Do you need a reason to slay demons and defend the righteous path?

Killing intent surged sky-high in Li Yang's eyes, his voice as chilling as a vengeful ghost come to claim a life.

He immediately rode his sword straight into the battlefield.

His attacks made no distinction between friend and foe.

In mere moments, a prodigy was killed-a member of a spell-cultivation tradition from Kun Province.

Li Yang had no reservations whatsoever. He killed without hesitation.

"Either leave! Or..." Li Yang met the eyes of these elite prodigies without the slightest fear.

He enunciated each word: "I'll be your opponent!"

As he spoke, another disciple of an Ancient Immortal Lineage was about to fall beneath his blade. The Soul-Blood Token at the disciple's waist erupted, manifesting a projection of his father.

"Who dares kill my son!"

Yet right before this powerful figure's eyes, Li Yang mercilessly slew the disciple and tossed his head at his father.

"Kill your son?" Li Yang led the sword formation straight at him. "You raised a wretch who treats human lives like weeds. You bear responsibility you cannot shirk!"

Seeing Li Yang attack the projection of the disciple's father, the others hesitated no longer.

"That sword maniac!"

"Go!"

"Isn't he afraid of retaliation?"

Never mind them-even Su Hen and the others were trembling with fear.

They occasionally slew demons and defended the righteous path, but when Brother Li turned ruthless, he dared to kill anyone!

Given a reasonable pretext, he probably wouldn't even distinguish between friend and foe!

Fairly and impartially, he would cut down every single person he believed deserved to die.

"I'll remember you!"

The father's projection roared in fury before sword qi and swordlight buried it.

This projection only had Golden Core strength.

Li Yang certainly couldn't have defeated it alone.

But the sword formation could draw upon the strength of Su Hen and the other five Foundation Establishment sword cultivators. With their power combined, slaying a Golden Core opponent was no great effort.

"An evil fiend cultivating the Blood River Path dares appear openly before us? You clearly have no regard for our Sword Alliance!"

This was Li Yang's next target-the Demon Scion of a Blood River Path faction.

He was at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment and boasted a proud record of killing a Golden Core cultivator above his own realm.

This was a true prodigy of the heavens, with abundant experience in deadly combat.

Even Xuan Shi, who was only at the Foundation Establishment middle stage, paled in comparison before him.

"Enough of your arrogance!" The Demon Scion wore blood-red robes, his hair whipping wildly. His opening move was a Blood River Path divine ability-the Blood River Great Art.

His body exploded into a roiling mass of blood mist, with the sound of crashing waves coming from within.

The bloodthirsty female cultivator they had killed earlier at Stonegate Mountain had also cultivated the Blood River Path.

But her mastery of the Blood River Path was nowhere near this Demon Scion's level.

"He's turned his body into a river of blood! Brother Li, don't recklessly..."

Before Su Hen could finish his warning, Li Yang had already ridden his sword inside.

Among all the systems of evil cultivation, the Blood River Path wasn't the strongest, but it was certainly the most troublesome.

Once its cultivators transformed into rivers of blood, their true bodies were impossible to locate.

And the moment danger arose, they could immediately flee using the Blood Escape Secret Art.

Li Yang surveyed his surroundings. Beneath his feet lay a viscous sea of blood, while boundless blood mist surrounded him, leaving visibility extremely low.

"My divine sense has been suppressed to less than a hundred meters!" Su Hen warned.

Visibility was even worse-a pitiful five meters at most.

"You entered my blood river outright? You're the ones who have no regard for this Demon Scion!"

The Blood River Demon Scion laughed savagely, his voice coming from every direction, making it impossible to pinpoint his true body.

Yet Li Yang closed his eyes.

The next instant-

Clang!

Li Yang rode his sword into the attack, sword qi and swordlight erupting.

Wherever his blade pointed, the attacks of Su Hen and the other five followed.

"How could you possibly-?!"

The Blood River Demon Scion's voice was filled with shock, and a streak of blood-red light immediately fled.

But Li Yang pursued relentlessly with his eyes closed.

He had no divine sense, and he couldn't see in this place, yet he could always pinpoint his opponent's position.

The sea of blood continued churning. One blood puppet after another was interrupted halfway through taking shape.

The Blood River Demon Scion had no idea what method Li Yang was using to locate him so precisely.

Terrified, he immediately used Blood Escape to flee.

"Blast him with Thunder Talismans!" Li Yang took the lead, unleashing three Thunder Talismans.

Su Hen and the others dealt with evil fiends regularly, so they also carried plenty of lightning-type talismans.

They immediately activated and unleashed them, following behind Li Yang's three Thunder Talismans.

Dazzling white light exploded within the blood mist, briefly suppressing the supremely yin and evil Blood River Secret Art.

The very instant he unleashed the talismans, Li Yang had already directed the sword formation into the attack.

His opponent's Blood Escape faltered for an instant.

And in that single instant, Li Yang had already reached him.

Shhk!!!

A head flew into the air.

"Who dares kill my disciple!"

The blood river surged a second time, gathering entirely into the form of an old man.

His expression was vicious, his claws bared and limbs flailing.

"Die, old devil!" Li Yang attacked again.

"Who are you? Why did you kill my disciple?!"

Li Yang laughed savagely. "Do you need a reason to slay demons and defend the righteous path? Once I achieve mastery of the sword, I'll slaughter every evil fiend!"

These words enraged the old devil into howling incoherently.

But in the end, he was still destroyed.

The other prodigies had never imagined Li Yang could kill even a Blood River Path Demon Scion so easily.

They now regarded Li Yang as their greatest threat and no longer dared fight one another.

"Fellow Daoist, the evil fiends here have been eliminated. You may leave now."

A male cultivator at Foundation Establishment perfection spoke.

He was a personal disciple of the sect master of Kun Province's Moonlit Holy Land, and Saintess Su Yao's junior brother.

"Indeed. Didn't you say you wanted to slay demons and defend the righteous path? Two hundred li south of here, a group of evil fiends is wreaking havoc in a mortal village. My junior brother recorded this." Another man activated a Communication Jade Talisman, displaying footage someone had sent of a village shrouded in demonic qi.

The mysterious male cultivator sneered. "Spare us the talk of heroism. You only came for Bai Nishang, too.

Unfortunately for all of you, she's already given her heart to me!"

As he spoke-

He activated the pendant on his chest. Multicolored light flickered, and a red figure emerged from within.

It was Bai Nishang, dressed in wedding robes with a red bridal veil over her head.

She held her head slightly high, showing not the slightest fear before this gathering of Foundation Establishment prodigies.

"Immortal masters, please stop pursuing us. I gave my heart to Gu Zang long ago. For him, I was willing to flee my wedding.

I know you all have feelings for me as well, but please grant us the happiness of being together.

In this lifetime, I belong to Gu Zang."

As she spoke, she nestled into Gu Zang's embrace like a little bird seeking shelter.

Gu Zang held Bai Nishang's hand and caressed it, a victor's smile on his face:

"My apologies. The outcome was already decided back at the White Household.

If you still insist on ruining Miss Nishang's love, you would do well to consider whether you can bear the consequences!"

Then he transmitted his voice to everyone:

"According to my investigations, the Household Ancestor Ning has never been in love. So the central purpose of this mortal transfiguration is probably to experience love, hatred, affection, and vengeance.

Now that her heart belongs to someone, wouldn't trying to take her away be tearing apart a pair of mandarin ducks?

If you snuff out Senior Ning's romance before it even begins-

The wrath of a Mahayana cultivator... hehe.

Not only would you be unable to bear it, even the sects and traditions behind you couldn't!"

At these words.

Xuan Shi, the golden-eyed man, and the others all had to stop and think.

If nothing had been settled yet, they would all have a chance.

But now that Bai Nishang and Gu Zang were so intimate, it could only be her own choice.

Because using cultivation methods to force Bai Nishang to fall in love would inevitably break the rules of mortal transfiguration, bringing the entire undertaking to ruin at the final hurdle.

After all, the very heart of mortal transfiguration was experiencing emotion.

If even those emotional experiences were false, it would naturally have no effect.

But just then.

Clang!

A sword's cry rang out again!

"I don't know whether you're an evil fiend, but you colluded with evil fiends to intercept the wedding procession. That much is beyond doubt!

You deserve to die!"

Li Yang directed the sword formation straight at him.

Yet Bai Nishang unexpectedly stepped forward, spreading her arms to block him.

Her voice and expression turned fierce. "Stop!"

"You sword cultivator! I've put up with you long enough!

You're always spouting talk of slaying demons and defending the righteous path. Do you even know what love is?

I've already chosen Gu Zang, so just get lost!

Don't think this will get my attention. Let me make this perfectly clear-you're not worthy! I could never fall for you!

So what if Gu Zang is an evil fiend? As long as it's him, I'm willing to be an evil fiend's wife!"

Hearing this.

Li Yang smiled.

"Well, that's wonderful! Now I don't even need a reason to kill you!"