Looking at those two familiar rings that rolled towards him, the four incoming attacks immediately vanished from Yin Long's senses. Those rings were the first gifts his mother had given Lan Yun, and he had moved them around and given them a new meaning, they were Lan Yun's dearest possession. She would never hand them over to anyone other than Yin Long, so for Xue Qiuling to toss them out like that, the odds of her words being true was quite high.

And when he came to that realization, he felt an emotion he wasn't quite familiar with, fury. He had been angry on quite a few occasions in the past, you would easily see your fair share of grim things when you worked as an assassin that purposefully sought out traitors and the like. But never once had he felt this level of fury, it was all-encompassing and scorching, every inch of his body feeling as if it was on fire.

His soulsea was trembling ferociously as a result of his raging fury, the silver-yellow ocean tossing and turning while his soul flashed with light, the yellow section on the sword blazing up and blotting out everything else. Under the gentle yellow light, even the blackish-yellow sky of Netherworld Energy shivered, the black colour receding somewhat so that the sky was tinted more and more yellow.

Yin Long didn't care about the surging yellow colour, nor did he care about the power he felt well up inside him or the pain coming from the centre of his forehead. There were only a select few thoughts running through his mind right now, and one of them was a playback of what Cui Senju said before he fled after his first attempt on Yin Long's life.

Some things you don't know the importance of until they slip out of your hands.

He spent quite a bit of time with Lan Yun, but he never actually took a step forward or backwards, maintaining their ambiguous relationship due to his own hesitation. And now she had slipped out of his hands, and so it was only now that he understood just how important she was to him, how important she had been for him to maintain his carefree mind.

He also thought about his own actions and came to a quick realization, the peace he had experienced after leaving the Lang clan had dulled his edge. He had revelled too much in the calmness and peace that he wasn't used to, his sharp edge receding and giving way for errors.

The first error was that he spoke too much about himself, giving Xue Qiuling the chance to dig up his past and further solidify the idea that she had to acquire him. The second error was that he hadn't dealt with Xue Qiuling the moment she visited him in his room, that chat back then was enough to make sure that she would abandon any chance of getting him on her side. If he had retained the sharp edge of the dark sword of the Lang clan, he wouldn't have made either of these mistakes, and the current situation would likely not have come to pass.

Those were three of the thoughts running through Yin Long's mind, the final one was far simpler, far more vicious. Xue Qiuling had just robbed him of something, so he wanted to hurt her, he wanted her to feel pain and be miserable to at least somewhat appease his anger. And in his unbridled fury, he moved to do just that, not giving a care for any consequences.

His white sword was sucked back into his interspatial ring as he stretched out his right arm, the yellow light and a bit of his soul surging out from his soulsea. Four attacks of varying elements were directly in front of him, but they were crushed together under the might of his soul and the yellow light. The different elements were extinguished while the energy contained within the attacks was left behind, forming a blindingly white sword radiating energy.

The energy that seeped out from the sword formed leaves that danced around him, but each of these leaves took on the same scaled appearance as the leaf that was marked on his soul, the scales clustered in groups of three in a haphazard manner. The powerful energy gathered in the sword surged through Yin Long's body and empowered his already rampant energy, his now bright yellow eyes landing Xue Qiuling.

The strange scene caught everyone off guard, partly because it was so unexpected and partly because of how quickly it had occurred. Yin Long didn't even bother with the shocked expressions of the people right behind him, his right arm sweeping out as he unleashed the entire energy gathered in the blinding sword.

A thick white slash rushed through the air as he swung his sword, shooting straight at Xue Qiuling, who hurriedly moved back and slashed up with her sword to block the attack. She had seen Yin Long do something similar before, but never to an extent like this, never with this much power. She barely managed to block the attack, one of her hands quickly reaching for her neck as she tried to unleash her secret technique.

But just as her fingers landed on her neck, a sharp pain erupted from her stomach. She lowered her gaze slightly, only to see what looked like a branch piercing directly through her abdomen. The branch stretched out as it pierced through her abdomen, smaller branches stretching out and piercing through the 4 doors she had formed in her dantian.

Those four doors were the foundation of her cultivation, they were the basis of her strength and were responsible for both holding and creating Qi for her. With them being pierced through like that, there was only one result, a complete crippling of her cultivation. Even if she managed to activate her secret technique now, it wouldn't increase her strength in the slightest, her Qi was already starting to seep out from her body without her control.

And in the same instant that she realized this, Yin Long arrived in front of her. And looking at his current state, Xue Qiuling felt nothing but complete and utter horror. There was a yellow crack running down the centre of his forehead, branching out slightly and pulsating with nauseating energy, as if something was trying to burst out from the slowly growing crack.

She could also see that Yin Long had not only picked up and was wearing the two rings, he was also holding a strange sword that looked to be covered in bark. The sword was unlike most she had ever seen before it was slightly spiralling and didn't have a single sharp edge, only a pointy tip. The branch piercing through her abdomen looked quite similar to this sword, but she didn't have the luxury to think about this fact, Yin Long's hand landing on her throat.

As Yin Long's hand landed on her throat and a faint sliver of the yellow energy entered her body, pain engulfed every fibre of Xue Qiuling's being. She had fought in her fair share of battles and suffered many wounds, but nothing could compare to the pain she felt right now, it was as if all the suffering of the world had gathered on her just to drown her in despair.

But that pain was quickly drowned out by terror so great that it almost shattered her soul. Part of the reason behind the terror was the unconscious influence of the yellow energy, but the main reason was Yin Long's current action.

The blunt sword had vanished from his grasp, the surrounding energy rushing towards his hand as the handle of a sword started to form. If he was just drawing in the surrounding Qi to create a sword, she could somewhat understand it, but his hand even attracted the surrounding life force, space, gravity, everything was drawn towards the sword forming in his hand.

She could even see faint cracks appear in the air around her, as if the creation of the sword was tearing apart the world itself. And as more and more energy rushed towards his hand, the crack on Yin Long's forehead branched out more and more, pulsating with ever-increasing fervour as it slowly split open.

It felt as if time barely moved as she gazed upon the scene, but she was confident that barely a second had passed since he grabbed her throat. And while she didn't know exactly what was going on with him, she had the terrible foreboding that things would go from terrible to apocalyptic if he was allowed to go on. So she did the one thing her despairing mind could think of, a feeble voice leaking out from her lips.

"She... She should still be alive...! I can take you to...her...please"

Just as she hoped, a sliver of calmness surfaced in Yin Long's currently yellow pupils when he heard Xue Qiuling's weak plea. If Lan Yun was still alive then there was a chance to save her, and that would take precedence in the current situation. The cracks in the surrounding air vanished the moment Yin Long's eyes regained a sliver of calmness, the handle that had formed in his grasp ceasing its growth.

But the energy in it was still so abundant that Yin Long's veins bulged like wriggling worms, some of them exploding when they became unable to bear the force. He urged Xue Qiuling on with a cold gaze, leaving her with no choice but to hurriedly glance behind her. Yin Long kicked off the ground the moment Xue Qiuling's eyes moved, the two of them vanishing from the area and leaving only a small crater where Yin Long had previously stood.

When Yin Long shot away, the other people in the area remained behind in a dumbfounded manner. They hadn't heard the transmission that Xue Qiuling sent him so they had no clue why he suddenly burst forth with such intense fury, pulling out an ability that none of them had seen before. He then radiated a horrifying feeling for a split second before leaving the area, moving so fast that only the strongest people in the plaza were even able to see him move.

The various elders, especially those from the Heron's Ascension Dojo, frowned at the scene and stood up to end whatever was going on. But just as they started to move, their ears twitched twice, a somewhat shocked expression emerging on their faces. In the end, they could only cup their hands respectfully before sitting down again, leaving the surrounding disciples completely confused. The overseer had no choice but to wave his hand, acting as if everything was normal.

"Participant Yin Long has forfeited this fight, keep the competition going."

--

Ba Sei was currently sitting at a table in the underground room that could only be reached by passing through a hidden door located in the basement of an abandoned shack. His finger was nervously tapping the wooden table he was leaning on, a nagging sense of unease eating away at his mind as he looked at the two targets they had just brought to their hideout.

The golden lion was sprawled out on the ground and shackled using both special shackles as well as an array, kept sedated just to prevent it from making any sound. As for the beautiful woman they had brought here, they had gagged her and shackled her arms and legs with chains that completely sealed her Qi.

She was currently tossed to the corner of the room, Ba Sei's more meat-headed subordinates having some fun by tearing and cutting at her robe to slowly expose her skin and body, seeing who could land the last blow that would completely expose her while she struggled to escape. Ba Sei couldn't help but glance at his subordinates and then at the metal plate that sat next to him, the one that was meant to record everything they did to her. His golden eyes narrowed sharply when he heard the vulgar laughter one of his subordinates let out, quickly barking at them and scolding them.

"Will you dumb fucks keep it down?! And don't get too excited with her, it's not yet time to play with her, so don't damage her too much!"

The five men immediately halted their actions and stepped away from the bound woman, nervously looking at Ba Sei. Seeing the non-plussed way they were looking at him, Ba Sei couldn't help but rub his bald head, quietly wishing that he had brought along some smarter subordinates as he explained the situation to them.

"The client said that she wanted to see the corpse before the day was over, no? Why would she set a time limit like that rather than just have us kill her right away? Did any of you dimwits ever think about that? She even wanted us to record what we did so that she could use the recording if there was a need for it, do you know why that is?"

Ba Sei spoke in a sharp and exasperated manner, but none of the people in the room showed even a shred of understanding so he could only sigh and continue an explanation.

"It means that our client has some form of use for this woman, or at least a use for her suffering. What if she manages to fulfil this use before the day ends, what then? By then, we might not have to kill this woman, we might be able to negotiate to keep her alive. And can any of you idiots even begin to imagine what sort of price we could get for her on the market? I can think of at least six brothels that would be more than willing to pay for her weight in gold, maybe even more than that. And I'll be fucking damnded if I let you lot possibly ruin such a business, I'll personally behead the person who harms her too much before we're certain if we need to kill her or not."

Ba Sei hadn't stopped them because he was feeling soft, he had long since abandoned such emotions, they were only burdens in their line of work. It was all about getting the best possible value, all about earning a little more so that they could increase the luxury of their lifestyle by a bit.

Not just the five men around the bound woman, Lan Yun, nodded their heads, but the six other people in the room also made sure to nod their heads so that Ba Sei knew that they understood. Ba Sei also nodded his head somewhat satisfied when he made sure that they understood, but then the sudden silence caught his attention.

His gaze was quickly drawn to the bound woman, who had strangely stopped struggling. Her amber eyes had been flooded by a vivid green, her mouth opening and closing quickly as small shivers ran through her body. The strange situation immediately caused the sense of unease in Ba Sei's mind to expand and envelop him, the nervous tapping stopping as he stood up.

"We're leaving. We're heading to the sixth hide... DODGE!"

He was forced to cut his sentence short and transform it into a hurried shout, but it was already too late. The thick stone door of the room burst open and launched sharp shrapnel through the room, two of the men closer to the door getting torn apart and killed instantly. And as the dust settled, Ba Sei saw the source of the unease he had been feeling.

A youth stood in the doorway, his silver hair tied into a neat ponytail as it hung down to his waist, his bright yellow eyes containing an endlessly cold light. His right hand was holding onto a bladeless handle swimming with colours, his left hand grasping the throat of Ba Sei's client. But looking at the branch stabbed into his client's abdomen and the Qi seeping out from her body, Ba Sei knew that she had already been completely crippled.

Yin Long's merciless gaze swept through the room, striking at the very souls of the people within it. And as his gaze landed on the shackled Jin Wang and Lan Yun, the fury surging forth nearly drowned out the sliver of calmness he had regained, especially when he saw how tattered Lan Yun's robe was, her skin and one of her breasts exposed. His gaze slid down onto Xue Qiuling, his voice drilling into her soul.

"What did you have them do?"

Xue Qiuling trembled under Yin Long's gaze, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly as she struggled to come up with any words. She had dismissed it in the past, but now she firmly believed what Lan Yun had told her in the past. What little she knew of him didn't amount to anything in the face of his true depths.

And right now she was experiencing the true purity of his emotions, his emotions for Lan Yun, and she was burning beneath it. She was even hurting him as she was burning, practically everything Lan Yun had told her in the past coming true. She might not be able to answer Yin Long's question, but whether it was due to unwillingness or the sheer suffering and pain the yellow energy brought onto her was something only she would know. But Ba Sei didn't have the same reservations, his instincts screaming at him that this was the one time in his life he should tell the truth.

"The orders we got were really only to ambush and capture her, she didn't care what we did to her as long as we showed her a corpse by the end of the day. She did, however, tell us to make a recording, so while it wasn't explicitly stated, the more unsavoury acts were subtly encouraged. Of course, I was hoping to sell her to a brothel later on so we've yet to actually do anything but expose her a bit."

Yin Long's gaze moved up as Ba Sei answered, the skin on Ba Sei's bald head twitching slightly as he met Yin Long's gaze. He had met countless people from the underbelly of the city before, but never once had he seen a gaze that seemed to contain such viciousness, such evil. He couldn't help but mentally curse Xue Qiuling, her actions had summoned a violent dragon, one carrying all the evil in the world, and this dragon had arrived right on his doorstep.

Luckily, Yin Long's gaze didn't linger for too long on Ba Sei, drifting over to the metal plate that was supposed to be used for recording. His pupils then landed on Xue Qiuling again, the merciless light in them causing her very soul to tremble as she hurriedly begged.

"No no no, please no. You're a good person, you're better than this, you can...MMMPH!"

Yin Long immediately silenced Xue Qiuling by pushing his hand into her mouth and tearing out her tongue. He had regained a sliver of calmness, but she had stabbed straight at his reverse scale and dragged out the darkness he once worked in, he was still beyond furious. She had not only crushed what little trust he had in her, but she had also aimed at the one thing she should never have, so he still wanted to drown her in agony. He wanted her to suffer as Lan Yun would have.

He let go of her throat and allowed her to fall to the ground, his leg raising and stomping down on her knees, shattering them so that she couldn't walk. With her tongue torn out, she could only utter guttural screams of pain, screams that Yin Long ignored as he stomped down on her elbows to incapacitate her arms as well. He then lashed out with his foot, kicking Xue Qiuling over to Ba Sei and the others, his icy voice sending a shiver down the spine of everyone in the room.

"She wanted a recording, didn't she? She wanted to see some really degenerate things, didn't she? Well, you've got your subject right there at your feet, so get to it. Don't forget to record every. single. second."