Chapter 2268: Deathmatch (Part 3)

Sure enough, you can’t not believe what top experts say, but you also can’t believe all of it. After hearing those experts and their relatives talk about Sheng Jingxuan so many times, Yang Xiao had unconsciously fallen into a delusion, like maybe he could go up there and kick that guy himself.

But seeing him in person today, that delusion instantly vanished into smoke. Yang Xiao finally saw himself clearly—if he ever went up against this guy, without popping pills first he wouldn’t even get the chance to run.

The moment the fight opened, it went straight into a fever pitch. Song Canghai drew his Precious Sword; the blade glowed dark blue, and as his sword moves slashed down, ripples of water splashed through midair. The scene was downright uncanny.

Sheng Jingxuan, on the other hand, had a giant brush appearing in his hand, as thick as a baby’s forearm, and started painting at Sheng Yanlin across empty air.

In Sheng Yanlin’s hands, the Wisdom Staff spun like wind, taking every one of Song Canghai’s sword moves head-on. Yang Xiao had never seen Sheng Yanlin’s close-combat level before; now that he did, he realized this old fox had been hiding his claws. That stick technique of his had all the flair of a true master.

One against two, Sheng Yanlin still stood firmly in an undefeated position, raising his hands and initiating moves with ease. Clearly, he was still far from his limit.

Before coming here, Sheng Yanlin had already said: as long as they didn’t run into a true Mid-stage Nether Realm Angel Envoy, nobody was his match. Looking at it now, that wasn’t just talk.

Seeing Elder Sheng the Dean being besieged, Mo Family’s Mo Qing and Liu Family’s Liu Hanzheng immediately stepped in to support, but were both intercepted halfway.

“Heh heh, Mo Qing, you want in, you pass me first.” Bone Painting Tower’s Gu Ji grinned wide, baring a full set of white teeth, while the High-level Puppet behind him was eyeing the field like a tiger stalking prey.

Mo Qing flipped his hand back and drew the Golden Mace from his spine, charging straight at Gu Ji. Gu Ji immediately retreated, controlling the Puppet to fight in his place. What he wanted wasn’t to defeat his opponent—he didn’t have that ability anyway—he just needed to stall him.

Right now that Puppet recycled its old trick, once again releasing Ghost Hand Buddha Light. Back then this move had been easily broken by Sheng Yanlin, but switch the target to Mo Qing and you could see he was clearly having a much harder time.

He smashed down with the Golden Mace, and the Buddha Light only shuddered a few times, dimmed a little, but the Puppet was still going strong.

On the other side, Iron Law Judge Liu Hanzheng was blocked by a figure—the same mysterious expert whose Curse Technique he’d seen through earlier.

“I don’t want to be your enemy. You’re not my match. Leave now and I won’t make it hard on you.” Liu Hanzheng warned.

The mysterious expert glanced over at Sheng Jingxuan, who was locked in fierce combat, and her eyes grew far more complicated. But in the end, she still shook her head.

A year ago, she ran into an old enemy. She killed him, sure, but she was also badly injured herself. It was Sheng Jingxuan who saved her. Now that her benefactor was in trouble, there was no way she’d just stand by.

“Stubborn to the death!” Seeing persuasion fail, Liu Hanzheng stopped wasting words, pulled out his Iron Ruler, and lashed it straight at the woman.

That Iron Ruler of his was extremely effective against Angel Envoys using Spell-type Magical Artifacts as their main offense. It could disrupt the flow of spiritual power in their bodies, even cause their own Magic Artifacts to backlash against them.

Unless pushed to the absolute last resort, he didn’t want to hurt people either. Everyone here was a Netherworld Envoy; none of them were easy to deal with. More importantly, each person had tangled faction ties behind them. If you accidentally offended someone you couldn’t afford to offend, that would be a real headache.

Better to resolve grudges than make them. Unless necessary, no one was eager to fight to the death. Even if he could win, he still wouldn’t take a life.

The fight between Gu Ji and Mo Qing was the same. On one side was Bone Painting Tower, on the other the Mo Family—both top-level forces ranked among the Ten Great Sects. A bit of friction between them was normal; everyone’s mixing it up in the world of martial arts, and everyone gets that. But if someone actually died over it, that’d just be ugly.

Taking a step back, even if Bone Painting Tower and the United Federation’s reinforcements arrived today, crushed the counterinsurgent alliance led by Sheng Yanlin—then yes, Sheng Yanlin was definitely dead, that’s not up for debate. But Mo Qing and Liu Hanzheng wouldn’t be. As long as the two of them were willing to lay down their weapons, the other side would certainly treat them politely, send them back, maybe even throw in a little parting gift.

Everyone’s hustling in the world of martial arts; you look up and you look down, you keep bumping into the same faces. This world isn’t just about killing. Nobody can guarantee they won’t have a day of bad luck. Leave people a way out, and you’ll meet again without awkwardness.

The only ones in the world of martial arts who really kill and loot without a second thought are those true rogue Angel Envoys, with no faction backing. Some might literally be alone, pure orphans—one guy eats his fill, the whole “family” is full. Live one day, count it as one. People like that are the hardest to mess with, because they really will fight you to the death.

Then there are the true Evil Cultivators, like those of the Black Buddha Mother line, and that bunch entrenched in Myanmar and Thailand. These guys are the real villains—on their own turf they act like there’s no law at all. But with their fists big, their words are hard. People usually just publicly condemn them a bit, vent their righteous anger with their mouths. Ask them to actually go risk their lives fighting those guys? No way. What are they, stupid?

Over the past few years, Yang Xiao had figured some things out too. “Evil Cultivator” is just a vague label—it’s like slapping on a hat.

The dirty little things the three major forces and Ten Great Sects do behind closed doors aren’t necessarily any better than those Evil Cultivators. But first, they run PR well; second, they occupy the moral high ground.

As the saying goes: the poor don’t fight the rich, and the rich don’t fight the officials. Whoever dares to dig up what the Patrol Defense Office does behind the scenes will end up on the Evil Cultivator wanted list the very next day. The people suing the officials—how could that be allowed? What, you think the Patrol Defense Office is there for decoration?

Seeing the battle stuck in stalemate and Sheng Jingxuan’s side struggling more and more to cope, the elders Sheng Jingxuan had bought off and heavily used were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They knew very well that if Sheng Jingxuan’s power base collapsed, they were done. Every last one of them would be dragged out and settled with by Elder Sheng the Dean.