Chen Xin stood in midair, gazing with a complicated look at the blood-red sword light that tore through the clouds and fled into the distance, remaining silent for a long time.
Only when that streak of blood-red had vanished completely beyond the horizon.
Did he let out a long breath, put away the Seven Kill Sword, and flicker through the air, slowly landing beside Ning Fengzhi in front of the main peak's great hall.
The moment he landed, he swayed slightly, nearly losing his footing.
"Tsk, tsk. I've known you for so many years, but this is the first time I've seen you old sword-bones in such a sorry state!"
A sarcastic voice rang out, unable to conceal its shock.
Bone Douluo Gu Rong looked at Chen Xin's torn robes and disheveled hair and mocked him mercilessly.
Chen Xin snorted, shot Gu Rong a sidelong glance, and retorted irritably:
"Easy for you to stand there talking without a care. If you'd faced that sword strike just now, you'd have ended up worse than me. Believe it or not!"
Gu Rong curled his lip, but for once, he did not argue.
"Uncle Jian," Ning Fengzhi stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with a powerful desire to recruit the young man as he asked urgently.
"Is there any chance... of getting that young man to join our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? With him, our sect would have nothing to worry about for the next hundred years!"
"No!"
Chen Xin answered decisively, without even a moment's hesitation, and shook his head, his expression grave.
"I think he simply beat the courage out of you!" Gu Rong raised an eyebrow, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
"That brat's talent is far too monstrous. If we can't make use of him, he'll become a grave threat someday!"
"With the two of us working together, we could drag him back by force, even if we had to seize him!"
"Fool!" Chen Xin whipped his head around and cut Gu Rong off with a stern shout.
"That would only bring utter destruction upon the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"
At Chen Xin's level as a Super Douluo, he had already begun to possess a faint, mysterious intuition for seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster.
During their clash, it was not as though he had never considered forcibly keeping Lu Xuan there.
But whenever that thought rose in his mind, a hair-raising shadow of death clung relentlessly to his heart.
It was as though, if he dared to act, divine punishment would descend from the highest heavens and raze the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to the ground.
He could even vaguely sense that behind that youth stood a terrifying existence capable of making the entire continent tremble.
Qian Daoliu: Well done, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, daring to pressure my disciple! You lot have grown positively plump with audacity!
"Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Bone!"
Just as the atmosphere grew heavy.
A sweet voice, carrying a hint of petulance, reached the ears of the two bickering men.
At that voice, the fierce pressure of Titled Douluos emanating from Chen Xin and Gu Rong instantly vanished like smoke.
A gentle smile immediately appeared on Chen Xin's normally still, unruffled face, like ice and snow melting away.
"Rongrong, why did you come running out here?"
Chen Xin flickered forward, instantly appearing before a delicately beautiful girl, his voice so soft it was as though he feared startling her.
"Hmph, I've been here the whole time, all right!" Ning Rongrong planted her hands on her hips, pouted, and complained unhappily.
"It's just that one of you was having the time of his life fighting in the sky, while the other was utterly absorbed in watching from below. Neither of you paid me any attention!"
"All right, all right, it was Grandpa Bone's fault. We didn't pay attention to our precious Rongrong in time!"
Gu Rong came over as well, his face wreathed in smiles as he dotingly ruffled Ning Rongrong's hair.
Watching these two towering pillars of the sect behave without any restraint before his daughter, Ning Fengzhi rubbed his brow helplessly:
"Uncle Jian, Uncle Gu, if you keep doting on her without any limits like this, you'll spoil Rongrong rotten sooner or later!"
"Hmph, so what if she's spoiled?" Gu Rong glared, snorting with overbearing confidence.
"With us two old bones here to protect her, who on this entire continent would dare harm a single hair on her head!"
Meanwhile, above Sunset Forest.
A streak of blood-red light sped along like a meteor.
Yet, just as it was about to fly over the heart of the forest.
Lu Xuan's previously steady aura suddenly fell into utter turmoil.
He swayed, no longer able to maintain his sword flight, and plummeted into the woods like a kite with its string cut.
Thud!
Lu Xuan landed heavily beside an ancient, towering tree.
He braced one hand hard against its rough trunk, his knuckles whitening with the effort.
"Cough, cough... urgh!"
He abruptly covered his mouth and coughed violently several times.
When he lowered his hand, his palm was already covered in a shocking smear of crimson blood.
How could taking the full-force blow of a level ninety-five Super Douluo head-on have been as effortless as it looked?
Moreover, Chen Xin was a terrifying sword Soul Master who pursued the utmost in slaughter and could take on multiple opponents alone.
The edge of that sword strike had long since injured his internal organs.
Fortunately, he had endured it. He had not lost!
"Xiao Xuan!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo's burly figure instantly appeared beside Lu Xuan, and he caught his tottering body in a firm grip.
Looking at Lu Xuan's pale face, a trace of heartache flashed through Golden Crocodile's eyes, but even more evident was his undisguised pride:
"I watched your entire battle from the shadows. You fought magnificently! You truly deserve the Great Enshrined's regard!"
Golden Crocodile gazed toward the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect with a sigh of admiration and recalled:
"To think the Seven Kill Sword lineage has produced another supreme expert."
"Back then, your teacher also encountered a Seven Kill Sword Soul Master. That man came to Spirit Hall alone, solely to challenge your teacher's sword!"
"Although he ultimately suffered a crushing defeat at your teacher's hands, after that battle, your teacher watched him leave and said something to us."
"What did he say?"
Lu Xuan steadied the surging blood within his body and raised his eyes to ask.
"The very pinnacle of sword Soul Masters!" Golden Crocodile enunciated each word, his voice filled with deep respect.
"I was right there, watching that battle."
"And today, the resolve and edge this Chen Xin displayed in the way of the sword were no less than those of Chen Jianjun back then!"
At this, Golden Crocodile laughed heartily and patted Lu Xuan on the shoulder:
"Still, Chen Xin said something very true today-the future belongs to you! On that point, I couldn't agree more!"
"I agree too."
Lu Xuan raised the back of his hand and casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Unshakable confidence and ambition gleamed in his deep eyes.
Escorted by Golden Crocodile, Lu Xuan entered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well deep within Sunset Forest.
He intended to draw on the extraordinarily potent spiritual energy of heaven and earth here, along with the medicinal herbs, to recuperate from his injuries.
The moment he stepped into the valley and felt the sharply distinct yet perfectly intermingled auras of extreme cold and extreme heat in the air.
Golden Crocodile could not help looking around, exclaiming repeatedly in wonder:
"So this is the peerless treasure land Fifth mentioned before? Nature truly gathered all its wonders here. It really is extraordinary!"
Yet, before Golden Crocodile had even finished speaking-
Boom!
A sudden upheaval erupted in the heavens!
A streak of scarlet blood-light, a hundred times more intense than the light of Lu Xuan's earlier sword flight.
Like a world-destroying meteor tearing through the curtain of the sky, bearing suffocating, terrifying pressure and an endless aura of slaughter.
It hurtled straight toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well below!
And the target that blood-light had locked onto was none other than Lu Xuan, who had only just come to a stop!
Before you continue