Bi Liang looked around him "Ahaha! What a joke! You are such comedians, your acting is formidable! I understand so please stop joking around! Please, tell me it was all a joke and... Stop... Now..." His expression slowly turned into despair as he noticed nobody was saying anything. He looked around him blankly and fell on his knees. Lao Jianghu expressionlessly bowed and apologized.

"I am sorry. I have taken over the body of Lao Jianghu to protect this Sect, its Disciples and Elders, but also this world! Once the Shadow Dragon regains its full power, it will start to destroy all and everything because it is a creature of chaos, it will not rest until everything is plunged into darkness and destruction!"

Bi Liang clenched his fist and hit the ground in despair. Suddenly, he looked up hopefully "When this battle finishes and the Shadow Dragon is defeated... Then... Will Father come back?"

Lao Jianghu looked down and didn't speak. The silence hit Bi Liang like a mountain falling on top of him. He couldn't breathe and couldn't even speak. He yelled and banged his head on the ground.

"Uh-uaaaaaaa! Father! Father!" Streams of tears fell from his cheeks and fell on the ground. As he yelled some even rolled into his own mouth but he didn't notice the salty beads at all as he drowned himself in grief. The Protectors, their disciples as well as the members of the Golden Tiger faction couldn't do anything but watch silently as they didn't know what to do.

Only one person acted at this time and it should probably be pretty obvious who that would be...

Suddenly, just as Bi Liang was about to hurt himself any further, Cheng Hao grabbed his shoulders before he could hit the ground another time. Bi Liang was shocked for a bit but then turned and glared at him angrily "Cheng Hao! Let me go this instant!"

Cheng Hao coldly and ruthlessly slapped him on the face. Hard.

Bi Liang flew a few meters back before he could get up. However, Cheng Hao hit him again. Hard.

Bi Liang gasped for air but found himself eating dirt again. And the boy slapped him again. And again. And again. 

Bi Liang was completely stunned and powerless. He lifted his hands to protect his face but then realized that Cheng Hao had stopped his blows.

The older man coughed out a small mouthful of blood and looked at the boy confused "Why?"

Cheng Hao expressionlessly opened his mouth and asked "Is the ground your enemy? Why should you hit the ground? Shouldn't you hit this Shadow Dragon instead? You can't, right? Well, since you can't, then kill that Chu Sai instead! He was also one of the reasons that your father is here no longer! Do not drown yourself in grief... Take revenge so that you won't have a reason to grieve! You won't, as you will know that your father's spirit will be happy, knowing that he has been avenged!"

Everyone stared at the youth speechless. How could such a boy speak of such stuff like killing and avenging someone so easily? As for the Golden Tiger Faction, they were more surprised by the fact that Cheng Hao was thought of as a kid at all.

Some even laughed in their minds and smiled bitterly 'Try a week, no, a day of training with him and you will soon forget his age...'

Bi Liang looked at the boy with shock. Then he recovered and his eyes grew red from the rage "Of course! That is right!"

He got up and looked around "Where is he? Where is that bastard? I will kill him!"

Bi Liang waved his hand and a gigantic bow appeared. It was over ten meters long and Bi Liang effortlessly picked it up. Cheng Hao smiled in his mind 'Aura Grandmaster... As expected from the disciple of an Aura Manipulation expert like Lao Jianghu?'

Suddenly, Cheng Hao trembled. 

The child's eyes's eyes widened and he looked at Lao Jianghu's figure 'Aura Manipulation expert?!? Why would I think of him as such... I never even saw him..." Suddenly he remembered the scene of the old man waving his sleeve, creating the throne made out of golden weapons.

In the meantime, Lao Jianghu stepped forward and grabbed the golden sword hovering behind him. He smiled at the crowd "It is now time for the Light to banish the Shadow!"

Cheng Hao's mind reeled as it tried to fit all the pieces together until... He got to an unlikely conclusion 'Could it be...'

As soon as he came to this conclusion, his eyes glinted with amusement: that throne was not the manifestation of Qi, but was actually made out of Aura! 

Quite unlikely, sure, but it all fit! Or at least it would... If Lao Jianghu or, more precisely, the so-called 'Light' had been none other than...

"Ah... Ahah... Ahahahahah!" Cheng Hao laughed hysterically.

"That was what was wrong! That old man, I can't believe he was actually such a figure! As to be expected from the Light? Wait... No... Not the Light..."

The crowd of people backed away as the child laughed while Xiao Wu and Fu Yin frowned, confused. Cheng Hao kept laughing nonstop as the puzzle completed itself and, in his mind, everything became as clear as water!

'To think I would meet such a person in a lowly plane such as this! A creation of the Primordial Heavenly Beast, the Aura Dragon, the first Primordial Heavenly Beast to manipulate Aura!'

He looked at Lao Jianghu's back and grinned 'Golden Tiger, uh... I should have understood this earlier! He is actually not a simple Heavenly Beast, he is an Aura Beast, the Aura Tiger, one of the Twelve Aura Beasts, an Honorary Heavenly Beast! Ever since its disappearance a few million years ago, it has become one of the biggest mysteries of the Heavens where it had gone to. Only its eleven brothers, who had a shared mind with it, knew about its whereabouts and did not tell anybody. It has been so far from its creator for more than a million years so its power has been diminished so much that even I could not sense it!'

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The child smiled and threw himself on the ground panting from all the laughing "You fooled me you big cat... I didn't notice it at all! I guess this Shadow Dragon won't be an easy opponent as you had to seal him here together with you... Aura Tiger!" 

Godly suddenly flew out from Fu Yin's robes and landed beside Cheng Hao "He had me fooled as well... What a crafty feline! He hid his presence so that nobody would find out about either him or the Shadow Dragon!"

Lao Jianghu, no, the Aura Tiger turned and smiled. The illusory image of a golden tiger appeared behind him: it had golden fur and countless bright dots hovered around it. If one were to look more closely, he would notice that the fur were actually many golden weapons and even the tiger itself was made out of countless weapons of all kinds. The bright dots as well were none other than smaller, flying tigers, these ones made out of Aura as well!

Lao Jianghu smiled too "And only now do I fully understand as well... That Golden Dragon, he is none other than the Primordial Heavenly Beast, Blindlight, am I right? And such knowledge and talent... Little human, we will have a long talk after this! My brothers and I have a shared mind, I saw everything that has happened a thousand years ago, you will need to explain a lot of things, Cheng Hao! Or should I call you..." His voice got compressed into a string and only Cheng Hao and Goldy could hear it "Destined Emperor Of Heaven, Evil Saint Xu Ling?"

Cheng Hao smiled "I am called Cheng Hao now, so call me that!"

The Aura Beasts smiled "As carefree as my brothers have told me... Well then, call me Lao Jianghu as well. Now..." He turned "I require your assistance in defeating this overgrown snake... Will you help me?"

Cheng Hao smirked "You mean... Assistance to block his minions? Sure! He is all yours, leave your back to us!"

Cheng Hao turned to look at the confused crowd behind him.

Fu Yin was muttering under his breath "A thousand years ago... Talent... Knowledge... Could it be..."

'Whoops, forgot about how sharp-witted and sharp-minded this one was... Danger! Danger!' Cheng Hao gulped.

Cheng Hao bowed to everybody behind him "I am sorry, but I will explain this to you all later! Now though, we have to destroy that being! For even that tiger to fear it, it is a menace to the world and maybe even the Heavens themselves! Will you follow me? Those not of my faction, you are free to leave! We brothers of the Golden Tiger have lived for a long time together and will all move as one and not leave each other behind... However, you do not need to throw away your lives!"

The nineteen Core Elders including Bi Liang stepped forward "For our Leader, we will gladly fight!"

Bi Liang gritted his teeth and his eyes were bright red from the anger "Chu Sai... Just you watch!"

After that, the Inner Elders also nodded and yelled "Of course! We will be glad to throw away our lives if it is in the name of peace and victory!"

Cheng Hao smiled seeing that and then he turned towards Xiao Wu and Fu Yin by his side "Guys... My brother and sister, I am sorry for everything that has happened and what i have gotten you in. I will make one last request... Would you please follow and trust me on this?"

Xiao Wu and Fu Yin looked at each other smiling. Xiao Wu took off her mask and her Blue Robed Night Challenger robes and revealed the clothing of the Inner Sect.

"Sure!"

Fu Yin grinned "Sure. On one condition though..." He leaned in and whispered in Cheng Hao's ear "Teach me how in the world do you pick up girls so fluen-- hiiii" Xiao Wu pinched and tiwsted the boy's cheek.

Cheng Hao smiled at the scene "Of course I will!"

Xiao Wu gritted her teeth "Don't encourage him! He's already bad enough by himself, let alone if you help him!"

Fu Yin massaged his cheek and smiled "I will be waiting the end of the battle for sure, for you to tell us your story! Don't go dying on me now, brother!"

Cheng Hao sweatdropped "If you really meant that, you wouldn't raise such a death flag so casually..."

Xiao Wu grinned "Oh, come on! What could possibly stop us three siblings?"

Cheng Hao shook his head and pondered "I don't know... Still, Fu Yin, how did you get her to stop wearing men's clothes and hiding her appearance?"

Fu Yin smiled "It was no real deal! I just put in some pepper in the damn thing and she just-"

"So it was you! You bastard, you told me it was Su Tan who did it and I beat her up for two days! I will have to apologise to her later... Still, I looked like a red balloon with legs for seven days straight!"

Fu Yin's expression suddenly turned into terror as he dodged a powerful kick from the little girl "Su Tan didn't seem to mind! And it worked!"

Cheng Hao chuckled "It looks like you guys have many things to tell me... But now we have to hurry, they have arrived!" He pointed in front of him.

The crowd turned to look at where Cheng Hao was pointing to and a crowd of more than thirty thousand people appeared, their cultivation varying from the peak Advanced stage to the mid level Sung stage. They were all dressed in black and wore ninja-like clothing.

The one leading them all was a medium-height and thin man. He had six katanas on his back and two sides, eighteen in all. He stopped and made a sign for the people behind him to stop as well.

The thin man looked up and, seeing all the people from the Golden Tiger Faction, he couldn't help but lift one of his thin eyebrows in surprise after seeing their overall cultivation: it was much higher than theirs. With that, their vantage from the higher numbers was from then on nonexistent. Nevertheless, they still had some cards up their sleeves...

He stretched his neck and revealed his power as a Reverend stage cultivator!

Cheng Hao turned towards Bi Liang "Low lever Reverend stage... Something tells me that man is Chu Sai... What do you say, wanna go?"

Bi Liang gritted his teeth and veins popped on top of his head "Oh... He wants to go somewhere! In a coffin. Three feet below the ground! He doesn't seem to care wether alive or dead... I will not fail to satisfy him!"

Cheng Hao smiled and stepped forward. He drew another one of his enchanted shortswords from his Dimensional Pouch and lifted it up "I am Cheng Hao, the Sect Head! And, as the Sect Head, I do not tolerate any offense against the Sect! These intruders have marched into our territory, what should the penalty be, my Eight, no, Seventh Protector?"

Fa Guan smiled fiercely and his usual calm and contained appearance was all ruined by his current sadistic smile. He licked his lips and then yelled back "It is Death, sir!"

Cheng Hao pointed at the group of black robed men with the sword "Then what are you guys waiting for? Shouldn't we go?" About five thousand people, those who had decided to stay, all yelled in agreement and felt their blood boil.

The crowd roared and kicked off the ground, speeding towards the group of cultivators led by Chu Sai. The man with eighteen swords didn't beat an eyelid and simply pointed forward with his own weapons "Go."

Thirty thousand people kicked off the ground and threw themselves against the horde of the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect's cultivators coming towards them. Lao Jianghu also flew towards the Demonic Long Yin Hei up in the sky, his white hair and beard fluttering, his golden eyes glowing and the illusory golden tiger roaring behind him. 

His features were no longer ancient and he looked no older than sixty years old while the way he carried himself made people think of him as an immortal war god that had fought countless battles and stepped on countless battlefields. He swung his golden longsword in the air and charged towards the demonic figure of his ancient rival...

Cheng Hao also smiled and stepped forward, slashing the air in front of him. A man not wearing the Sect robes suddenly appeared from the empty space Cheng Hao had attacked and fell to the ground, his waist severed in two.

Cheng Hao swung the blade left and right and not a drop of blood could be seen on the blade: the fight for the Sect begins!