Ji Min said, “If he loses, his life belongs to our Ji family. If he wins, we shall turn around and return home at once!”
The First Peak Master and the Ninth Peak Master, along with several others, frowned. Bi Zhuang had previously reported that even when he and Lin Xiao joined forces, they had only barely held Ji Yang back. Ji Yang was an extremely powerful earth-tier genius of the Ji family.
This also proved, from the side, that Lin Xiao alone could not defeat Ji Yang.
If they accepted the duel, there was a high chance Lin Xiao would lose.
Even if he survived the defeat, he would be taken away by the Ji family, which was little different from dying in battle.
Of course, compared to before, Lin Xiao’s cultivation had broken through one additional realm, and his combat strength had become much greater.
Yet no matter how one looked at it, Lin Xiao was only at the ninth level of Martial Lord and twenty years of age.
His opponent, however, was at the sixth level of Martial Emperor and twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. The challenge was clearly extremely unfair.
The First Peak Master was about to speak when Ji Yang began loudly provoking him: “Lin Xiao, do you dare to come forward and fight?”
“You managed to escape from my hands last time, and now you have broken through another realm. This fight is perfectly fair. Don’t tell me you are a coward who wants to stir up conflict between our Ji family and the Azure Dragon Sect!”
Lin Xiao’s cultivation level had already been exposed when he used the Thunder Sword Art, but Ji Yang did not care in the slightest.
With his strength, capturing a mere ninth-level Martial Lord was no trouble at all.
Although his provocation was simple, it would pin the blame on Lin Xiao for escalating tensions between the two sides if he refused to fight.
While it might not achieve much, it could still inflame the Azure Dragon Sect members who already harboured resentment toward Long Tutian, subtly shifting their attitudes.
In such a situation, Lin Xiao ought to feel considerable pressure.
But to Lin Xiao, this provocation was completely useless.
He had never intended to avoid the fight in the first place.
When a great power came knocking at the door like this, retreating without a battle would make it impossible for the Azure Dragon Sect to save face.
Many great powers habitually used this tactic: if they could not take the person away, they would issue a challenge. Victory achieved their goal and restored their prestige. Defeat might cost them face, but it was still better than returning empty-handed.
Lin Xiao had anticipated this long ago.
Otherwise, the Ji family would not have needed to send a young expert.
“Lin Xiao, if you are not confident, you may refuse. The Azure Dragon Sect will still protect you!” At that moment, the First Peak Master transmitted his worried voice to Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao’s personality was similar to Long Tutian’s, and the First Peak Master knew Long Tutian’s temperament all too well: as long as the difference in strength was not overwhelming, even the simplest taunt would make him charge forward.
His reminder now was precisely because he feared Lin Xiao would suffer a loss.
Although Long Tutian had killed his great-grandson, Long Tutian was Long Tutian, and Lin Xiao was Lin Xiao; they were two different matters.
Moreover, as the First Peak Master of the Azure Dragon Sect, he had to protect Lin Xiao and uphold the sect’s honour.
Honour was vitally important to a great power; it affected the recruitment of genius disciples, the respect of other powers, and more.
As one of the top three supreme powers, the Azure Dragon Sect could not allow the Ji family to trample its dignity.
“Before my breakthrough, the outcome would have been uncertain, but now I am confident!” Lin Xiao transmitted back to the First Peak Master.
With that, he flew forward a short distance and said to Ji Min, “I accept the duel, but I have one question.”
“Since this is a battle to the death, may I kill him?”
As he spoke, Lin Xiao’s gaze shifted to Ji Yang, his voice resounding and forceful.
Apart from the First Peak Master and Bi Zhuang, everyone present was stunned.
Not only did Lin Xiao not refuse, he actually asked in return whether he was allowed to kill his opponent?
Lin Xiao’s response was far too arrogant!
Some elders and disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect who had secretly hoped Lin Xiao would be forced into the fight and die at Ji Yang’s hands suddenly felt a trace of admiration.
This single sentence had thoroughly vented their frustration on behalf of the Azure Dragon Sect.
Whether he could actually defeat his opponent or would die instead was another matter entirely.
Yet they both wanted to see the Ji family’s face slapped and hoped Lin Xiao would perish at their hands. Their feelings were extremely complicated.
After a moment of stunned silence, everyone from the Ji family revealed furious expressions.
This fellow actually dared to treat a genius of their Ji family with such contempt.
Ji Min had originally feared the other side would refuse, forcing him to escalate the conflict with the Azure Dragon Sect further. Now, however, not only had the opponent accepted, it felt as though a slap had been delivered straight to his face, filling him with cold fury.
“Hmph! In a life-and-death battle for the Ji family, it truly is life and death. If you can kill him, we naturally will not interfere!” Ji Min replied coldly, his face dark and elongated.
“I would quite like to see exactly who will be the one to die!”
Ji Yang was also enraged. With an angry shout, he shot backwards and upwards into the distant sky.
After flying roughly two or three hundred li away, his rolling voice echoed from afar: “Lin Xiao, come and meet your death!”
Lin Xiao grasped the long sword of the Saint Heaven Sect elder and shot forward through the air.
At that moment, more elders and disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect flew out one after another.
Upon hearing about Lin Xiao’s situation, the members of the Azure Dragon Sect were all shocked and turned their gazes toward the two figures high in the sky ahead.
“A defeated opponent still delusions of killing me? You’re the one courting death!”
Glaring furiously at Lin Xiao opposite him, Ji Yang drew a long sword with one hand and gripped it tightly.
The powerful aura of a sixth-level Martial Emperor burst from his body, and a terrifying Martial Emperor pressure enveloped Lin Xiao thousands of zhang away.
“You are certainly confident, but it seems you have forgotten that last time Bi Zhuang and I only fell into a disadvantage because we had exhausted ourselves killing your Ji family’s ninth-level Martial Emperor. And now I have broken through another realm. I wonder just how much weight this earth-tier genius of the Ji family truly carries!” Lin Xiao retorted.
To defeat the enemy, one must first crush their spirit. Naturally, he would not show weakness in words.
With that, the aura of a ninth-level Martial Lord burst from Lin Xiao. Raising his long sword, he took the initiative and attacked Ji Yang at extreme speed.
“Hmph!” With a cold snort, Ji Yang swung his right hand. His long sword slashed downwards, brilliant sword light blooming as a powerful sword beam slashed straight toward Lin Xiao.
Spirit controllers were troublesome in close combat, especially a dual-cultivator of origin spirit and spirit energy. During a clash, one side might be resisting with vital energy while the other suddenly unleashed a spirit energy attack.
Close combat would only give the opponent an advantage.
Therefore, he had no intention of casually granting Lin Xiao that opportunity.
He was, after all, extremely confident in his own strength.
Lin Xiao had originally planned to strike Ji Yang fiercely with the first move of the Thunder Sword Art before following up with Thunder Dragon Heaven-Extinguishing Light. Seeing his opponent unleash a sword beam, he immediately sent out a horizontal slash of thunder sword light.
The sword beam formed from thunder power collided with his opponent’s sword beam, producing a thunderous boom. It transformed into unparalleled waves of qi that surged mainly to the left and right of the two combatants.
This exchange could be considered evenly matched.
This clash was merely a probing, casual strike between them. Far more powerful attacks were still to come.
