Azure Field.
Mountains toppled and peaks collapsed, leaving devastation everywhere. The many members of the Liu Household had bowed in surrender, none daring to resist the Yin Soldiers. Merely looking at the surging radiance of the Gloomy Netherworld drained all courage from their bodies.
On the Five-Element Mountain, the two sides faced each other. Zhu Yuanyun halted his troops, but instead of looking at the people of the Great Red Abbey, he turned his gaze downward.
Liu Qiuqi rode the wind upward and landed on the Five-Element Mountain. The formation's backlash had left his aura disordered. He spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale.
Qingyun supported him from beside him. Her dark-gold, triangular snake pupils swept over the Yin Soldiers, her expression grim and brimming with ferocity.
"Liu Qiuqi, just surrender. Look at your clansmen behind you. Why persist in this futile resistance?"
Zhu Yuanyun did not form up for another assault. Instead, he looked at Liu Qiuqi with a sincere expression.
"Surrender?"
A vicious look gradually surfaced on Liu Qiuqi's face. Killing intent gathered between his brows and refused to disperse, as though he had become another man entirely.
"What, did you think only your Zhu Clan had any pride? I thought things wouldn't come to this. Our ancestors did have some ties, after all. But now, those ties have become a summons to our deaths."
"Your clan summoned the heroic spirits of Lacquer Mountain and now means to suppress all the other households. Do you think I don't understand what that means?"
"Yes, your Zhu Clan of Shu Commandery suffered an injustice in the Jing Nether Calamity. But demanding that we die to help you clear yourselves of that guilt-isn't that tyranny?"
Liu Qiuqi raised his head, his words fierce and his anger mounting.
"Who still