By now the might of the Merciless Ice Force had already driven every Heaven-rank Great Perfection master to the ground. Had they been ordinary people, they would long since have been frozen into icicles—there would have been no walking up to this place at all.

It was not only Bing Wushuang—even Xin Yi'an was left staring slack-jawed. When Lin Dongfang and Aunt Qing had arrived, he had gone out to receive them in person, assuming the two were merely some acquaintances Wei Zhao had found in the mortal world to help cover his identity. He himself was an early Golden Core master, yet he had failed to detect the slightest oddity about Lin Dongfang; the man had felt for all the world like an ordinary person. Who could have imagined this fellow was hiding his true depths?

"Senior..." Lengleng regarded Lin Dongfang with a complicated expression. She too had not expected him to step forward at such a moment—much less to walk straight up to her, as though no one else were present.

"Girl," Lin Dongfang said, smiling to himself, "that rascal of mine is a handful. He runs wild out there day in and day out, and can't even look after his own woman. As his grandfather, I've no choice but to take on the burden in his stead. You don't mind, do you?"

"But..." Lengleng hurriedly tried to refuse. Yet the moment she met Lin Dongfang's calm gaze, the words died at the tip of her tongue. His expression was placid enough, but something invisible in it made her feel she could not refuse.

"I mind!" Xue Jianming suddenly stepped out then, and with an arrogant swagger pointed at Lin Dongfang. "What the hell are you? Is this any place for you to be running your mouth? Get lost!"

It was a pity Wei Zhao was absent—Xue Jianming would have liked to see Bing Wushuang crush him outright. Still, in his view, having Bing Wushuang take Lengleng away was no bad thing either. Once she was escorted back to the Xuejian Sect, she would unquestionably suffer no small hardship; after all, his father, the sect's vice-head, was there, and that was a certainty. What was more, when Wei Zhao returned and learned of all this, he would surely fly into a reckless rage—and very likely come to blows with Bing Wushuang. Even then he would not escape a single fate: death.

One might say that, now that Bing Wushuang had come today, no possible outcome could be bad for Xue Jianming. As for this nameless old man who had popped up to make trouble, he need only slap him dead.

"And what the hell are you?" Lin Dongfang looked him over.

"You're asking for death." With that, Xue Jianming struck at Lin Dongfang without a moment's hesitation. He did not know who this old man was, nor what his strength might be—and of course he had no need to know. In his eyes, all that was required was to slap him dead. With Bing Wushuang present, he was not the least bit afraid of causing a disturbance; however great the mess, Bing Wushuang would shield him.

Lin Dongfang only watched it all with a smile, not stirring an inch. Xin Yi'an was instantly alarmed. It was one thing for Bing Wushuang to press the crowd with the Merciless Ice Force, but if Lin Dongfang came to harm right under his nose, he would never be able to shake off the blame.

In an instant a thick barrier of true qi appeared out of thin air before Lin Dongfang. Xue Jianming's palm struck it as though against a slab of iron, and his whole hand twisted at a bizarre angle. It was not only he who felt it—even those standing nearby winced in pain on his behalf.

Xue Jianming was a Great Perfection Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the only ones present capable of such a feat—of making him eat humble pie—were the two early Golden Core masters. And of course the one who had acted could not be Bing Wushuang; it could only be Xin Yi'an.

Ah! Xue Jianming let out a great howl of pain, but he had not lost his reason. If he truly dared to strike at Xin Yi'an in this place, Bing Wushuang would certainly not step in to help him—that would be seeking death.

In a fury, Xue Jianming drew his sword on the spot. His figure flickered as he circled to Lin Dongfang's other side, then with a backhand thrust he drove for the old man's throat, meaning to kill him with a single strike!

"Insolence!" Xin Yi'an was enraged at the sight. Stopping that palm strike without a word had already been a warning. He had never expected Xue Jianming to be so brazen, to hold his leading martial uncle in such utter disregard as to dare kill openly right before his eyes!

Xin Yi'an had the Cangwu Sect of North Island at his back, and he was the leader in charge of the mortal-world training expedition. He was not someone to be trifled with. Conceding so far as to let Bing Wushuang come and collect his people was already the limit; for Xue Jianming to do this was to trample his bottom line. There were limits to forbearance.

Xin Yi'an struck at once as well. If he truly got serious, Xue Jianming would die beyond any doubt. Of course, he would not go for a killing blow lightly—but at the very least he meant to make the man suffer dearly, or his authority as the leading martial uncle would be in ruins from this day forth.

Yet no sooner had Xin Yi'an's figure stirred than a hand suddenly barred his way—Bing Wushuang's.

"What exactly are you playing at?" Xin Yi'an was aghast. He had not expected even Bing Wushuang to side with Xue Jianming. Was this a declaration of war against him and the Cangwu Sect of North Island?!

Bing Wushuang did not answer. His gaze simply came to rest on Lin Dongfang, full of hidden meaning. He meant to use Xue Jianming's hand to probe the old man's depths, and as for whether it ended in a death, he did not care in the least. So long as it was not a true clash with Xin Yi'an himself, killing an ordinary old man would at most amount to a war of words between the two sects—it would bring no real trouble.

Lengleng, Qiu Lingshan, Wu Chengtian, and the rest were aghast at the sight, every one of them breaking into a cold sweat for Lin Dongfang. They knew his strength was formidable, but Xue Jianming was, after all, a Great Perfection Foundation Establishment master—a power on an utterly different level from Heaven-rank Great Perfection. Could Lin Dongfang possibly handle him?

In the end, Lin Dongfang's very next move quickly dispelled the worry in everyone's hearts. One slap—just one slap, with no terrifying display of momentum to be seen—and Xue Jianming was sent flying to the ground by that seemingly plain blow, sprawling face-down like a dead dog and not stirring for the longest time. Whether he was alive or dead, no one could tell.

Xin Yi'an was stunned to behold it. Even he could not have handled Xue Jianming with such effortless ease. Just what kind of divinity was this old man?!

Bing Wushuang was no less shaken. He had seen that Lin Dongfang was no ordinary figure, but he had never imagined the old man was this extraordinary—to slap even Xue Jianming senseless with such ease. This was at least a Golden Core master!

But where would a Golden Core master come from in the mortal world? If this fellow were also one of the Primordial Alliance's people, it was impossible that Bing Wushuang would have heard not a whisper of it. Even if he did not know the man, the fact that the Primordial Alliance had sent out several Golden Core masters was plain as day—there was no hiding it from anyone.

"Just who are you?" Bing Wushuang glanced at the senseless Xue Jianming on the ground. He was now the leading martial uncle of the Xuejian Sect; in principle, all matters concerning the sect's training disciples—Xue Jianming included—had to pass through him. Especially since Xue Jianming had been struck down right before his eyes, there was no possible way he could sit by and do nothing. (To be continued.)