"Eh... Qingxu has broken through to the Marrow Cleansing realm!" Fang You, who had come downstairs from the restaurant, was surprised to see how easily Qingxu had defeated Zhuo Fenglei and Zhuo Xiangdong.
"What's so strange about that?" Lan Yutong's companion said dismissively. "In order to repay the nurturing kindness of the Zhuo family leader, Senior Sister specially requested a Marrow Cleansing Pill and gave it to Qingxu. It can be considered clearing gratitude and resentment. With a pill personally refined by an elder of Hunyuan Heaven Sect, even a pig could be pushed to the Marrow Cleansing stage, let alone a person."
"A Marrow Cleansing Pill is such a precious treasure that's almost impossible to find," Jin Wu said, his eyes shining with greed. "No wonder he could break through to Marrow Cleansing! I never expected Miss Yutong to have such treasures in her possession!"
Lan Yutong's companion glanced at him like she was looking at a country bumpkin. "More than ninety percent of the precious pills in the twenty-four countries, including Lorraine Kingdom, come from Hunyuan Heaven Sect. The elder who teaches Senior Sister Yutong awakened the Burning Phoenix bloodline and practices the True Vermillion Bird Method. She has mastered the essence of profound flame and is proficient in pill refinement. As her disciple, Senior Sister Yutong could easily request even more precious pills like the Five Qi Revolving Pill or the Essence Dragon Pill, not to mention a simple Marrow Cleansing Pill."
"An elder skilled in pill refinement..." Jin Wu, who had been hoping to please Lan Yutong as a Hunyuan Heaven Sect disciple, secretly drew a breath of cold air.
"Zhuo Qingxu's swordsmanship is so exquisite," Feng Cun said with wonder. "Even without the advantage of cultivation level, Zhuo Fenglei and Zhuo Xiangdong couldn't handle him at all."
He had never known that Qingxu possessed such abilities.
Jin Wu thought about how Lan Yutong and the Zhuo family had fallen out. Over this past month, the Zhuo family had damaged her reputation considerably. Lan Yutong must be unhappy about it. She had once been favored by the Zhuo family, so it wouldn't be appropriate for her to act directly now—people might call her ungrateful. But they could act on her behalf.
"Zhuo Fenglei and Zhuo Xiangdong have some friendship with us," Jin Wu said with a smile. "Now that they're in trouble, I'll go up and see if I can help."
He walked straight forward.
Fang You was slightly stunned, then immediately understood Jin Wu's true intention. He smiled and said, "I had drinks with Zhuo Fengyun three days ago. I'll go join the fun too."
The two quickly walked toward Zhuo Fengyun, with Jin Wu speaking first: "Zhuo Fengyun, seems you're in trouble. Do you want me to help?"
Seeing Jin Wu and Fang You, Zhuo Fengyun—who had been somewhat embarrassed because Qingxu had broken through to Marrow Cleansing—glanced at them and then at Lan Yutong, who had appeared at the alley entrance. He immediately understood why they were willing to intervene.
"You two came at the perfect time," he said. "This son made a grave mistake. We're about to capture him and take him back to the family for the elders' judgment. But we didn't expect his cultivation to suddenly rise. For the moment, we can't handle him. Please help us catch him—Zhuo Fengyun would be very grateful!"
"Zhuo Fengyun! How dare you work with outsiders to bully our Zhuo family?" Zhuo Yunqing, who had positioned herself in front of Fengyun, denounced him angrily.
"Zhuo family?" Fengyun glanced at Qingxu. "What I see is not our Zhuo family member, but a criminal who has been removed from the ancestral records and needs to be captured by us for trial!"
"Haha, although we don't understand exactly what happened, since Brother Zhuo Fengyun is in trouble, as friends we should help solve it first!" Fang You laughed. Eager to show off, he couldn't help but speak up immediately, then headed toward Qingxu. "I heard you're the eldest son of the Zhuo family. Let me see what the next generation successor of the Zhuo family can do! Take my Wandering Dragon Twelve Movements!"
"Qingxu, be careful!" Yunqing shouted quickly. "Fang You broke through to Marrow Cleansing three years ago, and the Twelve Dragon Movements are superior combat skills. His actual combat ability is better than our Zhuo family's Green Wood Sword Formula! Run..."
"Run? Hehe, there are only two exits to this alley. I don't know where you think you're going?" Jin Wu chuckled as he positioned his body horizontally, sealing off Qingxu's retreat. "Miss Zhuo, I think you and your brother should go home with Zhuo Fengyun and accept your punishment."
If Qingxu really wanted to escape, he would have to pass through Jin Wu, who had stepped into the Impurity Refining realm.
"You..." Yunqing was frightened, angry, and anxious all at once.
Then a familiar sound echoed through the alley.
Smack!
The result of Fang You's Wandering Dragon Twelve Movements was no different from what had happened to Zhuo Fenglei and Zhuo Xiangdong.
He was directly slapped away by a sword from Qingxu. His body flew backward at the same speed he had charged forward and fell to the ground, already spitting out blood.
"That's it?" Qingxu looked at Fang You with an expression that seemed speechless about his eagerness to jump forward and find abuse.
For a moment, Fang You's face turned blood red. Being slapped down in front of Lan Yutong, Jin Lan, and even his own sister Fang Long was extremely humiliating.
The hit to his cheek made him immediately furious: "Bastard, I'm going to kill you!"
Clang!
The sword at his waist suddenly came out of its sheath.
The Wandering Dragon Sword, containing cold killing intent, suddenly erupted in his hands. It rolled up a chill and went straight for Qingxu's heart.
Jin Wu's eyes flashed with a peculiar light, but he didn't stop it. Instead, he stared at Qingxu with a dignified expression, trying to see how he would respond.
Even though Jin Wu had looked down on Qingxu before, at this moment he was completely cautious.
"A sword is not used like that," Qingxu said plainly.
The fourth level of comprehension and second level of Sword Dao talent made the swordsmanship of Zhuo Fenglei, Zhuo Xiangdong, and even Fang You—which wasn't bad but was poorly executed by them—appear full of flaws before him.
There was no need to even exert effort. When Fang You stabbed straight toward his heart, the sharp sword in Qingxu's hand had already moved to block it.
Clang!
Their swords intersected.
Qingxu's right hand shook slightly. Using this recoil force, the sword in his hand blocked horizontally, perfectly intercepting the next change in Fang You's Wandering Dragon Sword technique.
With the sound of the second sword intersection, Fang You's dragon sword skill was exhausted. Qingxu, taking advantage of the anti-shock force from blocking the sword, directly turned his blade and used the momentum.
The cold, gleaming sword body slapped Fang You's face again, making intimate contact with his right cheek that hadn't yet swollen.
Smack!
As always.
Fang You was sent flying by the sword again, fell to the ground, and spat out broken teeth mixed with blood.
This time, he was truly awakened.
The same result twice in a row, combined with the burning pain on both sides of his face, reminded him of the harsh fact that there was a huge gap between him and Qingxu.
Thinking of his boastful words just now and being so thoroughly defeated by Qingxu in front of Lan Yutong and the others, Fang You wanted to tear open a crack in the ground and crawl inside.
After easily handling Fang You's attack, Qingxu walked indifferently toward Zhuo Fenglei.
Suddenly, Zhuo Fenglei shouted in horror: "What do you want to do? I'm telling you, my grandfather is one of the family elders and is in charge of the family... Ah!"
Hiss!
In the middle of Zhuo Fenglei's words, a miserable scream escaped his mouth.
His right wrist was pierced by Qingxu's sword, blood flowing freely.
"Stop!"
"What are you doing!"
Seeing Qingxu use such a heavy hand, Zhuo Fengyun and Zhuo Xiangdong roared angrily at the same time. Even Zhuo Yunqing was startled: "Qingxu... you..."
Qingxu didn't answer. After piercing Zhuo Fenglei's wrist with his sword, he didn't stop at all. He stabbed down toward his calf again.
"Stop! I told you to stop!" Zhuo Fengyun was immediately furious.
Taking advantage of Zhuo Yunqing's shock, he suddenly broke away from her obstruction and stabbed out with his sword. The power and swordsmanship of peak Marrow Cleansing was displayed to its fullest!
"Zhuo Qingxu, how dare you use such vicious methods and cripple Fenglei's limbs! Even your father can't protect you this time! Die!"
"Vicious methods?" Qingxu's expression grew slightly cold.
This was called vicious? He should know that the real Zhuo Qingxu had been killed by them four days ago!
Compared to Zhuo Qingxu who had died, what did crippling Zhuo Fenglei's two limbs matter?