Watching the people of Purple Cloud Palace crumble into decaying bones, with only the barely breathing Tan Fen left alive, Pan Long could not help sighing.
"After cultivating for so many years and mastering such extraordinary skills, to end up like this... Don't you think it's a pity?"
No one answered.
A moment later, the black and white vapors dispersed. Xiezhi nodded to Pan Long, then dissolved into countless flecks of golden light and vanished without a trace.
Only then did Ma Yi dare rise from the floor. His face was still pale, and his legs were still trembling.
"The Dharma Venerable spared you, so what are you still afraid of?" Pan Long could not help asking. "You're a True Person who has reached Return to the Natural State. Surely your nerve isn't that poor?"
Ma Yi took several deep breaths and circulated his True Qi for a while. His color finally returned, and only then did he answer with a rueful smile. "Hero Pan, there are some things within the Six Fan Gate you don't understand..."
"What's so hard to understand? Your branch belongs to Wei Liao's faction of the Military Strategist School. When you joined, you first bowed to Martial Sage Taigong, then to your founder Wei Liao, and third to the Dharma Venerable, who enforces the sect rules. After those three bows, you swore that if you broke the rules, the Dharma Venerable would strike you with lightning and destroy both body and soul. Had you kept your head down and behaved all along, it would have been fine. But over the years, you've clearly broken the Military Strategist School's rules more than once. So the moment the Dharma Venerable appeared, the oath you swore upon joining was triggered."
Without even looking at him, Lie Yukou laid