The nine-headed winged blood locust tried to use this method to speak with the Lotus Avatar and draw it out. But apart from the sword intent gathering all around them, there was no response.
"At your level, do you truly lack the courage to show yourself?"
"Face my flying swords first, and we can meet afterward." The Lotus Avatar's calm voice rang out amid the surging sword intent. "Leave these nine-headed bloodwing locusts and these nine demonic locust trees to me. You, clear out the other demons in the city."
The sword intent in the void coalesced into seven massive swords. Some seemed to anchor mountains and rivers, others to calm an angry sea, a troubled mind, a raging gale, or a blazing sun. The sword-intent space before them had never felt so clear and still, as though everything had been smoothed flat.
"Yes, Lord Commander!" The Seven Town Swords were the emblem of Nine Central City, older than any of its successive city lords. In Nine Central City, they were especially effective at steadying people's hearts. Seeing that the sea of bloodlight, which had initially threatened to spill in every direction, was now completely suppressed, the surrounding immortal troops answered in a thunderous chorus. Their panic was quelled in the shortest time.
"Arrogant!" the nine-headed winged blood locust roared. Eight of its heads each spat out a blood-red beam, each carrying a strange, frenzied aura. Some unlucky immortal troops had not yet retreated far enough. They were too weak to withstand the frenzied aura radiating from the bloodlight. Their blood and qi churned, veins bulging across their skin. Pop, pop, pop—their veins burst one after another under the strain. In the blink of an eye, they had become blood-soaked figures. Their blood flowed to the ground and merged into