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"Since no one objects, we disperse. In a few days, after I have conferred with Uncle-Master Yuanshen, arrangements will be made for recruiting disciples from the mundane world in an orderly fashion. If any sordid business of bullying mundane sects arises in the meantime, you will answer for the consequences yourselves." Xin Yijie gave Xue Jianfeng a look heavy with meaning, then turned and departed.

The disciples of the various Antiquity sects exchanged glances, then scattered. True, henceforth their activities in the mundane world would be shackled and constrained, and resentment simmered in no few hearts—but few had the nerve to defy the order, and so they could only comply.

Xue Jianfeng was different. Though Xin Yijie had just publicly cut him down to silence, he had no intention whatever of obeying meekly. He was the foremost of the Antiquity Alliance's younger generation; now that his dantian had been destroyed, was he to swallow his rage and say nothing? Not a chance!

"All disciples of the Snow Sword Sect, assemble!" Xue Jianfeng bellowed. The Snow Sword disciples looked at one another, but in the end they obediently gathered. Though this darling of heaven had been made a cripple, his standing and background remained, and in name he was still the lead senior brother—they dared not disregard him.

"What orders does Senior Brother have?" the Snow Sword disciples asked.

"That Yuanshen cultivator dared to destroy my dantian—he is the sworn, irreconcilable enemy of our Snow Sword Sect, and he must die!" Xue Jianfeng ground out through clenched teeth, venom in his eyes.

"But he is an ancestral elder of the Cangwu Sect of the Northern Isle, and Uncle-Master Xin said just now that the consequences of touching him are unthinkable," Fei Yangsheng reminded him cautiously.

"Hmph. That old fool Xin Yijie will stop at nothing to protect him and spews a pile of nonsense. Since when does the Snow Sword Sect need to look to the Cangwu Sect of the Northern Isle for approval before we act?" Xue Jianfeng curled his lip in disdain.

"Then what does Senior Brother Xue propose?" Fei Yangsheng probed.

"That Yuanshen cultivator has some skill, but when all is said and done he is nothing more than a master at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment. Can so many Snow Sword disciples not handle one man? And he is not alone—we need only grab a few of the women and lackeys around him, and that will be enough to make him hesitate to strike!" Xue Jianfeng sneered.

"…" The crowd was struck speechless. Once upon a time this had been the darling of heaven who looked down on all creation. Now he had sunk so low as to stoop to the despicable, contemptible tactic of taking hostages—truly a pitiful thing to behold.

Xue Jianfeng glanced at their expressions and snorted coldly: "Just do as you are told. If anything goes wrong, I will bear the blame. Mark this well—the Yuanshen cultivator we are dealing with is called Wei Zhao, and he is currently in Donghai City!"

"What? He is Wei Zhao?" Leng Leng blurted out in astonishment. She had already ruled out the possibility in her heart, never expecting confirmation now from Xue Jianfeng's own mouth—so it really was Wei Zhao!

Leng Leng was wild with joy—and in that instant became the focus of everyone present. Only now did the others suddenly realize that she had, without anyone noticing, become a master at the mid stage of Foundation Establishment!

When she had gone out for training she had been but at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. How long had it been since—not even a month and a half—and she had risen two levels to the mid stage? Worthy indeed of being acknowledged the core disciple most likely to advance to the Golden Core; such aptitude was simply unmatched!

Leng Leng's aptitude was indeed heaven-defying, but aptitude alone could never have advanced her so quickly. The pills Wei Zhao had given her were the key: with the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill and the Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill in her belly, and her aptitude on top of that, rising two levels had come as naturally as water flowing into a channel—nothing to be astonished at.

Xue Jianfeng was startled too, but his concern lay elsewhere. He strode over, frowning: "Do you know Wei Zhao?"

"Of course I know him. Back then Sun Baimei coveted the treasure my master had passed down to me and ambushed me, leaving me gravely wounded. Later, while I was recovering, he came again to kill me and seize the treasure—I escaped that calamity thanks only to Wei Zhao," Leng Leng explained. She had but one aim in saying all this: she wanted to clear Wei Zhao's name.

"So you and he are close, then?" Xue Jianfeng's face darkened once more.

"Senior Brother Xue, I spent half a month in Wei Zhao's company, and I stake my life that he is truly not a bad man. I only returned alive this time because of him, and he even gave me a pile of pills so that I could advance smoothly and break through. I dare guarantee he has no intention of making an enemy of our Snow Sword Sect—there must be some misunderstanding here," Leng Leng said hastily.

Every one of the deeds Wei Zhao had done left her still unable to digest it all: when had Wei Zhao come to possess such formidable strength, and how had he become an ancestral elder of the Cangwu Sect of the Northern Isle?

Doubts upon doubts wound through her heart, and Wei Zhao's image in Leng Leng's mind grew ever more unfathomable. Even so, she did not believe Wei Zhao could be a match for the entire Snow Sword Sect—after all, the sect held not only Golden Core masters but old monsters of the Nascent Soul. If he were truly branded a sworn enemy of the Snow Sword Sect, Wei Zhao's prospects would be dire indeed.

So no matter what, Leng Leng had to stamp out Xue Jianfeng's hysterical thirst for revenge. As things stood, Xue Jianfeng had only lost his dantian, and a Tier-Five Great Rejuvenation Pill could still buy room for a turnaround; but once revenge was set in motion, the feud would only grow deeper and deeper. Leng Leng did not care whether Xue Jianfeng lived or died—but she feared Wei Zhao would come to harm!

"Junior Sister Leng, our Snow Sword Sect thought so highly of you and gave you so many cultivation resources, and in the end you collude with the enemy—what is your crime to be?" Xue Jianfeng had once harbored feelings for Leng Leng, but at a moment like this, whoever dared block his vengeance against Wei Zhao was his enemy. Furious, he cried: "A misunderstanding? He destroyed my dantian—and you call that a misunderstanding?"

"Senior Brother Xue, a ruined dantian can be repaired, but feuds are best dissolved rather than deepened. You heard Uncle-Master Xin's words just now—why let a moment's anger bring things to an irreparable pass?" Leng Leng urged earnestly.

"Hmph, easy for you to say. Repairing a dantian requires at least a Tier-Five Great Rejuvenation Pill—do you have any idea what that costs?" Xue Jianfeng snorted.

"Then if I gave you a Tier-Five Great Rejuvenation Pill, would you stop making trouble for Wei Zhao?" Leng Leng glanced at him, then suddenly drew a pill from her bosom.

"A Tier-Five Great Rejuvenation Pill?!" The crowd was startled, and the looks they turned on Leng Leng were full of shock. A pill of that caliber might not be found even in the whole of the Snow Sword Sect—and she could simply produce one from her sleeve?!

Xue Jianfeng was equally thunderstruck. For him the most urgent matter at present was not in fact revenge on Wei Zhao, but finding some way to repair his dantian—only the mundane world offered no such means. Never had he imagined that Leng Leng would have a Tier-Five Great Rejuvenation Pill in hand! (To be continued.)

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