Before anyone could even process what Xuan had said, the old man threw a punch right at Xuan’s face.

The fist was infused with Qi, but it was slightly different. Instead of the usual blue Qi color, it was a pale orange.

It felt warm, and the moment it reached his face, the old man’s fist burst out into bright orange flames.

Yet Xuan wasn’t there to take the brunt of those flames, as he teleported a couple of meters back, then raised his hands just in time to block a kick from the old man.

But despite blocking it on time, he was sent flying, his forearms scorched slightly from the impact.

The old man didn’t stop and continued attacking Xuan, but each time, Xuan managed to evade in time, and whenever he did get hit, the damage was barely noticeable.

Amidst the many kicks and punches came an opportunity where the old man had overextended his arm out of frustration, and Xuan didn’t fail to pivot his heel and throw a Void Qi-infused punch straight at his face.

And to everyone’s surprise, the punch connected, sending out a crisp cracking sound. However, it wasn’t the old man’s jaw that had broken, but Xuan’s wrist.

It wasn’t Xuan’s first time breaking a bone, and he wasn’t about to act like a pussy in front of his sister and three powerful figures, so he simply took a step back and glared at the old man.

Just as the tension spiked again, Lijun Fen stepped between them, halting the clash.

"That’s enough," Lijun Fen said coldly. "Zheng Jing, our alchemists can work long and hard to restore what your son had lost... so I ask you to put your grievances aside."

The old man, Zheng Jing, scoffed. "You expect me to remain silent after what happened? I will not stop until these two are both dead!"

"Like father, like son," Xuan remarked, clicking his tongue. "You both are hot-headed and annoying to deal with."

"They might be trying to compensate for something~" Yuelan chimed in cheekily.

"You two, stop it as well," Lijun Fen said with a sigh, turning toward the furious Zheng Jing. "They are very promising candidates, as you can see. I want to recruit them to our sect, even if it means I’ll have to bend the rules to do so."

"My threat still stands, Fen," Zheng Jing replied boldly. "Whether you try to recruit these two to the sect or not, I am still going to be the one who kills them."

<Xiao Yuelan: Ugh... how annoying. Should we just use the trump card?>

Xuan thought for a moment, then nodded, making Yuelan step up with a small smirk.

"I understand how all parents like to take their children’s sides. Ours were the same," Yuelan said, longing clear in her tone. "But you must understand, we had our reasons to attack Zheng Shui."

"Reasons?" Zheng Jing repeated, his fury growing. "No reason is severe enough to chop off his—"

"Hold on," Lijun Fen interjected, then nodded at Yuelan. "Continue." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Yuelan smiled. "You see... we saw Zheng Shui bullying an innocent outer disciple, so we stepped in to help. However, just as we were about to help the outer disciple, we saw red veins appear on Zheng Shui’s face. We thought he was a demon, so we attacked him."

She took a few steps toward Xuan and held his broken wrist, gently caressing it.

"It seemed like he was about to transform, so I had no choice but to do the unforgivable," Yuelan said, shedding a single tear, meeting the skeptical gazes of all the people present.

"I promise, the only reason we attacked was because we thought Zheng Shui was a demonic cultivator."

With those words, silence ensued as the air suddenly grew heavy.

All the Azure Sky sect’s cultivators were frozen, yet their Qi was leaking slightly, destroying the surroundings bit by bit.

That was until Lijun Fen stepped forward, his aura threatening to crush both of them.

"Is what you say the truth?" he asked. "Because if you dare to joke about such a serious matter, then recruitment or not, I will have to kill you two."

"Scout’s honor," Xuan replied flatly. "We know what we saw."

"Good." He turned toward the old man and narrowed his eyes. "Old Jing, do you permit us to run a few tests on your son?"

"..." Zheng Jing entered a fighting stance and glared at everyone present. "My son is not going to become a lab rat. I taught him proper discipline, and I ensured he was resilient enough not to succumb to his dark desires."

He clenched his fists, orange Qi flaring around them. "He is not a fool. He would never betray me like this."

Zheng Jing vanished from sight, and in an instant, he reappeared in front of Xuan and Yuelan.

Yuelan didn’t stand around and immediately performed her graceful swordsmanship moves, blocking fists and kicks of all types while also protecting Xuan.

But even if her swordsmanship was enough to deal with the man’s attacks, the sword itself could not.

The sword snapped into two pieces, and right as a wave of helplessness washed over Yuelan, Xuan suddenly reappeared behind Zheng Jing and then jumped onto his back.

Xuan wrapped his hands around Zheng Jing’s neck and put him in a chokehold, using every bit of Void Qi and regular Qi to enhance his strength.

Zheng Jing tried to swat Xuan off, yet all he managed to do was break a few bones.

He took a deep breath as the orange Qi began to gather in his back, and soon, Xuan’s body began to burn at a rapid pace.

The smell of charred skin permeated the air, followed by heaps of blood streaming down Xuan’s nose.

Yet as Xuan was just about to lose consciousness, Yuelan suddenly took a step forward and, with all her might, kicked Zheng Jing straight in the balls.

It was almost as if a light switch had been flicked, causing Zheng Jing to momentarily topple over and stop burning Xuan.

And because of that, Yuelan Swift Stepped toward him and grabbed him, inspecting his heavily injured body with trembling hands.

"Shit..." Yuelan mumbled and tossed Xuan over her shoulder, then shot the stunned Lijun Fen a glance.

"We’ll be back soon, so make sure you prepare a reward for us," Yuelan said with a smile, and without wasting a single beat, vanished from sight alongside the injured Xuan.