Yu Di scrambled away from Gu Zi and Elder Li. If he knew his secrets, knew that he was a demigod, then he might know that he had so many treasures on his person that would make this sect hum.

  Except the sect leader didn’t move. Gu Zi did nothing as he narrowed his eyes at Yu Di’s squirming.

  “Why are you doing this?” Yu Di asked Gu Zi.

  “You know why,” Gu Zi said. “I’m only returning the favor for what you’ve done to me.”

  “May I begin the duel?” Elder Li asked.

  “Begin.” Gu Zi spat on the floor before floating up into the air on his golden disk.

  The crowd cheered when they saw Elder Li take a step toward Yu Di.

  “Tell your child to step aside,” Elder Li said. “Punches and kicks have no eyes. I would rather not kill her.”

  “No.” Yu Lin hung onto her father’s arm.

  “Don’t worry little Lin,” Yu Di said. “Your father has a plan. Were you the one who brought Sect Leader Gu here?”

  Yu Lin nodded.

  “Good. Thank you for helping Baba. Now be a good girl and go to Senior Bai.”

  Yu Lin shook her head.

  “Listen to me, little Lin. Do you believe in me?”

  Yu Lin looked up, tears in her eyes. Little ones could always cry so easily. She nodded.

  Yu Di wiped her tears with his fingers.

  “I’m going to win. I always win. After I beat this Elder, we’ll go back home and eat some of Senior Bai’s buns. Okay?”

  Yu Lin nodded.

  “Now be a good girl and go to Senior Bai.” Yu Di leaned in close to his daughter’s ears. “Help her break free from those bad aunties. They’re hurting her.”

  For the first time, Yu Lin looked at someone else other than her father. Her eyes went round and wide. She nodded before shooting off to Bai Feng.

  Now that his daughter was out of the way, Yu Di could finally prepare to fight. Since Sect Leader Gu knew about his secret, he wasn’t sure if he should use his full power to wipe them all out.

  Then again, Gu Zi hadn’t imprisoned him and stole all his items, so maybe he was telling the truth. But could Yu Di risk it?

  One thing at a time. First he had to get rid of Elder Li.

  “Are you sure you want to go this far for ‘disrespect?’” Yu Di asked.

  Elder Li scowled at Bai Feng. He smoothed over his immaculate beard.

  “No, there are other considerations, but we’ll go with that.”

  Yu Di couldn’t be more disappointed that it took him this long to figure out his biggest problem. This old child was in love with Bai Feng and thinks Yu Di got in his way.

  Well he did get in his way, but come on. They had to be decades old and still acted like children?

  No wonder this sect was deteriorating. Its elders were bullies and the leaders were enablers. This was not how a sect is run.

  Yu Di stood up straight and rolled his shoulders. He stopped his Qi from healing his internal organs for now. If he was going to destroy this sect, now would be the perfect time. All he needed to do was inject a sliver of his true power into the diamond above and let it do the rest.

  Everyone was going to die as they cheered on Yu Di’s impending death. They just didn’t know they were going to join him.

  Elder Li took two stomping steps toward Yu Di, making the very floor shake. He took his time, slowly and deliberately, he stepped closer and closer. Both of his fists lit up with thick Qi aura.

  He meant to punch Yu Di to death.

  This was laughable. Yu Di faced strikes and techniques that leveled mountains and churned oceans. This child and his well groomed beard and his wrinkle free green robe thinks he’s going to punch him to death.

  Well let’s see how strong his fists are when compared to a demigod’s sliver of power.

  Yu Di raised his own fist, channeling Qi and using a special technique he stole from a sect that specialized in lightning. At the height of their powers, they could transform their Qi into literal lightning strikes.

  But since Yu Di is too weak for that, he was going to call down the lightning from the sky and strike the diamond as he stood below it. This was going to be one of his more interesting ways of destroying a sect.

  Only this time he wasn’t planning on stealing anything from this worthless place.

  “Get away from me you brat,” a woman yelled off to the side.

  Yu Di wanted to look over to make sure his daughter was fine, but he couldn’t lose focus now. One moment of lost focus, he might strike himself with lightning as he’s making his fist the focal point.

  Nature did weird things when someone was messing with it.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  A gust of wind blew in from behind.

  A blur of purple landed in front of Yu Di.

  Bai Feng waved a hand toward Yu Di, dispersing his technique.

  Yu Di lowered his fist. He hadn’t felt Qi suppression like that in a long time. Bai Feng had such fine control that he couldn’t fight against it if he tried. It was like a parent shutting their kid up with one word.

  Not even with his decades of experience could Yu Di do that to anyone.

  But it was too late.

  Yu Di felt the lightning release from the sky and shoot down at him.

  Bai Feng raised two fingers into the air, channeled a large amount of Qi, and grounded the lightning through her body. The lightning sizzled her clothes, creating small pockets of holes throughout, but never burning through. The smell of burning clothes and ozone filled the air.

  The crowd became silent.

  “That was dangerous, Junior Yu,” Bai Feng said.

  “Get out of the way, Bai Feng,” Elder Li growled. “This duel is between us. Sect Leader Gu has agreed to it.”

  Bai Feng scowled.

  “Have you no dignity or shame? You are challenging someone way below you to a duel.”

  “He disrespected me. How am I to lift my head? So move so I can remove this stain from our sect.”

  The crowd cheered.

  “But you are supposed to duel me today for my position of being Elder,” Bai Feng said. “As for Junior Yu, he is under my protection.”

  Bai Feng cupped her hands and bowed to Gu Zi.

  “With your permission Sect Leader Gu, I will take full responsibility for Yu Di and his daughter.”

  Gu Zi floated down from his golden disk.

  “Yu Di, you always had such great luck with your fellow disciples.” Gu Zi turned to Bai Feng. “Fine. If Bai Feng wishes to protect Yu Di, prove yourself. Defeat all the Elders challenging you today and if you succeed, then no one here can bring up this matter again.”

  Bai Feng bowed at the waist.

  “Thank you Sect Leader Gu.”

  Gu Zi raised his hand.

  “However, if you should lose, then I will personally cripple your cultivation. You will be forced to be a servant along with Yu Di and Yu Lin until you three die here in this sect.”

  “No, you can’t do this for me,” Yu Di said. “I will duel him. Just take care of my daughter.”

  Bai Feng smiled.

  “If I can’t protect those below me, how can I ever be an Elder? I accept Sect Leader Gu.”

  Gu Zi rolled his eyes.

  “Fine. Get Yu Di off the stage and let the duel begin already. I don’t have time for this.” He floated up and settled into a throne-like chair near the center of the stage.

  “Thank you for doing this,” Yu Di said.

  “I hope I can live up to your expectations,” Bai Feng said.

  Yu Di gave Bai Feng three small elixirs for Qi regeneration.

  “Use these if you have to. Don’t worry about the cost.

  Bai Feng’s eyes opened wide.

  “These are priceless items.”

  It was Yu Di’s turn to smile.

  “They’re worthless to me if you lose. Win and I can show you even more.”

  Bai Feng nodded. She put away the three elixirs into her chest pocket.

  One of these days, Yu Di had to get her a spatial ring.

  The fights went as expected for Bai Feng. None of the Elders were ready for her as there was only one outer sect Elder that almost reached the Core Formation realm. It was like watching children play in the mud for Yu Di.

  At the end of the duels, Bai Feng stood exhausted, but she didn’t use the elixirs. The wooden stage had many holes and some small trenches from the fight. The only Elder that didn’t challenge Bai Feng was Elder Li.

  The man smoothed out his tunic and walked with a slow grace. He tilted his chin up high.

  It was a despicable move to force his fellow Elders to fight and wear Bai Feng down first. But Yu Di understood the tactic. Most of the other Elders were too weak to pose any true threat to Bai Feng other than to weaken her. Elder Li had the highest cultivation out of all the challengers.

  Yu Di noticed that there were a few Elders who didn’t challenge Bai Feng. Most of them were older as they sat back and watched.

  “You still have a chance to reconsider, Bai Feng,” Elder Li said.

  Bai Feng was breathing hard.

  “I have nothing to reconsider. You can step aside and allow me to be an Elder. That way we can end this silly feud.”

  Elder Li brushed his immaculate mustache as if in thought. The time and energy he put into that bit of hair could have been used to better himself. Yet Yu Di knew that for some cultivators, image was very important.

  “No. Even if you become an Elder, this feud would not be over. You have two followers. I have hundreds. Do you think I will leave you alone simply because you beat me here? Besides, I'm aiming for something bigger than this position. That way, no one will ever dare disrespect me again.”

  Yu Di hated that he was right. Even if Bai Feng won, they would have to continue to deal with the baseless lies and rumors coming from this man. Maybe it was time to take drastic measures.

  “Baba, no,” Yu Lin said.

  “What?” Yu Di asked.

  “You make that face when you think about doing something bad. So no. Do good. You are a good Baba.”

  Yu Di hugged his daughter close within the bamboo enclosure.

  “You’re right. I shouldn’t.”

  But nothing was stopping him from making plans to end the man if he should attack him, his daughter, or Bai Feng. He would listen to his daughter and merely self defense Elder Li to death.

  Elder Li clapped his hands together and thrust it into the sky. This time, he called the thunder and the lightning, making it boom all throughout the arena. None of it struck the stage or Bai Feng. Just a lot of flashes and sound.

  What was this fool doing? He wasted so much of his Qi to make a light show.

  Elder Li’s Qi levels skyrocketed to match Bai Feng’s for a moment.

  Bai Feng could only defend in the exchange of blows. Her arms shook from taking all those attacks and techniques head on.

  That moment was all Elder Li had. His cultivation level dropped to his former level.

  Bai Feng slashed down with her free hand and in a blink, Elder Li crumpled onto the floor. He still breathed as Bai Feng was always too kind to her opponents.

  “That’s what a true leader looks like,” Yu Di said.

  “What’s a leader?” Yu Lin asked.

  “It’s someone that does the right thing for their people. They make the decisions.”

  “Then auntie Bai is the best leader!” The little girl took out a bun from her spatial ring and took a large bite from it.

  “It’s not over yet,” Elder Li said. He stood up, brushed the dirt from his tunic, and pointed a fist at Bai Feng.

  “Yield or I will have to hurt you.” Bai Feng said.

  “Hmph, it is you who should yield.” Elder Li shifted his arm to point at Yu Di and Yu Lin.

  Elder Li’s Qi technique shot out from his fingers directly where Yu Di stood with his daughter. It turned the surrounding air into a super charged, dense heat beam.

  Yu Di saw it before anyone else, but his limited body couldn’t do anything about it. So he pushed Yu Lin down behind him and tried to push his own Qi to its limits to deflect the shot.

  It wasn’t enough. All he could do was pray that his demigod body could withstand the hit. Otherwise, Yu Di was going to meet his parents in heaven.