“Let him suffer a little, so he knows not to be so impetuous in the future,” Pi Batian replied coolly.

He watched on as Yun Ruoyan, Zhuo Yifeng, and Qin Feng began to fight with his three henchmen. Yun Ruoyan drew her Scarlet Eye, changing its length at will. Her movements were so agile and rapid, and her weapon so suited to both short- and mid-range attacks, that she was able to fight on equal footing with her opponent.

By her side, Zhuo Yifeng held his bow against Pi Yang’s neck, using him as a shield as he traded blows with another henchmen with his spiritual sword.

The only one who seemed to be having some difficulty was Qin Feng. Over the last three years, his cultivation had essentially stalled, and he had only recently regained his spiritual sword. He wasn’t able to use it as agilely as he used to, and the minor inefficiencies in his actions stacked up over the course of the fight.

Li Mo was still trying to overcome the cloud-swallowing glutton, which was actually also at the level of a sword saint. It shot out breaths of spiritual flame, so potent that only Li Mo’s icy shields could block it—and he had to block it, because it would likely incinerate any of the other three members of his team.

“Li Mo, Master Qin’s unable to keep going!” Yun Ruoyan shouted, noticing Qin Feng’s struggles from a corner of her eyes as she fought with her opponent.

Li Mo also noticed this point. Just as he was looking toward Qin Feng, the swordsman fighting against him suddenly released five icicles that shot toward his body.

Qin Feng was currently defending against one of his sword strikes, and he wasn’t able to react to the icicles shooting toward him. His eyes widened fractionally, but it was too late.

“Back off!” Li Mo suddenly shouted, shoving the icy shield in front of him against the beast in a sudden burst of strength that pushed it back.

As the beast howled in protest, Li Mo shot a gigantic fireball at the five icicles targeting Qin Feng. The fireball far dwarfed the icicles in size and easily enveloped all of them. Qin Feng’s opponent was overwhelmed by the sudden fireball, and he turned to Li Mo only to find two long, thin icicles piercing through his eyes.

Before he could scream, the swordsman crumpled to the floor, dead.

In shock, Lie Yun murmured to Pi Batian, “Aren’t the groundhogs supposed to be weak and useless? Why are these ones so strong?!”

Pi Batian narrowed his eyes and focused on Li Mo. “There are big fish even in a small pond. For example, this cultivator’s a first-rank sword saint. This sort of cultivation would be considered rather decent on the Mingyuan continent, but he’s likely one of the peak existences in his home continent.”

“A peak existence?” Lie Yun queried. “Have such advanced groundhogs come to our Mingyuan continent before?”

“Yes,” Pi Batian replied. “The head of the Zheng household was originally from a low-grade continent, so no matter how long they’ve been on the Mingyuan continent, they’ll still be the lowest of existences. Groundhogs should stay where they came from—few of them would ever survive trying to find land here!”

“In that case, why do they still come here?” Lie Yun asked.

“It’s not up to them,” Pi Batian replied.

Lie Yun still had more questions, but Pi Batian forestalled them with a wave of his hand. The two continued to oversee the fight.

After the cloud-swallowing glutton was pushed back by Li Mo, it quickly attacked him once more. This time, instead of breathing out fire, it used its sharp teeth and claws to repeatedly pounce on and bite him.

Rather than face it head-on, Li Mo dodged and parried the blows, then rushed to Yun Ruoyan’s side. Although she was equally advanced in her cultivation as the swordsman she was facing, she still lacked the endurance to fight for extended periods of time. As the fight dragged out, it was no surprise that her stamina would flag.

Li Mo shot out a pulse of spiritual energy at her opponent as he neared Yun Ruoyan, but he reacted quickly and tried to block it with his sword. As the pulse hit the swordsman’s blade, however, it was actually knocked away from his hands due to the impact. Yun Ruoyan took the opportunity to direct the Scarlet Eye out of her hands and into his heart.

Because of how hot the Scarlet Eye was, the wound cauterized in an instant and left a patch of smoking, charred flesh on his corpse.

“Go help Zhuo Yifeng,” Li Mo instructed.

“Yes!” Yun Ruoyan rushed to his side and helped him against the ninth-rank blademaster he was facing, while Qin Feng retreated with Lan Ying.

With Yun Ruoyan’s help, Zhuo Yifeng was far less encumbered than before. Despite his advantage in cultivation, the two eighth-rank blademasters found that they were more than sufficient to deal with the enemy ninth-rank.

“It’s useless,” Pi Yang called out, his face having turned somewhat green after being smacked around so many times during the fight. “These swordsmen are just dogs raised by the Pi family. It’s pointless even if you kill them all, because you’ll all die once my brother makes his move!”

“Then why isn’t he attacking?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

“He’s just enjoying the show! Once he’s had enough, he’ll strike—and once that happens, you’re all dead. If you stop fighting now, I might consider begging for mercy on your behalf for him to spare your lives,” Pi Yang replied. His voice was arrogant, but not uncommonly so, and Yun Ruoyan didn’t suspect the veracity of his words.

“Worry about yourself!” Yun Ruoyan shouted. She, Li Mo, Zhuo Yifeng, and Qin Feng all had teleportation scrolls, and they would be able to escape even if all hope seemed lost. However, there were only four such scrolls, and they couldn’t bring Lan Ying along with them, so Qin Feng would have to escort her away through the teleportation array.

“That blockhead’s running away with the woman!” Lie Yun exclaimed.

Pi Batian glanced toward Qin Feng and Lan Ying, as well as the flashing array not too far from them. With a cruel smirk, he threw a paper talisman toward the array. It grew during its flight, speeding toward the array as though it were an eagle. Once it arrived, it shot out a bolt of lightning, causing the gathered spiritual energy in the array to dissipate. The array itself vanished from existence.

Everyone was shocked by the power that Pi Batian had displayed, even Li Mo. He had heard from the first elder how strong such talismans and amulets could be. The amulet that Yun Ruoyan had given him was the first that he had ever seen, but he didn’t realize that they had such strong destructive power as well—a small piece of paper contained such potent spiritual energy that it could destroy in one shot an array that he and the first elder, both sword saints, had spent a whole day and night to construct!

Qin Feng and Lan Ying both made identical expressions of shock, dismay, and despair as they froze midway toward the portal.

“Lan Ying, take this! It’s a teleportation scroll!” Qin Feng removed the scroll from his robes and handed it to her. “Tear it now, and you’ll be sent back home.”

“A teleportation scroll?” Lan Ying took the scroll. “We’ll leave together.”

“It can only teleport one person at a time, so leave on your own first. I’ll stay with Li Mo and the others. Leave!” Qin Feng urged.

Lan Ying sensed Qin Feng’s unusual urgency and was just about to press him further when she felt a throbbing in her chest, then the metallic tang of warm blood in her mouth.Her legs turned to jelly, and she slid to the ground as though she were a deflated balloon.

“Lan Ying! What’s wrong with you? Lan Ying!” Qin Feng shouted.

Lan Ying continued to vomit out blood, and a purplish-black handprint slowly revealed itself on her chest.

“Pi Batian!” Lan Ying turned toward the red-haired man, still watching the fight from above, in fury and indignity. It was the last sight she would ever see. Her eyes rolled back, her head slumped, and she died.

“Lan Ying, Lan Ying!” Qin Feng loudly shouted her name, but to no avail. He too turned to Pi Batian.

“Brother Tian, what happened to that woman?” Lie Yun asked, not understanding the situation.

“She’s dead,” Pi Batian replied coolly. “Anyone who dares threaten me in this world will die, let alone a bunch of lowly groundhogs.”

He took out an exquisite silk handkerchief and began wiping down his fingers carefully. When Lan Ying had been brought through the portal, Pi Batian had touched her back lightly. She hadn’t felt anything, but Pi Batian had actually infused his domineering spiritual energy into her body. Only now did it strike, ravaging her heart and giving her certain death.

“Pi Batian!” Qin Feng shouted at the red-haired man, his eyes bloodshot. All the indignity he had suffered over the last three years flashed by his eyes—the deaths of the two other male instructors by his henchmen, of his senior students in his horrifying game of hunter and prey, and now Lan Ying!

Qin Feng felt as though the hatred in his chest would explode out of his body and be given physical form. In the past, in order to protect his sixteen students, he had lived like a coward. Now that they had all been sent away, Qin Feng had no further obligations holding him back. Lan Ying’s death was the catalyst for his transformation.

He laid her lifeless body gently on the ground, then stood up. He pointed at Pi Batian with his broadsword, growling, “If I don’t kill you, I’m not a man!”