81: Chapter 81 My woman, Xu Chen's woman, is not someone you can touch?

The Sword Sect's plaza was deathly silent.

Only Zhao Wuji's agonized screams and the sickening crunch of shattering teeth echoed across the desolate square.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the usually domineering Tianjian Holy Land's Holy Son, now lying on the ground like a dead dog, half his face swollen like a lump of fermented dough.

And before him...

Xu Chen, still clad in his moon-white robe, not even a corner of his clothing out of place. He gently brushed off some non-existent dust from his sleeve, his gaze as indifferent as if he'd just swatted a fly.

"You... you bastard!"

Zhao Wuji struggled to get up, his bloodshot eyes filled with venomous hatred.

"I am the Tianjian Holy Son! My father is the Tianjian Holy Lord! I am the future overlord of the Central Plains!"

"You... you dare hit me?!"

*Slap!*

Another crisp slap rang out.

This time, Xu Chen didn't even use his hand. He simply planted his foot on Zhao Wuji's swollen face, stomping the head that had just begun to lift back down into the ground with brutal force.

The flagstones cracked, rubble flying.

"Tianjian Holy Son?"

Xu Chen applied slight pressure with his toe, grinding it against Zhao Wuji's cheek, producing the teeth-grating sound of bone scraping.

"Sorry, never heard of you."

"But I do know this: if you dare utter one more word, your father will be preparing a white-haired man's farewell for a black-haired one today."

"Outrageous!!!"

At that moment, a roar of furious rage finally erupted from the Tianjian Holy Land's warship.

*Rumble!*

A pressure several times more terrifying than when the demonic sword had emerged earlier poured down like a reversed heavenly river.

The void trembled, wind and clouds shifted.

A black-robed, white-haired old man stepped out from the warship. Nine golden flying swords orbited his body, each exuding a heart-palpitating aura of Sage's law fluctuations.

A Saint King!

And a peak-stage Saint King at that!

"This old man is the Grand Elder of the Tianjian Holy Land, Sword Devil Du Gu Yi Fang!"

The old man's gaze was sharp as lightning, fixed intently on Xu Chen.

"Insolent whelp! You dare humiliate my Holy Land's Holy Son!"

"Remove your foot at once, sever your own arms, kneel, and beg for forgiveness! Otherwise, today, this old man will flay your tendons, skin you alive, and light your soul as a sky lantern!"

Facing the terrifying pressure of the Saint King, the Sword Sect disciples present coughed up blood and collapsed. Even a Dao Severing King like Jian Wuchen found it hard to breathe, his legs trembling.

Only Xu Chen.

He still stood with his foot on Zhao Wuji, even disdainfully wiping the sole of his shoe on Zhao Wuji's precious brocade robe.

"Sever my own arms?"

Xu Chen lifted his head, meeting the overwhelming pressure, a mocking curve at the corner of his mouth.

"Old dog, are you still dreaming?"

"What did you say?!"

Du Gu Yi Fang trembled with rage, his beard quivering. Having roamed the Central Plains for millennia, who hadn't treated him with utmost respect? When had a junior ever insulted him like this?

"I said,"

Xu Chen extended a finger, pointing behind him at Nangong Waner and Ye Qingwu.

"These two women are my people."

"One is my Sword Servant, the other is my... wife."

"You want to snatch my Sword Servant to be a concubine? And want my wife to warm your feet?"

Xu Chen's voice wasn't loud, yet it clearly reached every ear.

"Touching my woman is touching my life."

"Since you don't want to live, I see no need to be polite."

Hearing this domineering, protective declaration, Ye Qingwu and Nangong Waner, standing behind him, shuddered violently.

Especially Ye Qingwu.

Although being called "wife" in front of everyone was somewhat embarrassing, what overwhelmed her was an unprecedented sense of security and sweetness.

So, this was how it felt to be protected by this man thousands of years younger than her. It was... wonderful.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Du Gu Yi Fang laughed in extreme anger, the nine golden flying swords around him emitting piercing shrieks.

"Youngsters these days truly don't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

"Since you seek death, this old man shall oblige!"

"Nine Swords United — Sever Heaven!"

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The nine flying swords instantly transformed into nine golden flood dragons, carrying terrifying sword energy that tore through the void, converging to annihilate Xu Chen. This strike held no mercy, clearly intending to blast Xu Chen to smithereens!

"Xu Chen, be careful!"

Ye Qingwu's face paled. Her Falling Flower Sword instantly left its sheath as she prepared to charge forward desperately.

"Step back."

Xu Chen, however, merely waved his hand dismissively.

He didn't even bother to draw the subdued demonic sword.

Facing the heaven-and-earth-destroying nine swords, he simply took out from his robes a seemingly ordinary jade talisman.

Was that... a communication talisman?

"Calling for reinforcements?"

Du Gu Yi Fang was stunned for a moment, then sneered even more contemptuously.

"Only now you think to cry for help? Too late!"

"My Tianjian Holy Land's army has sealed off ten thousand miles in all directions. Even if you were the Jade Emperor himself descending, you'd still die today!"

"Is that so?"

Holding the talisman, looking at the imminent sword energy, Xu Chen's face showed no panic, only a teasing, almost amused expression.

"What a coincidence."

"I don't have many skills, but I do have a lot of relatives, and..."

"They're particularly protective of their own."

*Crack!*

With a crisp shattering sound...

The jade talisman in Xu Chen's hand dissipated into motes of starlight.

The next second...

An indescribable, ancient and primordial aura suddenly erupted from the void above the Sword Sect.

The originally clear sky instantly turned dark gold.

The nine ferocious golden flood dragons, the moment this aura descended, whimpered like loaches encountering a True Dragon, instantly shattering into a skyful of metallic dust!

"Pfft—!"

His life-bound flying swords destroyed, Du Gu Yi Fang violently spat out a mouthful of blood. Struck as if by lightning, he stared in horror at the splitting void above.

"This... what aura is this?!"

"G... Great Sage?!"

From within the split void, at the end of a golden avenue of light...

An old man clad in purple-gold armor, holding a halberd, strode forth.

With each step he took, heaven and earth trembled.

And behind him were dense, sky-obscuring warships and the illusory forms of gods and demons.

A war banner embroidered with a massive character "Xu" stood between heaven and earth, supremely domineering.

"Who?!"

"Dares to touch the favored son of my Xu Family?!"

The old man's furious roar was like thunder from the ninth heaven, shaking Du Gu Yi Fang and the Tianjian Holy Land's nine warships until they trembled.

Xu Chen looked up at the familiar figure, finally let out a sigh of relief, and then revealed a brilliant smile.

"Oh, Ancestor."

"If you hadn't come, your great-granddaughter-in-law would have been snatched away to be someone's concubine."