Having broken through to Fifth-Rank Wutu, Jun Changxiao fired three consecutive shots. Not only did all of them hit their marks, but his gun-wielding hand didn’t even feel numb.

This indicated he had already become immune to the Desert Eagle’s recoil.

Witnessing the Sect Master fire his gun again and, in the blink of an eye, kill three black-clothed figures who had fled over twenty meters away, Li Qingyang and the others’ eyes held deep shock.

“Capture the wounded for me.” Jun Changxiao sat on a nearby tree root and said, “This seat wants to see exactly who dares to assassinate my Iron Bone Clanging Sect in broad daylight.”

“Yes!”

The disciples received the order and walked toward the several wounded black-clothed figures, only to discover they were all lying on the ground, completely without breath.

Li Qingyang frowned and said, “Sect Master, they’re all dead!”

“What?” Jun Changxiao hurriedly came over and removed the black face covering, discovering blackened lips. He instantly understood there must have been poison hidden in their mouths.

“Zuiji, do you recognize these people?”

Xiao Zuiji came over and carefully examined the several dead black-clothed figures, shaking his head. “Sect Master, I don’t recognize them.”

Don’t recognize them?

Jun Changxiao was stunned.

At first, he had very flashily speculated that the attackers would be from the Xiao Family. Was he about to be proven wrong?

Li Qingyang crouched down and searched a black-clothed figure’s corpse, finding a waist token. “Sect Master, it has the character ‘Bei’ carved on it. Could they be from the Bei Family?”

Xiao Zuiji stroked his chin and said, “I’ve heard that the Bei Family keeps a group of death warriors.”

Su Xiaomo eagerly interjected, “No need to say more—they must have been upset that Junior Brother thrashed Bei Jian, so the Bei Family sent death warriors to kill us!”

“Smack!” Jun Changxiao flicked the back of his head and said, “Would death warriors from your family go out carrying waist tokens that expose their identity?”

Su Xiaomo covered his head, grimacing.

Li Qingyang said, “Sect Master, you mean someone deliberately framed the Bei Family?”

Jun Changxiao stroked his chin and said, “This method of biting poison to commit suicide—death warriors might not necessarily do such a thing. Perhaps they’re…”

“Assassins!” Li Qingyang said.

Jun Changxiao patted his shoulder and smiled. “Not bad, not bad. You haven’t been following this seat for nothing.”

Li Qingyang said gravely, “Previously at the sect, there were also assassins who came to kill the Sect Master. Could this be related to Lingquan Sect?”

“Hard to say.” Jun Changxiao couldn’t be certain.

He now had two speculations. These black-clothed figures similar to assassins could either be the Xiao Family impersonating the Bei Family, or they could truly be related to Lingquan Sect.

“Search them and see if they have any spatial rings.” Jun Changxiao said.

Li Qingyang’s group of four sprang into action. Forget spatial rings—they didn’t even find a single tael of silver. They were poor as church mice.

Jun Changxiao shook his head. “Pile these corpses together and burn them.”

“Yes.”

Everyone dragged the corpses over.

Su Xiaomo picked up a tree branch from the ground, sharpened it to a point, and began rubbing it on dry wood.

Drilling wood to make fire? That’s way too primitive!

Jun Changxiao shook his head, lightly raised his hand, and a ball of Exquisite Fire sprayed out, instantly igniting the corpses.

Watching the flames instantly rise up, Li Qingyang, Su Xiaomo, and the others opened their mouths wide.

Lu Qianqian said with surprise, “You’re a Fire Spirit martial artist?”

Jun Changxiao shrugged his shoulders. “This seat being a Fire Spirit martial artist—is that strange?”

“Snap.”

He snapped his fingers. “Let’s go, back to the sect.”

The five hurriedly followed.

On the road, Li Qingyang lowered his voice and said, “Senior Sister, the Sect Master’s flames just now should be a very rare type of fire seed, right?”

Lu Qianqian said, “Supreme-grade fire seed, Exquisite Fire.”

“Ah?”

Li Qingyang nearly stumbled and fell. After steadying himself, he looked at the Sect Master with extreme shock.

The Xingyun Continent had all kinds of strange attributes, such as Fire Spirit and Water Spirit, and each type also had grade divisions, the same as spiritual root aptitude.

Supreme-grade Exquisite Fire.

This was absolutely an extremely rare existence among Fire Spirits!

Li Qingyang suppressed his shocked state of mind and said in a low voice, “Senior Sister, the Sect Master is not simple!”

Lu Qianqian said coolly, “If he were simple, do you think that with just these few junior brothers’ aptitude and cultivation, they could have killed their way to the top four?”

Li Qingyang said, “That makes sense.”

Jun Changxiao slowed his pace, walking shoulder to shoulder with the two, and said, “Qingyang, this seat told you I would make you achieve Wudi. Without the ability, would I boast so grandly?”

“Remember this.” He swept his gaze over the five disciples. “As long as you follow this seat down-to-earth, there will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything.”

Though they didn’t know what ‘bread’ was, all the disciples said in unison, “We will forever follow the Sect Master!”

…

“Boom!”

From the dark clouds in the firmament, a thick bolt of lightning shot out, striking into a valley rarely traveled by people. The ground instantly cracked open.

“Whoosh!”

A black stream of light burst forth from within, then flew out of the valley, merging into the body of a youth chopping firewood in the distance.

“Ah!”

The youth screamed in pain.

His originally clear eyes gradually became cold and fierce.

After a short while, his ferocious expression relaxed, and his voice hoarse, he said, “My soul was trapped for thousands of years. This seat has finally been reborn.”

“Ling Yao, I regarded you as my beloved confidante, yet you schemed against me for the Supreme Profound Scripture. When this emperor cultivates from the beginning again, I’ll settle accounts with you!”

“What? That woman actually shattered the void? She’s regarded as a faith by the world and crowned the greatest empress of all time?”

“Crack.”

After merging memories, the youth’s eyes flashed with endless rage. “This emperor never even stepped into that realm, yet she, a woman, actually achieved it!”

“No matter, no matter.”

“This emperor has the Supreme Profound Scripture in hand. In just a few decades, I can easily break through to Wudi and shatter the void. It won’t be too late to settle accounts with her then.”

“Whew!”

The youth stretched lazily. In his originally clear eyes was a vicissitude that didn’t match his status, as if he had experienced many things.

He was Ye Xingchen.

One of the Ten Great Wudi from several thousand years ago, called the Night Emperor by the world.

Later, he was schemed against and fell at the hands of a woman he regarded as his beloved confidante. A wisp of his remnant soul merged into the earth’s core depths, and only after thousands of years of nurturing was it able to break through the earth and fly out, seizing the body of this firewood-chopping youth.

“This body’s spiritual root is only low-grade, and its cultivation is merely the first stage of Meridian Opening. It’s really too weak.”

Ye Xingchen examined his new body internally.

“Fortunately, this emperor has the Supreme Profound Scripture. This is a cultivation method that seizes the fortune of heaven and earth—it should be able to transform low-grade spiritual roots.” A slight smile curved at the corner of his mouth.

“The greatest empress of all time?”

“This emperor will one day pull you down from that divine altar!”

Ye Xingchen clenched his fist, raised his head, and shouted loudly, “From today onward, I, Ye Xingchen, will make it so the people of the world cannot disobey my will. If the heavens don’t submit? Then I’ll defy the heavens…”

“Bang!” The moment the character for “heavens” left his mouth, an object flew from the distance and directly smashed into his face.

Ye Xingchen’s eyes crossed. He staggered in circles, then crashed down with a thunderous sound.

One of the Ten Great Wudi from thousands of years ago, the reborn powerhouse who had been arrogantly shouting about defying heaven, just like that fainted on the spot. The weapon of assault was actually a soccer ball!

An alarmed voice came from the distance: “Sect Master, you kicked that one shot and hit someone!”

“No way, where would people come from in these desolate mountains and wilderness?”

“Rustle rustle rustle!”

Before long, Jun Changxiao arrived with his five disciples.

Seeing the youth who had fainted on the grass, his mouth twitched. “This seat just casually kicked once and still managed to hit you in the face. How unlucky can you be!”

“Sect Master, what should we do?” Li Qingyang said.

Jun Changxiao looked up at the dark clouds in the firmament. “There are no villages nearby, and it’s about to rain. Let’s carry him back to the sect first.”

“Yes.”

Xiao Zuiji crouched down and hoisted the youth onto his back.

Jun Changxiao retrieved the soccer ball into his spatial ring and led the five disciples in a rapid journey toward the Iron Bone Clanging Sect.