"..."
Outer City, Western Ward.
Dark clouds hung low on the horizon, when suddenly-
"Riiip!"
A dazzling streak of jade-green light suddenly tore an enormous rift through the clouds high above.
A piercing whistle rushed closer from afar, bearing down thunderously from the heavens in the blink of an eye!
Immediately afterward, fifteen azure sword lights came howling like a furious windstorm, bursting apart directly above the Eternal Life Martial Sect's bluestone courtyard and swirling fiercely.
Sword Qi interwove into a vast net in midair, its murderous intent instantly engulfing every street and alley within half a li.
"Those are... immortals?!"
"Flying swords! The sword immortals from the Inner City are here!"
"Run! Shut the doors!"
The mortal vendors hawking their wares on either side of the street, the refugees begging along the road, and even several low-level Qi-refining rogue cultivators scraping by in the Outer City all turned ashen at the sight of the sword light blotting out the sky and the figures suspended high above.
Without even stopping to collect the copper coins and goods on their stalls, they hurried into the houses and barred the doors.
Cultivators... ordinarily regarded the Outer City as a filthy place and would never set foot there without cause.
And whenever sword cultivators descended in groups, it meant slaughter and purges.
Before such might, mortal lives were mere weeds. Even being swept by the wake of a passing flying sword would turn them into clouds of blood in an instant!
Within just a few breaths, the entire street fell deathly silent. Only the ringing of swords tearing through the sky continued to echo among the roof tiles and rubble.
In midair, Chen Yuan stood atop a jade-green flying sword, his hands clasped behind his back.
His voluminous gray-and-gold Daoist robes snapped in