The chaotic battlefield was filled with ruins. Pavilions crumbled and tiles turned into trash. Blood stained the white flowers.

This used to be the number one location for romance-seekers in the world but now, it has turned into a ma.s.sacre. Many beautiful women were ruthlessly killed. In the eyes of the soldiers, the order was much more important than mercy or l.u.s.t.

Feiyun stood on top of a broken palace. The smoke and dust of war virtually covered him entirely but he stood there unmoving with six s.h.i.+ny diagrams for protection.

The world became quiet and he still didn’t move. He seemed to have turned into a statue as he focused on listening and could hear even the sound of a speck of sand being blown by the wind.

“Whoos.h.!.+” Suddenly, a sword slash cut through the sky like a lightning arc.

Feiyun spinned around and turned into a gale, allowing him to disappear from the spot to dodge the murderous slash. Furthermore, he did a full circle in the air and unleashed a saber slash with the form of a dragon and an earth-splitting power.

“Boom!” A black figure leaped out of the air, as ethereal as a ghost with ripples around him, wanting to blend back inside.

This was a genius of the a.s.sa.s.sin palace with an amazing stealthing technique.

“Still want to run?” Feiyun snorted and all 9,932 beast shadows appeared in his palm. He unleashed an attack and blew the guy flying with spewing blood.

“Boom!” Next, he stomped the guy to death. This was a powerful a.s.sa.s.sin with techniques nearly rivaling Du Shougao.

After taking care of him, Feiyun turned into a ray to chase after Ye Xiaoxiang.

It didn’t take long before he caught up to her and an old woman with only one hand. He darted through the air and appeared before the two of them and gave the old woman a cold glare.

It was Aunt Qin whose hand got severed by him a few days ago. Her wrinkly face was looking especially fierce after seeing Feiyun again. She lifted her walking stick and pointed it at Xiaoxiang’s throat like a sword.

Feiyun said sharply: “Where do you think you’re taking her?”

“Feng Feiyun, I know you’re strong but move and see if I won’t leave a hole on her neck.” The old woman’s voice was hoa.r.s.e and chilling.

Several more old men came to protect her flank. These were the high elders of Beauty’s Smile who have cultivated for two to three hundred years.

One of them looked rather friendly. He was riding an armored beast and said: “Xiaoxiang, Beauty’s Smile is your home, do you actually want to see it gone?! Ask His Excellency to withdraw.”

Xiaoxiang’s dantian has been sealed by Aunt Qin so she looked especially feeble. She bit her lips and looked anxiously at Feiyun. Her eyes were full of emotions: “You came for me this time, right?”

She didn’t want to misunderstand again like last time at Supreme Beauty. She couldn’t believe he would make such a grand move just for her sake - one that would affect the entire capital.

Feiyun said: “I told Hongyan that I would bring you back safe and sound.”

She smiled wryly and nodded before forcing herself to speak: “Thank you.”

Thank you - these words represented manners and politeness. Of course, also a certain amount of distance.

True friends and lovers would never need to say “thank you” to each other.

“No need for that.” Feiyun spoke and instantly disappeared. Next, he unleashed a blade towards Aunt Qin.

She wasn’t weak and has been paying careful attention to him. The moment he slightly moved, she let go of everything and decided to kill Xiaoxiang before trying to fight Feiyun.

Alas, she was still underestimating his speed.

“Pluff!” The glint of the blade came down like a water curtain and severed Aunt Qin’s other arm. The stick fell as well, issuing a clank.

Feiyun landed next to Xiaoxiang and pulled her behind him before unleas.h.i.+ng another energy slash to blow the old woman away. The energy annihilated her internal organs so she fell down like a dead dog, no longer moving.

Feiyun whispered: “You don’t need to be afraid of her anymore.”

The attack was simply too fast so the old men couldn’t react at all.

“d.a.m.n you!” They gathered their violet energy and unleashed purple rays at him.

Xiaoxiang was worried that Feiyun wasn’t a match for these seniors.

“Boom!” Feiyun used his beast souls again and punched forward. All the old men were blown flying with their body cracking from the force.

Though he couldn’t take on a half-step just yet, it was no problem to kill the older cultivators.

“Come!” Feiyun held her and started to withdraw.

She was full of complicated emotions. Which girl didn’t want to see her man furious for her sake? But Feiyun wasn’t doing it for her; he was doing it for Hongyan.

This was her closest little sister, how could she be jealous of Hongyan? Maybe returning to the capital was a mistake, she thought.

The entire Beauty’s Smile has been sealed by the experts from the Feng with many layers of barriers. Only the real masters would know that a battle was going on.

Nevertheless, the cultivators from the pavilion still managed to leak the information.

Reinforcement was coming.

A ma.s.sive force came from the northern sky causing souls to waver.

“This is… the power of a fourth-ranked spirit treasure!” Feiyun could sense this murderous power too so he turned and looked.

There was a blue ray crossing through the sky and shattered the spatial barriers to head for Beauty’s Smile.

A Giant with a first-ranked spirit treasure could destroy a city from a thousand miles away. A first-ranked was already that powerful so a fourth-ranked was even more terrorizing. There weren’t that many in the entire dynasty, only powers like the four great clans could have one of them. 

For example, the Blood-being Exalted Pot taken from the King of the Yang World by Bi Ningshuai was a fourth-ranked treasure.

After reaching this level, they were called Dominating Armaments. Just possessing one could propel a power to the top and protect it for generations to come.

These weapons were powerful but creating them was an arduous task that required a ma.s.sive amount of resources; not all were available in the dynasty.

Moreover, a Grand Blacksmithing Master needed to do the refinement process with all of his effort in order to successfully create one.

Furthermore, the spirit inside required ten thousand years of gestation. All of these requirements must be met for it to reach the fourth-ranked.

Even the Feng didn’t have a single one right now. The entire dynasty combined didn’t have twenty of them. Each was famous with their own legends. Whenever one came out, something earth-shattering was going to happen.

Even a Giant would turn into ashes if they were struck by the real power of this weapon. 

This particular fourth-ranked weapon has activated completely. Just a single ray alone instantly destroyed a half-step Giant from the army and turned his body into green smoke.

It was surrounded by a brilliance so no one could see what was inside.

“Rumble!” Its aura erupted completely and made more than ten thousand soldiers explode into smithereens. Blood gathered like a river.

Feiyun was nearly struck by the ray as well but he used his Swift Samsara to escape. Alas, his arm was wounded and the s.h.i.+rt sleeve rendered to ashes.

Ning Fengxian and Buddha Maitreya who were presiding over the situation both attacked at the same time with their second-ranked treasures. However, these treasures got destroyed instantly and became sc.r.a.p metals.

A second-ranked against a fourth-ranked was akin to using a wooden stick versus a saber.

“We’ll just see about that!” Fengxian jumped into the sky with his whisker. A monstrous qi image of a daoist appeared behind him while a green river emerged below. He threw his whisker out and formed a mantra with both hands in order to summon the Nine Firmaments Lightning.

The power of this technique was comparable to a Heavenly Tribulation. This was one of the greatest offensive arts in the daoist faction.

Fengxian was a ninth-level Giant so he could gather a monstrous amount of lightning. Eighteen bolts descended from the sky, wis.h.i.+ng to repel the attacking treasure.

Alas, this still wasn’t enough. Part of his daoist robe got destroyed by the weapon after this exchange.

“I can’t. This treasure is being controlled by eight Giants at the same time from far away. I can’t stop it unless I have a fourth-ranked treasure as well.” Fengxian backed off.

The power of a fourth-ranked treasure made a ninth-level Giant helpless.