Firmament Sword

"I have all the evidence. The personal letters between your brother and the Liejiang Daoist Sect. The proof that you and your brother only pretended to hate each other, secretly keeping in touch through letters, and plotting to defect to the Liejiang Daoist Sect... all of it is in my hands!" Pang Xiaogou's voice was flat, but his handsome face was twisted in a savage expression.

"You're spouting nonsense! That never happened!" Li Hua was absolutely livid. He couldn't understand how such a shameless scoundrel could exist in the world, someone utterly devoid of a moral baseline.

"Don't believe me? Well, you're not going to be alive much longer anyway. I can be merciful and let you take a look at the evidence. Come on... beg me. Beg me, and I'll grant you a look!" Pang Xiaogou watched Li Hua, toying with him like a cat with a mouse.

"Pah! Forged documents, what's there to see? Pang Xiaogou... I actually thought you were a man of character, but you're just a vile, treacherous snake. Your kind always gets what's coming to them!" Li Hua roared, his face flushed with rage.

"What I deserve? I couldn't care less. At least... I'll die after you do," Pang Xiaogou said with a smile.

"We'll see about that."

Just as the words were spoken, a cold voice suddenly drifted in from outside. Then, Li Ye and Xu Luo walked in.

"Brother!" Li Hua cried out. Looking at his older brother, he felt his whole body tremble. Never before had he felt so strongly how precious family was. That bond of flesh and blood made him feel that he had been an absolute fool.

"Little Hua, don't be afraid. I'll get you out of here!" Li Ye said in a low, steady voice. His gaze then fell upon Pang Xiaogou. "Pang Xiaogou, I bet you didn't expect me to show up here... Heh, nice little nest you've got."

Pang Xiaogou's expression flickered, his eyes glinting. He was truly surprised. 'Could Li Kaiyuan have turned on me?' he wondered.

Other than that... he couldn't think of any other possibility. While Li Ye wasn't weak, escaping from Li Kaiyuan was pure fantasy.

The gap between the Second and Fifth Layers of the Divine Power Realm was unimaginably vast!

If you were to quantify it, and say the strength, agility, and Magical Power of the Second Layer of the Divine Power Realm were at an index of two hundred, then the Third Layer would be three hundred, and the Fifth Layer... five hundred!

With such a massive difference, how could Li Kaiyuan possibly have lost?

Pang Xiaogou's gaze shifted to the young man beside Li Ye. He didn't recognize him, and he couldn't discern the depths of his power. What unsettled him the most was that, despite being at the Fifth Layer of the Divine Power Realm himself, he hadn't sensed their approach at all.

He hadn't realized a thing until Li Ye spoke. 'Two people... they've been eavesdropping outside this entire time!'

As for the fate of the guards outside... that went without saying.

Pang Xiaogou glared at Li Ye, his expression grim. "I admit, I'm surprised. I never thought you, a traitor, would have the gall to walk right in. Or did you really think I was here alone?"

With that, Pang Xiaogou barked, "The enemy is at our doorstep! Are you just going to stand there and watch?"

"Ahem..." With a fit of coughing, a figure slowly materialized from behind Pang Xiaogou.

"Sigh... I told you not to make any rash moves, but you wouldn't listen. You just had to let things get this out of hand before remembering to call on me to clean up your mess," a very old man said as he slowly emerged.

Xu Luo didn't seem particularly fazed, but Li Ye beside him and Li Hua, who was tied to a pillar, were both utterly stunned.

Li Hua's mouth fell open. It was as if he had a million questions, but they were all caught in his throat, refusing to come out. After a long moment, he finally managed to choke out two words: "Mas... ter?"

The old man who had appeared was none other than a highly respected Elder from the Honglou Sect. He was also a member of the sect's Li Family branch, and his name was Li Kai'an.

Li Ye wasn't entirely surprised that Li Kaiyuan had sided with Pang Xiaogou. After all, Pang Xiaogou had greater resources to offer, and it's natural for people to seek better opportunities. There was no real right or wrong in that.

But for Li Kai'an... to have also become one of Pang Xiaogou's men was what truly shocked Li Ye.

Li Kai'an held an extremely high and respected position within the Honglou Sect. While he didn't wield as much authority as the Sect Leader, absolutely no one dared to underestimate him. Even when interacting with the Sect Leader, he was treated more or less as an equal.

Therefore, if there was anything in this world Li Kai'an desired, he needed only to ask for it.

'How could a man of his stature, even if he did have unfulfilled desires, possibly become one of Pang Xiaogou's lackeys?'

Li Ye found this impossible to accept.

If his brother was merely shocked, Li Hua... found it utterly and completely unacceptable.

If the betrayal of the companions he grew up with had felt like the painful severing of his own limbs, then the scene before him now... completely shattered his heart. His entire spirit was on the brink of collapse.

He stared blankly at the old man, the light in his eyes fading to a dead, ashen gray.

'Not good...' Xu Luo thought. 'This kid... looks like he's about to break!'

If a Martial Artist in the Divine Power Realm had a mental breakdown, the consequences would be dire. There might not even be a chance to recover.

"Li Hua! Snap out of it! Look! The man standing before you is your brother, the person closest to you in this entire world! Anyone else might lie to you, anyone else might betray you, but your brother... never will!"

Xu Luo's sharp cry was infused with the power of the Jade Balance Demon Sound, instantly jolting Li Hua back to his senses.

Tears trickled slowly down the young man's face. He had cried more today than in all his years growing up combined. His gaze shifted to Li Ye's concerned face, and he slowly nodded.

Then, Li Hua turned his gaze to the old man, who seemed unable to meet his eyes. "Master," he asked softly, "why?"

The old man sighed, a hint of melancholy in his voice. "You're still young... You don't understand that in this world, our hands are often forced."

"This whole thing... it's been a set-up from the day I became your disciple, hasn't it?" Li Hua asked softly, as if he hadn't even heard his master's explanation.

The old man, Li Kai'an, was silent for a long moment before finally nodding. "Yes. But I have always... been very proud of you."

"And those people... the things they were constantly feeding me, the way they acted friendly but were actually egging me on... was that on your orders as well, Master?" Li Hua asked again.

"No," the old man sighed once more.

Li Hua nodded. "I understand."

Pang Xiaogou watched the scene with a placid expression, seemingly unconcerned about any surprises. "Alright," he said nonchalantly, "the questions have been asked, the goodbyes have been said. Time to act. Li Ye... dies! The stranger... I want him alive!"

Xu Luo chuckled at his words and looked at Pang Xiaogou. "I hear your surname is Pang?"

Pang Xiaogou nodded, his face impassive. He gestured to Li Kai'an beside him. "What are you waiting for?"

"Your name is Pang Xiaogou? They call you 'Pang the little dog'? That's not quite right!" Xu Luo said with a self-satisfied smile. "You should eat more, get a little fatter. Then you could be the 'Fat Little Dog'! I think that name sounds much better than 'Pang the little dog'!"

"You!" Pang Xiaogou's face went ashen with rage. He roared, "Li Kai'an! Are you going to move or not? That thing... you don't want it anymore?"

A flash of fury flared in Li Kai'an's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. "Yes!" he said coldly.

A vast aura then erupted from Li Kai'an, instantly filling the entire cavern with his presence.

He was like an ancient, slumbering dragon that had just awoken, exuding an endless, crushing pressure!

Xu Luo was taken aback, murmuring, "Sixth Layer of the Divine Power Realm!"

Beside him, Li Ye said in a grim voice, "I'm sorry. I've dragged you into this. He's at the Sixth Layer of the Divine Power Realm... and he might have even reached the Peak Realm of that layer."

The entire cavern was filled with a unique domain. The Power of Rules wove through the air, all of it completely under Li Kai'an's control.

This was the true power of a master at the Sixth Layer of the Divine Power Realm!

If he weren't intentionally controlling it, his aura alone would be enough to turn all of Old Baldy Ridge to dust!

"My apologies," the old man said, looking at Li Ye and Xu Luo before he acted. Then, he raised a hand, bringing it down to suppress them both at once!

In Li Kai'an's eyes, the strength of these two young men was plain to see. To the vast majority of people, they weren't just strong; they were frighteningly so. He himself had been nowhere near as exceptional as them at their age.

But the fact remained: he, Li Kai'an, was a great master of the Sixth Layer of the Divine Power Realm!

The two young men before him were only at the Second and Third Layers of the Divine Power Realm.

A single hand was more than enough to crush them!

Pang Xiaogou watched from the side, a cold, mocking smile flashing in his eyes. 'I don't care if you're at the Sixth Layer or the Seventh. In my presence... you will obey.'

'The Honglou Sect... will be mine one day! And the day will come when the entire Sect Continent... trembles at the sound of my name!'

"Give me the Bloodthirsty Saber!" Xu Luo suddenly said to Li Ye.

Li Ye faltered for a second, then handed the Bloodthirsty Saber to Xu Luo without hesitation, though he had no idea what he planned to do with it.

'Does he really think... he can use that blade... to harm Li Kai'an? That's impossible!'

Xu Luo took the palm-sized Little Knife and shot Li Kai'an a toothy grin. He suddenly activated his Time Reversal Skill. The moment he unleashed its First Layer, the Slow Flowing Time Realm, time itself became a visible substance to his eyes!

It was flowing, slowly.

Everything else had slowed down many times over.

Only Xu Luo himself remained unaffected. Executing the Shaking Light Step, he surged forward, pushing against the immense pressure of Li Kai'an's descending palm. A green light flashed across his arm, immediately followed by a white one!

Both lights shot directly into Li Kai'an's body.

Li Kai'an's body instantly froze, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.

He stared, shocked and enraged, at the young man who continued to advance against the pressure of his domain. "You can't break my domain!" he roared. "When I recover, I'll tear you limb from limb!"

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