At the city gate, after Venerable Dragon Sword knocked down the four black-robed men, two middle-aged men suddenly appeared, blocking their path again.
Facing the two men's accusations, Venerable Dragon Sword sneered, "Enough nonsense. If I lose to you, you can do as you please, but if you can't beat me, go home and play with your eggs!"
These two middle-aged men were brothers known as the Du Brothers. Born into poverty, as children their parents sold them to a pharmacy to work as herb-gathering apprentices.
During one herb-gathering trip, they stumbled into an immortal's cave and both received a Martial Saint inheritance.
While working as apprentices, the brothers suffered much abuse but were powerless to retaliate. After gaining their inheritance and reaching the ninth layer of Qi-Refining, they returned to the pharmacy, beat up their former tormentors, and finally set the shop ablaze.
Unexpectedly, that pharmacy was actually owned by a powerful clan.
The clan, furious at the Du Brothers' actions, sent experts to hunt them down. The brothers barely escaped and fled far away. Lacking any skills for honest work, they turned to banditry.
For twenty years, the brothers trained hard and finally reached the Grandmaster realm, turning their mountain stronghold into a notorious bandit fortress with tens of thousands of followers.
But the brothers were short-sighted and even tried to attack cities and claim territory as kings.
At first, relying on their Grandmaster strength and tens of thousands of men, they captured two cities, but soon attracted the attention of the military.
The military sent a Martial Saint who defeated them easily, but recognizing their talent and inheritance, recruited them as enforcers. From then on, they became the military's hired fists.
Within just over a decade, they broke through to Martial Saint. Now both are mid-stage Martial Saints. Because the brothers live and train together, their teamwork is exceptional, and they developed a joint saber technique.
Together, they've defeated late-stage Martial Saints several times, so although Venerable Dragon Sword is famous, the brothers simply don't take him seriously.
Hearing Venerable Dragon Sword's words, the Du Brothers grew furious. Elder Du sneered, "So arrogant, Venerable Dragon Sword! Today, we'll show you what we're made of!"
"Let's do this!"
Venerable Dragon Sword reached out and grabbed, and a blunt black sword appeared in his hand.
Seeing this, the Du Brothers charged forward. As they dashed out, each wielded a two-meter-long blood-red saber, identical in design. The hilt of each saber was wrapped with a fierce blood dragon, its head facing out as if ready to devour, its tail coiling tightly around the brothers' arms.
Clashes between Martial Saints are a rare sight.
But the four black-robed youths struggled to their feet and ran off into the distance.
After all, the shockwaves from a Martial Saint clash are too powerful; getting too close might cost you your life.
Ian Song also retreated some distance.
But his eyes never left Venerable Dragon Sword's figure.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Blade and sword collided with thunderous noise. Even hundreds of meters away, the crowd's ears rang nonstop, and everyone hurried to retreat.
At the same time, the energy from the clash shot into the city wall, making a constant rustling sound as stone dust began to fall in large amounts.
Venerable Dragon Sword's reputation was legendary, and his sword arts were said to be unfathomable.
But the Du Brothers were relative unknowns.
Yet today, these obscure Du Brothers managed to fight Venerable Dragon Sword to a standstill.
The three fought so fast they were just flashes of light; even Grandmasters struggled to see their true movements. But Ian Song, with his Clairvoyant Vision, could see everything clearly.
At this moment, Venerable Dragon Sword wasn't using any advanced or powerful sword techniques.
Every move he used was extremely basic, but even these ordinary sword forms could block the Du Brothers' joint saber technique.
"If that's all you've got, you two might as well lie down!"
Suddenly, Venerable Dragon Sword barked coldly and raised his blunt black sword, his movements seemingly extremely slow.
Strangely, the Du Brothers' movements slowed as well—no, they slowed even more.
"Could this be...?"
Seeing this, Ian Song's pupils contracted sharply as he recalled what Venerable Dragon Sword had written in his sword-dao notes: after attaining Sword Heart, one could comprehend sword-dao profundities.
This was the 'Slow' profundity!
"Thud! Thud!"
Blood spurted as the Du Brothers both took wounds to the chest. Then, Venerable Dragon Sword flipped his thrust into a sweeping smack, sending them flying like rag dolls several meters away.
Staggering to their feet, the Du Brothers looked pale and shaken. Over the years, they'd defeated many late-stage Martial Saints and grown arrogant, but this loss taught them there was always someone stronger—the famous truly live up to their names!
Venerable Dragon Sword truly lives up to his title.
"Leon, let's go!"
Venerable Dragon Sword glanced indifferently at the Du Brothers and ignored them, sheathing his sword and beckoning to Ian Song.
"Alright!"
Ian Song and Darian Long headed for the city gate again. The Du Brothers hesitated but didn't dare block them; after all, Venerable Dragon Sword had shown mercy—if his sword had struck their throats instead of their chests, they'd be dead.
If they still tried to block the way, Venerable Dragon Sword might not be so merciful next time.
Just as Ian Song stepped through the city gate, he saw six people waiting outside.
At their head stood Serena Xue, a blue-robed woman in her forties or fifties, exuding a noble and commanding aura with every movement.
"Venerable Dragon Sword, leave Leon Huang behind and I won't hold this against you!" Serena Xue said with a faint smile.
Darian Long's face darkened slightly. "Serena Xue, do you really mean to go this far?"
Behind Serena stood five Martial Saints.
"Anyone the military wants, no one else can keep. Even if Xander Xuanyuan himself were here, it would be the same!" Serena Xue replied calmly, her words brimming with confidence and a hidden, overwhelming dominance.
Seeing Serena Xue, Ian Song couldn't help but think of Vanessa Nangong.
Vanessa Nangong's dominance was aggressive and outward, while Serena Xue's was restrained and inward.
If you compared the two, Serena Xue's presence was even more intimidating.
"Let's go!"
With a swift motion, Venerable Dragon Sword grabbed Ian Song's shoulder and shot forward, but Serena Xue's five Martial Saints moved at the same instant, cutting off their escape and striking out with their palms.
Darian Long quickly threw Ian Song out of the battle circle, drew his blunt sword, and engaged all five opponents at once.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Energy exploded like thunder, shaking the air.
In just a few dozen exchanges, Darian Long was blasted back to Ian Song's side, his chest heaving violently before he spat out a mouthful of blood. His face turned pale and his aura grew weak.