Chapter 33: Overwhelming, Instant Kill—Crash!
The treetops swayed gently.
Su Yun leaped down from the towering tree, more than ten zhang high, and drifted gracefully to the ground.
Every gaze in the area instantly locked onto him.
The leader scanned Su Yun's cultivation level with Spirit Concentration.
The eighth level of Qi Refining.
Nothing remarkable.
He instantly broke into a furious, feral laugh, his face twisted with murderous intent.
"Hahaha! You're nothing but an old geezer at the eighth level of Qi Refining!"
"And you dare interfere with the Ghost Fire Sect's business? You even dared kill one of my disciples?"
"You're tired of living!"
"You three, go kill him!"
The three black-clad men at the eighth level of Qi Refining immediately turned their killing intent toward Su Yun and charged.
Their blades glinted coldly, ghostly flames swirled around them, and their killing intent was chilling.
Meanwhile,
the six Azure Cloud Sect disciples recognized the newcomer and saw Su Yun's cultivation level. The hope that had just flared up inside them instantly died.
Their faces went pale, and they all sighed.
"We're done..."
"So he's only at the eighth level of Qi Refining..."
"We thought a Foundation Establishment cultivator had come..."
"There's no hope now."
"How can one cultivator at the eighth level beat three Ghost Fire Sect cultivators at the same level?"
Their hearts sank back into the abyss.
Not one of them believed Su Yun stood a chance.
The next moment,
Su Yun's gaze turned cold, his expression impassive.
His fingers swiftly formed a spell.
Three golden streaks of spiritual light coalesced out of thin air.
Three razor-sharp golden blades hovered before him, their edges glinting with a bone-chilling gleam.
Empowered by Thousandfold Amplification, the blades held a terrifying force, tightly concealed within them.
"Die."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three golden blades shot forward in an instant.
They moved so fast that only streaks of golden afterimages remained in their wake.
The three black-clad disciples at the eighth level charged at him with disdain and simultaneously summoned their magical artifacts.
"A mere Golden Blade Technique, and you think it can hurt us?"
Before the words had even left their mouths—
Crack!
Every magical artifact and spiritual barrier was torn apart in an instant, as easily as paper.
The golden blades surged through them, piercing the artifacts, tearing through the spiritual power, and striking all three squarely through the chest!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Three bursts of blood erupted at once.
The Ghost Fire Sect disciples, who had been so vicious only moments ago, froze in place.
The disdain on their faces locked rigid, replaced by utter terror and confusion.
They looked down at the gaping holes in their chests as their lives rapidly ebbed away.
They didn't even have time to scream.
They toppled stiffly to the ground, dead on the spot.
Three kills in a single instant!
The entire area fell into stunned silence!
The Ghost Fire Sect disciples' pupils constricted, and their whole bodies went numb.
The six Azure Cloud Sect disciples stared in disbelief, their mouths hanging open.
"I... I can't believe it!"
"What kind of power is that?!"
"The Golden Blade Technique?! How could the Golden Blade Technique be that insane?!"
"One strike shatters magical artifacts and instantly kills cultivators at the eighth level?!"
"That damage is absolutely beyond what someone at the eighth level of Qi Refining could inflict!"
"That was brutal! There's definitely more to this old man than meets the eye!"
The Ghost Fire Sect leader's heart clenched hard, and a layer of cold sweat broke out across his back.
Absurd!
Utterly absurd!
The old geezer was definitely hiding his true strength!
He wasn't an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator at all!
Horrified and afraid, he no longer dared look down on Su Yun.
Still, he refused to give up. Forcing down his terror, he tried to frighten Su Yun into backing off.
"Old geezer! I advise you to stop this at once!"
"This is a personal feud between the Ghost Fire Sect and the Azure Cloud Sect!"
"If you interfere again, you'll make a sworn enemy of the Ghost Fire Sect!"
"Leave now, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened!"
"Otherwise, the Ghost Fire Sect will never let you go!"
Su Yun couldn't be bothered to waste his breath.
There was no point talking to the dead.
His fingers formed another spell.
Humm—
Spiritual light surged through the air.
Ten golden blades hovered in formation around him.
A chill gleamed along their edges, and their killing intent surged sky-high.
Seeing this, the leader knew there was no point negotiating. The two sides had crossed the point of no return.
He roared, "Everyone, attack together! Kill him, even if it costs us our lives!"
The dozen or so Ghost Fire Sect disciples left clenched their teeth, forced down their fear, and surrounded him. Spells and weapons flew out all at once.
Ghostly green flames, pitch-black blade energy, and poisonous needles and hidden weapons filled the air, sweeping toward Su Yun like a storm.
The sight was terrifying.
Su Yun remained calm and flicked his hand.
"Go."
The ten golden blades turned into a storm of light, darting across the battlefield in an instant.
They moved too fast for the naked eye to follow.
A rapid succession of piercing sounds rang out.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Ten Ghost Fire Sect disciples were pierced through their vitals.
Then spiritual light flashed around Su Yun again.
A second batch of ten golden blades instantly took shape and shot out once more.
The remaining seven or eight Ghost Fire Sect disciples didn't even get the chance to flee.
They were all killed instantly!
In just a few breaths,
more than twenty Ghost Fire Sect disciples lay sprawled on the ground.
Blood covered the earth, and corpses littered the valley.
Only the leader, at the ninth level of Qi Refining, remained alive.
A golden blade had pierced his shoulder, leaving torn flesh and blood exposed. He was gravely wounded and on the verge of death.
Pain bored into him, his spiritual power ran wild, and his whole body trembled.
He was utterly terrified, not a shred of arrogance left in him.
He turned and tried to flee!
Trying to run?
Too late.
Su Yun's gaze remained indifferent as he pointed a finger.
The last golden blade shot after him.
A flash of cold light.
It pierced straight through his back.
The leader's body stiffened before he crashed heavily to the ground.
At the instant he died and faded away,
no one noticed
a wisp of faint black soul residue drift out from deep within his brow.
Like a thread of ghostly smoke, it silently wound around Su Yun's sleeve, followed his aura, and slipped into his body.
It was imperceptible from start to finish.
Su Yun sensed nothing.
The battlefield fell utterly silent.
The stench of blood spread through the entire valley.
Su Yun dusted off his hands and casually waved them. A surge of spiritual power swept across the area.
More than twenty storage pouches on the corpses flew through the air and landed in his palm.
Looting the dead after a fight was standard procedure.
He was practiced at it to an almost ridiculous degree.
Nearby,
the six Azure Cloud Sect disciples stood rooted to the spot, completely stunned.
Their minds had gone blank, and they were so shaken that they couldn't recover for a long time.
In just a brief moment,
he had overwhelmed them!
A complete, one-sided slaughter!
More than twenty Ghost Fire Sect elites had been killed in a few moves by this seemingly ordinary old man.
Such strength was beyond any Qi Refining cultivator!
Only a great Foundation Establishment cultivator could make killing enemies look so effortless, wiping them out with a flick of the finger!
They all understood at once.
The old man before them was a Foundation Establishment senior who had concealed his cultivation!
The six of them hurriedly struggled to their feet. Despite their injuries, they bowed in unison, filled with respect.
"Many thanks, senior, for saving our lives!"
"We juniors thank you for coming to our aid!"
The senior disciple at the head spoke solemnly, his voice full of awe and gratitude.
"We're all outer sect disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect. We were ambushed by Ghost Fire Sect members while out on a mission, and nearly all of us were killed."
"If you hadn't happened to pass by and stepped in, we'd all be dead!"
"May we ask your honored name, senior?"
"When we return, we'll report this to the sect elders and make sure you're generously repaid for your great kindness!"
Su Yun waved a hand, his tone calm.
"Don't bother."
"I was just passing through and lent a hand. There's no need to dwell on it."
"This place has just seen a battle. There's blood everywhere, and the spiritual energy is in disarray."
"The Ghost Fire Sect probably has more people on the way."
"You're badly wounded. Leave at once and return to your sect."
Without waiting for them to thank him again, Su Yun turned and leaped out of the valley, disappearing into the depths of the woods.
The six Azure Cloud Sect disciples watched the direction in which he had vanished, their faces full of reverence.
A good man.
A truly good man.
He had asked for no fame or reward, rescued them, then drifted away.
Daring not linger any longer, the six supported one another, quickly tended to their injuries, and hurried out of the valley.