Translator: Jon
Editor: Silavin
Below the Heavenly Gully, the blood river surged as the metallic tang spread across a radius of a hundred kilometres. The smell was so pungent that it was as though it had materialised. The bubbles in the blood river kept popping, sounding like the howls of the souls.
The Heavenly Sage looked up with his hands behind his back.
Even when the cultivators from the Heavenly Gully Cult besieged Fa Hua and Liu Tianyi, he didn’t take part in the battle. He had been working on his plot for decades, and it had finally come to the final step. Now, he could see nothing else but the Heavenly Gully that hovered in the sky.
No one and nothing in the world could derail his plan.
Just then, he heard someone coughing while approaching him. The person was the Chief Elder, Xing Mo. He already appeared old and frail to begin with, and he looked even paler now.
In the previous battle, several Elders from the Cult lost their lives, and a lot of people were injured. Xing Mo, who had directly dealt with Fa Hua, was especially badly injured. He had no idea how the old monk managed to activate such an incredible power even though his days were numbered.
Anyway, Fa Hua was eventually overpowered by so many people.
Xing Mo also didn’t understand why Fa Hua and Liu Tianyi were determined to lose their lives there.
Given their powers, and coupled with Huang Liang, they had the chance to flee if they wanted to. However, in reality, the two of them had never had the intention of running away. They only created a chance for Huang Liang to flee at the most critical moment.
Regardless, it was pointless to think about it at this point. Xing Mo pulled himself together and stood beside the Heavenly Sage before saying, “Cult Master… the Sixth Elder, the Nineteenth Elder, the Twenty-Seventh Elder, and those who went running after Huang Liang are all dead.”
Over a hundred people had lost their lives, including more than ten Elders. When Xing Mo received the news, he couldn’t believe it. However, he eventually confirmed that those people were indeed dead.
How were they even killed when they were running after a badly injured Huang Liang?
Who in the world could kill them all in such a short time?
Even if Fa Hua and Liu Tianyi were still alive, they couldn’t have achieved that.
As such, Xing Mo quickly came over and reported the matter to the Heavenly Sage.
“Alright.”
Much to his surprise, the Heavenly Sage only responded impassively upon hearing the bad news, and there was no more reaction from him.
A moment later, the Heavenly Sage still didn’t give him any instructions. Therefore, Xing Mo asked, “Cult Master, do you want me to send some people to look into the matter?”
Regardless, he had to find out how those people were killed and who killed them so that he could come up with a way to deal with the situation.
“There’s no need for that. It’s not like they’ll come back to life,” the Heavenly Sage replied dispassionately. He sounded like some weaklings had lost their lives instead of more than ten Elders.
Xing Mo felt cold all over his body. Although the Heavenly Gully Cult hadn’t been around for as long as the three major Sects, nor was there any Brotherly bond between the disciples, they shouldn’t treat each other coldly since they had decided to come together and form a Cult.
Xing Mo had a feeling that something was off about the Heavenly Sage.
In fact, the feeling started when the Heavenly Sage began executing his plan, but it wasn’t so conspicuous in the past.
After a moment of silence, Xing Mo asked, “Cult Master, can we really find the path beyond the Cloud River Realm?”
Even though he was the Chief Elder, which made him the second most powerful person within the Heavenly Gully Cult, he knew little about the Heavenly Sage’s plan. He had no idea what this Grand Ward, which covered a radius of dozens of kilometres and formed from the blood of countless people, could do.
Nevertheless, according to the Heavenly Sage, the Grand Ward was the key to helping them break free from the shackles of the Soaring Dragon Boundary and get to the path beyond the Cloud River Realm.
Therefore, over the years, the Elders had been willingly assisting the Heavenly Sage.
Since they had reached the limit of their cultivation, going beyond the Cloud River Realm was the only thing they were after.
“Are you doubting me?”
The Heavenly Sage remained impassive when he learned that over ten Elders had lost their lives. Nonetheless, upon hearing Xing Mo’s words, he turned to look icily at him.
Xing Mo hurriedly hung his head low. “I’d never dare to doubt you!”
He was horrified deep within, for he had never seen the strange light behind the Cult Master’s gaze before.
The Heavenly Sage stared fixedly at him for a moment before saying emotionlessly, “Just make sure to fulfil your duty.”
“Yes.” Xing Mo wouldn’t dare to lift his head. Then, he reported another matter to him. “The three major Sects have made an announcement and called on all the cultivators to side with them. Soon enough, many people will be arriving at Xue Zhou. Please give us some instructions as to how to deal with them, Cult Master.”
“Just ignore them. They’re just a bunch of nobodies.” Contempt was written all over the Heavenly Sage’s face. Although he had to go against all the cultivators in this world, he remained unperturbed.
On the other hand, Xing Mo felt uneasy. Even though the Heavenly Gully Cult indeed had ample heritage, they were not powerful enough to deal with the entire martial world. If the three major Sects joined forces with everyone else and came to Xue Zhou, those from the Cult would be unable to ward them off.
How did the Cult Master have the confidence to ignore them?
Xing Mo wondered if he should leave this dangerous place sooner.
However, he was already an infamous figure, and those from the Cult had done such a horrible thing. Even if he managed to leave Xue Zhou, there was nowhere in the world he could go into hiding.
Although he was old, he didn’t want to die so soon as he could still live for a longer time.
After leaving the place, he saw Cheng Henfeng, who had been waiting for him.
“What did the Cult Master say?” asked Cheng Henfeng.
Xing Mo shook his head. “He told us to ignore them, and there’s no need to suppress the news either.”
Cheng Henfeng frowned. “If we don’t stop the news from spreading, the Cult will descend into chaos.”
In fact, some news had been circulating within the Cult. Many Cult members already felt apprehensive.
Xing Mo replied calmly, “Perhaps that’s the outcome the Cult Master wants to see.”
Cheng Henfeng was puzzled at first, but he soon came to his senses as his figure trembled. “You mean the Cult Master…”
Xing Mo lowered his gaze. “It has come to a point where we have to keep going down the path if we want to survive. The unknown ones have a chance to stay alive by fleeing and going into hiding. However, Elders like us have no choice but to live or perish with the Cult.”
Cheng Henfeng fell silent upon hearing that.
As time passed, the blood in the blood river grew thicker. More and more people were brought to this place and killed before their blood was infused into the river.
Besides that, many cultivators from the Cult, who had tried leaving Xue Zhou upon hearing the news, were captured and killed beside the river.
The surviving Elders were the ones who killed their own people. At that moment, many heads were seen rolling on the ground.
The quality of the cultivators’ blood was much better than that of the commoners. As the cultivators’ blood streamed into the blood river, which covered a radius of dozens of kilometres, it seemed to gain a spirituality of its own. The blood river surged and exuded an inauspicious aura. “It’s almost done!” The Heavenly Sage looked up at the Heavenly Gully with a fervent gaze.
He had been trying to figure out the secrets behind the Heavenly Gully over the years. There came a day when he finally realised something. It was when he started coming up with this plot.
After years of preparation, he was finally ready to make a move, which was bound to stun the world. Although the martial world in Soaring Dragon Boundary had reacted swiftly, they were no longer able to stop him.
The Grand Ward was nearing its completion. As soon as that happened, he could carry out the last step, which would allow him to shatter the shackles in this world and take a peek at the path beyond the Cloud River Realm.
Just then, Xing Mo came over and reported, “Cult Master, the three hegemons and their allies have arrived at Xue Zhou. They’ll come attacking us in a day.”
“Just let them come!” the Heavenly Sage replied confidently.
Xing Mo parted his lips, but he was at a loss for words.
As the allied forces inched closer, the atmosphere within the Cult became increasingly tense. If not for the fact that the Elders had killed the traitors a while back, the Cult would’ve come apart by now.
Despite that, they were no longer united.
The Cult Master had basically done nothing to boost their morale, and the Elders didn’t even know what they were doing. Faced with such a calamity, all of them had no idea how to deal with it.
Three thousand kilometres, a thousand kilometres, five hundred kilometres…
The allied forces were getting closer to the headquarters as those from the Cult continuously received the news.
When the fleet of warships came into sight, the cultivators from the Cult, who had been waiting for their enemies in formations, turned pale.
The three big ships in front were marked with the Brands of the three hegemons. Around eight hundred to a hundred ships were behind them.
Almost all the Sects in Soaring Dragon Boundary had taken part in this matter, which went to show how influential the three major Sects were.
“Amitabha!” Someone chanted the Buddha’s name. On the Vajra Temple’s ship, a monk revealed himself. He was the current abbot of Vajra Temple, Guang Jing.
As he looked at the blood river in front of him, he could smell the horrible metallic tang even though he was still a hundred kilometres away from it. Despite being an experienced monk, he still felt a sense of wrath rising within him.
There had been many evil people in Soaring Dragon Boundary over the years, but no one had ever killed so many innocent people in any Zhou before like what those from Heavenly Gully Cult were doing.
When they were on their way to this place, they realised the entire Xue Zhou was desolate. They couldn’t see any Humans or animals along the way.
The surging blood river in front of them showed that countless people must’ve been killed to form such a large-scale river.
Moreover, Guang Jing was aware that Fa Hua had lost his life here.
He knew that he had to get revenge and destroy the Cult no matter what.
On the Imperial Sect’s ship, a powerful cultivator stepped forward with a scroll in his hands, after which he read it out loud to list down and criticise the atrocities that those from the Cult had committed. All the cultivators who were present were furious upon hearing that.
After he was done reading out the scroll, the world seemed to have responded as a mysterious aura descended upon the allied forces, which boosted their morale and made them feel more confident.
“The crimes that all of you from Heavenly Gully Cult have committed are unforgivable. Now, the Imperial Sect, Vajra Temple, Grandeur Academy, and our allies have joined forces to destroy evil people like you to restore peace to this world and bring justice to those who have lost their lives. All nine hundred and eighty-four Sects in the martial world of Soaring Dragon Boundary have come together!”
They didn’t ask those from the Cult to raise the white flag, nor was there any room for negotiation. Faced with such horrible people, any discussion or persuasion was unnecessary. Only by killing them all could they bring justice to all those who had lost their lives in Xue Zhou.
The cultivators of the allied forces were incredibly high-spirited.
“Kill them!” someone shouted all of a sudden, after which countless figures flew out of the ships and charged towards those from the Heavenly Gully Cult.
The war had broken out!