355: Chapter 355 Remaining Stuck in the Old Ways

He pointed a finger rigidly at the ashen-faced figures on the high platform, his voice raspy like a night owl crying blood, every word weeping blood, every sound deafening:

"Is it that power is inherently divided into Righteous and Evil, or have your hearts long been blinded by inherent prejudice and inexplicable fear—unable to tolerate even a shred of 'alien' that differs from you?!"

"This vast Xuantian Sect, this number one Righteous Path revered as divine by the Northern Region... is nothing but a bunch of self-satisfied, change-fearing wretches who cannot tolerate anomalies! Hahahaha!"

The final wild laughter carried endless sorrow and extreme mockery, echoing long over the Martial Arts Arena—like a sharp blade tearing through silk, viciously ripping open the Xuantian Sect's polished 'Righteous Path' exterior, exposing its inner narrow-mindedness, prejudice, and hypocrisy nakedly before all eyes!

"Presumptuous!"

"Utterly arrogant!"

"A mere practitioner of the Evil Path dares to slander the orthodoxy of our Xuantian Sect!"

On the high platform, several Elders turned livid, their angry shouts exploding one after another!

Someone slammed the table and rose to their feet, the purple sandalwood table shattering in response, wood splinters flying everywhere.

Someone else had spiritual power surging around them, their Daoist robe fluttering without wind, pressure roiling.

Especially the Enforcement Elder and the Grand Elder who had repeatedly rebuked Li Jiuyou—murderous intent exposed in their eyes, the Soul Transformation Divine Might condensed into substance, pressing down like a heavy mountain onto Li Jiuyou in the deep pit!

The Xuantian Sect Master's face was ashen like ink, veins bulging on his forehead, cold light piercing in his eyes. The last shred of tolerance he had previously held was crushed into dust:

"Stubborn and unrepentant, lost in delusion! How dare you publicly insult our Sect and slander our Righteous Path!"

"Since that is the case, I cannot spare you! Enforcement Elder—take this villain down, cripple his cultivation, extract his Divine Soul, throw him into the death cell, and await further judgment!"

"As you command!"

The Enforcement Elder replied with a sinister voice, his eyes revealing pure malice.

The terrifying Divine Might of the Soul Transformation Stage exploded without reservation, sweeping across the entire arena like Mount Tai collapsing—Disciples with low cultivation collapsed to their knees on the spot, suffocating so badly that even breathing became difficult!

In the Void Realm, a massive cyan hand of spiritual power that blotted out the sky suddenly condensed.

The palm was covered in Sect-suppressing evil-warding runes, golden light flowing, carrying the momentum of thunder and the power to crush bones and grind souls—it grabbed fiercely toward the dying, defenseless Li Jiuyou in the deep pit!

This strike condensed seventy percent of the Enforcement Elder's strength; even a Nascent Soul Late Stage Cultivator would have no chance of survival, let alone the exhausted, critically injured, and dying Li Jiuyou!

Once grabbed—it would surely mean broken meridians and the total destruction of his Divine Soul!

"Screw your grandmother!"

Luo Xiaojiu felt a burning rage in her heart, a flame of fury rushing straight from her Dantian to the top of her head!

She could no longer hold back—the power of her Innate Spirit Body exploded completely, the Record of the Daos Simplification in her mind spinning to the extreme, spiritual power concentrated in her body, her figure turning into a beam of golden light, without a shred of hesitation!

A clear shout rang out like a clap of thunder, crisp yet earth-shaking—it actually suppressed the Enforcement Elder's Soul Transformation Divine Might, drowned out the whistling of the spiritual hand, and exploded resoundingly in the Martial Arts Arena!

The next instant—the golden stream of light moved faster than anyone's spiritual sense could perceive, like the scorching sun breaking the night, instantly descending into the deep pit and standing firmly in front of Li Jiuyou!

The petite figure wrapped in a pale yellow dress fluttered in the gale, but her back was as straight as a pine tree standing proud in the snow.

Her body emitted a scorching and pure warmth like the morning sun, distinct and clear from the surrounding sinister Death Qi—it was none other than Luo Xiaojiu!

She did not perform any complicated hand seals, nor did she use any profound Divine Ability—she simply clenched her right fist.

Clear golden light flowed at her fist tip; this was the Origin supreme Yang power of the Innate Spirit Body, so pure that it contained not a shred of Impurities.

Facing the massive cyan spiritual hand that blotted out the sky—without hesitation, she threw a punch!

The punch was thrown, silent.

No heaven-shaking roar, no dazzling light—but that vast, majestic, supreme Yang, unstoppable Fist Intent was like the Nine Heavens Milky Way pouring down, like a prehistoric beast Awakening, crashing toward the spiritual hand!

Boom—!!! A deafening explosion suddenly erupted!

The moment the cyan spiritual hand, condensed in the Enforcement Elder's rage, collided with Luo Xiaojiu's seemingly ordinary golden fist imprint—it was like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, or a stone striking surging waves, shattering inch by inch, annihilating layer by layer!

Cyan spiritual fragments scattered and flew, the violent energy turbulence sweeping like a tsunami—yet when it touched the faint golden light around Luo Xiaojiu, it strangely deflected, bypassing her and Li Jiuyou behind her.

It only plowed deeper trenches in the deep pit, broken stones dancing wildly in the sky, dust rising to the heavens!

The Enforcement Elder let out a muffled groan, his figure uncontrollably retreating several steps—every step he took shattered the jade tiles of the high platform, his face flushing and paling, his chest heaving violently.

A bloody, sweet taste surged in his throat, which he gritted his teeth to swallow back. His eyes were full of extreme shock and disbelief!

He was a dignified Soul Transformation Cultivator!

He had been in charge of the Sect's punishments for hundreds of years, and his strength was unfathomable!

Even if he hadn't used his full strength in that strike, it still condensed thirty percent of his cultivation, enough that even a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Cultivator would need to avoid its edge—yet this girl who had suddenly appeared, whose aura was only Golden Core Late Stage, could actually shatter his attack with one punch and even cause him to suffer a backlash?!

Especially that supreme Yang and supreme rigid power in the punch, terrifyingly pure and astonishingly domineering—it actually made even an old monster like him at the Soul Transformation Stage tremble in his Divine Soul, his heart racing with fear!

The whole arena was dead silent!

You could hear a pin drop!

All sounds, all movements, were paused at this moment.

Tens of thousands of Xuantian Sect Disciples widened their eyes and opened their mouths, staring blankly at the pale yellow figure in the deep pit—their eyes churning with terror, bewilderment, and extreme shock.

The representatives of various forces in the Northern Region who were invited to observe the ceremony also stood up from their seats one after another, the look of shock and suspicion on their faces clear to see. They stared fixedly at Luo Xiaojiu, monstrous waves churning in their hearts.

Who is she?

Where did she come from?

Why does she have such terrifying strength?

And why would she risk her life to save Li Jiuyou, who had been convicted by the Xuantian Sect?

Countless questions swirled in everyone's minds; the vast Martial Arts Arena was plunged into a dead silence of extreme shock.

On the high platform, the Sect Master and the various Elders also had their pupils shrink, their eyes locking onto Luo Xiaojiu like hawks, desperately trying to see through her background.

When their spiritual sense probed the unique, pure, and sacred Innate Spirit Body aura on her—everyone's hearts surged, their expressions changed drastically, and their eyes were filled with disbelief.

This girl is definitely not ordinary!

Her background must not be simple!

Luo Xiaojiu slowly retracted her fist, the golden light around her body slowly fading, her posture still as straight as a pine.

She lifted her eyes to look around—her gaze cold and sharp, soul-stirring.

She first swept over the Sect Master and Elders on the high platform, whose faces were ashen and intertwined with shock, anger, and dread; there was no fear in her eyes, only faint mockery and disdain.

Then she swept over the Xuantian Sect Disciples below, who had various expressions, mostly of rejection and hostility; her gaze was cold as frost.

Finally, it fell on the representatives of the various Northern Region forces who were suspicious and whispering to each other; her gaze paused slightly—but remained fixed with unquestionable determination.

She took a deep breath, the surging anger in her chest condensing into a clear and sonorous sound, carrying the pure Yang spiritual power of her Innate Spirit Body, resounding through every corner of the Martial Arts Arena like a thunderclap—every word tempered with bone-chilling sarcasm and monstrous fury:

"What a Xuantian Sect! What a leader of the Northern Region's Righteous Path! Today, I, Luo Xiaojiu, have truly had my eyes opened!"

Luo Xiaojiu wore an icy cold sneer on her lips, her phoenix eyes sweeping over the faces on the high platform that were ashen like ink, her voice loud and clear, every word like a knife cut or an axe chop:

"A Disciple was born with the Nine Yin Absolute Veins, yet you had not a shred of pity, instead casting him aside like worn-out shoes, viewing him as a great shame to the Sect—leaving him to fend for himself in desperate straits!"

"He was unwilling to be ground into dust by fate, so he entered the Nine Heavens forbidden lands alone, waded through a bloody path in the Hell where Death Qi eroded his bones, endured the depths of ten thousand calamities with his own will, and honed his indomitable strength through sheer resilience—finally, at the Sect grand competition you are so proud of, he uprightly and honorably defeated the 'Northern Region's Number One Prodigy' that you poured all your resources into cultivating!"

"This should have been a Heaven-Defying legend passed down through the ages, a timeless story of your Xuantian Sect's unconventional recruitment of talent! But you—what did you do?"

Her voice rose sharply, her sharp questioning exploding like a thunderclap, causing the surrounding air to tremble violently and fierce winds to rise:

"Not only did you not applaud his resilience, not cheer for the appearance of such a Genius in your Sect—but instead, just because his spiritual power was different from ordinary people, just because he broke the conventional mold of your 'Righteous Path', you immediately turned against him and treated him as an enemy!"

"Stripping him of his ranking! Punishing him to reflect for ten years in the Evil-Suppressing Tower! And just because of a few heart-wrenching words of indignation, you want to kill him, cripple his cultivation, throw him into a death cell—wishing to get rid of him as quickly as possible?!"

"Is this the 'Righteous Path' that your Xuantian Sect promotes? Is this the 'rules' that your Northern Region keeps talking about?!"

With every word she spoke, the faces of the Xuantian Sect members on the high platform darkened a shade—their knuckles turned white and blue, their spiritual power roiling like boiling water, almost breaking through their shackles.

Among the Disciples below, a few young men with clear minds and remaining conscience showed shame and hung their heads in silence. But more were exposed, filled with shame and anger—the way they looked at Luo Xiaojiu was increasingly hostile, as if poisoned.

Luo Xiaojiu's gaze suddenly pierced the air like cold electricity, sweeping toward the representatives of various forces sitting on the observation platforms on both sides, her voice still sonorous and deafening:

"And you! As the respected Elders and leaders of the Northern Region's Sects—just now, when Li Jiuyou suffered such monstrous injustice, did any of you stand up and say a single word of justice?"

"Did any of you think that this youth, whose talent and will were superior to all his peers, should not end up in such a doomed fate?"

"You were just watching with cold eyes, watching the fire from the other side, some even secretly rejoicing at the Xuantian Sect's internal chaos, having long secretly calculated how to divide the meager benefits from this 'Evil Path Genius'!"

"The entire Northern Region cultivation world—from top to bottom, exudes a disgusting sense of decay, rigidity, and hypocrisy!"

Luo Xiaojiu's words were decisive, possessing both the sharp edge of a newborn calf unafraid of tigers and a clear-sighted understanding of the world—shaking everyone in the audience, their hearts trembling, their blood surging:

"Self-satisfied, fearing change, and factional—you cannot tolerate even a shred of 'heresy'! You personally forced a Genius who struggled up from the muddy sea of blood into the 'Evil Demon' you speak of, and then with a clear conscience, holding the banner of the 'Righteous Path', you want to kill him as quickly as possible!"

"Such a Northern Region, such a 'Righteous Path'—it is simply ridiculous! Pathetic! Lamentable!"

These words were like the sharpest cold iron javelin, viciously piercing through the Xuantian Sect's hypocritical exterior, and tearing the fig leaf of the entire Northern Region cultivation world to shreds—every word piercing the heart, every sentence drawing blood, stabbing straight into everyone's lungs!

"Little girl, how dare you spout such nonsense here and slander our Northern Region's Righteous Path?!"