The onlookers claimed that Huo Xingyuan looked like he was on drugs, but that was an unfair accusation.

While Huo Xingyuan had consumed some elixirs to enhance his cultivation, it wasn’t a significant amount. Moreover, the elixirs refined in immortal kilns rarely caused problems like “unstable foundations.” His cultivation was relatively solid.

Due to the differences between ancient and modern cultivation methods, after the nine-grade ranking system, a threshold was added between the first and second grades, and the combat power gap also widened. Modern cultivators often felt that there was a vast difference between the two.

However, for those who practiced ancient methods, the distinction was not so great.

To put it simply, both were in the Cloud Ascending Stage. The second grade and the first grade merely represented the mid-Cloud Ascending Stage and late-Cloud Ascending Stage, respectively. Although there was a difference in power, it wasn’t significant enough that their respective cultivation techniques and combat skills couldn’t bridge the gap.

Some individuals, whose learning focused entirely on magical artifacts, dared to pursue and fight those in the later stages even when they were only in the middle stage.

In reality, it was Lu Xingzhou who wasn’t strong enough; otherwise, the sheer quality difference in their cultivation techniques alone would have prevented him from retreating even half a step.

He had spent too little time on cultivation, possessing few ultimate techniques and magical artifacts. His Daoist cultivation was underdeveloped and lagging, leaving him with only martial cultivation.

However, when he received one of Huo Xingyuan’s blows that day and merely drifted backward, also causing Huo Xingyuan himself to stiffen, Lu Xingzhou knew that he had a chance to fight… and with his second-grade breakthrough to the intermediate stage in the past two days, the fight became even more promising.

Especially now, Huo Xingyuan, realizing he had been deceived and having watched his son die without retaliating against his enemies, was consumed by a surge of anger and grief, making him as furious as a mad tiger – a significant blunder in combat.

Lu Xingzhou’s expression was icy as he fought and retreated, deflecting Huo Xingyuan’s sharp edge.

In an instant, fists and swords had clashed over ten times. Seeing Lu Xingzhou’s impenetrable defense, Huo Xingyuan grew even more agitated and furious.

Lu Xingzhou deliberately provoked him further, for example…

“Boom!” Another punch landed.

In fact, Lu Xingzhou had twice revealed the Yan Yu Can Yang to Huo Xingyuan.

The first time was during the sneak attack in Beijiang, where he used the Yan Yu Can Yang fist technique. However, because it was a surprise attack, it was merely a fist move without external fist intent, no lingering sun imagery, and no integration of Hong Lian Jie Yan.

The second time, during the confrontation at the Huo residence, he also used Yan Yu Can Yang. That time, the external scenery was fully displayed, the setting sun was like a prison, and the flames used were Hong Lian Jie Yan, judging his sins.

The differences seemed quite significant, so much so that Huo Xingyuan couldn’t distinguish that these two instances were the same technique.

But this time, Lu Xingzhou deliberately suppressed the external scenery, withdrew the red lotus, and threw a simple punch, even striking the exact same pose as during the sneak attack. He even wore a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, as if looking at an idiot.

Huo Xingyuan realized it.

“It was you! You were the one who ambushed me then too!” Huo Xingyuan was so enraged that smoke seemed to stream from his seven orifices. Thinking of how this fellow had later pretended to be concerned, he became furious: “Die for this Marquis!”

In a red haze of anger, all his power condensed into a heavy sword strike.

The sword qi flashed, seeming to cleave the entire long street in two. Its power was terrifying, appearing to surpass what he, a first-grade intermediate, should possess.

Lu Xingzhou was waiting for this moment.

In any confrontation, one should always hold back a third of their strength, never using it all, to be able to respond to unexpected changes. Moreover, Huo Xingyuan, in his rage, had lost all alertness to other eventualities.

Lu Xingzhou darted swiftly, avoiding the sharpest point, and delivered two consecutive kicks.

One kick was of blazing flames, with the red lotus in full bloom and the setting sun filling the sky. It judged his sins and sentenced him to a fiery prison.

The other kick was a surging torrent, like a river holding back water, that burst its dam and swept across the world.

The flames, surprisingly, were a restraint, while the water spirit was the attack.

This very contrast alone was enough to make most opponents encountering it for the first time extremely uncomfortable.

And as the dazzling visual effects obscured his opponent’s sight, Lu Xingzhou secretly waved a small banner in his hand.

The Yin souls of the first and second-grade imperial dead soldiers, which had been collected into the banner less than an hour ago, howled forth, rushing straight towards Huo Xingyuan’s Tianling.

At the same time, Anuo’s small figure appeared silently behind Huo Xingyuan, punching him in the back of the heart.

Among the onlookers, a few who had studied Lu Xingzhou’s combat record had a strange thought: Lu Xingzhou’s many schemes targeting the Huo father and son almost never involved seeking help from others, not even his own wife. It was as if he didn’t want to rely on anyone else. Only this little girl was like his conjoined twin, always taking action.

It seemed that when this little girl acted, it wasn’t considered relying on others.

As the thought flashed, the offense and defense of both sides already met.

“Bang!” Lu Xingzhou avoided the most intense part of the sword qi, but still couldn’t completely dodge its unparalleled ferocity. The sword qi grazed his chest, tearing his outer garment and revealing the inner armor beneath.

The Dragon Subduing Armor.

The sword qi struck the armor, only leaving a scratch; it didn’t even pierce the armor.

After the residual force was neutralized, it entered his body and was completely dissipated by the Tai Xu Lun Zhuan, leaving him unharmed.

Not only that, this residual power was within the range that could be absorbed and utilized. To the onlookers, Lu Xingzhou, struck by the sword qi, merely took a slight step back, then stomped the ground with the borrowed force, darting forward again.

The Taiji Tiangang had already condensed in his hand, and this time, its power was even more ferocious than before.

He grew stronger with each blow!

Huo Xingyuan, on the other hand, was not faring well.

Lu Xingzhou’s Yan Yu Can Yang combined with Hong Lian Jie Yan created a “heavenly tribulation”-like judgment effect, a control technique that even strong cultivators couldn’t easily break free from, often causing a brief stiffness. Meanwhile, the roaring water energy surged into his meridians, furiously flushing and pouring out, also requiring him to circulate his internal energy to resolve it.

At this moment, several first and second-grade Yin souls rushed directly into his soul sea, tearing frantically, while Anuo’s fist landed on his back.

“Scram!” Huo Xingyuan unleashed his last bit of strength, forcibly shaking off the Yin souls, and spun around, delivering a punch to Anuo’s small fist.

Everyone thought the little girl would be sent flying…

But with a “bang,” it was Huo Xingyuan who was sent backward.

Huo Xingyuan had never imagined that this chubby little girl’s strength was as monstrous as a dragon’s. With his body stiff, his meridians still working to resolve the invading water elemental energy, he was completely outmatched in the hasty confrontation and was sent flying backward by the punch.

And at this moment, Lu Xingzhou, who had rebounded, struck Huo Xingyuan’s lower back.

Huo Xingyuan’s response was clearly in disarray; in his haste, he could only twist his body, trying to dodge the blow with his movement technique.

The Yin souls, which had just been shaken off, desperately clung to his feet, preventing him from dodging.

“Bang!” Lu Xingzhou’s fist landed. Huo Xingyuan could only barely raise his elbow backward to block it.

But this punch was no longer the water and fire of before, but the violent explosive power of Taiji Tiangang. The onlookers almost heard a “crack” of bone breaking. Huo Xingyuan grunted, his hand bone shattered.

Anuo swung a large flatbread and slapped it down on his head.

Huo Xingyuan raised his sword to block, but the sword trembled uncontrollably. With a “smack,” the flatbread knocked the sword away, even making the web of his hand bloody and mangled.

With master and disciple attacking from front and back, Huo Xingyuan’s hands were completely incapacitated.

The next moment, Lu Xingzhou delivered a flying kick, heavily striking Huo Xingyuan’s Dantian.

“Bang!” Huo Xingyuan spewed a mouthful of blood into the air, flying over ten zhang away before crashing heavily onto the long street.

The onlookers had not anticipated this outcome.

The battle was short. Apart from the initial dozen exchanges, once both sides erupted, there were only a few rounds of offense and defense, and Huo Xingyuan, the renowned first-grade Marquis Zhenyuan of Daqian, was already scattered like a broken rag, bleeding on the long street.

Only then did the personal guards, as if waking from a dream, rush forward to block: “Stop!”

They hadn’t intervened earlier, partly because they were intimidated, and partly because they didn’t believe Huo Xingyuan would lose.

But unexpectedly, he did lose!

As the guards blocked, Huo Xingyuan, who had just fallen, immediately rose and attempted to flee.

It was easy to defeat someone, but killing them was never that simple.

People would run, especially when fighting above their grade.

But in the direction he fled, several sword lights came straight at him. Yang Dechang’s calm voice was the first to be heard: “Marquis, please stay!”

With Yang Dechang were several others, all retainers of the Huo manor.

The onlookers were dumbfounded.

Lu Xingzhou truly didn’t rely on others; he relied on the Huo family members, which was a much greater blow to Huo Xingyuan than if outsiders had been involved.

Wounded and attempting to escape, how could Huo Xingyuan withstand the encirclement by his own top-grade retainers? After taking one sword strike, he reeled back, gnashing his teeth: “Yang Dechang! I treated you well!”

Yang Dechang sneered, “Deceive yourself with those words. Yang is now a retainer of the Lu manor, and only obeys the command of the Danxia County Lord.”

Huo Xingyuan had no time to argue. Just as he was about to change direction to flee, Lu Xingzhou and Anuo had already shaken off the guards’ interception, and their two iron fists once again struck his back.

Huo Xingyuan, exhausted and at his limit, could no longer resist. With two “bangs,” his sternum shattered, and he collapsed to the ground.

Lu Xingzhou squatted in front of him, smiling.

Huo Xingyuan, his mouth full of blood, glared with fiery eyes: “Lu Xingzhou…”

Lu Xingzhou smiled, “Danfang, retainers, household servants… betrayed by everyone, you have nothing left. Does it taste good?”

Huo Xingyuan spat out another mouthful of blood.

“In the past two days, you bought several concubines and desperately tried to procreate, which also affected your combat power a bit… Actually, whether they got pregnant or not, if I killed those women, you’d have nothing left anyway. But since I’m so kind, I gave you sterilization medicine early on, so all your efforts these two days were in vain. And that way, I don’t need to kill innocent women. Hurry up and say thank you.”

Huo Xingyuan’s finger trembled as he pointed at him: “If you’re not Huo Shang… how did my Huo family offend you… to warrant such wickedness…”

“Do you think that, besides Huo Shang, no one else is qualified to seek revenge from you?” Lu Xingzhou patted his cheek: “Do the hunters in Danxia Mountain have no right to seek revenge from the Marquis?”

Huo Xingyuan suddenly realized: “You are… Huo…”

“Yes, my surname is also Huo. My great-grandfather’s generation was one family,” Lu Xingzhou said faintly. “Huo Qi is still on his way to exile, isn’t he?… I told him then that I would take over everything in the Huo manor. Do you think it counts now? Look, I’ve even taken over the ancestral shrine for you, except your branch will no longer have a place among the ancestral tablets. Are you happy?”

Huo Xingyuan gasped with difficulty: “His Majesty… will not let you off…”

“Whether His Majesty will let me off is hard to say, but you definitely won’t see it, will you?” Lu Xingzhou clenched his fist and heavily struck his chest: “There’s also an old fogey; I’ll send him down to join you soon.”