At this moment, the man who ambushed Ye Xiao was coldly staring at Ye Xiao, just like a vicious hawk eyeing its prey about to be caught.

"Want this?" Ye Xiao raised the Dragon Flag in his hand, smiling slightly as he spoke.

The man's face grew even more somber, his eyes fixed on Ye Xiao, as he said, "Are you someone Xie Jiantao hired?"

"Heh, he couldn't afford to." Ye Xiao chuckled, then said, "If I'm not mistaken, you should be from the Soul Sect."

The cold-faced man was momentarily surprised upon hearing Ye Xiao's words. Evidently, he hadn't expected Ye Xiao to know he was from the Soul Sect. Nonetheless, members of the Soul Sect have always considered themselves superior, so the cold-faced man didn't deny it but rather said coldly, "Since you know it's the Soul Sect that wants this Dragon Flag, you shouldn't waste time here."

"Do you think I can beat you?" Ye Xiao suddenly sneered and said.

The cold-faced man was visibly taken aback by Ye Xiao's words, but he quickly retorted, "I'm afraid you won't have that chance, so your only option now is to hand the Dragon Flag over to me!"

Ye Xiao was not at all surprised by these words; instead, he laughed heartily. Once he finished laughing, his expression turned serious as he looked at the cold-faced man and said, "Are you particularly eager for me to give you, a Soul Sect disciple, face? But I've thought about it: if I can't beat you, you'll surely kill me or take me back for torture. If I can beat you, you're dead. So, whether I can or can't beat you, it doesn't change anything for me. In that case, why should I take you seriously?"

"How dare you! Just for this insolence, you deserve to die a thousand times."

Ye Xiao coldly laughed and said, "Insolence? Haha, I can responsibly tell you that I don't take you seriously, nor do I take the Soul Sect seriously. Don't forget, this is Yan Country's land; here, it's my turf!"

"Ignorance!" The cold-faced man was no longer angry at Ye Xiao's words, because to him, the young man before him was just an ignorant youth. If he insisted on fighting him, it was basically picking a fight with an ignorant person. Of course, this non-confrontation only applied verbally; as for physical confrontation…

After saying the word 'ignorance,' the cold-faced man's body flickered and he turned into a shadow, disappearing from sight. Of course, it's impossible for a person to truly disappear, even if he was a very highly cultivated martial artist.

Bang!

Ye Xiao held the Dragon Flag in one hand, and in an instant, his other hand transformed into an eagle claw.

The cold-faced man's fist and the eagle claw were deadlocked about 1 centimeter apart; at this moment, the two were engaged in a battle of True Qi.

Two streams of True Qi continuously clashed between their arms, similar to two currents of water crashing into each other from opposing directions.

The cold-faced man's Inner Power True Qi was continuously rising, but opposite him, Ye Xiao's Inner Power True Qi was also increasing. Evidently, the cold-faced man was slightly surprised. He was already thirty, and at thirty, reaching the Earth Rank cultivation level made him a talented genius in martial arts, both in aptitude and talent. Therefore, previously, the cold-faced man looked at Ye Xiao, this young lad, with complete disdain, because regardless of Ye Xiao's talent, he was obviously young, seemingly not older than twenty-five, or rather, not over twenty-three, incapable of possessing significant cultivation. But when the cold-faced man clashed with Ye Xiao's True Qi, he was slightly taken aback, because Ye Xiao's True Qi energy was not lacking and was exceptionally substantial.

Evidently, the cold-faced man couldn't comprehend how this young man before him could possess such formidable strength.

At this moment, a more pronounced smile appeared on Ye Xiao's face.

Apparently, Ye Xiao was unaware of the cold-faced man's strength previously, but after their confrontation, he roughly gauged the man's power. Despite the cold-faced man's continuously increasing True Qi, Ye Xiao could still discern that the cold-faced man's power definitely did not exceed the Middle Stage of the Earth Rank.

In other words, the cold-faced man's strength barely approached the Middle Stage of the Earth Rank.

For many, this would certainly be a super strong opponent, but to Ye Xiao, this wasn't a particularly difficult martial artist to handle.

"Approaching the Middle Stage of the Earth Rank!"

While the cold-faced man pondered how to defeat Ye Xiao more swiftly, Ye Xiao suddenly stated this.

"Ah?" The cold-faced man was startled by this, evidently not expecting Ye Xiao to accurately gauge his true strength and say so with a smile, indicating that Ye Xiao wasn't particularly concerned about 'Middle Stage of the Earth Rank,' or rather, he felt a sense of disdain.

Surprise!

What Ye Xiao aimed for was precisely the cold-faced man's surprise, as he continued, "See what's changing with my eagle claw!"

Of course, the cold-faced man didn't understand what Ye Xiao meant by this, but prompted by Ye Xiao's words, he took a look. In that glance, he was completely shocked.

Because, at that moment, the cold-faced man distinctly observed that the eagle claw once opposing him had slowly transformed into a dragon claw!

"What?" Seeing this, the cold-faced man was slightly perplexed.

However, just as the eagle claw transformed into a dragon claw, the cold-faced man immediately felt a surge of extremely substantial True Qi rushing toward him like turbulent waves. However, the cold-faced man wasn't unprepared and had his own proud methods!

The cold-faced man shouted in anger, unleashing an even stronger wave of True Qi from his body, but unlike Ye Xiao's casual demeanor, his expression became somewhat ferocious.

Ye Xiao knew this must be a very intense True Qi impact, so astonishingly, he sprang up, leaping high into the air before darting away.

The cold-faced man originally intended to counteract the threat from the dragon claw with stronger True Qi, but unexpectedly, Ye Xiao had darted away a moment prior with such speed that even he couldn't catch him.

However, due to inertia, the cold-faced man's True Qi impact struck directly at the villa's wall.

Boom!

With a muffled sound, a round hole appeared on the villa's wall—actually, not just one hole but multiple successive holes through several walls of the villa. The villa was certainly not made of paper, which speaks volumes about the power behind that punch.

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