First update of the day! "Bastard!" The black-masked figure roared in frustrated fury. He could never have dreamed that this trembling boy, who could barely stammer out a word, would suddenly utter something so earth-shattering. For a moment, he almost couldn't believe his ears.

"Better kill this kid quickly. The longer this drags on, the more complications arise!" The one who spoke was, astonishingly, Wang Neng!

Jun Moxie turned around: "Are you two also in league with the Shushu website crowd?"

Wang Neng awkwardly turned his face away, yet spoke with chilling coldness, "Mo Junye, truly, you should never have come to the Misty Illusionary Mansion. Your presence upsets everyone..."

"I understand." Jun Moxie hung his head, utterly desolate.

"Wait!"

Just as these figures were about to strike recklessly, Miao Xiaomiao could endure it no longer. She tapped the acupoint of the little sprout, covered her with the Cloak of Invisibility, and then zipped out herself. At this moment, a very strange thought surged within her: Even if she could never be his wife, dying together today would still be a good outcome!

And so, she jumped out without hesitation, standing beside Jun Moxie. Her cold gaze fixed on the eight figures before them. "If you clear a path for us right now, I promise I will not pursue any investigation into today's events!"

"It's the Eldest Miss Miao herself? Investigation? Investigate what?" The leading black-masked figure let out a laugh of extreme anger, "Who do you think you are? If the Illusionary Mansion or your Miao family were brimming with masters, you would certainly be the most revered little princess, someone no one would dare offend! But now, stranded in this desolate place, there is absolutely no one who can find us. Do you still imagine yourself to be that imperious daughter of the Illusionary Mansion? You've arrived precisely on time; we can seize you and present you to the Young Master. You should know, he has been longing for you for several years now. Achieving this wish today will surely make him very happy!"

"Is your Young Master Zhan Qingfeng or Zhan Yushu?" Hearing this, Miao Xiaomiao did not become angry, but asked calmly, "Oh, right. The direct descendants of the Zhan family are usually assigned three bodyguards each. There are six of you here, which suggests Zhan Qingfeng and Zhan Yushu have come together? In that case, after capturing me, to whom are you intending to present me?"

The black-masked man's eyes glinted with extreme lust and degradation. He chuckled darkly, "Miss Miao, you don't need to concern yourself with that. When you are stripped bare awaiting audience, you will naturally discover which of our Young Masters it is... Perhaps, once the Young Master tires of you, we might also sample the flavor of the Illusionary Mansion's little princess. I wonder how different she is from a prostitute in a brothel? Does a woman thoroughly played with retain her former nobility? Hahahaha..."

"Shameless! You deserve worse than death!" Miao Xiaomiao was consumed by rage.

"Indeed, they deserve annihilation!" A cold voice followed, ethereal and directionless. In that instant, everyone looked around in shock, yet no one could locate the source of the sound.

Undoubtedly, other masters had arrived! And masters of terrifying skill!

"There's no time left, move quickly, kill them!" One black-masked figure roared, drawing his sword and charging forward.

"Hehehehehe..." A cold laugh echoed, followed by a sudden burst of blood-red radiance in the sky! A palpable, fearsome sword energy slashed across the heavens.

A divine, uncanny longsword, utterly brilliant and shimmering, materialized abruptly in the air!

It appeared in the void directly before Jun Moxie!

This sword constantly expelled a shimmering, cold flame, like the blinking eyes of a death god against the night sky, chilling one to the core! This was undeniably a peculiar treasure sword; its intrinsic light was pure white, yet the radiance it projected turned all the surrounding scenery an extraordinarily terrifying blood-red!

Though only a sword was visible, to the onlookers, it felt as though a demon god, having swept across the nine heavens and ten earths, had suddenly appeared! It seemed the sword itself radiated an aura of supreme dominion, existing solely and absolutely between heaven and earth! A demonic sword!

Even Miao Xiaomiao stared, transfixed by the blade.

As this sword manifested, the sheer, chilling aura emanating from it alone had already subdued every enemy present! Miao Xiaomiao felt a profound sensation: before this sword, all living beings in the world seemed no more significant than ants!

The sword light flashed, instantly transitioning from stillness to a whistling descent at unimaginable speed. In just a blink, Wang Neng and Li Jie, standing behind the pair, didn't even manage a cry of alarm before their two fine heads soared toward the sky! Strangely, no blood erupted from their necks!

But their corpses instantly became desiccated! For in the very instant their heads were severed, the sword had absorbed every drop of blood from their bodies!

The blood-stained treasure sword retained its original brilliance, yet the chilling killing intent it carried grew ever stronger!

"Kill!" A voice, impossibly cold, issued from an unknown location, possessing a power that shook the very soul. Upon hearing it, every single black-masked figure experienced a collective, momentary lapse of focus!

And in that single instant of distraction, the demon-like sword plummeted again, bearing the sneering grin of Death! The heads of two more black-masked figures tumbled through the air...

"Demon Sword! Sword Control Art!" The leading black-masked figure's soul fled in terror, "Everyone, flee!"

The Sword Control Art was a quantum leap in mastery achieved only after reaching the level beyond Saint Emperor. It was the ultimate sword doctrine mastered only by those at the Saint Venerable tier! The cultivation ranks in Profound Energy contained several gaps, a situation caused entirely by the carelessness of the Nine Nether's First Youth back in the day... (No wonder I...) Within the Illusionary Mansion, no more than five individuals could possibly command such a terminal killing technique! And any one of those five would be far beyond the capability of these black-masked thugs to handle. Merely Venerable-level cultivators were utterly fragile against the Sword Control Art! They lacked even the capacity to defend themselves!

But now, they wanted to flee—it was too late! The outcome was sealed!

The divine sword let out another piercing shriek, tearing through the air and trailing a blood-red light curtain behind it! It darted left, then right, moving with both fluidity and absolute dominance. No human movement technique, no matter how ingenious, could stand against this sword's speed—it was all dust in the wind...

The sword light flashed again, and two more black-masked men stumbled to the ground. These two, who had just fallen, were heading one east and one west, yet they both collapsed simultaneously, both losing their heads, both turning into mummies in the same instant. With another flash, the one who had run the farthest slowly fell, emitting a soft puff.

Then, the sword circled in the air, flying to hover before the leading black-masked man, its cold light flashing incessantly right before his eyes! The meaning was clear: Go back!

The sole surviving expert among the six Venerable-level masters sent by the Zhan brothers—the very man who had spoken mockingly to Young Master Jun earlier—watched the grotesque corpses of Wang Neng, Li Jie, and his five companions—seven bodies in total—all reduced to mummies. Looking at this strange, demonic, divine sword, he began to tremble uncontrollably! The resolute state of mind of a Venerable-level expert vanished entirely in that moment, leaving not a trace!

The owner of this peerless Demon Sword had not revealed himself from beginning to end! The entire process was managed remotely, controlling only the sword itself, yet it achieved this terrifying, horrific result! He harbored no doubt that if he showed the slightest sign of resistance, the sword would pierce his body in the next second, turning him into a dried corpse just like his comrades.

He trembled, backing away step by step, his eyes filled with terror. Suddenly, he shrieked, "Who are you? Who exactly are you?" His voice was ragged, like that of a dying man, filled with the hysterical cry of someone who had completely lost hope!

But there was no reply.

Only as he retreated did the sword follow, maintaining a distance of exactly three inches before his face, ensuring he always felt an icy coldness that permeated his bones!

The sword light flickered. At this moment, the leading black-masked man could distinctly perceive a sense of mockery emanating from the sword itself! It seemed to ridicule his cowardice!

But he was helpless! Under the threat of such a divine and demonic sword, he had lost all will to fight!

This was the inherent failing of those from great families.

Jun Moxie looked at this Venerable-level expert, whose fighting spirit had completely evaporated, and sighed inwardly. This man's aptitude was quite exceptional, his mind considerable even, but compared to masters forged in the crucible of bloody storms and life-or-death combat, he lacked a certain core tenacity! Although this person possessed the strength of a Venerable, he was vastly different from true combat experts of the same rank. When facing an unstoppable master, those forged in real-life combat would first consider how to recruit the opponent to their service, and second, how to utilize them if recruitment failed. The third consideration would be to concentrate all their power to utterly destroy the threat if the first two options were unviable. Only as a last resort would they prioritize self-preservation and escape! At the very least, if survival was impossible, they might choose to die fighting gloriously!

Better to be beaten to death than scared to death! Even if beaten to death, they would splash the enemy with blood! This was the true spirit martial artists should possess!

But this expert, who only possessed the empty title of Venerable strength, though his cultivation had reached a significant degree, fundamentally lacked this fighting spirit and resolve. At this moment, he didn't even harbor thoughts of escape; only submission and a desperate longing for survival remained! This was the hidden consequence of long years of pampered living: they no longer possessed the essential sharpness expected of (Jianghu) figures! Such people were only fit to guard houses; they were no longer suited for navigating the world! (To be continued. To know what happens next, support the author and purchase genuine copies!)