Chapter 136: Sword Shatters Meridians

In an instant.

A terrifying Sword Intent erupted.

Horror filled Huang Feng’s face. His entire body throbbed with a faint, sharp pain, as if he was about to be sliced to ribbons by countless streams of Sword Qi!

"Master! Master, save me!"

He screamed endlessly, his heart filled with despair.

Facing an expert like Pei Yingyao, who was in the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment, he didn’t stand a chance.

Only his master, Murong Kang, could stop Pei Yingyao.

The next instant, his face went pale as he flew uncontrollably through the air, landing directly in front of Pei Yingyao.

With a THUD, the terrifying pressure forced him to his knees on the spot.

"You animal, preying on your own sect members!"

Pei Yingyao’s face was as cold as ice, her killing intent surging.

After hearing Li Chang’an’s account and connecting it with the attack from the Big Master of Black Wind Mountain, she immediately understood that Huang Feng’s shadow loomed behind both incidents.

That was why she had come straight to Huang Feng’s residence after leaving Li Chang’an’s courtyard.

Had Huang Feng merely manipulated the Big Master of Black Wind Mountain, she wouldn’t have been this furious.

But in order to get rid of Li Chang’an, Huang Feng had killed a disciple of the Yellow Crane Mountain Lineage!

Fratricide within the sect was a grave taboo!

The disciple who died had no conflict of interest with Huang Feng. He was purely a tool who had to be eliminated—his death was utterly senseless and unjust.

"Junior Martial Uncle Pei, spare me! I didn’t do anything!"

Huang Feng begged for mercy repeatedly, his voice hoarse.

The moment he heard the words "preying on your own sect members," he knew he had been exposed.

His begging now wasn’t in the hope that Pei Yingyao would show him leniency, but to stall for time until his master, Murong Kang, arrived.

As expected, Pei Yingyao ignored his pleas and unleashed a stream of Sword Qi, intending to take his life.

Just then, another blast of Foundation Establishment Magical Power shot out, blocking the attack in front of Huang Feng.

"Senior Sister, stop!"

Hearing this voice, Pei Yingyao’s elegant brows furrowed slightly as she turned to look.

The newcomer was a middle-aged Cultivator of about forty, dressed in a gray robe, with a somewhat sallow complexion.

This was none other than Huang He Master’s thirteenth disciple.

Murong Kang!

"Senior Sister, what happened? Why do you want to kill Feng’er?"

"You don’t know?"

Pei Yingyao stared at him coldly, her eyes like sharp swords.

Murong Kang felt uneasy under her gaze.

He glanced at Huang Feng, realizing his disciple must have caused some catastrophic trouble to provoke such intense killing intent from Pei Yingyao.

"Senior Sister, Feng’er’s parents both died for Yellow Crane Immortal City. For their sake, could you spare his life?"

Murong Kang didn’t ask what had happened again; instead, he immediately began to plead for him.

Huang Feng’s parents were both talented Righteous Cultivators.

Years ago, the two of them had fought a great battle against the Tribulation Cultivators of the Five Poison Wanderer Lineage to protect the disciples of the Yellow Crane Mountain Lineage. In the end, they were fatally poisoned and died from their incurable wounds.

It was for this reason that Murong Kang had taken Huang Feng as his disciple.

Hearing his words, Pei Yingyao’s expression softened slightly.

"Fine. The death penalty can be avoided!"

With that, she struck Huang Feng’s Celestial Spirit with her palm.

The next moment, endless Sword Qi surged into Huang Feng’s Meridians.

"AHHH—"

Huang Feng screamed wretchedly, his face contorting as if he were suffering the most brutal torture in the world.

The Sword Qi was incomparably sharp, rampaging through his Meridians.

In just a few breaths’ time, all the Meridians in his body were shattered into a thousand pieces.

Such severe damage to his Meridians was practically incurable.

Even a Divine Doctor could only shake their head in resignation.

From this day forward, he was a cripple, unable to cultivate ever again!

Seeing this, Murong Kang’s expression changed drastically.

"Senior Sister, you..."

"Do you want a taste of it too?"

Pei Yingyao shot him a cold glance.

Murong Kang shuddered.

He had a feeling that if he tried to intervene, Pei Yingyao would cripple him just as mercilessly!

A moment later, Pei Yingyao withdrew her hand and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Huang Feng collapsed to the ground, his face a mask of misery.

"My Cultivation..."

he muttered, his voice filled with utter despair.

For a Celestial Pride like him, being crippled was no different from being dead.

...

「Meanwhile.」

In the courtyard.

Li Chang’an was carefully examining the aura of Pei Yingyao’s personal sword.

’Such a potent Sword Intent.’

If he could integrate this Sword Intent into his Sword Array, its power would surely rise to another level.

Unfortunately, this was a Sword Intent that only a Sword Cultivator could comprehend.

Li Chang’an coveted it, but he could not grasp its true essence.

’Forget it. The path of slaughter followed by Sword Cultivators is not my path, after all.’

Li Chang’an sighed and shook his head.

’I’m not a genius; I can’t possibly master everything. For now, I should just focus on my own peaceful cultivation.’

Longevity was his true goal.

Thinking of this, he put down the sword and began to clean up the wreckage of the arrays scattered across his courtyard.

’This time, three of my arrays were destroyed blocking Chu Xiong. It’s a good thing the compensation he gave was enough.’

Li Chang’an picked up a broken Array Flag from the ground, feeling a wave of emotion.

It was an Array Flag from the Cloud Mist Hidden Killing Array.

’This was the first Array I ever obtained. It’s been with me for a long time.’

As his strength grew and the dangers he faced became more severe, this Array had long since become inadequate.

Now, its time had officially come to an end.

...

While Li Chang’an was cleaning his courtyard, not far outside, a man and a woman were walking toward it.

One was Zhou Xuan; the other was his older cousin, Zhou Yu.

"Sis, Daoist Li doesn’t lack Spirit Stones. He’ll definitely offer you a satisfying price. Besides, that Heavy Spiritual Earth of yours is useless to you, so just sell it to him!"

For the past few days, Zhou Xuan had been trying to persuade Zhou Yu.

However, Zhou Yu was holding onto the Treasure tightly.

She said seriously, "This item may be useless to me, but many people out there want to buy it, including disciples of Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators. Why must I sell it to Li Chang’an? A Foundation Establishment Disciple is far more worthy of befriending than he is."

"Sis, Daoist Li’s status is no worse than that of a Foundation Establishment Disciple."

Zhou Xuan urged patiently.

"A Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator holds him in high regard. Otherwise, where would he have gotten so many Spirit Stones? Many Foundation Establishment Disciples don’t receive that kind of treatment!"

"Are you sure he has a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator backing him?"

Zhou Yu furrowed her elegant brows, her expression full of doubt.

It was because Li Chang’an’s talent was truly terrible; he only had a Low Grade Spirit Root.

"You and I are both siblings with Middle Grade Spirit Roots and decent backgrounds, yet no Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator has taken an interest in us. What makes Li Chang’an so special?"

Zhou Xuan was speechless, as this was a question he had been pondering himself.

What exactly did that Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator see in Li Chang’an?

Zhou Yu shook her head and added, "In my opinion, there’s no Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator backing him at all. The only reason he has so many Spirit Stones is because he stumbled upon some fortuitous encounter. This so-called ’Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator’ is just a story he made up to scare people off."

"This..."

Zhou Xuan was taken aback.

Her words were not without reason.

For someone with Li Chang’an’s level of Cultivation, if he had no backer yet possessed considerable wealth, it would only be a matter of time before Tribulation Cultivators targeted him.

To protect himself, it was highly likely he would fabricate a background.

With the deterrent of a Foundation Establishment backer, ordinary Tribulation Cultivators wouldn’t dare to come after him.