Chapter 2545 - Framed

The scholar sat quietly in a tavern, listening as Tie Wenjing told him stories of the past few years. From time to time, he’d ask questions, but for the most part, he just let Tie Wenjing talk.

By the time Tie Wenjing finished, the scholar was certain of something—Su Yi had impersonated him!

“That kid... sure is naughty!” chuckled the scholar.

The scholar was, of course, Xiao Jian. Su Yi’s third incarnation!

“Naughty?” Tie Wenjing looked baffled.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Xiao Jian waved.

He could tell that the ninth elder of Qingwu Divine Court still mistook him for Su Yi, but he didn’t explain. Su Yi had impersonated him, so he figured it was only fair for him to impersonate Su Yi in turn.

After they’d chatted a while longer, Xiao Jian drained his cup and said, “I ought to get going.”

Tie Wenjing was stunned, and a bit reluctant. “Su Yi, will you ever come back to Qingwu Divine Court?”

Xiao Jian smiled. “Let’s see how things go.”

With that, he rose, respectfully clasped his fist, and bade Tie Wenjing farewell.

Tie Wenjing watched him fade into the crowd. He couldn’t help but sigh. Even now, he found it hard to believe that the young man he’d brought back from Spring and Autumn City was now the greatest sword cultivator in the God Domain.

I just hope he can continue his legend during these turbulent times,

sighed Tie Wenjing. He wholeheartedly wished for a better future for Su Yi.

......

Xiao Jian strolled through the bustling crowd, a warm, amiable smile on his face.

He looked like a vibrant young scholar. No one could possibly have guessed that he was an old-timer from the far end of the Path of the Ancient Gods.

Even in turbulent times like these, people need to cultivate, and people need to live. Life goes on,

thought Xiao Jian.

The whole world was in chaos, with bloodshed all over the place. The skies were bright with beacon fires.

But some cities were still vibrant and full of life. After all, no matter their cultivation base, people needed to live their lives.

Boom!

A heaven-shaking impact rang out outside the city, shaking the entire settlement. The whole place was instantly in chaos, and the bustling streets emptied out. Terror coursed through the streets, and pedestrians scampered off in panic.

“Hurry up and run! A living legend is drawing near!”

“Why do this? Don’t tell me those living legends want to massacre another city? Don’t they... have any scruples whatsoever?”

“Massacaring the city? In their eyes, the masses are no more than ants. They won’t care one way or another even if they flatten the place.”

All sorts of voices arose, and within moments, the entire city was deserted. The streets were completely empty save for Xiao Jian, and the ground was covered in rubble.

Xiao Jian placed his hands behind his back and gazed beyond the city. A group stood beneath the distant dome of heaven.

The leader was a man in blood-red robes. He carried a golden bow on his back, and a waterfall of blood qi poured from his body, shaking both heaven and earth!

This was the unique majesty of a Nine-Tribulation Master God!

Each of the experts accompanying him was more terrifying than the one before, especially a white-haired woman in white clothing. She gripped a black spear, and her aura was the most imposing and mysterious of all.

But Xiao Jian merely scanned the group before looking away and continuing down the street, entirely unperturbed.

“Su Yi! Even now, you refuse to reveal your true appearance?” the man with the golden bow said coldly, his voice booming throughout heaven and earth.

Xiao Jian was speechless. After a brief pause, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’m not the man you’re looking for.”

“Hahaha, we’d recognize you even if you’d been blasted to smithereens. Why bother pretending?" said a chubby man in black. He threw back his head and laughed, “Get over here! We came here just for you!”

“For me?” Xiao Jian furrowed his brow in confusion. “Have I offended you?”

“Drop the act, dammit!” The fat man in black glared at him. “I’ll count to three. If you don’t come, we won’t give you any further opportunities to beg for your life!”

Xiao Jian sighed and murmured, “Why do I get the sense that... I’ve been wronged? I really don’t deserve this.”

He slowly raised his head and looked at the fat man outside the city, a subtle smile on his face. “Very well. If you’ve misunderstood me, you’ve misunderstood me. Everything he has will become mine sooner or later anyway.”

Everyone was stunned, but before they could wrap their heads around that, Xiao Jian took a step forward.

“Watch out!” Suddenly, the white-haired woman in white looked stricken. She instantly raised her black spear, and a terrifying power far beyond that of a Nine-Tribulation Master God emanated from her body.

But although she reacted quickly, she was ultimately one step too late.

Boom!!

The fat man in black exploded into pieces like a popped ball. Even the stretch of sky he’d been standing in collapsed!

Everyone looked stricken, and everyone instantly moved further away.

Xiao Jian, meanwhile, appeared in the collapsed stretch of sky and scanned the dead man’s companions with a smile. “Hey, I’m here. How do you plan to die?”

He revealed no trace of his presence, the very picture of an elegant scholar, but these light, airy words sent chills coursing through the hostile experts’ hearts.

Xiao Jian’s earlier attack was far too terrifying. He’d instantly destroyed a Nine-Tribulation Master God, so fast they couldn’t even try to stop him.

This was far too terrifying!

“Divine Son, all of you should step back,” said the woman in white. “Let me test his true strength.”

Boom!

Snow-white, misty divine radiance surged around the woman. Eternal charm rose into the air, shaking the entire stretch of heaven and earth. The whole area was enveloped in dense murderous intent.

The black spear rumbled in the woman’s grip. Light and flame interwove, startling the soul.

“A Half-Step Eternal? No wonder you dare to be so aggressive. By the standards of the present-day God Domain, you’re already a top expert,” said Xiao Jian. But then, he shook his head. “It’s just a pity that you’re blind and foolish.”

Boom!!

The woman shook her spear, then thrust suddenly.

It was just one strike, but it seemed it would pierce a hole through both heaven and earth!

That tyrannical, unstoppable power made even her companions’ hearts quiver with fright. They felt suffocated.

But Xiao Jian just extended two fingers and firmly trapped the spear between them.

The terrifying power emanating from the spear instantly dissipated, unable to damage Xiao Jian in the slightest.

“How was that?” Xiao Jian asked with a smile.

The woman’s hair stood on end. Even when she drew on the full extent of her cultivation base, she couldn’t wrest the spear from Xiao Jian’s grip!

She abandoned her weapon without the slightest hesitation, her hands forming seals as she activated the divine ability she kept in reserve.

A snow-white divine bird took to the skies, beating its wings and diving at Xiao Jian.

A layer of ice instantly formed over heaven and earth, and countless snowflakes fell. They could easily eradicate the life force of even Nine-Tribulation Master Gods!

But when Xiao Jian stretched out and waved his hand...

Boom!

The divine bird fell apart and withered, inch by inch.

When the man in blood-colored robes and the others saw this, their minds practically went blank.

That was their sect’s strongest divine ability of the Grand Dao, the Frost of the Profound Bird. It was imbued with the truths of Eternity, and it was powerful beyond measure!

Who could have imagined that it wouldn’t be able to withstand even a single hit?

The woman in white coughed up blood. This time, she finally lost her cool. “Hurry up and run!!”

“You tested me, and now you must pay the price, especially since... you falsely accused me.” Xiao Jian suddenly flung the black spear back.

Bang!!

It ran the woman in white through.

She looked down in disbelief, only to see a bloody hole that went all the way through her chest. She couldn’t even imagine it.

I’m a Half-Step Eternal. Why couldn’t I block even a single hit?

“You...” She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her body silently split into pieces and crumbled into ash before she got the chance.

Only a streak of lustrous, crystalline power of the Grand Dao remained, emanating hints of the aura of Eternity.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“I’m really not Su Yi,” Xiao Jian said solemnly. He looked at the woman’s companions. “That’s why you deserve to die. You can't blame me for this, don’t you think?”

The man in blood-red robes and the others were completely frantic. All of them felt chills in their hands and feet.

They’d planned to flee, but the white-haired Half-Step Eternal had died too quickly! So quickly that she died before they got the chance!

“Senior, since this was a misunderstanding, might you give us a chance to make it up to you?” someone stammered.

Xiao Jian shook his head. “In my eyes, right and wrong correspond to life and death. You erred, so you must die. There’s no room for negotiation.”

The man in blood-red robes hissed, “We’re from the Epoch of the Turbid River, and our patriarch is an Eternal. If you kill us...”

Xiao Jian silently clasped his fist. “Forgive my ignorance, but I’ve never heard of the Epoch of the Turbid River.”

Boom!

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, a dazzling arc of blue light shot forth, then swept out like a sword.

Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!

The man in blood-red robes and his companions died, helpless as fish on the chopping block. All of them had been cleaved in two at the waist, dying brutally on the spot.

Not one survived.

Xiao Jian raised his hand, and the dazzling blue light returned, transformed into a fish-shaped flying sword, and shot into his sleeves.

No further enemies stood in his path. All that remained were a few fallen spoils of war.

Xiao Jian pondered briefly, then whipped his head around and shouted into the distance, “I’ll give the trophies to you. Gather them quickly, then leave.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Once he’d faded from view, Tie Wenjing shot over from afar. When he saw the blood-smeared spoils, he looked astonished—and dazed.

Xiao Jian, meanwhile, was long gone. He suddenly frowned, then vanished into thin air.

A moment later, in a stretch of mountains...

Boom!!

Lightning manifested of the natural order appeared out of nowhere, shattering the surrounding skies.

As the sky collapsed, Xiao Jian staggered into view. Blood gushed from the corners of his lips.

Xiao Jian wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and smiled ruefully. “The chaos source of the present day is quite something. I only used a portion of my power, but I still suffered such a backlash. It’s truly unexpected...”

A little while later, he shook his head and walked off.

He’d decided to go see Su Yi!