Darkness roiled around Lu Boyan, shadowy apparitions looming unevenly within it. Somehow, he had approached to within a few dozen feet of them. Had Lin Xi Yu not noticed so quickly, the sight would truly have chilled them to the core.
The old man wore gray robes with the lapel folded leftward. Holding a ceremonial staff, he cupped his hands in greeting. He was unmistakably a middle-stage Purple Mansion cultivator with three divine powers.
Calm and neither servile nor overbearing, Lin Xi Yu stepped forward and said:
"No need for such courtesy, Senior Lu. We are merely each employing our own means."
"Good, good, good."
Those words made Lu Boyan's expression stiffen on the spot. He resented how she had turned the accusation back on him.
"Each employing our own means" sounded pleasant enough, but in his eyes, the two sides had merely been trading blows. Sending out a Sword Immortal at this juncture was simply fighting without honor. One careless moment could cost him more than half the Foundation Establishment cultivators under his command. How could he possibly remain concealed after seeing that?
"You talk big for a little girl. Victory and defeat have yet to be decided."
Leaning on his ceremonial staff, Lu Boyan spoke in a low voice.
"Then please employ whatever moves you wish, Senior."
Her beautiful eyes swept over Lu Boyan, and Lin Xi Yu's casual tone brimmed with warning:
"Just do not bully the young with your seniority."
"Ridiculous! Even you are a junior in my eyes. I disdain such acts of using strength to bully the weak."
At those words, Lu Boyan flicked his sleeve. His pale face was deeply wrinkled, his manner distinctly arrogant.
"When I roamed unchallenged across the world, you lot were probably still in swaddling clothes!"
Lin Xiuyi and