“I have to admit, I'm surprised. I truly didn’t expect you to choose me out of everyone here.” Han Nichang kept his smile, burying his true feelings underneath.

“Since my father saw something in you, I might as well give you the chance to prove it.” An insidious look filled Ying’s eyes.

“Should I be flattered?” He gave a pleasant chuckle that also had the audience laughing.

  The two young cultivators pulled out their weapons and stood a distance away from each other. Excitement filled the crowd. This first match of the exchange meeting was such a big match! While few knew of Ying and her strength, just the fact alone that she was a disciple from one of the Big Three Sects was enough to rile them up. In a way, it could be described like this. Han Nichang was a local handsome celebrity while Yue Ying was a mysterious beauty from overseas.

  A sharp glare filled with killing intent focused on Ying after she pulled out Hao Gang. The pressure was immense and in a situation like this where she is preparing for battle, it was incredibly rude. Ying glanced at the elder from one of the sects. A purple hood that covered their entire body and only gave Ying a look at their bright purple eyes staring right at her sword. They were a strong bastard since they could make her sweat with just a gaze. If they affected her plan here, Ying didn’t mind visiting their sect later on as payback.

“You dare look away when you’re facing me?” Nichang dashed forward with his long sword in fury.

  Ying didn’t even look in his direction as she faced the purple robed elder. With a casual wave of her sword, she clashed with Nichang. This clash didn’t even last for more than a second as Ying easily overpowered the sheltered young genius. Hao Gang crashed into the handsome youth’s body, shattering several of his bones in one blow. Han Nichang was sent flying like a kite across the ring! It sharply contrasted everything known about him! It was undignified, brutal, and shocking!

  Han Nichang laid limp and crumpled near the edge of the ring barely hanging onto his life. Silence filled the audience as an elder from the Han Family rushed up to the ring. He poured several elixirs down Han Nichang’s throat and gave Ying a vicious glare before retreating with Han Nichang in his hands. Ying’s countenance briefly faltered underneath the pressure of two cultivators at stages higher than herself. With her hand slightly shaking, she ran her thumb across her throat toward the disciples of that sect.

  Basically, spitting in the face of the elder from the medium-sized sect. Ying was practically saying that if you dare send someone from your sect against me, they won’t be leaving the ring alive. She knew she’s done nothing to deserve the hostility sent her way because she didn’t even know what sect they were from. Not to mention, she basically played around at home until the time for the exchange meeting, having no opportunity to get on the bad side of anyone besides her brothers.

  The purple-robed elder did not like being threatened by a girl so young, genius or not. It looks like being inside the Golden Serpent Sect for so long has numbed this child’s understanding of the world. You don’t simply provoke someone far stronger than yourself and expect to get away with it. With a wave of his hand, a disciple in purple robes stood up. A fierce purple aura rose from his body, violently blowing away at those around him.

“Come on up.” Ying smirked, waggling her finger.

  The young man jumped on stage and wasted no time in starting the fight. This aggressive manner confused the other elders. They didn’t like the Golden Serpent Sect brat either but did the elder of the Justice Sect have some sort of grudge against the girl? Sure, she disrespected him and gave him no face as an elder but he started it by showing visible hostility toward the child. Regardless, they didn’t care much. It was just interesting.

“Die demon!” Ah Yuan shouted. His blade was filled with righteous energy.

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  A brief look of confusion appeared on Ying’s face. She coated her hand in red flames and grabbed the swordsman’s blade with ease. “Why did you call me a demon? Do I look like a demon to you or something?” Ying began exerting inhuman force on the sword with her grip, slowly cracking it.

“My justice will not be stopped here!” Ah Yuan surged all of his righteous qi into his blade.

  The blade shined with blinding purple light that forced many of those watching near the ring to cover their eyes. As the light was dying down, they could only hear the sound of rushing wind and then something falling to the ground. When people could finally see, they realized that she won again... Ah Yuan had a seared hole through his gut and a look of disbelief in his wide-opened eyes.

  Ying didn’t give the Justice Sect a chance to grieve as she pointed to the next disciple in the sect near her cultivation to come up on stage. It took the disciple less than a second to comprehend the situation and an entire second to process it. That disciple charged at Ying from below the stage with all of their strength. The only thing on their mind was getting revenge for their senior.

  In Ying’s eyes, the flaws in their movement were too many to count. It led to a swift death from Ying’s sword. They were bisected from their head to their pelvis. Realizing how weak they were also led to Ying’s confidence.

“You justice losers might as well come up and face me together. I’ll eradicate your sect here and now instead of later since you got a problem with me.” Ying stabbed Hao Gang into the ground and cracked her fists.

  Before the announcer could swiftly shut down that suggestion, the Justice Sect disciples shot up to the ring. The elder in charge of the Justice Sect violently shook in rage as they closed the shocked eyes of Ah Yuan’s corpse. The elders from the other sects were quite pleased with the situation. In their hearts, they wished for Ying’s death because of her overbearing words matched exactly with their view of the Three Great Sects! They believed they could decide the life or death of lower-ranked sects whenever they wanted for any reason whatsoever!

“Demon Extermination Array!” The Justice Sect disciples formed around Ying in specific positions.

  With her hand coated in red flames, Ying blasted a torrent of fire toward the core component of their formation. Thanks to Jing, Ying knew some tricks to prevent arrays from being formed in combat against her. The Justice Sect disciples were stunned at seeing their array destroyed before it could be completed, giving Ying an opportunity to end them in one move.

  She gathered the fire qi within her body and unleashed a devasting hellstorm of flames within the ring. Several qi barriers formed around the ring, protecting the crowd below. But even with that, the audience was still forced back because of the high temperatures that couldn’t be blocked off. It was when no qi other than Ying’s and her sword that the Noble Martial Arts Exchange Meeting was nearly ruined. The elder from the Justice Sect threw away all of his face and attempted to kill Ying in one blow!

  Only one was quick enough to meet him before he could reach Ying. Ying looked up at the strong hairy familiar back in front of her. A man of actual steel blocked the blow meant to take her heart.

“Grandpa?” Ying quickly realized she was moments away from death and didn’t even know it!

“I’ll handle this. Get back to a safe position and stay out of my way!” Yue Gou yelled.

Ying jumped off the stage with Hao Gang as the city lord’s men began evacuating people.

“We need to deal with this demon now before she grows too strong! You all can sense the demonic qi within that sword just as well as me! Everyone knows that sooner or later this demon will be used by the Golden Serpent Sect to annihilate us one by one! If we get rid of her now and purify the sword, we’ll have power capable of contending with the Great Three Sects!” Elder of the Justice Sect yelled.

  They all knew it was bullshit but it looks like the exchange meeting has been ruined anyway. Might as well take out one potential headache and go on their way. None of them held good feelings for the girl in the first place. Her absurd strength for a youth was only a detriment for her.

  Slowly, Ying was being surrounded by masters far stronger than herself. A sharp panic filled Ying’s heart as she readied herself for a hopeless battle. She looked all around for any signs of escape. Only to hear a familiar voice resounding into the ears of everyone around.

“You dare conspire to kill a disciple of the Golden Serpent Sect?! A bunch of no-names like yourselves!?” Yue Tang stood in front of his daughter with his sword drawn. “Do you have no honor? A bunch of old men like you ganging up on a single youngster?!”

“...” Unease and nervousness spread throughout the elders but they’ve already come this far.

  They rushed forward together and Yue Tang released all of his power to protect his one and only daughter. A giant sword light rose from his body and pierced into the sky above.