“What is not yours will never be yours in the end. What is meant to be mine will still be mine sooner or later! Do you know why I let you bid away the Taotie martial soul? Because I was always going to take it from your hands.”
A wicked smile curled at the corner of Ling Xiao’s mouth.
The next instant, his left eye spun abruptly.
Immortal Pot Eye · Seize!
The beast’s roar rang out once more. The Taotie martial soul was forcibly ripped straight out of Python Xiao’s body by Ling Xiao.
Python Xiao tried to resist, but it was useless. Beneath Ling Xiao’s terrifying Taiji Eye, he was no different from a lamb awaiting slaughter, utterly powerless.
Boom!
After extracting the Taotie martial soul, Ling Xiao casually flung Python Xiao away.
“Since you have delivered me such a generous gift, I will spare your life for now. As I said, I am actually a very kind-hearted person.”
Looking at Python Xiao lying on the ground, body twitching uncontrollably, Ling Xiao smiled faintly.
Killing a piece of trash like this would only dirty his hands.
In truth, from the very beginning, Ling Xiao had guessed that Python Xiao would never let him go. Since that was the case, he could save a huge amount of spirit stones and simply seize the Taotie martial soul from Python Xiao instead.
What a bargain.
Python Xiao lay on the ground, trembling as he looked up at Ling Xiao.
The gap.
Such an enormous gap. It was something he could never have imagined.
He had thought himself incredibly strong, yet reality had slapped him hard across the face.
He had once declared that Ling Xiao would surely die, that Ling Xiao would regret everything.
But now, everything he had done seemed utterly laughable. In front of Ling Xiao, he was nothing more than an immature clown.
“What am I, really? Am I truly nothing but a complete and utter waste, just as he said?”
Python Xiao began to doubt himself, to question his future.
The fall he had taken today was far too heavy. He had already lost the ability to recover.
“I thought that once I possessed the Taotie martial soul, I could rampage across the world and become the number one of the younger generation. Yet before I even left Sin City, I have already been defeated, and defeated so miserably!”
Python Xiao gave a bitter laugh.
Perhaps Ling Xiao was right. He really was just a flower raised in a greenhouse, nothing more than an ignorant waste who did not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth.
At this moment, he even felt a little envious of Mo Shaoyou.
Death would end everything. No more pain, no more fear of being pointed at and mocked by those around him. Just close his eyes and it would all be over.
Ling Xiao paid no more attention to this broken man. He turned his gaze towards Python Yuan.
“I told you before: if you came looking for trouble again, I would definitely kill you. It is a pity you refused to listen. You even brought your brother to cause me trouble. Very well, I shall grant your death-seeking heart its wish!”
Ling Xiao sneered. With a light flick of his right hand, a shadowy spike shot out mysteriously towards Python Yuan’s vital point.
“So domineering. Kill just because he wants to. This is too strong.”
Hua Luoying’s eyes widened as she watched.
The rest of the onlookers felt an enormous shock in their hearts. This Ling Xiao really was terrifying.
“You little brat, how dare you!”
A huge hole was smashed straight through the wall of Black Wind Tower. An old man descended furiously from the sky and struck the shadowy spike with a palm.
Boom!
The shadowy spike exploded in mid-air, shattering into fragments.
“Boy, have you never heard the saying ‘leave some room for mercy’? You have already cut out my son’s tongue, and now you want to kill him too. Do you truly think he has no father?”
The newcomer turned out to be the father of Python Tian and Python Yuan, an even stronger expert.
“At the very least, he has a father who gave him life but never taught him how to behave.”
Ling Xiao replied calmly.
“You little beast! If I were not considering that you are the Heavenly Dragon King of the Divine Phoenix Empire, I would have killed you long ago. How could I allow you to act so insolently here!”
Because his strength was greater, the old man’s domineering aura was even more intense. For him, killing Ling Xiao would be as easy as turning over his hand.
“You do not need to hold back for that reason. Just like your precious son, go ahead and try to kill me.”
Ling Xiao looked at the old man without the slightest intention of yielding.
“Are you trying to threaten me with Python Tian?”
The old man glanced at Python Tian, who was still under Leng Mei’s control, and hesitated slightly, wary of harming his own.
“Heh heh, this Ling Xiao is clever. With a hostage in hand, even if the Black Python family came, they probably wouldn’t dare do anything. I bet he definitely won’t release Python Tian.”
Someone commented.
“I think so too. The moment he lets Python Tian go, he is finished.”
Another person agreed.
“Leng Mei, release Python Tian. I want to see exactly how this old thing plans to take my life!”
Ling Xiao’s words caused every jaw in the crowd to drop.
How could this be possible!
He was letting go of a hostage he already had. Was he really not afraid of death?
“Good! Since you want to die, I will grant your wish!”
A ferocious smile spread across the old man’s face.
How could he not want to tear Ling Xiao into ten thousand pieces? The only reason he had held back was because his son Python Tian was being used as a hostage.
But now, he no longer had any reservations. He could act freely.
The old man transformed into a black python, far larger than Python Xiao had been. That ferocious aura was absolutely not something Ling Xiao could withstand.
Yet in that instant, Ling Xiao’s eyes suddenly lost their light, as though he had fainted.
His arms dropped limply to his sides.
The next moment, brilliance returned to his eyes, only now they carried a touch of maturity and experience.
The old man sensed something was wrong, yet he could not pinpoint what it was. Moreover, the arrow was already on the string and had to be fired.
At this point, he was only three to five metres from Ling Xiao in mid-air. With a whip of his right hand, it transformed into a gigantic python tail and lashed towards Ling Xiao.
“This Ling Xiao really is too careless. Isn’t this obviously courting death?”
“He deserves to die. Facing a Cave-Heaven realm martial artist and still daring to release his hostage? Apart from stupidity, I cannot think of any other reason for this behaviour.”
Murmurs rose once again among the crowd.
Most people could not understand Ling Xiao’s actions.
Of course, a few had noticed the strange change that had flickered across Ling Xiao for just a moment.
“Die!”
The old man roared. Accompanied by the might of the black python, his right hand clawed viciously towards Ling Xiao’s head.
Yet at that very moment, a smile unlike any before appeared on Ling Xiao’s face.
It was a smile of one looking down from above.
A smile that only someone who had stood at the pinnacle for a long time could possess.
A powerful aura instantly flooded the entire Black Wind Tower. Everyone felt as though every living thing between heaven and earth was rapidly withering.
“What is going on? My life force is draining away!”
“Mine too!”
“What is happening?”
Many people were terrified.
This included the father of Python Tian and Python Yuan.
Slap!
A crisp slap rang out inside Black Wind Tower.
In that instant, every trace of the black python’s sinister energy vanished without a trace.
