The Demonic Path's Ghost Fire Sect

Deep in the secluded valleys of the Ghost Fire Sect.

The valley entrance was narrow, choked by towering trees that cast the path into dim shadow.

The sounds of slaughter, the clashing of blades, and the chorus of angry shouts and screams rose and fell in waves.

In the center of the valley.

Six outer disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect stood back-to-back, huddled tightly together.

Their clothes were shredded, their bodies stained with blood, and their breathing ragged and chaotic.

Wounds continued to seep blood, and their stamina was severely depleted.

Among the six, the youth leading them possessed the highest cultivation at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The remaining five were all at the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining.

Surrounding them.

A dense, suffocating ring of over twenty black-clad cultivators closed in.

Everyone wore identical black combat attire, with pale green ghost-fire patterns embroidered on their cuffs.

Disciples of the Ghost Fire Sect!

Every single one of them was at least at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Three of them had reached the eighth level, and their leader was at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

The disparity in strength was absolute!

Layer upon layer of encirclement sealed off every path of retreat.

"Clang!"

A harsh, metallic screech exploded through the air.

One Azure Cloud Sect disciple failed to parry the onslaught, and a sharp blade carved a long, bloody gash into his arm.

A jolt of agony struck him, causing him to stagger.

He gritted his teeth, refusing to take a single step back.

"Hold on! Everyone, hold the line!"

The eighth-level leader gasped for air, his chest heaving violently, his voice raspy.

His forehead was slick with cold sweat and his eyes burned with anxiety, yet he forced himself to steady their morale.

"The signal flare has already been sent!"

"The sect's enforcement team and the elders will arrive to support us soon!"

"We only need to hold out for a moment longer, and we will survive!"

A young disciple, his face masked in blood, roared in fury, his eyes filled with resentment and rage.

"These Ghost Fire Sect scumbags!"

"They are truly bold!"

"To dare to trespass into the territory of our Azure Cloud Sect and ambush our disciples!"

"Do they really think there is no one left in our Azure Cloud Sect?"

Another gritted his teeth and spat, "Once the elders arrive!"

"We will make sure you petty villains die without a burial ground!"

Though the Azure Cloud disciples were severely wounded and trapped in a desperate encirclement.

Not one of them had lost their pride; they would rather die than yield.

Yet, they all knew the truth in their hearts.

The hope was slim.

The enemy's assault was too fierce, their strength too overwhelming.

The six of them were already exhausted and could not hold out for much longer.

Outside the encirclement.

The black-clad leader of the Ghost Fire Sect wore a sinister expression, his face twisted into a cruel grin.

This man was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, his aura ferocious and his eyes cold with malice.

He glanced up at the red smoke flare that had yet to dissipate in the sky and let out a sneer of disdain.

"Support?"

"Hahaha! How laughable!"

"By the time your sect members arrive, you will have long since become six corpses!"

"Since you dared to fire that signal, then hurry up and die!"

"Everyone, attack with full force!"

"Finish this quickly! Kill them all!"

"Leave no one alive!"

At the command, the eyes of every black-clad cultivator turned instantly vicious and brutal.

Holding nothing back, they unleashed their full spiritual power.

Blade light, claw winds, poison arts, and ghostly fire.

All manner of sinister techniques and sharp weapons crushed down upon the six people at once.

The offensive surged several times over in an instant.

A storm of attacks completely engulfed the six in the center of the valley.

"Pfft!"

Another Azure Cloud disciple was grazed on the shoulder by ghostly fire; his flesh hissed and smoked, the pain piercing to the bone.

He let out a muffled groan, gritting his teeth to endure it, and swung his sword back to force his attacker away.

His internal spiritual power was rapidly depleting, and his meridians throbbed with sharp pain.

The heart of the lead disciple, at the eighth level, sank to the bottom of a pit.

It was over.

They couldn't hold on.

The gap was too vast.

A sense of despair crept bit by bit into the hearts of the six.

High in the branches of a towering tree beside the valley, Su Yun rested his feet lightly on a bough, hiding steadily behind the dense foliage.

His Breath Concealment Art was fully active.

His presence was completely erased, as unremarkable as common grass and trees, without a single ripple.

He gazed down at the entire valley.

His divine sense spread out in an instant, meticulously sweeping through the surrounding forests, cliff faces, and dark corners.

He confirmed there were no ambushes.

No hidden traps.

No concealed experts.

Every enemy on the field was entirely within his control.

More than twenty Ghost Fire Sect disciples.

The strongest among them was at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

The rest were all at the sixth, seventh, and eighth levels.

Su Yun curled his lip in his mind.

Trash.

A bunch of rabble.

He had heard of the Ghost Fire Sect; they were a long-standing Devil Dao Sect in the Spirit Province.

They acted with sinister ruthlessness, constantly walking the line between righteous and evil.

Their overall foundation and sect scale were nearly on par with the Azure Cloud Sect.

The two sects had always been at odds, with constant friction, skirmishes, and ambushes between their disciples year-round.

It was just that Su Yun hadn't expected this group of Ghost Fire Sect disciples to be so bold.

They dared to sneak directly into Azure Cloud Sect territory to surround and kill its disciples.

Inside the valley, the battle was on the verge of total collapse.

The six Azure Cloud Sect disciples were already at the end of their rope.

Originally, the six had relied on a simple defensive formation to barely hold their ground.

At this moment, the formation's spiritual power was completely exhausted.

The spiritual light dimmed, the patterns shattered, and it disintegrated entirely.

Without the protection of the formation, the six were instantly exposed to the barrage of attacks.

Every one of them was covered in wounds.

Robes were torn, and blood soaked through skin and flesh.

Breathing was heavy and ragged, spiritual energy flickered intermittently, and even circulating cultivation techniques had become sluggish.

"Senior brother... I can't hold on anymore..."

A young outer disciple's voice trembled, his eyes filled with despair.

The spiritual energy in his dantian was nearly exhausted, his meridians throbbed with numbness, and his limbs began to weaken.

He barely had the strength left to hold his sword.

The senior brother at the lead, at the eighth level of Qi Refining, gritted his teeth and held on, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger split and bled, and his sword-wielding hand shook uncontrollably.

He looked at the black-clad cultivators closing in from all sides, his heart turning completely cold.

Reinforcements had not arrived.

The formation was shattered.

It was over.

A black-clad cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining caught an opening, a flash of cruelty in his eyes.

He stomped his foot and lunged forward.

The black blade in his hand, wreathed in ghostly green flames, struck directly at the back of the exhausted Qingyun disciple.

The sneak attack was lightning-fast and struck from a devious angle!

No one had time to intervene.

The young disciple even closed his eyes, bracing himself to endure the fatal blow.

At that very moment.

The void trembled.

A sliver of golden light sliced through the air, silent and soundless.

The speed was absolute; the naked eye could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

Puchi!

The head of the black-clad cultivator was instantly pierced through by the golden light.

His skull shattered, and blood sprayed out.

His entire body stiffened abruptly.

His eyes widened, and his life force was extinguished in an instant.

He collapsed straight to the ground.

Dead in a second!

The entire scene fell into sudden, deathly silence!

Everyone engaged in the slaughter froze in their tracks.

More than twenty Ghost Fire Sect disciples looked around in shock, their heads snapping toward the source.

The six dying Qingyun disciples' pupils brightened, their expressions shifting instantly from despair to wild joy!

"Someone intervened!"

"It's an expert! Reinforcements are here!"

"We're saved! We don't have to die!"

The atmosphere at the bottom of the valley reversed in an instant.

The leader of the Ghost Fire Sect saw his expression sink to the bottom.

He scanned the forest with sharp eyes and roared in a deep voice.

"Who is it?!"

"Hiding your head and showing your tail, sneaking around to ambush my Ghost Fire Sect members!"

"Get out here!"

He quickly sensed the residual spiritual fluctuations in the air.

There was no heavy pressure.

There was no spiritual pressure unique to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

There were only the shallow fluctuations of the Qi Refining stage.

The leader's heart eased, and most of his wariness vanished in an instant.

It wasn't a Foundation Establishment cultivator, just a Qi Refining cultivator.

To dare interfere in the business of his Ghost Fire Sect was simply seeking death!