Liu Ling'er knelt numbly on the ground, staring at the patch of minced meat before her...
The gray-robed man raised a hand with only three remaining fingers, brushing the loose hair in front of his forehead with a hint of flamboyant swagger... "You knew I was a sword cultivator and you still didn't run?"
The Martial Warrior in the courtyard retreated step by step with a solemn expression, watching the blind man before him...
Just then, no matter how fiercely he charged and threw punches, Master Ming, standing at the doorway, was like a distant mirage in a mirror-seemingly close at hand yet hopelessly out of reach!
The Martial Warrior felt as though he had plunged into a quagmire of time, nearly paralyzed, and had to spend every ounce of his strength just to retreat into the courtyard.
Master Ming gave a cold chuckle and spoke, "I won't kill you. Crawl back and tell those people in the Wild Spirit Land that Two Realms Village is Two Realms Village! If you try to meddle again, don't blame me for bringing Big Black over for a stroll to see who dies first!"
The Martial Warrior fell silent for a moment, turned, and left without a word.
The gray-robed man outside the door tilted his head. "Just leaving like that? What do you take Two Realms Village for? A brothel your family opened?"
Blood sprayed... An ear bounced onto the ground. The Martial Warrior clutched the side of his face, still without a word, gave the gray-robed sword cultivator one deep look, picked up his ear, and turned away.
Master Ming stood at the doorway, suddenly raising his head to look at the roof.
The gray-robed man flashed to Master Ming's side, narrowing his eyes as he asked, "Meng Laojiu?"
Master Ming looked at Meng Laojiu, who squatted in silence on the rooftop, and said, "Get down, it's high up there. Careful you don't catch a draft and get the runs..."
Meng Laojiu blew out a ring of smoke and sneered, "I've long known your Heart-Piercing Curse was broken, and I was counting on how many of you freaks could make it back alive... Turns out there's only this one left, and the other two are probably completely dead, aren't they?"
Master Ming nodded. "Better if they're dead and gone-saves me the eyesore!"
The gray-robed man asked, "I thought you were an eyesore from the start. That shameless bastard-did you plot against him?"
Meng Laojiu shook his head. "Don't overestimate me, I wouldn't dare plot against him! The eleven guardians said that as long as any of you lived, I wasn't allowed to pull any more stunts... So all these years I've just been playing tricks outside, forcing a few hundred people into Two-World Mountain, that's all!"
"That's no different from killing them..."
Meng Laojiu tapped out his pipe, glanced at the sky, and said, "Alright, I waited half the night and no one else came into the village."
"Looks like of the Five Heroes back then, only the two of you are left. Get ready and hit the road. Once you both die, Two Realms Village will probably cease to exist, and the old skeleton can spend a few peaceful days with Big Black."
With that, Meng Laojiu raised a hand, and right away eight cultivators with fierce auras abruptly materialized from the four directions of the village!
The eight of them lifted into the air, surrounding Master Ming's small courtyard, looking down at Master Ming and the gray-robed man from above.
The gray-robed man carefully inspected the enemies and whispered to Master Ming, "The mole in the south is easy to handle, but these Guardian City fellows have decent strength, don't they?"
"How so?"
"Four Immortal Sect cultivators of the sixth and seventh realms, four fellows from Dragon-Subduing Mountain using talismans... Add Meng Laojiu, an eighth-realm martial artist, and I'm feeling a bit out of my depth..."
Master Ming gave him a sidelong glance. "You aren't feeling a bit out of your depth, you're feeling a bit spineless, aren't you?"
The gray-robed man flipped his hair. "Bollocks! I'll let you see if Grandpa has a spine..."
The gray-robed man flicked his three fingers rapidly, and that soft sword materialized once more... before shrinking down to the length of a short sword.
The gray-robed man pounced like a ghost, flashed behind a Dragon-Subduing Mountain talisman cultivator, and thrust his sword forward...
The gray-robed man completely transformed into a gray blur of light flashing here and there, throwing the entire encirclement into utter chaos!
Meng Laojiu spat out a puff of smoke. "Mingxin! Stop dragging out those petty tricks of yours to make a fool of yourself! I've already laid down immortal-drawn immortal talismans at the village entrance; that dog and the old skeleton won't be able to come help even if they want to."
Master Ming looked up and laughed, "Do we need the two of them just to deal with a Meng Laojiu like you? Are you sick in the head?"
Meng Laojiu roared, "Do you think you're still the Five Demons of the Sword Dao who shattered the Twelfth Guardian City with your swords back then? Now you're just a couple of half-crippled wrecks..."
A trace of mockery flashed in Master Ming's cloudy eyes. "Your brain has never worked right, you can't even count properly..."
With an explosive roar, Meng Laojiu threw a punch downward...
With a deafening crash, Meng Laojiu felt as though his punch had smashed against a slab of Primordial Extreme Darksteel! The bones in his arm nearly shattered...
As the dust and smoke cleared on the ground, Meng Laojiu stared in horror as a hulking giant of a man, like a humanoid beast, slowly lowered a large vat he had been holding up with both hands.
"You deaf bastard, I'll fuck your eighteen generations of ancestors! You actually used me to block a punch! And an Eighth Realm Martial Warrior's punch at that—do you have any human decency left?"
Inside the vat, a bearded man poked his head out and cursed furiously at the giant who had just used the vat to block Meng Laojiu's punch.
Meng Laojiu's face flushed red as he regulated his vital breath, glaring with hatred at these two freaks... "You guys are still alive? Back then, an immortal pierced your brain with a sword and severed your legs with another... And the Heart-Piercing Curse on the swords... How on earth did things like you survive?"
Master Ming's expression turned desolate... "How did we survive? You'd have to ask that shameless bastard... If it weren't to save us, that shameless bastard would probably have broken through to the ninth realm long ago!"
The gray-robed sword cultivator slashed down a Seventh Realm Immortal Sect cultivator, flashed back to the ground, and said, "If the shameless bastard were at the Ninth Realm, he'd probably be able to happily pluck Mount Zhilin with his sword to avenge himself..."
A streak of fresh blood dripped down the gray-robed sword cultivator's wrist. Master Ming lowered his head to take a look... "You'd better be careful. If this arm is gone too, what'll you use to wipe your ass?"
The gray-robed sword cultivator was so angry he laughed. "Don't I still have you? You can lick it clean for me, I suppose..."
"What are you guys talking about? Huh? Speak up!"
The giant carrying the vat clutched his ear and shouted at the top of his lungs.
The man inside the vat spat out some spit. "Stop shouting! Even if you say it, he won't hear you! What are you yelling for, you deaf bastard!"
The giant seemed to have caught only the words "deaf bastard," and with a clang, he drove his fist down like a game of whack-a-mole, smashing the head of the man at the rim of the vat right back inside.
"Lame bastard! Are you cursing me again?"
"Aren't you fucking deaf? All you know is how to bully me..."
There were only five cultivators left in the sky, a full three of them having died under the gray-robed sword cultivator's blade.
Meng Laojiu felt his eyelids twitching wildly... "Mingxin... You knew they were still alive all along?"
"What? Are you touched?"
Meng Laojiu waved a hand, and the remaining five cultivators abruptly scattered in all directions... "Mingxin! Don't dream! There are still hordes of Immortal Sect cultivators lurking outside the mountains-you can't escape!"
With that, Meng Laojiu actually turned and bolted straight out of the courtyard.
The gray-robed sword cultivator curled his lip. "Look at that, same old style as back then! Besides staring wide-eyed and lying, all he knows how to do is run..."
Master Ming reached out, gripping the green bamboo cane Lü Bufan had made for him.
The cane tapped against the ground, and an imperceptible ripple of spiritual energy spread outward like a wave!
A pale blue giant net surged up from the earth to blanket the sky, crackling with wisps of silvery-white electric arcs... "Pull!"
In an instant, the six figures in midair fell plummeting down as if struck simultaneously by a bolt of lightning, while the gray-robed sword cultivator and the giant beside Master Ming vanished into thin air...
Meng Laojiu struggled desperately, raising both fists to block a palm from the giant...
"Oh ho, you've reached the eighth realm too? How did you crawl your way up?"
The giant sized Meng Laojiu up, his right hand frantically rummaging inside his belt...
Meng Laojiu knew that belt was a Sumeru Dharma artifact... and it stored this fellow's secret weapon inside!
A pitch-black, massive, thick, and vicious broad-bladed giant sword was hauled out from the belt by the giant, a sight that chilled the blood no matter how one looked at it.
Meng Laojiu yelled out, "Han Wu! Don't fight, I have something to tell you..."
The giant shouted back, "What did you say? I can't hear you, speak up..."
Before his voice even faded, that giant sword came howling down, wreathed in dense Martial Gang Qi.
Meng Laojiu was practically fit to die of anger, yet he had no choice but to pull out his tobacco pouch to parry.
The gray-robed sword cultivator had slaughtered two more Immortal Sect cultivators, and the remaining three looked like fellows valued by the Immortal Sect, each possessing three extraordinary magic treasures to save their lives.
Especially the single remaining Dragon-Subduing Mountain talisman cultivator, who frantically hurled out binding talismans, blade talismans, thunder talismans, and fire talismans as if they were worthless.
Even with the gray-robed sword cultivator's ghostly movement technique, it became rather tricky...
In the courtyard, the man in the vat poked his head out again, looked at Master Ming, and said, "Hey! I'm talking to you, are you really blind? Do you have any more of that Thunder Net Formation from just now? How about another round?"
Master Ming was trembling all over, wiping the cold sweat from his chin... "Shh... Can't do it. Just that one shot almost knocked me flat. I was in a rush and only managed to set up one formation in secret these past few days..."
The man in the vat spat. "Look at you. How can a man say he can't?"
"And you're any better? Sitting in a vat like a dung beetle... If you've got the ability, come out and walk a few steps?"
"Blind bastard... Don't hit below the belt when you curse! To be a man, you have to stand tall!"
"Do you even have legs? Where are you standing?"
"Blind bastard! I'll fight you to the death!"
At the village entrance, the big black dog sat upon the massive boulder where the old skeleton habitually sprawled, coldly gazing up at the sky...
The old skeleton, conversely, squatted right where the big black dog usually sprawled, his old face dark as he muttered to himself...
"What nonsense. Bullying Grandpa, are you? Just wait..."
"Grrr..."
The big black dog bared its fangs, letting out a sound like rolling thunder, the fierce light in its eyes growing increasingly intense.
The old skeleton stretched out an arm, fished out a crumpled talisman from behind his back, and squelch, blew a glob of yellowish snot onto it...
Amidst the clouds and mist in the sky, a pair of chilling eyes faintly appeared... "You dare lightly insult an immortal's talisman?"
The old skeleton snatched the snot-smeared talisman, flung it onto the ground, and cursed, "Can Two Realms Village be raided by a dog-leg city lord who amounts to nothing more than a fart? Have you lost your mind?"
The man in the mist said in a deep voice, "Wei Wuchen of Two Realms Village actually went all the way to the Capital City and alarmed the True Immortals of the Upper Realm! For this matter, your Two Realms Village must give an explanation!"
The old skeleton cursed, "Explain your mother's leg! If you've got the guts, have that bullshit immortal come here himself. Wei Wuchen openly challenged the immortals with his sword, life or death notwithstanding! You just came to Two Realms Village to spout harsh threats because you want to-what was it, kiss that bullshit immortal's heels? Flatter him, is that it?"
"As the lord of the Twelfth Guardian City, eradicating a demonic stronghold like your Wild Spirit Land is only right and proper!"
With that, numerous squads of sixth-realm-and-above Immortal Sect cultivators capable of flight instantly appeared in the sky... numbering a full several hundred! Their dazzling array of magic treasures gleamed with a murderous aura...
The big black dog suddenly stood up, merely casting a cold gaze at these people...
The old skeleton coughed. "All right, the probing is about enough... Piss off!"
Suddenly, the fur on the big black dog began to grow rapidly, its entire body swelling and towering upward, its fangs flashing with a terrifying demonic mist aura...
In an instant! The lord of the Twelfth Guardian City and the hundreds of powerful cultivators scattered and fled in a flash, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand, not even having time to leave behind a single harsh parting threat.
The old skeleton squatted on the ground and spat. "Damn it, they pull this routine every few years. Don't you idiots get tired of probing back and forth? A bunch of morons..."