Xu Ming peered down at Zhou Yuan from the towering tree, his expression indifferent.

The expressions of the members from the four pavilions abruptly changed when they heard Xu Ming’s words, and their faces reddened with anger. Xu Ming was indeed as the rumors said: extremely arrogant.

Zhou Yuan, the chief pavilion master of the Tianyuan Region, had a high and mighty status, while Qiu Jiu was just a nobody from the Yaogui Region. How could Zhou Yuan apologize to him!

Xu Ming’s words were an insult to the Tianyuan Region.

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes. “You finally showed up? Then what about the matter of you taking our building?”

Xu Ming tilted his head slightly, staring coldly at Zhou Yuan. “Do you not understand what I said? I told you to let them go and apologize.”

Zhou Yuan shook his head. “It seems that you don’t plan to resolve the problem.”

He motioned with his hand. “Strip them and hang them at the city gate.”

The Tianyuan Region disciples immediately began to strip their clothes. Qiu Jiu and the others’ expressions changed drastically as they cried for help. They would lose all their face if they were hung naked.

There was a chilly glint in Xu Ming’s eyes as he uttered, “How dare you give no face to the Yaogui Region! Give me back my people!”

The hundreds of figures behind him were ready to act.

“Disciples of the Tianyuan Region, listen to my order. Get into formation. Whoever dares come forward, kill them!” Zhou Yuan thundered.

“Yes!”

The 2,000 disciples responded immediately. Mighty Genesis Qi erupted as they intently watched for movements among the Yaogui Region’s people.

With 2,000 people staring at them, even those from the Yaogui Region were a little afraid to move because they were outnumbered. They only had 100 people with them.

Gasps of astonishment sounded throughout Fallen City.

No one had thought that Zhou Yuan would be so fierce. Did he really intend to start a fight?

Xu Ming’s eyes glinted fiercely at Zhou Yuan’s actions. “Is it correct to say that the Tianyuan Region plans to battle the Yaogui Region before the nine regions tournament even begins? It’s not that I look down on you, but you and your people are no match for my Yaogui Region!”

Three thousand people from the Yaogui Region had come to the tournament, and overall, they were much stronger than the Tianyuan Region. There was no doubt they would dominate the battle.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to be considerate of us. Both sides would just suffer in the end. My Tianyuan Region was last in the previous nine regions tournament, so our results can’t be any worse than before.

“In other words, if we dragged your region down with us, it would be a bit of a gain from last year.”

Countless people's eyelids trembled. The Tianyuan Region’s chief pavilion master did indeed have a fiery temper, but what he said made some sense. The Tianyuan Region was last in the previous tournament, so how could they do any worse? As they said, the man with nothing fears nobody.

The Yaogui Region was indeed stronger overall, but they would suffer a great loss even if they were to win. As a result, they might not pass the next three rounds.

On the contrary, their scuffle would benefit the other top forces.

Within Fallen City, the eyes of the people from the other top forces lit up, and the watchers repeatedly yelled in their minds: “Fight! Fight!”

Xu Ming’s eyes grew colder and colder. He evidently didn’t expect Zhou Yuan to threaten him like that!

If they were alone, he would have gotten rid of Zhou Yuan that day regardless of means. But Xu Ming now carried important responsibility. He didn’t know whether or not Zhou Yuan would really dare to fight all out with them at the gate, but he couldn’t take the risk. Once a large-scale battle broke out, there would be inevitable losses.

It would only benefit other people in the end.

But if Xu Ming were to ignore Zhou Yuan’s threat, wouldn’t that make him appear weak? He was a top heaven pride ranked on the Divine Dwelling List of Hunyuan Heaven. He had remarkable battle achievements! But what about Zhou Yuan? He had only defeated Chen Xuandong, so how could he be compared to him?

He originally thought that Zhou Yuan would humble himself when he showed up. But unexpectedly, Zhou Yuan, who was newly promoted to the ninth place on the Divine Dwelling List, acted arrogantly in front of him. Xu Ming was unable to contain his anger anymore.

That arrogant thing!

Xu Ming drew a deep breath, lifted his palm and stopped the Yaogui Region experts who were waiting on his signal to fight.

When the bystanders saw his actions, disappointed sighs sounded throughout Fallen City. In the end, Xu Ming remained rational and didn’t go crazy with Zhou Yuan.

Studying Zhou Yuan carefully, the corners of Xu Ming’s lips curved in a sneer. “Zhou Yuan, we all carry heavy responsibilities, and there is no need to scare people with your reckless threats.

“What do you say? Do you accept the challenge?”

A commotion broke out in the surroundings. Xu Ming was indeed cunning. He wanted to force Zhou Yuan to fight. Although Zhou Yuan had defeated Chen Xuandong, nobody thought he had the strength to compete with Xu Ming, a top heaven pride of the nine regions.

Therefore, if a fight were to break out between the two, Zhou Yuan would suffer a huge loss.

Countless eyes shifted to Zhou Yuan, waiting for his response.

Zhou Yuan’s expression remained unchanged under those watchful gazes. “How do you want to play?”

The corners of Xu Ming’s mouth tugged just slightly upward. He took off a string of white beads from his wrist and, with a flick of his finger, broke off five white beads. Dazzling light erupted, and the beads rose and transformed into five gigantic white jade beasts tens of meters tall.

Their bodies were covered with mysterious Genesis Runes. Their claws and teeth were dangerously sharp, and they exuded a fierce and ruthless aura.

Roar!

The beasts unleashed an ear-splitting roar. Sound waves swept out, causing the void to vibrate.

Countless eyes were filled with fear when they laid eyes on the giant white jade beasts.

“Those are the Yaogui Region’s white jade puppets. It is said that each is as strong as a top advanced Divine Dwelling stage expert, and anyone with a foundation of less than 18 million Genesis Qi stars can’t win against them!” someone exclaimed.

Xu Ming peered down at Zhou Yuan, saying playfully, “If you can beat my five white jade puppets in less than half an hour of time, you win.”

His words immediately drew exclamations from the audience.

Mu Liu scrunched his brows. “The white jade puppets are very powerful, and with five together, their combat power will be even greater. Even if Chen Xuandong were here, the five white jade puppets would destroy him.”

“Zhou Yuan, the puppets of the Yaogui Region are very powerful, don’t fall into his trap!” Yi Qiushui said.

As Zhou Yuan looked at the five lifelike white jade puppets, his eyes glinted fiercely. The puppets were indeed very strong. As Mu Liu had said, even Chen Xuandong wouldn’t have much of an advantage when facing five. Zhou Yuan, however, had become much stronger since his battle with Chen Xuandong.

Xu Ming was so proud that he didn’t want to fight Zhou Yuan directly, so he wanted to embarrass him with his five puppet beasts.

How arrogant!

Xu Ming uttered indifferently, “Well then, do you dare?”

There wasn’t a ripple of emotions in Zhou Yuan’s eyes as he took one step forward.

A sinister cold smile curved up on Xu Ming’s lips. Does this idiot really think that the conditions I put forward are that simple?

Of course, Xu Ming could feel that Zhou Yuan seemed much stronger than Chen Xuandong, and if Zhou Yuan were to fight with all his strength, the five white jade puppet beasts might not be able to stop him. Unfortunately for Zhou Yuan, his five puppet beasts were engraved with dark cobweb boundaries that could drag and trap enemies inside them.

White jade puppet beasts were not known for their fighting power but for their ability to trap people!

Zhou Yuan wasn’t weak, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to trap him for half an hour.

A mocking look flashed across Xu Ming's eyes. Zhou Yuan is a stupid man, and he easily fell into my trap.

He performed a hand seal with one hand, and the five white jade puppet beasts suddenly shot out.

When Zhou Yuan saw them move, mighty Genesis Qi surged out from his body.

Boom!

But just as he was about to strike back, he felt an extremely powerful gush of Genesis Qi erupt, and his expression changed drastically.

A tremendous torrent of dark purple Genesis Qi roared down from the sky, like a purple waterfall.

It was so strong that even Zhou Yuan’s pupils shrank.

Rumble!

But what shocked Zhou Yuan was that the powerful torrent of Genesis Qi wasn’t aiming for him. It directly bombarded the heads of the five white jade puppet beasts. In just a few seconds, the puppets were blasted apart.

Fragments whirled in the sky.

The sudden scene stunned everyone.

Five powerful white jade puppet beasts were destroyed in seconds!

Even Zhou Yuan and Xu Ming were taken aback. Then, Xu Ming’s face turned ashen, and he asked, “Who is it?!”

Zhou Yuan and Xu Ming almost simultaneously cast their eyes toward a spot not far from them. Both were dumbstruck.

A beautiful figure in a purple dress was floating above a towering tree! Her clothes fluttered as if she was riding the wind. She was graceful, and her face was fair and as stunning as jade.

Everybody’s eyes lit up when they saw such an outstanding beauty.

But very quickly, countless people recognized the stunning figure and exclaimed in disbelief, “That’s Su Youwei of the Zixiao Region!”

A commotion broke out within the city. It should be said that, compared to Zhou Yuan, Su Youwei's reputation in Hunyuan Heaven was many times greater.

Amidst countless stunned gazes, Su Youwei smiled and then apologetically said to Xu Ming, “Oh, I'm so sorry. My Genesis Qi suddenly went out of control.”

She didn’t care about Xu Ming’s response and shifted her clear eyes onto Zhou Yuan. She bit her red lips and didn’t say a word. With the sunset reflected in her beautiful eyes, her eyes seemed to be glistening.

That was how she looked at him silently—just like back then in Great Zhou when they had separated.