“No need to protect me, I’m fine!”
Ling Xiao plonked himself down on the ground, stuffed a few Healing Rejuvenation Pills into his mouth, and waved casually at the Restoration Society members.
What the…?
Everyone was stunned.
Ling Xiao actually dared to sit down right in front of the Marquis of Eastern County?
Had the two of them somehow formed a deep bond during the fight and decided to stop?
“No, wait!”
Wu Xiang suddenly turned towards the still-laughing Marquis and realised that the laughter was growing quieter, weaker.
This was not the laughter of a victor.
It was a howl of grief and unwillingness.
Boom!
Finally, the laughter stopped dead. The Marquis toppled backwards onto the ground, his black sabre clattering beside him.
Now everyone could see clearly.
Countless tiny cracks had appeared all over the Marquis’s body, like a piece of pottery that had been smashed but not yet fallen apart.
Crack!
Crack-crack!
Strange noises rang out. The fissures rapidly widened. The Marquis’s body disintegrated, crumbling like a shattered statue into scattered fragments.
This terrifying and eerie sight sent chills down every warrior’s spine.
Too horrifying.
“Hiss…”
Many in the crowd involuntarily sucked in a breath, their scalps prickling with a mixture of fear and nausea.
They turned to look at Ling Xiao, who still wore the smile of a victor.
So young, so refined and handsome in appearance, yet so ruthlessly vicious when he struck. He had literally torn his opponent limb from limb.
*Gulp…*
Looking at Ling Xiao, the warriors from the City Lord’s Mansion unconsciously retreated outwards. They were genuinely terrified, their hearts already filled with dread.
Even some of the more faint-hearted members of the Restoration Society were shaken, staring at Ling Xiao as if he were a demon god.
Then they glanced at the Marquis’s ghastly corpse.
They were truly frightened.
Yet Wu Xiang, Feng Yaorao, Po Qianjun, Yue Qin, and Liu Chuang did not back away. Instead they rushed forward and helped Ling Xiao to his feet.
“You little rascal, you gave your senior brother one hell of a shock today. How are you feeling? Anything wrong?”
Supported by Yue Qin, Wu Xiang asked with a smile.
Ling Xiao wiped the blood from his face and said, “Right now, apart from needing a hot bath to wash off all this blood, there’s nothing else the matter.”
In truth, his injuries were not light.
The Marquis had been far stronger than Jiao Batian. That last clash had damaged his internal organs and would require proper recuperation.
But that was all.
“Amazing, truly amazing. I never imagined you could slaughter a First Cave Heaven realm warrior while only at the early Ninth Layer. Even I didn’t see that coming.”
Wu Xiang genuinely hadn’t expected it.
Though he had wounded the Marquis earlier, the damage hadn’t been as severe as he had hoped.
The later stages of the fight had proved that. The Marquis’s combat strength had dropped, but not drastically.
“Yeah, it’s just too incredible. If you were already Cave Heaven realm, beating him wouldn’t surprise me, but killing someone an entire realm above you? Your combat power is simply monstrous.”
Even Po Qianjun was lost for words.
The Ling Xiao who once lagged behind him could probably now crush him with a single finger.
Was this the difference in talent?
If so, the gap was a bit too huge.
“Just luck.”
Ling Xiao smiled.
He wasn’t being modest. If he had faced the Marquis at full strength, the outcome would never have been like this.
He might still have won, but he would probably have been half-dead afterwards.
This fight had truly hinged on luck.
The Marquis had been injured, underestimated him, and knew nothing about his abilities. All those factors had combined to give Ling Xiao victory.
Meanwhile, his Tai Chi Eye had seen through everything about the Marquis.
One side rose as the other fell. It was only natural that the Marquis died by his hand.
Of course, the greatest contributor had been the Mountains and Rivers Martial Spirit.
Without it, even with all those advantages, victory might have eluded him.
The Mountains and Rivers Martial Spirit had ensured he was not inferior in strength, spirit, inner energy, or presence.
“Luck, my foot.”
Feng Yaorao stuck out her tongue. “I clearly saw you scheming against that fellow from start to finish. He was completely played by you.”
“Enough about that. What do we do with the City Lord’s Mansion warriors?”
Ling Xiao glanced at Wu Xiang and asked.
He still wanted Wu Xiang’s opinion on how to handle them.
“What do you think?”
Wu Xiang countered.
“Kill them.”
Ling Xiao grinned, though the smile looked cold and ferocious.
Hearing this, panic seized every warrior from the City Lord’s Mansion.
They had been so arrogant and aggressive only because they had a Cave Heaven realm expert, the Marquis, backing them.
But now Ling Xiao had annihilated the Marquis, and done it so cleanly, so brutally.
Where was their bravado now? They were scared out of their wits.
“Run!”
Someone shouted. The City Lord’s Mansion warriors scrambled over each other to flee.
Ling Xiao did not move.
In truth, he was injured. Though not critically, he didn’t want to fight and risk worsening his condition.
But the Restoration Society warriors had no intention of letting them go.
Led by Po Qianjun and the others, they launched a one-sided massacre.
The City Lord’s Mansion fighters had no will to resist. They left behind hundreds of corpses before fleeing in panic.
High in the sky, Moon Maiden smiled.
In the final moments, she had almost been unable to hold herself back from intervening.
Ling Xiao had stopped her.
He wanted to finish the battle himself.
In the end she had not acted. Watching Ling Xiao overcome such a powerful foe through his own strength filled Moon Maiden with joy for him.
True, he was now covered in wounds.
But the rewards were immense.
Not only breakthroughs in cultivation, but priceless combat experience.
“I feel as though another Human King is rising… No, perhaps you will do even better than he did! The Human King was too merciful, and because of that he left behind many disasters and made many mistakes. You are different.”
…
Inside the tidied meeting hall of the Xianglong Trading Company, Ling Xiao sat cross-legged, healing his injuries.
Many people sat around him, yet none disturbed him.
Ling Xiao had long grown used to cultivating amid noise.
Everyone in the hall waited in silence, not daring to make a sound for fear of interrupting him.
After all, at this moment, to the members of the Holy Dynasty Restoration Society, Ling Xiao was their true saviour.
When the legendary Chosen One became a living, breathing saviour, he felt all the more real and all the more flesh-and-blood.
