Hearing him say that, the Gu Household head's newly lifted spirits immediately sank again!
The Gold and Jade Sect was an invincible behemoth!
Their crisis today had been resolved, but the greatest crisis remained!
It was a sword hanging over their heads, ready to fall and take their lives at any moment!
"Hmph, so what? By the time the Gold and Jade Sect hears about this, my Gu Household will have relocated. If I can't afford to provoke them, can't I at least hide?"
The Gu Household head spoke with his neck stiffened.
They could not win a fight, but surely they could run?
He refused to believe the Gold and Jade Sect was powerful enough to find them!
"Father!"
Gu Yingluo landed before the Gu Household head with Mu Yan.
"My dear daughter! My dear son-in-law! We owe everything to you today!"
The Gu Household head was both moved and gratified, but above all, he felt guilty.
"Father, we came back today not only to save our Lineage, but also to wipe out the entire Gold and Jade Sect!"
Gu Yingluo spoke earnestly.
The Gu Household head hurriedly checked her forehead with the back of his hand, wondering whether a fever had cooked her brains.
Why was she still talking nonsense at a time like this?
"Daughter, the Gold and Jade Sect is beyond our ability to oppose. We'd be throwing eggs against a rock! Our best option is to run while we can!"
The Gu Household head began counseling her with painstaking earnestness.
Although he did not know how these two young people had acquired such great strength and confidence.
He felt that suddenly acquiring immense power could easily give someone false impressions!
For instance, Gu Yingluo could kill Jin Xuan with one palm strike, and Mu Yan could defeat a Nascent Soul cultivator, but so what?
The Gold and Jade Sect had even more Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, as well as many Spirit Transformation cultivators. Its sect master, Jin Ruitian, was an invincible Void Refinement Realm expert!
What could these two youngsters possibly use to compete with them?
"It's merely the Gold and Jade Sect. Are they that impressive?"
Mu Yan spoke dismissively.
In the past, he would have considered the Gold and Jade Sect an unattainable behemoth that could never be defeated.
But after following his master, his horizons had expanded countless times over!
Although those battle achievements belonged to his master, after everything he had seen and heard, he truly felt that the Gold and Jade Sect amounted to little!
Yet when the Gu Household head heard those words, his brows furrowed in displeasure!
"Son-in-law, that's not a good mindset! Listen to me. Hurry and pack up so we can run. We can rise again another day!"
The Gu Household head patiently urged them. These two children were so swollen with confidence that they no longer knew the heights of heaven or the depths of earth!
Seeing that her father kept thinking about fleeing, Gu Yingluo helplessly took his arm and explained, "Father, just trust us. Could our Kunlun Holy Land possibly be weaker than the Gold and Jade Sect?"
Not far away, the Mo Household head awkwardly interjected, "Niece, not to criticize you, but your uncle here really has never heard of any Kunlun Holy Land!"
Gu Yingluo shot him a fierce glare, and the Mo Household head hurriedly shut his mouth.
She still wanted to properly explain Kunlun Holy Land's strength to her father, but just then, a terrifying pressure crushed down from the sky!
An enraged voice rang throughout heaven and earth!
"You damned wretches actually killed Jin Xuan? Die!"
An old man flew toward them at tremendous speed, unleashing a palm strike that became a mountain-like giant palm of spiritual power, crushing toward everyone!
"It's a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator!"
The Gu Household head's expression changed at once.
Why had a Spirit Transformation Realm expert appeared?
The Mo Household head was also shocked. This Spirit Transformation expert had suddenly appeared and attacked without distinguishing friend from foe. Did he intend to slaughter everyone?
"Heavenly Emperor Fire Lotus!"
Mu Yan reacted swiftly, immediately condensing a brilliant golden Heavenly Emperor Fire Lotus and hurling it out.
The Gu Household head and the Mo Household head also attacked to block the giant palm of spiritual power!
"Boom!"
Their attacks struck the giant palm of spiritual power, and tremendous force exploded outward. The Heavenly Emperor Fire Lotus was especially powerful, blasting away more than half of the giant palm!
Only because of that did they barely escape unharmed!
"So strong!"
Everyone looked at Mu Yan in shock. If he had not thrown out that fire lotus to neutralize more than half the force...
The Gu Household head and the Mo Household head alone would never have been able to withstand the power of that palm strike!
"Hmph!"
Seeing his attack neutralized, the Spirit Transformation Realm expert's expression turned ugly.
To him, this was a humiliation!
What enraged him even more was that Jin Xuan had actually been killed during his lapse in attention!
He had come with Jin Xuan and was responsible for protecting him. Having learned from Jin Hao's fate, the Gold and Jade Sect had replaced the Dao protector with a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator.
He had originally thought attacking the Gu Household would be simple and require no concern on his part.
After all, Jin Xuan would not face any danger here!
So he had gone to a brothel to indulge himself!
Who could have imagined that he had only just shuddered atop the brothel's courtesan when Jin Xuan died over here?
If the sect master learned that his dereliction of duty had caused Jin Xuan's death, he would certainly die too!
Jin Hao's recent death had already enraged the sect. Now that Jin Xuan was dead as well, the sect master would definitely kill a batch of people to vent his fury!
The old man's eyes brimmed with killing intent. He wished he could slaughter everyone here right now!
"Spirit Transformation Realm!"
The pressure on everyone multiplied. If they still had a fighting chance against a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, then against a Spirit Transformation Realm big shot, they truly had no chance at all!
"It's over. We can't escape now!"
The Gu Household head's face turned utterly ashen.
Gu Yingluo and Mu Yan remained calm. They also knew they were absolutely no match for a Spirit Transformation Realm expert and could not win a head-on battle.
Yet they remained composed.
Because their master had told them that, should they encounter danger, the little stones he had given them would prove very useful.
"Yingluo, leave this to me."
A small stone appeared in Mu Yan's palm as he stood protectively before Gu Yingluo.
Then he opened his hand, revealing the thumb-sized stone.
Seeing that utterly ordinary stone, nobody knew what he intended to do. Could he possibly intend to defeat a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator with a little stone found everywhere on the ground?
That was simply a wild fantasy!
The Spirit Transformation old man could not be bothered with more talk. He sent another palm strike crushing toward them, intending to kill everyone. That way, he would at least have something to report.
Terrifying power swept over them, and everyone understood that a Spirit Transformation cultivator's palm strike was far beyond their ability to withstand.
Quite a few people even closed their eyes in resignation!
But just as that power reached Mu Yan, the stone in his palm suddenly exploded with a hum.
As the stone exploded, an even more terrifying power surged out from within.
It was a fire dragon with a powerful presence, and it slammed headfirst into the giant palm of spiritual power.
"Boom!"
Without any surprise, the giant palm of spiritual power melted away instantly, unable even to affect the onward momentum of the hundred-zhang fire dragon.
The Spirit Transformation old man realized something was wrong. The fire dragon made him sense immense danger, and he tried to dodge.
But the fire dragon's speed surged. In the blink of an eye, it struck him and swallowed him whole!
"Aah!"
Nobody could see him anymore. They could only hear another scream coming from inside the fire dragon.
Then all fell silent, without another sound.
The fire dragon circled once through the sky before dissipating on its own. As for the Spirit Transformation old man it had swallowed, where was he?
Not even a speck of dust remained!
"A dragon? A fire dragon? Where did it come from?"
Everyone turned toward Mu Yan like puppets, their gazes both vacant and shocked.
They all thought Mu Yan had used a fire dragon Secret Method to annihilate the Spirit Transformation expert in a single strike.
"What terrifying strength! Even a Spirit Transformation expert couldn't last one move?"
"Is this really the combat strength a Golden Core Realm cultivator could possess?"
"My dear son-in-law, what just happened?"
Everyone was utterly shocked, even frightened. Was Mu Yan still concealing his true strength?
Was he actually not at the Golden Core Realm, but the Spirit Transformation Realm?
No, even if he were at the Spirit Transformation Realm, he absolutely could not annihilate another Spirit Transformation Realm expert in one strike unless there was an enormous gap between their cultivation levels!
Mu Yan was also a little stunned. As expected of a means his master had left behind, it was as overbearing as ever.
If one strike would do, he could not be bothered with a second. Was that his master's style?
Seeing everyone looking at him in terror, he knew they had mistakenly taken it for his own power, so he could only explain.
"It had nothing to do with me. A means my master left behind saved us!"
Gu Yingluo also opened her hand. She had a small stone too. "That's right. Master said to use it if we encountered danger!"
Everyone looked at the little stone, still unable to accept that the towering fire dragon from moments ago had actually burst out of such a tiny stone.
If what they said was true, then just how powerful was their master, who could seal such a terrifying fire dragon inside a little stone?
The Gu Household head asked with trembling lips, "Daughter, your master... is he very powerful?"
Gu Yingluo broke into a smile. "Of course! Master is the most powerful person under heaven. Nobody is his match!"
"Our master's strength is beyond question. The immediate priority is dealing with things here. Yingluo and I still need to visit the Gold and Jade Sect."
Mu Yan spoke to his father-in-law with a smile.
He knew that no matter how the two of them explained, his father-in-law would not believe them, so there was no need to waste time here.
"Household Head Chen, do you have anything else to say?"
Mu Yan looked toward the barely breathing Chen Household head.
After his Heavenly Emperor Fire Lotus had struck the Chen Household head earlier, most of the man's body had been charred. Moreover, the Heavenly Emperor Divine Flame was so destructive that it had nearly killed him.
"I... I lost..."
After using the last of his strength to say those words, the Chen Household head passed out completely.
Naturally, the Mo Household head had no objections either. He smiled helplessly. "The victor becomes king, the loser a bandit. My Mo Household is willing to surrender all of this year's earnings to the Gu Household!"
An entire year's earnings for a Lineage was an enormous sum!
It pained him terribly too, but what choice did he have?
Hadn't he seen how Mu Yan had nearly killed the Chen Household head?
Even a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator had been burned by Mu Yan's fire dragon until not even ashes remained. Was he in any position to bargain?
After paying a tremendous price and agreeing on compensation, the people from both Households fled with their tails between their legs!
After settling matters here, Mu Yan and Gu Yingluo offered no further explanations and headed straight for the Gold and Jade Sect.
Within the Gold and Jade Sect, the atmosphere had been tense lately, because Jin Hao's death had sent Sect Master Jin Ruitian into a rage several times.
Inside the great hall, Sect Master Jin Ruitian sat on his throne with his hair disheveled, his eyes red and bloodshot, looking as though he had gone mad.
"Well? What have you found?"
Jin Ruitian questioned them hoarsely.
Below him stood two core senior members at the Void Refinement Realm. They reported, "Sect Master, we have currently narrowed it down to the Gu Household. We'll have leads soon."
"Bang!"
Jin Ruitian viciously smashed the armrest of his chair apart. Whenever he thought of how his son was simply gone, his mind had been unbalanced these past few days.
He only wanted to use the cruelest methods to make the murderer suffer a fate worse than death!
Just as he was in a daze, a disciple rushed in frantically to report some news.
"Reporting to the Sect Master, Jin Xuan's life tablet has shattered!"
The disciple spoke in trembling fear.
He was terrified too. Reporting Jin Xuan's death at a time like this was practically deliberately driving the sect master mad, wasn't it?
But Jin Xuan's life tablet had indeed shattered, meaning Jin Xuan was truly dead!
He could hardly conceal the report deliberately, could he?
The disciple wished he could bury his head in a crack in the ground, terrified that Jin Ruitian would slap him to death in a fit of rage!
"What?"
Hearing this terrible news, Jin Ruitian abruptly stood, hardly able to believe it was true.
His son had only just died, and now even his favorite disciple was gone?
The terrifying presence of his Void Refinement Realm cultivation erupted, pressing down on everyone in the hall until they could not breathe.
Everyone paled in shock as well. Jin Xuan was dead?
At this critical juncture, everyone knew the Gold and Jade Sect was a volcano that could erupt at any moment. Someone still dared to court disaster?
"It's absolutely true! Here is the shattered life tablet!"
The disciple trembled all over in terror, raising both hands above his head to present Jin Xuan's broken life tablet.
Jin Ruitian flew into an utter rage. His terrifying presence spread outward, killing the disciple outright with its force.
"Find the murderer! I want the murderer to die without a burial place!"
Jin Ruitian was about to go mad!
Little did he know that Mu Yan and Yingluo had already arrived at the foot of the Gold and Jade Sect's mountain.
Returning to her former sect, Yingluo was filled with emotion. Her master had changed her fate just like that.
Without her master, she might already have been forced to be with Jin Hao and become her plaything!
Mu Yan looked up at the Gold and Jade Sect's mountain peak towering into the clouds, and a cold sneer crept onto his face.
"Once upon a time, this was a place far beyond my reach, but now I've come to wipe out every last one of them!"
Mu Yan's voice brimmed with killing intent.
He was no kindhearted soul. The Gold and Jade Sect had nearly ruined his life. Would he spare them?
If not for his master, he would have died long ago!
Gu Yingluo shot him a reproachful glare and corrected him. "What do you mean, wipe out every last one of them? Doesn't that sound awful? Master said we have to be reasonable!"
Realization dawned on Mu Yan, and he smiled sheepishly. "Look at this brain of mine. I nearly forgot Master's teachings. Our guiding principle is to win people over with reason! Come on, let's go up and reason with them!"