Chapter Forty-Four: Will None Be Spared, Not Even Livestock and Men?

Calm seas, cloudless skies stretched for thousands of miles. The stench of blood had long dispersed; the remnants of limbs and flesh vanished without a trace. Had he not witnessed it firsthand, Su Yizhao would never have believed what had transpired here.

He stared blankly at the heavens. The vortex was already gone. The Upper Realm? A projection of a mighty being? Suddenly, he felt lost. He had yet to unravel the mysteries of this continent, and now a new realm had emerged.

“Do you know him?” Xuan Wuji’s voice came from behind.

He shook his head in confusion. He had seen the man in the Li family’s portrait; did that count as knowing him? He wasn't sure.

Xuan Wuji pressed further, “Does he know you?”

Su Yizhao still shook his head, bewildered. Could that great cultivator know him? Even the mighty one himself could not be certain; how could Su Yizhao be?

Long Batian had been frowning in thought. At last he came to himself and said, “Let’s go! How could such an existence know him?”

“That’s true. But where are we going?” Before Long Batian, Xuan Wuji was the dutiful junior disciple.

“Back to the sect, of course!”

“The sect? Not the one you founded, but Haohan City’s Xuantian Sect?”

Haohan City, Xuantian Sect? Su Yizhao began to clear his mind. He turned to look at Xuan Wuji.

Xuan Wuji pointed at him. “Can we bring him along?”

Long Batian shook his head. “What status do you hold in Xuantian Sect? Taking him there would only harm him.”

Su Yizhao’s heart sank.

“The gates of Xuantian Sect are forever open to the continent’s geniuses. If he truly has talent, let him seek it himself.”

Xuan Wuji nodded. “Senior brother is right. But Xuanki Sect was personally founded by me; I can't help but feel attached unless the matter is settled.”

“I feel the same.”

“So do I,” Bai Zhankong and Qu Tiancheng echoed.

“Very well, the three sects won’t be dissolved. They still stand for us here, continuing the fierce struggle until one side prevails.”

After a short while, Su Yizhao watched them leave, helpless.

He made no pleas, felt neither joy nor sorrow.

Though his cultivation had not soared in these days, his knowledge had grown immensely.

The prodigies of Haohan City’s Xuantian Sect.

The demon cultivators of the deep sea.

The mighty beings from the Upper Realm.

All things he’d never seen or heard before.

He hovered a hundred feet above the ground, pondering for a moment. Suddenly, he turned and flew toward Lisha City.

Once, he had not known; that was the past.

Now that he had glimpsed how vast the world was, how powerful its people—how could he not seek them out, meet them, test himself?

In the deep sea, a group of demon cultivators trembled.

“Remember this human cultivator. Kill him, avenge us!”

“Spread his image throughout the deep sea...!”

Xuanki Sect, Grand Hall.

“Where are the three families?” Cheng Jiaojiao sat in the seat of honor, her voice stern.

An elder answered, “A disciple reports that the elites of the Liu, Huang, and Mu families have already gone to Lisha City.”

Cheng Jiaojiao’s brows furrowed. “Lisha City—is it for Xuanki Sect, or are they seeking the family of Xiu Yue? With their combined strength, wiping out Xuanki Sect and the Li family would be no challenge. This is bad!”

Lisha City, Li family ancestral hall.

Su Yizhao gazed quietly at the portrait.

The ancestral hall was heavily guarded, only opened for family rituals. But with his mid-Five Spirit realm cultivation, slipping past the guards was effortless.

He studied the painting closely.

A cultivator sat cross-legged, eyes shut, as if meditating.

He enlarged the image in his mind a hundredfold.

Even prepared as he was, it sent a tremor through him.

He was certain—the cultivator was the man in the painting!

But why was the Li family here?

And why was he fostered by the Li family by chance?

Could there be some connection?

No matter how he pondered, he couldn't unravel it.

Just then, he suddenly looked up, his face darkening.

At mid-Five Spirit realm, his spiritual sense could cover fifty miles.

At that moment, within his senses, high above, a group of cultivators were descending toward Lisha City.

“The Liu, Huang, and Mu families—so many people. Are they planning to wipe out all of Lisha City?” A hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.

Years of enforcing the law had trained him to conceal his emotions well.

But the events of these days had pushed him past his limits.

Had it not been for these three families, none of this would have happened.

Now, they were courting death.

With a flicker, he vanished from the ancestral hall.

“Ancestor, they must all be dead! The demon cultivators were too powerful; I heard even mighty demon cultivators appeared!” a Five Spirit realm disciple whispered near Huang Jiaren.

Huang Jiaren stroked his beard, nodding slightly. “They should all be dead. A few days ago, that sea region had terrifying disturbances. Many cultivators went to investigate—no people, no demons.”

Xuanki Sect would finally return to his hands.

The image of Cheng Jiaojiao’s stunning face flashed in Huang Jiaren’s mind. Once the Li family was slain and Xuanki Sect cleansed, she would yield, she would serve him.

“Heh heh!” Huang Jiaren couldn’t help but laugh aloud. He waved his hand, “The target is the Li family; within five miles, leave no living thing behind!”

“No living thing?”

The three families’ cultivators shuddered inwardly, about to obey.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from ahead.

“No living thing, you say?”

Everyone was stunned.

Who among them was not highly skilled? Yet someone had overheard their conversation without any of them noticing.

Huang Jiaren’s hand paused on his beard. When he saw who it was, he laughed.

He hadn’t died? Not only had he survived, he hadn’t fled to the ends of the earth to eke out a living?

A hundred feet away, a young cultivator stood in midair.

Dressed in blue, solitary and alone.

It was Su Yizhao.

“You little wretch, you narrowly escaped disaster. You should have fled and lived in hiding, yet you dare return? Tell me, how do you wish to die?”

Huang Jiaren spoke with utter confidence.

Clearly, he believed Su Yizhao had slipped away during the battle with the demon cultivators in the sea, escaping death.

His return made it all the easier—to kill him together.

But Su Yizhao felt not a trace of interest.

He had seen grander scenes, more powerful beings; he had even seen the projection of an Upper Realm mighty one. How could these Six Spirit realm cultivators interest him?

He lazily raised his hand. Four silver flying swords appeared before him.

“Still dare to resist? Surround him! Today, we’ll tear him apart, then exterminate the Li family’s nine branches!” Huang Jiaren jerked at his beard and gave a cold order.

The cultivators summoned their flying swords, closing in on him.

Su Yizhao paid them no mind.

With a thought, the four silver flying swords vanished.

One became ten, ten became a hundred—in an instant, a sky full of silver light shot toward the cultivators.

“Ha! He can’t even muster nine flying swords, yet he dares to fight! Die!”

Mocking voices rang out as Su Yizhao’s figure swayed in place.

The silver light filled the air, beautiful to behold.

The cultivators summoned their flying swords and were about to strike at the silver light—when it vanished.

Confusion flickered in their eyes.

As they hesitated, the night was suddenly filled with the sound of “puchi, puchi...!”

“Is this sound pleasant?” Huang Jiaren’s vision blurred, and it seemed as if someone was pressed against his back, near his ear, whispering softly...