One after the other

The tension could be felt in the air, as Wang Hu stood proudly in the hole of the formation, in what could only be seen as an act of challenge towards the Grand Elder.

"Old man Wang must have been sick of the life as a leader, to pass control of the Ferocious Sword Sect to the likes of you, who is and will always be just an arrogant kid! You want so badly to be respected, then I'll see whether you deserve it!" yelled the Grand Elder, furious at the arrogant man in front of him, who he saw as his junior.

"Bring It on, old man!" yelled back Wang Hu, tightening the grip on his sword. If one looked beyond his confident demeanor, they would notice a trace of fear in the man's eyes when he looked at the Grand Elder, as though he instinctively knew that they were on different levels.

Still, he was the leader of a sect, a fearless warrior, so he stood firmly on his lightning cloud, getting in a fighting stance.

The Grand Elder, knowing that more enemies would be coming soon, extended his hands towards Wang Hu, using a powerful skill.

A sea of purple flames instantly erupted from his palms, lighting up the sky as bright as the sun itself, blinding the disciples watching from below. The raging flames gradually formed the shape of a long saber, which occupied the whole sky, giving even Wang Hu chills, as he thought about defending against the strike.

As the flaming purple saber was flung at Wang Hu, he himself performed a piercing emotion, causing one single spark to shoot forwards, defending him.

Despite the weak appearance of the spark, this was Wang Hu's strongest skill, which had been passed down from each sect leader to the next in the Ferocious Sword Sect, a symbol of strength for them.

As the spark entered the sea of flames which formed the Grand Elder's saber, it was instantly engulfed, and nothing happened. Wang Hu was still confident, though, as he counted in his head for the time in which his strike would explode, shocking everyone with its might.

Seeing the smug smile on Wang Hu's face, the Grand Elder laughed, before saying, "You think I haven't faced this attack before, kid? Old Wang did a much better job at it, but your spark was so pathetic my flames devoured it whole. Come back when your cultivation is higher, or better yet, never come back!"

The Grand Elder was really furious this time, since his sect was being threatened, all for an inheritance that belonged to them.

Wang Hu's expression remained confident, but as more time passed, a frown started to appear on his face, before turning into all out fear.

The time required for the skill to work had passed by now, but the flaming saber showed no signs of stopping, as it quickly reached Wang Hu's position.

Wang Hu seemed insignificant in front of the massive saber, and as he realized that his attack had been easily destroyed, he attempted to flee the scene at full speed.

He was a bit too slow, though, and the saber engulfed him, just as it had engulfed his spark attack. The flaming saber then dissipated in thin air, no longer having a reason to exist, since Wang Hu had been defeated.

Where the saber had vanished, there were no remains, no sign that Wang Hu had even been there. All the spectators knew the truth, though, and they stared at the Grand Elder in admiration, and fear.

Wang Hu, the leader of a sect, had been killed with a single strike, leaving nothing behind. Of course, although he had been the sect leader of the Ferocious Sword Sect, that did not make him the strongest figure there, since that would be his father, who everyone called old Wang.

"A pity, a talented cultivator of our kingdom died, all due to his arrogance." mumbled the Grand Elder, sighing.

The reason why Wang Hu had been defeated so easily was not the skill he had used, which was not inferior to the one used by the Grand Elder in any way. Rather, his cultivation was only at the seventh stage of the golden core realm, against the ninth stage Grand Elder.

In Crouching Tiger Kingdom, there were only a few people above the sixth stage of the golden core realm, and each of them were the leaders of large forces or families. To reach the very peak of the kingdom, though, one needed to reach the end of the golden core realm, a feat that only two or three people had achieved in current times. This, of course, was limited to Crouching Tiger Kingdom, and if one went to places in the mainland, there were many experts at realms even above the golden core.

After killing Wang Hu, the Grand Elder looked in the distance, where hundreds of black dots could be seen, getting increasingly bigger. Many of the enemies were elders at the golden core realm, and the rest were talented disciples that each force thought should have a chance at winning the inheritance.

The agreement they had made was that each of the two sects and the royal family could bring a total of fifteen disciples, and then smaller forces such as the Yin and Song family had one slot each. When it came to the mainland forces of Myriad Soul Palace and Divine Water clan, they did not dare set a limit of slots, since there was no agreement between them, and the difference in strength was simply too large. That said, those forces were very far from Crouching Tiger kingdom, so they only brought two or three disciples of theirs, anyway.

"Elders of the sect, activate the Grand Illusion Formation!" yelled the Grand Elder, wanting to employ the second defense mechanism of the sect, other than the defensive dome.

The founder of the Flaming Saber sect, Ts'ui Ru, was a master at illusions, so he had deployed many ways to defend the sect from invaders, in preparation for when he would not be there anymore.

Of course, hundreds of years had passed, and the formations were not what they used to be. Still, Ts'ui Ru had been much stronger than anyone in the current times of Crouching Tiger Kingdom, so any formation set up by him could easily defend against or even kill golden core realm experts.

"You want to steal from my sect... then you will have to pay the price!" yelled the Grand Elder, amplifying his voice so that it could be heard from miles away.

Meanwhile, all the elders were busy activating the many formations, transforming the sect into an impenetrable fortress, that any enemy would have to think twice before attempting to enter.

From afar, the two sects and the royals were finally coming into sight, as a man and a woman flew towards the Flaming Saber sect, while keeping a safe distance from the fully active formations.

"Fu He, your Flaming Saber sect has had the blessing of Ts'ui Ru for far too long, without contributing to the strength of the kingdom as a whole. It is time for you to share the wealth, so that we can all grow together!" the woman said, addressing the Grand Elder by name.

"I agree, you have been too selfish with the resources given by your ancestor, and it is about time that the entire kingdom becomes stronger, as one united force!" chimed in the man, adding fuel to the fire.

The Grand Elder, though, did not care about the provocation, as he simply laughed, replying, "Is that why you got mainland forces involved, to strengthen the kingdom? Or was that simply because you were too scared?!"

Both the man and the woman gritted their teeth, before mumbling, "Our intention was not to involve them... it was beyond our control!"

Tired of talking, the Grand Elder ended the conversation by saying, "Regardless of your intentions, my ancestor left his inheritance for the Flaming Saber sect disciples, not your disciples! If I was to allow you entry, then I would be committing a sin, and letting down the ancestor that has given me so much! Now leave, there is nothing here for you!"

The man and the woman were both great figures in Crouching Tiger Kingdom, one being the king, and the other being the Sect Leader of the Endless Storm sect, respectively. Because of this, they were used to being seen as superior to everyone else, a vision that the Grand Elder was clearly not willing to entertain.

"Don't think you can treat us this way simply because you ancestor was powerful! You are nothing, and your sect will be destroyed!" they yelled back in anger, before indicating to their elders to charge into the sect, to test out the strength of the formations.

At first, no one stepped up, since their own leaders were not willing to charge forward, let alone them. After a while, though, a few elders that wanted to gain recognition, decided that this was their opportunity to shine, as they flew directly towards the Grand Elder, who had seemingly nothing in front of him, since the formations were invisible when activated fully.

As the ten or so elders got closer to the Grand Elder, they suddenly disappeared, leaving the spectators shocked.

"It's fine, they are just in the illusion formation, and they should be fine!" reassured the sect leader of the Endless Storm sect, Yan Li. She was not as confident as her words made her out to be, though, and sweat could be seen dripping from her forehead, nervousness clearly taking a toll on her mental state.

After about a minute of waiting, movement could finally be seen where the elders had vanished, as ten bodies fell towards the ground, cuts all over their bodies.

Yan Li, not wanting precious elders of her sect to die, flew towards the falling bodies, summoning a small whirlpool of wind, which brought them safely back to the camp that was being set up in front of the Flaming Saber sect.

As she analysed their bodies, fury could be seen in her eyes, as she yelled, "You animal, these poor men and women have suffered greatly from your formation, and two have even died!"

The Grand Elder did not even respond to this, since he was speechless. They were trying to barge into his sect, and he was supposed to just let them in without a fight? Although it was a pity that powerful experts of the kingdom were dying, they had asked for this themselves, so he had no regrets.

"Don't worry, junior, we will not let this man abuse the power of his ancestor against you!"

At that moment, an imposing voice came from the sky, as three women could be seen flying towards the Flaming Saber sect, one of which was riding a flying sword.

Seeing the two old women beside Bo Ai, the Grand Elder laughed bitterly, asking, "Even Myriad Soul Palace wants to get involved? Doesn't your master has a reputation to withhold... it seems all you can do is bully the weak!"

The three women were Bo Ai and her two protectors, who had finally reached the Flaming Saber sect, after a long journey. What the Grand Elder thought was funny, though, was that they pretended as though their reason to be here was righteous, to not allow him to abuse power. This, of course, was only a way for them to not ruin their reputation, which in the mainland was almost as important as strength.

"Don't you dare speak of our master that way, old man! Today is the last day of your sect, whether you like it or not!" angrily replied one of two protectors, who saw the Grand Elder as inferior to herself, not strong enough to judge them.

Li Zhu was as furious as the Grand Elder as he saw the scene, since he knew the rules of the mainland. Forces in the mainland were not supposed to meddle with smaller kingdoms' affairs, let alone destroying a sect for their own selfish reasons. Of course, strength was all that mattered in this continent, so there were few people that could actually enforce this rule, resulting in transgressions such as this.

"The situation has escalated dramatically!" he thought, hoping that the defenses set up by Ts'ui Ru were sufficient to stop the two elders of Myriad Soul Palace.