It should be obvious enough that, in the dog-eat-dog world of Firmament Heaven’s cultivation society, the emphasis on hierarchy and power was extremely strong. While there was a strong emphasis on personal power, that emphasis was actually reduced to individual situations and circumstances.
Obviously, and inevitably, when two people of different factions met, the focal point for measuring hierarchy became, first, the faction they came from, and then, after that, their personal power.
Such was the case here, where the three Six Paths Demon Sect fellows, including Li Ling, were all one realm or more lower than the three women opposite them, yet none wore a look of obeisance or respect.
It wouldn’t even take more than 10% of Wen Caiyi’s full power to reduce these three men to dust, but she was only able to stand by the side and glare with smouldering fury at the one she wished she could strangle to death, not daring to actually make a move.
Was it because Wen Caiyi personally feared Li Ling, or these two cretins?
What they feared—what kept these three snarling women at bay—was the robe the trio of youngsters wore, that obsequious white-and-gilt color as well as what it stood for.
It was one thing to cross these people, and another thing to cross the power behind them, because if that happened, they might as well directly commit suicide on the spot right now and save everyone the time as well as the effort.
So despite the rude words and the laughable aura that barely tickled them, the three elders could only show ugly expressions as their momentum was successfully suppressed significantly.
"Tsk, to be cowed by just one line... you’d truly make terrible wives. Where is the vigor, the fierceness?" Li Ling lamented sadly, sighing while shaking his head.
This alone was one thing, but damned Li Ling was still making noise about it in the back!
Even the duo with Li Ling twitched their lips, wishing to tell him to cool it down. Right now, it might seem like everything was stable, but it wasn’t. If one of these three women snapped and decided that wiping them all out was worth the ensuing punishments later, that would be wraps!
Instead of using this hard-won moment of brevity, he was rather doubling down on the provocation!
This guy... did he realize that even if he died, there would be little to no one with a vested interest to pursue revenge for him?
Yes, while these women nominally didn’t dare, if provoked too far, who could maintain perfect rationality? Even if they were later caught by the sect and punished, it would still be too late!
The problem was... they were still in the line of fire!
Sweat formed on the backs of the two third-realm Six Paths Demon Sect disciples, even as they maintained their ’domineering’ postures.
In truth, they feared that if they relented for even a second, these three women—who were exceedingly close to the limit—would descend upon them and rip them to shreds!
As such, the duo were hurriedly sending voice transmissions over to Li Ling, advising him, in a mixture of goodwill and gentleness, to relent on the provocation—at least until some of their own sect people came over.
Surprisingly, Li Ling actually stopped. After all, teasing them once or twice was fine, but pushing them to the brink was not his intention, nor did it benefit him in any way other than to make him seem like an arrogant fool.
"Well, you heard them, I have been summoned by the sect hierarchs. As for Bai Ruyi, who you lot are undoubtedly worried about, I left her to her own devices with no binding nor any enslavement, free to frolic using my name in the Holy City." Li Ling casually reassured the three ladies, but focused his words towards Wen Caiyi.
Despite herself, Wen Caiyi visibly relaxed. She had been enduring extreme pressure from the sect for the loss of Bai Ruyi, their Saintess and Shining Star, only able to keep her head because she knew that Li Ling could not hurt Bai with the Heavenly Oath in play.
As for why she was here... if Luo Roumei could predict Li Ling’s moves ahead of time based on hearsay from Cai Dong and her short encounter with him pre-capture, then how much more Wen Caiyi, who had spent some time with him?
While Wen Caiyi was able to breathe easier, the other two were not. Yan Bing stepped forward to glare at Li Ling coldly, speaking in a threatening tone.
"Whatever happens to the Saintess, you will pay for it in blood. I am also giving you a chance to rescind your previous oath and make amends, or don’t blame me for taking action to protect myself."
Hearing this, the faces of everyone changed as they knew that this woman was serious. Once again, the two Six Paths fellows became tense and wondered exactly what oath was being spoken about, while Wen Caiyi hesitated.
For her, the safety of the Saintess was paramount, and knowing that Li Ling had not yet harmed her—at least by his own words—she was not inclined to seek more conflict.
However, she couldn’t let her guard down around this fellow, because it was precisely her failure to stand squarely with Yan Bing that time which gave this young man an opportunity to escape.
As such, despite her misgivings, Wen Caiyi also showed her determination to act. Likewise, the third elder who came with them even directly took out a purple fan weapon, ready to launch an attack once the command was given.
Once again, the two Six Paths Demon Sect fellows quickly transmitted their voices over to Li Ling to convince him to stand down and seek peace, but this time, things weren’t going to go their way.
"Sure, I dare you to raise a finger my way. Not only will you not be able to harm a hair on my head, but you will be captured and tortured before you can even take two steps to escape," Li Ling said faintly, not at all scared as he glanced directly at the confrontational trio.
These words caused the smell of gunpowder in the air to intensify, with the two rapidly pinging their elders to come over before an accident occurred.
Meanwhile, Yan Bing’s face became ashen, as she truly didn’t want to have to attack, but she couldn’t bear to live the fate that Li Ling swore in his oath.
If he was adamant about going through with it no matter what, then she would rather die than be humiliated!
A flash of madness shone in Yan Bing’s eyes as her aura spiked and converged, clearly indicating that, indeed, she was about to attack.
Li Ling casually raised an eyebrow at her audacity and then smirked, beginning to step into the void.
The other two fellows paled completely and shouted for Yan Bing to stop, trying their hardest to dodge out of the way.
In this split second of rapid actions, a soft voice spoke out that caused the bodies of all involved to freeze on the spot.
"Daring to attack in my presence. Truly audacious." Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel•fire.net
There was no anger in the voice, just pure aloof judgment, like a goddess pronouncing the fate of a mere bug beneath her feet.
A flash of bright light shone towards this area, enveloping everyone in its radius. Only Li Ling had an expression of strangeness as he let the light cover him while he removed his body, which had partially entered subspace.
When the light dispersed, the two Six Paths Demon Sect fellows who thought they were dead found that they were standing on a platform of whitish-gold light, hovering above the previous battlefield.
When they looked around, they saw that they were positioned at the back of this new translucent platform, and in front of them was a group of Six Paths Demon Sect disciples with stern expressions.
Great, our reinforcements came in time!
But... we didn’t call for the Deva Path Hall, did we? We called for our own Asura Blood Hall powerhouses, so what was this?
The two shared uncertain looks, then paid attention to the situation at the front, wondering exactly who the owner of that voice had been.
What shocked the two fellows was that, in front of the bunch of Deva Path disciples, Li Ling stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, sneering at the person who stood beside him.
On top of that, the one beside him was a familiar face to the duo, one of the most notorious Deva Path disciples in the entire middle layer of the sect due to her extreme combat power on par with an Asura Blood fellow.
Meanwhile, down below, the light also revealed the state of the trio of women who had tried to accost Li Ling, and it wasn’t good.
In one casual attack, Shen Ziyan left only Wen Caiyi with an entire body, her regal robes entirely tattered along with her body, which had cuts all over.
Meanwhile, the combat elder had only her upper body left, looking completely bedraggled and pale, severely injured, while Yan Bing was only left with half of her body from the left side!