Star Martial Soaring Cloud

Yan Zixi was dancing with great enthusiasm when she was startled by the sudden murderous aura and questioning, causing her to stop abruptly. Water splashed down and landed on her slightly stunned cheek.

She looked up and saw Wang Xiao shirtless in the moonlight, his muscles smooth and strong, covered with countless scars, marks left by life-and-death battles.

At this moment, amidst the surging murderous aura, it even faintly gleamed with a golden luster.

Wang Xiao gripped the Seven Star Sword in his right hand, which had somehow appeared in his grasp. The sword's spine reflected the moonlight, its cold gleam piercing the air.

But before the aroused impulse had subsided, another sharp sword also stood tall, stretching the shorts into an awkward curve.

Two swords standing side by side!

A sword in hand, a sword on my body!

One cold, one hot; one chilling, one scorching; two extreme auras intertwined on him, creating an indescribable eeriness and oppression.

What a sight this was! Yan Zixi could hardly have imagined such a scene even in her wildest dreams.

She couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine, secretly wondering, "What kind of man is this? How can he generate such overwhelming killing intent in such a state of confusion and passion?"

Yan Zixi knew that this was not a murderous intent that she wanted to vent through lust, because she truly felt the threat of death.

She stared blankly at Wang Xiao, her eyes filled with disbelief and shock.

Just moments ago, this man was breathing heavily and aroused by her dance moves, but in the blink of an eye, he had become a god of death.

How exactly did they do that?

Where was there even a trace of lustful fascination in those eyes now?

All that remained was a chilling clarity and an almost solidified rage.

She subconsciously took a half step back, her jade-like feet creating ripples in the hot spring. Her cherry lips parted slightly, but she couldn't utter a word.

What is she shocked about?

Amazed by his willpower?

Shocked by the intensity of his murderous intent?

She was still shocked—that there was a man in this world who could react so unbelievably under her extreme allure.

But what puzzled her even more was, where did this problem come from?

The dance she just performed was "The Startled Swan".

"The Startling Beauty" is famous throughout China.

Countless people are captivated by and enchanted by "The Amazing Swan".

This man, however, discerned something in her dance: ...the Xuanyuan family?

What is he thinking? It's all fake; physical reactions can't be faked.

Wang Xiao stared intently at Yan Zixi, his gaze sharp as he took in every subtle expression of hers.

Just now, he was indeed captivated by her dance, his desire surging and he could hardly control himself.

But it was precisely because he was so immersed in it that he saw the dance more clearly, and every movement, every posture, and every detail was imprinted in his mind.

Then, he saw the "bird cage" that had appeared many times.

His posture was elegant and composed, exuding nobility and leisure, like a noble young master strolling in a garden, teasing a caged bird.

But in Wang Xiao's eyes, it made his blood boil instantly.

Carrying birdcages was a unique and beloved pastime of the Xuanyuan family; the fluttering of their robes as they twirled subtly echoed the palace rituals of the Daqing Dynasty; even the rhythm of their dance steps hinted at the praise of Daqing's "expansion of territory".

After the Lishan Trial, Wang Xiao put a lot of effort into understanding the Xuanyuan family, and even gained a deeper understanding of the Daqing Dynasty they established.

That was no dynasty; it was a purgatory for the people of the Nine Provinces!

It was an era of extreme hierarchical order, an era in which uprisings spread across the land but were repeatedly suppressed with bloodshed, an era in which rivers of blood flowed and bones were exposed in the wilderness!

Even now, when he thinks about that period of history, he can't help but feel a chilling dread and anger.

The Daqing Dynasty divided the people of the land into three categories and nine classes, with the lowest-ranking commoners being no different from pigs and dogs.

When a person of lower status meets a person of higher status, they must kneel and kowtow; the slightest disrespect will result in being beaten to death in the street.

They fenced off vast tracts of fertile land to serve as royal hunting grounds, where they kept rare birds and animals for the hunting and entertainment of princes and nobles.

The people had no land to cultivate, no grain to harvest, and countless people were displaced and resorted to cannibalism.

In order to consolidate their rule, they implemented a policy of keeping the people ignorant throughout the land: burning all kinds of books that enlightened the public and prohibiting private schools; anyone who privately possessed books was to be treated as a traitor and his entire family was to be executed.

In those days, in the entire Kyushu region, one in a hundred people could read.

The vast majority of ordinary people cannot even write their own names in their entire lives. They can only live like walking corpses, enslaved, driven, and drained of everything.

Their blows to the cultivation world were devastating.

The Daqing Dynasty, fearing the power of cultivators, carried out a large-scale hunt and slaughter, setting up an inescapable net to eliminate the strong.

Countless sects were massacred, countless cultivators were slaughtered, and countless cultivation techniques and secret manuals were burned.

In just a few decades, there were almost no experts at the Divine Realm in the entire Nine Provinces, and even cultivators at the Dragon Gate Divine Realm were pitifully few.

Their path to cultivation was almost completely severed.

Even so, the resistance never stopped.

The Daqing Dynasty lasted for three hundred years, and uprisings continued for three hundred years as well.

The people used their flesh and blood to repeatedly assault this bloody dynasty.

But each uprising was met with even more brutal suppression.

The Xuanyuan family never shows mercy.

Massacres, genocide, burying alive... they used every means to stain the earth red with the blood of the rebels, fill the ditches with their corpses, and forcefully put themselves on the opposite side of all living beings in the Nine Provinces.

They believed that they could rule this land forever through fear.

But they were wrong.

Under their rule, Kyushu was on the verge of collapse, and the Five-Eyed alien race took the opportunity to invade.

This dynasty, which was ruthless to its own people, now revealed its ugliest face.

In order to preserve their rule, the Xuanyuan family actually chose to surrender.

They groveled and humbly addressed the invading foreign tribes as "royalty," kneeling and submitting to them.

They even shamelessly uttered that infamous phrase that will be remembered for eternity—"Using all the resources of the nine provinces to please the various royal families."

They treated foreign tribes as honored guests and regarded the people of the nine provinces as tribute.

They used the blood and sweat of the people of Kyushu to please foreign tribes; they used the wives and daughters of the people of Kyushu to gain the pity of foreign tribes.

That was the darkest chapter in Kyushu's history.

Foreign hordes trampled across the land, burning, killing, looting, and committing all sorts of atrocities.

Meanwhile, the Xuanyuan family hid in the palace, continuing to indulge in their pipe dreams.

Even so, it could not prevent the collapse of the Daqing Dynasty.

During the infighting among the Five Eyes race, the people, who had been oppressed for three hundred years, finally raised their swords of revenge.

They stormed into the palace, dragged the high-ranking nobles from their thrones, and stained the land they had once trampled with their own blood.

The Xuanyuan family members who escaped were still determined to cause trouble.

In order to reclaim their so-called "empire," they even went so far as to pledge allegiance to Fusang, which wanted to completely exterminate the Kyushu people.

They guided the Japanese army to land, helped them dismantle Kyushu, and sold off every inch of land and every person.

They are willing to do anything as long as Japan helps them regain their rule.

Such a dynasty, such a family—

What is there to pay tribute to?

What is there to praise?

Now, in Yan Zixi's "Jinghong", there is actually a tribute to the Xuanyuan family and even a praise for the Daqing Dynasty!

Wang Xiao's knuckles turned white from gripping the Seven Star Sword tightly.

His gaze was icy cold, fixed intently on Yan Zixi. If her answer was even slightly off, he would immediately take action.

Who cares if she's the most beautiful woman in Kyushu, or if she's Hua Ying from Fengyuxuan.

Yan Zixi, as expected of the most outstanding disciple of Fengyuxuan, quickly understood the reason in a flash—the fact that Wang Xiao and the Xuanyuan family were locked in a life-or-death struggle on Lishan Mountain was already known throughout the Nine Provinces.

It must have been the Xuanyuan family elements in my dance that touched a nerve with him.

She paused for only a moment, then regained her usual alluring demeanor, a faint smile playing on her lips. She raised a hand to smooth the damp hair clinging to her shoulder, her voice soft yet teasing: "Young Master Wang, please calm down. It was my oversight. I have no connection with the Xuanyuan family. But next time, before you get angry, could you please put on some clothes? Don't you feel ashamed? I, a young lady, feel quite embarrassed."