92: Chapter 92 Standoff

Earthly Immortal.

The person standing at the very pinnacle of the entire Great Qing Martial Forest.

Behind him, the core figures of the Nine Sects were lined up.

Cangyun Sect Grand Elder Supreme Elder Su Chenyuan, in grey robes with a long sword, wore a calm expression, though his gaze swept towards your direction from time to time.

Iron Sword Sect Leader Zhao Tieyi, his face full of flesh, carried a six-foot broadsword on his shoulder, his Peak Great Grandmaster aura radiating without restraint.

Tiangang Sect Sect Master Bai Wuchang, thin as a twig with deep-set eyes, stood there like a breathing skeleton, yet the Protective Aura fluctuations on his body were genuinely those of a Late Stage Great Grandmaster.

Biluo Palace Palace Master Yun Ji, dressed in snow-white robes with a veil covering her face, revealed only a pair of eyes as cold as freezing stars; she was a Late Stage Great Grandmaster.

There were also the acting Sect Master elected by the remnants of the Taiyi Sword Sect, several Elders of the Xuanwu Sect, the Sect Master of the Southern Border Poison Sect... all of them were Late Stage or Peak Great Grandmasters, totaling fifteen in all.

On the flank of the Martial Artist formation, the Great Qing imperial entourage was particularly eye-catching.

Beneath the bright yellow Dragon Banner, a young man clad in golden armor sat upright on a snow-white warhorse; his face was handsome, but his brows betrayed a sinister air incongruous with his age.

Crown Prince Xiao Chengyuan.

Standing beside him was a white-haired old man with an aura as restrained as an abyss, a Peak Great Grandmaster and the Grand Offering of the Great Qing imperial family, Xiao Chongming.

Your gaze swept over each of these people's faces one by one, finally landing on Supreme Elder Su Chenyuan.

Your Master from your previous life.

In this life, you had never met.

He seemed to sense your gaze, tilted his head slightly, and locked eyes with you for a fleeting moment.

Then both of you looked away.

"Black Tiger Gang!"

Patriarch Jiang Buzhou's voice suddenly rang out; it was not loud, but it clearly echoed across the entire Fengming Plain, as if it had been poured directly into everyone's ears.

The Internal Energy sound transmission of an Earthly Immortal—no one within a ten-mile radius could fail to hear it.

He took a step forward, his bare feet treading on the withered grass, his gaze passing over the thousands of troops to look straight at the silent black figure behind you.

"Five years ago, while I was in seclusion, this person snuck into the back mountain of the Martial Dao Sect at night and used despicable means to ambush me, causing damage to my Meridians, which took three years of seclusion to fully recover."

His voice was calm, but every word sounded like a hammer striking an anvil, heavy and powerful.

"Today, my injuries have healed, and my power is even greater than before."

He raised his right hand, and as his thin, withered palm pushed forward, a formless wave of Yuan Energy swept out like a hurricane, uprooting the withered grass within a ten-zhang radius and turning it into dust.

Patriarch Jiang Buzhou's gaze locked onto the Black-robed Puppet, his voice suddenly rising, "Last time you succeeded with a sneak attack, but this time, I want you to face my three palms head-on!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a cheer like a mountain avalanche and a tsunami erupted from the coalition forces.

"Old Ancestor is mighty!"

"So it was a sneak attack last time! I knew it; how could an Earthly Immortal be injured by a nobody!"

Iron Sword Sect Leader Zhao Tieyi laughed and chimed in, "Patriarch Jiang is right! That Black-robed ghost only knows how to stab people in the back; if it has the guts, let it come and fight head-on!"

Tiangang Sect Sect Master Bai Wuchang said sinisterly, "Does the Black Tiger Gang think they are invincible just because they rely on some shameful Hidden Weapon? Today, the Nine Sects have gathered, and I want to see if that Hidden Weapon can still be used."

Biluo Palace Palace Master Yun Ji did not speak, but the Disciples behind her had already begun to jeer loudly.

"People of the Black Tiger Gang, surrender early! Once the Old Ancestor makes a move, what use is that hunk of iron of yours?"

"Exactly! If the sneak attack last time didn't kill the Old Ancestor, won't it be smashed into scrap metal by the Old Ancestor's palm in a head-on duel this time?"

"I heard the female Vice Gang Leader of the Black Tiger Gang is quite good-looking; if you surrender, maybe the Sect Heads will grant you a bite to eat!"

Roars of laughter rose and fell.

You listened to these words expressionlessly, your gaze calm.

But in the Black Tiger Gang formation behind you, the atmosphere was changing visibly.

Among the guest experts who joined halfway, several of them had noticeably quickened their breathing.

A Middle Stage Great Grandmaster guest expert shifted half a step back without making a sound.

Another guest expert's gaze began to shift left and right, as if looking for an escape route.

Crown Prince Xiao Chengyuan clearly noticed this, and with a smirk curling his lips, he raised his voice, "Members of the Black Tiger Gang, I am conveying an imperial decree on behalf of my Royal Father: anyone who defects on the battlefield will be pardoned, and even rewarded! If you can present the heads of Wei Feisen or Lin Shuangwan, you will be rewarded with ten thousand gold and titled as a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

This sentence was like a stone thrown into an already restless lake.

Behind you, several guest experts began to exchange glances.

You turned your head calmly.

It was just a turn of the head; you did not release any True Qi, held no killing intent, and your expression didn't even change.

But the bodies of those few guest experts stiffened simultaneously, as if they had been drenched from head to toe with a basin of ice water.

"Vice... Vice Gang Leader Lin," the leading guest expert cupped his hands with a dry laugh, "Please rest assured, this subordinate is loyal to the Gang and has absolutely no second thoughts!"

"Yes, yes, yes! We are people of the Black Tiger Gang in life, and ghosts of the Black Tiger Gang in death!"

You revealed a smile.

That smile, under the influence of Peerless Elegance, was heart-stoppingly beautiful.

"That is good."

You turned your head back, no longer looking at them.

But you remembered the faces of the three people who had just secretly moved towards the edge of the crowd.

One surnamed Wu, one surnamed Fang, and another surnamed Chen.

Remembering them was enough.

On Fengming Plain, the wind suddenly stopped.

Patriarch Jiang Buzhou took a step forward, his grey Daoist robe billowing without wind, and fine cracks appeared in the earth beneath his feet, spreading in all directions.

"Come."

He looked at the Black-robed Puppet, his voice light, yet the entire battlefield heard it clearly.

"Let me see whether you are a human or a ghost."

The Black-robed Puppet remained silent as it walked out of the Black Tiger Gang formation.

Its pace was uniform and mechanical, without any superfluous movements, like a precision-calibrated killing machine.

Two figures, one from the left and one from the right, walked towards the center of Fengming Plain.

Hundreds of thousands of eyes were fixed on these two people.

Everyone knew that this battle would determine the course of the world.

The distance between the two figures grew smaller and smaller.

Fifty zhang.

Thirty zhang.

Ten zhang.

Patriarch Jiang Buzhou's Protective Aura erupted suddenly, the greyish-white energy surging into the sky like a solid substance, the earth beneath his feet cracking in violent tremors as rubble flew into the air.

The Black-robed Puppet also moved, a heavy, pure power without any fluctuations surging from within its body like an invisible iron wall.

Both of them accelerated at the same time.

In the coalition ranks, everyone held their breath.

Then...

Everyone saw a scene they would never be able to forget for the rest of their lives.