Battle with Chu Yunfei!

A mocking smile curved Feng Zhuo's lips. "What crime have I committed?"

In the storybooks he had read out of boredom as a child, villains spouting "justice" always jumped out to make trouble for the protagonist once he rose to prominence. He had never expected to experience it for himself today.

He gave Yushang a reassuring look and continued, "Just because Su Ruanruan makes an accusation with nothing but her bare word, that means I really did poison her and steal her ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass?"

"If we're going to be so unreasonable, then if Su Ruanruan says one day, 'I'm Senior Brother Chu's long-lost blood sister,' will Senior Brother Chu believe that too?"

Feng Zhuo spoke casually, but his Golden Core Middle Stage Divine Sense was watching Chu Yunfei's every move.

"Pfft-"

A Purple Yang Pill Sect disciple simply couldn't hold back his laughter. Only after Chu Hongxiao glared fiercely at him did he rein it in.

Chu Yunfei remained composed. "Junior Brother Feng, you have a silver tongue. I can't outtalk you. But the facts can't be treated as though they never happened just because you deny them to the bitter end."

"As for whether Junior Sister Ruanruan is telling the truth, once I've subdued you and found that ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass, the truth will naturally come to light."

Feng Zhuo sneered. "Ridiculous!"

"If you want the ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass, Senior Brother Chu, just say so. Why put on such an act? You were quite direct when you demanded the Dark Nether Sword Token a few months ago. Why are you suddenly being so coy?"

"The Dark Nether Sword Token?"

Chu Yunfei's little admirer wasn't letting up. "Feng Zhuo! You still have the gall to bring that up! Your Carefree Peak Master used his position as Sect Master Lingxiaozi's junior brother to force Senior Brother to hand over the Dark Nether Sword Token he'd won at auction!"

A villain could rack his brains and still be no match for a fool's flash of inspiration.

A sharp glint flashed in Feng Zhuo's eyes.

He had been worried that the scene among the inner and outer disciples of Heaven-Soaring Peak alone wouldn't be enough to dispel the rumors that had been brewing for months.

Now, with the person at the heart of it all present and the auction receipt in his hand, this was the perfect chance to clear Carefree Peak's name!

"Senior Brother Chu,"

Feng Zhuo said, feigning sudden realization, "everyone in the sect says you have a gentle temperament. Why are you being so aggressive today? Could it be..."

He paused meaningfully. "You believed those rumors that have been going around Heaven-Soaring Peak for months?"

Then he shook his head. "No, no."

"Of all people, Senior Brother Chu, you should know who ultimately took home the Dark Nether Sword Token from the auction, shouldn't you? Looking at it that way, could the rumors that suddenly spread across Heaven-Soaring Peak have come from you, Senior Brother...?"

Chu Yunfei's expression changed slightly, and he cursed the loose-lipped junior brother for ruining things.

"Enough!"

He sharply cut Feng Zhuo off before he could say more. "Junior Brother Feng, don't change the subject! What does today's matter have to do with the Dark Nether Sword Token?"

"I'll say this one last time. Hand over your storage ring. If no ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass is found, I'll treat today's matter as though it never happened!"

"Senior Brother Chu, how magnanimous of you."

Feng Zhuo slowly removed his storage ring, only to put it into the Storage Bag at his waist in full view of everyone.

"No wonder that, after failing to seize the Dark Nether Sword Token by force, you turned around and 'magnanimously' offered to let someone else have it."

He abruptly changed tack. "But words alone are no proof."

With that, Feng Zhuo produced a gilded receipt. "Today, I'll let everyone see clearly just who bought that Dark Nether Sword Token at the Azure Cloud Pavilion!"

"Junior Brother Feng, look out-!"

The sword flashed like a blue-green rainbow-

A cold gleam flashed in Feng Zhuo's eyes. He had been prepared.

The instant the sword light swept toward him, he flung five Thunderclap Bombs from his sleeve at once.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two Thunderclap Bombs exploded in midair, shattering the purple sword light.

The remaining three, wrapped in dazzling lightning, shot straight for Chu Yunfei's face!

"You're courting death!"

Chu Yunfei let out a cold shout and abruptly turned his sword.

In an instant, its cold gleam surged, and rolling thunder sounded from the nine heavens for no apparent reason.

A bolt of purple lightning burst from the sword tip, knocking all three Thunderclap Bombs down!

"Senior Brother Chu has a Heavenly Thunder Spirit Root!"

Chu Yunfei's admirer shouted triumphantly, "Feng Zhuo, that move of yours is just asking to be humiliated! Since you dared throw your weight around to seize the Dark Nether Sword Token, you should have expected this day to come!"

Seeing this, many of the disciples around them broke into a cold sweat for Feng Zhuo.

Even the disciples who had been neutral before now looked at Chu Yunfei a little differently.

"Junior Brother Feng,"

Chu Yunfei said, pointing his sword at him from a distance, his voice feigning gentleness, "hand over the storage ring and the antidote, and I'll let you off today."

Yushang said urgently, "Junior Brother Feng! You're no match for him! Give him the storage ring! As long as you prove there's no Spirit-Cleansing Grass in it..."

Feng Zhuo sighed inwardly at Yushang's naïveté.

Leaving aside the fact that there really was Spirit-Cleansing Grass in his storage ring,

if he took this step back today, he feared he would never know peace again. Even if he proved his innocence now, the other side could easily accuse him of having disposed of the Spirit-Cleansing Grass in the secret realm already.

What was more...

If he really did prove his innocence today, tomorrow there would be an endless stream of other accusations for him to clear himself of!

"Senior Brother Chu, that sword strike just now was rather too hasty."

With a cold smile, Feng Zhuo used his spiritual power to send the gilded receipt into the air. "Could it be... you have a guilty conscience?"

The receipt rose into the air, glittering in the sunlight.

The three large characters "苍**" on the receipt were especially glaring, utterly exposing the lie Chu Yunfei had spent months carefully brewing!

Chu Yunfei's face abruptly darkened, and the longsword in his hand chopped down with crushing force.

The strike was plain and unadorned, yet it made heaven and earth change color!

"Rumble-"

Thirty-three lightning pythons dove down from the clouds in the nine heavens, their savage lightning illuminating the entire sky like a wasteland.

The giant pythons woven from purple lightning opened their bloody maws and lunged straight at Feng Zhuo on the ground!

"No!"

Several timid female disciples screamed and covered their eyes, afraid that the next instant they would see flesh and blood flying everywhere.

They were both shocked and confused. Wasn't the Supreme One Divine Sect's senior brother said to be as gentle and warm as jade, a gentleman recognized throughout the cultivation world?

How could he be so ruthless today, opening with a killing move?

The young women's hearts shattered all over the ground.

"It's over, it's over..."

an outer disciple murmured. "Senior Brother Feng is probably going to..."

"Foundation Establishment against Golden Core? Isn't that courting death?"

The companion beside him turned pale. "Besides, Senior Brother Chu is a sword cultivator with a Heavenly Thunder Spirit Root..."

Yushang's face went deathly pale, and her fingers had already closed around the life-saving jade talisman her master had given her.

She had seen the power of this move of Chu Yunfei's before.

At last year's sect competition, these thirty-three lightning pythons had nearly razed an entire arena to the ground!

Chu Hongxiao, meanwhile, gazed admiringly at the tall, straight figure. He truly was the foremost disciple of the current generation of the Supreme One Divine Sect, truly worthy of being the man she, Chu Hongxiao, had set her sights on!

Just when everyone thought the outcome was settled,

"Well met!"

Feng Zhuo cried out and rapidly formed Hand Seals.

Emerald vines burst from the ground and instantly intertwined into a spiral barrier.

Strange spiritual light flowed over the vines' surface. They looked fragile, yet held an indescribable profundity.

"This... this is an ordinary Growth-Accelerating Spirit Instruction?"

"Has he gone mad?"

"He's at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, facing the Golden Core Early Stage, and he still dares to be so overconfident?"

The watching disciples erupted in an uproar.

Some shook their heads and sighed, some wore mocking expressions, and others had already turned away, unable to bear watching any longer.

"Courting death!"

Chu Yunfei sneered.

How could the force of his sword strike be stopped by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator using a basic spirit instruction?

But in the next instant, a jaw-dropping sight appeared.

Just as the lightning pythons were about to swallow the wall of vines, a sudden change occurred!

"Boom-"

The Green Vine Heart Flame hidden within the vines erupted, transforming into thirty-three lush green spirit serpents.

Yielding to overcome force, the spirit serpents crushed the ferocious lightning pythons inch by inch!

The scattered lightning crashed to the ground, producing not sparks but sword scars several feet deep.

The lightning pythons had all been manifestations of Chu Yunfei's sword force!

Chu Yunfei suppressed his dissatisfaction and put on a profound air. "One sword strike."