Chapter 345: Dispute

The Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor, which had already lost half its body, had another portion of its heavenly demon true body frozen and shattered.

"Heaven-Swallowing, die!" Accompanied by a cold shout, the icy sword qi that had pierced through the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor’s body did not pause in the slightest. With a sharp turn, it whistled straight toward this demon emperor’s head.

Wherever the sword light passed, everything within five hundred kilometers was frozen. Even the void seemed to turn solid because of the cold qi contained in the sword, forming a tangible staircase of ice and snow.

"Leng Qingqiu!" the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor cried out unwillingly.

If it died at Yaoguang’s hands, it would simply mean its skill was inferior. But to be killed by Leng Qingqiu, this "weakling" whom it had been toying with not long ago...

It could not accept that!

Just as this sword was about to deliver the final killing blow to the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor, a streak of golden light seemed to jump through the void, arriving in an instant and striking the cold sword light with flawless precision.

The two swords collided, and countless shards of ice and waves of cold qi burst outward in an instant, seemingly creating an ice storm in the void.

Yet before this ice storm could spread and freeze everything within five hundred kilometers, rings of rippling void had already annihilated all the ice and snow.

"You?!" The cold psychic thought carried a trace of anger.

However, the golden sword light did not pause at all. After dispersing the icy sword qi that filled the void, it turned and also slashed toward the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor.

Before Leng Qingqiu could react, the void power contained in the sword’s edge had already struck this powerful demon emperor at the end of its road.

This time, the demon emperor did not struggle with all its strength again.

On one hand, it understood that it would definitely die today. On the other hand, dying at the hands of another powerful expert was still better than being killed by an opponent it had never taken seriously. But...

"With blood as the medium, psyche as the firewood, and Dao as the fuel..."

The sword light of the Wandering Dragon Sword blasted through the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King’s head, completely destroying the Dao Seed contained within.

"How dare you!"

The sword light wrapped in cold currents suddenly bloomed amid a furious shout, forming a hexagonal ice crystal snowflake several thousand meters across. It seemed as though it wanted to imprison not only space, but even the surrounding fluctuations of psychic thought.

But just as this ice crystal snowflake began to show its might, the Wandering Dragon Sword moved with extreme agility. The sharpness of the Void Sword forcibly cut open a gap in this frozen world. Then, with another shift, it picked up the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor’s heavenly demon true body, instantly pierced through the void, and returned to Yaoguang’s hand as he arrived from several thousand kilometers away.

"Heavenly Dao Sect, Yaoguang!" Leng Qingqiu looked at Yaoguang, and the emotions in her eyes shifted.

Shock, anger, disbelief, and... a trace of fear.

From the brief exchange she had just had with Yaoguang across the distance, she had already determined that there was no delay at all in the conversion between his grotto-heaven power and void power.

What did that mean? It meant he had already reached the Void-Refining Realm!

His Dao Technique mastery was not weak either, and like her, he possessed a Dao Artifact. As a result, she had not gained the slightest advantage in their brief exchange.

While angry, shocked, and even fearful, she had no choice but to stop and scold, "Yaoguang, what is the meaning of this? Did you not see that I was about to deliver the final blow to this demon king? Yet you actually interfered midway. What exactly are your intentions?!"

Thanks to True Spirit Light, Yaoguang could clearly sense Leng Qingqiu's hostility toward him.

Was it because he had refused her proposal a few years ago to act as bait and lure out the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor?

"You know very well who suddenly appeared and interfered midway! You are twisting facts. Is this how you, a deputy sect master of the Penglai Immortal Sect, conduct yourself?" After Yaoguang finished speaking, he was about to turn and leave.

"Stop!" Leng Qingqiu raised her sword horizontally.

But at this moment, six more streaks of light pierced through the sky from the end of the horizon.

These six streaks of light were divided into two squads, and the leaders of both groups were experts who had reached the Void-Refining Realm and could establish a palace within the Penglai Immortal Sect.

"Deputy Sect Master Leng."

"What happened? Where is the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King? An intense battle erupted in this region. The fluctuations were so powerful that I detected them with a secret technique from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. Did you catch up to this demon king and slay it, Deputy Sect Master?"

The two Void-Refining cultivators spoke one after another.

"Palace Master Zheng Yang, Palace Master Xuan Yin, you came at just the right time. I was already about to kill the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King, but unexpectedly, this Heavenly Dao Sect young sect master, Yaoguang, suddenly attacked, blocked my Nine Heavens Freezing Sword, and dealt the killing blow against the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King. I questioned him, but he instead accused me of reversing black and white and twisting facts. Today, I ask the two palace masters to join me in taking him down. Once the Heavenly Dao Sect’s sect master arrives, we can let him judge who is right," Leng Qingqiu said directly.

When the two Void-Refining cultivators heard this, they naturally had no doubt about their own deputy sect master’s words and immediately moved to intercept Yaoguang.

"You keep saying you were going to kill the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King. The Heaven-Swallowing Demon King has always operated as part of a team, so where are the other demon kings beside him? Or is it that I defeated the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King’s team and forced him to flee in panic, only for you to appear halfway when you saw that the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King had already been driven to the end of the road and tried to snatch the kill?" Yaoguang took out a crystal. "I have footage of my battle with the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King’s team here. I recorded it precisely to claim the contribution point bounty for taking down the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King’s team. Would you like to take a look?"

These words made the two palace masters pause.

"Utter nonsense! It was clearly you who could not do anything to the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King and let him escape. If I had not intercepted him, the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King would have already vanished without a trace by now. And yet you are now trying to claim all the credit for yourself!" A crystal also appeared in Leng Qingqiu’s hand. "My recording was hasty, so the footage in the crystal is not very complete, but it happens to record the evidence of how I nearly killed the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King, only to be stopped by you."

When the two palace masters heard this, they naturally chose to help their own side rather than judge right from wrong.

Immediately, they blocked Yaoguang from the left and right. "Young Sect Master Yaoguang, please come with us to the Penglai Immortal Sect and give an explanation. Do not worry. Once your Heavenly Dao Sect’s sect master comes to redeem you, we will naturally let you leave."

"Do not resist. Otherwise, if our attacks lack proper restraint and we injure a promising genius like you, that would be most inappropriate."

"Injure me? You do not have that capability." Yaoguang turned his gaze toward Leng Qingqiu. "I finally understand why the Penglai Immortal Sect has never produced any experts worth noting, aside from the Dao Lord presiding over it. With someone like you around, and even able to become deputy sect master, what future could the Penglai Immortal Sect possibly have? In my view, once the Penglai Dao Lord ascends to the Immortal Realm, the Penglai Immortal Sect will inevitably collapse within a hundred years!"

Leng Qingqiu heard Yaoguang’s evaluation, one that essentially offended the entire Penglai Immortal Sect, but she did not feel angry. Instead, she was secretly delighted.

Once these words spread, Yaoguang would practically be cutting himself off from the Penglai Immortal Sect.

However, although she was secretly delighted, as the deputy sect master of the Penglai Immortal Sect, she had no choice but to righteously defend the sect’s dignity.

"How dare you!" she shouted sternly. "Yaoguang, you actually dare insult the Penglai Immortal Sect. If we do not teach you a lesson you will remember for the rest of your life today, what face will the Penglai Immortal Sect have left to establish itself on the North Sea Star?! Palace Masters Zheng Yang and Xua Yin, form the Yin-Yang Grand Array. Do not let him escape!"

After hearing Yaoguang insulting their sect, the two palace masters no longer hesitated. They attacked at the same time, unleashing yin-yang Dao Techniques that clashed with one another, as though they intended to turn this entire region into chaos and make it difficult for the Great Dao to manifest.

But before they could truly strike, void ripples flashed around Yaoguang.

"You want to leave?!"

Leng Qingqiu’s Nine Heavens Freezing Sword bloomed and instantly shot toward the void around Yaoguang. The power of absolute zero contained within it seemed to freeze the movement of all matter, even causing space itself to solidify.

Yet as the Dao resonance of the Two-Realm Ruler was activated, the frozen void was reawakened.

The next moment, Yaoguang stepped through the void and appeared five hundred kilometers away.

The yin-yang chaos power formed by the other two palace masters swept toward Yaoguang right after that, but his Void Flicker had already been activated again. Before that chaotic power could reach him, he had already arrived at the edge of their attack range.

"Unless the PenglainDao Lord personally takes action, do you really believe someone in your Penglai Immortal Sect can do anything to me?" Yaoguang chuckled softly.

Void fluctuations flashed once more, and he completely vanished from the perception of the Void-Refining cultivators.

The activation speed of this Dao Technique was so fast that even Void-Refining cultivators could barely react. The two palace masters seemed to recognize something, and their expressions changed at once.

"He is not using grotto-heaven power to stir void power, but directly using grotto-heaven power as void power?! The Void-Refining Realm! This is the power of the Void-Refining Realm!"

"How is that possible?! Did Yaoguang not reach the Void-Piercing Realm after crushing all the true disciples of the Heavenly Dao Sect? Wasn't that only ten years ago? How could he have reached the Void-Refining Realm?!"

Attacking a Void-Piercing young sect master of another great sect and attacking a Void-Refining Realm deputy sect master were two entirely different concepts.

For the former, as long as they did not kill him, it would not be a reason to start a great conflict between the two sects. But for the latter, merely attacking him meant a serious provocation, even a declaration of war!

If things went poorly, it might directly ignite a war between two top powers.

Of course, the most important point was that the three great Void-Refining cultivators of the Penglai Immortal Sect had attacked together, yet they had failed to do anything to Yaoguang. Instead, he had calmly retreated under their encirclement...

If this news spread, it would also be a tremendous blow to the Penglai Immortal Sect’s reputation.

"Deputy Sect Master Leng, what exactly happened? Between the two of you, who was telling the truth?"

"Deputy Sect Master Leng, you must explain the specific process of slaying the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King to the acting sect master."

Palace Masters Zheng Yang and Xuan Yin looked at Leng Qingqiu with a trace of displeasure in their eyes.

They had already guessed who had been telling the truth.

Previously, Yaoguang had only been a Void-Piercing Realm cultivator, so they helped their own side rather than judge right from wrong.

But now they knew that Yaoguang had actually advanced to the Void-Refining Realm in just ten short years. This level of talent was frighteningly high. Having realized that they had been misled, they also felt somewhat embarrassed and angry, blaming Leng Qingqiu for causing them to offend such a terrifying figure for no reason.

"Hmph! What do you two mean by this?" Leng Qingqiu snorted coldly. "I cannot deny that there were indeed some omissions in my words, but putting the facts aside, does Yaoguang have no fault at all? As palace masters of my sect, are the two of you now going to blame me?"

Palace Masters Zheng Yang's and Xuan Yin’s faces darkened.

They knew very well what kind of character Leng Qingqiu had.

Immediately, they said resentfully, "In any case, we will report this matter to the acting sect master and let her handle it personally."

After saying this, the two of them paid no more attention to Leng Qingqiu and turned to leave.