break
"Wan'er, don't listen to her nonsense." Pei Yingguan cleaned the blood off the sword with a cleaning technique. "She belongs to the Wei family."
"Whether what she said is true or not, won't I know if I can go into Daming Palace and take a look?" Xiao Wan'er stepped forward, "Please, Senior Brother, please move aside."
As the two of them were in a stalemate, Pei Yingguan let out a long sigh.
"In that case, please come out."
As soon as he finished speaking, ten people appeared from all over the streets, each of them was at the Dao Entry Realm.
"Send my junior sister home." He ordered his men.
Xiao Wan'er was undoubtedly disappointed. She had taken the initiative, directly fighting ten of Pei Yingguan's men alone, intending to repel all of them. After the two sides exchanged blows, her expression changed even more.
"Biyun Temple's rules prohibit privately passing on the sect's secret techniques to outsiders. Pei Yingguan, are you crazy?"
Pei Yingguan still said, "Junior sister, come home with me."
Seeing that Pei Yingguan was completely out of reach, Xiao Wan'er had no choice but to continue the fight. The cultivators at the Daoist level were no match for her. After a few moves, seven of the ten men were dead and three were seriously injured.
Pei Yingguan sighed, drew his sword, and stood opposite Xiao Wan'er.
"Did your people collude with the Turks to kill me?"
Pei Yingguan did not answer directly: "Junior sister, once this matter is settled, I will ask His Majesty to grant us a marriage. As long as we become Taoist couples, Prince Linzi will never attack you again."
Xiao Wan'er laughed angrily.
"You're dreaming."
Purple-white lightning, mixed with endless rage, roared towards Pei Yingguan. Pei Yingguan also swung his sword to counterattack, but he couldn't even block Xiao Wan'er's attack and was directly knocked down, smashing into the wall of the roadside house.
"You have violated the sect rules, colluded with foreign enemies, and harmed your fellow disciples. Today I will purge the sect!"
Xiao Wan'er spoke, ready to strike him dead. Seeing Xiao Wan'er's determination, Pei Yingguan cast a protective formation. The formation was small, but it blocked the vast majority of Xiao Wan'er's spells. The name of the caster was engraved on the plate. It happened to be a former Transcendent Realm expert from the Li Tang royal family, a practitioner of sorcery whom Xiao Wan'er had personally slain.
"You are really depraved." Xiao Wan'er continued to attack the formation.
"Brother Pei, I've already told you that Xiao Wan'er won't listen to you. Prince Linzi has a reason for wanting to kill her. Even if you truly want to protect her, you must completely subdue her and make her stop being so arrogant."
Seeing Xiao Wan'er about to break the formation, the leader of the Dragon Guards rushed to the scene. Seeing Pei Yingguan hiding in the protective formation in a panic, he smiled with great glee.
Pei Yingguan put away the formation, supported himself with his arms and stood up, then walked to Commander Li.
"Junior sister, we are both in the Transcendent Realm. Even if you are powerful, you will not be our opponent. Be obedient and return with me. Prince Linzi will not attack you again."
Xiao Wan'er issued an ultimatum: "I am ordered by Princess Taiping to rescue Shangguan Zhaorong. If you refuse to move aside, I will have no choice but to step over your corpses!"
"Junior sister, Prince Linzi has ordered the execution of Shangguan Wan'er." Pei Yingguan finally told the truth.
Since that’s the case, we have no choice but to fight on.
Xiao Wan'er fought two opponents at once, holding her own. Pei Yingguan and Commander Li, both clearly at the Transcendent Realm, were finding the fight increasingly strenuous. Commander Li, seeing he couldn't defeat Xiao Wan'er, a fierce look flashed in his eyes, and he raised his hand to unleash the most powerful technique within Biyun Temple.
The powerful spell, coupled with the sword energy imbued with sword intent, finally injured Xiao Wan'er. However, she advanced instead of retreating, unleashing the same spell with far greater power than Commander Li, instantly injuring both of them severely.
"Deputy Commander Xiao is truly powerful," Commander Li said, coughing up blood stained with internal organs and sneering, "It's a pity that I still can't save your sister Shangguan."
Xiao Wan'er was about to strike again when she suddenly felt her connection to the world severed. She cast her consciousness over the entire city of Chang'an, and sure enough, she saw Shangguan Wan'er's body.
Commander Li and Pei Yingguan were both Transcendent Realm experts, so they naturally sensed Shangguan Wan'er's death. Commander Li laughed heartily, almost madly.
"Xiao Wan'er, even if you possess extraordinary abilities, what good can you do? Even if you're the champion of the sect competition and the most powerful cultivator alive, you still can't save the people you want to save! If we want you to lie down, you have to lie down for us!"
"I certainly couldn't save Shangguan Zhaorong," Xiao Wan'er clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her flesh as she forced the words out through her teeth, "but I can make you buried with her."
Commander Li spat out a mouthful of blood and was about to continue his taunting when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He then collapsed to the ground with his eyes wide open, instantly dying. In his last moment of consciousness, he saw Xiao Wan'er's hand forming a spell.
"What is this?" Pei Yingguan took a breath and asked Xiao Wan'er with difficulty.
"You mean the spell to kill Commander Li? That's a forbidden technique that every Biyun Temple abbot must learn after taking over. It's specifically designed to kill disciples from other sects who secretly learn Biyun Temple's mind and magic." Xiao Wan'er said as she walked towards Pei Yingguan, switching to another spell between her fingers. "Unfortunately, this forbidden technique can't kill ordinary people who secretly learn our sect's mind and magic, nor can it kill traitors who pass on our sect's mind and magic to others."
Pei Yingguan immediately opened the protective array again.
"Junior sister, Shangguan Wan'er is buying and selling official positions and disrupting the government. She really deserves to be killed." He lay in the protective formation and advised Xiao Wan'er to stop.
"Even if she is truly guilty, she should be handed over to the Dali Temple for trial. Where did Li Longji get the power to order her death?"
Xiao Wan'er didn't buy it at all.
"The three Princes of Xiang staged a coup, targeting Empress Wei's followers. Before the late Emperor's death, Shangguan Zhaorong repeatedly opposed the appointment of Princess Anle as Crown Princess. After the late Emperor's death, she and Princess Taiping jointly drafted an imperial edict to stabilize the court. After the edict was forged, she hid elsewhere and showed no collusion with the Wei family. What basis do you have for killing her? Senior Brother, you're deceiving me with the excuse of buying and selling official positions, but you're treating me like a three-year-old child?"
Pei Yingguan smiled bitterly: "So Junior Sister is going to attack me, your Senior Brother, for an outsider?"
Xiao Wan'er retorted, "When Prince Linzi sent his men to kill me, I didn't see you leave him out of fellow discipleship. Do you think I deserve to die too?"
Pei Yingguan said bitterly: "I have already planned to marry you as a Taoist partner. As long as you become my wife, Prince Linzi will no longer regard you as an enemy."
"But why does Prince Linzi consider me his enemy? What crimes have Shangguan Wan'er and I committed that warrant his so calculated efforts to eliminate us? He considers us guilty simply because we are women. As for you, you've always been unhappy with my succession to the abbot position, haven't you?"
Xiao Wan'er was too lazy to listen to Pei Yingguan's explanation and directly tore off the fig leaf.
"You, the Prince of Linzi, both hate talented and ambitious women. You are shrouded in the shadow of Empress Wu Zetian. You hate her, but you have to respect her because all your master's current legitimacy comes from her. Even the laws and regulations you follow are written by her, and all the trusted officials your master needs are promoted by her. Therefore, you persecute all capable and ambitious women, fearing that another Emperor Wu Zetian will emerge and trample you underfoot. Ultimately, you are nothing but cowards, incompetent, and self-important people, so you seek every excuse to use such despicable means to eliminate those you fear and hate."
Pei Yingguan's face was pale and he felt unwilling.
"Since ancient times, the moral principles of heaven and earth have been like this. Men and women each have their own natural duties. Empress Wu disrupted this natural order, and Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Princess Taiping, and Shangguan Zhaorong inherited her legacy. The Prince of Linzi was merely rectifying the chaos. Why are you being so harsh, Junior Sister?"
"Has it been right since ancient times? We are all human beings with two eyes, two ears, one nose, and one mouth. Why do men get to enjoy all the power, wealth, and beauty, while women must be confined to the backyard, serving men and carrying incense for them? In terms of literary talent, Shangguan Zhaorong is superior to most officials of the current dynasty. In terms of martial arts, I am far superior to Lord Pei. When it comes to governing the country, Emperor Zetian is even superior to most emperors throughout history. It is obvious that the so-called ethics of heaven and earth are also full of flaws. If that is the case, what if I break these ethics!"
As Xiao Wan'er argued with Pei Yingguan, she had been accumulating spiritual energy in her hands. When she had finished speaking, a startlingly blazing white light emanated from her left hand. The scorching flames condensed into a long sword, slashing towards the protective formation where Pei Yingguan was hiding.
Inside the Daming Palace, everything was over. Princess Taiping's face darkened terribly when she saw Shangguan Wan'er's body. Prince Linzi's elation was almost uncontrollable. He walked up to Princess Taiping and made a false apology.
"Aunt, I'm truly sorry," he said, his expression regretful, but his eyes were actually filled with defiance. "My nephew's subordinates didn't realize Shangguan Zhaorong wasn't involved in the Wei family's rebellion, and they killed her by mistake. The dead cannot be brought back to life, so I hope you will accept my condolences."
"Go away." Princess Taiping suppressed the murderous intent in her heart.
"My nephew also wants to leave, but perhaps auntie doesn't know that Deputy Commander Xiao was attacked and killed by Turkic remnants on his way back to Chang'an, and his life or death is still unknown."
Princess Taiping could no longer bear it, so she drew the sword of her guard and put it to Prince Linzi's neck.
"You're looking for death—"
Prince Linzi laughed even more happily. Princess Taiping heard the voice of Prince Xiang.
"Imperial sister, did Sanlang offend you?"
Princess Taiping suppressed her anger and put down the sword.
"Brother Your Majesty, I heard that Deputy Commander Xiao of the Divine Dragon Guard was attacked on his way back to Chang'an and is now missing. Deputy Commander Xiao was ordered by me to return to Chang'an to help us pacify the situation. I am currently unsure of his safety and I am deeply concerned."
Prince Xiang immediately dispatched a team of imperial guards to search for Xiao Wan'er, and also to look for Pei Yingguan who had not returned to his position. He then comforted Princess Taiping: "If Sanlang has offended the imperial sister, I will apologize to you on his behalf."
The next emperor, who was already certain to succeed her, had said so. What else could Princess Taiping say? She could only let it go.
In the dark alley, Xiao Wan'er had already broken Pei Yingguan's protective formation and was only one move away from executing him. But at this moment, the imperial guards arrived.
"Deputy Commander Xiao, Deputy Commander Pei!"
The sounds of footsteps and shouts came closer and closer, and Xiao Wan'er had to stop. Pei Yingguan dusted himself off and stood up.
"Deputy Commander Pei, Deputy Commander Xiao!" The captain of the imperial guards rushed over with his troops. Seeing the body on the ground, he was also stunned. "Why did Commander Li die here?"
"He turned against us at the last minute and used forbidden techniques, and was killed by me and my junior sister."
"He wanted to kill me, so I killed him."
Pei Yingguan and Xiao Wan'er explained at the same time. Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was tense and their stories were different, the captain of the imperial guards wisely lowered his head and stopped asking questions.
He ordered his men to carry away Commander Li's body, then said goodbye to the two men: "I have completed my mission and will be leaving now. The two deputy commanders should also go home as soon as possible."
Xiao Wan'er left some silver for the family whose wall was destroyed, and left in a huff. Pei Yingguan followed her silently.
After arriving home, Xiao Wan'er packed Pei Yingguan's things into a big bag and threw it to Pei Yingguan.
"Master Pei has great ambitions and disregards the rules of Biyun Temple. Biyun Temple cannot tolerate disciples like you. From now on, you are no longer a disciple of Biyun Temple. Your life and death, misfortune and happiness have nothing to do with Biyun Temple."
Xiao Wan'er raised her sleeves, creating a gust of wind that accurately blew Pei Yingguan out of the door without damaging other houses, and then closed the door.
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