Despair. Fang Xuan drowned in its deepest depths as soon as he witnessed the dead bodies of his sect members, both new and old. His legs threatened to give in as he ran, but the thought of ascertaining the fate of his father kept him pressing on. The air of death was so thick Fang Xuan could choke on it, at any moment he could vomit.
Fang Xuan opened the slammed open the twin doors into the patriarch's chamber. For a moment he was reprieved to see his father still alive. His hope quickly plummeted once he saw Guyan, his arm now fully recovered, it held a sword at his father's throat. He must have used the same technique to restore it as his sister Xiao.
"Let my father go! Is massacring my sect not enough for your revenge!" His eyes moist, Fang Xuan shouted.
Yes, Guyan happily followed their sect master into turning the Transient Blade into a slaughterhouse just so he could see Fang Xuan in shambles. His hand he had already regained, but Fang Xuan had shattered his pride in front of thousands! This vile lesson would suffice before Guyan sends this boy into the afterlife.
"It is not! Remember this Fang Xuan, their death is all on your hands! If only you remained as the weak cultivator none of this would have happened!"
"Don't listen to him, my son!" The patriarch shouted. Even at the risk of being killed, he would not tolerate such slander. "If it wasn't for you this sect was already done for, you are this sect's pride and joy Fang Xuan, don't let this..."
Unable to finish his sentence, a torrent of blood gushed from his neck as Guyan slit his throat.
"AaAAaaaAaaAAaaAa!" A deranged scream was unleashed by Fang Xuan as he collapsed to his knees. How did it come to this? All he wanted was to restore their sect to its former glory?
"You just had to run your mouth old man." Guyan spit at the bloodied corpse beneath his feet. "Tsk tsk, your father simply became nother body added to the list of your victims, Fang Xuan. The only way you could repent is by death! Allow me to help you!"
As Guyan charged to slash Fang Xuan with his sword, Guyan was surprise that the despair ridden man was able draw out his Bagua Dao and shield himself from the blow. Not only that, he was disarmed by Fang Xuan as he swung his massive sword in retaliation!
The tip of his Bagua Dao pointed towards Guyan's face, Guyan smirked and taunted.
"What are you going to do, are you going to kill me? A much better question would be, do you have it in you to kill?"
The nerve of this man to ask such a ludicrous question angered Fang Xuan that he immediately raised his sword, bringing it down to cleave Guyan from his neck down to his torso.
Fang Xuan was in for a surprise when his blade was unable to penetrate Guyan's skin. His body covered from head to toe in bronze, Guyan enjoyed the bewilderment in Fang Xuan's face.
To ensure that his cultivation would be higher than Fang Xuan's, Guyan had devoted himself to the ways of demonic cultivation. Allowing him to master this [Bronze Body] technique with astonishing speed.
A single punch from Guyan's bronze fist was all it took to send Fang Xuan flying, slamming into the wall.
"Ahahaha, that's more like it! Show me how pathetic you are, Fang Xuan, just like the good old days!"
Guyan leapt into the air, his descending kick aimed to flatten Fang Xuan!
<I SMELL A DEMONIC CULTIVATOR!>
Fang Xuan was able to evade. A strange energetic voice popped into his head, but his focus was to demonic Cultivator trying to beat him into a pulp as Guyan launched his barrage of fists onto Fang Xuan.
The sound of bronze crashing against metal echoed as Fang Xuan tried his best to deflect Guyan's attacks. Every know and then, a punch would slip through, hitting Fang Xuan in the face and body, making it painfully obvious the gap between their cultivation.
<DO YOU NEED POWER TO MURDER THIS DEMONIC FILTH IN FRONT OF YOU? I CAN GRANT IT TO YOU, CHILD!>
The giddy offer from inside his mind momentarily made Fang Xuan lose focus, allowing Gu Yan to land a solid blow into Fang Xuan's head, sending him flying once more.
<But alas, I have finally awoken to find out I am sealed. It would appear that you are fated to die in this encounter, child. One could only hope that my next vessel would possess more luck.> The joyous tone of the voice faded, replaced instead with lament.
Fang Xuan got it now. The mysterious voice was coming from the sword. Fang Xuan stood, vomiting blood. His posture limp due to the damage he sustained from Guyan's punches, but still he stood.
"Can you truly help me kill this son of a bitch?" Fang Xuan questioned. This entity might be correct, that his ill luck brought this sordid fate on his sect, then it should have been him. Only him and not them. Thus, he would even sacrifice his life to attain vengeance. He cannot cross over until he had sent to hell those who murdered his sect.
<Killing a small fry like him would be child's play, if you can free me that is. This powerful seal is made in the Heavenly Court, one could only remove of one's cultivation is higher than the one who put it. Unless... >
"Unless what!?'
<Unless you sacrifice your future potential. Remove the seal by sacrificing the soul of your arm, if you have the strength to reach Transcendence, the seal shall accept your offering and take your arm. But be warned, no pill or healing technique under the heavens can restore a destroyed soul.>
Fang Xuan smirked, "I'll lose and arm and that's it?"
A small price to pay for his revenge. He would even give all of his Iimbs if need be.
"Speaking to yourself in your final moments? Utterly pathetic, it almost makes me want to pity you. Almost. Now hold still so you can follow your father in the afterlife!"
Guyan's fist was about to crash into Fang Xuan until Fang Xuan's left hand tried to rip off the sealing talisman on his sword.
With a just a small scrape, the mysterious Cultivator's power leaked from the blade, a red aura emanating from the sword blasted Guyan away!
<YEEEES, CHILD! RELEASE ME SO WE CAN CLEANSE THIS DEMONIC BLIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!>
The mysterious cultivator took on his zealous timbre once again. As the skin was being burned on Fang Xuan's arm, the seal was starting to get removed bit by bit. By devouring his flesh and bone, the seal would soon gorge on his arm's soul.
With an ounce of flesh remaining, Fang Xuan's entire arm exploded into blue qi along with the seal.
The soul inside the Bagua Dao was finally unbound.
<Well done, child. Allow me to grant you some of my power so you can dispose of this demonic filth. I, Chi You, Bane of all demons, shall use you as a vessel to eradicate this realm of all Demonic Cultivators!>
The sudden surge of power made Fang Xuan vomit more blood. He could feel his meridians getting ruined, but in return his cultivation had been increased up to the heavens! He must be at the Supreme Tyrant - nay, he's at the Peerless Daeva realm right now! The power lent might be temporary and would even cause problems with his future cultivation, but as long as Fang Xuan can get his revenge, he would settle for anything!
"Fang Xuan, what the hell did you do!?" Guyan shouted in panic. He could since Fang Xuan's cultivation to be far above his Divine Champion realm.
<It would appear that our qi is incompatible, but would you let something as insignificant as that prevent you from getting your revenge, child?>
"No...not at all..."Fang Xuan's voice was empty. His dantian is already ruined, if so then he would have no reservation in using a qi foreign to his, no matter how much his dantian went against it.
Using the blood dripping from his left shoulder socket, Fang Xuan imbued some of it into his blade.
Fang Xuan impaled his sword into the ground. After a brief delay, spikes as long as spears emerged from the ground and impaled Guyan, destroying his bronze body and rendering him helpless.
A wicked offering for the demonic sword, the blood spears allowed Chi You to eat Guyan's sould, his blood getting drained with each passing moment rendered him as pale as cotton.
Retracting the blood spears, Fang Xuan bandaged his wounded arm and then left. Guyan was simply a goon, the head murderer must pay.
Thus, Fang Xuan hurried over to the Northern Vanguard sect to fulfill his revenge.
I've decided to flesh out Fang Xuan's backstory a bit more since he is going to be one Xiao's most trusted friends/allies in the future, even if this arc will end with Fang Xuan and Xiao fighting to the death.
His one arm missing is a tribute to the kung-fu film one-armed swordsman.