The chilling wind blew through and caused Mu Baizhi to s.h.i.+ver. Her expression looked extremely complicated as her eyes lingered on Bai Zhen and Bai Biao who were over seven meters away.

The Qingcheng Monastery had been hit hard and suffered heavy losses tonight. n.o.body knew about the cause of the matter more than she did. Even she was perfectly aware of the fact that she was the very source of this issue. The scene of the past was now playing like a movie as they flashed inside her eyes, causing her distress and making it hard for her to breathe.

The array that enveloped the courtyard had just been broken by the impact of the fight between Tang Xiu, Bai Zhen, and Bai Biao. Yet, it made her aware of one thing—that today would become the anniversary of her death for years to come. And now, she could only ask the mysterious young man in hope that he would be able to protect and preserve the rest of Qingcheng Monastery"s people.

She paced forward a few steps and her eyes s.h.i.+fted to Tang Xiu. Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, she knelt to kowtow to Tang Xiu thrice and said, "Senior, they are telling the truth. All the evil and disastrous consequences today are the fruits of the cause that has been planted in the past. I"d like to take all the blame on myself and use my life to make up for my father"s mistakes, as well as to resolve the enmity between them."

The body of the Head Abbot of Qingcheng Monastery, Lin Tong, shook as a look of disbelief filled his eyes, whereas the other experts of Qingcheng Monastery looked flabbergasted and tongue-tied as they watched Mu Baizhi with incredulity.

It was… actually… true. That those six brothers had been framed and became the scapegoats in the past… it was actually the deeds of someone from their Qingcheng Monastery?

Lin Tong came to the front of Mu Baizhi and furiously shouted, "So it was your father who framed those six brothers and the mistakes are really the deeds of our Qingcheng Monastery?"

"Yes," answered Mu Baizhi with a mirthless smile.

Lin Tong gasped heavily a few times and angrily said, "Why didn"t you tell us the truth before? And why did you just watch our people chase and kill them, six average people, in the first place?"

"My father locked me up earlier before he made that mistake and I didn"t know about it until he released me." Mu Baizhi shook her head and said, "…Head Abbot, I"ve never married for so many years even though my father threatened me with unspeakable words, like that he would never die in peace if I didn"t marry. Yet, I never budged nor compromise. Can"t you understand it now? The man I love has died along with my heart. The reason why I"m still alive today is a self-atonement before the Three Divine Teachers, as well as to atone for the sins of my father."

On top of the pavilion, Tang Xiu shook his head after figuring out the whole cause of the matter. He then looked at the Deputy Abbot of Qingcheng Monastery, w.a.n.g Xuezhong, and said lightly, "Give me the Red Silk Flower first."

"I didn"t bring the Red Silk Flower with me, Senior. It"s in my abode," said w.a.n.g Xuezhong quickly. "Could you please wait for a while? I"ll present it to you immediately after I fetch it."

Tang Xiu nodded and said, "Awu, the three of you go with him."

"Yes!" Mo Awu trio nodded and followed w.a.n.g Xuezhong, whose body was scarred and injured, and quickly headed outside.

Tang Xiu s.h.i.+fted his gaze at Bai Zhen and Bai Biao and asked them with an indifferent expression, "So what now? How do you want to solve this problem?"

Bai Zhen and Bai Biao similarly exchanged glances, and then the former shouted immediately, "Mu Baizhi must die. She should have gone to be buried along with my deceased brother. But, the one who issued the order to hunt and kill us in the past was Lin Tong, the Head Abbot of Qingcheng Monastery, so he must die as well. Although we brothers are far from being good people, every grievance must have someone responsible since every debt also has a debtor. All the enmity and grievances between us and the Qingcheng Monastery will be written off as long as they commit suicide before us!"

"What if I don"t agree?" asked Tang Xiu calmly.

"If Senior doesn"t agree, then we brothers will risk our lives to fight to the death!" replied Bai Zhen resolutely. "Even if we must die here today, it"s still worth it. We won"t let our four dead brothers down."

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and said slowly, "It"s only natural for one to eliminate calamity for others in exchange with what he has received from them. I have received the Red Silk Flower, so I must preserve the people of the Qingcheng school. But now, I only need to ask you one thing and you must answer it."

"Do ask, Senior," said Bai Zhen with all seriousness.

"Did you send someone to put the Drunken Dragon Powder into the dishes at the luncheon banquet of the opening sale ceremony of the Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex?"

Bai Zhen"s expression changed. He looked hesitated yet still answered in a heavy voice, "We did. We sent our men to do it."

"Why? Do you know how many people would be poisoned if so many people accidentally ate the dishes?" asked Tang Xiu.

"We know from our investigation that the owner who develops the Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex, w.a.n.g Xuegang, is the younger brother of w.a.n.g Xuezhong, the Deputy Abbot of Qingcheng Monastery. We must exact our revenge, and it"s only natural that we must root out the source of the troubles. Those who will be implicated by w.a.n.g Xuegang is of not our concern."

"Great, it"s just great. What a great remark you just said. They are of no concern to you, huh?" commented Tang Xiu with anger. "You brothers had been hunted down because you were weak, and now you send your men to poison nearly 100 people just because they are average people? So in your eyes, those who are powerful have the rights and privileges to control the life and death of others? Hmph… if so, then I can"t let you go today!"

Bai Zhen"s complexion changed. He never thought that Tang Xiu would be furious due to some average people. After being silent for a while, he then asked, "We"re all cultivators, Senior. Those average people are nothing but ants in our eyes. Besides, you shouldn"t be an official of the country either, so why would you care about the life and death of these ants?"

"We are all cultivators indeed, but you are also ants in my eyes," sneered Tang Xiu. "More so that you mistakenly stated one thing. I can speak on behalf of this country and I have the rights and privileges to act first and explain later for my every deed."

As his voice faded away, Tang Xiu instantly raised his hand and a lightning bolt appeared out of thin air in the midst of the clouds in the sky. Then, the electricity serpent bolted down toward Bai Zhen and Bai Biao.

"No outsiders are allowed to bully the disciples of this old man!"

An old voice came drifting from afar as a large dark net came from the distance and directly shrouded the entirety of the courtyard inside. When the lightning bolt splashed through the black net, sparks splashed to all direction and then disappeared.

What followed immediately was the appearance of a decrepit old man in a dark green robe sporting a chignon hairdo. He came riding a flying sword and appeared in front of Tang Xiu before instantly releasing a green mist that emanated out from his body and enveloped everyone present.

"10,000 Dragons Poison."

When Tang Xiu stopped breathing to disperse the green mist, a drop of transparent liquid solution touched his skin silently. The transparent liquid melted into Tang Xiu"s clothes, and with its powerful penetrating power began to seep into his skin. In just a half a breath, it was dispersed inside Tang Xiu"s body.

"This is…" Tang Xiu"s countenance changed as a chilling and pungent colloid substance continuously scattered inside his body, sending sensations of piercing pain. It also included a corrosive effect, making Tang Xiu feel as if his body was frozen while his muscles and flesh were being corroded within.

The decrepit old man guffawed and said, "The 10,000 Dragons Poison is the beast core of a several thousand-year-old Aquatic Dragon this old man has stored in the chilling Spirit Spring in the center of the Arctic. It is combined with 99 venomous serpent toxins that took me two years to refine. Cultivators who are at the Golden Core stage and below can never escape from death. Even if you break through to the Nascent Soul stage, your power will be greatly sapped and you will still die."

A black scepter appeared in the hands of that old man out of thin air, along with a rising flame into the sky. The green mist in the surrounding then instantly ignited as the whole s.p.a.ce turned into a sea of fire.

Tang Xiu"s pupils contracted as the layers of flames wrapped him inside while the black scepter instantly appeared in front to strike him. Judging from the aura emanating from this old man, he was a powerhouse who was at least at the middle stage of Golden Core.

This old man was the most terrifying expert Tang Xiu had encountered so far.

"Begone!"

The longsword was unleashed, creating layers of sword images that instantly enveloped his body. Sparks burst and splashed as the old man"s black scepter that was about to hit Tang Xiu"s head instantly shattered, whereas the swift and fierce sword qi then flashed and instantly left several bleeding wounds on the old man"s chest.

"What?!"

The old man"s complexion drastically changed, and he hastily retreated all of a sudden after rigidly s.h.i.+fting position in several directions.

Tang Xiu"s figure swayed a few times. The chilling Yin Qi had nearly frozen all his internal organs, but what fl.u.s.tered him the most was that most of the colloid substances which entered his body began to drill into his Niwan Palace at lightning speed. After he succeeded in pus.h.i.+ng back the old man, a deafening roar suddenly exploded inside his mind.

The brain was the Niwan that represented soil, as the Earth element within the two arteries that pa.s.sed through the kidneys" essence was the "seed" in his kidneys—the so-called essence of vitality, which then flowed into the Niwan inside the brain. With the transparent Yin substance exploding there, it instantly caused a huge heat wave, causing Tang Xiu to nearly pa.s.s out due to the alternating cold and heat energy.

BOOM…

Right at the time when Tang Xiu pa.s.sed out for a brief moment, a heavy punch came rumbling and bombarded his chest. His body was barraged amid the crazily gus.h.i.+ng out blood and he flung backward for tens of meters like a cannonball before he heavily fell into the antique building behind him.

"RUN!"

More than a dozen high-ranking members of the Qingcheng Monastery quickly fled one by one when they saw that Tang Xiu was being barraged. Tang Xiu originally was going to help them, but a much more powerful enemy had now come; it was even more important that he was also Bai Zhen and Bai Biao"s Master. However powerful their wish to help Tang Xiu was, they had a clear estimation of what they could do. Not only would their efforts to help Tang Xiu amount to nothing, but they would also waste their lives for nothing.

"You wanna run? DREAM ON!"

Although Bai Zhen and Bai Biao were heavily injured which nearly made their combat power down to zero, they forcibly unleashed a forbidden art at this moment to heal most of the injuries, enabling them to exert 50-60% of their power. Yet, that amount of power alone was still adequate to completely annihilate the surviving members of the Qingcheng Monastery.

Puff…

A longsword, however, came striking from the left side right at the moment when Bai Biao was about to kill an expert of Qingcheng Monastery with a blow. The sword straightly cut through his neck and instantly killed him.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Bai Zhen"s eyes were as though bursting out with hatred. He gave up chasing his enemy and furiously dashed towards the front of Bai Biao and hugged him. Yet, at this moment, two silhouettes instantly appeared before him.

"Joint strike!"

Sword images swept over him, creating a form like a blossomed lotus. Bai Zhen hastily blocked it, but his arms were shattered by the sword beams. In the next moment, a shadow appeared behind him and punched his back heavily.

Puah…

Bai Zhen crazily gushed out blood with his heart destroyed.