Eternal Evil Emperor

The courtyard, once again silent and terrifying.

After a long while, gasps of shock filled the air, accompanied by the petrifying steps of both masters and servants retreating in unison.

The incident had occurred so suddenly that, although everyone had heard the whistling of the deadly arrow and seen Xie Da's head pierced through, and despite having gasped and stepped back, their minds had still not comprehended what had happened.

It wasn't until steady footsteps sounded within the hall.

Tap, tap...

The footsteps resonated like thunder, finally shattering the ice encasing everyone's feelings, and then they realized that someone had died—the victim was Xie Da, once a bodyguard for the eldest young master of the Xie family, renowned as one of the Twin Heroes of Blade and Sword.

Subsequently, everyone's faces took on an appropriately ghostly expression, yet the shock deep within their eyes didn't diminish in the slightest.

A seventh-layer expert of brute force, under a simultaneous attack from blade and sword, could not possibly be killed unless facing a top-tier master of Inner Qi!

Tap, tap...

The steady footsteps reached the doorway of the hall, and everyone looked up only to see Xie Tian, soaked in blood from the Twin Heroes' attack, and also saw the crossbow in Xie Tian's hand.

This crossbow was indeed the chief culprit that had claimed Xie Da's life.

For a moment, the crossbow in everyone's eyes seemed to emit a frightening glow. Although it was so decrepit that anyone at the first level of brute force could easily snap it in two, it had just been used to kill a seventh-layer master of brute force.

The next moment, the brilliance of the crossbow faded, and everyone looked towards Xie Tian, covered in wounds.

They finally realized it wasn't the crossbow killing people, but Xie Tian who did the killing. Without Xie Tian, the crossbow was merely an inanimate object; it was Xie Tian's overwhelming luminescence that lent the crossbow its deadly glow.

Despite the thoughts that had crossed their minds—how despicable it was for him to use a hidden arrow to wound someone—they couldn't voice these thoughts, for if they themselves were to fight against the Dual Absolutes of Blade and Sword, they wouldn't even think of using a hidden arrow to wound someone, much less put it into practice.

Xie Tian glanced at Xie Bao, frightening him into stepping back another step as if to say, "This arrow was originally intended for you." Then, he crouched down to open his backpack, placed the crossbow inside, and took out something else.

A blue porcelain bottle.

An eight-inch blade slid out from Xie Tian's sleeve.

When Xie Tian opened the porcelain bottle and poured its greenish liquid onto the blade, Xie Li, who had been striving to remain calm and composed, could no longer hold back and stepped back repeatedly, pointing at Xie Tian and screaming in terror.

"Red Alum Liquid! Where did you get this from?"

"Oh? So this thing is called Red Alum Liquid," Xie Tian looked at Xie Li, who had retreated next to Xie Bao, and asked earnestly, "You know what it is used for?"

Xie Tian genuinely didn't know what it was, and his question was sincere, but to Xie Li's ears, it sounded like a blatant threat. At that moment, he didn't want to answer the question at all; he just wanted to escape the dilapidated courtyard quickly, gather more skilled fighters, and thus he hastily said to Xie Bao in a low voice, "Young Master, this man is too vicious. To avoid casualties, let's retreat!"

Even though it was whispered right in his ear, Xie Bao hadn't heard it; he was in a very peculiar world, constructed from a barrier of various emotions such as excitement, humiliation, fear, jealousy, and shock, temporarily isolating him from the world.

All these emotions were brought on by Xie Tian: excitement blossomed from Xie Tian's strength, he believed that once he obtained the secret, he would become even more powerful than Xie Tian; fear stemmed from that one look from Xie Tian, and humiliation from fear...

Ever since realizing two years ago that Xie Tian was just a dog of the Xie family, he had never thought that one day he would experience hatred, fear, and humiliation derived from a dog.

Xie Tian's extreme competence overwhelmed his thoughts; he was both fearful and angry, two continuously swelling emotions that almost tore his fragile heart apart.

Thus, fear made him want to violently obliterate Xie Tian, the source of his fear, while anger reminded him to stay calm and not rely on brute force.

When anger finally prevailed, he smiled, a natural smile, and softly said to Xie Tian, "Tell me the secret of your tremendous improvement in cultivation, and I swear by the ancestors of the Xie family, I will send you off from the Xie family today and will no longer bother you."

Xie Tian did not smile because he didn't feel like smiling. After placing the porcelain bottle back in his backpack and turning to close the great hall doors, he brandished the blade in his hand towards Xie Li, tip flicking slightly.

Receiving such a response, the anger in Xie Bao's heart suddenly overwhelmed his rationality, his calm smile turning ferocious as he bellowed at Xie Li, "Kill him! Kill him! If he doesn't die, you die!"

Xie Li shivered, retracting his wary gaze from inside the hall, took several deep breaths, and looked fearfully at the greenish blade.

He really didn't want to fight, yet had to, because, after all, he was just a dog of the Xie family. So he moved forward, albeit with unnaturally small steps, as if afraid of straining himself by walking too fast.

Everyone was puzzled—even though Xie Da had died, he had only died from a hidden arrow; with a fast blade in hand, and as one of the Dual Absolutes of Blade and Sword, Xie Li ought to have faced even a severely wounded Xie Tian without issue. Yet, why did Xie Li act as if facing a formidable enemy?

They were unaware of two things: one was that Red Alum Liquid was extremely toxic, and even a half drop could rapidly dissolve a person's body into pus.

Secondly, Xie Li had lost his courage.

Whether it was Xie Tian's survival under the simultaneous attack of blade and sword, the deadly hidden arrow in the hall, or the fact that Xie Tian had made it clear he intended to use the Red Alum Liquid on him, each fact was enough to indicate that Xie Tian was no mere trash as everyone had thought.

Under the simultaneous sword attack, he had experienced a fear that others could not, as had Xie Da, leading to his sudden abnormal behavior and death by a hidden arrow. The source of this fear was what they felt during a short span of three incense sticks—Xie Tian's terrifying rate of progress.

Xie Li knew that the seemingly inconspicuous deadly hidden arrow spoke volumes about how strong Xie Tian's combat talent was. This kind of ability couldn't be cultivated but was honed in life or death situations, and in this regard, he admitted he was inferior to Xie Tian.

And with the emergence of Red Alum Liquid, he had also guessed the reason: Xie Tian was clearly looking to instill fear in him, to restrain him, making it difficult for him to fight freely.

Xie Tian succeeded because Xie Li not only feared the greasy green short blade, but he feared even more the reopening of the hallway door.

Who knew if another arrow would shoot out, tolling his death knell?

The short distance of several meters took Xie Li over twenty breaths to traverse, fortunately, that time allowed his turbulent emotions to calm a lot, even though his courage was still not strong, his combat power had at least recovered to seventy percent.

"Brute Force Realm Level Five, seventy percent combat power, is enough!"

It wasn't clear whether this statement was a disdain for the enemy or a comfort to himself, Xie Li finally shouted boldly, posing as if to let Xie Tian bring it on.

Once he took the stance, everyone's eyes dropped out of shock, because they had thought that Xie Li would take the initiative to attack, suddenly, everyone shifted their gaze to Xie Tian, wanting to see what this broken man truly had, to be regarded so highly by Xie Li.

Unfortunately, what they saw was still a blood-drenched, seemingly about to collapse weak body, with nothing outstanding except those eyes.

They were the eyes of a hunter delighted at the sight of prey—if the object of the eyes were a beautiful woman or a top-level cultivation technique, people wouldn't be surprised; but now, those eyes were fixated on an opponent in a life and death battle, an expert two levels higher than himself…

How could such an eerie person exist in the world?

Chilling to the bone!

Xie Li was also chilled to the bone!

He finally understood what Xie Tian had made him out to be!

A life and death battle, treating me, a grand Brute Force Realm Level Seven, as merely practice, how dare you!

"Nine Stars Hanging Moon!"

A disturbing flush crossed Xie Li's face, then the battle finally began, starting with a storm of blood and gore, out of rage, Xie Li had finally regained full combat power, a strike with one hundred percent combat power, he believed he could utterly destroy Xie Tian!

Xie Tian's eyes brightened!

Because the move Nine Stars Hanging Moon was unprecedentedly powerful!

Nine stars as blades, the moon also a blade, points reflecting each other, rings interlocking, one blade move was like the immense universe pressing down!

Breathing the air torn by the blades, Xie Tian only felt like he had inhaled countless small blades, the tearing sensation in his lungs and guts so painful he could hardly breathe!

Under the ferocity of the blades, he didn't hesitate to use Crane Dance Nine Heavens to retreat five steps, just as Nine Stars Hanging Moon's heavens were about to overwhelm him, the short blade clumsily stabbed out.

The reason it was a stab was because he didn't know how to use weapons.

Xie Li's move was incredibly elegant, while Xie Tian's stab was as clumsy as a pig climbing a tree, completely devoid of beauty. Just when everyone thought that the collision between agility and clumsiness would yield proportional results, their eyes dropped to the ground again.

Zi zi zi, three sounds, two stars from Nine Stars Hanging Moon landed on Xie Tian's shoulders, bringing out two patches of blood-shaped plum blossoms, just as the blade's third transforming star was about to land on Xie Tian's throat completing a deadly hit, Xie Li's knife-wielding right hand, as if bitten by a snake, shot back like lightning!

Drip, drip, drip…

Drops of green-stained fresh blood fell from Xie Li's right wrist, dropping onto everyone's shattered hearts, like thunder.

That was the earth-shattering effect brought by a clumsy stab!

Don't know how to use a knife? No problem, as long as you have the eyes to see through moves! Find the weakness!

"Death comes! Nine Phoenix Ceremony!"

Xie Li's eyes burst red as he roared madly, the frenzied man had long forgotten his wariness of the hallway, forgetting too that he had been poisoned by Red Alum Liquid, his right hand rotting away, he just wanted to use the most powerful move to kill Xie Tian who had given him endless humiliation!

Facing his most powerful move, Xie Tian's eyes dimmed, he watched for a while, then directly threw the short blade, its simple trajectory easily piercing through the strict blockade of the nine blade phoenixes, stabbing into the gap between Xie Li's ribs.

The time seemed to pause at that moment, then resumed passing in Xie Tian's relaxed words.

"Easily angered, not calm, leading to countless flaws, a great taboo."

Hearing this, Xie Li's face suddenly flushed, spouting a mouthful of fresh blood, he fell backwards, his dying eyes filled with nothing but shame.

But Xie Li had misunderstood Xie Tian, because the last sentence wasn't meant for him, but was something Xie Tian was saying to himself.

He had indeed seen these flaws in Xie Li, but someone who debated whether even breathing was a waste wouldn't do such needless things for others.

Xie Tian was merely reminding himself to never make such a mistake in battle in the future.

"It's your turn now."

Drawing out the short blade, Xie Tian's indifferent gaze swept over the crowds of servants, landing on the descendants of the Xie family, and as he took his first step forward, everyone except Xie Bao knelt down.

At that moment, Xie wasn't their heaven, Xie Tian was.