The cleaver in the fatty’s hand must have been a spiritual weapon of some caliber to be able to withstand his spiritual fire, but it couldn’t even take a single blow from that swordsman. With a sudden clang, the fatty’s cleaver was split in two.

The fatty took a few steps back, his eyes clearly expressing his shock and fear. Their exchange had been sufficient to demonstrate that the swordsman’s cultivation truly was beyond his own.

“I, I admit defeat!” Now certain that he wouldn’t be able to beat the swordsman, the fatso immediately admitted defeat. However, as though he hadn’t said anything, the swordsman charged toward the fatty and kicked him in the stomach. The kick was so powerful that it sent the fatso’s humongous body up into the air. He struck the invisible wall sealing the space and landed with such force that it sent the dust on the ground flying up.

The gathered cultivators were silent, stunned by the display of power. Their eyes turned to the motionless fatso: when he finally raised his head, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

“You groundhogs are getting more and more useless,” the swordsman commented idly, putting one foot on the fatty’s prone body. He took the fatty by the wrist and dragged him away as though he were dragging a burlap sack, all the way to the Pi delegation. Immediately, someone stepped forward and chained his wrists and ankles.

“Are there any other challengers?” the middle-aged man asked again.

“I shall accept the challenge.” The buxom woman and the fatty’s teammate, Xue Ji, stepped forward.

“Heh, who do you want to challenge?” The middle-aged man looked her up and down, his gaze invariably drawn to her chest. The seven swordsmen standing all looked at her, their serious expressions turning lewd in the blink of an eye.

“Come fight with me! I won’t be too rough on you,” a dark, burly man grinned.

“And I won’t hit your face,” the man next to him added.

“As long as you admit defeat, I promise I won’t attack you.”

Xue Ji ignored the men’s remarks. “I was with that fatty. I’ll challenge the opponent he faced!” Xue Ji pointed at the swordsman who had defeated him.

The man smirked at Xue Ji. “The women from lower realms are all so frail and delicate, and it’s rare that we ever get such a… flattering specimen. Unfortunately for you, I don’t go easy on women!”

“Come at me,” Xue Ji taunted.

“Li Mo, how’s that woman’s cultivation?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

“About on par with the man. It’s plausible that she might win.”

The crowd saw Xue Ji stretch her hands out and grab twin crystal knives from mid-air. Her opponent was stationary; Xue Ji struck the first blow. With her long, powerful legs, she leapt toward the man and slashed her knives at his skull. 

Once again, a golden glow radiated out from the man’s palms, and the icy knives struck his palms with a metallic clink.

“Not bad,” the man commented, his eyes like an eagle’s. “Much stronger than that fatty!”

The golden glow on the man’s palms turned brighter and brighter.

Not good! 

Yun Ruoyan thought. 

That fellow’s going to repeat the same trick he used!

With two sharp cracks, the man broke Xue Ji’s twin knives and crushed them into crystalline shards with his bare hands.

“You dumb woman, it’s no use even if you surrender now!” he shouted, then kicked at her waist. Thinking that Xue Ji had been disarmed, the swordsman didn’t even imbue any spiritual energy into his kick.

Xue Ji smiled. She somersaulted in the air, conjuring a massive blade which she wielded with both hands. With a graceful flip, she sliced at the swordsman’s calf. He grunted, and fresh blood stained the ground.

Xue Ji’s strength should have been sufficient to chop off the swordsman’s leg entirely, but he reacted quickly enough to infuse spiritual energy into his calf and temporarily harden it. As a result, Xue Ji’s attack was only sufficient to inflict a deep injury.

He then strengthened his uninjured leg and kicked at Xue Ji’s shoulder, sending her flying into the invisible wall. Although her cultivation was at about the same level as the man, as a woman, she was physically weaker in terms of strength.

The swordsman seemed particularly enraged that Xue Ji’s sneak attack had succeeded. As though he couldn’t feel his wound, he dashed toward Xue Ji like a streak of lightning. Xue Ji tried to jump up and dodge his attack, but the man was faster than she had predicted and more experienced in fighting.

He leapt into the air and caught Xue Ji’s ankle mid-jump, then smashed her body against the ground. A spiritual membrane formed around her body, but the enraged man, as if possessed, continued swinging her body up and down, left and right, until even her spiritual membrane popped from the force.

Xue Ji had been disoriented since the initial blow, and she was unable to retaliate at all afterwards. Despite the fact that she was bleeding from her head, face, nose, and mouth, the man continued swinging her around like an uncontrollable beast or a raging child.

The cultivators clad in beast pelts began to make a fuss: clearly, Xue Ji was rather high up their hierarchy.

“Hold it!” one of those cultivators shouted, then rushed toward Xue Ji and the raging man. The other cultivators in beast pelts looked ready to do the same. However, the white pillar of light that surrounded them had somehow become a cage, trapping all the cultivators within. They could only watch on in despair as Xue Ji’s face was mutilated beyond recognition.

“Enough!” a youth finally shouted. “Pi Yan, cease!”

The man called Pi Yan finally stopped beating Xue Ji. He released her ankle, and she slumped to the ground in a heap of battered limbs.

Pi Yang walked over, clicking his tongue. He kicked Xue Ji’s body, but she didn’t seem to react at all. Only her back, quivering in pain, suggested that she was still alive.

Pi Yang turned around to Pi Yan, who was raring to continue beating her up. “My father’s been lacking a maid to serve tea and drinks. This is exactly the physique he looks for in a serving girl, but now… what a waste.”

Pi Yan only cracked his neck in response. On the Mingyuan continent, might was right. Although Pi Yan was just a servant for the Pi family, his advanced cultivation and impressive fighting abilities meant that even Pi Yang would show him some amount of favor.

“Get some treatment for your leg,” Pi Yang finally said.

Pi Yan dragged Xue Ji with him back to the Pi delegation, at which point she was chained up and tossed together with the fatty.

The remaining cultivators, caught in the pillar of light, grew more and more anxious: clearly, what had happened to Xue Ji and the fatty would also happen to them.

“Pi Yang, the Pi family has already taken two of the best cultivators from this crowd. Shouldn’t you be giving us an opportunity as well?” the young master of the Feng clan, Feng Mian, began.

Pi Yang snorted. “We’re just playing by the rules, aren’t we? They chose their opponents themselves. See those cultivators dressed up in beast pelts? They all want to kill Pi Yan, I bet.”

“This isn’t fair!” the scion of the Zheng family accused. “Do you intend for everyone to challenge your henchmen and have the Pi family claim all these groundhogs?”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to follow the old customs?” Pi Yang replied coolly. “As long as you’re willing to give me those two cultivators whose portraits I showed you, you can have the rest of them.”

“Which cultivators? I didn’t have a close look,” Feng Mian replied.

“That’s not a problem.” Pi Yang motioned for a servant to approach with the two portraits. “These two cultivators are all we want. I don’t care what happens to the rest.”

What’s so special about them to make the Pi family single them out? 

No one responded to Pi Yang; the other delegations were all deep in thought.

“All of you, take a look at these portraits too!” While the other families were distracted, Pi Yang called out to the cultivators gathered within the beam of light. “The male’s name is unknown, but others address him as Master Mo. The female’s Yun Ruoyan. Both of them are hiding among you. If any of you can point them out, I promise that you’ll pass this selection process unhurt.”

Li Mo shielded Yun Ruoyan with his body, then calmly looked forward even as he expanded his senses to keep track of the cultivators around him.

Pi Yang then turned back to the other delegations. “Don’t misunderstand—there’s nothing special about these two cultivators. Not long ago, they barged into one of the Pi family’s hunting grounds and killed a number of my henchmen, so I simply want to settle the score.”

“Qingchen, Senior Sister Guan,” Yun Ruoyan whispered. “If someone reveals where I am, don’t get agitated. Prioritize your own safety over anything else.”

Before Lin Qingchen and Guan Ruliu could speak, a young woman shouted, “There they are! The people you’re looking for are over there!”

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