Qingyang Town.
A small town located at the foot of Blissful Sect’s mountain.
Many cultivators visiting Blissful Sect or merchants passing through for trade would stop and rest in the town, adding liveliness to this otherwise ordinary place.
As night fell…
Inside a lavishly decorated inn, two figures suddenly appeared in front of a room.
Clack!
One of them pushed the door open without hesitation.
“Are you two cultivators from Blissful Sect?”
Inside the room, a refined middle-aged man sat at the table drinking tea. He looked up at the two elderly men who barged in and asked calmly, as if he had already expected them. What he didn’t expect was for them to come this late at night.
“That’s right,” one of the elders replied without denying it. They glanced around the room and found only the refined man inside. Their gazes locked onto him.
“So you’re from Heavenly Mystic Holy Land?” one of them asked, verifying the man’s identity.
The refined man nodded arrogantly. His gaze swept past the two elders to look behind them, but the hallway was empty. His brows furrowed.
“Where is he?” he asked in displeasure.
“Who?” one of the elders asked in confusion.
“That disciple named Ye Chen, of course! Didn’t I order your Blissful Sect to hand him over? He offended our Holy Land’s Young Sect Master—he must die! And you came here at night without bringing him?”
The refined man’s tone was harsh and unkind. As an outer sect elder of Heavenly Mystic Holy Land, he relied on his status and didn’t take Blissful Sect seriously at all. A few days ago, he had already sent a message demanding that Ye Chen be handed over.
He had assumed these two elders had brought Ye Chen, but realizing they hadn’t made his anger flare.
Did they think Heavenly Mystic Holy Land’s orders were nothing?
“So that’s what this is about…”
The two elders nodded slightly in understanding, but their expressions grew colder as they looked at the man, a glint of killing intent flashing in their eyes.
Still fuming, the refined man failed to notice the shift in atmosphere. Seeing they truly hadn’t brought Ye Chen, he scowled and snapped, “If you didn’t bring him, then why are you here?”
“To kill you, of course,” one of the elders replied.
In the next second, he struck without warning. Spiritual energy surged around him, and a violent wave of power blasted toward the refined man.
“You dare—”
Boom!
The refined man’s pupils contracted and his expression changed drastically. Before he could speak further, he quickly gathered his spiritual energy to defend himself, but he was still caught off guard and sent flying by a single palm strike.
Crash!
His body smashed through the wall and landed outside on the street.
The two elders didn’t let up and pursued him immediately. The moment they locked onto his aura, another punch came down.
“You—”
Injured and stunned, the man tried to speak again, but was violently suppressed.
Boom! Boom!
His body was flung back once more.
Pffft!
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
In a panic, the man summoned his life-bound treasure. A giant silver shield materialized in front of him, radiating spiritual light and standing tall like a mountain, offering a sense of protection.
The two elders appeared again in an instant.
One wielded a massive blood-colored axe, like a sea of endless carnage.
The other held a long skeletal sword, like a purgatory of corpses.
“Slash!”
“Strike!”
They shouted coldly, weapons crashing down onto the silver shield.
Boom! Boom!
The ground shook violently, and a terrifying storm of energy burst forth. Shops lining the street were instantly reduced to dust.
Crack!
Faint cracks appeared on the mountain-like silver shield…
The refined man’s face turned pale. He felt the aura of death looming over him and lost all composure and arrogance.
“I’m an outer sect elder of Heavenly Mystic Holy Land! Why are you attacking me?” he cried out in a panic.
He couldn’t understand the reason for their attack. If they simply didn’t want to hand over their disciple, there was no need to go this far. After all, he was an elder of the Holy Land—killing him would surely bring down devastating retaliation.
Such action wasn’t worth the cost.
“Hmph! You dare ask why?”
“You not only pressured us to hand over Ye Chen, but also murdered Jiang Yuyan!”
“You clearly don’t regard our Blissful Sect at all!”
“Tonight, we’ll take your life to show the world—Blissful Sect is not to be trifled with!” the two elders shouted furiously.
With those words, they attacked again.
Boom! Boom!
Sword and axe fell once more, shaking the ground with thunderous roars!
Crack!
The spiritual energy of the silver shield grew even weaker. Cracks spread wider—it was on the verge of shattering.
Pffft!
His life-bound treasure damaged, the refined man suffered a backlash and spat another mouthful of blood.
He was dumbfounded.
“Who’s Jiang Yuyan?”
The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t recall who she was in this urgent moment.
Too many had died by his hand—he couldn’t possibly remember every name.
But he was certain he had never killed anyone from Blissful Sect!
“Jiang Yuyan was our sect’s vice sect master! Weren’t you the one who secretly killed her yesterday? Still trying to deny it?”
“Today, you will die. We’ll use your blood to honor her!” the two elders declared coldly.
They were Supreme Elders of Blissful Sect, both in the Void Refining Realm.
They believed Ye Chen’s words completely, convinced that the killer of Jiang Yuyan was someone from the Heavenly Mystic Holy Land.
They were acting on orders from the Grand Elder. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come down the mountain to seek revenge.
From the very start, they had gone all in, holding nothing back.
“I killed your vice sect master yesterday?”
The refined man looked dazed, his head spinning.
When had he ever done such a thing?
He had no clue. Someone had obviously pinned the blame on him.
Now he was being forced to carry the weight of a murder he never committed!
“So you admit it?”
“Even if you’re from the Holy Land, today you’ll pay with your life!”
Hearing what they assumed was a confession, the two elders were enraged and attacked even more ferociously.
“Die!”
Boom! Boom!
Their powerful strikes shook the earth. The entire town trembled under the force.
Crack! Crack!
The silver shield’s light dimmed. Cracks webbed across its surface—it had reached its limit!
Pffft!
The refined man suffered another backlash, coughing up more blood.
He was utterly confused. He hadn’t admitted anything—it was clearly a question. But seeing the two elders going all out to kill him, he panicked and shouted, “It wasn’t me! I’ve never even seen this Jiang Yuyan!”
He felt completely wronged. Why was he being beaten for something he didn’t do?
“Denial is useless. You’re the killer!” one of the elders growled.
Convinced he was the culprit, they ignored all his explanations.
Without another word, they attacked again!
The refined man was in shock.
Was he really going to take the fall for this?
“If you kill me, Heavenly Mystic Holy Land won’t let you live!” he shouted desperately, trying to use the name of the Holy Land to intimidate them.
Boom!
Crack!
Bang!
The two elders showed no mercy.
One swing shattered the silver shield.
The next strike cleaved the refined man’s body in half!
A flash of sword light followed, destroying his nascent soul on the spot.
A Void Refining Realm cultivator—killed just like that.