"Trying to flee? Dream on!" Xiang Shaoyun sneered and soared into the sky at an astonishing speed before clawing the attacker.

His combat strength was not to be underestimated. Space itself was torn apart like a piece of paper as his attack landed on the attacker's body. The ambusher tried his best to escape, but Xiang Shaoyun's aura was completely locked onto him. He was unable to escape as Xiang Shaoyun's fingers clawed his chest and lifted him up.

Damn it! I thought he was only a fourth-stage Soul Foundation Realm cultivator! Why is he so strong? cursed the attacker inwardly.

He struggled with all his strength to no avail. Xiang Shaoyun wrapped his fingers around the attacker's neck with one hand before punching the attacker's belly with his other hand.

Pu!

A second-stage Heaven Battling Realm cultivator was beaten to the point he was coughing out blood.

"Who sent you to kill me?" questioned Xiang Shaoyun.

The attacker had a stubborn look on his face as he said, "Release me, or you will be met with endless assassinations!"

"Still so cocky?" Xiang Shaoyun was unhappy and started beating the Saint Realm attacker.

Not even in his dreams had the Saint thought that Xiang Shaoyun would be so strong. He was beaten so badly he couldn't even remember his mother's name. He helplessly received the beating, his blood spilling. Apart from self-detonating, there was nothing else he could do.

"Answer my question, or I'll snap your neck and destroy your soul," said Xiang Shaoyun.

"L-let me go if you have the guts! This won't end well for you!" threatened the attacker unyieldingly.

"Hahaha. Rest assured, I won't kill you. In fact, everything you have will be mine," said Xiang Shaoyun as he roared with laughter. He started chanting the Nether Dragon Soul Curse, sending one symbol after another toward the Saint's forehead.

In the past, Xiang Shaoyun couldn't control Saints. Now that his combat strength had reached a level far beyond ordinary Saints, he could easily control a third-stage Saint like this. The Saint had been sealed by Xiang Shaoyun and had also been seriously injured. The curse symbols were able to easily invade the Saint's soul before directly taking over the soul.

As Xiang Shaoyun had already awakened his devil cultivation, his affinity with the Nether Dragon Soul Curse had reached a brand new level. Thus, his Nether Dragon Soul Curse had become much more powerful than before.

The third-stage Saint couldn't even put up any resistance before he fell completely under Xiang Shaoyun's control. The curse subjected the Saint to a terrible torment, forcing him to give up any resistance.

"Time to talk. Who are you?" asked Xiang Shaoyun.

"I'm an elite assassin from the Rat Assassins. My code name is Hidden Rat. I was tasked with a mission to assassinate you," answered the Saint honestly.

"Rat Assassins? So you guys are still around," muttered Xiang Shaoyun with a sigh.

In the past, he had been the Rat Assassins' target for a period of time. After entering the Dragon Phoenix Academy, he learned that Huo Xudong was their seed. Eventually, he killed Huo Xudong, putting an end to the conflict between the two. Surprisingly, before he went looking for the Rat Assassins for revenge, they came after him again.

Xiang Shaoyun continued questioning Hidden Rat. He wanted to know the culprit behind the assassination attempt. Eventually, he found out that the culprit was the Di Clan. Although Hidden Rat did not know the client's name, from his description of the client, Xiang Shaoyun was sure that the client was from the Di Clan.

"Very well, Di Clan. I won't forget this," said Xiang Shaoyun as his eyes flickered with a cold glint.

Xiang Shaoyun descended from the sky with the Saint. Lady Shura and the Xiang Clan people were becoming nervous. If Xiang Shaoyun's main body hadn't stayed with them, they would have flown into the sky to help with the fight. When they saw his clone returning with a third-stage Saint, they were all stunned.

"Little ancestor, wh-what's going on?" asked Xiang Chenxi.

"Nothing. This is an assassin from the Rat Assassins. But he's now mine," said Xiang Shaoyun after his clone returned to his body.

"Rat Assassins? That's an extremely troublesome organization to deal with," said Xiang Keren with a frown.

"Yeah. Someone wanted me dead, but the assassin they sent was a tad bit too weak," said Xiang Shaoyun.

"Who's the culprit? How audacious! Let's kill that person," said Xiang Feidian.

"Let's go. I'll deal with this myself. It's pointless for us to go after the culprit. This will be solved in the future," said Xiang Shaoyun.

Since Xiang Shaoyun had the highest status among them, they did not propose anything else. After several days of travel, they finally reached Ziling City. The first thing Xiang Shaoyun did was to return to the Ziling Sect. When the sect learned of his return, the higher-ups hurried over to meet him.

In recent years, the sect has been growing stably. They hadn't obtained too many new members, but the sect's overall strength had grown considerably, all thanks to Devouring Ghost's hard work in training their members. One could say that Devouring Ghost had given his all to help Xiang Shaoyun with the sect.

At present, the sect had Pang Tongyuan, Old Yao, Devouring Ghost, the turtle, and the toad as guardians. With these people, the sect was able to operate smoothly. 

As for Xiang Chenge, he had become the sect's protector as well. He had been cultivating peacefully while awaiting Xiang Shaoyun's return. Xiang Chenge had wanted to follow Xiang Shaoyun to the Devil Domain as well, but Xiang Shaoyun had insisted that he stayed in the sect. 

After returning to the sect, Xiang Shaoyun had Xiang Chenge arrange the accommodations of Xiang Chenxi, Xiang Keren, and the others. Apart from that, he did not pay attention to anything else. He wanted to first head for the Holy Hall to visit Tuoba Wan'er and his son.

"Young sect master, you don't need to leave. The young madam and little young master are in your residence," said Pang Tongyuan.

"Wan'er and Lingtian are in the sect?" Xiang Shaoyun was overjoyed.

"Yes. They came half a year ago," said Pang Tongyuan.

"Very well. I'll go meet them. We'll talk later," said Xiang Shaoyun happily before leaving for his residence.

But before he reached his residence, he heard pleasing zither music ringing in the air. Overjoyed, he said, "I heard that Qinyin had returned from the Devil Domain. Looks like she had also safely returned."

Previously, Gong Qinyin had entered the Devil Domain with Xiang Shaoyun. Upon learning of his subsequent disappearance, she had left the Devil Domain in a dispirited manner.