Chapter 137: Go to Hell, You Scum!

Bai Rou looked half-amused and half-exasperated. "You little brat, you were the one who tricked my brother into beating up Brother Xiaoxiong, and you didn't even mention that Brother Xiaoxiong had fully recovered from his injuries. What are you going to do about this? If this doesn't end well and my brother decides to beat you up later, I won't be able to stop him."

Ji Huo scratched his head awkwardly. "I didn't think that far ahead at the time. I honestly thought Sword Saint Bobo would win easily."

A flicker of tenderness and nostalgia crossed Bai Rou’s eyes. "When we used to travel the world together, my brother would often spar with Brother Xiaoxiong, but he never once won."

Ji Huo pondered for a moment. He realized that letting the Sword Saint keep getting pummeled like this wasn't a sustainable solution. In the distance, the Sword Saint had finally broken free. Driven to desperation, he pointed one finger to the heavens and the other to the earth, preparing a massive technique. However, his father simply roared with laughter, pulled his hands apart, and two streaks of lightning tore across the sky, shattering the incoming sword intent in an instant.

*It feels like my father is still venting his anger... If I don't let him fight to his heart's content, he’ll probably beat me up later. And if Sword Saint Bobo doesn't get a good fight in, he’ll probably beat me up too. I have to make sure they both get it all out of their systems.*

Ji Huo thought for a moment and carefully observed the Sword Saint’s techniques. He felt something was missing from them; they were so lackluster that even he felt he could block them, let alone his father. He turned to Xia Nishang, who was watching from the sidelines, and asked, "Lady Xia, what do you think of the Sword Saint’s attack?"

Xia Nishang paused, gave him a strange look, and replied casually, "Mediocre."

*I see.* Ji Huo realized his perception wasn't wrong. The Sword Saint Bobo who had once injured Xia Nishang so badly that she needed months to recover was clearly not in the same state as he was now.

"Aunt Bai, do this..." Ji Huo leaned in and whispered a few words into Bai Rou’s ear.

As she listened, Bai Rou’s expression grew peculiar. She looked Ji Huo up and down. "You little devil, you’re quite the schemer. How could a man as upright as Brother Xiaoxiong produce a son like you?"

*That’s because you haven't met my older brother; he’s just as cunning as I am,* Ji Huo thought, rubbing his nose.

In the distance, the two were still trading blows. Ji Xiaoxiong stopped holding back and summoned a giant bear phantom, which detached itself from his body, creating a two-on-one situation. Ji Xiaoxiong himself turned into a streak of lightning, darting around and ambushing the Sword Saint whenever he was preoccupied with the phantom. If he managed to catch the Saint, it was always a brutal pummeling.

The Sword Saint, in turn, split his body into thousands of copies. As long as sword intent existed, he could instantly teleport between them—shifting between illusion and reality until they were indistinguishable. Perhaps every single one of them was real. But Ji Xiaoxiong didn't care. Controlling the elements, he rained down lightning, shattering the Sword Saint’s bodies one by one, only for the Saint to reform moments later.

Then, another brutal beating ensued.

"Brother! Brother Xiaoxiong! Stop fighting!" Bai Rou ran toward them, shouting at the top of her lungs. Both men had noticed her long ago, but neither listened; they were too caught up in the heat of the moment.

Just then, a stray bolt of lightning from the sky struck Bai Rou by pure "accident."

"Ah!" A sharp, miserable shriek echoed out, as if she had been instantly and severely wounded.

The two combatants froze, looking over in disbelief. Bai Rou lay motionless on the ground, her fate unknown. Ji Xiaoxiong’s mouth fell open, his eyes widening in shock. He reacted immediately, roaring, "What kind of coward is hiding there?"

Before Ji Xiaoxiong could finish, a furious bellow erupted.

"YOU!!!"

The Sword Saint, who had remained calm throughout the entire fight, turned bright red. His eyes blazed with fury. "How dare you strike my sister!"

"I didn't! That wasn't me!" Ji Xiaoxiong hurriedly tried to explain.

But the Sword Saint had lost his composure. With his left hand behind his back and his right hand forming a sword-finger at his brow, he glared at this rival who had dared to strike his sister. His entire rage crystallized into a single vow: "I shall strike down this villain!"

Suddenly, from a corner, a Sword Saint wearing long robes and holding a fine, five-tael sword appeared, shouting, "Fellow Daoist, I come to your aid!"

From another corner, a youthful-looking Sword Saint jumped out, brandishing a precious blade and laughing, "Fellow Daoist, I come to your aid!"

In the sky, more figures emerged: the Sword Saint as a youth, as a child, in his middle years, in tattered clothes, scorched black by lightning. There was the laughing Sword Saint, the angry one, the indignant one, the one in the throes of first love, the one who had been dumped, the one who had achieved enlightenment...

It was the Sword Dao Supreme, the greatest swordsman of the age, the Sword Saint of the mortal realm.

Dozens of Sword Saints hung in the sky, raising their blades in unison and shouting, "Fellow Daoist, I come to your aid!"

Ji Xiaoxiong’s expression turned grave. The giant bear phantom behind him, once dozens of meters tall, rapidly shrunk until it was the same height as him. Then, the bear stepped forward and merged into Ji Xiaoxiong, as if it had vanished, yet remained ever-present. Ji Xiaoxiong sank into a deep horse stance, pulling his right fist back. In an instant, all the wind and thunder were sucked into that single fist. His sandbag-sized fist crackled with lightning. As the sparks accelerated, a faint blue arc of fire appeared on his knuckles. It was small, but the moment it appeared, the sky lit up. The thunderous roaring vanished, leaving only the sound of faint arcs dancing in the dark clouds.

"They have pushed their power as grandmasters to the absolute limit. Watch closely—this will be of great benefit for your future breakthrough to the grandmaster realm," came the telepathic voice of Bai Rou, who was still lying on the ground playing dead.

Ji Huo stared unblinkingly at his father. He had always felt that the "Thunder-Flame Bear Fist" was about controlling lightning, but something had always felt incomplete. The blue fire on his father's fist was certainly not in the manual. Xia Nishang, meanwhile, kept her eyes fixed on the Sword Saint, perhaps nursing a grudge against the man who had left her bedridden for months. As she watched, a look of confusion, followed by a glimmer of realization, appeared in her eyes.

"Die! You scoundrel who plays with women's hearts!" the Sword Saint roared, slashing down with his sword-finger.

Dozens of Sword Saints bellowed in unison, their blades descending in a hysterical, tear-choked cry: "Die, you scoundrel!"

Ji Xiaoxiong thrust his right fist forward, and the blue fire surged outward, painting the world in azure: "Scoundrel your mother's twisted pretzel!"