Elder Wu Heng was enraged, and it was understandable as their hard work was almost undone.
Lu Xiangyuan took the bla but there was soone apart from him who was taking the bla.
Elder Lu Teng, Lu Xiangyuan's father, was seated along with others from the faction, his head down.
They were trying not to be too vocal about their complaints regarding his son because Elder Lu Teng held a fairly high position, but he could feel the elders' gazes occasionally drifting toward him, all blaming him.
His position has increased due to his son and with Lu Xiangyuan set to beco an elder soon, their family position in the sect was also going to be risen to the next level.
But who could have thought it would all co crashing down because of a single person.
Elder Lu Teng could only grit his teeth and endure, looking at his pathetic son- whom he vowed to teach a good lesson once this was over.
Unbeknownst to Lu Xiangyuan, he looked sowhat relieved and had cald down a little after getting away from the Devil.
Bai Zihan looked at Lu Xiangyuan and then at the Anti-Sect Leader Faction and smirked.
He was well aware of what they were trying to achieve by having their talented disciple go after influential geniuses.
But with this, Bai Zihan knew their plan was foiled.
And the only way they could ever undo or salvage their ruined plan was if they could defeat him.
But since Lu Xiangyuan lost, who is already their strongest disciple, there was no way that they could do that.
So, in that sense, their plan was completely destroyed, with no way to recover at all.
Bai Zihan then began walking toward Lu Xiangyuan-deliberately slow.
A thin, icy killing intent seeped out of him.
It wasn't his true killing intent, it was just to scare Lu Xiangyuan.
However, he didn't know that it was quite powerful despite him controlling it. The nearby disciples flinched, shoulders tightening under the suffocating pressure.
To them, it truly felt like Bai Zihan was going to kill Lu Xiangyuan.
Lu Xiangyuan felt it the worst.
His shattered mind couldn't even process it-his body reacted first.
He froze, then convulsed violently, trembling like a child left in a blizzard.
"You... y-you can't kill ...!" he stamred, voice cracking. "This is Heaven Sword Sect-! You can't kill nhere!"
It was true as their sect rule dictates.
But it was also pointless for Lu Xiangyuan to say that.
Because Bai Zihan wasn't trying to kill him in the first place-only scare him, and it worked frighteningly well.
Moreover, Lu Xiangyuan-utterly broken-forgot the simplest rule he could've used to leave the place.
The match would have ended the mont he surrendered.
He didn't need to crawl. He didn't need to run away pathetically. He didn't need to humiliate himself further.
He just needed to admit defeat and it would have been over.
But fear had turned his brain into mush, and that single lifeline never crossed his mind.
He forgot that his father and the rest of the faction were watching, and that his life was never in actual danger.
Lu Xiangyuan continued backing away on instinct alone, legs shaking
uncontrollably.
Bai Zihan's steps did not quicken as he slowly took his ti.
Lu Xiangyuan's teeth chattered as he stumbled back.
Bai Zihan stopped a few steps away, his shadow falling over the trembling Lu Xiangyuan.
His expression remained calm... but his eyes sharpened.
"Do you know," Bai Zihan said quietly, "what wrong you committed?"
Lu Xiangyuan opened his mouth-but only a strangled sound ca out.
"I... I... I— I don't know...!"
He stamred, voice shaking, throat tight with panic.
Bai Zihan's killing intent spiked-cold, sudden, suffocating.
"I-I was wrong!!"
He squealed imdiately.
"I was wrong for-for-!!"
His mind scrambled desperately, searching for anything that would stop the pressure crushing his chest.
Then it hit him-the reason Bai Zihan even bothered with him in the first place.
He blurted it out like a confession before execution:
"I was wrong for going against your fiancée! I was wrong! I won't- I won't ever
offend her again!"
Bai Zihan's killing intent eased... slightly.
A faint smirk curved his lips.
"What else?"
Bai Zihan asked.
Lu Xiangyuan froze. His lips trembled.
His mind already shattered-spun desperately, trying to guess what Bai Zihan
wanted to hear.
"What... else...?"
He gulped, panic clawing at his throat as he scrambled to think of anything- anything he had done that might anger Bai Zihan.
"I-I was wrong for... f-for... targeting your fiancée... and... and..."
He squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out the next thing that ca to mind.
"...and for challenging your sister!"
His voice cracked pathetically.
"And- and for thinking I could beat you!"
He kept going, words spilling out like a dam bursting.
"And for... for even daring to stand against you in the first place! I-I should've known better! I shouldn't have said you were arrogant! I shouldn't have tried to provoke you! I shouldn't have-"
He gasped for air, chest heaving, face pale.
Lu Xiangyuan's desperation spiked.
"I was wrong! I didn't know I didn't realize- I won't ever do anything like that
again!"
He kept rambling, fear pushing out every word, hoping at least one would be
the correct answer.
He wasn't apologizing like a genius disciple of a great sect.
"At least you know who you ssed with."
Bai Zihan looked down at him for a long mont, hands behind his back, voice
smooth and unhurried.
"Since I'm feeling generous," he said, "how about you apologize sincerely... and
I'll forgive you."
He didn't need to say it twice.
Lu Xiangyuan seized the chance like a drowning man clutching a rope.
He bowed-then dropped lower-forehead nearly hitting the tiles.
"I'm sorry!! I sincerely apologize! I won't ever dare offend your fiancée again!
Please forgive !"
His voice cracked halfway through, desperation leaking into every word.
He didn't care that thousands were watching.
He didn't care that elders were watching.
He didn't care that his father was watching. He only cared about not provoking Bai Zihan again.
And Bai Zihan watched him grovel with a calm, almost amused expression-
exactly what he intended from the start.
Bai Zihan flicked his wrist lightly-an absent, dismissive gesture.
The action was simple, but to Lu Xiangyuan it felt like divine salvation.
Relief hit him so hard his legs nearly gave out.
He scrambled backward, bowing repeatedly, nodding like a man pardoned from
execution.
He practically fled, stumbling away on unsteady feet, grateful beyond asure that Bai Zihan had allowed him to live another day.
Bai Zihan turned away from the fleeing Lu Xiangyuan, his expression returning
to its usual composure.
"I'm the winner!"
He declared.
Only then did everyone truly register that the duel had already ended.
Though for most, it already ended the mont Lu Xiangyuan had broken down
and begged for forgiveness, the outco had been sealed.
He hadn't surrendered formally, but there was no real difference between conceding and groveling on the ground in front of one's opponent.
If anything, it was more pathetic. And far more humiliating.
Claps and cheers filled the arena especially from the disciple who supports
Sect Leader Faction.
But Bai Zihan wasn't done.
Not even close.
His gaze slid past the trembling Lu Xiangyuan-straight to the Anti-Sect Leader
Faction.
The air tightened.
Elder Wu Heng stiffened instantly, fury and humiliation boiling under his skin.
His complexion darkened, veins bulging at his temple. It felt as though he might
explode.
Elder Wu Heng glared at Bai Zihan, wanting to skin him alive.
This wasn't the first ti that their faction suffered because of Bai Zihan.
"Bai Zihan!"
Elder Wu Heng muttered his na angrily.
Bai Zihan t his gaze and smirked-slow, sharp, deliberate.
He turned slightly, letting his voice carry across the entire arena.
"I don't care," Bai Zihan said calmly, "about your little gas."
The words struck like a slap to both the factions. Their struggle and fight was labeled as little ga by Bai Zihan.
"You can fight within yourself, " Bai Zihan continued, tone steady, almost bored. "And I don't care who wins."
The statent rippled through both factions like a cold wave.
After all, despite the two factions having existed for a long ti, no one would
bring that up so openly.
However, Bai Zihan casually brough the two factions who had been fighting for so long in the shadows before everyone.
Everyone was aware of it, but it wasn't sothing one should ntion. Anyways, Bai Zihan ant what he said.
Bai Zihan had no interest in their politics-no loyalty to their factional struggle,
no desire to ddle or support either side.
He didn't care that the Sect Leader was his father's friend. He didn't care what
happened to the sect, nor who ended up on top.
He had never belonged here in the first place.
The only reason he even ca to this sect was because he had been forced to.
Bai Zihan's gaze swept over the Anti-Sect Leader Faction, lingering on Elder Wu
Heng just long enough to let the ssage sink in.
"But if you dare," he continued, voice dropping, "ss with ... or with what's
mine..."
His eyes sharpened, cold and rciless.
"...then you will suffer."
It was a warning.
A threat.
A declaration.
User Comments
0 comments from readers