Chapter 26: The Foremost Among the Younger Generation

"Erhuang!"

At this moment, Erhuang was barely clinging to life, the little creature unconscious, gripped tightly in Elder Liu Yang's hand.

Jiang Ning's eyes instantly filled with blood. Fury surged within him.

"Let go of it!"

His spiritual energy rumbled through his body, and the power in his bloodline was pushed to its utmost limit in that instant. His passive skill activated—his wounds began to heal before their eyes, slowly yet visibly. At the same time, the raging fire within him, though not completely extinguished, was forcefully suppressed.

He shot straight toward Liu Yang.

He moved with astonishing speed. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

No one had anticipated it. It was only after Jiang Ning's furious roar that everyone noticed the small dog clutched in Elder Liu Yang's hand.

"Isn't that... the dog Jiang Ning raises?" someone recognized.

In a flash, Jiang Ning charged forward, his entire being erupting with spiritual energy and bloodline power.

His mind was flooded, still taut from the fierce battle, and now, seeing Erhuang harmed, he forgot the danger of exposing his immortal spirit physique. To him, Erhuang was the closest being in this world. When one’s dearest is hurt, who can remain entirely rational?

Elder Liu Yang's face was expressionless as he watched Jiang Ning rush toward him. He calmly pressed his hand forward.

A phantom palmprint shimmered in the air, about to come crashing down.

A cultivator at the Opening Meridian stage, facing a Ninefold Heaven Divine Demon—there was no chance of victory.

It was only at this moment that Jiang Ning fully realized the disparity. Facing the overwhelming suppression of spiritual energy, he nearly unleashed his inherited secret art to force his way through, but at the last moment, he stopped.

"I can't win! It's impossible!"

Suddenly, he was clear-headed.

A Ninefold Heaven Divine Demon expert had made a move, and Jiang Ning felt as if he was being targeted, unable to escape. If he used all his trump cards now, both his inherited secret technique and his immortal spirit physique would be exposed.

"There’s no killing intent—not trying to kill me."

He stood motionless before the faint, ghostly palmprint, reining in his spiritual energy.

Clearly, they were not here to kill him. If that was their goal, they could have acted long ago. If they wanted him dead, it would have happened before this.

Indeed, the immense spiritual palm halted at this moment.

Jiang Ning felt as if a massive celestial sword was pressing against his forehead. After a brief pause, the pressure vanished, and his body felt light. Elder Liu Yang was watching him, still with the same blank expression.

"This expression..."

Jiang Ning was startled.

"It’s exactly the same as Yang Xiangtian’s!"

A chill swept through his heart—he couldn’t explain it, but the same eerie, deathly aura swirled around him. It was uncanny.

Thinking of Yang Xiangtian, Jiang Ning suddenly realized, "I can’t leave Idle Cloud Sect. Yang Xiangtian must be dealt with first!"

He had revealed his trump card—his inherited secret skill—in front of Yang Xiangtian. The tenth layer of the Opening Meridian stage, a special physique: Yang Xiangtian knew all of it from their previous fight!

He hadn’t killed Jiang Ning earlier because he was betting that Jiang Ning and Erhuang might still leave together. If he had made a move then, he would have alerted the old man Yang, and there would have been no escape.

Now, with the elders of Idle Cloud Sect present, escape was impossible.

Things had come to this—Yang Xiangtian had to be eliminated first!

No loose ends!

"Though, if I’m captured, I probably won’t survive anyway, so what does it matter? At least I’ll take someone with me before I die!"

Jiang Ning’s resolve hardened. As his bloodline power surged, his passive innate arts activated simultaneously.

He moved like a rainbow, making straight for Yang Xiangtian!

Elder Liu Yang turned to look at Jiang Ning, but strangely, did not try to stop him.

"Hmm?"

Jiang Ning noticed this, surprised, but he did not hesitate.

"Die!"

As he drew near Yang Xiangtian, the latter was eerily suspended in midair, two energies intertwining across his body. It was as if he was frozen, unable to resist.

Just as Jiang Ning’s fist was about to land—

A giant hand suddenly materialized in the air, once again condensed from the manipulation of the world’s spiritual energy. Its speed was unfathomable, far surpassing Jiang Ning’s.

Bang!

In the next second, Jiang Ning felt as if he were an ordinary man punching a giant boulder—completely unable to move it.

Then, he was seized in a giant grip, his spiritual energy blocked, unable to move at all.

"Another elder!"

"It’s the Elder in the Azure Robe!"

The inner sect disciples were all shocked.

After a grand battle, one had died.

Now, two elders of Idle Cloud Sect had appeared.

All because of one man.

Jiang Ning.

An old man in an azure robe stood behind Jiang Ning; it was he who had just snatched Jiang Ning with a single move.

"Damn it, so unwilling! Damn!"

Jiang Ning cursed inwardly.

He hadn’t expected that, despite keeping a low profile, he would still be plotted against.

He hadn’t foreseen that he wouldn’t be able to leave today.

It even seemed likely that, from the moment the old man Yang brought him into Idle Cloud Sect, it had all been a setup.

Alas, he’d realized it too late...

"I may not die here. Heaven never completely blocks a man's path."

Jiang Ning quickly composed himself. The key was to face what had happened and find a way out.

"If only I had one more chance, Yang Xiangtian would surely die."

He felt a faint regret.

"The old man Yang is holding me here, which means he’s not ready to kill me yet, but that time may be near. This is my golden window to escape."

The Elder in the Azure Robe held Jiang Ning at his side and exchanged a glance with Elder Liu Yang.

He also looked at the crowd of inner disciples surrounding them.

"You’ve all seen what happened today," the Elder in the Azure Robe said first. "Jiang Ning is an inner disciple of our Idle Cloud Sect, and he killed one of his peers in battle. The sect’s rules cannot be broken. Even if he is a personal disciple, we will take him to the Hall of Discipline for punishment."

"The rest of you, disperse. Don’t linger here..."

"Yang Xiangtian also killed someone. Why isn’t he punished? If you’d been paying attention from the start..."

Jiang Ning’s voice was cold.

At the same time, he noticed the indifference on the Elder in the Azure Robe’s face—a trace of deathly energy still lingered, giving him that same eerie feeling.

"Xiangtian only intervened because he sensed your killing intent and accidentally went too far," Elder Liu Yang replied.

Jiang Ning sneered.

"Enough, we’ll punish him as well," the Elder in the Azure Robe added, to appease the crowd of inner disciples who had all been drawn here by the fight.

Whether or not any real punishment would occur was another matter.

The next moment, Elder Liu Yang swept up the still-frozen Yang Xiangtian with his spiritual energy, then, taking Erhuang and Jiang Ning, tore through space.

They headed straight for the floating palace of Idle Cloud Sect!

...

The crowd remained rooted in place for a long time, unable to disperse.

Today’s battle had been shocking, followed by the intervention of the elders...

All of it left a deep mark on everyone’s heart.

Only Zhang Liyan and a few who had always disliked Jiang Ning secretly rejoiced.

"Let’s see how you get out of this one," Zhang Liyan thought, as if she were a different person altogether, her earlier shock and regret seemingly never having happened. She was perfectly at ease.

A thousand faces, a thousand hearts.

But one thing was certain: by defeating Yang Xiangtian, Jiang Ning had become the undisputed number one among the young generation of Idle Cloud Sect.

Yet even he did not know if he would survive to enjoy that title...