Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkeys, the Immortals Enter the Formation

With a sweep of his great hand, he unleashed the Thunder Emperor Secret Art.

"Rumble!!!"

In an instant, above Golden Ao Island, which had been completely sealed off,

a manifestation of the Nine Heavens Thunder Emperor, stretching ninety thousand li across, rapidly formed out of nothing.

Countless bolts of wild lightning, each as thick as primordial mountain ranges and gleaming azure-blue throughout,

frenziedly spawned and intertwined within the void.

"Whoosh!!"

The fiercest and most violent bolt among them struck Ma Yuan.

"Aah!!!"

Accompanied by a piercing, utterly miserable scream that shook the air,

the several-zhang-long skeletal claw behind Ma Yuan's head, painstakingly refined over countless years,

could not even endure for a single breath upon touching the destructive power of the Thunder Emperor Secret Art.

Under the brutal crushing force of the lightning's radiance, it exploded and disintegrated inch by inch, turning into black scraps scattered across the ground.

Ma Yuan's entire Dao body crashed viciously into the ground.

The Dao light around him shattered and dispersed completely, leaving him grievously wounded.

"Fifth Senior Brother, spare me! Spare me! This disciple knows his mistake!!"

Ma Yuan lay limp amid the scorched earth, trembling as he spoke.

His entire face, originally vicious and hideous beyond measure,

had now twisted grotesquely out of shape under extreme terror and backlash.

Enduring the excruciating pain of every joint in his Dao body exploding inch by inch,

he crawled frantically and bowed again and again beneath the cold, contemptuous gazes of the many Interception Sect disciples, begging hysterically for mercy.

"This disciple was merely blinded by greed just now."

Fear covered Ma Yuan's face as he hastily explained, "For a moment, I was possessed by evil thoughts and only intended to return to my cave abode to recuperate!"

"This disciple never intended to betray the sect! I beg Fifth Senior Brother, for the sake of our karmic ties as fellow disciples over countless years, spare this disciple just this once!!!"

"Return to your abode to recuperate? Ma Yuan, your entire body is steeped in karmic sin, yet at a time like this, you still dare use such words to deceive me."

Xuan Liu's expression darkened. Looking down at Ma Yuan from above, he gritted his teeth and said, "You have always cultivated vile arts, swallowing human hearts alive."

"For your own selfish desires, who knows how much slaughter you have committed."

"Those innocent wraiths filling the heavens are still howling and biting within the depths of your Primordial Spirit. With the boundless karmic sin still wrapped around you, how can I spare you?!"

At that, Xuan Liu sharply flicked his long sleeve aside. Another supreme divine treasury ability within him fully awakened and began to circulate in that instant.

"Willow God Art!!!"

"Buzz!"

In an instant, vast stretches of the void collapsed.

Behind Xuan Liu, the phantom of an ancient divine willow emerged from nothing, towering into the cloud seas of the Nine Heavens and flowing with undying, world-purifying immortal light.

Three thousand undying divine kingdoms rested upon every willow leaf, emanating countless true words.

As Xuan Liu's right finger swept down once more,

tens of millions of unparalleled willow branches of order, wreathed in Shangqing immortal light, forcibly pierced into the deepest part of Ma Yuan's Niwan Palace.

"No!!!"

Amid Ma Yuan's final roar, filled with despair and terror,

the Willow God Art erupted completely.

In an instant, Ma Yuan vanished in smoke and ash, becoming fine dust and debris that filled the sky.

His body perished and his Dao was extinguished. He could not have been more dead.

"Even dying like that was too good for you!"

Xuan Liu quietly withdrew his sleeve and looked at the void where Ma Yuan had fallen.

As a transmigrator, he understood the course of the Primordial World better than anyone.

In the original tide of the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, this Ma Yuan had not only devoured a mortal general alive before the armies, eating his heart and lungs,

but at the final moment, had directly betrayed the Interception Sect without the slightest shred of integrity.

He had defected to Western Mount Sumeru and become the renowned Ma Yuan, Venerable King Buddha of the Western Sect.

Such a black sheep, born with a traitor's bone at the back of his head, with karmic sin towering to the heavens and not a shred of loyalty or righteousness—

keeping him within the Interception Sect would do nothing but continuously drain and taint the sect's fortune.

Killing him outright today meant he had more than deserved his death.

"Hiss!!!"

Seeing a genuine Primordial Unity Golden Immortal fail to withstand even two exchanges in Xuan Liu's hands

before being ruthlessly and mercilessly erased on the spot,

sent waves of earthshaking terror through the many Interception Sect disciples below.

"My heavens... Senior Brother Ma Yuan was at least an early-stage Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, and his methods were brutal, yet Fifth Senior Brother ground him into dust and ashes?!"

"Too terrifying... Is this Fifth Senior Brother's current strength? Even an ordinary peak Primordial Unity Golden Immortal would probably gain no advantage whatsoever against him!"

"Good kill!! Ma Yuan always ran wild outside the island, swallowing human hearts alive. I've long found him an eyesore! What Fifth Senior Brother did is a truly great deed, restoring the name and honor of our Interception Sect!!"

"That's right! We cultivate the orthodox teachings of the Profound Sect. How could we tolerate such evil cultivators sullying the gates of our great sect?!"

After their initial shock had been forcibly driven into them, the emotions of the myriad immortals of the Interception Sect took an entirely understandable turn.

Duobao Daoist and Golden Spirit Holy Mother let out long sighs.

The last trace of doubt in their hearts finally dissipated as well.

Fifth Junior Brother's move of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys had closed the karmic loop. It was essentially flawless.

At the fervent center of the myriad immortals' attention, Xuan Liu held the Green Duckweed Sword upside down.

His azure robe snapped and fluttered in the wind.

"Scum like Ma Yuan betrayed the great sect and harmed all living beings. His execution was already in accordance with Heaven's laws."

Xuan Liu's expression was incomparably solemn as he spoke unhurriedly. "The Shangqing lineage's principle of teaching without discrimination is Master's supreme breadth of vision."

"But it is by no means an all-purpose protective umbrella for you to bully the weak with your strength and recklessly create boundless karmic sin throughout the Primordial World!"

"Today, fellow disciples, do not entertain any more thoughts of luck. All of you, ascend this Heart-Questioning Formation in turn and let it cleanse and judge the lives you have lived!!!"

The effect of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys had basically been achieved!

Master had actually entrusted such an important opportunity to him.

Then he had to thoroughly cleanse the Interception Sect's lineage.

Otherwise, those black sheep would continue harming the sect's fortune when the time came.

To stabilize the Interception Sect's fortune, even the Twelve-Petal Pure World White Lotus had been contributed.

That was a genuine supreme-grade innate spiritual treasure!

Even Saints would most likely covet it upon seeing it.

After all,

there were not many supreme-grade innate spiritual treasures even in the entire Primordial World.

It was no exaggeration to say that the worth of a supreme-grade innate spiritual treasure was anything but ordinary.

As his words settled,

Xuan Liu, who held the Saint's Green Duckweed Sword and had just broken through to the late Primordial Unity realm, stood atop the towering black-and-red formation with incomparable majesty.

Under his overwhelming suppression, the many Interception Sect disciples, led by Duobao and the others, no longer hesitated in the slightest.

They began to advance in a vast procession, steadily stepping into the Heart-Questioning Formation one by one.