“Nangong Xu!”

     Some of the older people in the crowd, who had yet to leave, reacted with a start.

     “It’s him?!”

     “It’s Nangong Xu…”

     “Didn’t he die a long time ago?”

     “Luo Fenghua killed him with his own hands back then… How can he… How can he still be alive?”

     Ye Wangxi was even more shocked. Her face was pale, and her lips trembled. She shook her head and stepped back with tears in her eyes, “Yifu…”

     Xu Shuanglin glanced at Ye Wangxi, then smiled at her, “Come along, Xiao Ye-zi. Yifu won’t hurt you.”

     “Don’t you even think about touching her again!” someone shouted, and grabbed Ye Wangxi’s wrist. When Ye Wangxi turned around, Nangong Si’s eyes were clouded with hate, “Ye Wangxi, get behind me.”

     Xu Shuanglin smiled, “My good nephew, why is it that your temper is nothing like your father’s, and only like your mother’s?”

     Nangong Si roared, “Shut up! How dare you mention my mother?!”

     “Why can’t I?” Xu Shuanglin said slowly, “Did you know that the person your mother loved was not your father at all, but me?”

     “!!!”

     Seeing the rage and disgust twisted on the young man’s face, and the madness and pain in his eyes, Xu Shuanglin actually enjoyed it. It was as if he was being nourished by this deep-rooted hatred, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

     “Your father ruined my reputation and took everything from me, but so what? Rufeng Sect… is still in his hands as it comes to its twilight of doom. Hate me Si-er, hate me brother! Hahahaha… Did you think the pitiful Nangong Xu would just die like that? Did you think I would obediently lie in my grave and watch you live a carefree life in this world?”

     His smile suddenly twisted as he spat.

     “In your dreams!”

     As he spoke, he walked over to Nangong Liu, who was on the verge of death. With one hand, he grabbed the lapels of his older brother’s robes and pulled him up as if he were a puddle of mud.

     “What use is Rufeng Sect in the hands of such trash? Sect Leader… Ha, what a joke! As the Sect Leader, he was fooled by me for so many years. If I tell him I want something, he would obediently find it for me.” He patted Nangong Liu’s bloody cheek with an affectionate smile, but there was a sinister glint in his eyes, “Big brother, you really are a good-for-nothing coward.”

     At the side, Sect Leader Jiang Xi demanded, “Does Your Excellency intend to destroy the hundred-year foundation of Rufeng Sect?”

     Xu Shuanglin turned around and blinked, “Hundred-year foundation? That’s nothing. If the foundation is destroyed, we can start over. If the seventy-two cities are burned down, we can still rebuild them. Only when a person’s heart is dead will they be reduced to ashes, scattered by the wind.”

     He paused for a moment, then smiled brightly, “I’m going to destroy all of your hearts.”

     It was a chilling statement. Coupled with his radiant expression, it made people shudder in fear. Before the others could react, Nangong Si could no longer hold back. His eyes burned with endless flames, filled with the smoke of despair. There was only hatred and madness in those eyes, not the slightest desire to live. The sound of a jade flute rang out, and a faewolf the size of three people rushed out of the forest with a howl, leaping in front of Nangong Si.

     Nangong Si flipped onto the faewolf’s back, and before he could even sit properly, the wolf’s shadow had already swept away.

     “Mantuo, come!” Following his shout, a dazzling bow appeared in his palm. It was a holy weapon. Nangong Si situated himself on the faewolf’s back, his body upright, and brandished the jade holy weapon. His face was filled with a crazed hatred, and in an instant, he had already shot three arrows in succession, aiming straight for Xu Shuanglin’s vital points.

     Xu Shuanglin laughed, “Si-er, you’re very naughty.”

     He dodged two arrows, but seeing that he couldn’t dodge the third, he wasn't worried. Instead, he grabbed his brother’s limp, half-dead body and used it to block the arrow.

     Nangong Si’s eyes widened. After all, this was his own father. Even knowing that the other party was heartless, the blood ties were still deeply ingrained in his bones. He couldn’t help but tense up, his teeth biting into his lips and spilling blood.

     “Do you still want to play with uncle?” Xu Shuanglin, however, was completely unbothered, still smiling affectionately, “Uncle will indulge you.”

     Nangong Si was enraged, “Nangong Xu! I’ll kill you!”

     “You’re just a child, why are you shouting about fighting and killing?” Xu Shuanglin’s words were light, but his movements didn’t slow in the slightest as he started to exchange blows with his nephew.

     In only a few moves, his swift and fierce skills caused all of the surrounding cultivators to feel dumbstruck.

     Some of the people couldn’t help but think, No wonder when Nangong Liu took over the position of Sect Leader, his attitude towards his younger brother was so twisted—the difference in spiritual energy of these two brothers is like the difference between heaven and earth, like the difference between clouds and mud. The older brother isn’t even worthy to carry the younger brother’s shoes.

     “So powerful.”

     “Didn’t Nangong Xu have to secretly steal his older brother’s spell back then? How could he have such ability?”

     “He’s practically on par with the number one zongshi…”

     A few people originally wanted to help Nangong Si attack him, but at this moment, all of them withdrew. There were also some who were more astute, thinking that the calamity that had befallen Rufeng Sect could no longer be stopped, so they took advantage of the chaos to turn around and flee.

     This kind of mentality spread extremely quickly. In just a short time, those who hadn’t yet fled, immediately ran and scattered. They all disappeared, uncaring of their fellow disciples who had been made into chess pieces and had yet to recover their senses.

     In the blink of an eye, there were only a few people left in the hunting grounds. Mo Ran turned his head to see that only Chu Wanning, Ye Wangxi, and surprisingly Jiang Xi, were still left.

     This was something Mo Ran didn’t expect. Jiang Xi was the richest man in the world, the world’s most proficient merchant, and also the Sect Leader of the largest sect in the cultivation world aside from Rufeng Sect. He didn’t expect him to care about such a hopeless situation that had nothing to do with him.

     “Sect Leader Jiang…”

     A slightly trembling voice startled Mo Ran even more. He turned around and saw that there was another person he hadn’t noticed before, hiding behind an orange tree. His face was pale and his lips trembled violently, but he still forced himself not to leave.

     Li Wuxin?!

     As the leader of the lowest ranked sect in the upper cultivation world, Li Wuxin was filled with uncertainty. His yellow face was covered in sweat as looked at the few remaining men, “Are we going to attack together?”

     Jiang Xi didn’t answer immediately. His gaze quickly swept across the remaining people before he spoke decisively, “Villa Master Li, come with me. I’ll go save the remaining chess pieces. You will be responsible for bringing them all to a safe place on your sword.”

     “Okay, okay, okay.”

     “As for Chu-zongshi and Mo-zongshi—”

     “Mo Ran, go help Nangong Si. I’ll mend the Heavenly Rift, then come help you,” Chu Wanning said.

     This Heavenly Rift was very different from the one in Butterfly Town. It was far less dangerous since they didn’t have to fight off hundreds of evil demons, and only had to deal with the golden-red lava of the infernal hells. However, the tear was so big that it would be more appropriate for Chu Wanning to repair it.

     Mo Ran removed the Ten Thousand Coffins spell, and the several cultivators that were used as chess pieces collapsed limply to the ground.

     With a flick of Jiang Xi’s green sleeve, thousands of specks of medicinal powder scattered to the ground to stabilize their weakened state, then he turned to Li Wuxin, “I’ll have to trouble you.”

     Li Wuxin nodded his head and summoned a heavy sword shining with a dark green light. He chanted an incantation, and the sword that could normally only carry two or three people, suddenly expanded by dozens of feet, hanging in the air. Jiang Xi carried the people to the hilt one by one, until Xue Meng was the last person remaining.

     However, when Jiang Xi carried him over, Li Wuxin stopped him, “I can’t carry any more, there are too many of us. Wait until I return from this trip.”

     Jiang Xi glanced at the battle not far away; fire and sparks were flying everywhere, the spiritual energy flow becoming increasingly terrifying. The surrounding orange trees fell one after another, and it was obvious that the battle would soon reach them.

     There was nothing he could do. He lowered his head and looked at Xue Meng with disgust, then said, “Forget it, you go. I’ll take care of this trash.”

     Once he finished, he called out in a deep voice, “Xuehuang, come.”

     A silver longsword glowing with a bright blue radiance suddenly appeared under his feet. Xuehuang was extremely luxurious and magnificent, with a slender hilt and exquisite ornamentation. However, it was obvious that this sword wasn't good at carrying heavy loads. Fortunately, the weight of two people was still bearable.

     Jiang Xi held the unconscious Xue Meng in his arms. Thinking of how this person had talked back to him before, and how he was the son of Madam Wang and Xue Zhengyong, he couldn’t hide his disgust, and his disdain was written all over his face.

     Li Wuxin: “...”

     Seeing Sect Leader Jiang’s expression… He wouldn’t fly as high as he could and throw the Young Master of Sisheng Peak down to his death, would he?

     “What are you looking at? Hurry up and leave. We need to get them to safety quickly and come back to help,” Jiang Xi said with a gloomy face. “We can’t just let Rufeng Sect be wiped out like this.”

     The two holy weapons soared into the air, carrying the young cultivators into the distance.

     Meanwhile, Chu Wanning had repaired the last section of the Heavenly Rift, and the battle between the others and Xu Shuanglin was reaching its peak. Mo Ran’s strength was formidable, and Nangong Si’s killing intent was even more resolute. Although Xu Shuanglin’s power was overwhelming, he was no match for the two of them combined.

     In a moment of desperation, Xu Shuanglin turned to Ye Wangxi and shouted, “Ye-zi, what are you doing there?! Do you really want to watch your father die at the hands of others? Hurry up and help me!”

     Ye Wangxi clenched her hands into fists with a pained expression. Her entire body was trembling, but she didn't move forward. Instead, she retreated step by step.

     “Are you really going to stand by and watch? Have you forgotten who brought you back from the orange grove when you were a child? Who raised you and gave you a name?”

     “...No.”

     She was on the verge of collapse, but because she had been strong since she was young, and both the Sect Leader and elders raised her like a man, now that she was met with such an unexpected situation, she still persisted as usual; her back was still straight despite her pained expression. Although her face was red, she didn’t cry like an ordinary girl. However, she seemed as if any slight touch would cause her to break, destroying all of her muscles, veins, skin, and flesh, and crushing her to mud.

     Seeing her like this, Xu Shuanglin cursed silently, but he didn’t try to force her anymore. Instead, he turned his head once again and began fighting the other two more fiercely.

     Clang! The saber in his hand suddenly emitted an ear-piercing metallic sound. The top-grade weapon from Kunlun Taxue Palace couldn’t hold on any longer, breaking into pieces under Mo Ran’s willow vine and falling to the ground.

     Mo Ran said coldly, “What else can you fight with?”

     Xu Shuanglin knew that things were not going well.

     Suddenly, he heard a distant boom over his head, and raised his eyes to look. He immediately saw that Chu Wanning had completely mended the Heavenly Rift, and that the sky above the hunting grounds was returning to its normal state. The hellish lava that had lost its spiritual flow of the underworld, instantly turned into little golden-red specks and drifted down like fireflies.

     As the sky filled with these twinkling lights, Chu Wanning floated down from the night sky. His dark ceremonial robe fluttered in the strong wind, making his face look as white as porcelain. His features were handsome beyond compare.

     However, even though he was handsome, it could not conceal his killing intent.

     “Damn.” Xu Shuanglin gritted his teeth.

     One Mo-zongshi was already more than enough to make him suffer. With another great cultivator like Chu-zongshi joining the fight, who in the entire cultivation world would be able to fight against the two of them alone?

     Xu Shuanglin took a step back and suddenly cut his palm with a knife. He squeezed out a stream of blood and used it to draw a curse mark on his forehead. He shouted in a deep voice, “How long will it take for you to save me?! How long are you going to drag this out?!”

     Then, he raised his hand and grabbed at the air. Unexpectedly, his nails suddenly grew by several inches. With a slash, he instantly tore apart Luo Fenghua’s body that had been lying on the surface of the lake, and pulled out his bloody spiritual core, putting it into his arms. Then, he quickly jumped back, his fingers dripping with blood. He grabbed his half-dead brother, removed the enchantment under his feet, and directly jumped into Ganquan Lake, heading straight to the bottom.

     Mo Ran immediately came back to his senses; the holy weapon Bu’gui, which he had used to open the Heavenly Rift, was still at the bottom of the lake!

     Even though Xu Shuanglin was dragging a living corpse, he was an excellent swimmer, and immediately grabbed the pitch-black blade from the lake. The moment he emerged, another crack suddenly appeared in the sky.

     Chu Wanning frowned, “Another Heavenly Rift?”

     Despite the crack in the sky, Chu Wanning wasn’t sure if it was a Heavenly Rift. The crack was very small, only as tall as a person, and unlike the normal Heavenly Rift, there was no yin energy flowing out of it.

     Xu Shuanglin shook off the water and leapt up. With one hand holding his brother and the other holding Bu’gui, he fiercely slashed down with the holy weapon, forcing the three people chasing after him to slow down. He took this opportunity to jump up.

     Suddenly, a slender hand stretched out from the narrow crack and tightly gripped Xu Shuanglin’s arm.

      “Gate of Time, Space, Life, and Death!!” Xu Shuanglin shouted.

     Chu Wanning’s eyes suddenly widened. He had always been calm and collected, and even if he saw the Zhenlong Chess Formation, he wouldn’t be shocked. But this time, all of the blood drained from his face in an instant, and his sleeves were bunched up as he clenched his fists in disbelief.

     As for Mo Ran, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, “What?!”

     How is this possible?!

     This was actually the strongest of the three forbidden techniques, rumored to be able to tear apart time and space, causing people in different dimensions to appear at the same time.

     This was a forbidden technique that had long since been lost in the cultivation world.

     The Gate of Time, Space, Life, and Death!