Even if Ning Xian's subordinates were just as resentful as she was, no matter how much courage they were given, they could only fight against the followers of the Blissful Heaven. When facing the Four Spirits, they could only swallow their anger.
As soon as they left the Giant Axe Gate, Ning Xian looked at his back and asked, "Why did you come?" She didn't think Feng was a busybody, and she and Feng had hardly ever spoken a few words. The only thing she remembered about him was his cold and arrogant eyes, and their relationship was certainly not good enough for her to ask him to come and save her.
Feng, who had been walking ahead, turned around. His physique was well-proportioned, slender, and strong, not at all thin, but he possessed an androgynous face, exuding both masculine charm and feminine aloofness, a captivating blend that transcended gender. However, the beauty of his appearance paled in comparison to the aloofness conveyed by his cold eyes—those clear eyes were like thin ice, coldly arrogant, as if nothing in the world could penetrate their icy gaze, utterly devoid of meaning. Yet, beneath this man's left eye lay a beauty mark, defying his icy arrogance, exuding its own allure.
What puzzled Ning Xian was that Mu Yuan, a beauty who transcended gender, never seemed to have any designs on him.
Feng gave Ning Xian a cold look. "The Giant Axe Sect was taken over by me and was once under my name, but now they want to rebel. If I don't step in, am I supposed to just watch you make things worse and let them break away, and then I'll lose face?"
Ning Xian took a deep breath, and several of his men behind him whispered: Calm down, calm down...
—She was now very glad that she hadn't had much contact with Feng in the past. Talking to this arrogant and disdainful guy, she wouldn't have been able to keep her composure!
"I'll handle things here, but I need a few people. The rest of you can stay. As for you, you can stay or leave as you please, just don't get in my way."
Ning Xian raised an eyebrow slightly. "Feng! Don't go too far. You want to use my people, and you're acting like this? I've already accepted this mission, and I won't leave until there's a result!"
Feng glanced at her briefly—you? Someone who can't even get through the gate?
"Since you're staying, then follow my arrangements."
Why should I listen to you?
Feng smiled sarcastically, “[Jialing], don’t forget that although you and I belong to the Netherworld and the Blissful Heaven respectively, I am the protector of the Four Spirits, while you are merely an accessory to the Ninth Division.”
—He breathed his last.
Kneeling on the ground... Why do such infuriating creatures exist in this world...?
Ning Xian could no longer know what it was like when Feng came to subdue the Giant Axe Sect a few years ago. At that time, she was just a little girl. Her parents had already decided to retire from the martial world and were busy with what? Making money! She stayed by her brother's side, carefree and without a care in the world except for practicing martial arts and playing. She only heard about how the boy named Feng had massacred the Giant Axe Sect from other people's fragmented conversations, imagining what a bloody scene it must have been.
Such things are not uncommon in the demonic path, so she quickly forgot about it.
Later, when she became [Jialing] of the Netherworld Heaven, she occasionally encountered Feng and vaguely felt that he was different from what she had heard. What she saw was a cold and arrogant man who always stayed away from the crowd, not the bloodthirsty and cruel boy in the legends.
She now hopes to maintain a distance of only glancing at each other from afar for the rest of her life!
Feng gazed at the Giant Axe Sect's pavilions from afar. It seemed they hadn't forgotten the lesson from years ago, so this time, they weren't giving Youming Tian a chance to even see anyone. Did they think they were safe just because there was no one left to kill?
"Lord Feng, have you finished reading yet?" Ning Xian deliberately followed along, looking and looking. "Come out a solution. What's the use of just looking?"
Without even glancing at Ning Xian, he directly instructed the others, "Leave a few people behind, the rest of you come down the mountain with me. I need to prepare some things."
A dozen or so men were sent to split up, and soon they returned to the mountain, pushing several fully loaded carts laden with firewood, and parked them just outside the trap's range.
Feng Yuanyuan stood before the gate of the Giant Axe Sect, his white robes adorned with fiery patterns, and gave the order:
"Set it on fire! Burn the house down!"
Chapter 17 Fire Feather Phoenix
"Set the house on fire! Burn it down! Everyone prepare bows and arrows, shoot anyone who comes out!"
"Wait a minute!" Ning Xian stood in front of him. "We're here to subdue, not to slaughter. How many people will die if you do this—"
“Jialing,” his icy eyes were full of mockery, “you’re too soft-hearted, that’s your fatal flaw.” Gently pushing Ning Xian away, he repeated, “Light the rocket!”
Hundreds of arrows, bound with cloths soaked in kerosene, were lit and fired wave after wave—dozens of porcelain oil canisters were thrown into the courtyard, landing and splattering oil everywhere. In an instant, flames erupted and thick smoke billowed.
The fire grew larger and larger, and Feng arranged for four people to keep going back and forth between the mountain and the city to replenish the rockets and fuel.
Ning Xian stood beside Feng, shifting his gaze from the burning house to the person beside him—Feng stood before a sea of fire, her perfectly sculpted profile reflected in the flames, softening the coldness in her eyes, appearing exceptionally eerie in the flickering firelight.
He was a cold-blooded phoenix, and the entire sea of fire was his wings. Only now did Ning Xian find in him the shadow of the legendary boy from the sea of blood.
She turned and decided to leave, before the horrific scene unfolded.
If she can't stop her, then at least she can choose not to watch.
She wasn't soft-hearted enough to save those who harbored ill intentions towards the Netherworld, nor was she hard-hearted enough to watch so many people die in front of her without doing anything.
If Feng could carve out a sea of blood back then, he could probably create another hell now.
He didn't stop Ning Xian from leaving; if she couldn't bear to watch, she could naturally leave. He simply turned his head slightly and said to Ning Xian in a cool and indifferent tone, "You are not suited to be a member of the Demonic Sect."
Ning Xian paused for a moment, then strode away.
—She was born and raised in the Demonic Sect, yet they say she's not suited to be a member of the Demonic Sect?! What is she supposed to be then? A rich man's wife?!
That wretched phoenix!
She ordered some herbal tea at a tea stall at the foot of the mountain and asked the young waiter to buy her some grapes from a fruit stand next to it. She peeled them angrily—"If you're so capable, then go and live a life of toil! Girl, I'm not going to suffer in the smoke with you!" After eating a few grapes, looking at the thick smoke rising from the distant mountains, she felt even more that eating grapes and drinking herbal tea here was far better than them fighting and killing each other in blood and fire.
—The capable should do more work.
She waited from day to evening, finally seeing a group of people come down from the mountain. Her men all looked exhausted, but Feng, though dressed in white and stained with blood, had no expression on her face, making it impossible to read her thoughts. She noticed that the man who hadn't returned earlier was still nowhere to be seen. She probably didn't need to ask anymore; with such a huge fire, even if he hadn't died back then, he should have burned to death inside.
She watched them approach from afar. Among the row of black-clad figures, Feng's white robes stood out, with large crimson blossoms adding an eerie touch to the scene as Feng Mo approached his twilight.
He saw Ning Xian and simply sat down next to her. Although the tea stall waiter had seen many martial artists since they lived near the Giant Axe Sect, he was still terrified by the blood-stained man who seemed completely unconcerned. Feng didn't even look at him, and instead took the teapot and teacup from the table and poured herself a cup.
Ning Xian forced a smile. "So, how about it? Capable Lord Feng, have you taken care of everything?"
"No."
"Huh?" Ning Xian was quite surprised, but she couldn't tell anything from Feng's face. She glanced at the others and confirmed it from their expressions.