Tang Zhouxie began secretly plotting to himself. "I once promised the wronged souls you killed and bled dry that I'd make you taste their suffering. But the Blood God Sect has many methods, so I'll let your disciples suffer in your place!" Hearing this, Bai Qiuran lowered his eyes to the hilt in his hand, then chuckled softly. He casually tossed aside the remnant hilt and moved like lightning, plunging straight into the formation of the sixteen offerings. To harm others for one's own benefit, seizing and exploiting everything one could get in order to strengthen oneself—that was the essence of cultivation recorded in the Blood God Sect's fragmentary scrolls. Blades and spears stood like a forest. In the distance, archers drew their bows and nocked their arrows; green bowstrings stretched, and the bows bent into full moons without fear of their strength. Their arrows fell like rain. Tang Zhouxie froze, but Bai Qiuran had already begun to unleash his techniques. "Ah?" Bai Qiuran swept his gaze over the sixteen remaining offerings with a cold laugh. "Bai Qiuran!" Tang Zhouxie let out a piercing howl, and his body abruptly disintegrated into a cloud of blood mist. He tried to flee, but just as his body was about to collapse completely, Bai Qiuran reached out, seized one of his arms, and dragged him from the blood mist. Bai Qiuran advanced again. The offerings, terrified, attacked him all at once, but his hands conjured ten thousand phantom images. His fists, fingers, claws, and palms struck; sometimes his fists and palms became blades and swords. Every move and every technique carried a feeling of utmost evil and poison, vicious beyond measure, as he struck the offerings. Bai Qiuran reached out and stopped the streak of blood light, catching it with ease. It turned out to be a tiny crimson Flying Sword gleaming with a glaze-like sheen. He held it between his five fingers, turning it over and over in his hand. "B-Brother Bai," Sima Yingbo called to him, sounding weak. "Give up! You don't even have a sword anymore!" His third sword thrust forth. The sea of clouds churned, dark clouds scattered, and fierce gales howled, as if a giant kun swam through the clouds, raising waves and spewing thunder. The Sword Qi pointed straight north, toward the last army between the Imperial Mausoleum and Bai Qiuran. With a series of sharp cracks, the bodies of the last thousand or so Shangxuan Imperial Guards exploded beneath the Sword Qi, leaving not a trace of their bones. A bead of cold sweat appeared on Tang Zhouxie's forehead. His hands, clasped behind his back, made a gesture, and two black Command Flags burst out through Sima Yingbo's headless corpse, flying at Bai Qiuran from behind and unleashing endless raging flames. The dust raised by the Sword Qi gradually settled, and the air filled with a sharp, cloying stench of blood. Bai Qiuran kept walking, heading toward Tang Zhouxie on the altar before the Imperial Mausoleum. Seeing this, Tang Zhouxie forced himself to calm down and took charge of the offerings' formation. A flash of claw-light passed. The offering cried out in pain, and a great rush of blood suddenly gushed from the three claw marks on his chest, streaming like a spring. Despite the agony, no matter how he tried to stem the flow with True Qi, the blood would not stop pouring out. Soon, he had bled dry, and his body collapsed like a deflated balloon, crumpling to the ground. Before long, only Sima Yingbo remained before Bai Qiuran. The offerings who took his attacks also died in extreme agony and misery: some bled from every pore, some had their blood surge wildly within them, while in others, all their blood rushed into their hearts and Qi Seas, bursting their vital organs. Bai Qiuran pointed a finger, and his sword-finger pierced an offering's chest. The offering suddenly convulsed and fell, eyes wide open, yet without a single wound or drop of blood on his body. His skin gradually turned blue, and his breathing grew faint; he died in unimaginable agony. "How much True Qi do you have left?" "Gulp..." Bai Qiuran smiled as he replied, "Whatever the amount, I still haven't established my foundation." "Ah, aaaaah!" "Guess." "Fellow Daoist." "Hm? What's this?" His first sword thrust forth. The earth split for a thousand feet, and the eastern mountain of the Imperial Mausoleum crumbled to dust. The army to the east was crushed beneath the Sword Qi. Amid a sky of blood, what tumbled out of the sword wind were heaps of white bones, their flesh scraped away by the Sword Qi. They surged like waves before collapsing onto the ground. "Is this Qi Refining?" "Blood Coagulation Technique. Familiar, isn't it? It's the Blood God Sect technique you used to fake your death." Seeing this scene, as if a celestial being had struck, the first-rank offering gaped in stunned disbelief. Bai Qiuran gave a faint smile, then mercilessly slammed a palm onto his forehead. The blood throughout Sima Yingbo's body suddenly rushed toward his forehead. The young man's entire head swelled, then exploded with a bang. Tang Zhouxie faced him for several seconds, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a streak of blood light. Sima Yingbo looked and saw that after three sword strikes, all that remained in Bai Qiuran's hand was a hilt. "Calm down." His hands scattered into countless shadows, sometimes fists, fingers, claws, or palms, striking the vital points and acupoints all over Tang Zhouxie's body. His True Qi became the most vicious evil energy, entering Tang Zhouxie's body and setting his blood boiling and surging back and forth. Amid indescribable pain, it shattered every meridian, bone, and Spiritual Root in Tang Zhouxie's body to dust. Tang Zhouxie took a step back. "I don't think we need to make things so unpleasant." "Have you heard of the Blood God Sect's secret martial art, Myriad Gods Wither Blood Soul Sever?" His second sword thrust forth. The heavens opened to a bright radiance, and the clouds split apart for several yards, revealing the sun hanging high above. The army to the west could not withstand its might. More than a thousand soldiers were sliced in two at the waist, dying across the field. Tang Zhouxie's expression was grave, but he still said, "He knows a great deal, so his origins must be extraordinary. It's only natural that he knows a few techniques beyond the ordinary. But Qi Refining is still just Qi Refining. An attack like that must have cost him a great deal of strength. And look, he has no weapon left." Facing a rain of blades, spears, and swords, Bai Qiuran raised his sword. With that, he raised his hand into a claw and swiped at the offering attacking him. Tang Zhouxie's expression tightened. The True Ancestor Emperor of Shangxuan let out a horrifying scream, but there was no escape. After Bai Qiuran finished a flurry of strikes, he reached out and pulled. He twisted Tang Zhouxie's arm into a pretzel, then forcibly turned him to face him. Bai Qiuran's origins were probably extraordinary; Tang Zhouxie knew that, of course. But no matter what, he was still only at the Qi Refining Stage. Those few moves had been impressive, but surely they had consumed a great deal of True Qi. Bai Qiuran could not be his match now. Once he killed him, he would take his blood for sustenance, then use a secret art to extract his memories. After that, he could simply flee far away. Bai Qiuran paid him no mind, merely walking toward him with a benevolent smile. Tang Zhouxie narrowed his eyes, his whole body tensed, cold sweat soaking his back as he remained secretly on guard. He looked terrified, tears and snot streaming down his face, all his handsome bearing gone. He begged, "I had no choice." "I know." Three sword strikes, and Shangxuan Kingdom's several thousand most elite Imperial Guards vanished without a trace. Only then did the sixteen offerings, led by Sima Yingbo, finish setting up their formation. In truth, he had kept Sima Yingbo and the others deceived all along, letting them believe his goal was to strengthen Shangxuan. But ever since he had accidentally obtained the Blood God Sect's fragmentary scroll and embarked on the path of cultivation, he had stopped caring about Shangxuan Kingdom entirely. Once this was over, he would slaughter everyone present and drain them dry. If people from the power behind Bai Qiuran came looking afterward, at worst, Shangxuan Kingdom would suffer. It would have nothing to do with him. But Bai Qiuran turned his head and blew, and his surging True Qi instantly extinguished the sea of flames. He caught the two Command Flags and tore them to pieces. Pinning Tang Zhouxie down by his arm, Bai Qiuran smiled at him kindly.
Before you continue