The red-robed Yin Servant stared dumbstruck at the sword light Xiao Xue released.
Fang Xing's assumptions were correct. Prince Chu Huang didn't actually order him to do anything, but—as the prince's flunky—this Yin Servant had naturally known what was expected of him. He'd been nurtured by the Chu royal court since his youth as soldier of death built through resources. Other cultivators would have their own paths of Dao, and only Yin Servants like him did not; even if they formed their foundation, they were nothing more than flunkeys with more power than before. Flunkeys like him who'd managed to climb to high positions had pretty much reached the point where they knew exactly what their masters wished for.
Although Prince Chu Huang might have let go of this matter on the surface, the red-robed Yin Servant didn't need a command or even a hint to know this was his time to act. This action of his might break his master's "rules", but he knew if he didn't act now, he would no longer be a suitable flunkey and that wouldn't end well for him.
The Yin Servant was only trying to harmlessly force the brat to demonstrate his true battle prowess and thus hadn't attacked with his full power, but who could have anticipated that just as his twin claws struck out, this little brat would actively move into the path? And what was that beast spirit that had appeared from his body? It actually managed to block his claw while the brat was only sent flying?
From an outside perspective, it looked as though the Yin Servant had tried to commit murder but had been blocked by the sudden appearance of the beast spirit from the boy's body, followed by the boy being heavily wounded and flung away. It didn't look like there was any intention of testing the waters—it looked as though he'd tried to kill him.
Within only a brief moment, the Yin Servant's vision was dominated by the light of Xiao Xue's sword light and his heart became as cold as ice. He stiffly turned to look at Prince Chu Huang, yet only saw the prince's darkened expression. This course of events had turned out completely different from what the Yin Servant had imagined, and it seemed even Prince Chu Huang was in a bit of a daze.
"Big Brother Xiaojiu…."
As soon as Ying Qiaoqiao realized what had happened, her eyes grew red and she quickly rushed over. She looked down at Fang Xing with despair, her face paling and tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She lurched forward to try to draw Fang Xing into her embrace, but Hou Guimen stopped her from getting too close and coldly said, "Don't touch him for now. Let me check the condition of his internal organs, first…."
Fang Xing inwardly cursed Hou Guimen a hundred times over with thoughts like how this bastard better let his little grandpa Fang go as soon as possible. He pretended to sit up with great effort and said, "I'm fine. Thank goodness for the protection of my beast spirit or else I might have been killed…." With that, he struggled to crawl away from Hou Guimen's embrace and rolled into Ying Qiaoqiao's soft chest. Although she was decidedly flat, it was nonetheless very soft and warm and he finally began to feel better. He began to roll his eyes once he'd settled into her hold, as though he'd been heavily wounded without any way to cure him.
"What happened?"
The events that had transpired here naturally wouldn't be missed by the five Golden Cores. All five of them asked the question and began to walk over at the same time, and they were all surprised by what they saw. After Wanluo scanned his spirit sense over Fang Xing's body and realized he wasn't actually wounded, he was relieved and sternly asked, "What exactly happened here?"
Xiao Xue's longsword was still pointed at the red-robed Yin Servant while she answered on behalf of everyone present. "Dear all esteemed grand elders, as this little shidi from the Wanluo Court who'd verbally offended Chu Huang tried to leave, this flunkey attacked him!"
A glimpse of anger flashed across Wanluo's eyes. "Such great might you have, the Chu royal court…" he snorted.
Wanluo had pretty much guessed the entire course of events. This red-robed Yin Servant looked so scared he didn't even move aside from shivering, yet Fang Xing was held in the embrace of a woman while playing dead. He immediately knew this Yin Servant must've been played by the little brat so he wasn't actually so angry and quickly began trying to figure out how to handle the situation. Despite all of this, he'd still needed to say a few words for appearance's sake.
Chu Taishang was a little confused by this. He let out a cold snort of his own and glanced at Fang Xing. "Something isn't right with this kid. If this flunkey attacked him, how could he survive with a mere Spirit Stage cultivation level?"
As Chu Taishang said this, all of the other Golden Cores creased their brows and Wanluo's anger became genuine. With a quick scan of spirit sense, each of these Golden Cores knew everything about Fang Xing's body and could tell he was basically unharmed, but that didn't change the fact the Chu royal court had initiated the attack in the first place. To not even try to hide it and instead try to cast suspicions on the other party was rather off-putting and made the Chu royal court quite loathsome.
"This little shidi's beast spirit appeared and took the strike on his behalf, saving his life. This was seen by all of us, or are you trying to say we don't have any eyes?" Xiao Xue coldly asked without even bothering to hide her distaste towards the Chu royal court.
"Beast spirit?" The Golden Cores understood instantly and their suspicions were cleared. The Myriad Beasts Sect was proficient in using and controlling beast spirits; for this boy who'd come from the Myriad Beasts Sect to have a beast spirit protecting him was nothing special. With this answer, the doubts surrounding this boy were cleared up completely.
Not even Ying Qiaoqiao had any doubts and believed Fang Xing's beast spirit had been inherited from the Myriad Beasts Sect. There were many other beast spirits within the Myriad Beasts Sect aside from the main three, after all, although most were damaged or incomplete with a tier that wasn't very high. Her beast spirit was in the Budding Soul Stage and Fang Xing's was in the Golden Core Stage, so it all made sense to her.
The fact Fang Xing's beast spirit seemed able to activate on its own accord to protect its master was a little different from Ying Qiaoqiao's beast spirit, but right now she only wanted to care about Fang Xing's well-being. She was worried he'd die of a heavy wound and didn't have any time to think through such minor details.
Wanluo's gaze was glinted in anger as he coldly commanded, "Chu Taishang, you barged into the Demon God Valley and tried to take a child of the Hou clan before fighting with Zhang Daoyi. You captured the Xiao girl and traded a few strikes with Mu Longyin. Are you still not satisfied and want to try your hands with me as well? Come come come, it's been a while since I've seen your Chu royal court's secret spell; let me see if you've improved any!"
Wanluo released his aura as he spoke, causing the snow around him to rise and dance as though turning into a blizzard.
Chu Taishang's brows creased and he couldn't help but to take a step backwards. "Old bastard Wanluo, is this really necessary? This boy isn't injured at all, can't we all tell? If he is perfectly innocent, why is he pretending to be dead while in the embrace of a woman?"
Right now, he wasn't saying this to cast doubt on Fang Xing so much as try to shift the focus so he could keep this Foundation Stage Yin Servant alive. The red-robed Yin Servant was a flunkey, yes, but he was a Foundation Stage flunkey—a good sprout chosen from the entire group of flunkeys who'd been built using a large amount of resources. For this flunkey to make such a huge mistake would be difficult to settle afterwards, so he tried to change the topic. For this Yin Servant to die because of a Spirit Stage kid would be a huge waste.
Fang Xing wasn't willing to accept such words lying down, however, and he jumped up and began cursing, "You old turtle egg bastard, how dare you say your little grandpa here is pretending to be dead? I was just frightened by that damned eunuch's sneak attack, so what's wrong with me resting in the embrace of my lovely Qiaoqiao? Hurry up and compensate me!"
Fang Xing's guts were truly so large he dared to curse at anyone.
Chu Taishang was immediately enraged. Even when Xiao Xue faced him before, she'd only dared to include a slight tone of mocking sarcasm, yet who was this little bastard to even dare call him "old turtle egg bastard" while referring to himself as "little grandpa"? The shine of his Golden Core aura began to press over towards the boy as he yelled out, "How dare you curse me! Are you trying to topple even the heavens?"
Fang Xing was thoroughly surprised; he hadn't expected this Golden Core to actually initiate an attack towards him! He let out a shriek and prepared to flee.
Just at that moment, however, the old bastard Wanluo suddenly let out a cold snort and his body disappeared from view. When next he was seen, he'd interposed himself in front of Fang Xing and the aura from Chu Taishang was transformed into calm ripples. Fang Xing peeked out from behind Wanluo for a moment and was relieved to see this, but he pulled himself back to continue hiding a moment later. As for the old man Wanluo, he showed neither joy nor anger—there was only a smile of disdain on his face.
"Chu Taishang, have I really been inactive for so long even a little junior like you has forgotten what kind of methods I have?"
The surprise on Chu Taishang's face was as clear as day. "Fellow Daoist Wanluo, it's not that I'm bullying him, it's just that this kid is too rude!"
"What's wrong with being rude? It was I who taught him this!" Wanluo sneered. "Something problematic occurred during your trial, and I wouldn't have said anything if you'd been investigating the matter according to the rules. But to do this without any evidence, and for you to have that flunkey of yours do such a dirty thing…. You really think I've accomplished nothing in my entire life so far?"
At the end of his speech, Wanluo suddenly waved a finger. In moments, a golden light appeared and swept past the red-robed Yin Servant's head like a spark of lightning, while the servant himself didn't realize anything at all and simply stood still in a daze. After several moments, however, a muffled groan rose up from his throat and his entire body turned to ash, leaving only the red robe behind that slowly fell to the ground.
"Wanluo, why did you…?" Chu Taishang loudly exclaimed, his eyes already filling with fury.
Wanluo, on the other hand, simply folded his hands against his back and calmly replied, "Despite having no evidence, he dared to attack my disciple and it came to this. And you too, Chu Taishang, you said earlier this disciple of mine wanted to topple the heavens? Which heavens? The heavens of your Chu royal court? If you dare to act so threateningly towards him again, perhaps I won't only topple the heavens of your Chu royal court, but also help all of Chufung overturn theirs."