The entire square fell deathly silent once more.
Only the wind blew, carrying a thick stench of blood.
Black Rock Demon Lord shifted his butt in disgust, dodging the splatters. "Great Sage, how many times do I have to tell you? Clean up after yourself! This blood and guts mess—sect master's gonna chew us out again for being slobs!"
Scarlet Sun Demon Sage shook his hand free of gore and let out a long, relieved breath, a look of pure gratification spreading across his face.
"Fucking satisfying! Shit, held all this in for days, finally got to let it out!"
He cracked his neck, the sound of bone creaking sharp in the quiet, and his blood-red, fierce eyes swept over the petrified Yun Tianxiong and the others. "What? You wanna try it too?"
"Run!"
A shrill scream tore through the silence.
The remaining members of Cloud Mist Sect were scared out of their wits. They abandoned their ancestor's remains without a second glance, turning into panicked streaks of escape light and fleeing for their lives down the mountain—mourning that their parents hadn't given them an extra pair of wings!
Yun Tianxiong, too, was utterly terrified by the horrific scene. He cast one last glance at where his father had vanished, let out a beastly howl of grief, and turned into a streak of light, fleeing faster than anyone else.
[Ding! Sect Crisis Mission Completed!]
[Rewards Issued: 5000 Points, 1 Sect Building - Martial Arts Field! 10 Random Profound-Rank Magical Artifacts (stored in System Space).]
[Ding! Sect Reputation upgraded to "Famous Far and Wide" (limited to the Northern Border Wasteland).]
Jiang Ling: "..."
It had all happened so fast. The few pretentious lines he'd prepared were stuck in his throat, unspoken.
Less than five minutes from start to finish, and it was over?
He shot a glance at Scarlet Sun Demon Sage, who looked utterly refreshed, then at the unnameable mess on the ground. His mouth twitched, and he finally forced out a sentence: "Efficient. Not bad. Next time, try to keep the place clean."
Chirp!
Jincancan nodded in approval, highly praising Scarlet Sun Demon Sage's actions.
It strode slowly over to the ashen-faced disciples and lashed out with one wing.
Whoosh!
A gust of violent wind erupted, sending the disciples stumbling and tumbling into a heap.
Chirp! Chirp!
Cowering like this at a little trouble! Snap out of it, all of you!
"Senior Brother..."
At the sight of Jincancan, the disciples' faces turned even paler.
Senior Brother was so fierce.
It may have just been a chicken, but almost no one in the sect dared to cross it.
Whoever dared to mock it ended up with a pecked-bald scalp and not an unbruised inch of skin on their body.
Hmph!
A cold snort came from outside the mountain gate, from Scarlet Sun Demon Sage.
The disciples, who had just started to stand up, trembled. Their gazes toward Scarlet Sun Demon Sage and Black Rock Demon Lord were filled with boundless awe.
These gatekeepers were way too brutal!
They'd crushed a Golden Core ancestor like it was nothing. It was reassuring, sure—but why did that reassurance make their hearts race even more with fear?
Hua Yuntian had witnessed the entire scene, his pupils contracting violently.
His eyes were sharp, and he'd seen that Scarlet Sun Demon Sage's grab, though seemingly simple, held a terrifying, back-to-basics mastery of the laws of power.
No ordinary Demon Sage could pull that off.
Even in his past life, going up against Scarlet Sun Demon Sage would have been no easy feat.
For the first time, a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.
The water in this Primordial Beginning Sect was getting deeper and deeper!
The faint thought of confronting Jiang Ling that had lingered in his mind was instantly doused with a bucket of ice water, leaving only deeper wariness and pent-up frustration that had nowhere to go.
At Cloud Mist Sect, a miasma of despair hung over the entire compound.
Sect Master Yun Tianxiong slouched in his chair, his face ashen, his eyes vacant.
His son was dead, his father was dead...
And both had been crushed like worthless bugs!
"Sect Master, let it go!" an elder said, his voice trembling and choked with sobs. "That Primordial Beginning Sect has a peerless fiend guarding it! Even our ancestor was no match for him..."
"Let it go?"
Yun Tianxiong's head shot up, his eyes blazing with blood-red madness and bitter, bone-deep venom.
"He killed my son and my father! This hatred is irreconcilable! Let it go? I, Yun Tianxiong, swear to avenge them!"
"If we're no match for them, we'll hire someone who is!"
"How can we let a tiger sleep at our door? I refuse to believe that with enough gold, no one will step up!"
He emptied Cloud Mist Sect's treasury, even mortgaging the sect's spiritual mines, and scraped together a massive hoard of spirit stones and heavenly materials and earthly treasures. With it, he hired the Jade Sword Sect—a Seventh-Rank sect guarded by a Nascent Soul ancestor—to make a move.
He promised that after the Primordial Beginning Sect was destroyed, all its resources would belong to the Jade Sword Sect. All he wanted was the heads of Jiang Ling and the bald man who'd crushed his son!
Tempted by the enormous profit, Jade Ji Zi, the ancestor of the Jade Sword Sect, agreed.
"In the entire Northern Border Wasteland, there can only be one Seventh-Rank sect," he said.
Any force with the potential to rise to Seventh-Rank status was seen as a threat by the Jade Sword Sect—and dealt with harshly.
Jade Ji Zi had done this more than once.
This time would be no different.
He prided himself on his profound sword dao. With Cloud Mist Sect's full support, he gathered the elite of both sects: several Golden Core cultivators, nearly fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators, and over a hundred Qi Refining cultivators. Together, they marched on the Primordial Beginning Sect in a mighty host!
This time, they'd brought their sect's treasure, the Ice Soul Sword, and planned for every eventuality.
And then...
There was no and then.
According to the few Jade Sword Sect disciples who'd narrowly escaped with their lives, all they'd seen was a colossal bear paw, blotting out the sky and sun, materialize above the Primordial Beginning Sect's mountain gate. After that, their ancestor and several uncles had vanished without a trace—not even a wisp of ash left behind.
In truth, the remaining disciples of both sects hadn't fared any better. Scarlet Sun Demon Sage, still burning with pent-up fury, had slaughtered nearly all of them.
Jincancan had refused to be outdone, charging out of the mountain gate and slaying several Foundation Establishment cultivators for good measure.
Hua Yuntian had also gritted his teeth and charged forward, smacking a few lowly Qi Refining disciples to death—finally getting a little of his own frustration out.
The only disciple who'd survived was the one who'd been smart enough to stay far away, too scared to get close.
Thus, the alliance of the two sects was completely annihilated!
When the news spread, the entire Jade Sword Sect was struck dumb with shock. They sealed their mountain gates overnight, cursing Cloud Mist Sect to the heavens.
If it hadn't been for Cloud Mist Sect goading their ancestor into action, their ancestor would still be alive, and the Jade Sword Sect would never have...
...
Before the mountain gate of the Primordial Beginning Sect, the ground was littered with corpses, and a thick stench of burnt flesh hung in the air.
Jiang Ling stood beneath the mountain gate archway, staring at the hellish scene. The smile on his face faded little by little, replaced by a cold, indifferent calm.
"Coming at my door time and time again," he muttered to himself, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "If a tiger doesn't show its claws, everyone thinks it's a sick cat."
He looked at Scarlet Sun Demon Sage, who'd finished venting his rage and whose bald head looked even more ferocious in the glow of the burning fires. At Jincancan, whose feathers were stained with blood and whose eyes blazed with sharp fury. At Hua Yuntian, who was slightly out of breath and whose eyes held a complex mix of emotions.
"Scarlet Sun. Jincancan. Hua Yuntian."
"Here, Master!" Jincancan answered, its voice brimming with fighting spirit. Hua Yuntian, too, straightened his back almost instinctively.
Scarlet Sun Demon Sage merely twitched his lips.
Black Rock Demon Lord looked up, his head snapping around instinctively.
"Come with me," Jiang Ling said. "We're going to Cloud Mist Sect and Jade Sword Sect to demand an explanation."
His voice was calm, yet it held an unshakable murderous intent. "If they like coming to our door so much, then we'll go to theirs—door-to-door service."
"Wait, what about me, Sect Master?!" Black Rock Demon Lord panicked.
How could it miss out on a good sect annihilation like this!