Vol.3-Chapter 23 – The Struggle of a Caged Beast

The young man was wearing a yellow robe that had flowing cloud patterns embroidered on its cuffs. He looked similar to Xiao Yi and Xiao Yu. However, while Xiao Yi was majestic and Xiao Yu was handsome, he was a bit more beautiful.

“Yun Er, why did you come back from the sect?” Xiao Yi’s gloomy face immediately smiled. His eldest son was his pride. He had reached the early stage of the Spirit Core Realm at such an early age and was the disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect’s sect master. His future was limitless.

“I just went out with my teacher to a spirit vein to temper my body. I had just returned to the sect for a few days when Yu Er sent someone to deliver a message.”

Facing his own father, Xiao Yun’s voice was still soft. He knew of what had happened to the Xiao family today, and his anger was unimaginable.

“Are you all a bunch of useless trash? You can’t even deal with one person and even got beaten badly?!”

Xiao Yun looked at the people here and loudly scolded them. Right now, he was half the world to the Xiao family. He was young and had such a powerful cultivation. Also, he was normally spoiled by the sect master of the Flowing Cloud Sect, which made him very arrogant.

Xiao Yun was not kind to the people of the Xiao family at all. When Xiao Yu saw his big brother come back, his face was filled with joy instead of discontent. He knew that as long as his big brother was back everyone would be fine. The Mo family would not be able to do anything.

“Yun Er, how do you want to handle this situation? Should we go to the Flowing Cloud Sect for help?” Xiao Yi looked at his eldest son with an inquiring gaze.

Xiao Yun shook his head, his eyes and voice cold. “I’ll resolve this matter, there is no need to bother the sect. In addition, didn't Zhao Jiuge say he would kill any member of my Xiao family who dared to find trouble with the Mo family? I’ll go meet him tomorrow and see what makes him so arrogant.”

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

After he spoke, the previously dead hall burst out in cheers. Now that Xiao Yun had returned, they seemed to have found their backbone. They were all noisily clamoring that they were going to teach the Mo family a lesson.

At this moment, a sense of vigor was injected into the Xiao family. The people of the Xiao family regained their pride.

It was deep in the night. After Xiao Yun returned, his words silently spread across Dong Yang City. Everyone was watching, and they wanted to see which one of these two young men would come out on top.

…...

Compared to the recklessness of the Xiao family, the Mo family was unusually quiet.

As soon as night arrived, Zhao Jiuge and Su Su returned to their room. Zhao Jiuge immediately began cultivating. The world of the strong preying on the weak made him feel a sense of urgency.

Strength was his only guarantee. He didn’t want what had happened to the Xiao family today to happen to him in the future. Su Su was playing with Little Black, while Zhao Jiuge was recovering his spirit core and studying the fourth layer of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Art.

In his dantian, the dragon eye-sized golden spirit core was slowly rotating, exuding a soft light. Not only was the grade-8 spirit core becoming more beautiful, it had become more solid as well. It wouldn’t be long before he reached the late stage of the Spirit Core Realm. After that, he would reach a bottleneck before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.

Unlike Zhao Jiuge and Su Su, both Mo Longjie and Xiao Yi couldn’t calm themselves.

In the room opposite of Zhao Jiuge’s room, the candles lit up the whole room, and one could see two figures moving inside.

Mo Longjie and Old Yao were sitting inside. There was a cloth of blue, embroidered silk over the table, and on top of the table was one red candle. The light from the candle flickered.

“Do you think the Xiao family will let this matter go?” The candlelight flickered, causing Mo Longjie’s serious expression to loom in and out of the darkness.

Old Yao’s expression was the opposite of Mo Longjie’s. He carelessly poured a cup of tea. He didn’t panic and drank a sip of tea. “Longjie, ah, you’re already an old man, why are you regressing? Your state of mind is a mess.”

Mo Longjie anxiously said, “That’s not right, Old Yao. This relates to the survival of my Mo family. How can I not be anxious?”

Old Yao had a green, porcelain teacup and gently sipped his tea. He didn’t even look at Mo Longjie as he somewhat angrily said, “Before Zhao Jiuge appeared, you were already prepared for the worst. Now that Zhao Jiuge has shown strength, why are you even more afraid? Even if he isn’t strong enough, we can just always do what we planned originally. The two of us will trade our old lives so the youngsters can get away.”

Mo Longjie moved his lips and pondered deeply. He soon decided on something and heavily nodded.

Many people were doomed to not have a calm night today.

The next day, before the day became bright, the quaint Dong Yang City exuded a sense of vitality and became lively.

There were many people outside both the Mo family and Xiao family mansions.

There were rogue cultivators with strange personalities carrying flying swords and standing by themselves. There were some in groups of three to five, holding large blades and talking to each other with unbridled smiles.

Aside from the rogue cultivators that resided around Dong Yang City, most of these people were mortals from the city. They had heard of the reputation of the two families for a long time, and this was the first time they could watch a direct battle like this. This would allow them to see a little bit of the mysterious cultivation world. These mortals were more here to watch a show than anything else.

The people waiting outside both mansions wanted to see what would happen next. The people waiting outside the Xiao mansion were more lucky.

A muffle sound echoed along with the opening of the Xiao family’s door. This caused the people waiting outside to be filled with excitement.

When the door completely opened, everyone’s eyes shrank. Today, almost everyone in the Xiao family had come out.

The person in the lead was the gloomy and majestic Xiao Yi. Beside him was Xiao Yun, who was wearing a yellow robe with the unique symbol of the Flowing Cloud Sect embroidered on the cuff.

Behind him was the black-robed Hei Yinzi and Xiao Yu, who felt like he could already see the demise of the Mo family. Behind them were the soldiers of the Xiao family, who gave off a murderous aura. They no longer looked as pitiful as they did when they escaped the Mo family yesterday.

Seeing the Xiao family come out in full force, the surrounding crowd erupted.

Xiao Yi led the people of the Xiao family to the Mo family’s mansion. Things had to be decided today; otherwise, their comfortable situation would change. The crowd excitedly followed the Xiao family. For some reason, they were even more excited than the people of the Xiao family.

Early in the morning, while Zhao Jiuge was studying the sword art, he was awakened by the noise outside the Mo mansion.

“Mo Longjie, come out! I’ve given you face, but you won’t take it, so your Mo family can disappear from Dong Yang City.” The voice was filled with anger and was wrapped in spirit force, so it echoed for a long time.

Zhao Jiuge frowned, but he didn’t care. He still wanted to study the fourth layer of the sword art a little more. This made him feel a surge of displeasure early in the morning.

He glanced at the room but didn’t find Su Su. He assumed Little Black was with her. He jumped off the bed and rushed toward the source of that voice. He could also hear the noise of the crowd outside.

When he arrived, Mo Longjie, Old Yao, and Su Su were already at the door. When he looked over, he saw many familiar faces, including the head of the Xiao family.

Looking at Xiao Yi and Xiao Yun, Zhao Jiuge could barely contain his killing intent. He had held himself back yesterday, and he didn’t think they would come so soon! The crowd was even larger than yesterday as many people had rushed back to the city last night.

“Little bastard, it’s really you. You actually had the guts to come back.” When Xiao Yi saw Zhao Jiuge, his eyes were filled with hatred. Zhao Jiuge had caused the Xiao family to lose a lot of face, and this time he had caused them to suffer a big loss. Xiao Zhan was still back home, fighting for his life.

Facing Xiao Yi’s threat, Zhao Jiuge didn’t care at all. He smiled and looked at the people in the crowd. He slowly said, “I came back, so what? What can you do about it? I said yesterday that if anyone dares to come and find trouble with the Mo family, I’ll kill them as they come.”

Zhao Jiuge had already decided to make the Xiao family pay a price before everyone here. He was going to wipe out the Xiao family here and also use this as a warning to help regain the Mo family’s lost prestige.

“Hehe, after reaching the Spirit Core Realm in the last few years due to luck, you want to come back and act mighty? What a frog in a well! Kill them as they come. Not even my Flowing Cloud Sect dares to be this arrogant. I want to see what right you have to say this.” Xiao Yun looked at Zhao Jiuge and revealed a sarcastic smile.

Zhao Jiuge revealed a playful smile and spat at the ground while everyone watched in amazement. “The Flowing Cloud Sect isn’t even a fart, not even a third-rate sect. Naturally, they aren’t qualified to be arrogant.”

After Zhao Jiuge spoke those words, the entire crowd erupted. Although everyone knew that the Xiao family was backed by the Flowing Cloud Sect, no one brought it up. Now that Zhao Jiuge had directly pointed it out, the Flowing Cloud Sect could intervene. Who let Zhao Jiuge disrespect the Flowing Cloud Sect? They originally came to see the battle between the Mo and Xiao families, but now the conclusion was set. They thought that Zhao Jiuge was stupid and that if the Flowing Cloud Sect made a move, the Mo family would not be able to resist.

Xiao Yun’s expression immediately became gloomy and then he revealed a cruel smile. “Very good, you dared to insult my Flowing Cloud Sect. Then I’ll let you see if my Flowing Cloud Sect is qualified!”

Xiao Yun originally wanted to threaten Zhao Jiuge with the reputation of the Flowing Cloud Sect and make him reluctant to resist. Then he would not have to waste as much time and effort. After all, no matter how much he looked down upon Zhao Jiuge, he was not a fool. Zhao Jiuge was also at the Spirit Core Realm, and defeating Lei Lei yesterday proved that he had some skill. However, he didn’t think that Zhao Jiuge would not care about the Flowing Cloud Sect at all, which caused him to erupt in anger. He had excellent talent and was the direct disciple of the sect master. It was also certain that he would become the next sect master, so how could he allow the sect to be insulted like this?

“The struggle of a caged beast.”

However, facing the fierce Xiao Yun, Zhao Jiuge was not nervous at all. His eyes were as calm as a deep pool of water.

Xiao Yun did not expect this kind of reaction, and a powerful surge of spirit force erupted from his body.

The people in the crowd watched on in excitement. The battle was about to begin!