You Cannot Keep This Honor

The Soul-Detention Jar's guardian wraith was dead, and the Black Pottery Jar disintegrated in an instant.

The wraiths wandering nearby, as if freed from their shackles, lost all reason and lunged at Lu Yuan in a frenzy.

Lu Yuan shattered the Crystal Blade in his hand and spread his arms wide. His spiritual power surged forth like a deep, boundless sea, and three-inch Crystal Spikes condensed around him, thick and dense.

But this was not enough.

He channeled wisps of Heaven-Opening Power into the Crystal Spikes.

The previously transparent spikes began to shimmer with a biting red light, radiating a powerful pressure capable of shattering all things.

Lu Yuan raised his eyes to look at the surrounding wraiths and flicked his hand. The Crystal Spikes hovering around him whistled through the air, pouring outward like a torrential rain.

A single Crystal Spike pierced a wraith's body; the soul-form didn't even have time to scream before it exploded into gray mist.

The Crystal Spike lost no momentum, continuing to fly backward and dispersing several more wraiths before finally dissipating.

The second, the third, the fourth...

The Crystal Spikes rained down, firing outward indiscriminately.

The Heaven-Opening Power was indestructible and pierced through everything.

As the soul-forms were penetrated by the spikes, they burst open like gray fireworks blooming in the darkness.

Every explosion of gray mist signified the total annihilation of a wraith.

There were no howls, no struggles, only silent destruction.

[Killed Mortal Realm wraiths, obtained White Trait [Soul Thought] ×273]

Ten breaths.

Exactly ten breaths.

From the moment the guardian wraith died to the firing of the final Crystal Spike that finished off the remaining wraiths, it had taken only ten breaths.

The night was like ink, and the heavy gray mist drifted about, slowly dissipating in the cool night breeze.

As the moonlight spilled down, Lu Yuan unhurriedly brushed the mist from his body. His blood surged like a rushing river, repairing the erosion caused by the yin energy and gray mist.

At the end of Old Street.

A figure in a red robe sprinted through the night.

Lu Xuan had arrived.

When he reached the scene, only ruins remained before his eyes.

The stage had collapsed.

Soul mist drifted in the night sky, emitting a faint fluorescence under the moonlight.

The corpses of the Longevity Cult members lay on the ground, scattered in disarray; they were all dead.

Lu Xuan's body trembled violently, and the rage in his eyes surged uncontrollably.

Losing a few cultists was a minor matter; he could always recruit more.

But the Longevity Cult's layout in Linchuan County had been destroyed in one fell swoop. If the main headquarters blamed him, his fate would be grim indeed.

The fury in his eyes intensified as he scanned the ruins and the corpses on the ground, finally fixing his gaze on the figure sitting atop a broken pillar.

Lu Yuan sat there.

His body was stained with blood, and fragments of soul mist drifted behind him, making him look like a Yama King walking through the netherworld.

"Where is the Soul-Detention Jar?" Lu Xuan asked in a hoarse voice.

"Smashed to dust," Lu Yuan said, pointing toward the ruins of the stage.

Seeming to notice the explosive rage in the other man's eyes, the amusement in his own grew more playful.

"That guardian wraith claimed to be a former protector of the Longevity Cult. It said it had guarded the jar for seven years, yet it couldn't even withstand a single strike from me."

"As for the wraiths inside the jar, they were nothing but a scourge, so I simply finished them all off."

Hearing this, the rage in Lu Xuan's eyes nearly erupted.

"You—"

"You deserve to die!!!"

His spiritual power surged, manifesting as black mist that poured from his body like ink.

"Do you have any idea that the three hundred and twelve wraiths in that Soul-Detention Jar were the result of my Longevity Cult's seven-year plan!"

"Those weren't just wraiths; they were the key to breaking the seal of the Scroll Fairy!"

"And you! You ruined everything!"

"You destroyed our life's work!"

The amusement in Lu Yuan's eyes faded as he stood up and walked toward Lu Xuan.

The moonlight shone on his face, revealing eyes that chilled the heart.

"What? Now that your life's work is ruined, you know what it feels like to be hurt? Where were the people you murdered supposed to go to seek justice?"

A flash of fanaticism appeared in Lu Xuan's eyes. "To die for the Scroll Fairy is their honor."

"What a pity, you won't be able to keep that honor!"

Lu Yuan's tone was mocking. "The Soul-Detention Jar is shattered, the wraiths are extinguished, and the cultists are dead. Who else does the Longevity Cult have left in Linchuan County? Don't tell me it's just you? Hahahaha!"

Lu Xuan's sanity was blown to pieces by this unbridled laughter.

"Die—"

"You go to hell—"

Lu Xuan let out a long howl toward the sky; Lu Yuan's words were nothing short of psychological torture to him.

He waved both hands, and all the broken bricks and rubble in the ruins were swept up by yin energy and hurled forward.

But before they could get close, they were smashed to dust by the Crystal Spikes Lu Yuan shot out with a flick of his hand.

Lu Yuan was not a kind man, and he found it difficult to empathize with those previously killed by the Longevity Cult.

However, if these monsters dared to slaughter lives right under his nose, then they had to die.

Although he was keen on killing demons, he would not go soft on these animals who were worse than pigs or dogs.

"You destroyed years of my hard work, I will definitely kill you!"

In his rage, Lu Xuan's scattered yin energy swirled back frantically, his skin turning a ghastly cyan-gray, covered in gray patterns.

His hands elongated, his ten fingers became like hooks, and his body transformed into a black afterimage as he lunged at Lu Yuan.

He was fast, but Lu Yuan was faster.

With a raise of his hand, a Crystal Spike shot out, instantly piercing Lu Xuan's chest.

Following that, Lu Yuan closed the distance, his right hand reaching out, fingers like pincers, locking tightly onto the claw Lu Xuan had swung at him.

A flash of shock erupted in the depths of Lu Xuan's eyes.

His technique was derived from an Initial Realm Bat Demon, and it was considered top-tier even within the Longevity Cult.

How could it be caught bare-handed?

How did he do it?!

Lu Yuan exerted force, a terrifying strength instantly crushing Lu Xuan's wrist, the bones emitting a creaking sound.

"Is this your furious strike? You even kept long fingernails? Just like a woman throwing a tantrum."

"With this level of cultivation, you want to kill me?"

Lu Xuan's face twisted, bright red blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

Lu Yuan twisted his waist, his right leg striking out like a heavy cannon, the tip of his foot tearing through the air, the gray mist in the air ripped apart by the force, surging wildly to both sides.

In Lu Xuan's eyes, Lu Yuan's expression was completely indifferent, as if he were merely crushing an ant.

The leg arrived.

Lu Xuan raised his arms to block.

With a crack, his arm bone snapped, yet the leg's momentum did not diminish, slamming heavily into his chest.

Lu Xuan was sent flying as if struck by a battering ram, smashing the ruins of the stage into a complete mess.

Half of his body collapsed, his cyan-gray skin shattered, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

"You... you will die!"

Lu Xuan coughed up blood foam, but the viciousness in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

"Even if I am killed by you, my Longevity Cult is eternal. One day, when the Scroll Fairy breaks her seal, you will surely die!"

Lu Yuan stepped on Lu Xuan's face, looking down at him from above.

"The Scroll Fairy? I've already killed her."

"Kill the Fairy? Ha... Hahahaha!"

"What right do you have? How dare you speak such nonsense! Are you even worthy?"

Lu Yuan raised his hand, spiritual energy surging out, enveloping him like an invisible scroll.

Immediately after, his figure was traced into it.

"Seal Person into Painting! This... this is the Fairy's divine ability? Impossible..."

Lu Xuan's voice trembled, his inner obsession collapsing in that very moment.