High up in the sky.
A contingent of over a hundred sword cultivators escorted ten large flying boats as they cleaved through the sea of clouds.
The sword cultivators flying alongside the flying boats looked down at a city passing beneath them and buzzed with discussion.
"Good grief, they aren't going to fight?"
"Was that city we just passed serious? They didn't even activate their defensive formation. Do they really think we came for sightseeing?"
"Hall Master, what's going on here?"
Some were even more bewildered.
Was this Xuanming Sect... giving off the impression that they had just thrown in the towel entirely?
"What's going on?"
Lou Yuyu, having figured it out, let out a sneer. "They're terrified, that's what. They don't dare fight."
Evidently, the Xuanming Sect had already received word of the recent battle between the Nine Cauldrons Sect and the Great Sun Sword Sect.
"Hall Master, I perceive several vicious incidents currently underway in the city below targeting descendants of the Artifact Sect," an Origin Spirit realm cultivator suddenly spoke up.
"Then what are we waiting for?! Why show mercy to scoundrels who have lost all humanity?! Kill them!"
Lou Yuyu ordered without hesitation, "Guide us with your Origin Spirit! I will lead a squad down personally!"
"Understood!"
Having received the order, the Origin Spirit cultivator swiftly marked out each of the vicious incidents taking place.
Immediately, Lou Yuyu and over a dozen other Great Sword Cultivators stepped out from the ranks and swooped down toward the scenes of violence.
...
Inside a ransacked shop, several dozen ferocious Xuanming Sect body cultivators were dragging an eight-member family out from a basement where they had been hiding.
A body cultivator who appeared to be the head of the household had tried to resist, but was severely battered on the spot, his arms and legs broken. He could only watch helplessly as his elderly parents, wife, daughter, and son were dragged out roughly.
Gasoline was swiftly poured over his parents.
A man rushed forward holding an open flame, his face twisted in malice. "It's ours! Everything here is ours! How dare you come to our land and make money off us?! You all have to die!"
"Stop... stop..."
The man with broken limbs struggled, but another powerful body cultivator pinned him firmly beneath his foot.
"Kill them all! Take back what belongs to us!"
Another high-level body cultivator methodically barked orders.
"No!"
Seeing the Xuanming Sect member with the flame drawing closer to the battered, bloodied, and immobilized elderly couple, the middle-aged man let out a despairing cry.
The next moment...
Sword light tore through the void!
A ray of sword qi pierced the Xuanming Sect member's skull with incredible speed, instantly blowing his head into a bloody mist.
This sight caused the ferocious, frenzied mob from the Xuanming Sect to freeze.
Immediately after, a figure descended through the air, his gaze falling directly onto the struggling middle-aged man. "Are you of the Nine Cauldrons Sect?"
The middle-aged man had never considered himself a person of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, but in this moment, faced with the question, he nodded frantically. "I am, I am! I am a person of the Nine Cauldrons Sect..."
"Good."
The sword-riding man gave a slight nod.
With a flick of his fingers forming a sword sign, a streak of sword light shot like a swimming dragon straight into the midst of the dozens of Xuanming Sect body cultivators.
The average cultivation of these body cultivators was merely the third or fourth heaven; how could they possibly withstand the slaughter of such sword radiance?
Wherever the sword light passed, the heads of the Xuanming Sect body cultivators burst one after another like watermelons blown apart by sniper bullets.
It happened so fast that none of them had any room to resist.
Seeing this spectacle, the surrounding Xuanming Sect members scattered in all directions.
Meanwhile, the leading high-level body cultivator roared, "You're from the Nine Cauldrons Sect?! You dare run wild on Xuanming Sect territory?! You court death!"
He hurled an object into the air, releasing a dazzling beam of light that shot straight into the sky.
Swish!
With a flash of sword light, this high-level body cultivator followed in the footsteps of the others, his head blasted to pieces midair.
Scanning with his divine sense, the sword cultivator sensed Xuanming Sect body cultivators swiftly converging after seeing the signal, and immediately let out a cold snort. "A premeditated, organized action after all."
He directly ordered the several people beside him, "Have the Origin Spirit cultivators blanket the entire city with their divine mind and guide the sword cultivators to attack. Show no mercy to anyone drawn by the signal—kill them all!"
"Understood!"
The Great Cultivators who received the order complied.
As the divine mind of the Origin Spirit cultivators swept downward, blanketing a thousand li in radius and marking target after target for extermination, tens of thousands of rays of sword qi burst forth from the sword cultivators.
Though sword cultivators might exhaust themselves after just a dozen clashes in a life-and-death battle, that was because they had to unleash their strongest offensive techniques, exerting power far beyond what their current realm normally commanded, which naturally resulted in massive expenditure.
Right now, they were merely cleaning up a mob of body cultivators at the third or fourth layer of body refining, with the strongest among them only reaching the seventh or eighth layer...
This was an outright, one-sided slaughter.
Each Great Sword Cultivator effortlessly coalesced thousands of rays of sword qi.
The sword qi rained down like threads of silk. Guided by the Origin Spirit cultivators, they relentlessly executed one body cultivator after another who had been drawn in by the distress signal. In an instant, blood flowed like rivers across this city of ten million, with corpses littering the streets.
During this time, Star Lord–grade body cultivators, Foundation Establishment–grade sword cultivators, and spell cultivators were naturally enraged and attempted to stop the slaughter.
But...
For any city in the Xuanming Sect, having three to five Great Cultivators was already the limit.
Moreover, they were almost all of the first or second order.
Against sword cultivators hailing from elite battle institutes, who were at least of the third order and formed into sword formations, their fate was no different from ordinary cultivators.
The moment any showed their heads, what awaited them was concentrated fire from over a dozen life-bound flying swords.
After a single barrage, not even ashes would remain.
None of this required Lou Yuyu's attention, however.
By this point, he had already touched down beside the middle-aged man with broken limbs and fed him an elixir pill.
At the same time, he said, "I have come to bring you back to the Nine Cauldrons Sect. Are you willing to return?"
"We are willing, we are willing! We are willing!" the middle-aged man hastily replied.
The Xuanming Sect's ostracization, plunder, and slaughter of Artifact Sect descendants had lasted for over a month now, growing increasingly vicious in recent days. His family had lived continuously in such terror.
Now, hearing that they could return to the Nine Cauldrons Sect, the middle-aged man even wept tears of joy.
Immediately, Lou Yuyu circulated his true essence and carried the group into the air, boarding the large flying boat stationed directly above the city.
Once aboard the large flying boat, accompanying personnel naturally guided them to their respective rooms to rest.
Witnessing this, the middle-aged man felt deeply moved, yet also found it somewhat hard to believe.
After quite a while, he thought of something and asked a staff member beside him, "Leaving the flying boat... anchored right here like this... won't it be dangerous?"
"Dangerous?"
The staff member smiled. "You mean whether the Xuanming Sect will launch an attack against us? Rest easy, they wouldn't dare. If they dare come, the seniors of the Qingfeng Institute and Shenwei Institute will make sure every last one of them stays behind."
"This..."
"Why do you think we were able to fly our flying boats all the way here? It's because not long ago, we won a monumental victory in the East Sea. First, we wiped out more than three hundred of Xuanming Sect's most elite frontline Great Cultivators, and then elsewhere, we dealt a heavy blow to those meddlers from the Great Sun Sword Sect, even destroying one of their sky-patrol warships! As for the Xuanming Sect now... where would they find the courage to resist?" the staff member said proudly.
"Wiped out over three hundred elite Great Cultivators of the Xuanming Sect, and destroyed a sky-patrol warship belonging to the Great Sun Sword Sect?"
Listening to the staff member's words, the middle-aged man felt as if he were dreaming.
Every sect would do everything possible to promote its own strength and demean its adversaries.
The Xuanming Sect was no exception.
Not only did they portray themselves as equals to major powers like the Great Sun Sword Sect and the Shouyang Sect, but they also labeled the Nine Cauldrons Sect backward, weak, and decadent, as if the Nine Cauldrons Sect would crumble to dust with just a slight push from the Xuanming Sect.
As a result, hearing the staff member's claims gave the middle-aged man the surreal impression that reality had been inverted.
Was the Nine Cauldrons Sect truly this formidable?!
A moment later, however, such doubt was shattered by ironclad reality.
The Nine Cauldrons Sect's large flying boats had flown right into the heart of Xuanming Sect territory, and yet the Xuanming Sect couldn't muster even a shred of decent resistance. Did one even need to ask if they were strong?
At this thought, the middle-aged man took a deep breath, unable to help yearning for the wonderful life that awaited them upon returning to the Nine Cauldrons Sect.
...
Elsewhere, having returned to the flying boat, Lou Yuyu directly instructed the Origin Spirit cultivators of his battle institute, "Connect to the local Virtual Spirit Realm of the Xuanming Sect and issue a notice: Any member of the Xuanming Sect who dares persecute members of the Nine Cauldrons Sect through violent means will be executed on sight without mercy!"
After that, he added, "Collect some footage of what occurred in this city and publish it. Let them see the Nine Cauldrons Sect's resolve clearly. Filter it carefully—it must serve as a deterrent, but must not tarnish the sect's image."
"Understood!"
The Origin Spirit cultivator replied and swiftly set to work.
Before long, this notice was broadcast directly across the Xuanming Sect's section of the Virtual Spirit Realm.
As the notice went out, accompanied by the thunderous, merciless executions carried out by the Nine Cauldrons Sect, the entire Xuanming Sect erupted in an uproar.
Only at this moment did the people of the Xuanming Sect realize that their rampant slaughter of the Artifact Sect's descendants had actually brought the Nine Cauldrons Sect right to their gates!
Sword cultivators from the Nine Cauldrons Sect's battle institutes were already running rampant and slaying people in Xuanming Sect cities?!
For a time, unspeakable dread swept through the bodies of everyone in the Xuanming Sect.
War had arrived!
And it had come so swiftly!
In fact...
It had progressed so quickly that before they even realized when it had started, it was already over.
Yes, over.
Anyone with a modicum of discernment in the Xuanming Sect could guess that their sect must have suffered a catastrophic defeat. Otherwise, they would never have allowed sword cultivators from the Nine Cauldrons Sect to march right into Xuanming home territory!
Such an occurrence undoubtedly meant that the Xuanming Sect no longer possessed the strength to stop the Nine Cauldrons Sect, and could only allow them to do as they pleased within their borders.
Under these circumstances, panic rapidly spread across the Xuanming Sect.
Looting, smashing, arson, and even murder began spiraling out of control, sweeping toward other Xuanming Sect citizens.
The entire Xuanming Sect felt as though it was descending into total chaos.
And shortly after these announcements were made public, War Hall Master Ma Hong arrived alone before the flying boat fleet led by Lou Yuyu, bringing with him the Xuanming Sect's earnest desire to make peace with the Nine Cauldrons Sect.
Chapter 206