Taken together, these events pointed to one simple truth.
The struggle over the inheritances in the Penglai Archipelago was no longer Huaxia's affair alone.
And the fact that those people had dared to bring guns meant they hadn't taken cultivators seriously at all.
Before today, at least.
The corner of Chen Siyao's mouth lifted.
After today...
Now the whole world had seen it—guns were no longer the answer to everything.
Her phone vibrated. Han Songyue had replied.
[Received. Also, twelve bodies were discovered southeast of Island Thirty-Four. None were our personnel. Cause of death: penetration by sharp blades. Preliminary assessment: accidental casualties caused by your formation.]
Twelve?
Chen Siyao blinked.
The formation she had set up was Myriad Swords Return to the Sect. It covered a kilometer and attacked indiscriminately outside its core.
So... besides the mantis beast, there had been twelve people within the sword formation's range?
She was about to reply when Han Songyue sent another message.
[These twelve were foreign intelligence operatives. Their nationalities are still being confirmed. You bear no responsibility. They were trespassing illegally. However, this matter must remain strictly confidential. The relevant portions of the livestream recording have already been edited by our technical team.]
Chen Siyao stared at the screen, slowly processing the information.
Twelve people.
They had been following her.
And without even knowing they were there, she had wiped them all out with the spillover from her formation.
The screams Yang Wanqing had heard were those twelve people's dying cries.
She lowered her phone and looked at Yang Wanqing, who was wiping down her sword.
"Qingqing."
"Hmm?"
"Those screams you heard earlier—"
Yang Wanqing perked up her ears.
Chen Siyao opened her mouth, but ultimately shook her head.
"Nothing. You weren't hearing things."
Yang Wanqing looked bewildered. "So what were they?"