Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts
Chapter 451

Xu Ming’s voice echoed around the courtyard.

Hearing his words, Xu Yi and Xu Shan narrowed their eyes, their expressions darkening with clear displeasure.

They felt as if they were being looked down upon.

Actually, there was no “as if” about it—Xu Ming was looking down on them.

And he was doing it on purpose.

To make these people understand their place, they needed to feel the gap between them. And sometimes, a little humiliation was necessary to drive the point home.

A simple sparring match wouldn’t be enough.

By embarrassing them in front of everyone, Xu Ming could also send a warning to the other members of the Xu family who might be harboring rebellious thoughts.

“Fifth Brother, you seem a bit too confident,” Xu Yi said, forcing a smile, but there was already a hint of killing intent in his eyes.

Xu Ming simply chuckled. “Big Brother, you’ll know once you try.”

“Hmph.”

Xu Yi let out a cold laugh, and from within his sleeve, a talisman shot out.

As soon as it hit the air, the talisman ignited on its own, transforming into a massive fire dragon.

“Roar!”

The fire dragon let out a deafening roar, and the temperature in the courtyard skyrocketed. Waves of heat swept through the area, and some people had already begun sweating.

Most of the people present were ordinary folk—they had never witnessed a cultivator’s battle before.

To them, Xu Yi’s fire dragon looked mighty and overwhelming. This was the true power of a great cultivator!

By contrast, Xu Ming’s floating tree branch seemed utterly unimpressive.

But just as everyone thought the fire dragon was about to swallow the tree branch whole—

A single wisp of sword energy erupted from the branch.

With just a flicker of a sword wind, the massive fire dragon instantly dissipated into nothingness.

It was like using a kitchen knife to casually slice an earthworm in half.

Xu Yi’s heart clenched in shock.

He knew Xu Ming’s cultivation level—nothing more than the Dragon Gate Realm.

And he was also at the Dragon Gate Realm.

But the problem was, how could a sword cultivator at the same level unleash sword energy this sharp?!

Since leaving the mountain, Xu Yi had killed several cultivators above his level, even some in the Golden Core Realm. He had also seen many Golden Core sword cultivators in action.

But not a single one of them could achieve something like this.

Unwilling to accept it, Xu Yi immediately summoned two more talismans.

One transformed into a giant hand.

The other turned into a fierce tiger, lunging straight at the tree branch.

But once again, with just two casual sword slashes, the hand and tiger were completely annihilated.

Not only that—the tree branch, as if agitated by the repeated attacks, suddenly shot toward Xu Yi like a piercing sword.

Xu Yi’s expression changed dramatically. He slapped the table and leapt away, barely dodging the branch.

The moment it paused in midair, Xu Shan saw an opportunity.

With a fierce roar, he clenched his fist and swung it toward the branch.

His Flaming Sun Fist carried searing heat, capable of reducing boulders to molten slag.

In his mind, there was no way a mere branch could withstand his attack.

But the moment his fist struck—

Instead of the branch breaking, it was Xu Shan who was sent flying backward.

He crashed to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

“Shan’er!”

Seeing her son injured, Xu Shan’s mother rushed forward to help him up.

Xu Yi, now airborne, frantically summoned a series of talismans.

A towering Asura formed behind him, its imposing figure clutching a massive blade.

But the tree branch—

It moved like an immortal sword, slashing straight toward Xu Yi.

The Asura swung its giant blade to block the attack—

But the branch cut through the weapon effortlessly.

Then it tore through the Asura’s entire form.

And finally, it shot toward Xu Yi’s chest.

Xu Yi’s pupils shrank to pinpoints.

At the last second, he desperately pulled out a protective talisman and placed it in front of him.

Crack!

The talisman shattered on impact.

In the next moment, Xu Yi plummeted from the sky—

And landed with a splash in the courtyard’s decorative pond.

Soaking wet and utterly humiliated.

Madam Qian was startled and hurried toward the pond.

The tree branch was still hovering in midair, but it had stopped its assault.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Xu Ming had remained seated, calmly eating his meal without so much as glancing up.

Yet despite Xu Yi and Xu Shan giving it their all, they had failed to break that single branch.

“Old Ancestor, everyone, I still have some matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave first. Please, enjoy the meal.”

Xu Ming set down his bowl and chopsticks, then stood and bowed respectfully toward the Old Matriarch and the elders at the table.

He had eaten, he had delivered his lesson, and he had nothing left to do here. It was best to leave and focus on handling more important affairs.

“Ah, alright,” the Old Matriarch finally reacted, nodding as she spoke. “Ming’er, don’t forget about the ancestral rites tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Xu Ming replied with a slight nod. With his Tang Heng Saber fastened at his waist, he strode out of the courtyard.

As he left, every pair of eyes followed him, filled with newfound respect and awe.

And the moment he stepped beyond the threshold—

The hovering tree branch dropped to the ground.

A mischievous little girl suddenly jumped down from her chair and ran toward it.

“Maru Maru!”

Her mother panicked and quickly called out to her, but the girl had already reached the branch.

She picked it up, gave it a slight twist—

And snapped it in half.

The little girl cheered, waving the broken branch in excitement. “Mother, mother! I did it! I broke the branch!”

“…”

Silence.

Everyone in the courtyard—men and women, young and old—fell into an uneasy stillness.

No one dared to say a word.

Madam Qian and Madam Lin, in particular, looked absolutely mortified.

Had their sons lost in a hard-fought battle, it would have been one thing. They could have still saved face by saying something like, ‘As expected, Fifth Young Master truly deserves to be ranked second on the Qingyun List.’

But this…

This was a complete and utter defeat.

Their sons had been injured—by a mere tree branch.

And that tree branch was nothing special.

It wasn’t some divine artifact.

It wasn’t imbued with powerful energy.

It was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill tree branch.

One so ordinary that after Xu Ming left, a little girl had broken it with ease.

“I’ve had my fill.”

The Old Matriarch stood up, casting a brief glance at Madam Lin before turning away without another word.

Xiangni hurried forward to support the elderly woman as she walked away.

“Don’t get any ideas.”

Xu Shuiya took a sip of his wine before speaking in a steady, commanding tone.

“From today onward, whatever Ming’er says is the Old Matriarch’s word.

Whatever rules he sets are the Xu family’s law.

Do you all understand?”

The men and women at the main table responded in unison, bowing their heads.

“Yes.”

Xu Shuiya rose from his seat and left as well.

No one at the main table had an appetite anymore.

But neither did anyone dare to leave before proper etiquette allowed.

Madam Lin stared at Wang Feng in shock, her enchanting peach-blossom eyes silently asking, ‘Since when did Ming’er become this powerful?’

Wang Feng simply smiled.

“You’re only realizing it now?”

She glanced toward the courtyard’s entrance, her gaze carrying both pride and a wistful nostalgia.

“Our Ming’er… is no longer the little boy he once was.”