"Good, good. Very good. Seeing you like this, I find I don't want to kill you anymore. But I need you to do something for me."
Xuan Tianzhan chuckled as he looked at Zhang Mengfei's current state.
He found this very amusing.
"You want me to work for you? How ridiculous! You must be dreaming!"
Zhang Mengfei sneered.
"Really? What if I said that as long as you work for me, I'll spare your little sister? Would you still be so resolute?"
Xuan Tianzhan's face was a mask of mockery.
"My sister? Impossible. With your personality, she couldn't have survived..."
"Is that so? It seems you don't want to take this bet. Since you think she's already dead, then I'll just let her die. What a pity... such a pretty little girl, as beautiful as a flower. She's only thirteen this year, isn't she?"
Xuan Tianzhan burst into loud laughter once more.
"You! Fine, I agree!"
Zhang Mengfei, however, changed his mind in an instant.
Even though in his heart he felt this was a trick.
But as long as there was a sliver of hope...
...he had to take the gamble.
And Xuan Tianzhan was counting on precisely that.
'What a foolish guy.'
He sneered internally, but his face remained impassive. "In that case, the first thing I want you to do is go to the Pure Yang Sword Sect's encampment and provoke their new Eldest Senior Sister, Yang Ziling!"
"The Pure Yang Sword Sect? Fine, I'll do it. But I want to see my sister first."
Zhang Mengfei wasn't a complete fool.
Unfortunately, Xuan Tianzhan just shook his head coldly. "You have no right to bargain, understand? Only by obediently doing as you're told will I release your sister. Otherwise... Hmph."
"You!"
Zhang Mengfei's eyes widened in fury.
But in the end, he swallowed his anger.
He had no choice.
In his family, he had always been closest to his little sister.
For her sake, suffering some humiliation was nothing, not when there was even a glimmer of hope.
"Fine. I agree."
"Excellent! Qi Zhen, go untie him. Give him a bottle of Qi Blood Pills so he can recover properly. We have a good show to watch from him in a bit."
Xuan Tianzhan smiled, looking very pleased with himself.
One of the True Disciples stepped forward.
It was the very Qi Zhen whom Xuan Tianzhan had mentioned. He was his most capable subordinate, an expert at the Peak of Martial Grandmaster Ninth Layer. The others weren't even worthy of Xuan Tianzhan remembering their names.
That was why, whenever he needed something done...
...he almost always called on Qi Zhen.
And because of this, Qi Zhen had become the second-in-command of his small entourage.
"Kid, don't try any tricks. Otherwise, you should know what the consequences will be."
After uttering the cold threat, Qi Zhen undid the chains on Zhang Mengfei.
CLANG!
Having been chained here for three whole days with his cultivation sealed, Zhang Mengfei fell heavily to the ground.
Qi Zhen, however, just sneered, stepped forward, and tapped him a few times.
He unsealed his cultivation, tossed down a bottle of Pills, and walked away in disgust.
Zhang Mengfei paid it no mind.
He took a deep breath, swallowed the Pills, and sat down cross-legged right in front of everyone to begin his recovery.
'Martial Grandmaster Sixth Layer... Hmph. To think a mere Secular Kingdom could produce someone like him. It's just his bad luck he ran into me.'
Xuan Tianzhan thought coldly to himself.
The reason he had annihilated Zhang Mengfei's entire clan over a single sentence...
...was because he had seen Zhang Mengfei's talent.
To reach the Martial Grandmaster Sixth Layer by the age of twenty in a place like the secular world...
'With such talent, if he ever joined a Sect, wouldn't he soar to the heavens? He could even become a threat to me.'
In his life, Xuan Tianzhan's favorite pastime was crushing geniuses.
Especially recently, after two of his maids had died.
Xuan Tianzhan was in a very bad mood.
And of all times...
...Zhang Mengfei had to stumble into him.
'If he wasn't going to die,'
'who was?'
'For now, I might as well make use of this piece of trash.'
Thinking about the massive headache the Pure Yang Sword Sect would soon have...
...Xuan Tianzhan's mood improved considerably.
It almost made up for the foul mood Xue Yi had put him in earlier.
「Meanwhile.」
At the encampment of the Pure Yang Sword Sect.
Yang Ziling wore a worried expression.
"Eldest Senior Sister, are you still thinking about the grand competition tomorrow?"
The little girl in the jade-green dress beside her asked softly. She then pouted her cute lips and added indignantly, "Senior Brother Zeng and Senior Brother Huaa are unbelievable! They're dumping everything on you, Eldest Senior Sister. Just because they lost? How can they be so irresponsible?"
"Yuan'Er, don't say that. Senior Brother Zeng and Senior Brother Huaa joined the sect before I did, after all. It's only human to be upset after losing. But now, with the Pure Yang Sword Sect so weakened, their inability to set aside their personal grievances and stand united... it just leaves me a little disappointed."
Yang Ziling shook her head slightly.
But the worry on her face did not fade.
Ever since she defeated Zeng Yunfeng and Huaa Tianshang in the sect competition to become the number one True Disciple, the two senior brothers she had once respected so much had become like different people.
They were sarcastic and condescending toward her. Huaa Tianshang, in particular, even demanded that she hand over the secret to her victory.
This greatly disappointed Yang Ziling.
Fortunately, the Sect Elders weren't so shortsighted as to indulge his ridiculous behavior.
Otherwise...
'I might have disappointed him.'
Yang Ziling thought.
In her mind, a figure surfaced.
He looked two or three years younger than her, a youth who still had a touch of childishness about him.
'I wonder how he's doing now? I should have asked where he was staying and which Sect he was from. Maybe I'll even have a chance to see him tomorrow.'
Yang Ziling thought with a trace of anticipation.
But when she thought about her Sect's situation, she didn't want tomorrow to come at all.
Between their fear of the Profound Celestial Sect and the members who had been killed, the entire Pure Yang Sword Sect now had only three people who could participate in the competition.
Namely, Yang Ziling, Huaa Tianshang, and Zeng Yunfeng.
But those two had no magnanimity whatsoever.
They both claimed they were unwell and couldn't participate in the grand competition.
And just like that, the great Pure Yang Sword Sect was left with only Yang Ziling to represent them in the Nine Sects Grand Competition.
If this matter got out...
...wouldn't the other Sects laugh themselves to death?
But what could be done?
Never mind her, even the Sect Elders were helpless.
They couldn't possibly force them to compete, could they?
And even if they did, what would be the point?
Besides, participants in the grand competition needed to be at least a Martial Grandmaster to uphold the Pure Yang Sword Sect's honor. And a Martial Grandmaster under the age of thirty...
...was not so easy to find.
Even if they found one, if that person wasn't raised by the Pure Yang Sword Sect, they wouldn't dare use them.
'I can't believe it. The Grand Competition hasn't even started, yet the Pure Yang Sword Sect is already in such a predicament. Does Heaven truly intend for our Pure Yang Sword Sect to be utterly defeated?'
Yang Ziling, who wanted nothing more than to bring glory to her Sect, was incredibly frustrated.
Just then, someone came with a message.
It was announced that Junior Sect Leader Fang Aohan and Young Miss Fang Yun of the Sword Casting Sect had come to visit.
Yang Ziling's eyes lit up instantly.
'Perhaps they can help me!'
With this thought, Yang Ziling walked out.
At almost the exact same time, Zhang Mengfei also stood up.
He started walking toward the encampment of the Pure Yang Sword Sect.
He was going to challenge Yang Ziling!
(PS: Chapter two is here. This is a bonus chapter to celebrate our reader, 'A Distant Mountain,' for becoming the book's second 'Disciple'—the title for our highest single-instance donor! I also want to thank 'A Distant Mountain' again for their continued donations. Your support means a lot, thank you. Thanks as well to everyone for your recommendation votes. The character count is already at 490,000 and closing in on 500,000. The plot is getting more complex, so my writing speed has slowed. I'd love to release more bonus chapters, but I'm afraid I don't have the stamina. I hope you all can understand.)