"This is the Azure Profound Sect."
Xu Taiping spoke coldly.
"A sect that searched for me for hundreds of years without finding me-do you think I would fear it? Besides, that was before." The Blade Ghost grinned again.
"But you don't seem able to leave the Azure Profound Sect, either."
Xu Taiping stared at the Blade Ghost as he spoke.
"So what?"
The Blade Ghost sneered.
Almost as soon as he spoke, the long saber at his waist rang free of its scabbard, and a dazzling blade light slashed toward Jiang Zhi on the bed with a boom.
But the instant before the blade fell, Xu Taiping had already spread his arms and blocked the way before Jiang Zhi's bed.
"Hummm..."
The Blade Ghost's blade abruptly stopped, leaving only the trembling saber humming incessantly.
"As far as I know, the ones closest to you should be Zhao Linglong and Dugu Qingxiao, correct?"
The Blade Ghost sheathed his saber with a swish, then looked at Xu Taiping with a smile.
The threat in those words was already abundantly clear.
"I can agree to a trial of blades with you, but on two conditions."
Xu Taiping lowered his hands and looked at the Blade Ghost.
The Blade Ghost smiled and uttered a single word. "Speak."
"Give me three strikes. During those three strikes, you must not draw your saber."
Xu Taiping tightened his grip on Spring Tiger.
The corners of the Blade Ghost's mouth rose at this, and he nodded. "Agreed!"
As his words fell, the Blade Ghost suddenly raised his saber and slashed down with a swish.
Boom!
With the sound of a Qi Explosion, streaks of blood-red light engulfed the room like a tide.
When Xu Taiping came to his senses, he was already within a blood-red world.
He stood