The Qin Sword Immortal suddenly unleashed an icy killing intent from his body. In that instant, Ye Qiu and the Long Eyebrow Immortal felt a chill seep into their very bones, as if plunged into an ice cellar.
“Senior, what do you mean by this?” Ye Qiu asked warily.
“Chang Sheng, do not force my hand.” The Qin Sword Immortal said, “I truly need that whip of yours. Otherwise, once my enemy emerges from seclusion, I may well perish.”
Ye Qiu said, “Senior, to be frank, if I lend you the wooden whip, I shall die should I encounter a foe.”
The Qin Sword Immortal said, “So long as you come with me to the Qingyun Sword Sect, I shall ensure your safety.”
Ye Qiu shook his head, “I shall not join the Qingyun Sword Sect.”
“So, there is no room for negotiation?” The Qin Sword Immortal’s tone grew colder, and the killing intent thickened.
Ye Qiu’s heart was actually quite tense too, after all, this was a being at the pinnacle of the Tongshen realm.
“Senior, you are placing me in a difficult position.” Ye Qiu said.
“It is not I who places you in difficulty, but you who does so to me.” The Qin Sword Immortal said, “I invite you to the Qingyun Sword Sect, yet you refuse. I seek to take you as my disciple, yet you decline. I ask to borrow your wooden whip, and still you withhold it.”
“Chang Sheng, the wise man bends with the times. I urge you to think carefully, lest you bring ruin upon yourself. Otherwise…”
The Qin Sword Immortal trailed off, but murderous resolve etched across his face.
Evidently, should Ye Qiu refuse to lend him the God-Smiting Whip, he intended to strike.
Ye Qiu’s expression hardened too. He said, “It seems that if I do not lend you the whip, you mean to kill me!”
The Qin Sword Immortal said, “That whip of yours is no common object. Such a treasure in your hands will only invite calamity. This is for your own good.”
“For my own good?” Ye Qiu sneered, “Had I not lent you the wooden whip back then, you would have been slain by the experts of the three great sacred grounds. Now you speak of borrowing, yet your words brim with threats. Is this the way of the Eastern Wastelands’ foremost great sect?”
“I speak only for myself, with no bearing on the sect.” The Qin Sword Immortal’s tone was glacial, “Ye Chang Sheng, I ask you now: will you lend it or not?”
“I will not!” Ye Qiu had ever been one to yield to kindness but not to force. He accepted no threats, no matter that the man before him was a supreme powerhouse!
“Since you prove so stubborn, blame me not for my lack of courtesy.” With those words, the Qin Sword Immortal moved to strike.
At this juncture, the Long Eyebrow Immortal hastily interjected, “Senior, pray do not take offence. Allow me to counsel Ye Qiu.”
Seeing the dire turn of events, the Long Eyebrow Immortal quickly drew Ye Qiu aside. To prevent the Qin Sword Immortal from overhearing, the two conversed via secret voice transmission.
The Long Eyebrow Immortal said, “Little whelp, lend him the God-Smiting Whip!”
Ye Qiu said, “The God-Smiting Whip is my lifeline. If I lend it to him, what then for us?”
The Long Eyebrow Immortal said, “Do you not grasp the peril we face? Refuse him the whip, and we die here.”
Ye Qiu said, “Old thing, do you truly believe that lending him the God-Smiting Whip will see him spare us?”
“What do you mean?” The Long Eyebrow Immortal’s heart jolted, “You say he means to kill us? Surely not. He is an elder of the Qingyun Sword Sect, after all. Can he truly stoop to indiscriminate slaughter like those Yin Yang Sect rabble?”
Ye Qiu said, “Do not assume that the Qingyun Sword Sect, as the Eastern Wastelands’ premier great sect, harbours only the virtuous.”
“Even in the mundane world, with so many officials, are they all paragons?”
“To speak plainly, I never imagined this old fellow to be such a sanctimonious hypocrite, repaying kindness with enmity.”
The Long Eyebrow Immortal grew flustered and asked anxiously, “Little whelp, what now?”
Ye Qiu asked, “How many spirit stones do you have?”
The Long Eyebrow Immortal grasped Ye Qiu’s intent at once. He said, “I plundered some from the disciples of the great sacred grounds. Enough to activate the saintly array pattern once.”
“Flee!” Ye Qiu said, “We cannot best him, so flight is our only recourse.”
“Curse the wretch for his ingratitude. This poor Daoist shall slay him one day.” The Long Eyebrow Immortal cursed the Qin Sword Immortal, then swiftly produced the saintly array pattern.
“You two mean to flee, do you?”
A chilling smile curled the Qin Sword Immortal’s lips. He said, “With your meagre cultivation, even secret voice transmission cannot evade my ears. I tell you now, escape is impossible.”
As his words fell, the Qin Sword Immortal extended his palm.
“Buzz!”
The heavens and earth trembled. In an instant, countless beams of white light surged up a hundred metres distant, enveloping the spot where Ye Qiu and the other stood in an impenetrable shroud.
“An array!” The Long Eyebrow Immortal’s face paled abruptly. He cursed, “The bastard had this prepared.”
The Qin Sword Immortal laughed, “To thwart any flight, I laid this array in secret moments ago. Unless you are saintly powerhouses yourselves, even with a saintly array pattern, egress from here is impossible.”
“If you doubt me, by all means, try.”
“Try we shall.” The Long Eyebrow Immortal drew forth his spirit stones, poised to activate the saintly array pattern, only for Ye Qiu to halt him.
“No need. His confidence bespeaks the truth: the saintly array pattern cannot breach this. Spare the stones.” Ye Qiu fixed the Qin Sword Immortal with an icy gaze, “Speaking of which, I aided you too. Is this your recompense?”
“Who bade you spurn good fortune?” The Qin Sword Immortal’s visage was impassive, killing aura roiling forth. He said, “Yield the whip to me, and I shall grant you intact corpses.”
The Long Eyebrow Immortal, enraged, railed at him, “You ungrateful cur, think you us cowed?”
Slap!
The Qin Sword Immortal struck abruptly, his vast hand like a millstone, lancing out with lightning speed to swat the Long Eyebrow Immortal flying.
“Puff!”
Half the Long Eyebrow Immortal’s body shattered, blood spraying wildly. He was no match for the Qin Sword Immortal.
Though wounded, the Long Eyebrow Immortal’s tone remained defiant.
“You mongrel spawn, fail to finish this old one today, and tomorrow I shall carve you into morsels.”
The Qin Sword Immortal snorted coldly, “Facing death with such bravado, it seems you weary of life.”
With that, he extended his vast hand once more, bearing down on the Long Eyebrow Immortal. It rumbled through the air, a vision of terror.
In this dire crisis.
Ye Qiu stepped forth, shielding the Long Eyebrow Immortal. He gripped the God-Smiting Whip and lashed it across the back of the Qin Sword Immortal’s hand.
“Boom!”
Ye Qiu flew backwards, crashing beside the Long Eyebrow Immortal, blood gushing from his mouth in torrents.
The God-Smiting Whip could only suppress those of a single realm above. The Qin Sword Immortal stood at the pinnacle of Tongshen, several great realms beyond Ye Qiu. The whip posed him no threat.
“Clang!”
The God-Smiting Whip fell to the ground.
The Qin Sword Immortal’s eyes blazed with avarice upon beholding it. He said to Ye Qiu, “Lad, the jig is up. Cease your resistance.”
“I know you hold divine medicines too. Hand them over!”
“Obey meekly, and not only shall I leave you whole in death, I shall dig a pit to bury you, sparing you exposure on this icefield.”
Yet the Qin Sword Immortal’s only reply was four words.
“Go to hell!”
