Jiang Qingyi thrust her sword straight at Xiao Jing's heart.
Xiao Han gave a cold snort and drove a fist into the tip of her blade.
For all the ferocity of the Cursive Sword Formula, and all the chill of the Xuanshuang long sword besides, it simply could not break through Xiao Jing's fist.
The enormous force of the punch sent Jiang Qingyi flying, and she hit the ground.
Jiang Qingyi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
When she pushed herself up, Xiao Han's fist came smashing down at her again, and she could only retreat with Cloud-Treading Step.
The spot where she had been standing was already smashed into a deep crater.
Feeling the force in that fist, Jiang Qingyi's brows drew tight. She knew she could not underestimate this enemy.
This double-pupiled Golden Core cultivator's quality was on par with her own, perhaps even a shade stronger.
Only, this double-pupiled boy had far less experience in a fight to the death.
Once she had opened some distance, Jiang Qingyi twirled her blade in a flourish. Frost sword qi spread ceaselessly around her, taking shape into frost long swords, one after another.
"Fall!"
At Jiang Qingyi's command, the frost long swords poured down on Xiao Han like a torrential rain.
"Such petty little tricks, and you dare run wild in my Prince Xiao's Manor?"
Xiao Han did not take Jiang Qingyi seriously at all.
Or rather, since the day he began cultivating, he had never taken anyone seriously.
He had never once lost!
And the fist art he cultivated was called Mountain-Shaking Fist, which demanded exactly that kind of hot-blooded arrogance.
The more he won, the more his qi surged.
And the more his qi surged, the greater his fist's power became.
Mountain-Shaking Fist went out, and its fist force shattered those ice swords into ice shards that hung in the air, glittering with sunlight.
"Die!"
Xiao Han hammered out a punch.
A golden fist print roared toward Jiang Qingyi.
Jiang Qingyi twisted aside to evade it and raised Xuanshuang before her.
She cut open her fingertip and smeared the blood along the blade.
Then, all at once, Jiang Qingyi reversed her grip on the long sword and plummeted straight down from the air.
Boom!
Jiang Qingyi drove the long sword into the earth, and ripples of spiritual power burst outward.
With the sword at its center, the whole front courtyard of the Xiao estate was sheathed in a layer of ice.
Only the ice was red, as though red crystal had been ground up and kneaded into the ice.
Red ice spikes burst from the ground, one after another, and Xiao Han kept retreating.
Wherever he set his foot, a spike erupted.
"Oh no!"
Suddenly Xiao Han seemed to realize something—but it was already too late.
Jiang Qingyi, who had long since prepared, pinched out a hand seal, and in an instant several ice pillars burst up and pinned Xiao Han where he stood.
Off to the other side, Xiao Jing too was bound inside a cage of dark ice.
"Xiao Jing, I want you to watch your own son die right in front of you."
Jiang Qingyi hurled her long sword, and Xuanshuang became a streak of white light stabbing toward Xiao Han's heart.
And in that very instant, an old man bearing a great saber knocked her hundred-step flying sword out of the air; Xuanshuang plunged into the ground and stood there humming.
With another stroke of the blade, the old man shattered the dark-ice cages that bound Xiao Jing and Xiao Han.
Jiang Qingyi hooked her fingers, and the Xuanshuang long sword answered her call, flying back into its master's hand.
"To have cultivated to such a level after losing your sword bone—you truly are remarkable." Xiao Jing walked over to his son's side and brushed the ice dust from him, his tone full of feeling.
"Father, I..."
Xiao Han, who had come within a hair of dying, wanted to explain himself.
But Xiao Jing shook his head. "It's all right. You're still young—only fourteen—and you've fought few battles to the death. Your strength is not inferior to hers; you simply lack experience. Remember today's fight. No matter who your opponent is, never underestimate them."
"Yes, Father!" Xiao Han nodded.
Having soothed his son's Dao heart, Xiao Jing turned back to Jiang Qingyi. "Sure enough, killing you was the right call. Perhaps I should have moved earlier and killed you back then—but it's not too late now either."
"Old Ye, I'll trouble you to act." Xiao Jing had been perfectly composed from first to last.
"Rest assured, Your Highness."
Ye Sandao, the Xiao estate's Jade Unpolished retainer, stepped forward, and the ground beneath his foot caved into a deep pit.
Jiang Qingyi did not even see the man's figure clearly; a broad saber was already chopping down at her.
Clang! Jiang Qingyi braced her sword crosswise to block.
The force of that blow traveled from the web of her thumb up her arm and through her entire body.
Jiang Qingyi felt as if her bones were about to shatter.
Crash!
Jiang Qingyi was smashed into a wall; the wall collapsed violently, broken stone tumbling down without end.
Ptui!
Jiang Qingyi spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered up from the ground.
So this is what a Jade Unpolished cultivator is like?
Jiang Qingyi had not even felt him use his full strength.
"Little girl, this old man will grant you a quick death!"
Ye Sandao's blade qi climbed higher and higher.
Ye Sandao swung his blade once, a stroke that looked fit to split a mountain in two.
Jiang Qingyi's brows knitted. She knew she could not dodge this blade.
Pouring out every drop of her spiritual power, Jiang Qingyi unleashed her strongest sword strike—the final form of the Cursive Sword Formula, the Void-Breaking Form.
Wherever the sword qi swept, it left only phantasms of empty space.
Sword qi and blade qi collided, and wild spiritual power swept through the entire courtyard.
But the gap between their realms was simply too great.
Jiang Qingyi's sword qi stalled the blow by no more than half a breath.
Her sword qi shattered, and that blade qi came chopping down straight at Jiang Qingyi's brow.
Jiang Qingyi knew that she was going to die.
Yet somewhere in her heart, there was unexpectedly a feeling of release.
And just as Jiang Qingyi closed her eyes and calmly waited for death,
a deafening crash came from somewhere not far in front of her.
The pain never came.
The girl slowly opened her eyes, and what she saw was a long sword she knew.
Gripping the hilt of that long sword was a back she knew.
Xiao Jing looked at the man who had dropped out of the sky, his eyes narrowing.
Ye Sandao merely smiled. "Eldest Young Master, it's been a long time."
Xiao Mo shook his head. "Old Ye, I stopped being a young master of the Xiao estate long ago. Still, I'm glad to see you looking well."
"Not bad, not bad." Ye Sandao rested his great saber on his shoulder. "Has the young master come back this time to see your father?"
"Cough, cough..." Xiao Mo coughed a few times. "My disciple was thoughtless and gave offense to Old Ye. I apologize on her behalf, and I hope you'll be the bigger man and overlook it. I'll be sure to take her back and discipline her properly."
Ye Sandao sighed. "Young Master, that's something you'll have to say to our prince. It's no use saying it to me."
Xiao Mo turned and looked at Prince Jing of Liang, then bowed with cupped hands. "Might Your Highness see fit to do me this courtesy?"
Xiao Jing looked at the son who had long since cut all ties with him. "Xiao Mo, she has killed a great many of my people."
"More than twenty years ago, Your Highness also killed a great many people in Qingyi's household," Xiao Mo said calmly.
"Yes." Xiao Jing nodded. "I also killed her father and mother, and killed her little brother. So do you think that later on, she won't kill me?"
Xiao Mo's brows knitted.
Xiao Jing waved his hand and gave his order:
"Old Ye, kill them all, and cut out the sword bone for me."
"Your Highness, the eldest young master is in the Nascent Soul realm, and the sword bone has fused with his soul. If it's forcibly removed, I fear his soul will scatter," Old Ye said.
Xiao Jing gave Old Ye a flat look. "So what?"