The caution and distrust built up over years of environment could not be smoothed over by a few events.
As the Wood Immortal Crone knew well, the more valuable something was, the more likely it was to be coveted. If her research into plant cultivation technology were exposed, the danger it brought would far exceed that of her beauty! This was why she had been unwilling to reveal these secrets even though her soul essence was in Qi Ping's hands.
It wasn't until Qi Ping helped her reach the Void Refinement stage, combined with his recent methods and the development of the Nine Domains, that she was completely won over. Before this, she never imagined a figure would appear in the cultivation world who could make almost every cultivator follow him willingly. Cultivators were full of self-confidence; the stronger they were, the more unruly they became! Because of their style and Dao-Heart system, a powerful cultivator would not easily submit to someone stronger, for it would affect their Dao-Heart—it was more painful than death.
To make a powerful cultivator submit—especially geniuses like Meng Tianqi and the Demon Blade Bai Liyun—was harder than climbing to heaven!
The Wood Immortal Crone was a genius who had hidden herself behind a repulsive, mutated shell for a lifetime. Since her youth, she had nearly been kidnapped to become a plaything for certain cultivators. If an elder sister in her sect hadn't saved her, she might have been violated and killed, or even turned into 'Human Sacrifice Livestock' to be eaten.
This was not alarmist. Ever since she reached Soul Transformation and took over her sect, she had been consciously purging these disgusting 'parasite' cultivators. Over the years, she had lost count of how many people she had killed or how many bloody scenes she had witnessed... from initial rage and madness to eventual numbness.
The most troublesome part was that most of these people weren't ordinary rogues or demons, but members of Aristocratic Families that had endured for countless ages! They controlled all the key positions, artifacts, and formations in the sect and domain. If she hadn't reached Soul Transformation in secret away from the sect, she might have been ambushed and killed during her breakthrough.
Even after becoming a Soul Transformation cultivator, she had spent years accumulating her own forces and followers, yet she still lacked the power to completely purge the tumors from her sect and the world. If she chose to act, a total war within the sect would ignite instantly. She might not survive such a chaotic battle, and the disciples and elders she had spent so long nurturing—the new generation—would be wiped out. The faction her master left her would be destroyed.
She even knew that these Aristocratic Families were connected to families in other domains. Once the mask was torn off, she would face more than just her internal enemies. If not for the fact that those hidden foundations were depleted with every use, she felt the families might have already united to kill and devour her.
Though she was the strongest in the sect, the nightmare that haunted her as a child remained... She had no choice but to remain hidden.
Until the Sky-Dragon Continent cultivators came. Until she saw that Qi Ping, a breath of fresh air in the cultivation world, seemed to have a chance to turn the tables. In truth, she had been watching Qi Ping and the Qingtian Domain since he first opened his special policies. Favoring rogue cultivators and culling noble families was exactly what she had always wanted to do. Qi Ping had naturally drawn her gaze; that environment was what she had once dreamed of.
Later, she watched as Qi Ping turned the noble families of the Qingtian Domain into a sea of blood, his black-clad figure trampling all evil... He stood up for rogues and killed all bandits and demons. He even sought extreme vengeance against the powers behind those bandits, forcing every ill-intentioned sect to tuck their tails and offer apologies.
Even more surprisingly, Qi Ping had directly turned those apologies into welfare and funds for rogues, igniting a craze of rogues joining the Qingtian Domain. She had watched the domain grow step by step, and she watched Qi Ping transform from a slightly powerful character into a master of a Forbidden Zone—a forbidden zone for evil, but a sanctuary for common rogues.
Because of this, when she faced the choice between the Sky-Dragon Continent and the Bee Daoist, she chose Qi Ping, who was significantly weaker at the time. she didn't know why the other seventeen had made the same choice, but she believed their reasons were similar—they believed that following such an existence would more likely allow them to touch the peak of the immortal path.
And of course, there was the feeling of Heavenly Intuition. A nebulous sense from the world itself urged her to make that choice, a feeling the other seventeen had also sensed.
And today proved she had not bet wrong!
Feeling the surging Void Refinement power within her, the joy and excitement were beyond words. However, along with this power came an endless sense of relief and a fierce killing intent! Sensing this killing intent, the people watching her breakthrough were shocked, wondering why she had erupted with such fury.
Facing their confusion, the Wood Immortal Crone did not explain immediately. She first used spells to block off the surrounding space, leaving only the core members inside. Qi Ping watched her calmly; he knew this fellow had something to say. The others felt the same; no one would be stupid enough to attack Qi Ping in the Nine Domains, nor did they believe she would do so.
After creating a completely sealed space, she took her next move. The crowd watched as she dragged her bloated, mutated body, covered in green toxic blisters, and knelt on one knee before Qi Ping.
"Your subordinate, Wood Immortal, has a request for the Star-Sovereign," her voice was sincere and earnest.
But this time, the voice she produced wasn't the raspy, unpleasant sound from before, but a pure, ethereal, celestial tone.
As the voice rang out, the mutations on her body began to dissolve rapidly, and her figure slowly shifted. With a surge of Wood-Spirit Celestial Qi, a peerlessly beautiful woman—one whose beauty could crush every female cultivator on the continent—replaced the ugly crone.
The woman wore a green celestial robe. Her face and figure were beautiful to the extreme, and she radiated an incredibly peaceful and warm aura of life. This was a beauty that could not be described. Her appearance made the billions of women in the continent pale in comparison. If she were to display this beauty without restraint, low-level cultivators would fall into a helpless state of chaos; without enough cultivation, one wasn't even qualified to admire her. Even ordinary beauties were not worth a ten-thousandth of her.
Such a transformation left everyone stunned, including Lin Yue, who hadn't expected the new Void Refiner's true form to be like this. The disgusting aura she previously carried hadn't seemed like an act. Those who had known her for ages were even more incredulous. The contrast was too vast!
Only a few showed looks of "as expected." They had long suspected her ugliness was a disguise, but they couldn't confirm it because the toxic blisters and repulsive energy were too realistic for a normal disguise.
But for all their shock, none of them made any unseemly expressions or moves. Cultivators at this level only needed a word to have countless beauties throw themselves at them; they wouldn't have the "loser" mindset of someone who had never seen a beautiful woman. Moreover, she was speaking to Qi Ping, the Lord of the Star-Sea, so no one dared to interrupt.
In the crowd, the only one who felt no surprise was likely Qi Ping, for he had already seen through her disguise. However, he had to admit that when he first saw her true form, he had been shocked by such transcendent beauty. He had seen many beautiful female cultivators, but never one like this. But beyond that, Qi Ping had no special thoughts. He had too much to do, and beauty was not a priority. Most importantly, if he wanted such things, he could have a different one every day for eternity.
To him, most bodies were just "pink skeletons." Unless he specifically chose not to, he saw the world through its essence. He wouldn't treat living cultivators as dead objects, but a person's thoughts and spirit were the core. If he wanted to, he could easily clear the impurities and filth from a body and upgrade its constitution.
"What is your request?" the black-clad Qi Ping asked calmly.
"Your subordinate wishes to personally eliminate some of the Aristocratic Families in my sect. Doing so will bring significant casualties and weaken the strength of the Nine Domains, but these families are filthy and full of crimes. According to the laws of the Nine Domains, they should all be executed."
Then, she began to tell her story from her youth—how a twisted cultivator had nearly kidnapped her for his amusement. Step by step, she revealed a noble family that treated all sentient beings as straw dogs and livestock. She even displayed shocking evidence through recording stones.
As the evidence appeared, everyone fell silent. Although they were all experienced, having the collective disgusting deeds of a continent-wide family heritage revealed at once was inevitably silencing. Those bloody events vividly showed what "livestock under the noble houses" meant.
The one with the strongest emotional reaction was Qi Ping, for he practiced the Way of Sentient Beings and could clearly feel the screams of pain. But this emotional wave didn't make him weak. The rage and killing intent were like the toughest armor covering his true spirit. When the killing intent and rage from his Way of Sentient Beings erupted, even the Void Refinement cultivators in the room trembled.
It was too terrifying. Qi Ping's killing intent was so strong it directly shook their spirits! Everyone, including Wood Immortal, knew his answer immediately.
After a long while, Qi Ping gradually calmed his killing intent.
"Wood Immortal, I have said before: against such families and people, if the evidence is solid, just deal with them. As for the problem of the world's spirit weakening due to their deaths... my answer is that our home does not need a group of disgusting maggots to guard it. Go ahead and do what you must. I will handle the rest."
Qi Ping's gaze was calm but full of fierce confidence and resolve. He never believed that a group of parasites would truly protect their home. Turning them into nutrients for the spirit veins was their best destiny.
"Thank you, Star-Sovereign!" the Wood Immortal Crone said with extreme excitement. Her reverence for Qi Ping reached an unprecedented peak. She stood up immediately, eager to deal with the families that had haunted her for so long.
But just as she rose, Qi Ping called her back.
"Let Tianqi and Moyun accompany you. Remember to tear their corpses apart and bring them back."
Qi Ping didn't say what he would do with the corpses, but everyone knew their final destination.
"Yes, Star-Sovereign!" Meng Tianqi and the Demon Blade Bai Liyun immediately accepted the order.
"Also, one place is not enough. I remember many noble houses outside the Nine Domains haven't moved yet. Check which ones are like the families Wood Immortal investigated. Coordinate with Lin Yue and handle them all at once!"
"Every single one. There is no need for mercy!"