In a small alleyway several feet away, Li Xi stood silently as he watched the entire thing play out.
His expression fluctuated uneasily as he stared at the crossroads where Hou Yuchun was sent flying and he looked at his sword with a weird expression on his face. He eventually sighed before turning around to leave.
Somewhere nearby, Ma Qi was standing respectfully behind a young man who emitted a deep and profound aura.
“Senior Brother Yue, that’s where it happened! Shang Xia went too far! Look, he’s right there. Do you think…”
Before he could finish, the young man interrupted him. “Yes. I do see him.”
After he spoke, he turned around to leave.
“Huh? Senior Brother Yue, you…” Ma Qi didn’t know why the backup he bought was leaving, and he couldn’t help but question.,
Pausing suddenly, the young man sighed without even turning his head. “Before you enter the Martial Intent Realm, no… Don’t offend this guy. Even when you enter the large completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm in the future, he’s not someone you can afford to offend!”
He left right after he was done speaking. He didn’t even care if Ma Qi followed behind him as he disappeared into the city.
Hou Yuchun tumbled through the air and brushed past the members of the Yanmen Institution.
One of the disciples turned to Yang Chao and asked cautiously, “Senior Brother Yang, that… Was that Hou Yuchun of the Jianmen Institution?”
Yang Chao nodded like a wooden chicken.
The disciple followed up with another question, “Were they lying about how powerful Hou Yuchun was? Maybe his achievements were exaggerated!”
Yang Chao’s glare instantly landed on the person who spoke.
Realizing that he had spoken wrongly, the disciple quickly lowered his head.
Someone else sighed, “Hou Yuchun isn’t weak at all. It’s just that Shang Xia is too damn strong! This… Brother Yang Chao, can you please explain what just happened? We didn’t manage to catch it.”
“There’s no point. All of you just need to remember one thing from now on. If you see that freak in the future, do not offend him.” Sighing after he spoke, Yang Chao shook his head softly.
The disciples behind him gasped in shock as they looked at each other in confusion.
The smile slowly returned to Yang Chao’s face as he addressed the rest. “Let’s go. We’ll return to the courtyard the Tongyou Institution prepared for us. I’m afraid the city won’t be able to keep its calm for long.”
Seeing how Yang Chao left, the others followed him quickly. However, there was still someone who couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Senior Brother Yang, what sword intent did Hou Yuchun comprehend anyway?”
“High and low.” Yang Chao gave a short reply without even turning his head.
“What… What about Shang Xia?”
Yang Chao’s figure paused slightly and he shook his head in defeat. “I don’t know.”
The disciples following behind stared at each other silently after hearing his reply.
Even though Shang Xia was extremely annoyed by their actions, he kept his last shred of rationality and dissipated his sword qi before anyone died.
Of course, Hou Yuchun was unable to avoid his fate of being blown away by the resulting sword qi. When he finally stopped, he was a hundred feet away from his original location.
As Shang Xia lowered his sword, everyone in the surroundings fell silent. Even the battle between the Martial Intent Realm experts behind him came to a pause.
Even though the original threats had disappeared, Shang Xia was on full alert as he stared at the space before him. It was as though a great enemy had descended.
Beside Hou Yuchun stood a well-built middle-aged man who was carrying a sword on his back.
The moment he arrived, Shang Xia felt as though the tip of a sword was pointed at his chest.
However, the feeling disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
“Returning to one…” The middle-aged man’s lips quivered slightly and Shang Xia could make out a few words. When the middle-aged man was done speaking, he grabbed Hou Yuchun before disappearing from where he stood.
“Returning to one?” Shang Xia muttered to himself.
“Hah. I thought you were going to kill him!” Shang Ke’s voice boomed in Shang Xia’s mind.
Recognizing Shang Ke’s voice, Shang Xia was finally able to relax. He heaved a sigh of relief as he turned to look at his Fifth Grandfather.
“Who was that?” Shang Xia asked.
“The deputy patriarch of the Jianmen Institution, Elder Yu Chengjin.” Shang Ke didn’t plan on hiding the other party’s identity anyway.
Snorting softly, Shang Xia raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Did you scare him away?”
“I’m not capable of that. He left on his own accord.” Shang Ke revealed a bitter smile of his own.
“What is going on today?” Shang Xia muttered softly before turning to look at the situation. The originally tense scene had regained its calm as the members of the Shang Clan cleaned up the street behind them.
There were several corpses lining the street as those were the cultivators who tried to take advantage of the time when Shang Xia was occupied with Li Xi, Ma Qi, and Yang Chao to raid the convoy. They were slain by the remaining members of the Shang Clan.
The reinforcements of the Shang Clan also arrived as they searched through the dead bodies to look for clues.
Of the twenty-ish members of the Shang Clan who arrived stood a swordsman who was at the Martial Intent Realm. Even though he was clearly clad in the robes of their clan, Shang Xia didn’t recognize him at all. He couldn't help but wonder when the Shang Clan managed to nurture another Martial Intent Realm expert.
A helpless sigh escaped Shang Ke’s lips. “We’re the unfortunate ones who got caught up in this mess. There’s nothing more to it. What a farce…”
He quickly explained the situation to Shang Xia who was staring at him as though he was speaking gibberish. After all, no one knew what he was talking about.
When he was done with his explanation, Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock. “The other institutions felt threatened by the appearance of the Rose Party and decided to come up with such a plan to draw them out from hiding?”
“Who would have thought that they would see through our scheme? We thought that they planned to give up on Yu Wugou and Qiao Han. Now, I don’t know what’s going on…” Shang Ke sighed.
Shang Xia sneered slightly in response. “Looks like they were supposed to be the bait for the Rose Party to draw your attention away…”
However, Shang Xia wasn’t done. “From the looks of it, there should be several Martial Intent Realm experts among the five institutions who are spies of the Rose Party. I believe that everyone recognizes this as a fact after this incident…”
“Yeah. That’s most likely the case.” Shang Ke could only laugh helplessly.
“I wonder who schemed against who this time…” A sneer returned to Shang Xia’s lips as a beam of light shot towards Shang Ke from the direction of the institution.
Receiving the transmission symbol sent from the institution, Shang Ke quickly scanned through it. His expression changed instantly, “You Haibiao of the Beihai Institution is dead!”
Shang Ke couldn’t believe his eyes as he gasped, “His cultivation is higher than mine. Why aren't there any signs of his death? Shouldn’t there be a wave of heaven and earth qi signaling the death of a Martia Extermination Realm expert?