Ximo wouldn’t be so frightened if Li Qiye was around because he could shoulder a falling sky. However, the situation was perilous due to his meditation.

She wasn’t only worrying for herself but also for him. Qi deviation could result in death. She looked over and prayed for him to return.

“Get ready.” Bingning quietly said with a serious expression.

Ximo clenched her fists and made up her mind. She shifted to the front of Li Qiye, unable to watch him die without doing anything.

Sword Sovereign’s group initially rode beasts. They had knowledge of the city so they found this place. However, their beasts didn’t dare to come inside so they had to walk.

They were careful, not wanting to provoke any powerful beast in this dangerous mountain range, even going as far as ignoring eggs. They never expected to see these three here.

Sword Sovereign’s eyes narrowed after seeing Li Qiye as he snorted, showing his strong dislike.

“Is that the junior?” An old man from behind him walked out and asked.

His weapon was a gigantic sword of unknown material. He looked muscular enough to wield this type of heavy weapon. Though he didn’t emit a powerful aura, the rings circulating around him showed that he was an Ascender.

“Solitary Sword God!” Ximo blurted out after seeing his face. [1]

“Yun Tian.” Bingning was also surprised, not expecting such a high-level ancestor from Sword Grave to come.

This was a ninth-level True God, far superior to Windchaser Matron. Moreover, he focused on the sword dao his whole life and had reached an extraordinary level, or so people have said. Because of this, rumor has it that he has never needed to use more than three slashes in his life.

Speculation started like wildfire, that with his sword dao, he could contend against a new Eternal.

His one regret was unable to study the core merit laws of Sword Saint, or he could inherit this supreme sword dao.

“I want to see his quick-draw.” His eyes became dazzling with excitement.

The guy was fascinated with swords. He didn’t like challenging others to mere duels, only sword contests.

He stopped caring about the matters of Sword Grave, but the sovereign told him about Li Qiye’s invincible speed. This interested him enough to make him come out.

Of course, this played into the sovereign’s goal. Because the matron was utterly defeated, he believed that outside of Eternals, only someone like Solitary could take Li Qiye on.

He knew that he wasn’t qualified to ask the sword god for a favor, so he only focused on describing Li Qiye’s peerless sword dao.

Solitary didn’t come here to settle a junior’s personal feud. He only wanted to have a sword dao competition.

“Li Qiye, this is our unbeatable ancestor from Sword Grave. He wishes to see your invincible quick-draw.” Sword Sovereign emphasized the latter part.

Alas, Li Qiye had no reaction.

“Our Young Noble is not interested right now.” Bingning refused, hoping to buy more time. She didn’t want them to realize that he was currently meditating.

“Hmph, so arrogant, our sword god is a ninth-level Ascender.” Sword Sovereign scowled.

“Nothing to be afraid of, our Young Noble easily took down an eighth-level earlier.” Bingning acted cool.

She wanted to foster an atmosphere of contempt, so that they would mistake Li Qiye’s inaction as disrespect and scorn.

In reality, this was nearly how it went in previous encounters. Li Qiye always closed his eyes and ignored the crowd.

Thus, Sword Sovereign didn’t expect him to be in the process of meditation. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with a response because the guy really defeated Windchaser Matron without any difficulty.

“Hmph. It sounds like you wish to betray Vermillion Martial Court completely and join this villain’s banner.” Someone else coldly asserted.

Another group has arrived. The speaker was Coiling Dragon Young Noble and he came with more than one hundred old men. The majority were ancestors of his system, mainly True Gods and even Ascenders.

“Coiling Dragon Young Noble, that’s our business. If you wish to interfere, you should first clean up your own mess, especially the past matters of Praymoon. Wipe your butt first before critiquing others.” She didn’t give him any face.

Her title of martial goddess wasn’t empty. When she decided to go all out, she was fierce and undeterred by anyone.

“You…” This wasn’t only a slap to him but also to his system - no, just Praymoon.

Many ancestors glared angrily at her but there was nothing they could do. The history of Praymoon was unflattering indeed.

“Long time no see, Miss Wu.” An old man noticed Coiling Dragon being tongue-tied so he came out.

A bright light began to spread like flowing water across the area.

He had numerous hands, each was far superior to Coiling Dragon’s own and contained word-destroying explosiveness.

“Long time no see, King.” Bingning calmly nodded as a greeting.

“Myriad-armed King!” Ximo immediately thought of someone and had to cover her mouth, stopping herself from screaming.

Indeed, this was a participant of the alliance that attacked Insane Court back then. He came specifically for Li Qiye.

He didn’t accept his defeat back then, thinking that it was a matter of place and time. If Li Qiye didn’t have control over that dao source, they wouldn’t have lost so miserably.

He had just finished recovering and got news of Li Qiye being in Moneyfall. The guy didn’t mind traveling the long distance to come and settle the score. He believed that victory was possible as long as Li Qiye didn’t have a dao source to help him. After all, the power of an Ascender was not to be underestimated.

He glanced at Li Qiye before turning back at Bingning: “Miss Wu, don’t forget, justice and evil will never coexist. You are the successor of Vermillion and should maintain your stance.”

“What is justice, and what is evil?” She replied: “King, don’t forget that the agreement back then was signed by all the participating system, recognizing the legitimacy of Insane Court, so your rhetoric is incorrect. Are you reneging on your words?”

“Of course not.” Myriad-armed shook his head: “I do not deny the validity of the agreement, but we should be vigilant, do not be tricked by others.”

“I accept your good intention, but there is no need for you to worry about my choices. If there is nothing else, you can go.” She flatly said.

Coiling Dragon and Sword Sovereign couldn’t interject because Bingning was also part of the alliance. In other words, she was qualified to speak to the king on the same level, unlike them.

1. This is a reference to Return of the Condor Heroes, in my opinion. The guy’s title is Gudu, and I actually thought it was Dugu instinctively. The strongest martial artist in that universe is Dugu Qiubai, a fictional character who is mentioned by name in three wuxia novels by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). He does not appear in any of the novels because he lived in an era long before the events of the novels took place. Nicknamed "Sword Devil" (劍魔) to reflect his prowess in and devotion to the practice of swordplay, he attains the philosophical level of "swordsmanship without a sword", which means that he uses swordplay techniques in combat without the physical existence of a sword.