Everyone in the Pill Tower stared, their eyes glazing over slightly.
What was going on? Song Qing had actually lost?
This boy named Xiao Yan was only fifteen, yet he could beat Song Qing, an Eight-Star Dou Emperor, into such a state?
The Pill Tower's elders had discerning eyes, however, and readily recognized that Xiao Yan had used an extraordinary body-refining Dou Technique.
On the ground, Xiao Yan kept stamping shoe prints onto Song Qing's face and body. Had Song Qing not possessed a Dou Emperor's physique, he would likely have been trampled into a bloody pulp by now.
"Enough!" An aged, furious shout rang out, and an invisible pressure spread from the depths of the Pill Tower, bearing down on Xiao Yan.
"Heh, beat the young one, and the old one comes running too?" Xiao Yan sneered and stopped, though his foot remained planted on Song Qing's face.
Before that invisible pressure came within a hundred feet of Xiao Yan, an unseen force dissolved it.
Seeing that his pressure seemed ineffective, an old man in red robes emerged from a ripple in the space before Xiao Yan.
"Junior, how can you be so vicious?" Fury flared in the red-robed elder's eyes as he surveyed the shoe prints covering Song Qing's face and body.
"Old man, who the hell are you?" Xiao Yan glanced at him, thinking, This is probably the Pill Tower Grand Elder.
Sure enough, the red-robed elder suppressed his anger and said, "I am the current Pill Tower Grand Elder. The one beneath your foot is my disciple.
Young man, haven't you been far too vicious?"
"Vicious?" Xiao Yan glanced at Song Qing, who lay beneath his foot like a dead dog, then looked back at the Pill Tower Grand Elder. "That's right, I'm vicious. If you want someone to blame, blame your disciple for having no eyes. Of all the people he could have picked a fight with, he just had to pick me.
Since you're his teacher, apologize to me on his behalf."
"You!!" The anger the Pill Tower Grand Elder had just suppressed instantly surged back, turning his aged face crimson.
"Heh, is this how Yao Chen's disciple was taught to behave?"
"Since Yao Chen cannot discipline you, I shall do it for him!" As he spoke, he extended his palm. His terrifying Dou Qi tore thin cracks in the surrounding space.
To become the Grand Elder, second only to the Pill Tower's three giants, his cultivation had to have reached Dou Zun.
Yet Xiao Yan showed not a trace of fear as the Grand Elder struck. Instead, he spat on Song Qing beneath his foot again.
"Bastard!" The Pill Tower Grand Elder's head nearly steamed with rage. He wanted nothing more than to slap Xiao Yan dead. To him, Song Qing was no less than his own son.
Unfortunately, the instant he moved, another aged hand reached out of space and caught his hand.
The owner of that hand was none other than Yao Lao, dressed with the ethereal bearing of an immortal sage.
"Yao Chen!"
Seeing Yao Lao appear, the Pill Tower Grand Elder retreated half a step and said coldly, "Is this how you teach your disciple?"
Yao Lao turned to glance at the bare-chested Xiao Yan, who looked like a bandit, and Song Qing, who lay beneath his foot like a dead dog. He shook his head helplessly.
"My disciple is used to throwing his weight around. I can't control him."
"You can't control your own disciple?" The Pill Tower Grand Elder's eyes widened. "My disciple lost the match. I have nothing to say about his being severely injured, but your disciple is in the wrong for humiliating him like this."
"Ahem, old Lin, for the sake of our acquaintance, I advise you to watch your words!" Yao Lao could not help coughing lightly.
"Watch my words?" The Pill Tower Grand Elder glanced at Yao Lao and said coldly, "To think even you have become so arrogant. No wonder you raised such an overbearing disciple.
I'll make this clear today. If your disciple doesn't apologize, he can get out of the Pill Tower at once!"
As the Pill Tower Grand Elder, his authority might not have matched that of the three presidents, but it could not be underestimated.
"Ah." Yao Lao gave him a pitying look. The next instant, the surrounding space froze.
Two auras far stronger than Yao Lao's silently appeared behind the Pill Tower Grand Elder.
Two black-robed elders, one kindly in appearance and the other glaring like a wrathful guardian, both stared fixedly at the Pill Tower Grand Elder.
"H-Half-Saints!" A trace of horror appeared in the Pill Tower Grand Elder's eyes. He had spent a long time in seclusion without paying attention to outside affairs. Only after emerging recently had he learned that Yao Chen had taken an excellent disciple, but he had no idea that the boy had an even more formidable background.
Had he not sensed that his beloved disciple had been severely injured, he would not have appeared here.
"You seemed to be trying to expel our clan's Holy Son from the Pill Tower..." Xiao Wen wore a smile, yet it filled the Pill Tower Grand Elder with an inexplicable pressure.
Holy Son... this Xiao Yan is the Xiao Clan's Holy Son? His heart tightened.
"Hmph, you old fool, don't fail to appreciate what's good for you!" Xiao Wu had a more explosive temper. He glanced at the Pill Tower Grand Elder and said, "It's an honor for your Pill Tower that our Holy Son is willing to study here. Don't spit on the respect you're offered!"
"If you anger our Holy Son, I'll tear down your Pill Tower and smash your dog head!"
Compared with the reserved Xiao Wen, Xiao Wu was utterly domineering.
The Pill Tower Grand Elder braced himself and said, "Even a Holy Son should listen to reason, shouldn't he?"
"Reason? What right does a mere Dou Zun like you have to talk reason with our Xiao Clan?" Xiao Wu snorted, and the Pill Tower Grand Elder's face went pale.
"Old man, weren't you just demanding an apology from me?" A calm voice rang out. Xiao Yan had already flown over. He looked at the Pill Tower Grand Elder and sneered. "I'll give you a chance now. Apologize to me on your disciple's behalf. If I'm satisfied, I'll let both master and disciple go!
Otherwise... hehehe!"
"You!" The Pill Tower Grand Elder's face flushed crimson, and he was too furious to speak.
"Hmm?" Behind him, Xiao Wu gave a grunt and took a slight step forward. The pressure surged!
A true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall! The Pill Tower Grand Elder drew a deep breath, cupped his fist, and bowed to Xiao Yan. "My disciple failed to recognize the situation. As his teacher, I... apologize to Your Highness the Holy Son on his behalf."
"That's more like it." The smile on Xiao Yan's face changed swiftly. "In that case, I'll show an old man like you some respect too. Take your disciple away...
When he wakes up, tell him that if he dares provoke me again... he'll be courting death!"
"Thank you, Your Highness the Holy Son." The Pill Tower Grand Elder's face twitched several times. He swept a hand toward the unconscious Song Qing and instantly vanished.
He did not want to spend another moment here. As he disappeared, Elder Wen and Elder Wu also concealed themselves in space again at Xiao Yan's signal.
"Satisfied?" Yao Lao glanced at Xiao Yan.
"More or less," Xiao Yan said flatly.
"Song Qing may have provoked you, but severely injuring him was enough. Why humiliate him so mercilessly?" Yao Lao frowned slightly as well.
Although Xiao Yan's background was terrifying, and perhaps even the Pill Tower amounted to little in his eyes, acting this way still felt somewhat too overbearing.
"Since he provoked me, he had to pay a price." Xiao Yan sneered. "In this world, the weak are meat for the strong. Song Qing didn't dare try to kill me in our fight, not because he was merciful, but because he feared my background.
If I were a boy with neither background nor talent, he could crush me to death like an ant.
If that were the case, would you still think me ruthless?
Heaven and earth are merciless, treating all things as straw dogs. Heaven and earth are benevolent, for all things will die. If I were weak, I would be the one in the wrong today. Since I'm strong, Song Qing is the one in the wrong. In the eyes of the strong, there is no seat for the weak."
Yao Lao narrowed his aged eyes and sighed softly.
"To think you would already have such a disposition at your young age..."
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