At these words, an uproar swept through the cultivators and soldiers.
After saying this, Xu Taiping turned toward Buyu, Fairy Lingyue, and the Half-Immortal experts beside him.
These people, however, showed no surprise at what Xu Taiping had just said.
Fairy Lingyue looked at Xu Taiping with a smile and said:
"Taiping, have you made your decision?"
Xu Taiping nodded lightly.
Fairy Lingyue immediately nodded and said:
"Good, then."
Lin Buyu silently took her place beside Xu Taiping. The Listening Wind Bracelet glowing on her wrist made her decision plain without words.
Kang Cangzi smiled then and said:
"The Heaven-Ascending Great Dao the Demon Mother speaks of is not what this old man seeks."
Lü Daoxuan looked at Xu Taiping and said:
"We received the Taixuan Sect inheritance to forge swords, not to become the Nine Abysses' running dogs."
"Our swords may break, but our resolve will never change!"
The Azure Profound Sect's sect master, peak lords, and disciples immediately declared in unison:
"The same goes for us!"
Xu Taiping smiled at his fellow disciples of the Azure Profound Sect and nodded, then swept his gaze over everyone once more and said:
"Does anyone else wish to defect to the Nine Abysses?"
To the slight surprise of Xu Taiping, Kang Cangzi, and the others, Crow Heavenly Venerable and the five or six Half-Immortals behind him had not left the battle formation either.
Seeing Xu Taiping's gaze linger on him, Crow Heavenly Venerable frowned, then said with some displeasure:
"Though we do not walk the same path as you, we have not sunk so low as to abandon our human bodies and defect to the Demon Mother."
The Half-Immortals behind him all nodded in full agreement.
Hearing this, Xu Taiping immediately withdrew his gaze from Crow Heavenly Venerable, then called out