Rumble... Rumble...
Two coffins flew through the air, shattering the gates of the Gu Family estate and crashing into the front courtyard.
"What! How dare anyone come to the Gu Family to make trouble!" shouted several Gu Family guards upon seeing this.
Ye Xiaoyao walked forward with an icy expression. "I am only here to take the lives of Gu Han and Gu Qingqing. Those who stand in my way shall die!"
In just a single night, Ye Xiaoyao had not only reshaped his dantian, but his cultivation had also reached the Spirit Sea Realm First Layer.
Although Gu Han was at the Spirit Sea Realm Fifth Layer, after comprehending the Myriad Forms Devouring Heaven Sword Art, Ye Xiaoyao fully understood that realm merely represented the amount of power one possessed.
What truly decided the outcome of a battle was how one utilized their own power to deal a fatal blow to the opponent.
When the group of guards recognized who had come, they burst into loud mockery.
Gu Bin, the captain of the guards, sneered disdainfully, "Do you still think you're that once-in-a-generation genius?"
"No, right now you're nothing more than a piece of trash with a shattered dantian and a dug-out Supreme Bone!"
With a cold shout, Gu Bin reached out and lunged directly for Ye Xiaoyao's chest.
Ye Xiaoyao merely smiled with disdain.
However, the others assumed that Ye Xiaoyao lacked even the ability to dodge.
They eagerly began to flatter Gu Bin, shouting, "Brother Bin, give him a hard time! Teach him that trash should know their place as trash!"
"Good!" Hearing this, Gu Bin became even more smug.
Yet the moment his voice fell, a flash of biting cold light, fast to the extreme, streaked past, and he felt a chill in his chest.
"You... you..." Gu Bin looked down at the spirit sword piercing through his chest, seemingly wanting to say something more.
Before Ye Xiaoyao could even quickly withdraw his sword, Gu Bin collapsed heavily to the ground.
The surrounding retainers, who had been mocking a moment before, instantly fell silent, staring at Ye Xiaoyao in sheer terror!
Even though they were standing right in front of him, they hadn't even been able to see how Ye Xiaoyao drew his sword!
"Do you trash know your place?" Ye Xiaoyao sneered coldly, continuing his advance.
Overwhelmed by fear, the crowd stood frozen, not knowing whether they should retreat or try to stop Ye Xiaoyao.
"Ye Xiaoyao!" At that moment, having heard the commotion, Gu Han rushed over accompanied by a group of Gu Family members.
Seeing Gu Bin's corpse, he felt a slight shock, which was immediately replaced by a surge of greed in his eyes.
"You really are the patron of our Gu Family! Since you've come, hand over the fortuitous encounter you obtained obediently, and I can grant you a quick death!"
Ye Xiaoyao's dantian had first been shattered, and his Supreme Bone had been dug out afterward; yet after a single night, not only was he still alive, but his cultivation had advanced drastically, breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm First Layer.
Furthermore, Gu Bin was also at the Spirit Sea Realm First Layer, yet Ye Xiaoyao had managed to kill him in such a short amount of time.
Such a fortuitous encounter was definitely no small matter.
With eyes filled with killing intent, Ye Xiaoyao sneered, "But I have no intention of letting you die a quick death!"
Gu Han seemed to have anticipated Ye Xiaoyao's reaction and let out a disdainful chuckle.
"Very well, since that's how it is, I'll teach you the final lesson of your life!"
"No matter how great your talent or how formidable your fortuitous encounter, if you don't know when to restrain yourself, you are destined to become nothing more than a joke!"
Since both sides were already locked in a mortal feud, Gu Han abandoned further idle chatter.
With a soft grunt, he slashed forward with his sword. Endless sword radiance transformed into thousands of cold lights, pouring down toward Ye Xiaoyao like an airtight giant net.
In the blink of an eye, countless fierce auras stirred up a piercing, whistling sound of blades!
"To think the Patriarch has actually cultivated the family's secret art, the Mysterious-tier Lower Grade Cloud Illusion Thousand Kills Slash, to the realm of perfection!"
"The Patriarch is giving this piece of trash way too much credit by unleashing such a powerful attack right off the bat!"
Martial arts techniques on the Qingyun Continent were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, with each tier further divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower grades!
Although the Gu Family members exclaimed in admiration, all their eyes remained fixed on every single movement Gu Han made.
This was, after all, the highest-grade sword art currently in Yunfeng City, and it was the foundation upon which the Gu Family established themselves there!
In the blink of an eye, the boundless sword radiance completely enveloped Ye Xiaoyao, and a look of triumph flashed in Gu Han's eyes.
With the offensive momentum already formed, let alone the fact that Ye Xiaoyao was only at the Spirit Sea Realm First Layer, even if he were at the Spirit Sea Realm Fifth Layer, he would undoubtedly die.
That was the terrifying power of a Mysterious-tier Lower Grade sword art!
Right at that moment, the thunder-derived purple leaf—formed on the Sword Dao Seed within Ye Xiaoyao's dantian by absorbing the power of lightning—shivered slightly.
A layer of purple radiance lit up Ye Xiaoyao's entire dantian, and at the same time, the spirit sword in his hand instantly turned a brilliant shade of purple-cyan.
Immediately afterward, amid a rapid spin of his body, Ye Xiaoyao shot up into the air.
As he continuously swung and slashed with the spirit sword in his hand, streaks of purple radiance shot outward!
They looked like sword qi, yet felt like sudden thunder!
This was precisely the first form of the Myriad Forms Devouring Heaven Sword Art: Sword Devours the Firmament!
"Sword qi?!" At this sight, the crowd was abruptly startled!
Exudation of sword qi had no direct relationship with one's cultivation realm; it required one's comprehension of the Sword Dao to reach a certain height.
Even if Ye Xiaoyao was merely at the Spirit Sea Realm First Layer, if an expert at the even higher Spirit Pill Realm could comprehend sword qi, they would still be hailed as a Sword Dao genius.
Following that, countless wisps of sword qi collided with Gu Han's sword radiance!
On one side was superior Sword Dao comprehension; on the other was powerful spiritual energy support!
Amid the mutual impact, neither side gained any advantage, and with a series of crisp shattering sounds, the attacks burst apart simultaneously.
"You never fail to surprise me!" Instead of feeling fear, Gu Han rejoiced!
The stronger Ye Xiaoyao was, the greater the benefits he would reap once he forced the secret out of him.
With a sharp cry, their spirit swords heavily crashed against each other.
*Clang...* Amid a crisp sound, Gu Han's entire body suddenly came to a halt!
Although Gu Han had already mobilized his entire body's spiritual energy upon sensing Ye Xiaoyao's terrifying sword qi, at that very instant, he still felt a surge of lightning power pierce through his defenses and strike straight into his body, sending numbness coursing through his limbs.
Gu Han hurriedly channeled his energy to resist!
Yet during this very moment of sluggishness, Ye Xiaoyao's spirit sword transformed into a wisp of purple light that pierced straight into his lower abdomen.
With a kick from Ye Xiaoyao, Gu Han was sent flying backward, landing squarely inside one of the coffins Ye Xiaoyao had brought along.
In a fraction of a second, the entire courtyard fell into a dead silence!
No one had expected that Gu Han, the strongest Patriarch of the Gu Family, would fail to withstand even a single sword strike from Ye Xiaoyao.
At the same time, recalling the suffocating sensation Ye Xiaoyao's sword strike had brought them, they suddenly felt as though such an outcome was only natural.
"You... you shattered my dantian?" Lying in the coffin, Gu Han endured the stabbing pain in his lower abdomen and stared furiously at Ye Xiaoyao.
"This is merely the beginning!" With a contemptuous smile, Ye Xiaoyao stepped forward.
As a cold flash swept past, it directly sliced open Gu Han's chest.
"Even though you don't have a Supreme Bone, I will let you taste the agony of having your bones carved out while you're still alive!"
With that, Ye Xiaoyao swung his sword down toward Gu Han's torn chest cavity!
However, he used the flat of the blade rather than the edge, and he did not circulate any spiritual energy!
"Ah... Ah..."
Being battered by such a blunt weapon did not immediately snap the bones, but the agony of each heavy strike felt like the greatest torture in the world.
Gu Han let out ear-piercing shrieks like a slaughtered pig.
"I said before, I won't let you die an easy death!"
Ye Xiaoyao did not show the slightest bit of mercy; whatever the Gu Family had inflicted upon him, he would return manifold!
"Are you all fools? What are you standing around for? Kill him!" Finally, enduring the excruciating pain, Gu Han roared at his surrounding clansmen.