Xie Meiling watched indifferently as three people - Xie Hai, Xie Hui, and an old maidservant who was once her confidant - entered the room. Her eyes were filled with anger and a desire to kill. The only thing that restrained her was that Xie Qing wanted to demonstrate his power to everyone and intimidate those members of the Xie family who, although innocent, still deserved punishment.


    Completely wiping out the entire family was not an option. Even Xie Meiling understood this. There were innocent people, and there were those who simply did nothing on that fateful night.


    Even if Xu Mei agreed to help them provide a few talented people, it was still not enough.


    At some point, without realizing it, Xie Meiling looked at her son, and her eyes filled with tenderness. His straight posture, his beautiful and carefree smile, his hair fluttering in the wind, tied back in a ponytail. And the calm voice of a man with a soothing bass.


    "Reward..."


    ***


    After some chatter, Xie Hui himself came out on stage. In the first round, it was necessary to prove one''s qualifications directly to the candidates, and only then could allied forces perform.


    Xie Hui''s face was filled with nervousness. Xie Qing raised an eyebrow and turned to the left, feeling a strange cold Qi from there.


    "Strange..." the young man thought and narrowed his eyes, unable to detect anything: "There was something there... close to devilish Qi."


    For just a moment... this Qi appeared and disappeared. However, Xie Qing was very sensitive to changes in Qi, so he noticed it. He turned his gaze and looked at Xie Hui, who looked a little strange.


    "Hm..."


    ***


    Far away in the mountains, about two hundred miles from the Xie family estate, two cultivators with a strange appearance exchanged nces.


    "He seems to have sensed my Qi. Amazing perception, just like the Devilish Three-legged Dog," said the man who looked like a demon.


    Now he looked even more terrifying, with dark gray skin covered in blisters, horns resembling those of a goat, eyes that were dark yellow and resembled a goat''s, and instead of two arms, he had four.


    The standing nearby ugly monster... well, he didn''t need an introduction. His terrifying appearance was not something that could be endured.


    "A spark of talent has ignited in a pile of garbage. He was born toote, oh sote," the demon muttered, shaking his head and looking sentimental: "If he had been able to be born a thousand years earlier, he could have caused us a lot of trouble, but... his power is now insufficient."


    "Just a piece of trash cultivator from the righteous path," the monster snorted.


    However, the demon did not think so. He had lived for more than ten thousand years and was once an opponent of Xu Mei, but he was cornered and almost killed.


    Fortunately, his bloodline awakened in time, and he was able to resist and then escape. In the end, he took refuge in a cave and stumbled upon what the devilish cultivators had been searching for.


    It was...


    ***


    Silence. Xie Qing watched with narrowed eyes as Xie Hui''s power grew before his eyes. This was not because the young man was suddenly so talented.


    No, it was something foreign, something that should not have existed. Devilish Qi.


    "Hm-m-m..."


    The first reaction might be to think that Xie Hui had sumbed to fear and learned devilish Qi, but Xie Qing was sure that the former had enough brains to understand the negative consequences.


    "Is someone using him? I felt a thin signal in the form of devilish Qi. It seems that someone activated the devil seed in him from afar... damn, this name sounds terrible, who came up with it?!"


    Xie Qing twisted the corners of his mouth and then looked at his opponent, who was now at the Soul Nascent stage - the third stage.


    "This..."


    "What? Xie Hui was hiding his power?"


    "I-Incredible..."


    The members of the Xie family were frightened and excited at the same time, feeling that they were about to escape certain death. However, no one noticed the strange behavior of the main elder and Xie Hai.


    "This is..." thought Xie Hai and darkened, looking as if he had eaten horse manure: "Devilish Qi... this bastard dared to ept this unholy energy and be a devil? How horrible..."


    "Our Xie family will be doomed if it falls into the hands of Xie Hai..." thought the main elder.


    The study of devilish techniques is taboo in the world of cultivation, and anyone who touches such techniques is automatically considered a sinner, and the Heavens will punish him.


    The main elder preferred that half of his family be wiped out by Xie Qing''s hands rather than by the hands of enraged cultivators because then no one would be left alive.


    "It seems that the Heavens are punishing me too, sending such a trial... which I certainly cannot pass," thought the helpless old man.


    Run away? There were thoughts about it, but every time he saw Xie Meiling''s cold face, he understood that the chances were infinitely close to zero.


    So all he had left was to wait for death.


    ***


    In the arena, the two participants looked at each other. Of course, Xie Hui''s gaze was as strange as possible - filled with anger and hatred, and Xie Qing smiled lightly.


    "How pitiful. You have sumbed to the evil art," Xie Qing muttered so that only Xie Hui could hear, and seeing his opponent''s growing anger, he added with a haughty look and already loud voice: "Your existence is an eternal shame to the Xie family."


    "Oh..."


    Xie Meiling narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists, making a cracking sound. These words were said to Xie Qing throughout his youth.


    Mockery from his brothers, from family members. Although he was loved by the servants, some hated and despised this talentless boy.


    And most of all, he was harassed by Xie Hui, who constantly emphasized the young man''s weakness andck of talent.


    But now he can easily smile under the gaze of a hundred people and fearlessly call the former main genius a piece of trash.


    Xie Hui, without thinking for long, clenched his sword, and his eyes lit up with a silver light, and the de was enveloped in a strange dark gray me.


    "Oh?"


    Xie Qing narrowed his eyes when he saw a dangerous de suddenly appear in front of him, ready to cut his face.


    BOOM!


    A loud explosion sounded, and the arena shook. Xie Qing was thrown backward. It was unclear where, but a sword appeared in his hand, which blocked Xie Hui''s attack, which was as fast as lightning.


    "Interesting... your power has increased so much that it''s even a little hard for me to keep track of your movements," Xie Qing muttered and narrowed his eyes, then straightened his back and smiled: "Then, brother, I won''t hold back either."


    "Hmm..."


    Xie Hui made a strange sound and wanted to approach him, but...


    BOOOOOOM!


    A bright dark-golden energy surrounded Xie Qing like a halo and continued to spread, shrouding the arena. Soon, the space was sealed by this golden aura, which formed a barrier.


    And when everyone already thought that everything was over, then...


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Three consecutive explosions sounded, and Xie Qing rxed his face and got rid of his smile, and his posture straightened.


    Then, the floor under his feet began to be covered with cracks, from which the bright glow of the Sword Aura could be seen, which began to quickly approach Xie Hui.


    "What?!" Xie Hui shouted in shock as if that allowed him to regain his sanity for a second, but then he was taken back under control.


    Xie Qing cracked his neck and coldly looked towards the mountains. Now he felt the energy of devilish Qi as if the one who was hiding had decided that there was no point in hiding anymore.


    "Interesting..."


    Xie Hui jumped away from the crack that had almost reached his feet and retreated backward. However, no matter what he did, three consecutive cracks with a bright glow inside pursued him, as if wanting to swallow him up.


    And when Xie Hui jumped again, dodging the crack, Xie Qing snorted. Then...


    BOOM!


    "AAAAAAA!"


    A bright glow burst out of the crack. As it turned out, Xie Qing could control the Sword Aura in them, which allowed him to inflict damage on Xie Hui!


    Watching as the man writhed in pain, Xie Qing did not hesitate and, taking two steps forward, was able to appear right in front of his opponent.


    Then, without paying attention to Xie Hui''s chaotic sword swing, Xie Qing clenched the sword in his hand and ruthlessly swung it.


    "Pha!"


    Xie Hui made a strange sound, and although Xie Qing expected that the sword would cut him and cause him to receive a wound, he found that after the de entered the man''s body, there was not even blood.


    "So that''s how it is... your body has been rebuilt. That''s why I felt such difort," Xie Qing muttered, raising an eyebrow and dodging an attack that barely missed him.


    "Grr..."


    It seemed that Xie Hui was not even listening to him. Xie Qing clicked his tongue in annoyance, cursing the idiot who decided that such a development of events was a smart solution.


    Then, Xie Qing was forced to retreat, as Xie Hui''s attacks became much more dangerous and agile. He barely managed to dodge.


    Swing!


    Xie Qing swung his sword and collided with a parry of the attack, forced to restrain the tremor in his wrist.


    "This power... it''s terrifying. Amazing," Xie Qing thought, and then his eyes darkened: "However, it''s disappointing that it was achieved by dishonest means... I think you should stop pretending that you can''t control yourself at all, Xie Hui."


    "Ha ha..."


    Surprisingly, to the audience who had already begun to think that Xie Hui had lost his mind, he reacted to Xie Qing''s words withughter.


    "So you noticed..." Xie Hui muttered and looked into Xie Qing''s eyes, in which there were no emotions. This scared the man a little, but it also angered him even more: "You... no matter how much you change, your gaze is still the same. Indifference, coldness, carelessness... we could never get along with you."


    "True. I can''t get along with a lower worm," Xie Qing sneered and applied a little more force, pushing Xie Hui back five meters. He stood in a stance and smirked: "You expected that I would endure your insults, like other trash from the Xie family. But you knocked on the wrong door, brat."


    Xie Qing looked indifferently at Xie Hui, who was trembling with anger and disappointment and then snorted. In his beautiful ck eyes, one could see the reflection of his opponent.


    "I will never allow anyone to mock me," said Xie Qing and cracked his neck.


    Boom!


    The sound of an explosion was heard as Xie Qing moved his right foot back ten centimeters, then grabbed the sword, raised it to shoulder level, and pointed the de vertically.


    "Will of the Empress of Swords... Cursed Sword."