Divine Ability! Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations! Great Calamity! Extermination!

Watching the two leave.

The smile on Zhang Chu's face slowly vanished!

He raised his hand.

A stream of two-colored Gang Qi swirled in his palm, carrying a faint, indistinct connection to someone in the distance.

"Hope it can lure out some big fish."

Zhang Chu glanced at the endless mountain forest.

Then he examined the cloth-like object.

But before he looked, he had not known; once he did, Zhang Chu was deeply alarmed, his expression instantly turning grave.

"This is actually a Divine Ability!"

Indeed, what was recorded on the unnamed cloth-like object was not some Lightness Skill movement technique at all.

It was the famed Divine Ability!

[Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations]—four bold characters were written across the cloth-like object, with the transformations of the Divine Ability recorded beneath them.

According to its description, once the [Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations] Divine Ability was mastered, one's body could move like a flood dragon emerging from the sea.

Its speed was pushed to the very limit—like fleeting light and passing shadows, clouds deep and mist appearing. With nine leaps, one could travel ten thousand miles in a day!

Compared to Lightness Skill, this sort of Divine Ability utterly crushed it.

The two were not even on the same level!

"A manual casually handed over was actually a Divine Ability. Has the Demonic Cult become this wealthy?"

Zhang Chu suddenly had the urge to charge into the Demonic Cult's lair. Their wealth was beyond anything he could imagine.

So-called Divine Abilities were things distinct from martial arts, with no fixed method of cultivation.

As the saying went, Divine Abilities were vast and boundless.

It referred precisely to secret arts of this kind.

To master such unimaginable methods, cultivation alone was utterly useless. One could only rely on comprehension!

In other words, if you understood it, you had learned it. If you did not, even a hundred years of practice would achieve nothing.

"No wonder even Lu Yuanjia, the greatest hero under heaven, couldn't master it. Divine Abilities demand far too much enlightenment!"

Zhang Chu sighed as he read the introduction.

Just then, the system suddenly issued a prompt.

[Divine Ability detected. Five hundred thousand Merit Points may be consumed for enhancement. Enhance?]

[Notice: Insufficient Merit Points!]

The sudden system prompt stunned Zhang Chu. This had never happened before.

Previously, he had always needed to train a martial art to the beginner level before he could enhance it. He had not expected Divine Abilities to require no such thing!

"But that makes sense. Divine Abilities can only be attained through comprehension. Once one comprehends them fully, one knows them—why would enhancement be needed?"

"Still, five hundred thousand Merit Points is more than seven times the Ninth Layer of Yellow Court Inner Strength. That's truly absurd!"

Zhang Chu could not help looking at the panel.

[Zhang Chu]

[Realm: Jade Liquid]

[Martial Arts: Yellow Court Inner Strength (Perfected) Cannot be enhanced. Northern Cold Flame True Hand (Second Layer) Not enhanced. Divine Ability · Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations (Not enhanced).]

[Merit Points: 75,100]

[Notice: Insufficient Merit Points!]

He currently had only seventy-odd thousand Merit Points in total, all of them obtained from the Southern Border Three Absolutes. He was still far short.

These few Merit Points were not enough to enhance Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations, nor were they enough to enhance the Second Layer of Northern Cold Flame True Hand.

"Looks like I need to move faster!"

"Merit Points are becoming more and more insufficient. In the future, it won't just be the Demonic Cult—even some of those so-called Righteous Path forces need to be purged!"

"Now that the Spirit Emperor is old and frail, turmoil is rising on all sides and the realm is descending into chaos. The Demonic Cult is also showing signs of making a comeback. This is the perfect time to harvest Merit Points on a grand scale!"

Zhang Chu already had a plan in mind. Once he returned to the mountain and asked his senior brother and master about the past, he could begin acting.

With that thought, Zhang Chu urged his horse onward, hurrying back toward True Martial Temple in Linjiang...

"By order of the Three Rivers Alliance Leader! Every sect within the Three Rivers confluence region must proceed to the Southern Border Battlefield!"

"Any who dare defy this order will be treated as traitors to the Righteous Path and traitors to the Imperial Court—killed without mercy!"

"Move! The Southern Border has invaded, and the battle is deadlocked. If you delay the war effort, your entire sect will be exterminated!"

At that moment, the dozens of large and small Jianghu sects in Linjiang County had all had their gates smashed open. The entire county was shrouded in an air of slaughter and blood.

Dust billowed through the streets. Hoofbeats, shouted commands, and the cries of men and women mingled together.

The members of dozens of Jianghu sects were being counted, then driven toward the Southern Border in groups by squads of Three Rivers Alliance disciples, herded like livestock.

The Iron Rod Gang had long since become a scene of devastation.

"Father!" Zhang Tie, the young gang leader, let out a grief-stricken cry as he looked at his father, who had been cut down with a single slash.

"Three Rivers Alliance! May you die miserable deaths!"

"For your own selfish gain, you're forcibly abducting people from every sect and making them serve as your vanguard fodder!"

"You are ten million times more vile than the Demonic Cult! You call yourselves the foremost righteous force of the Three Rivers, yet sooner or later, you'll descend into hell!"

Setting down his father's corpse, Zhang Tie roared furiously at the crowd that had stormed in, swinging his long staff.

"You fool who doesn't know life from death!"

"The Alliance Leader is doing you the honor of ordering you to the battlefield. Do you want the Southern Border to invade?"

In the courtyard, a lean, hard-built man with a scar across his face looked at him with disdain.

"Bullshit! The Southern Border would never dare invade!"

"Clearly, your Three Rivers Alliance had its trade routes cut off and its source of wealth severed, so you bore a grudge and wanted to invade the Southern Border!"

"But you feared the countless Southern Border tribes and the terrible losses you would suffer, so you dragged everyone else along to die for the Three Rivers Alliance!"

Those shouts were like sharp blades, piercing through the Three Rivers Alliance's grandiose facade.

The scar-faced man's expression changed drastically at once.

Killing intent surged in his eyes!

Without another word, his saber whistled through the air and slashed straight at Zhang Tie's neck!

Splurt!

Blood sprayed out, staining the ground red.

Zhang Tie did not even have time to scream before he fell, his eyes wide open, filled with unwillingness and bitter resentment.

The scar-faced man sheathed his saber, cast a disgusted glance at the two corpses on the ground, and spat.

"Two lowly wretches, refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit! Is the Alliance Leader someone you're worthy of discussing? Are you even worthy?"

Then he turned, his sinister gaze sweeping across the remaining Iron Rod Gang disciples, who were trembling like leaves.

"Listen carefully! If anyone dares defy the Alliance Leader's orders again, these two dogs will be your fate!"

"Set out at once for the Southern Border assembly point. Anyone who dares dawdle for another moment will be executed on the spot!"

The Iron Rod Gang members were silent as cicadas in winter. None dared resist. They could only pack their belongings and head for the battlefield.

Such tragedies continued to unfold throughout Linjiang.

In only two days, several small sects that refused to submit were massacred one after another, not even chickens or dogs left alive.

All who survived were escorted to the Southern Border Battlefield, reduced to cannon fodder for the Three Rivers Alliance's ambitions of expansion!

In the afternoon.

Zhang Chu returned slowly from Sword Forging Manor.

Linjiang in the afternoon should have been bustling beyond measure.

Yet when Zhang Chu rode his old horse through the city gate, what he smelled was rust and scorched earth.

The long street stood empty, nine out of every ten shops shut tight.

The occasional passerby hurried along pressed close to the walls. The wind swept up funeral paper money and half-burned yellow paper from the ground, spinning them through the air like a silent memorial.

Zhang Chu pulled on the reins, his brows knitting slightly.

"What happened? Where has everyone gone?"

The moment Zhang Chu entered the county town, he felt an oppressive killing intent so dense it could not be dissolved crashing toward him.

Just then, a group of riders rushed urgently toward the city gate, as though pursuing someone!

Zhang Chu's gaze flicked over a blood-covered youth fleeing desperately ahead.

"Hm? It's him!"

Zhang Chu paused, recognizing the man.

The person being pursued was Situ Junwen, the only son of Situ Ying, the former Sect Master of the Tiger Blade Sect!

When Situ Junwen saw him, his pupils contracted as well. He had clearly recognized Zhang Chu.

Ignoring the pursuers behind him, Situ Junwen shouted desperately, "Daoist Priest Zhang, run! Leave Linjiang now!"