Zhang Yuge seemed quite pleased with his “Amitabha,” prompting Yun Lan to snort in response.
“Tell me, do you really think you’re handsome? A Shaman shouting Buddhist phrases during a divine ritual.”
“Of course, Master. Carrying a girl in my arms—that’s pretty handsome, isn’t it?”
“Ah, handsome, handsome, so very handsome.”
While the master and disciple bantered back and forth, everyone else’s attention was fully captured by Zhang Yuge.
“Ji… Ji Dan stage… This charlatan is actually a Ji Dan stage cultivator?!”
“Damn it, how could this be?”
The Yun Family Patriarch was frustrated and overwhelmed.
Li Yuhan alone was hard enough to deal with, and now there was a Ji Dan stage Imperial Advisor—how could they possibly fight this?
The Yun Family youth wounded by Zhang Yuge shouted,
“Patriarch, the palace maid in the Imperial Advisor’s hands is suspected to have Imperial Family Bloodline! I heard her call ‘Imperial Brother’ with my own ears!”
“What? There’s even Li family bloodline involved?”
The Yun elders were incredulous.
“I swear, this beauty by my side is indeed the Emperor’s sister, the current princess. If you don’t believe me, ask the Emperor yourself,”
the masked Imperial Advisor shouted from below.
At that moment, after a round of heavy bombardment, Li Yuhan slowly emerged from the dust and smoke.
Li Yulu saw her brother was unharmed and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Yuhan ignored the Imperial Advisor’s nonsense, spreading his arms wide with a look of arrogance and disdain.
“Ants, are you done tickling? Since you’re finished, this King will send you on your way.”
Li Yuhan’s disregard for Zhang Yuge was taken by the Yun Family Patriarch as tacit confirmation of his words.
Yun Hai immediately gave the order,
“This woman must not be allowed to live. Victory or defeat hinges on this moment—kill!”
“Yes, sir!”
Although the Imperial Advisor had displayed Ji Dan stage cultivation, the Yun Family was fighting with their backs to the wall; no one retreated.
They dared not rush in recklessly but formed a circle around Zhang Yuge, slowly tightening the encirclement.
“Heavens, are these Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment stage practitioners not afraid of death? Swords, attack!”
Suddenly, Li Yulu, who was being held, felt a strange sensation as if something inside her was about to emerge.
“My body… what’s happening?”
“Wife, hold on. It’ll be over soon.”
A sword hilt slowly rose from the girl’s chest.
Zhang Yuge grabbed it and pulled out the [Royal Longsword] in one swift motion.
“Th-this… this is a sword?”
Li Yulu asked in disbelief.
The Yun Family members were equally stunned by Zhang Yuge’s unusual sword draw, exchanging glances.
Zhang Yuge gently set Li Yulu down and instructed,
“Wife, stand behind me. They’re targeting you.”
“Don’t worry. I’m an eighth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator. I won’t be a burden.”
For some reason, Zhang Yuge’s use of “wife” made Li Yulu feel deeply comforted, lifting her spirits considerably.
“Disciple, don’t get caught up in the fight. You still need to assist Zhang Qingyao. She can’t handle all these burdens alone at the Qi Refinement stage,”
Yun Lan reminded him.
“I know, Master. I’ll be right there.”
Zhang Yuge growled fiercely,
“If you’re not afraid to die, then come at me! Let’s see if I’ll cut you down or not.”
Nearby, Ye Xichen’s eyes went wide at the unfolding scene.
She swiftly dodged an attack from a young member of the Ji family, then delivered a clean throat slash that ended her opponent’s life.
“Damn, wasn’t this guy a dead weight? How is he so tough?”
The mission for the Feng and Yun families was to assassinate Li Yuhan, while the Ji and Huajia families aimed to eliminate the other three families.
For this reason, Ji Yexue had sent a group of talented Disciple from the Shenhuang Sect to assist.
Of course, these Shenhuang Disciple did not wear their sect’s clothing but rather the Ji family’s robes.
With the Shenhuang Sect’s reinforcements, the other three families were completely suppressed.
Yun Hai, Feng family Patriarch, and others had failed to kill Li Yuhan at first and now faced the Ji-Huajia assault, plunging both sides into chaos.
“Father, no mistake, the masked Imperial Advisor is Zhang Qingyao!”
Upon confirming the opponent’s identity, Ye Xichen shouted to the Ye family Patriarch.
Ye Tianlu sent a Hua family cultivator flying with one palm and turned his gaze toward Zhang Yuge, who was battling Feng and Yun family members.
“Sudden advancement from Qi Refinement to Ji Dan stage, pulling a sword out of someone else’s body—there’s no mistaking it. That guy is Zhang Qingyao!”
Ye Xichen stressed.
But Ye Tianlu only shook his head, resigned.
“This guy’s cultivation is now at Ji Dan stage. We can’t fight him head-on. Let them deal with him first. We have other crises to handle.”
Although reluctant, Ye Xichen saw the reason in her father’s words and returned to the fight against the Ji-Huajia families.
In truth, Ye Tianlu was holding the lives of the entire two-hundred-strong Zhang family clan in his hands. Zhang Qingyao wouldn’t act rashly.
Besides, the Ye family had yet to avenge the humiliation inflicted by Zhang Qingyao.
They wouldn’t let him off so easily.
Ye Xichen noticed some unfamiliar faces among the Ji family—mostly powerful ones.
Within the five great families, even if peers didn’t know each other’s names, they were at least familiar.
But the young man at Qi Refinement tenth layer before her was someone she had never seen.
More importantly, no one in the five families reached Qi Refinement tenth layer at such a young age without her noticing.
Facing a fifth-layer cultivator against a tenth-layer one, Ye Xichen was outmatched and forced to retreat step by step.
“Master Xuan, the Ji family definitely hired outsiders to assist. I have no memory of this person.”
“I noticed that too. Their sword techniques resemble those of the Shenhuang Sect,”
Master Xuan said.
“Master Xuan, my cultivation is far weaker than his. I might not hold out much longer,”
Ye Xichen said with difficulty.
Just then, Ye Xichen saw a stranger in Ji family clothing thrust a sword toward her cousin, Ye Xiyue.
Ye Xiyue was about to be struck in the head when suddenly a golden light flashed, scattering all enemies except Ye Xiyue.
“Xiyue!”
When Ye Xiyue came to, Ye Xichen’s figure was blocking her.
The attackers had all been driven away by Ye Xichen.
“Cou-cousin…”
Although Ye Xiyue knew the person before her was now a woman, she instinctively called her “cousin.”
She had once looked down on Ye Xichen, even mocked her openly, but now she was risking her life to protect her…
“Xiyue, fall back. These people mean harm.”
Ye Xichen did not want to borrow Master Xuan’s power.
If not for the life-or-death moment just now, she would have continued to hide in the shadows.
Still, she had borrowed a fraction of that power, boosting her cultivation to full Qi Refinement.
Compared to Zhang Yuge’s flamboyance, she preferred to endure quietly—very much in line with the early fantasy novel hero’s trait: patience.