Meanwhile, in some unknown remote woods within the Inner Yard...

"Honey, calm down, okay?"

​​

"I really, really didn't mean to stand you up. There really was a mission back at noon… Oh right. I was out to chase the enemy!"

"N-No, he got away…"

Zhao Xidong awkwardly rubbed his nose awkwardly, cursing that d*mned Xu Xiaoshou for getting him into trouble. If it weren't for him, there wouldn't have been such a big commotion.

He then hugged the pretty woman in front of him.

"See, I'm making amends now. Just look at how beautiful the night is. It's so much better to come out on a date at night than in the afternoon.

"I really, really didn't go looking for another woman. You're the only one in my heart.

"Stop being angry, pretty please?"

He looked at the girl, and his affectionate eyes on that handsome face of his reflected a girl whose anger was slowing dissipating.

"Alright, I swear!"

She pressed a finger to his lips and said in a flirty voice, "Don't!"

Zhao Xidong shook his head, lowered her finger, and looked at her affectionately. "But I want to—"

There was no way he could let this chance pass.

"Hmm, hmm!" The girl propped her chin on her fist, sounding embarrassing and seemingly knowing what he was going to say.

His eyes still on the girl, Zhao Xidong held up three fingers, put on an affectionate expression, and said affectionately, "I, Zhao Xidong, hereby swear that I shall only love my honey Mimi here for the rest of my life. If I be lying, then let me be struck by lightning!"

Boom!

A rumbling was heard in midair, followed by a flash.

Zhao Xidong was baffled.

"This… you…" The girl pointed at him in disbelief. She cradled her hand by her chest as she slowly backed away before covering her face and running.

"Honey, come back! That wasn't lightning. That was sword aura!" Zhao Xidong shouted at the top of his lungs.

Yet the girl ran and didn't look back.

"That was Innate Sword Will!"

Zhao Xidong felt like his heart was about to shatter. He pointed at the sky and shouted, "Su Qianqian, this is the sixth! You shall die a horrible death for getting in the way of my love!"

He then headed out as soon as he finished this, but instead of chasing after the girl, he headed toward the source of that sword aura.

The girl ran for a bit in the woods not far away. Despite having slowed down, there was still no one chasing after her. She seemed to realize something.

"At the end of the day, it's me all alone again…"

…

The night sky was filled with stars that night, and many couples and minor nobles were going about their business in the Inner Yard.

Xu Xiaoshou's move shot across the night sky, attracting everyone's attention and causing quite a commotion.

There seemed to be people gathering around.

Yuan Tou's eyes darted about. He was feeling rather nervous.

Seeing that the state of affairs wasn't in his favor, he'd planned on interfering and ending Xu Xiaoshou himself. However, after seeing Zhao Shu, who'd just lost an arm, he quickly suppressed the urge and performed a seal.

The seal felt rather familiar…

"The 'Icy Calamity'!?" He was utterly shocked.

That was among the handful of spiritual techniques that had accidentally killed someone in the tournaments to pick the top 33.

Yuan Tou had no idea what had happened within the icy barrier before, but he was rather awed seeing that Zhao Shu had gotten cornered by Xu Xiaoshou.

"Given time, this kid could really become someone. Such a pity…"

…

Crackle, crackle.

Xu Xiaoshou felt overwhelming disgust again.

"This dude really is as sticky as all h*ll," he thought. "I can't believe how he plays ice-type powers in such a disgusting manner. My moves are all sealed now."

Towering blocks of ice were all around him. As the seal was quickly performed, the blocks became a spherical cage of ice about the height of a person, surrounding Xu Xiaoshou.

Zhao Shu's expression was sinister. "Icy Calamity!" he shouted in a subdued tone.

The cage gradually rose into the air, suspending Xu Xiaoshou in midair, and tens of very pointy ice spears were conjured outside it.

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoshou panicked. The points of the spears were all directed at him. He'd have to be a moron not to know what was going to happen next.

"Let me out!"

That fire seed he'd boldly swallowed so as to cause him pain was now his life-saving straw. The thing was hovering over his energy reserve, warding off the cold outside somewhat.

However, although it was sufficient enough to ward off the cold, it did nothing to stop the frost from slowing his movements.

Despite the seed being something that he'd conjured, if it were to explode by accident, it would still definitely kill him.

"No time. That guy's control powers are just too d*mn disgusting!"

He then clenched his fist and clad himself all over with Sharpness.

"Penetrate!" Zhao Shu shouted. He shot all 36 icy spears, which crisscrossed each other as they poked holes all over Xu Xiaoshou in an instant.

Pffftttttttt…

Yuan Tou felt his skin crawl as he watched the battle and saw blood spray into the air.

It was that very technique that had skewered the target to death during the tournaments to select the 33.

This entire process had happened so quickly that the unlucky target had been unable to even admit defeat, as they were instantly killed.

There was already a crowd gathering around. All of them, who'd initially thought that the fight was but a minor scuffle, were utterly shocked when they saw what just happened.

"Oh sh**, wh-wh-whaaa… hey, people, get over here! Something dope just happened!"

"Gosh, going all out indeed. This is really above Su Qianqian's breaking Black Shark with a single slash back in the morning. This fight is a serious one, eh? That guy's got guts."

"Is that one-armed guy Zhao Shu? Goodness, who did he p*ss off to get beaten up like that?"

"Who did he p*ss off? Take a good look, dork. That's 'Icy Calamity.' That dude in the cage is probably already dead and he's just venting his anger on the poor dude."

"Look away, Feifei. A girl shouldn't watch something like this."

"What? No way! This is dope! I'd be f**kin' missing out not watching!"

"Huh??"

"No, umm… I'm saying that I'd be missing out if I didn't watch—"

Attacked, Passive Points +108.

Attacked, Passive Points +108.

Worried, Passive Points +14.

Mourned, Passive Points +6.

"…"

Even though he looked like he'd been thoroughly skewered, the ice spears had dealt him far less damage than that done by the "ice dragon spit" he'd just endured.

His Innate Level Physique had afforded him his first layer of defense, reducing over half of the damage from the impact of the spears.

Sharpness had served as his second layer of defense, coating him with a layer of iron skin.

Recoil had served as his third layer of defense, preventing all of the ice spears from immediately skewering him and enabling him to dodge fate and not be killed in one single move.

Eternal Vitality was his fourth layer of defense. It allowed him to continuously recuperate from his injuries.

"I'm actually that powerful?"

Xu Xiaoshou realized that while the bone-chilling cold before had indeed dealt considerable damage to him, those seemingly powerful physical attacks were only able to do little more than scratches to him.

Such attacks were utterly useless against him.

His fifth layer of defense—"High Spirits''—silently worked to regenerate over half of his spiritual source. He then conjured two more compressed fire seeds and melted the ice shaft that had shackled his arm.

He held his crotch and uttered dismissively, "That's all you got?"

Zhao Shu was shaking all over by this point and was unable to do anything else.

He had used up all of his spiritual source.

That Breath of the Ice Dragon, which should've won him the fight, had almost thoroughly drained him. Him being able to cast Icy Calamity after that was in itself a considerable feat.

Yet, his most powerful killing technique had proved utterly useless, and he wondered what was going on.

Was Xu Xiaoshou really someone just with Innate Level Physique?

"Yuan Tou, you've set me up!" he thought.

The power of the ice spears gradually weakened to where they no longer looked like they'd even be able to pierce his skin. Xu Xiaoshou then regained his mobility.

Crackle, crackle.

He stretched his neck a bit, and a beastly look appeared in his eyes. Then, he said in a subdued tone, "My turn!"

Everyone was shocked to see him whip out a massive bathtub taller than a person, which he then set onto the icy cage.

Boom!

Shards of ice flew everywhere with just one strike.

Xu Xiaoshou shot out of his cage.

Zhao Shu gulped frantically, sensing that danger was looming over him. He subconsciously looked at Yuan Tou. While he didn't mouth it, his message was obvious—save me!

Swoop!

Xu Xiaoshou didn't give anyone any time to react, and immediately threw the tub. Zhao Shu immediately turned his head after that and popped a pill into his mouth, wanting to evade it.

Swooop!

A blast of sword aura shot from Zhao Shu's body. It only lasted for an instant, yet it served to hold him in place.

He'd stolen that move from the masked guy, who'd used it to keep the nine elders under control. He'd developed a good understanding of the "people are swords" part of "All Things are Swords," so much so that he'd even used it on Mu Zixi, Mo Mo, and some other people, needing only an extra kick to complete his understanding.

That night, the masked person had enabled him to do just that.

The cauldron hit Zhao Shu and sent him flying. The crowd was astonished and then noted that underneath that tub, there was already a black sword that was traveling backward at high speed.

The sword pierced through Zhao Shu and brought him before Xu Xiaoshou.

Yuan Tou, who'd been watching the fight the whole time, watched this with contracted pupils, and was finally unable to just sit around.

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

The second "stop it" came from afar, and from the sound of it, someone was making their way over to them at fast speeds.

Zhao Shu was panicking. He'd already been so badly beaten that he couldn't even care about the pain from the black sword punching through his body. He then yelled in horror, "No killing in the Inner Yard!"

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled.

That was his reply, being completely oblivious to the voices from outside the battlefield.

He lifted his hand into the air, and two fire seeds moved to his fingertips, and he carefully mobilized the other one out of his energy reserves.

He was about to burst forth with the most powerful technique in his arsenal at the moment—the Seeds on All Three Fingers.

He shifted to the side to avoid being pierced by Hiding Pain, then immediately made his move. He dispersed all of Sharpness on his right hand and pressed hard on Zhao Shu's chest.

Swooop!

From inertia, the black sword punched through Zhao Shu's abdomen, nailing him to the ground.

Boom!

Under the deliberate control of Xu Xiaoshou, all three fire seeds were embedded into Zhao Shu's chest. Then, with the force from Recoil, he pushed and sent the man flying into the air.

Yuan Tou halted in his tracks on his way to save the man. He was completely shocked, unable to believe that Xu Xiaoshou actually dared to kill someone when there was already an enforcer coming.

Zhao Xidong, still being far away, was unable to actually do anything. He was unable to clearly see the face of the killer and only saw two people covered in blood.

The spectators looked up at the sky, and found Zhao Shu looking increasingly panicked.

Xu Xiaoshou lowered his head and took a deep breath, feeling extremely restless deep down.

He was very much against killing people.

Yet tonight...

He was gonna light up fireworks to mourn the guy who'd tried to kill him!

Boooom!

A deafening explosion was heard in the air, sounding as if even the air itself had been snuffed out.

At that moment, even the Outer Yard disciples who were far away looked up at the night sky and saw an explosion that was every bit comparable to that which had appeared earlier in the afternoon.

Zhou Tianshen stood in a pockmarked compound. He'd been waiting for Xu Xiaoshou for a very long time, as he was planning to tell him as soon as he returned that someone was trying to kill him.

The rumbling in the air caught the attention of that tall, stout man. He held his blade as he looked up and mumbled, "Yet another blast went off. Seems like the third one now…

"Someone is definitely celebrating something in the spirit palace today."

Back in the battlefield in the Inner Yard.

Xu Xiaoshou sorted out his inner turmoil and then looked at his blood-covered body. He frowned, then glanced at Yuan Tou, who was standing nearby.

He had no idea who the other man was, but he knew that the man was definitely of the same gang with the guy he'd turned into "fireworks."

While the man had kept himself well-hidden far away, Xu Xiaoshou's Sense was omnidirectional and, as such, had recorded that man's every move in his mind.

It was thanks to that man keeping watch the whole time that he hadn't chosen to run at the very start of the fight.

'High Spirit'' had regenerated quite a bit of his Infernal Spiritual Source as well.

He stared at Yuan Tou and then shot him a condescending look while sounding mysterious and eerie.

"You wanna kill me? You can try."