Luo Xuanqing's expression turned livid upon hearing Zhang Feng's words. A frightening aura lingered around him, reminiscent of a crouching tiger prepared to pounce forth at any moment. "Do you really think that I dare not cripple you?"

Ever since he entered the Sanctum of Sages, he had always stood unchallenged by others, stepping over those who had dared stand in his way. When had anyone dared speak to him in such a manner before?

Not even his elder brother, Zhang Chun, would dare talk to him like that!

"You want to cripple me? Sure, do it then! You might be stronger than me, but you'd better not forget that we are in the Spirit Awakener Hall right now. As the Inceptive Sage, I can control the countless puppets that are in here to subdue you with ease!" Zhang Feng sneered coldly.

The Spirit Awakener Hall was filled with puppets here and there. Once enchanted, all of these would be weapons at Zhang Feng's disposal. With these soldiers to fight in his stead, what would Luo Xuanqing's strength count for?

As long as he retained his identity as the Inceptive Sage of the Spirit Awakener Hall, he would be an invincible existence here. Not even Saint 8-dan experts would dare to pull their weight before him!

"You" Luo Xuanqing gritted his teeth in fury as his breathing hastened.

"What's wrong with that? Unlike you, causing trouble and expecting others to pardon you just because you are a member of the Luo Clan, I forged a place for myself in the Spirit Awakener Hall through my own capability! If you weren't the brother of the little princess, do you think that our Zhang Clan or even the Sanctum of Sages would have tolerated you for so long? You would have long been minced into countless bits and fed to the fish!" Zhang Xuan harrumphed coldly with a haughty swing of his sleeves.

"Also, tell your little princess that it's her honor that the young prodigy of our Zhang Clan is willing to wed her. If she dares to flee once more, don't blame us for resorting to extreme measures!"

"Honor? Extreme measures? Hahahaha!" Before Luo Xuanqing could even say a word, Zhang Xuan had already interjected. "Come, why don't you tell me in detail just how much of an honor it is to marry the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan and how extreme the measures you plan to use will be?"

That young prodigy of the Zhang Clan must have accrued several generations of fortune for him to be engaged to be Luo Ruoxin at birth, and yet, he still dared to put on a disappearing act. And as if that was not enough, the rest of them still had the cheek to spout such words.

You are really challenging the limits of my tolerance!

To be honest, Zhang Xuan also thought that Luo Xuanqing had gone overboard with the damage, and the haughty attitude he put on after that only further worsened the situation.

I can understand why you are mad at Luo Xuanqing and want to get back at him, and I won't stop you from doing it either. But how dare you speak of Luo Ruoxin in such a manner? You are really asking for a beating!

"Who the hell do you think you are? Is this any place for you to speak up?" Zhang Feng did not think that he would be bellowed at by Luo Xuanqing's lackey, and he narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"Regardless of who I am, I just want to ask you a simple question. If the little princess of the Luo Clan were to turn down the engagement with your Zhang Clan, what kind of extreme measures do you intend to resort to?" Zhang Xuan asked. His attitude was seemingly casual, but the frostiness in his eyes was unconcealable.

"Humph, do you think that she has any place in turning our Zhang Clan down? Little princess is a mere title she upholds before others! To our Zhang Clan, she's nothing at all!" Zhang Feng sneered coldly.

"You bastard! Try saying those words once more, and I'll rip you to shreds!" A powerful aura instantaneously burst forth form Luo Xuanqing, surging right into the clouds, seemingly threatening to tear the sky apart.

It was one thing for someone to insult him, but he would never forgive anyone insulting his younger sister!

"Sure, I'll say it as many times as you like! Pure and innocent little princess, my ass! Despite having an engagement with our young prodigy, she still ran out to hook up with some other guy. She has really sullied every last bit of honor that we Sage Clans have," Zhang Feng spat out disdainfully.

"You scum!" With a furious bellow, Luo Xuanqing dashed out like a cannonball, and it took only an instant for him to appear right before Zhang Feng.

Boom!

The abrupt outburst of overwhelming might compressed the surrounding air so much that a deafening cacophony of sonic booms resounded here and there.

"Humph, could there still be any mistake about it? Your Luo Clan should have received the news, and just a few days ago, they sent a few elders over to our Zhang Clan to explain the matter to us. Most likely, that little princess of yours that you hold so dearly should still be under house arrest!" Zhang Feng mocked coldly as he dodged Luo Xuanqing's attack and retreated.

"Since she dared to do it, why can't we say it out loud? Only that fool of an elder brother I have would think of that disgraceful woman as a treasure. If it was me, I would have marched right up to her to confront her over the issue!"

"You are courting death!" With eyes crimson with frenzy, Luo Xuanqing dashed forward with astounding speed. At the same time, he clasped his fist together, and the surrounding air suddenly seemed to have frozen in place, leaving Zhang Feng with nowhere to escape.

Peng!

Overwhelming might punctured Zhang Feng's chest.

Pu!

With a spurt of fresh blood, Zhang Feng was sent flying into the distance.

He was by no means weak, but even so, he was only at the same level as Bi Hongyin and the others, still a distance away from matching up to the Half-Dimension Sundering realm Luo Xuanqing.

Just a single strike, and he was already severely wounded.

"Luo Xuanqing, you've asked for it!" After crashing heavily to the ground, the unkempt Zhang Feng forcefully pushed himself back to his feet and glared at Luo Xuanqing with scarlet eyes.

Raising his hand, he commanded, "Beat him down into his grave!"

Hu la!

As soon as that command was issued, a dozen puppets immediately leaped out from the surroundings.

These puppets were neither works of celestial designers or blacksmiths. Rather, they were enchanted artifacts. At first glance, it might appear that there was no specific grade to them, but their prowess was not to be underestimated.

This was especially so with the inferno giant among them. Standing at four meters tall, its presence caused the surrounding air to distort from overwhelming heat.

Besides the inferno giant, there was a metal giant as well. Zhang Xuan could not tell with just a normal look what it was made of, but it was extraordinarily resilient. In terms of defensive prowess, it was probably on par with Saint high-tier artifacts. It would really take a great deal of effort to deal with it.

It would not be too much trouble for Luo Xuanqing to deal with Zhang Feng ordinarily, but the appearance of the dozen puppets immediately placed him out of tempo, causing him to fumble around a bit.

"Damn it!" Luo Xuanqing roared with rage bubbling within him, releasing all of the strength he harnessed in his body.

Si la!

Releasing the entirety of his Half-Dimension Sundering realm cultivation, the surrounding space began to distort under the rampaging outpour of his zhenqi. Under his immense might, the settled dust and rubble rose into the sky once more, bringing greater chaos upon the world.

His original intention was to conceal his cultivation and spring a surprise on Zhang Chun, but Zhang Feng's words had exceeded his bottom line. At this point, he did not care that much either.

Peng peng peng peng!

It might have seemed as if there was only a small step of difference between the Dimension Sundering realm and the Phantasmal Space realm, but just like between a cocoon and a butterfly, there was a world of a difference between them. With his full might as a Half-Dimension Sundering realm expert released, the puppets swiftly found their movements sealed, as if they had fallen into a bog. As much as they struggled, they were unable to escape from whatever was holding them in place.

Kacha!

With a downward press of his hand, the dozen puppets did not even last another breath before being suppressed forcefully into a lying position on the ground. Indignant roars blared from their mouths, but as if the weight of an entire mountain was upon them, even getting to their feet seemed to be a daunting task.

"You" Zhang Feng never thought that Luo Xuanqing would have already reached such a level. His eyes narrowed as he hurriedly retreated.

"You aren't going anywhere until you make things clear today!" With a deep bellow, Luo Xuanqing dashed forth with the momentum of a human-sized massive dragon.

His movement caused countless ripples to appear in the surrounding space, reminiscent of a water surface disturbed by a pebble thrown into it.

Peng!

These seemingly light ripples struck Zhang Feng as if massive clubs hammering down on his body, causing fresh blood to spurt form his mouth once more. The impact of the blows forcefully pulled him down from the sky.

Hu la!

After striking Zhang Feng down, Luo Xuanqing took another step forward, appearing before Zhang Feng in an instant. Then, he raised his leg and stomped toward Zhang Feng's face.

With the speed and the strength of the stomp, if the attack were to really land on Zhang Feng, he would be crippled for good even if he did survive this ordeal.

It seemed like hearing his younger sister being insulted right before him had truly enraged Luo Xuanqing, and that snapped the last bit of rationality in his mind, causing him to disregard all rules and consequences of his actions.

Those who dared touch the inverted scale of a dragon would meet with swift deaths!

"Formidable," Zhang Xuan muttered.

For a moment there, rage had consumed his mind as well, and he had been planning to dash forward as well. However, seeing that his future brother-in-law had already made a move, he eventually forced himself to remain still.

It simply was not the right time for him to express his identity yet.

Of course, if Luo Xuanqing were to be placed in a disadvantageous position in the battle, he would step in and intervene.

Zhang Feng was justified in confronting Luo Xuanqing over the destruction of the Spirit Awakener Hall and passing the Inceptive Sage Decree. After all, Luo Xuanqing did go overboard in that matter.

However, he did one thing that he never should have doneinsult Luo Ruoxin. Based on that alone, he was deserving of dying a hundred times over!

"You"

Seeing the prowess behind the stomp heading for his face, Zhang Feng quivered in fear. Not daring to hold back anymore, he swiftly triggered the bloodline ability in his body.

Boom!

The surrounding time seemed to have slowed, but at the same time, it felt like Zhang Feng had gotten faster compared to the rest of the world. With a powerful push of his hand against the ground, he rolled several meters away, dodging the stomp by just a hair's breadth.

Boom!

The stomp imprinted a depression of thirty-meters right beneath the floating Luo Xuanqing's feet, raising countless stone fragments into the sky.

"Luo Xuanqing, you are insane!" Zhang Feng exclaimed as he cowered in fear at that sight, not daring to imagine what would have happened if that attack had landed on him.

Even though the Spirit Awakener Hall had collapsed, as long as they gathered sufficient workers, they should be able to get it rebuilt swiftly. However, now that even the ground beneath was devastated, how were they supposed to rebuild their base?

Boom!

Not bothering to respond to Zhang Feng, Luo Xuanqing's figure flickered, and he appeared before Zhang Feng once more with a palm flying right for the latter.

This palm strike seemed to have forcefully dragged Zhang Feng into a sundered dimension, leaving him completely cornered and with nowhere to escape. In the face of the might of the palm, Zhang Feng only felt a numbing sensation rising all over his body as his aura was suppressed to the point where it felt as if he would explode from within.

Even before the palm strike could land, the unbearable pressure weighing down on him had already drawn a spurt of blood from his mouth.

Even after activating the power of his bloodline ability, it was still far from sufficient to bridge the disparity in the strength of the two of them.

"Just when did you achieve a breakthrough? How can you possibly be so powerful?" Zhang Feng exclaimed as he felt a prickling sensation run through his scalp. At this point, he was filled with regret.

He had known from the start that this fellow would lose all sanity when his younger sister was mentioned, so why in the world did he have to use those words to trigger him?

Wasn't that just asking for trouble?

Driving his bloodline ability to the maximum, Zhang Feng barely managed to break out of the sundered dimension and dodge the overwhelming palm strike.

Boom!

Another massive palm print appeared on the ground. The remaining buildings that had yet to collapse in the area began trembling non-stop, seemingly on the verge of falling into the depression created previously by the powerful shockwave.

Seeing how the other party was still dashing at him as if a crazed lunatic, Zhang Feng felt deep fear arising from his midst, and he anxiously bellowed, "Luo Xuanqing, I am an Inceptive Sage. If you dare hurt me, that's no different from going up against the entire occupation. You will be hunted down in the future. Not even the Luo Clan will be able to protect you!"

"Let them come! In any case, I'll be sending you down to the netherworld today!"

Boom!

Amid another resounding sonic boom, Luo Xuanqing vanished from the spot. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the Zhang Feng once more with a palm strike.

This time, he had sealed the surrounding space completely, turning it into a solid cage. Even if Zhang Feng were to drive his Zhang Clan's bloodline to its limit, he would still be unable to escape from it.

"Are you done messing around yet, Luo Xuanqing? Don't think that we'll just tolerate everything that you do!"

Hong long long!

Just as the palm was about to strike down on Zhang Feng's head, a resounding bellow sounded, and three elders suddenly appeared right before the crowd. One of them waved his hand, and a surge of light deflected the might of Luo Xuanqing's palm strike.This is based on a legend where dragons have a scale on their neck that is inverted against the other scales, and those who touch it will be swiftly killed by the dragon. It eventually became an idiom in reference to those in power, saying that those who dared to prey on their 'weakness', be it their family or anything else, would have to pay the price eventually.