Chapter 380: Xiao Shou Establishes His Prestige

There was a trace of helplessness in Ting Lu’s voice, along with a hint of tenderness. Having experienced many men in her life, how could Xiao Ran fail to notice it? Her confidence in her own charm grew even stronger.

While Xiao Ran communicated with Ting Lu through divine sense and retreated with the others, the Sword of Zlatibor in the sky suddenly descended.

It collided violently with the layers upon layers of defensive light barriers formed by the various magical treasures, spiritual treasures, and defensive talismans covering the Gou Family Patriarch’s body.

A terrifying spiritual energy storm erupted in every direction.

The tables and chairs on the Nine Dragons Platform and the surrounding secondary seats were sent flying in all directions. Even the incredibly sturdy Nine Dragons Platform trembled violently.

Layer after layer of defensive barriers around the Gou Family Patriarch shattered. He could no longer withstand the enormous Sword of Zlatibor above him. He collapsed into a half kneeling position, his face pale yellow and his entire body drenched in sweat as he struggled to breathe. He desperately continued pouring spiritual energy into constructing new defensive barriers, but the speed at which he could create them was nowhere near enough to match the destructive power of the Sword of Zlatibor.

Just as the final defensive barrier around the Gou Family Patriarch was about to shatter and he was about to be struck by the Sword of Zlatibor, a pair of enormous white jade hands suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The giant hands grabbed the Sword of Zlatibor and squeezed it forcefully. With a loud crack, nearly half of the sword’s tip shattered into pieces.

At the same time, a middle aged female cultivator suddenly appeared on the Nine Dragons Platform. With a casual wave of her hand, she pulled the Gou Family Patriarch onto the platform. She then frowned at Xiao Shou and said, "That’s enough. The Holy City is not a place where you can act however you please."

The power, intimidation, and actual combat strength displayed by those hands had shocked everyone. However, the situation quickly became embarrassing for the middle aged female cultivator.

After having a portion of the Sword of Zlatibor crushed, the sword did not shatter completely. Instead, it absorbed an immense amount of spiritual energy once again and began regenerating the broken section. In the blink of an eye, a new sword tip formed.

The enormous sword trembled and moved directly above the Nine Dragons Platform. Everyone on the platform could not help turning pale.

They had just witnessed the miserable state of the Gou Family Patriarch. His defensive spiritual treasures, formation disks, talismans, and layers upon layers of protective barriers had all proven useless.

The middle aged female cultivator, who had originally thought she could resolve the situation with a single move, also looked extremely grim. She glanced coldly at Xiao Shou and was just about to speak.

Seeing her unpleasant expression, Lu Wuchen immediately stepped forward. Although she was one of the Guardian Elders responsible for protecting the realm, an existence even he, as the Sect Master of the Holy Sword Sect, did not dare to offend lightly, Lu Wuchen was concerned that the conflict between the two sides might escalate beyond control.

Considering that Xiao Shou was a rare sword cultivation genius and also had an even more troublesome grandfather, he quickly interrupted.

"Young Master Xiao, harmony is the most important thing. Harmony is the most important thing."

"Harmony is the most important thing? Hmph!" Xiao Shou appeared to snort angrily, but inwardly he remained completely calm.

From the beginning, he had only been somewhat annoyed by the Gou Family Patriarch’s shamelessness. He had never truly been furious.

In fact, ever since the competition began, Xiao Shou had been thinking about how everyone around him treated him with such respect and courtesy because of Tushan Qing and Tushan Shanhe.

Once those two left this realm, the situation would change.

After revealing so many extraordinary abilities and attracting so much attention during the Grand Competition, the opening of the Eternal Prosperity Sect after the competition would undoubtedly attract even more people in the Heaven Origin Realm who coveted its opportunities.

At that point, without any real prestige of his own as the Sect Master of the Eternal Prosperity Sect, would inevitably be looked down upon.

And once people underestimated the Sect Master of the Eternal Prosperity Sect, it was easy to imagine what methods they might use against the sect.

Therefore, he needed to establish his own prestige as the Sect Master of the Eternal Prosperity Sect and what better place could there be to establish his authority than at the Heaven Origin Grand Competition? But how should he do it?

Just as Xiao Shou was thinking about this, the Gou Family Patriarch had conveniently appeared.

Xiao Shou was actually quite grateful for how cooperative he had been. That was why he had taken the fight slightly more seriously than necessary.

Of course, he had deliberately chosen such a spectacular and powerful technique for another reason. He wanted everyone to see his formidable combat strength. He also wanted them to remember that the Eternal Prosperity Sect was not merely a sect founded by the grandson of Tushan Qing.

It was a sect founded by a powerful Sect Master who could casually suppress and defeat the Gou Family Patriarch. That was the image Xiao Shou wanted to leave in everyone’s minds. Now that his objective had been achieved, there was no reason to continue.

After the Sword of Zlatibor had been destroyed once, its regenerated form would be considerably weaker.

Most of its original power had come from the enormous impact created when the massive sword body, formed from condensed spiritual energy, had fallen from the sky.

After the sword body had been shattered once, that tremendous momentum had already disappeared. Continuing the attack would therefore serve little purpose. Besides, Xiao Shou had already taken advantage of Tushan Shanhe’s reputation in this realm and shown off enough.