Tn: Edited at 8 / 10 / 2025
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Volume 1 Chapter 42: Senior Brother, Now Just Dead Weight
If it were his Junior Sister who were coming at him, Ye Anping figured he could still hold his own.
After all, they'd sparred every single day for over a decade—he knew her sword moves inside out.
But Feng Yudie? Yeah… no.
Her Nine Heavens Sword Art was the kind of exalted technique that, in the game, would deal something known as "true damage." The only technique in the entire game with that property. Even the player character would have to grind until the late game to rack up enough aptitude points just to learn it.
Still, Ye Anping wasn't panicking.
Because he knew—of everyone present—the one who should be panicking most right now was his "big brother" Zhuang Hu.
After all, Ye Anping was the only one here who knew how to slip quietly out of the Profound Star Sect's rear mountain.
If he died, then even if Zhuang Hu somehow burned himself out and managed to defeat Feng Yudie and Pei Lengxue, the reinforcements from Profound Star Sect would arrive, and he'd be either surrounded and cut down… or captured alive.
Unlike those other "Second-, Third-, and Fourth-Brother" idiots, Zhuang Hu still had a level head and knew how to use it.
He had to understand that truth.
Which meant—he'd protect Ye Anping no matter the cost.
Sure enough, just as Ye Anping predicted—the moment Zhuang Hu saw Feng Yudie charge, he didn't continue to fight against Pei Lengxue.
Instead, he rushed straight in front of Ye Anping, intercepting Feng Yudie's blade.
From his storage bag, he whipped out several talismans and poured spiritual energy into them.
In an instant, their runes blazed to life—bursting into a ball of searing flame that exploded almost point-blank in front of him and Feng Yudie.
The blast of heat sent her flying backward.
Right now, her guard was completely open. If Zhuang Hu pressed the attack, he could very well land a crippling blow.
But instead of using his next talisman on her, he used it to keep shielding Ye Anping.
By then, Pei Lengxue had slipped in behind Ye Anping, sword tip leveled at her Senior Brother's back—only for—
BOOM—
—Another wave of blistering heat to force her back several steps.
Seizing the gap, Zhuang Hu grabbed Ye Anping's shoulder, leapt into the air, and summoned his flying sword beneath their feet. Without so much as a backward glance, he shot skyward.
A second later, Feng Yudie's outraged voice roared up from below—
"You cowardly bastard! Don't you run—get down here and fight me! What, scared?! You're a late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and you're afraid of two measly Qi Refining juniors?! Have you no shame?!"
The trash talk made Zhuang Hu's eye twitch violently.
But with Ye Anping right there, he could only grit his teeth and fly faster.
Looking back at the figure down below, flailing her sword and actually trying to throw it up at them, Ye Anping wasn't even sure what sort of expression he should be making right now.
Still—things had gone more or less how he'd expected.
Because of his presence, Zhuang Hu chose not to keep fighting Feng Yudie and the others.
Those two talismans earlier were proof enough—Zhuang Hu was a spell cultivator, and a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator at that.
Right now, neither Feng Yudie nor Pei Lengxue had flying swords. As long as Zhuang Hu stayed airborne, it would be extremely hard for them to even get close.
If it had come to an all-out fight, sure, his Junior Sister and Feng Yudie might've been able to kill Zhuang Hu, bBut it would've cost them dearly.
They would receive serious injuries, without question.
After a while in the air, Ye Anping broke the silence with a guilty tone.
"Big Brother Zhuang, I'm sorry. If I hadn't been here, you probably could've handled those two—"
"It's nothing," Zhuang Hu cut him off, glancing over. "I knew Feng Yudie would be trouble—anyone who can take down one of the Grand Elders of the Poison Gu Sect is no pushover. But what I didn't expect was that the other girl with her would be just as hard to deal with…"
'I taught her myself, you know~'
Ye Anping held back a chuckle, nodding with a solemn air.
"Seriously though… what kind of Qi Refining cultivators can just slice through Foundation Establishment like vegetables?"
"Heh…" Zhuang Hu could only give a bitter smile and shake his head. "Are all Qi Refining cultivators at that level these days?"
"How could they be? If every Qi Refining cultivator was like those two, the world wouldn't be livable. A proper Qi Refining cultivator is more like that pink-haired girl we just saw." Ye Anping replied matter-of-factly.
At that, Zhuang Hu recalled the pink-haired girl from earlier, and couldn't help but sigh again in his heart.
Those two girls were downright monsters.
Most Qi Refining cultivators were fresh to the Immortal Path, spending their days meditating or practicing sword drills. They had little to no real combat experience, and when they did face an enemy, they'd be nervous, afraid, even hesitant to kill.
But Feng Yudie and that other girl? Completely different creatures.
They fought like they'd been crawling through rivers of blood since childhood—eyes unblinking even when killing.
Zhuang Hu let out a quiet breath.
Remembering that he had snatched away that pink-haired girl's sword earlier, he flicked his fingers, pulling it out from his storage bag.
"Well… at least I'm not returning empty-handed. Though the price was a bit steep…" He handed the sword toward Ye Anping. "Old Sixth, take a look at this sword."
Ye Anping stared at Xiao Yunluo's sword for a long moment before finally accepting it.
He recognized it instantly—it was a birthday gift Xiao Yunluo got from the "Moon Dan Master", her mother.
It's forged from a thousand-year Xuan Stone and countless heavenly treasures. The craftsman of this magical tool was a Nascent Soul realm master smith from the Profound Star Sect.
In other words, even among the great sword-cultivator clans, it could serve as a clan's heirloom treasure.
At auction, it would fetch no less than a million spirit stones.
Of course, who'd dare sell it?
Anyone foolish enough to try would find themselves hunted to the ends of the earth by a certain Void Return realm granny in the body of a loli, starring in her own live performance of "If I catch you, I'll blow your head off."
"I grabbed this from that pink-haired girl just now," Zhuang Hu explained. "I'm no sword cultivator, so I can't really judge swords. All I can tell is that it's worth a decent amount. Sixth Brother, how much do you think it's worth?"
Ye Anping hesitated for a moment, then decided to test the waters. "This sword… should be forged entirely from Xuan Stone."
"Xuan Stone? What's that?"
"It's a rare spirit-infused material—most top-grade swords use it in their forging."
"I see…" Zhuang Hu nodded in understanding. "So what's it worth?"
Ye Anping studied Zhuang Hu's face, noting he truly had no clue what Xuan Stone was, and finally relaxed a little.
Of course, he couldn't go blurting out that it was worth over a million spirit stones—say that, and there was a real chance Zhuang Hu might "accidentally" make him disappear.
After a short pause, he smiled. "It's definitely valuable. If you take it to the black market, and you're lucky enough to meet the right buyer… you could probably get ten thousand spirit stones for it."
"Ten thousand? This sword's worth that much?"
"Of course."
Ye Anping nodded, and while Zhuang Hu was focused on steering the flying sword, he quickly spat onto the blade, wiping off his own fingerprints before handing it back.
Zhuang Hu accepted it, giving it a once-over, and chuckled. "Guess Second Brother and the others didn't die for nothing then… Hahaha. What do you think, Sixth Brother?"
"What do I think?" Ye Anping arched a brow, a touch of melancholy in his voice. "I actually liked Second Brother and the rest. Since we have been brothers for three days… I'll have to put up a memorial for them, burn a few offerings."
"Hahaha~ fair enough."
Riding the flying sword, the two slipped away from the Profound Star Sect's rear mountain without a soul noticing.