Blood. The ground was covered in blood so vibrantly red it hurt his eyes. It dyed the entire area on the mountain summit red. The corpses of his fellow sect members lay scattered on the ground. Some of them were new disciples, some were his Nascent Soul uncle-masters, some were even Soul Formation elders. Everyone of them lay on the ground with their eyes wide opened as if they had seen something shocking before they died.

　　His whole sect had been massacred.

　　His entire body turned ice cold, his mind a total blank as he looked disbelievingly at this scene from hell.

　　“Huh? There’s another one.” Suddenly, a spine chilling voice rang out above him.

　　A huge irresistible pressure instantly descended on him. His legs gave way and his whole body was pressed against the blood-stained ground. His internal organs and meridians ruptured instantly. His Golden Core was also completely shattered. Blood spurted out from his mouth, he could not move at all. He could only watch as his cultivation flowed out like blood from his body.

　　“Hmmph, he’s just an ant.” He heard the sound of that arrogant voice again before it gradually faded into the distance.

　　Using his entire remaining strength, Little Brother managed to raise his head to look in the direction of the voice. However, all he could see was a white figure covered in a glowing halo, flying towards the horizon. It was like a scene from a dream.

　　That was… Immortal Qi!

　　He was actually an immortal! Why? Why did the immortal destroy his entire sect!

　　He would no longer have a chance to find the answers to his questions. His life was ebbing away as his eyes grew dim.

　　Suddenly a familiar figure appeared in his field of vision.

　　“Little Brother? Little Brother, are you all right?”

　　This voice was…

　　“Shen…” Miss Shen. Why had she returned?! Before he could react, he felt something being stuffed into his mouth. His whole body grew warm and blood stopped flowing out of his body. He began to regain some of his strength back.

　　“What happened?”

　　Recovering his senses, he struggled hard to push her away. “Go! Quick, leave this place! That man… is not from this realm.”

　　“They came here?” Shen Ying’s face darkened. Standing up immediately, she asked, “When did they leave, which direction were they heading?”

　　“I think he’s heading towards Yin Skycity.” Seeing she was about to pursue him, he wanted to stop her immediately. “Miss Shen, you… are no match for him, leave quickly…”

　　But the person in front of him had vanished.

　　“Don’t go after him, escape quickly!” He called out desperately, “He’s an immortal…”

　　Before he could complete his sentence, something white flashed before his eyes. Crash! A body landed in front of him. Clad in snow-white robes, his body still covered with Immortal Qi, he was that immortal who had just flown off; only now he was like the other bodies lying on the ground… lifeless.

　　“Little Brother, how are you feeling? Are you still alive?” Shen Ying, who was once again at his side, asked.

　　“…”

　　After some thought, she detached a white-colored vegetable from her leg and plucked out a big bunch of white flowers from it.

　　“Ji ji ji ji…” That vegetable cried pitifully.

　　“Any more noise from you and I’ll stew you.”

　　The vegetable stopped crying.

　　Stuffing the flowers into his hands, Shen Ying instructed, “Eat these, you will feel better. I’m in a rush so I’ll leave first.”

　　“Ah… Oh.”

　　Shen Ying turned and was about to head in the direction of Yin Skycity.

　　Filled with gratitude, Little Brother could not help asking, “Senior, may I know which sect you are from?”

　　Shen Ying paused a moment before turning her head to reply, “Oh, I’m from Invincible Sect.”

　　Then she added as an afterthought, “If you have time, alert the other sects and get them to seek refuge in the Demon Realm.”

　　Then in a flash she was gone.

　　Only then did Little Brother turn to look at the flowers covered in Spirit Qi. She said she was from the Invincible Sect. Then she must be that number one sword cultivator?!

　　(⊙ o ⊙)

　　So her real name was — Yi Qing!

　　Meanwhile, Shen Ying, who was not far off:

　　Ah choo…

　　Why did she suddenly feel shortchanged?

　　——————

　　Xuan Yuan Family.

　　The whole city was in a bleak and desperate situation. The array formation protecting the city had been breached. All that was left of the city were broken tiles and walls. The previously clean streets were now dyed red with blood from slain cultivators, whose bodies lay strewn all over the ground. The bodies in better condition had parts missing; most of the others had disintegrated into ashes.

　　Once the most prosperous immortal city, it had now become a dead city. The only place that still had signs of life was at the Xuan Yuan Family estate. Xuan Yuanyu was leading a group of traveling immortals to defend their array formation against their attackers. Inside the formation were a few hundred disciples and city residents who had managed to escape the massacre.

　　Yi Qing stood outside the formation with his sword, his whole body covered in blood. However, he still stood erect and unyielding, his head raised towards the sky.

　　Six men, all clad in white, stood suspended in the sky, their bodies surrounded by the glow of immortal Qi. They looked down with contempt at the group of people below as though looking at a bunch of dead animals. All except for the foremost immortal.

　　This immortal was holding onto his arm with his other hand. Blood dripped from his fingers. Clearly he was injured. Frowning, he looked angrily down at Yi Qing.

　　“I never expected to find such a formidable sword cultivator in this realm. You actually broke through my protective Immortal Qi.” Another immortal commented tauntingly, “Yan Yu, you have failed miserably this time.”

　　The injured immortal’s expression darkened, and he looked with increasing anger at Yi Qing. He said with a sneer, “Hmmph, he merely broke through my Immortal Qi. How can a weak cultivator like him defeat me?”

　　With that, he directed all his suppressing aura towards the cultivators below. Yi Qing’s expression darkened as he used his sword to support his swaying body. He could taste the blood in his mouth. Xuan Yuanyu and his group of men behind defending the array were even more badly affected— blood spewed from their mouths. The array formation showed signs of collapsing.

　　Yi Qing sensed the immense power of these immortals. Even those traveling immortals at the pagoda were insignificant compared to these men. He had used all his energy but managed only to break through the Immortal Qi of his opponent, and that was a one-on-one fight. The other immortals had not even showed their hand.

　　“I think you’re all taking far too long to deal with this group of ants.” An impatient immortal on the far right urged, “Stop this nonsense. Kill them all. We still have other places to clean up.”

　　He raised his hand to conjure a hand seal. Immediately, the Immortal Qi around his body surged towards the cultivators below.

　　On seeing this, the expression of an immortal at the back of the group changed. Rushing forwards, he grabbed the immortal who was conjuring the hand seal. “Hold it!”

　　“Luan Xu, why are you getting in my way?” The immortal turned and glared at him angrily.

　　Luan Xu hesitated for a moment. Some unknown emotion briefly flickered across his eyes.

　　Smiling, he answered, “Fellow Immortal, we rarely descend to this realm, surely we can take our time to deal with them?”

　　“Take our time?” The immortal snorted, “Our orders from His Excellency were to clean up this realm within six hours. Are you trying to defy orders?”

　　“No… Of course not.” Luan Xu paused as he tried to think of a suitable reply. Glancing at the group of mortals below from the corner of his eye he answered, “I just think that as a Mystic Immortal, you don’t need to deal with these insignificant mortals personally. Such small matters can be handed over to us Golden Immortals.”

　　“You lot?” The Mystic Immortal snorted in derision. “A quarter of an hour has passed but Yan Yu hasn’t even managed to take down this ant from the lower realm. Letting you useless bunch handle this matter is a pure waste of time. Golden Immortals are indeed useless.”

　　“You…” Yan Yu’s face flushed in anger. He was about to confront his senior but then a thought crossed his mind and he held back.

　　The Mystic Immortal snorted and once again raised his hand to conjure a seal but Luan Xu once again blocked him, saying, “Wait a moment!”

　　“Luan Xu, what’s wrong with you today?” The Mystic Immortal’s face darkened in anger. A thought crossed his mind and he looked at Luan Xu with suspicion. “You were also the one who suggested that Yan Yu handle it alone. Are you thinking of letting these mortals go because they are core cultivators like you?”

　　“Definitely not!” Luan Xu refuted him immediately.

　　The Mystic Immortal swept his gaze over him, then snorted coldly, “You better not! Don’t defy His Excellency’s orders just because of your background. No one can leave this realm alive.”

　　“Of course I won’t.” Pursing his lips, Luan Xu looked down at the people below. “I just feel that this sword cultivator is really annoying. He dares to stand up to us and even injured Immortal Yan Yu. I want to see what stuff he’s made of. Why don’t you leave this person to me?”

　　Then, without waiting for a reply, Luan Xu rushed forwards with his sword, as if he could not wait to show his loyalty.

　　Yi Qing once again felt the suppressing aura of Immortal Qi. Gripping his sword tightly, he activated the Spirit Qi in his entire body. Just as he was about to gear up for battle, his ear picked up the low voice of someone speaking to him through voice transmission.

　　“Attack my right hip, then escape using the transportation talisman!”

　　“…”