Chapter 136: Evenly Matched

Qingyun, do not think for a second that you are still the senior brother of the Qingfeng Sect. You are nothing now..."

Hearing Qingyun's words, Elder Wu initially felt a flash of panic in his eyes, but then greed overcame his guilt, instantly erasing the tiny scrap of conscience he had left.

He rambled on with a long string of such words directly at Qingyun.

Listening to what he said, Lin Hao roughly understood the whole story.

This person was undoubtedly a traitor, and it was very likely that the poisoning of the sect master and the elders was closely related to him.

Without waiting for Elder Wu to finish speaking, Lin Hao raised his right hand.

"Boom!" A sword of fire flew straight toward the man.

In an instant, the man let out a continuous series of screams, "Ah!"

Before any other words could escape his mouth, his unfinished sentence choked in his throat.

Then, with a crisp sound, he collapsed onto the main hall floor.

The flames engulfing his entire body finally reduced him to ashes.

Just at that moment, a gentle breeze blew by, and the man's ashes drifted directly onto the face of the person standing beside him.

That person brushed them off with a disgusted flick of his sleeve, sending the ashes drifting toward the opposite side.

Elder Wu did not even have time to cry for help. With that final triumphant look still in his eyes, he was completely obliterated by Lin Hao right then and there.

Lin Hao's strike had been completely sudden; no one had expected it, nor had anyone been on guard.

The crowd could only watch helplessly as the man vanished before their eyes.

After he disappeared, everyone remained frozen in a daze for a moment.

Then, the person who had just entered looked at Lin Hao with vigilance flashing in his eyes and asked, "Who are you? Are you also a disciple of the Qingfeng Sect?"

Because Lin Hao had not returned to the Qingfeng Sect for a long time, his attire was completely that of a rogue cultivator.

Furthermore, this person had never met Lin Hao before, which made him somewhat suspicious of Lin Hao's identity.

He even suspected that Lin Hao was an outside reinforcement invited by Qingyun.

Therefore, he asked questioningly.

"If not, I advise you to stay out of other people's business," he threatened Lin Hao warningly a moment later.

Moreover, that Elder Wu had just entered in his company, yet Lin Hao had killed him without saying a single word.

The man looked at Lin Hao with immense displeasure.

Hearing this, Lin Hao sneered, "I stand by my name wherever I go; I am Lin Hao of the Qingfeng Sect."

"You are Lin Hao?" Hearing Lin Hao state his name, the man was taken aback.

He asked the question again as if to confirm.

Lin Hao ignored him and stood firm in his place.

The female elder of the Red Lotus Sect spoke up, "Indeed, he is Lin Hao."

"Hahaha, wonderful! After disappearing for so long, Lin Hao, you have finally shown up. Perfect, this saves us the trouble of searching everywhere for you. Today, we will settle everything at once." Once confirmed, a malicious smile crept onto the corner of the elder's mouth as he glared fiercely at Lin Hao, an unknown glint flashing in his eyes.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable under that gaze, Lin Hao frowned.

In this short span of time, three major sects had already gathered here.

The two sides were confronting each other within the main hall, with the opposing faction occupying the vast majority of the space.

On the Qingfeng Sect's side, there were only forty or fifty people left, mostly inner-sect disciples.

The outer-sect disciples had long since been dealt with outside or were still resisting out there at this very moment.

The sect master looked at the situation from the side, a pang of heartache flashing in his eyes, especially as he gazed at the battered remaining disciples of the Qingfeng Sect.

Turning his gaze toward the elders of the three opposing sects, the sect master stepped forward, supported by a disciple.

"Must you truly drive the Qingfeng Sect to extinction? Zheng Xi, back then our Qingfeng Sect showed you kindness! Is this how you treat your benefactor?" The person who had entered later was none other than Zheng Xi.

Hearing the words of the Qingfeng Sect's master, a cold sneer played at the corner of Zheng Xi's mouth as he said disdainfully, "Kindness? What kindness? Why don't I remember any? In my eyes, there are no benefactors. Now, if you know what's good for you, hand over what we want. For the sake of our past ties, I can grant the Qingfeng Sect a swift end; otherwise, don't blame me for showing no mercy. I will raze this Qinghe Sect and ensure you find no peace even in death."

Hearing Zheng Xi's arrogant words, the master of the Qingfeng Sect glared at him, "You—cough, cough, cough!"

He kept coughing, clearly shaken with rage.

Seeing this, Qingyun hurriedly walked to the sect master's side and channeled some spiritual energy into him to ease his injuries.

"Master, do not converse with such a petty villain. If he has the ability, let him come forward and take what he wants himself; otherwise, don't expect us to hand it over to you willingly today."

Qingyun's words infuriated Zheng Xi.

Zheng Xi laughed in his anger and stared at Qingyun, "Well said, truly well said. Today, I want to see just how stubborn your bones really are."

He turned back to look at the elder of the Red Lotus Sect and Elder Wei of the other sect, saying, "Today, our three sects must completely wipe out the Qingfeng Sect no matter what. I suggest everyone charges in together. Once the Qingfeng Sect collapses, how about the three sects share the spoils equally?"

"Of course, I have no objections."

"I agree as well!"

The female elder of the Red Lotus Sect and Elder Wei both nodded in agreement.

Seeing them nod in consent, Zheng Xi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, charge! To all Qingfeng Sect members present today, for every head you take, you will be rewarded with a top-grade spirit stone. What rewards you ultimately receive depends entirely on your own efforts. If you can take the head of the Qingfeng Sect's master, there will be an even greater reward."

As soon as these words were spoken, the disciples on his side were filled with surging passion. Rewards were effective indeed.

They looked at the members of the Qingfeng Sect with burning desire in their eyes, as if those people were already their top-grade spirit stones.

Everyone began rubbing their hands in eagerness.

Following the command, the disciples of the other two sects also swarmed forward, surrounding the members of the Qingfeng Sect three layers deep.

At this moment, Qingyun wore an expression of being ready to face death. He glanced at the remaining members of the Qingfeng Sect and shouted, "Are you afraid? This is now a life-and-death crisis for our Qingfeng Sect!"

"Not afraid! We will defend the Qingfeng Sect to the death!" shouted the members of the Qingfeng Sect.

Lin Hao was deeply moved by the morale of the Qingfeng Sect. A resolute look flashed in his eyes, and he exchanged a glance with Qingyun.

At the same time, his mind raced as he noticed the somewhat eerie expressions of those three individuals. It was obvious that the Qingfeng Sect's numbers were far too small.

If it came to a direct, hard-fought battle, they would definitely lose.

Therefore, an idea suddenly struck Lin Hao. His expression shifted subtly, and he exchanged a knowing look with Qingyun. Then, stepping on his toes and enveloped in flames, he leaped up toward the roof of the main hall.

Hovering in the upper space of the hall, he flicked his wrists, sending a barrage of fireballs flying toward the members of the three sects.

No matter how large the main hall was, it was still restricted by space. Combined with Lin Hao's sudden attack, it caught them in a flurry of panic and left them scrambling to dodge.

"Ah!" For a moment, only screams echoed through the hall in utter chaos.

Seeing this, everyone rushed toward Lin Hao's position, relaxing their pressure on the rest of the Qingfeng Sect.

Realizing he had drawn all the firepower, Lin Hao quickly summoned the Cloud-Swallowing Sword and flew upward.

"Bang!" With a loud crash, he smashed completely through the roof of the main hall and soared right out into the open air.

As soon as Lin Hao flew out, the people from the three sects chased after him, led closely by the three elders.

Zheng Xi followed right behind. With a grand wave of his large hand, he summoned his divine beast.

A furious roar erupted from the sky.

"Roar!"

Zheng Xi had summoned a white tiger.

The white tiger possessed a pair of wings on its back. Standing arrogantly atop the beast, Zheng Xi flew into the air to confront Lin Hao face-to-face.

Looking at Lin Hao with utter disdain, he sneered, "Kid, today I'll teach you a lesson and let you know what true power is."

With that, Zheng Xi patted the white tiger on the head.

"Roar, roar, roar!" Then came three roars from the white tiger, each more imposing than the last.

As the final roar subsided, a phantom white tiger burst forth from the beast's mouth, slashing a giant paw directly toward Lin Hao.

Witnessing this, Lin Hao's hair was blown askew by the ferocious wind of the white tiger's palm strike, which carried immense destructive power.

Looking at Lin Hao, he was standing in mid-air atop the Cloud-Swallowing Sword without a proper weapon in hand.

Zheng Xi looked at Lin Hao again with the triumphant air of someone who had already won.

Yet Lin Hao remained completely unfazed. The greater the danger, the calmer he became. He quietly watched the oncoming white tiger, indeed feeling the threat of danger.

Closing his eyes, he curled his hands into claws, then snapped his eyes open and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Dragon Fire Swallow!"

Immediately afterward, a fiery dragon materialized in Lin Hao's hands. Just as the white tiger reached him, the fire dragon positioned itself defensively in front of Lin Hao.

The two forces collided.

"Bang!"

"Boom!"

The fire dragon instantly exploded, devouring the white tiger's head, while the white tiger swiped a claw through the fire dragon's midsection. The beast and the dragon collided in mid-air, unleashing a powerful shockwave of spiritual energy.

The impact caused Lin Hao's Cloud-Swallowing Sword to violently vibrate, nearly sending him plummeting from the sky.

Zheng Xi was similarly affected; the white tiger he rode was forced back several steps by the sheer force of the shockwave.

Then, the spiritual energy slowly dissipated in the air, with both the white tiger and the fire dragon perishing together.

Neither side had gained any advantage.

This exchange ended in a complete stalemate between Lin Hao and Zheng Xi.

The triumphant smile on Zheng Xi's lips froze. He looked up at Lin Hao with disbelief flashing in his eyes.

He had originally thought this single move would be enough to take Lin Hao down. This white tiger was a divine beast Zheng Xi had only recently acquired, and he had never showcased it before the public.

The only reason he brought it out today was to let everyone witness its might and establish his prestige.

Yet he never expected his very first move to stumble, ending in a mere tie with Lin Hao.

This left Zheng Xi thoroughly unresigned.

A heavy look crept into his eyes; it seemed Lin Hao truly possessed some genuine skill.

With that thought, Zheng Xi stood up straight on the white tiger's back. Directing the beast, he unleashed its true claws.

The white tiger's front paws instantly elongated more than tenfold, slashing fiercely toward Lin Hao's face.