Spirit Cultivation

Thud!

Tang Fei was once again blown away by Xiao Feng's double hammers, crashing into the ground with a loud thud. He couldn't help but curse and cough out blood as he tried to get out of the hole his body created during the impact, "Fuck! Cough, cough!"

He was prolonging the battle, waiting for his subordinates to contact him and tell him that they caught Tianshi but he didn't get any information, meaning she escaped. He could already see no cultivators from his side battling, meaning they were probably all killed.

'In the end, we lost… Even after gathering all of my elites, we could only break into her courtyard just to lure her away. How come the strength difference is so much?… I mobilized thousands of people all outside the Capital to catch her but they still failed…' Tang Fei thought, sighing in his mind. Everything that he worked for would be gone now. He could escape but what about his family?

Looking at Xiao Feng who was slowly approaching, he quickly decided what to do next, 'It's all my son's fault. I guess I'm not losing much by abandoning them. I guess it's time to run and enter Heaven's Realm first. At least I will have a better starting position than him.'

He pulled out the Escape Crystal but just as he was about to use it, he heard the familiar vibrations in his ring, the same one he was waiting to hear this whole battle. It could only mean one thing. Tianshi was caught by his men!

Tang Fei couldn't help but burst out in a fat laugh as he rose into the sky, pulling out the information crystal instead and forgot about escaping, thinking it was time to celebrate instead, "Buhahahahahahaha! I won in the end!" It didn't matter how many experts he lost, as long as he got Tianshi. He knew how much Xiao Feng cared for his family so it was obvious that the tables would turn now.

Xiao Feng was ready to continue striking when he heard Tang Fei laugh, halting his movements. He saw the information crystal in Tang Fei's hands and his thoughts immediately wandered towards Tianshi, not wanting to believe it.

Tang Fei rose up to Xiao Feng's level, completely covered with blood, but he didn't mind that. He had a wide smile planted on his face as he said while laughing, "Haha! My elites caught your daughter! Surrender or she will die!" The crystal was still vibrating, waiting for the receiver to open the message.

"I don't believe you! Show me the message! Don't think I will let you fool me! I know that Tianshi is safe." Xiao Feng shouted back, preparing his hammers for another ending strike, covering them with rippling energy as if they tried to rip the void apart.

"Haha, just as you wish! If you really want to hear your daughter screaming in pain, I will let you experience that!" Tang Fei wiped the blood from his face and finally activated the crystal, letting his old friend listen to the message his subordinates left him.

The message was short and it played out right away narrated by a scared youthful voice, "L-leader! She ran away! W-we can't find her! We are sorry, we failed you." When Tang Fei heard the whole message, his face paled and he didn't hesitate to raise his cauldron, trying to defend against the next strike of Xiao Feng.

Unfortunately, they were too close to each other and Xiao Feng didn't need even a split second to reach him. His hammers were fueled with the power of Ether Qi and they landed on Tang Fei's head before he could block them.

Bang!

The Spirit Qi barrier around Tang Fei's skin crumbled upon impact and his head simply disappeared from existence, destroyed by the hammer's Ether Qi which sucked in everything in its path. The sound of an explosion came from the second hammer which struck at the black cauldron. Tang Fei was at least fast enough to block one attack but still failed to defend against the second one.

Before the body fell limply to the ground, Xiao Feng caught it, taking away the cauldron from his hands and commented with an angry face, "I gave you this cauldron and you used it against me. Idiot." Even with the strike of his hammers over and over again, there were almost no marks on it, signalling how great this artefact was.

"You never deserved it. My greatest masterpiece and you sullied it. I should have never sold it to you." Xiao Feng said scornfully as he put the cauldron back into his ring before suddenly reaching out towards Tang Fei's Dantian. Out of thin air, many items started spilling out of his body and Xiao Feng caught them all. Taking his ring away as well, he finally burned the body with special black fire, somehow similar to Xuefeng's black flames.

Tang Fei was after all a Spirit Monarch. He had many treasures on him which cost more than some countries and Xiao Feng wasn't stupid enough to leave them there. He defeated him so he deserved the loot of the loser.

As Xiao Feng finally looked around the battlefield which happened to be his Palace territory, he was glad he didn't see much destruction as most fights happened in the air. He looked around at his men, looking handsome and glorious with the hammer in his hands as if he was a god himself. No one minded the blood spread on his clothes as that added even more power to his image.

Xiao Feng didn't know who started it but before he realised it, everyone started cheering while raising their weapons up and down in a victory cry, "Long Live Master Xiao! Long Live Master Xiao! Long Live Master Xiao!"

Who wouldn't like their Family to have a powerful leader? Belonging to the most powerful faction in the world was something to be proud of and this display of power was definitely something they were all yearning for. There was not a single person not happy that they belonged to the Xiao Family and everyone knew the era of the Xiao's would now begin.

Raising his hammer as well, Xiao Feng shouted, "Tang Family is no more!" This created an even bigger cheering from everyone and they didn't want to stop.

Normally, after a victory, Xiao Feng would stay with his men but this time there were much more important things to do which required his attention. First was Tianshi and the second was uprooting the Tang family. He already knew that Tianshi was safe but he still needed to find her and bring her home as soon as possible.

Just as Xiao Feng wanted to look for him, Elder Yang appeared next to him and called out while bowing in respect, "Master Xiao!" He came to report on the casualties only to see Tang Fei dying from his master's hands which made him ecstatic even for his old age. He also had blood on his clothes, staining them after leading an attack to kill all the people blocking the entrance to Tianshi's Courtyard.

Nodding at the elder, Xiao Feng asked seriously, "What's the status? How is Tianshi?" He didn't ask about his wife as he knew with her strength she was safe. Only Tang Fei was stronger than her but he was here with him.

Elder Yang knew what was more important and reported, starting with news of Tianshi even though there was not much about her, "Master, Princess Tianshi escaped using the Escape crystal you gave her. Based on Tang Fei's message, he must have created patrols around the capital in hope to catch her after teleporting away. She must have somehow slipped away but we can't pinpoint her location. I already sent people to search for her.

"Good. Find her at all cost." Knowing they were already searching for her, Xiao Feng calmed down and headed towards Tianshi's courtyard to meet with Pio who was supposed to protect his daughter.

Elder Yang could only follow him and report about the casualties on the way, "We lost only four Sages and about sixty Saints but there are many injured. This is all because Tang Family didn't bother finishing the wounded as they wanted to break through as fast as they could. We were all informed about the attack thanks to one hero who exploded his Spirit to warn everyone. I am planning to award him with the title of high contribution to the Family, giving his family triple his monthly earnings each month for the rest of their lives."

"I approve." Xiao Feng didn't hesitate to agree after hearing what happened, knowing that only thanks to him many lives were saved before asking, "Was the traitor caught?" There was no other way for the Tang Family to sneak into the Palace so Xiao Feng didn't need to guess how it was done.

Elder Yang was just about to talk about it so he continued, "We found one person unconscious in the destroyed Gate Tower and after a quick questioning, he admitted to his faults."

Just as he expected, Xiao Feng already got his answer and replied, "Three days of torture, then kill him and his family in front of everyone. There is no mercy for traitors."

"Yes." Elder Yang could only nod, fully agreeing with Xiao Feng.

When they finally reached Tianshi's courtyard, Xiao Feng saw all the bodies laying on the training grounds and couldn't help but frown. He wasn't surprised by the number of them, but rather the way the Tang Family members were killed. Almost all of them had their heads decapitated and their limbs cut off.

Just as he wondered what happened, he heard the sound of a sword smacking something, together with sounds of weeping and wailing. When Xiao Feng looked at the scene and the female body smashed on the ground next to it, he couldn't help but feel bad for the poor girl who couldn't accept the truth.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Yi smashed her sword over and over against the body of one enemy cultivator, crying out, pain filling her voice, "Why?! Why?! She didn't do anything bad! Why?!"

Her eyes were all red with tears constantly spilling onto her cheeks and her angry expression didn't change, clear hatred visible in her eyes.

If Tianshi was there, she would recognize the man's body to be the one running with mace, the one who killed Yu with one smack of it. After many cuts and slashes, the body was already unrecognizable with its head already cut off by Yi herself.

Pio stood behind Yi, watching her actions with a calm face while letting her vent the anger and cry out her pain from losing someone really close. He did everything he could to keep her alive so he already did his part.

Just then, Pio looked into the sky as he sensed someone approaching and noticed two people he already met watching them from the sky. Knowing it was time to end it, Pio walked up to Yi and stopped her hand just as she was about to strike once again, calling out, "That's enough. He is already dead."

Of course, Yi wasn't in the mood to talk with others, focusing on taking her revenge and tried to shrug his hand away, shouting through her sobs, "Noo! Let go of me! He deserves it! He killed my sister!" She still couldn't understand what happened. They came here knowing Tianshi would teleport away and that they would most likely die. Even while knowing that, she couldn't believe that they killed her sister.

Yi didn't have good contact with her recently, but she was still her sister. Yi loved her dearly and now she was gone. She could never talk to her again. She could never laugh and see her smile. Everything was over…

Feeling her struggling, Pio hit her wrist, forcing her to let go of her sword and pulled her away, repeating sternly into her eyes, "I said that's enough. This is war. People die. If you can't handle this much pain then you are not the right person to protect your miss. Get your shit together." Pio might have sounded rude, but his words really hit Yi, making her regain some of her mental clarity and understand what she had been doing.

She stopped crying as she looked down, feeling as if she had no strength in her hands. Yi understood why her sister died. She was too weak to protect her or even to help her. When she wanted to take her revenge, it was Pio who did everything, only letting her get a kill in the end. All the hard work she did these years was useless as long as her enemies were still stronger than her. She wouldn't be able to protect anyone like this.

Feeling Pio's embrace loosening, she dropped to the ground, having no strength in her legs but still crawled to her sister's body and grabbed her hand, feeling her smooth palm. Despite training so hard, it was still as smooth as a baby's cheeks. It was the only part of her body which was still intact, being the same as before.

Even though they were twins, this hand often patted her head each time she advanced in her training or won a duel. She acted like her big sister and always supported her. No matter how much they argued, Yu was always there when she needed her.

"She didn't deserve to die…" Yi muttered as she took her sister's hand and caressed it.

"Then what are you going to do about it? Are you going to sit there and cry?" Pio asked, finding it interesting how the situation played out. He could see the new determination being born in Yi's body and he didn't mind to shape it a bit.

"..." Yi paused for a moment, not answering his question for a bit but then she muttered under her breath, "I want all of them dead…" She was quite quiet so Pio called out, even though he heard her clearly, "What did you say? I didn't hear you. Say it louder."

Yi suddenly turned around and shouted, "I want all of them dead! Everyone from Tang Family! I want all of them gone!" Her eyes were still red but they had a new flash in them, the determination Pio was looking for.

Pio flicked up her sword from the ground with his foot, catching it by the tip and presented it to her, saying calmly, "That's great. Go and kill them then." Hearing him, Yi paused once again, no longer acting rashly like before and shook her head, "I can't, I'm weak. If not for you, I would also be dead..."

Ending at that, she suddenly looked Pio in the eyes and said, "I'm weak, but you are strong. You can kill them all for me." Yi words actually made Pio smile lightly as he asked, "And what will I get from that?"

Yi still remembered how easily Pio killed everyone, appearing and disappearing everywhere, cutting everyone's heads off as if they were nothing so she didn't need to worry about Pio's strength.

Knowing there wasn't anything she could offer, Yi pointed at herself and said, "If you can kill them all by tomorrow, I will be—" Just as she was about to offer, Pio interrupted her and declined, "I'm not interested in you. If I was, you would already be mine."

Hearing his quick rejection, Yi couldn't help but shiver a bit, feeling quite shaken for being denied this fast and asked back, looking straight into his eyes, lacking options already, "Then what do you want? I will do anything." She wanted everything related to the Tang Family gone as soon as possible. She knew it would take her ages to reach the power high enough to perform this task, so she didn't have a choice.

Witnessing the scene in front of his eyes, Pio suddenly felt nostalgic, noticing some similarities to his own experiences from the past. He wanted to help her improve a bit with this deal but now he completely changed his mind, thinking of using something else on her.

Deciding just as his heart was telling him, Pio finally agreed, "Alright. They will be all gone by tomorrow. As a payment, I will bring you somewhere and you can't resist. Not only will it change your fate, but also make you strong enough to protect the people you care about."

Before Yi could accept the deal, Pio acted as if she already agreed and looked towards Xiao Feng who was still in the sky and said with a shrug, "Master Xiao, I might be away for some time tonight."