"But even so, Young Master Su isn’t afraid, but what if people like us get targeted by Great Priest Liu... What are we supposed to do then?" the girl asked, her brow furrowed with worry.

"He won’t have the time for that." Her master shook his head slightly. "Young Master Su isn’t the only one making a move in this silent calculation... As for us, do you think we have a choice? If we did, no one would want to get involved in a chess game of this level. But think about it... in this world, when has anyone ever been truly free?"

The girl fell silent.

"Alright, don’t overthink it. Pay close attention. We have to keep an eye on every single person who came with their team of experts this time."

"What about the Qingfeng Temple side...?" the girl asked again.

"That’s not for us to handle. Liu Wu Jun’s branch is too strong. The one from the Liu Family can’t sit still any longer. If Liu Wu Jun’s branch is allowed to keep growing, that person’s future will be miserable. So... this may look like a chance conflict, but in reality... everything was already set in stone," the white-haired old man beside them chuckled.

The Su Family and the main branch of the Liu Family had actually joined forces to deal with the siblings, Liu Wu Jun and Liu Xiao. Hearing this, the girl was momentarily at a loss for how to react.

Unbeknownst to many, the various powers that had conflicts with Liu Wu Jun had somehow all banded together.

"To capture Liu Shenglan, Liu Wu Jun’s mother, at the Lin Mansion, we must first break through Qingfeng Temple’s surveillance and arrangements around the area. As long as the forces of Qingfeng Temple are there, no one can easily infiltrate the Lin Mansion’s surroundings to make a move. After all, they have too many people, and they’re close with the Inspectorate. Unless the higher-ups directly dispatch experts—but every move an expert makes is watched by countless eyes. Therefore, capturing a Priest like Liu Xiao, while seemingly difficult, actually presents a much greater opportunity than going after Liu Shenglan... People in the middle ranks like us have become the key to making the first move," the girl’s master explained.

He slowly drew the long saber from his back.

"Alright. That one can’t hold back any longer. Everyone, get ready. The relic must be activated in time. Otherwise, we won’t be able to capture a Priest-level Liu Xiao on our own."

"Understood," the white-haired old man nodded.

"Ling’Er understands. Don’t worry, Master," the girl added with a nod.

Just then, on the battlefield in the distance, a woman who had been disguised as an ordinary Qingfeng Temple disciple suddenly tore off her veil and pounced like a fierce tiger toward the nearest Martial Artist from Hongfei Gate.

The woman had a slender figure and a handsome face, her eyes filled with intense killing intent. With a single palm strike, she unleashed the ultimate move of the Rain Palace’s high-grade Martial Arts, the Rushing Thunder Palm.

The palm strike was swift and ferocious, carrying the exaggerated power and speed of the Priest realm. Void Power distorted the air around her palm, carving a vacuum in its path and kicking up gusts of wind.

Just as the palm was about to land on the Inner Power Martial Artist’s chest, a dark figure shot in from the side like a bolt of lightning. In the same posture, with the same right palm, he met Liu Xiao’s attack head-on, his hand covered in a massive amount of Inner Strength.

BOOM!

Countless layers of Circulation Internal Power were shattered by the Void Power. The dark figure retreated with the momentum, continuously creating new afterimages of his palm with Inner Strength to block her.

"A Grandmaster!?" Liu Xiao’s expression changed. She sensed that her own speed and power held no advantage, and she was even a step weaker than her opponent. She instantly knew this wasn’t a spontaneous attack, but a premeditated ambush!

"Priest Liu, it’s been a while." The man with salt-and-pepper hair who had intervened stood holding a saber in one hand, his other hand having met her palm. He watched Liu Xiao with a calm expression.

"Fu Chunxing of the Carefree Pavilion? Since when did you start backing Hongfei Gate?" Liu Xiao asked coldly.

A Grandmaster of the Small Three Harmonies realm was slightly superior in strength and speed to someone at the Priest realm. However, a Priest’s unlimited use of Void Power gave them greater destructive and lethal force than a Grandmaster. Therefore, for these two realms to determine a victor, it still came down to their individual fighting techniques, Secret Techniques, the environment, and their current condition.

"Don’t you understand yet, Priest Liu? The words your esteemed brother publicly spoke at the tea party in the Inner City last week already sealed the fate of today’s battle," Fu Chunxing said flatly.

"My brother just had too much to drink and was spouting nonsense," Liu Xiao argued, her expression faltering slightly.

At the time, Liu Wu Jun had been sparring with someone at the tea party. After defeating his opponent, the person pointed out that while his personality seemed gentle, his heart was as cold as ice. He would remember anyone who became his enemy and settle the score with them one by one, with no possibility of reconciliation.

And at that moment, Liu Wu Jun had not refuted it.

This had made Liu Xiao, who was also present, feel that something was wrong. But everyone there was a top expert of Heart and Spirit. If Liu Wu Jun had tried to lie against his true nature, it would have been too easy for others to see through him.

So he had remained silent.

’I can’t believe that incident was the fuse...’

Liu Xiao was distracted for a moment, and the figure before her blurred. Her opponent sent a palm strike straight at her head.

A massive amount of Circulation Internal Power, seemingly spent as if it were free, formed a white palm silhouette five to six meters in diameter, smashing viciously toward her forehead.

Liu Xiao immediately snapped back to her senses, activating her Void Power and focusing on her fight with the opponent.

It wasn’t just her. The rest of the Qingfeng Temple team was now showing signs of being steadily defeated.

Although there were only six or seven attackers—fewer than them—each one was at Inner Power Perfection. They also seemed to be extremely familiar with Qingfeng Temple’s Martial Arts, even knowing their fighting habits down to the last detail.

This made the members of Qingfeng Temple feel constrained and extremely uncomfortable from the moment they engaged.

Furthermore, the opponents’ Body Technique was incredibly fast, as if they had trained specifically for this. Some of its details were even somewhat similar to Qingfeng Temple’s Nine-Section Swift Sword.

This was a clear sign that Qingfeng Temple’s Martial Arts had been leaked.

The two sides had been fighting for less than half a minute.

On the spot, two disciples grunted in pain, wounded and drawing blood after making a mistake.

Liu Xiao saw this, and her heart grew more and more anxious.

She had a hot temper to begin with, and now she was being held up. On top of that, she had just promised her little brother, Lin Hui, that she would look after this team before they set out.

’And now, how long has it been since we left, and already...’

The more she thought about it, the more frantic she became, and the more frantic she became, the sloppier her attacks grew.

Her opponent, Fu Chunxing, was a veteran Grandmaster from the Carefree Pavilion with immense combat experience. His actual battle record was already far more formidable than Liu Xiao’s. Now, noticing her panicked state of mind, he immediately seized several openings, landing three consecutive slashes of Inner Strength saber energy viciously on her back.

Liu Xiao was instantly wounded, also drawing blood.

Seeing everyone falling into a disadvantageous position, it seemed they would be completely annihilated if there were no other variables.

Chen Sui knew this was bad and let out a great roar.

"Everyone, stop holding back! Activate your Secret Techniques!"

He immediately stopped holding back. The muscles in his legs bulged, his entire aura shifted slightly, and the flow of his Inner Strength quickened by a large margin.

Instantly, his Body Technique became much faster than before.

SHING! SHING! With two sword strikes, he drew blood from the legs of the Inner Power Martial Artist across from him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The other Qingfeng Temple disciples also activated their Secret Techniques one by one. The speed at which their Inner Strength circulated increased dramatically, and their Body Techniques became much faster, making them seem like phantoms.

In an instant, the situation was completely reversed.

But before they could press their attack, an invisible force descended upon the clearing, covering a radius of several hundred meters.

It forcibly suppressed the circulation speed of all the Qingfeng Temple disciples’ Inner Strength by half.

At this moment, another white-haired old man joined the battlefield and began to besiege Liu Xiao alongside Fu Chunxing.

It was obvious that the purpose of their trip was to capture Liu Xiao.

Provoking Qingfeng Temple was a feint; the real goal was to target Liu Xiao. If Liu Xiao hadn’t come out this time, they had other ways to lure her out. They were specifically aiming for this window of opportunity while she was on leave.

After the invisible relic’s force field activated, the disadvantage of the Qingfeng Temple members could no longer be reversed.

Many disciples were unable to dodge in time and were injured in the exchange.

Without their speed advantage, their normal combat power was actually a bit weaker than their opponents’.

After all, their opponents were at Inner Power Perfection at the very least, spending their Inner Strength in massive quantities as if it cost nothing.

Their strategy was to win by quantity and overwhelm with area-of-effect suppression.

Seeing this disadvantage, one of Qingfeng Temple’s externally hired Inner Power Martial Artist Elders couldn’t take it anymore. Without a second thought, he turned and fled.

He directly sold out the surrounding Qingfeng Temple disciples.

Chen Sui watched, his eyes wide with fury.

"We can’t do it! We can’t hold on, Senior Sister Xia!!"

He suddenly roared.

"Alright, I heard you."

Suddenly, a beautiful girl with shoulder-length black hair appeared abruptly, standing bizarrely behind Chen Sui’s opponent.

The Inner Power Martial Artist’s face filled with horror; he hadn’t realized someone was behind him until he heard the voice.

But before he could turn.

SHING!

The girl gently gripped her sword.

An invisible wind swept past.

The Martial Artist froze, his entire body sliced diagonally from shoulder to waist into two pieces, which then crashed to the ground.

"Didn’t I say to avoid exposing me if possible?" The girl wore a helpless expression, her bright black eyes showing no emotion after killing someone, as if her sword strike had just been pruning a tree branch.

Compared to over a year ago, with ample nutrition, she had grown to a height of 1.45 meters, and her figure had developed the slender grace of a normal teenage girl.

But the contradictory thing about Xia Si was her face; no matter what trouble or danger she encountered, she was always peaceful, smiling, and composed.

Just like this very moment.

Even after instantly cutting a person in two, she showed none of the emotional fluctuations a normal person should have.

"Senior Sister Xia!!"

"Senior Sister Xia has made her move!!"

"Hurry, Senior Sister, I can’t hold on much longer!!"

"I love you, Senior Sister Xia!! I want to have your ba—!" Before this female disciple could finish her shout, she was sent flying backward by her opponent’s palm strike, coughing up blood.

"Always relying on me is not good for you," Xia Si said helplessly.

She placed her right hand on her sword hilt once more.

She recalled the sword strike her master had once demonstrated for her.

A gentle breeze would blow, and all the monsters outside the window would dissipate like the wind.

Such divine speed.

Such brilliance.

’I want to be like Master and unleash a strike just like that.’

She closed her eyes, a deep sense of anticipation welling up in her heart.

’Instinct.’

’Tell me what to do.’

Her hand on the sword slowly tightened.

WHOOSH!

"Wind!"

Suddenly, Xia Si spoke.

In the next instant, the gentle breeze rose again.

Xia Si’s figure instantly appeared behind every enemy Martial Artist on the field at the same time.

All of her apparitions swung their swords in unison.

SHING!

Every one of the enemies was sliced in two!

"I will be like the wind, destroying everything, scattering everything!" Xia Si opened her bright, crystal-clear black eyes. Looking at the enemy corpses that had been cut in two before her, she broke into a sweet smile.

WOAHHH!!

The Qingfeng Temple disciples present, with the exception of Chen Sui, all cheered in unison.

Although they had never seen such a move in the Qingfeng Swordsmanship before, no one cared.

Of course, they couldn’t have seen it before. Because this move was indeed not from the Qingfeng Swordsmanship, nor was it from the Gale Sword style.

It was an instinctual Swordsmanship that Xia Si had comprehended on her own.

Not far away, Fu Chunxing, who was fighting Liu Xiao, sensed the change here. His expression shifted slightly as his gaze met Xia Si’s from a distance.

Alarm bells instantly screamed in his heart. He turned and sprinted with all his might, disappearing into a dilapidated temple in the distance in the blink of an eye, grabbing his apprentice and vanishing from sight.

The other white-haired old man wasn’t so lucky. He also turned to run but was intercepted by Xia Si.

Behind him, Liu Xiao had caught her breath and pounced on him with a vicious grin.

A moment later, the old man’s corpse lay in two pieces on the ground, blood pooling around it, devoid of life.

Liu Xiao looked at Xia Si with a complicated expression. She didn’t know where Lin Hui had found such a genius, but her strength was truly unfathomable, even to her.

’This girl... she kills people as easily as slaughtering chickens, and she always has that peaceful, warm smile on her face. She’s simply...’

"Are you happy?" Liu Xiao asked.

"I suppose. I completed the task Master gave me and didn’t let him down. Isn’t that something to be happy about?" Xia Si retorted.

"..." ’She’s a psycho...’

Liu Xiao lamented in her heart.

When it came to Lin Hui, she felt a growing sense that she could see through him less and less.