Cleaning Up

"I've treated you well these past eight years, so why did you betray me?" Qie Qiong's icy voice carried a trace of bewilderment.

He believed that, as a transmigrator, he had never treated the people around him with any great arrogance.

"Kang Zhixuan, what are you doing?!" Qi Lingfei, who was holding off two Meteor Knights, also noticed what was happening and cried out in shock.

Though they had not spent every day together these past few years, they had developed a deep bond as retainers in Qie Qiong's service.

He had never imagined that Kang Zhixuan would attack Qie Qiong.

"I've always been one of the Xiong Clan. How could it be betrayal?" Kang Zhixuan said with a vicious grin. "Can't you see what I'm doing?"

"You knew there was a traitor all along?"

"Hmph. Five years ago, Father said there was something wrong with you and Qi Lingfei. I wasn't sure until these riffraff from the Xiong Clan showed up." Qie Qiong snorted coldly.

Kang Zhixuan froze. "How did you find out?"

He believed that, aside from when he had stabbed at Qie Qiong, he had never given himself away.

Qie Qiong looked at him as though he were a clown. "You've talked too much today."

Seeing that they were still talking after all this time, Xiong Zhendong said impatiently, "Xiong Zhixuan, stop dawdling and kill him."

"Kill me? You won't get the chance," Qie Qiong replied calmly.

Kang Zhixuan, no, Xiong Zhixuan, whose dagger had stabbed at empty air, said, "You only have an alchemical item your father gave you. How could we not have a chance?"

"Little genius of the Qie Clan, stop indulging in fantasies. Your father is still at the mining area, and there are only two of you here. No chance? You're the one with no chance."

Xiong Zhendong, who had been standing to the side, suddenly charged at Qi Lingfei.

In his eyes, once he killed this troublesome Meteor Knight, Qie Qiong would no longer be a problem. Whether to kill him or carve him up would be his decision.

"Alas, hell has no gate, yet you insist on barging in." Qie Qiong shook his head slightly. "Who told you I used an alchemical item to stop you?"

Suddenly-

Boom!

A powerful, invisible force enveloped the area for hundreds of meters around Qie Qiong. The four Heaven Rank Knights, the three Meteor Knights, Xiong Zhendong and Xiong Zhixuan-

All were suppressed by this sudden Power of Heaven and Earth.

Unity of Heaven and Man!

Command Heaven and Earth, and make the mighty power of nature serve me!

"Damn it, how can he be a Title Rank expert with Unity of Heaven and Man? He's only eleven!" Xiong Zhendong, a Silver Moon Knight, was so frightened that his legs went weak.

The gap between Silver Moon Rank and Title Rank was already enormous. Even though he was at the peak of Silver Moon Rank, only a single step from Title Rank, that single step was the gulf between heaven and earth.

After all, every Title Rank expert was said to be able to stand against an army of a hundred thousand—and that meant well-trained soldiers.

Every Title Rank expert could utterly crush other mortal beings.

Xiong Zhendong growled, "Xiong Zhixuan, didn't you say he hadn't even cultivated Dou Qi yet? You've doomed us all."

By now, Xiong Zhixuan no longer had the viciousness he had shown when he stabbed out with his dagger. He stood there in a daze, giving no response to Xiong Zhendong's growl.

Was Unity of Heaven and Man on the same level as an Earth Rank Knight who had only just cultivated Dou Qi? He had never imagined that Qie Qiong could hide his strength so well.

It was like a country claiming it had only millet and rifles, then pulling a nuclear bomb out from behind its ass when you attacked it.

Within hundreds of meters of Qie Qiong, everyone except Qi Lingfei felt the air grow thick.

Everyone felt the suppression of Unity of Heaven and Man.

Xiong Zhendong, at Silver Moon Rank, could still move under the suppression. Those at Meteor Rank could barely move, while the remaining Heaven Rank Knights could not move at all.

The two Meteor Knights fighting Qi Lingfei were quickly killed by him.

"An eleven-year-old Title Rank expert? How is that possible?!" Xiong Zhixuan, who had been frightened witless, finally came to his senses.

If he had known Qie Qiong was at Title Rank, he would never have let the clan organize such a laughable ambush.

If word got out about a monster capable of shaking the entire Cang Yun Material World, the other two great empires would never allow him to grow up.

By then, the Xiong Clan would have done more than kill a young master of the Qie Clan. The Qie Clan itself would be destroyed in the aftermath.

But it was too late to say anything now. How laughable that the Xiong Clan had spent years plotting.

They had sent out a force they believed would crush their enemy, only to discover they had not even investigated him properly.

"Now, everyone, it's my turn." Qie Qiong's icy voice rang out.

With his right hand, he slowly drew the Azure Peak Sword from his waist.

He swept it forward.

The four Heaven Rank Knights pinned in place by the Power of Heaven and Earth all showed looks of disbelief at once.

Before the four Heaven Rank Knights could even scream, a line of blood appeared across each of their throats.

The light in their eyes went out, and their bodies crumpled to the ground.

"Ah-!" The sole remaining Meteor Knight let out a despairing roar at the sight.

A bloody light burst from his body. He had clearly used some kind of desperate secret technique.

The burst of power from the secret technique actually let him break free of the suppression of Unity of Heaven and Man, restoring his usual ability to move.

He hurriedly leaped backward.

"Hmph." Qie Qiong did not even look at him.

The tip of the Azure Peak Sword trembled slightly.

A streak of black sword Qi, condensed to the utmost, silently pierced through the void toward the Meteor Knight.

Though launched later, it arrived first, piercing the Meteor Knight's heart with precision.

His body went rigid in midair, then fell to the ground, lifeless.

That streak of sword Qi had extinguished all his vitality.

Xiong Zhendong's pupils contracted sharply at the sight.

Of those two sword strikes, one had killed four Heaven Rank Knights, while a streak of sword Qi from the other had killed a Meteor Knight using a desperate secret technique.

The four Heaven Rank Knights were one thing, but after using his secret technique, that Meteor Knight had, at least in speed, already reached the threshold of a Silver Moon Knight.

Yet even so, Qie Qiong had casually wiped him out with a streak of sword Qi.

Run! I have to run!

Though he also had a trump card, he had no confidence whatsoever that he could survive at Qie Qiong's hands.

He let out a low roar, and earth-yellow Dou Qi erupted from his entire body.

His Dou Qi burned wildly. In that moment, he even felt he could stand against a Title Rank expert.

As he charged toward the depths of the forest, he roared at Xiong Zhixuan, "Hold him off! I'll avenge you!"

As long as he escaped and the news reached the Xiong Clan, the Qie Clan would be finished. The Cangyun Empire would never let such a monster go.

"Trying to run?" Qie Qiong's eyes flashed. Without moving, he unleashed a streak of sword Qi.

Whoosh-

He used the same move again, this time with a clear target: Xiong Zhendong, who was trying to flee for his life.

An instant before the black sword Qi pierced Xiong Zhendong, he spun around and slashed at it with the saber in his hand.

Boom-

The black sword Qi collided with the saber, producing the sound of clashing metal.

Cracks spread across the blade in an instant. In less than a breath, it broke.

The moment the blade broke, the sword Qi also dissipated completely.