Before long, a squad of guards from Wind-Howling Mountain Villa suddenly burst in, just in time to see Xu Taiping holding a saber in one hand and Lu Chen's severed head in the other.
"Y-young Master Lu?!"
One of the guards recognized the head in Xu Taiping's hand.
"Y-you, who are you? How dare you assassinate Young Master Lu! He's the son of an elder of the Azure Profound Sect!"
The guard pointed his saber at Xu Taiping, trembling with fear.
At that moment, Xu Taiping, with his red hair and green eyes, a saber in one hand and a human head in the other, looked no different from the evil ghosts of legend in his eyes. That was why he was so frightened.
Xu Taiping merely glanced at him without saying a word.
He had deliberately told Bai Yu to let this squad in, precisely so they would see his appearance with "red hair and green eyes."
"S-seize him!"
After a brief hesitation, the squad finally charged at Xu Taiping.
Xu Taiping opened his mouth, then blew out a thick cloud of mist with a whoosh, shrouding the entire courtyard in an instant.
At the same time, he raised one hand high.
An eagle's cry rang through the night sky.
A huge white-headed eagle swept over the courtyard with a thunderous rush, seizing Xu Taiping's outstretched hand in one talon and hauling him into the air.
When he was twenty or thirty zhang above the ground, Xu Taiping raised his palm and condensed five balls of spirit fire at his fingertips.
Then, with a flick of his hand, he hurled all five balls of spirit fire into the courtyard below.
Moments later, a serpent of fire shot into the sky.
The entire Wind-Howling Mountain Villa was engulfed in flames.