court, I apologize to your sect for what happened today. You've also crushed Deacon Xu's skull, so let's put this matter to rest. But if you still want the Immortal Court's ships, I won't agree."

An apology?

If apologies were enough, why would we need the police?

Wait... you're the police!

Ahem.

Lu Ya smiled warmly.

"My battleship-girl business can't do without ships, so I'm taking all seven."

The whole scene fell silent.

Ning Zhongzi's forehead was covered in black lines.

Wine Fox Immortal had already seen this coming. Delighted, she plopped down on her giant gourd, picked the best seat for watching the show, and gazed at the two with keen interest.

This was the first time Li Wuxie had ever met someone so brazen.

He couldn't help stopping in his tracks.

But his sword...

didn't stop.