"No need to look at me with such eyes, just come back to Emperor Xi Sect with me. Don’t worry, I won’t take your life. At most, I’ll just cripple your cultivation. Then, your Sect Master can come to retrieve you,"
Yuxiaozi said with a smile.
"Yuxiaozi, Sect Leader, aren’t you going too far with this?"
Sikong Wuji, clutching his chest, shouted sternly.
"Too far? When this little beast was killing my Emperor Xi Sect disciples, did he ever consider the word ’excessive’?" Yuxiaozi responded with an indifferent smile, then without paying any further attention to Chen Zhen, he stretched out his palm into the air, and the space around Ye Xuan twisted once more.
"Those two deserved to die; they brought this on themselves."
Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes, speaking coldly.
"Is that so? Then let me give you a taste of suffering first. Let’s see if you remain so defiant,"
Yuxiaozi’s eyes flashed with a chill, and as he fiercely clenched his hand, the cage shot into the air. The space around Ye Xuan suddenly collapsed, and spatial rifts slithered toward his body like serpents.
"You think you can really trap me?"
Ye Xuan’s gaze sharpened, and his body suddenly released a strange fluctuation. With his body as the axis, the entire space trembled, and in the next moment, the space surprisingly solidified, halting the spread of the cracks that were converging on him.
Yuxiaozi’s expression changed, obviously noticing the anomaly in the space. However, before he could fully register his surprise, Ye Xuan had already broken free from the cage, shooting a sword toward him.
"Heavenly Termination Sword!"
Ye Xuan knew that ordinary sword moves definitely wouldn’t trouble Yuxiaozi, so he immediately used his strongest technique. Centering on himself, Sword Qi surged out like a tidal wave, forming a domain-like Sword Array. As this sword moved, the flow of the surrounding space drastically slowed down, yet the speed of the sword light remained undiminished.
Yuxiaozi sneered, then with a gesture of his palm, a Gold-colored shield appeared in his hand to block in front of him.
The sword light struck the Gold shield, immediately bursting into a shower of brilliant sparks. After blocking Ye Xuan’s sword with his Gold shield, Yuxiaozi’s next move was swift. Ye Xuan’s surroundings collapsed, and the vast force of the punch sent Ye Xuan flying away.
Thrown back over a dozen li, Ye Xuan finally steadied himself, feeling a surge in his chest and a sweetness in his throat, barely managing to swallow back a mouthful of blood.
"To block that sword so easily."
Yuan Taiyi shook his head; that sword was practically invincible among the younger generation, yet it posed little threat in front of Yuxiaozi.
After all, these two were not on the same level.
"The gap in strength is still quite significant..."
Ye Xuan’s expression darkened slightly. Yuxiaozi had reached the peak of the Fifth Grade Martial Saint, four grades higher than him. Moreover, as the Sect Leader of Emperor Xi Sect, a major force in the Central Domain, his deep-rooted strength was not something to be shaken easily.
Just as Ye Xuan had steadied himself, the space around him twisted once again, and a spatial prison was forming anew.
"Just surrender quietly!"
Yuxiaozi, forming the spatial prison, had intensified the strength compared to the last time.
Ye Xuan’s gaze darkened, and he once again deployed Space Freeze to free himself from the confines of the prison.
"This kid actually got away again!"
Tian Yin and the others looked shocked, as if they had seen a ghost. The spatial prison set up by Yuxiaozi seemed to be ineffective against Ye Xuan, who had escaped once more.
"It really is Space Freeze!"
A look of astonishment crossed Yuxiaozi’s eyes. Previously, he hadn’t seen it clearly, but now he had a clear view. This was undoubtedly Space Freeze.
"This brat has actually mastered Space Freeze."
A burning desire emerged in Yuxiaozi’s eyes. Space Freeze was an ability even he had not controlled. Ye Xuan, a mere First Grade Martial Saint, had mastered it. Once he captured Ye Xuan, he would have to interrogate him thoroughly to learn the method of Space Freeze.
It was fortunate he hadn’t killed the boy, or he would have lost such a precious secret.
"Space Freeze, could this be the secret of the seventh floor of the Martial God Tower?"
Yuan Taiyi and Gu Hanxiang, among others, showed a slight change in their delicate expressions. Ye Xuan had not revealed the ability of Space Freeze before. This was their first time seeing it, and it was not difficult to guess that Ye Xuan had acquired this ability on the seventh floor of the Martial God Tower.
Although they had predicted that the seventh floor would certainly hold some fortune, they had not expected to find a surprise as astonishing as Space Freeze.
"Do you think that just because you have Space Freeze, you can defy me?"
Yuxiaozi sneered coldly. Space Freeze indeed posed some challenge, but the gap in strength between him and Ye Xuan was not so easily bridged. Even with Space Freeze, the gap could not be closed.
"If you could, you wouldn’t have dragged it out until now."
Ye Xuan’s expression remained unchanged. With Space Freeze at his disposal, he was not afraid of Yuxiaozi’s restraints. However, his use of Space Freeze was still not mature. Moreover, there were four realms of difference between him and Yuxiaozi. The latter’s grasp of Space Power was much stronger than his.
Yuxiaozi must have also brushed against the Space Rules; however, there seemed to be a gap between that and mastering Space Freeze.
But the use of Space Power and understanding Space Rules were two different concepts. Ye Xuan could use Space Freeze, indeed, but it would be difficult to use it to restrain Yuxiaozi.
Ye Xuan’s command of Space Power was limited to an area of about a hundred meters around him. Hence, his Space Freeze could only cover the vicinity within a hundred-meter radius, and he couldn’t deploy it at will.
As his cultivation improved, his mastery over Space Power would also increase, for the stronger the Sacred Body, the more Space Power one could wield, and naturally, the wider the range it could cover.
"Is that so? Even now, you still have such confidence. I must say, I do admire that a little. If you weren’t a disciple of the Heavenly Martial Holy Land, I would indeed like to take you under my wing."
Yuxiaozi said with a smile, but a hint of murderous intent still flashed in his eyes.
"Sorry, someone of your despicable character doesn’t have the qualifications to take me as a disciple."
Ye Xuan responded indifferently.
"Heh, provoking me at this point isn’t going to do you any good. It seems that keeping you around is, after all, a curse."
The murderous intent in Yuxiaozi’s eyes was unmistakable. He flipped his palm, and a crystal-clear, strange gemstone appeared in his hand. When he poured his True Yuan into the gemstone, a ripple like a curtain of water spread out instantly.
"Do you recognize this item?"
A sinister curve formed at the corner of Yuxiaozi’s mouth.
"A Space Crystal Stone?"
Ye Xuan’s pupils contracted, and his expression quickly became solemn.
The Space Crystal Stone was a mysterious gemstone imbued with Space Power. Its uniqueness lay in the fact that those who had not mastered the Space Rules could wield the divine power of Space Rules through it, making it exceedingly rare and precious.