The moment Lu Cheng came out, someone drew his blade and pressed forward. "Lu Cheng, you little thief! You stole the East Sun Sect's secret treasure. Hand over your life!"
The speaker was an old man with white hair and beard whom Lu Cheng had never seen before. He was probably an elder who cultivated in seclusion on Uncarved Simplicity Peak.
Lu Cheng was about to answer, but Han Lingxiao raised his brows and sneered. "Elder Du, where does this talk of theft come from? Isn't Lu Cheng a disciple of the East Sun Sect?"
"He's no disciple!" Another old man leaped from the crowd, bristling with anger. "He's nothing but a Lowborn Cultivator granted special admission through our sect's generosity. Instead of showing gratitude for our magnanimous support, he destroyed our precious treasure. Death is too good for him!"
Many in the crowd immediately echoed him. "Death is too good for him!"
"Death is too good for him!"
"..."
Lu Cheng frowned. Only now did he learn that these people called disciples like him "Lowborn Cultivators."
They looked down on warriors outside the Eleventh Lineage's direct branches from the bottom of their hearts.
The last trace of kinship Lu Cheng felt toward his fellow sect members vanished.
"Lowborn Cultivator?" Han Lingxiao fixed the old man with a cold stare and swept his right hand out. With a ring of steel, an invisible blade slashed toward him.
"Watch out!"
Yunhuizi, lying in his reclining chair, reacted the instant Han Lingxiao struck.
Even as he shouted his warning, he slapped the armrest. Crack! A piece of wood broke free and shot toward the old man, barely intercepting Han Lingxiao's Sword Qi. It exploded into splinters less than half a foot from the man's chest.
It all happened in the blink of