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When its features became clear, it was... Li Ziliang! However, his face was turning pitch black, as he had been poisoned. The moment Xu Qing touched him, the poison took effect and he started rotting.

Meanwhile, the fleeing Li Ziliang blurred and then disappeared.

As Li Ziliang struggled, his face was a mask of incredulity. “How did you know I was here? That should be impossible! What’s more, your mind hasn’t shown even a hint of misgivings. What... what did you experience to give you such incredible willpower??”

All past opponents that Li Ziliang had used this tactic on did the same thing. They rushed after the fleeing version of himself to kill him. After all, everyone had secrets that they wanted to keep. All of his words had been designed to arouse suspicions and doubts. Usually, people who heard them ended up distracted, and would thus chase after the fake version of Li Ziliang.

That was the whole point!

Li Ziliang had no special ability to divine information. He had no divination magic. That said, the secret magical techniques of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society focused on will domains. Though he had not fully cultivated a will domain, he had reached the point of forming a ‘will convergence’.

Will convergence wasn’t just about general willpower. The word ‘will’ encompassed many emotional aspects. Specifically, Li Ziliang cultivated a will of suspicion. During combat, he would sow suspicion into the heart of his opponent. Tapping into that will of suspicion became a trump card that could cause his opponent’s soul to destroy itself. He had used this method to kill a lot of enemies, and it had worked on everyone with the exception of the dao child Zhang Siyun.

He had assumed it would work in this fight as well. All he had to do was create distracting thoughts in Xu Qing’s mind, then use a killing move on him. Once Xu Qing chased after his clone, he could strike from hiding and wipe him out.

However, on this day, he experienced failure a second time. The first time it happened, he had lived through it. The second time, he would not.

Xu Qing wasn’t a fan of explaining himself to his enemies. As Li Ziliang rotted, Xu Qing’s hand turned transparent, and he shoved it into Li Ziliang’s heavenly palaces. His hand closed, and then he ripped out four crystalline gold cores.

Bloodcurdling screams rang out, and in that life-or-death moment, despair filled Li Ziliang’s eyes.

“Someone wanted me to test you out!” he blurted. “That’s why I challenged you! Don’t kill me, Xu Qing. If you let me go, I can tell you who—”

A dagger appeared in Xu Qing’s left hand. He slashed it through Li Ziliang’s throat. Steaming blood sprayed everywhere, splattering over his garments and onto the snowy ground below.

Li Ziliang’s hands shot to his neck wound as he looked at Xu Qing in disbelief. He really didn’t understand why Xu Qing didn’t hold back just now. Any other person would have at least asked him a question or two.

The reality was that Li Ziliang had no intention of revealing the identity of that mysterious person. But he could be deliberately mystifying, and imply that it was someone like Master Shengyun’s father or some member of Xu Qing’s sect. Regardless of whether his strategy worked, it would at least sow some doubts and hopefully ensure that he managed to survive this situation.

But Xu Qing had no interest, and thus, Li Ziliang’s strategy was completely negated.

Deep, bitter resentment appeared in Li Ziliang’s eyes. As he toppled down, that resentment turned into regret. He truly regretted his actions. He regretted being so greedy for the rewards he had been offered by that mysterious person. He regretted probing Xu Qing by challenging him so many times and even capturing his fellow disciples to force his hand. He regretted his own avarice, and his belief that he could win this fight. And even more so, he regretted accepting the challenge simply because he thought he might lose face if he didn’t.

Yet none of that could surpass his confusion at why Xu Qing had not developed any will of suspicion.

And then, all of it, including his bitter resentment, became a thing of the past. Heaven and earth turned dark, as if he had been covered with a shroud. Everything outside the city was peaceful and silent. Snowflakes drifted, falling onto the corpse and the blood. Soon... the blood wasn’t visible; only the unmoving corpse of Li Ziliang could be seen.

Xu Qing’s expression was placid. He had heard everything Li Ziliang said before he died. But he knew that in a moment like that, such words would contain both truth and untruth. Most likely, it was true that there was someone else who had urged Li Ziliang to issue those challenges. That fit in with Xu Qing’s previous suppositions. But Xu Qing didn’t believe that Li Ziliang would have told the truth about who it was.

When all was said and done, Xu Qing didn’t tend to trust other people. He only trusted himself.

Most likely, whoever had tasked Li Ziliang with issuing the challenges was someone that Li Ziliang couldn’t say no to. And that meant that, even if Li Ziliang revealed the truth to Xu Qing, he would still have ended up dead, and probably in a very miserable fashion. Instead, Li Ziliang would have thrown out another name, one that was fake.

As far as Xu Qing was concerned, a fake name wasn’t of equal value to a life. That was just how Xu Qing was. And that was how he operated. If he was in danger, but couldn’t find the true source of that danger, then viciously slaughtering the minions who had been sent against him was a good way to send a threatening message.

The truth was that the question Li Ziliang had died wondering about had a very simple answer. Xu Qing didn’t trust Li Ziliang. He trusted himself, his sense of judgment, and his memory.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Xu Qing. Do you remember the grudge we have with each other...?”

That was what Li Ziliang had said. Little did Li Ziliang know that Xu Qing kept a record of his grudges on a bamboo slip. As a result, it was impossible that he could forget about someone he had a grudge with.

“I know why you don’t recognize me! I can’t believe they did THAT to you....” The second thing Li Ziliang had said was even less likely to do anything to Xu Qing. After all, he was already very skilled at being deceptive regarding his true capabilities. Because of that, he was very confident about his secrets. Unless an opponent directly stated something very specific, he wouldn’t be fazed.

In the end, it wasn’t that Li Ziliang’s Will Implantation technique was deficient. Rather, he just didn’t understand Xu Qing, and therefore couldn’t do anything to get in his head.

“All flash, no substance,” Xu Qing murmured. It was the first thing he said since the start of the fight.

Meanwhile, after a temporary moment of silence, the city erupted into shouts of astonishment and excited chatter.

“Dead?”

“Th-that... that fast? He crushed his heavenly palaces and then slit his throat! He’s so decisive!”

“I can’t believe he actually did it!!”

“This Xu Qing is someone you cannot provoke! He’s vicious and merciless. When he fights, he kills. That was brutal! So, so brutal! No wonder he’s the only person in the Eight Sect Coalition with dao child remuneration!”

Gasps and conversation filled the city as sect disciples and rogue cultivators felt deeply apprehensive.

They were apprehensive of Xu Qing’s speed and ruthlessness. They couldn’t see the Gruegloom Daoseizing Art at work, but they could see Li Ziliang’s shriveled corpse, and the agony he had experienced before dying. They could only imagine the pain Li Ziliang must have experienced at that moment. The thought of that cold dagger blade slashing his throat made them shiver. To them, Xu Qing seemed like a vicious fiend or monster.

The Gold Core cultivators with heavenly palaces were particularly fearful when they looked at Xu Qing.

What was more, top experts from many sects were now looking very seriously in the direction of the garrisons of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society and the Eight Sect Coalition.

The Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society was completely calm and quiet.

It was the same with the Eight Sect Coalition.

They were also waiting to see the ramifications of what had just happened. Though there was a precedent for this sort of thing, in the end, the Swordsage Court held supreme, and they would make the final judgment.

They didn’t have to wait long.

“You’re a daredevil, boy, and also a decisive killer! In a time of peace, you wouldn’t last long. But right now... the Swordsage Court needs wolf pups like you! Seven Blood Eyes has produced someone with real potential! When the time for testing comes, I truly look forward to seeing how you do!”

As the words finished echoing through the city, Sir Bloodsmelter laughed. “Xu Qing, hurry up and offer thanks to your superiors!”

Xu Qing wasn’t sure he liked the term ‘daredevil.’ What was more, he had some ideas about what was really going on. Nonetheless, he clasped hands and bowed.

“Many thanks, Sir!”

The response from the Swordsage Court made everything clear. After all, though there hadn’t been any deaths outside the city in recent days, they had occurred in the past. The Swordsage Court had never tacitly approved, much less encouraged the matter. But obviously, it didn’t constitute a rules violation.

Sir Bloodsmelter knew that, and the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society knew that.

Of course, powerful sects didn’t telegraph their true intentions. It didn’t take long before cultivators from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society showed up to take away Li Ziliang’s corpse.

Xu Qing returned to the city. This time, it went very differently from the last time. Before, he hadn’t attracted any attention. At the very most, some people had been talking about how he wasn’t accepting dueling challenges. But now, people looked at him with reverence and quickly got out of his way. Now, nobody talked about him avoiding challenges. Now they knew why he had previously done so. It was for the same reason that a big eagle would refuse a challenge from a sparrow.

***

High atop the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar, in front of the main palace entrance of the Swordsage Court, two swordsages stood together. One was an old man, the other was middle-aged dressed in a government uniform. Both were looking down at Xu Qing.

If Xu Qing were present, he would recognize both of them.

The old man was one of the three swordsages who had fought August Spirit Nethersprite. The middle-aged man had also been there during the battle; he was the second-stage Void Returning cultivator who had faced off against August Spirit Sporelight.

“So he’s the one you mentioned?” said the middle-aged man.