The highest realm of the Deception Scripture

Hundreds of meters away, Feng Shuhu approached from the edge of their vision, clad in armor, alone with his halberd.

The soldiers sealing off the street did not dare stop him. As though pushed aside by an invisible pressure, they lowered their heads at the sides of the road, not daring to look directly at him.

No one dared move Feng Mo's corpse.

It was still pinned to the ground by the mop handle.

Feng Shuhu's gaze lingered, his face utterly calm, before shifting to Chen Guang's face.

"I was too softhearted in my youth after all. I let you live, and it bore bitter fruit."

Clang!

Chen Guang pulled out the spear that had pierced Feng Mo's thigh, his expression cold. "I should thank you for your softheartedness, second junior brother. All these years, you kept me at Wangjiang Tower, trying to turn me into a dog rather than simply killing me, eating my flesh and gnawing my bones."

Boom! Feng Shuhu planted his halberd, splitting the ground. "Are those your last words?" he demanded in a low voice.

Chen Guang faced him with his spear. "Though I know that after thirty-five years, our cultivation is worlds apart... I still want to try!"

Tap, tap, tap, tap-tap-tap...

Footsteps rang out, growing faster and faster!

Gripping his spear with both hands, Chen Guang charged straight at Feng Shuhu! He accelerated, faster and faster, whipping up gusts of wind that swept backward in his wake! The horrified Lü Ying and the soldiers could not even look directly at him!

Was this a Two-Star Celestial Pivot cultivator?!

"Aaaah!!!"

With that roar, Chen Guang's whole body became a spear, like a rainbow piercing the sun, like a blazing comet. Above his wide-open mouth, his muscles tore and snapped, blood dripping down, hideous and terrifying!

"Feng Shuhu! Die!!!"

Boom!

The tremendous collision reverberated, shaking webs of cracks into all the windows of the surrounding shops. A storm of sand swept up, obscuring the blue-and-white sky!

At the center of the sandstorm, the ground shattered and sank several meters in an instant! Not just Two-Star Celestial Pivot-even Four-Star Tianquan could not cause such destruction!

Yet at the center of the crater...

Feng Shuhu stood as straight as before, holding half a spearhead in one hand!

Looking at his palm, he said mildly, "You made me shed two drops of blood. Not bad, eldest senior brother."

Chen Guang, however, was drenched in blood. At those words, he smiled helplessly. "So it really wasn't enough."

With a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

Expressionless, Feng Shuhu raised the hand holding his halberd, only to stop abruptly. He looked intently to the side, no longer delivering another strike to the gravely wounded Chen Guang.

Nearby, Xia Yi walked over unhurriedly. Watching Feng Shuhu, he hoisted Chen Guang onto his shoulder and turned to leave the crater. "Of course it wasn't enough. However powerful a Six-Star Saint Soul may be, it can't let a Two-Star Celestial Pivot defeat a Five-Star Jade Balance. Now that you've tried, can you give up?"

"...Yes. It seems I can only ask you to avenge me, Teacher."

A piercing buzz suddenly sounded. Xia Yi reached back and grabbed, catching the sharp tip of a halberd with a bang as his feet sank slightly!

Drip, drip.

Two drops of bright red blood fell to the ground.

Xia Yi chuckled. "You made me shed two drops of blood. Not bad yourself, Great General Feng!"

Feng Shuhu's eyes widened, and his snort thundered.

"It really was you! But today, you won't get Chen Guang out of here. Even you... will die!!"

Xia Yi asked, "With just them?"

The rhythmic pounding of footsteps drew nearer. At the edge of their vision, countless armored soldiers ran toward them in orderly ranks, led by Xu Zhou.

"You dare mobilize troops without authorization?" Song Qu's shocked, furious voice came from a short distance behind Xia Yi. He strode over to the two men, reached out to grip the halberd's shaft, and said gravely, "Right and wrong are for the Prefect and the Provincial Earl to judge. Feng Shuhu, mobilizing troops without authorization is a serious crime!"

"My son is dead! Right over there!"

Feng Shuhu shouted in a deep voice.

Song Qu faltered.

"Everyone dies eventually." Xia Yi released the halberd tip and carried Chen Guang over to Lü Ying. Looking down gently at the little girl, who stood 150 centimeters tall, he asked, "His son Feng Mo just caused the death of a fellow student named Guo Da Neng. Is that right, little girl?"

Lü Ying nodded sadly.

Xia Yi turned back and asked, "Wasn't Guo Da Neng someone else's son too?"

Feng Shuhu closed his eyes. The special unit behind him, perhaps nearly a thousand soldiers strong and composed entirely of cultivators, formed ranks stretching a hundred meters away!

"They don't have the ability to avenge their son!" He opened his eyes and shouted, "But I'm different! Xu Zhou!"

"Yes!"

"Form up!"

"Yes!" Xu Zhou turned and shouted, "The enemy is Six-Star Kaiyang! Form the Containment Formation!"

"Yes!" The sea of soldiers surged, troops wielding sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and bows switching positions as their force faintly coalesced into one!

"Feng Shuhu! You..."

"Song Qu! Are you sure you want to interfere?!"

Feng Shuhu interrupted Song Qu with an angry roar. He wrenched his halberd free of Song Qu's hand and spun a Halberd Blossom. The weapon, weighing over a hundred jin, howled through the air before he drove it hard into the ground!

The soldiers behind him had finished changing formation, their force joining with Feng Shuhu's. Even Song Qu, who bore the brunt of it, was cowed. Caught by its residual pressure, Lü Ying felt her chest tighten and her breath shorten, struggling to breathe.

Xia Yi turned sideways to shield her, gently set down the unconscious Chen Guang, and looked into the distance. "Shi Lai, come take him away and look after him. Make absolutely sure no one kills him!"

[Ding! Xia Yi has issued a quest: Look after Xia Yi's second disciple, Chen Guang, and keep him from being killed.]

[Reward: A large amount of experience, increased favorability with Xia Yi.] [Accept?]

"Leave it to me, Grandpa!" Shi Lai shouted as he ran over and swiftly carried Chen Guang away.

"Be careful, Grandpa!"

Xia Yi smiled. With that foolproof safeguard in place for Chen Guang, he could face his enemies without worry, and without worry... settle everything!

Behind him, Feng Shuhu glanced at Shi Lai, showing little reaction to Chen Guang being carried away. He continued staring hard at Song Qu. After a long while, he shouted, "Xu Zhou! Add one more enemy! Song Qu, the Xiyuan Marquis!"

Song Qu's expression abruptly hardened, icy blue light rising in his eyes. "You really have gone mad, Feng Shuhu. A military formation is useless against me!"

His Record of Redressing Injustice could see through weaknesses, and a formation of a thousand people could not possibly be flawless. He could easily slaughter his way through it!

Feng Shuhu snorted. "Mobilizing troops without authorization is a serious crime! But slaughtering the elite of the Cultivator Battalion is a far graver crime! Let's see just how far you'll go to shield this old wretch!"

"You..." That shameless argument left Song Qu momentarily speechless. Xia Yi smiled. "Enough, Lord Xiyuan Marquis. Why is this increasingly looking as though I can't deal with them without your protection?"

"The Containment Formation was created a thousand years ago by a Human Race general. Low-level cultivators form ranks and link their force to the general, using it to slaughter Great Demons. This formation is easy to learn and master, but it has one greatest weakness."

"Or rather, every formation shares the same weakness: it's difficult to break down from outside, but exceedingly easy to break down from within!"

He walked slowly forward, directly facing that immense formation. "Little Lü Ying, you used the Deception Scripture well. You have boundless prospects!"

Behind him, Lü Ying was stunned and puzzled. At a time like this, why was he suddenly praising me?

"Today, I'll give you another lesson."

"The highest realm of the Deception Scripture is to let your enemy see through your deception, then, after he has seen through it, accomplish the very thing he has dismissed as a lie!"

"This will deal an enormous shock to your enemy's senses, leaving him unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, and brand your shadow into his heart so that he never dares oppose you!"

"Just like that man!"

In the distance, Ma Chen came sprinting over, dressed in green robes, his face deathly pale from his unhealed injuries!

Xia Yi pointed at him. "He's a living example! All right, little girl, you should get farther away now. Don't... get splashed with blood!"