"System, exchange a Heaven-tier saber technique for me."
"Ding."
Congratulations, Host. You have successfully spent 10,000,000 Shock Points.
In an instant, a saber technique called White Bone Saber Song appeared in Ye Qianqian's mind.
"Cold light, merciless blade; when thunder moves, heaven and earth tremble."
Seeing her form a saber seal with her fingers, moving as swiftly as lightning, she struck out with a forceful Mount Hua Cleaving attack, bringing it crashing down toward She Xiuyue.
A thousand-zhang-long saber beam, cold as biting frost and filled with the might of rolling thunder, tore through the air like lightning.
She Xiuyue had never seen such a battle technique before. The saber beam was far too fast, leaving her completely helpless. She could only activate a secret technique, releasing all her Dou Qi to form an egg-shaped energy shield around herself.
"Boom!"
The saber beam slammed into her, striking She Xiuyue and sending her body flying more than a thousand meters away like a cannonball.
Heaven and earth shook, and all things froze. The many experts of the Heavenly Snake Mansion were sent sprawling, with quite a few having their bodies shattered by the saber beam. Even the Dou Zong experts vomited great mouthfuls of blood.
"Qing Luan Warships, blast her to death!"
Blood sprayed from She Xiuyue's mouth. Her expression was one of utter shock, and her internal organs churned violently. This saber technique possessed power fully comparable to that of a four-star Dou Zun.
Upon receiving She Xiuyue's order, the Heavenly Snake Mansion experts aboard the Dou Qi Warships immediately formed hand seals. Blue light burst from the fifty-some enormous flying warships, their formation patterns flashing as beams of energy cannon fire roared toward Ye Qianqian.
The power of these cannons was astonishing. A single beam could annihilate a Dou Emperor expert. If She Xiuyue had not been overconfident just now, believing she could easily crush her opponent, she would have activated the warships long ago.
The people from the Heavenly Snake Mansion and the Misty Cloud Sect were all tangled together and unable to separate, so the warships could not fire downward. Against Ye Qianqian in the sky, however, they had no such scruples.
More than fifty beams of energy cannon fire shot over. Ye Qianqian did not panic in the slightest. Instead, she let out a cold laugh, formed another hand seal, and slashed out once more.
"Wind and clouds reverse, the firmament transforms; shatter the nine heavens, fury shakes the skies!"
This saber beam was even more terrifying than the previous one, its power rising to another level.
The sky suddenly changed color. The winds and clouds of heaven and earth seemed to obey her command, all pouring into her saber.
She raised the circular saber. The space ahead was shaken into fragments, and all the warship cannons vanished with a thunderous roar. Carrying an unstoppable force, the saber beam destroyed several warships.
"How can this be? Damn it!" She Xiuyue watched five or six Qing Luan Warships behind her shatter beneath the saber beam, grief and fury twisting together on her face.
"Sect Master, we must retreat!" The old woman from earlier came to dissuade her again. Their opponent was simply too powerful. Though the Heavenly Snake Mansion had experts in abundance, they were clearly not even on the same level.
"Retreat? No! Today, I'm going to butcher this wretched girl!" She Xiuyue still refused to admit defeat. With a sweep of her hand, all the Dou Zong experts followed behind her and madly surrounded Ye Qianqian.
The warships once again unleashed a barrage of cannon fire, covering She Xiuyue and the others as they charged forward.
Ye Qianqian stared coldly ahead. She changed the seal in her left hand and slashed out again with the crescent saber in her right.
"Slaughter the heads of countless heroes; sever the brains of innumerable overlords!"
The saber song resounded, and the laws of heaven and earth answered.
A colorless, shapeless saber aura suddenly swept out. In a scene that shocked the world, the heads of large numbers of Dou Wang and Dou Emperor experts bizarrely dropped from their shoulders. Even several weaker Dou Zong experts were beheaded by the invisible saber aura. Everyone was terrified out of their wits, cold sweat pouring down their backs.
As a Dou Zun, She Xiuyue naturally sensed a slight disturbance in the air. She immediately retreated in fright, but the Dou Zong experts behind her suffered instead. Some were decapitated, while others were sliced cleanly in half. Only a tiny number survived.
"Let the four seas and nine provinces collapse together; shatter the stars with a single move!"
Ye Qianqian brought her saber down heavily toward the Qing Luan Warships. The warships in the sky exploded one after another, brilliant as fireworks on a festival night.
"Ancestor mighty!"
"Ancestor mighty!"
"Ancestor mighty!"
The people of the Misty Cloud Sect were filled with soaring morale. Seeing Ye Qianqian defeat the enemy in just a few moves, they erupted into cheers.
"Sect Master, retreat! If we don't leave now, the Heavenly Snake Mansion will be finished!" The old woman burst into tears. Drops of liquid trickled between her legs and soaked her trousers. This little girl was simply terrifying beyond belief.
"Retreat!" She Xiuyue was filled with unwillingness, but she led the remnants of her forces in a frantic escape beyond Misty Cloud Mountain.
The Heavenly Snake Mansion disciples below were likewise like stray dogs fleeing a disaster. They threw down their weapons, abandoned their armor, and ran for their lives.
How could the Misty Cloud Sect disciples let such an opportunity pass? Each of them was like a gangster, wielding sabers, spears, swords, and halberds as they chased and hacked at the fleeing enemies, killing countless foes.
"Did I let you run?"
Ye Qianqian roared and sent another saber slash toward She Xiuyue's back.
"The saber is fierce, but the heart is fiercer; with steadfast will, the enemy cannot escape!"
Man borrowed the saber's might, and the saber borrowed man's momentum. A single horizontal slash swept across, saber intent running rampant. A Dou Zong's physical body ruptured, while She Xiuyue vomited blood and plummeted from the sky.
The words She Xiuyue had spoken earlier about destroying the Misty Cloud Sect now seemed like a complete joke.
"You... you're a devil, you... little demon!"
When She Xiuyue saw Ye Qianqian smiling and waving at her from the sky, she was so frightened that she crawled backward. Even though she was a Dou Zun, she had completely lost the bearing of a powerful expert.
"A devil?" Ye Qianqian blinked. She did not agree with that title, because she felt that she had just been even more terrifying than a devil.
"You dared to cause trouble in my Misty Cloud Sect, so you should bear the consequences of my fury. Die!"
Ye Qianqian released all her Dou Qi and unleashed the final technique of White Bone Saber Song.
"Achieve an eternal, immortal deed; mountains of bones and seas of blood make gods and demons howl!"
Boom!
She struck out with her strongest saber. The space around Ye Qianqian unexpectedly manifested a phantom image of an earthly hell.
A sky of scarlet blood, mountains covered in white bones, and a river of blood flowing with countless heads—it was like an asura slaughterhouse.
She Xiuyue was stunned. The surviving forces of the Heavenly Snake Mansion were stunned as well, while the Misty Cloud Sect disciples were so shocked that their eyes nearly popped out.
"Bang!"
At that moment, an old woman dressed in white appeared in front of She Xiuyue. With a sweep of the snake staff in her hand, she scattered the saber beam with a bang.
"Five-star Dou Zun?" Ye Qianqian frowned as she looked down.
"Alas, it seems I came a step too late!" Seeing that the people of the Heavenly Snake Mansion were either dead or wounded, the old woman in white shook her head and blamed herself.
"Supreme Elder, you must avenge us!" Seeing who had arrived, She Xiuyue immediately found her backbone and began sobbing loudly.
The person who had arrived was the Heavenly Snake Mansion's Supreme Elder, She Qingqing.
She had originally planned to investigate the situation further. Who could have known that She Xiuyue was such a hot-tempered fool? Without permission, she had hurriedly brought people to the Misty Cloud Sect. Now, even if the earlier incident had not been caused by the Misty Cloud Sect, this grudge was firmly established.
"You brought this upon yourself. You caused so many of our Heavenly Snake Mansion's experts to die on the spot, and you're still crying here?" She Qingqing snorted angrily.
"Supreme Elder, we're here!" Five old women flew over from the distant horizon. All five of them actually possessed cultivation bases around the three-star Dou Zun level.
These five old women were also ancient monsters of the Heavenly Snake Mansion who had been in seclusion for many years and had never shown themselves. After being summoned by She Qingqing, they came here together.
The moment these venerable elders appeared, Yun Shan and the others were immediately left at a loss.
The Heavenly Snake Mansion actually had so many Dou Zun experts. No wonder no one on the Northwestern Continent dared to provoke them. What were they going to do now?
"Hmm."
She Qingqing nodded, then looked at Ye Qianqian in the sky with a smile. "If this old woman has guessed correctly, you must be the force backing the Misty Cloud Sect, yes?"
"Yes. So what?" Ye Qianqian smiled as well, showing no fear because of her opponent's strength.
She Qingqing said, "Good. Look at what you've done—you killed so many people from my Heavenly Snake Mansion. Shouldn't you show some sincerity?"
Ye Qianqian put on a contemplative expression. "I should show some sincerity. Otherwise, I would feel guilty too!"
Just as She Qingqing nodded in satisfaction, Ye Qianqian suddenly said, "Since so many people died, I'll compensate you with some funeral expenses. How much should I give you?" She slapped her hands together and suddenly realized. "How about two Gold Coins? If that's not enough, I'll add one more Gold Coin. I can't give you any more than that. Even a rich family has no surplus grain!"
"You..." She Qingqing was enraged. The calm attitude she had maintained vanished in an instant.
"Today, all the experts of my Heavenly Snake Mansion have been destroyed. Therefore, according to this old woman's wishes, you should all submit to the Heavenly Snake Mansion and become our disciples. If you do so, this old woman can still spare your lives. You've cultivated bitterly for so many years and finally achieved something. Wouldn't it be a pity to die? Think it over carefully!"
"What?" Everyone on Misty Cloud Mountain was shocked by She Qingqing's words. The Heavenly Snake Mansion actually intended to swallow them whole.
"Sure. So that's what this is about. I can consider it." Ye Qianqian smiled again. "However, you'll have to offer something first. Only then can we submit willingly."
"Ancestor..." Yun Shan was deeply unwilling. The Misty Cloud Sect had finally grown powerful with great difficulty. How could it become another faction's subordinate force?
Xie Biyan was unwilling to accept this reality either.
She Qingqing asked, "What should I offer?"
Ye Qianqian burst into laughter. "Naturally, that thick skin of yours, old woman!"
"Hahahahahaha!" More than ten thousand people on Misty Cloud Mountain doubled over with laughter. So that was what Ye Qianqian had meant!
Indeed, this She Qingqing was truly shameless. With one opening of her mouth, she wanted to swallow the Misty Cloud Empire. Who did she think she was?
"Waaah! I'm furious!"
After being provoked by Ye Qianqian again and again, She Qingqing was thoroughly enraged. Today, she was determined to kill this wretched girl.
She released her vast Dou Qi, sending waves of energy soaring into the sky. When she tapped the ground with her snake staff, the earth began cracking apart.
In an instant, building after building was reduced to dust, mountain peaks collapsed one after another, hurricanes swept across the land, and groups of disciples clutched their heads and screamed.
This was the supreme might of a five-star Dou Zun expert.
Ye Qianqian was stunned. She and She Qingqing were only two stars apart in strength, yet the difference between them seemed like an entire lifetime. After reaching the Dou Zun realm, a difference of one star truly represented an entire world.
"Die!" She Qingqing's expression twisted viciously. Her snake staff stirred the winds and clouds of heaven and earth as she roared toward Ye Qianqian. Such overwhelming power left Ye Qianqian completely unable to withstand it.
Yet at that moment, a thumb-sized sapling suddenly appeared on the ground. After absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, it rapidly grew. In an instant, it became a towering ancient tree and blocked all of She Qingqing's battle technique.
"Who dares injure my junior sister?"
A majestic woman's voice exploded from within the ancient tree, making everyone's hearts tremble.
"Ding."
Congratulations, Host. Your B-rank bodyguard has successfully descended.
"You... who are you?" She Qingqing was frightened into repeatedly retreating by the woman in white who flew down from the ancient tree. The woman's strength was so profound that She Qingqing could not see through her at all.
The woman in white had two horns growing from her head. Her white hair was four or five meters long, both her eyes were completely white, and a scarlet eye rested on her forehead. She resembled an untouchable goddess.
"Are you asking for my name?" The woman in white showed no expression and said coldly, "Then I shall tell you."
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