"Song Changsheng! How dare you treat this young master like this! I swear I'll have you torn to pieces!" Chang Tianhua shrieked hysterically.
But before he could finish, Song Changsheng slapped him twice more, cutting his howling short.
"Shut that filthy mouth of yours. Say one more word and I'll cut your tongue out," Song Changsheng said coldly, his tone like the chill wind of a winter's night.
His eyes were filled with murderous intent, and Chang Tianhua trembled involuntarily, finally cowed by the overwhelming pressure Song exuded.
Everyone looked at Song Changsheng as if they had seen a ghost. Even in the face of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he still dared to be so audacious.
The elder from the Earthfire Sect looked grim, a terrifying pressure radiating from his body. But Song Changsheng stood tall and unyielding, meeting his gaze without the slightest fear.
For a moment, the atmosphere turned eerily silent.
Eventually, Song Changsheng broke the silence. "May I have your name, sir?"
"Hmph, this old man is Qu Jinsheng. Boy, my patience is limited. Release Tianhua, or I'll kill one member of your Song clan every so often!"
Qu Jinsheng glanced coldly at Song Changxiu and the others, his threat naked and undisguised.
"If you lay a finger on them, I'll send your young master straight to the underworld," Song Changsheng retorted, tightening his grip on Chang Tianhua without backing down in the slightest.
Qu Jinsheng found himself caught in a difficult position. Regret flashed across his face he had only stepped away briefly to drive off some beasts, and when he returned, Chang Tianhua had already been captured.
"Why couldn't you just die?!" Qu Jinsheng glared at Chang Tianhua, clearly frustrated. If the boy had just died, this whole mess would've been so much easier to deal with.
Instead, not only did he live he ended up a hostage!
"Alright, boy. What will it take for you to release him?" Qu Jinsheng finally relented.
Song Changsheng slightly loosened his grip and said, "Your Earthfire Sect trespassed on Song clan territory and injured our people. You must provide adequate compensation."
Qu Jinsheng swallowed his anger. "One hundred spirit stones."
Song Changsheng snorted and glanced at the man in his hand. "I thought you'd be worth a bit more. Turns out you're only worth a hundred spirit stones. At that price, I might as well take one of his arms."
As he spoke, he moved as if to break Chang Tianhua's arm. Fear flickered in Chang Tianhua's eyes, and he cried out, "Elder Qu, save me! Give him whatever he wants! My father will make it worth your while!"
Qu Jinsheng snapped, "Enough! One thousand spirit stones! If you dare ask for more, I swear I'll take the punishment myself just to kill you!"
Knowing when to stop, Song Changsheng nodded. "Let me inspect the goods. If everything checks out, I'll release him."
"Hmph. Just hope it doesn't stuff you to death," Qu Jinsheng grumbled, barely holding back the urge to kill Song Changsheng. He pulled a storage pouch from his robes and tossed it over.
Song Changsheng used spiritual energy to draw the pouch to him. Just as he was about to open it and check the contents, a burst of spiritual energy suddenly shot toward his head Qu Jinsheng had launched a sneak attack!
"Despicable!" Song Changhu and the others cried out in shock. Just when they thought Song Changsheng was done for, a figure appeared in front of him, a slender hand waving lightly to block the attack.
"It's the Fifth Elder!" the Song clan members shouted in joy upon recognizing her. Now they had a fighting chance.
Seeing his attack effortlessly blocked, Qu Jinsheng instantly realized the situation had turned even more troublesome.
When Song Changsheng saw the figure now standing protectively in front of him, a smile appeared on his face. He had already suspected that the Earthfire Sect might bring a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so on his way here, he had sent word to Xia Yunxue for backup.
Xia Yunxue had arrived some time ago. But since it was just a skirmish among the younger generation, she had stayed hidden, quietly watching and protecting him from the shadows.
It was only after she had signaled him that Song Changsheng knew he had such a powerful ally nearby otherwise, he would never have made such a risky move.
"You old bastard! Attacking a junior has the Earthfire Sect always been this shameless?" Xia Yunxue's beautiful eyes glinted with cold fury as she lashed out at Qu Jinsheng.
Qu Jinsheng's expression turned darker. "Elder Xia, mind your words."
But instead of calming her, his reply only fanned the flames.
"You dare to do it, but won't let me speak of it?" Xia Yunxue pointed straight at his nose, shouting, "Come here then, and I'll take your damn life!"
Everyone present immediately felt a strange sense of déjà vu as if someone had said something very similar just moments ago.
"You think I'm afraid of you? Come fight me!" Qu Jinsheng, a well-known figure in Lingzhou, couldn't stand being insulted like this. His face darkened with fury.
"Get up here!" Xia Yunxue responded with a shout, turning into a streak of rainbow light as she flew into the sky on her sword. Qu Jinsheng, burning with rage, followed right after.
Before long, thunderous battle tremors echoed from above. The people on the ground looked up but could only see a blue and a red streak clashing repeatedly in the air everything else was a blur.
Song Changhu, having recovered a bit, nudged Song Changxiu beside him and whispered, "Didn't they say the Fifth Elder is the gentlest among the family elders? Why does she seem even fiercer than the Second Elder?"
Song Changxiu rolled his eyes. "Changsheng is her reverse scale. Anyone who touches him Fifth Elder will never let them off."
Song Changhu understood immediately, sighing to himself, Having a good mother does make a difference.
Those same words, spoken now, carried a completely different weight than before.
Song Changsheng watched the battle above with a tense heart. Both fighters were in the early Foundation Establishment stage it was hard to predict who would win.
But he had underestimated the power a mother can unleash at full force. After about half an hour of combat, a blinding flash suddenly streaked across the sky.
A figure plummeted like a stone and slammed heavily into the ground. Everyone's gaze snapped to the impact site, and upon recognizing who it was, the Song clan immediately erupted in cheers.
In contrast, the Earthfire Sect members looked like they'd just lost their fathers every face was twisted with despair.
Xia Yunxue descended gracefully on her sword. Though her breathing was slightly heavy, she bore no visible wounds. She had emerged victorious.
Cough, cough, cough. Qu Jinsheng, supported by his disciples, struggled to his feet. With a bitter smile, he muttered, "They always said the Song clan's Fifth Elder was just a pretty face. Turns out that rumor couldn't be more wrong."
"Hmph! Old bastard, you'd better give me a proper explanation today or I'll bury every last one of you here as fertilizer!" Xia Yunxue's words dripped with dominance.
"I already gave you a thousand spirit stones!" Qu Jinsheng shouted in anger.
"That was just to ransom this brat. You still need to ransom your own lives."
In the end, faced with Xia Yunxue's overwhelming aura, Qu Jinsheng and his people scraped together over a thousand more spirit stones and left behind most of their valuables as collateral. Only then were they allowed to leave with their lives so humiliated they didn't even dare throw out a single threat.
Xia Yunxue distributed a portion of the loot to the others and kept the lion's share for herself, and naturally, the original thousand spirit stones that Song Changsheng had earned remained his.
While Song Changxiu and the others tended to Song Changhu and the wounded, Song Changsheng said discontentedly, "Mom, why did you let them go? If Qu Jinsheng had died here, it would've been a major blow to the Earthfire Sect worth far more than some loot."
Xia Yunxue poked his forehead with a delicate finger and rolled her eyes. "You're lecturing your mother now? Killing Qu Jinsheng would've been easy but have you considered the consequences? Our clan needs to develop peacefully right now. A major conflict wouldn't benefit us."
"Besides, that guy took internal damage from my attack and won't be of much use in the future. And didn't you plant a little trick on that Earthfire Sect brat too?
We've already gotten the better end of the deal today. Let them crawl away with their lives."
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