The Heavenly Net Church's followers had only just assembled in battle formation when the barrier suddenly vanished.
They looked ahead uneasily and froze where they stood.
Shock, fear, reverence-a host of emotions flashed across their faces.
An army of three hundred thousand had become three hundred thousand skeletons. Fang Ling stood amid the heaps of bones, calm as drifting clouds and a gentle breeze, gazing at them from afar.
No one had expected such an outcome. The Six Harmonies Sect had actually been annihilated!
Mister Mo came to his senses and hurriedly dispelled the Seven Stars Black Tortoise Formation before flying toward Fang Ling.
Yun Shuiqing and the others quickly followed. All the Heavenly Net Church's core figures prostrated themselves before him.
The remaining hundred and twenty thousand followers hurriedly knelt as well.
"We pay our respects to the Church Master!" Over a hundred thousand voices rang out together, loud enough to reach beyond the nine heavens.
Behind them, Dou Qin remained where she was, staring blankly at the scene.
She had long known that Fang Ling was no kindhearted man, but what he had done today still shocked her deeply.
Three hundred thousand people slaughtered by him in the blink of an eye. What a ruthless heart! she thought.
I must keep my distance from him from now on. He's too terrifying.
Fang Ling looked at the hundred and twenty thousand followers prostrated before him and told them to rise.
Today, using the Six Harmonies Sect as his stepping stone, he had truly become the Heavenly Net Church's master.
Although he had previously subdued Yun Shuiqing and the other principal leaders, his rise had been abrupt to the ordinary followers.
They might have had no choice but to submit along with their leaders, but they would never have held him in such awe as they did now.
The three hundred thousand skeletons on the ground were an example. He believed no one would dare betray him from now on.
"Church Master, these two are Ghost Envoy Mo Tong, known as Mister Mo, and Eagle Venerable Feng Feiyan," Yun Shuiqing introduced.
The two stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Fang Ling.
Mister Mo said, "From now on, I will devote all my strength to assisting you and expanding our Heavenly Net Church!"
Feng Feiyan turned to her Flying Eagle Gate subordinates and declared solemnly, "Effective immediately, the Flying Eagle Gate is dissolved. All its members will return to the Heavenly Net Church!"
"The Six Harmonies Sect's main force has been wiped out here. Split up and erase this faction completely!" Fang Ling said.
"As you command!" Yun Shuiqing and the others immediately answered.
After a brief discussion, they divided their forces and set out for the Six Harmonies Sect's headquarters and its various branch halls.
In the blink of an eye, only Fang Ling, the wounded within the headquarters, and the physicians remained.
His figure flashed, and he appeared beside Dou Qin.
Dou Qin, however, instinctively took a step back, putting some distance between them.
"Thank you for saving them, Physician Dou. Consider this a favor I owe you," he said, glancing at her.
Dou Qin looked elsewhere and replied, "I was only helping Sister Yun, not you. You don't owe me anything."
Fang Ling could clearly hear the chill in her voice. Her attitude was entirely different from before she arrived, but he did not mind.
"There are probably still experts guarding the Six Harmonies Sect's headquarters. I need to take a look," he continued.
"Physician Dou, once you've finished treating these disciples, don't leave just yet."
"Wait here until the White Family's forces arrive."
"When they do, tell the White Family Head that I appreciate his favor."
"Travel back with the White Family's cultivators. It will be safer on the road."
Dou Qin nodded lightly. "Understood."
"Mm... I advise you not to practice these evil arts."
"Although evil arts can rapidly increase your strength, they usually have drawbacks."
"Those drawbacks become especially pronounced in the later stages of cultivation. They may even affect your mind."
"You're still so young. If you change your ways early, there's still time."
Although she did not know exactly what cultivation methods or divine abilities Fang Ling practiced, her experience told her that none of them were good.
Fang Ling said, "Thank you for the warning, Physician Dou, but I have my own plans for my affairs."
"As if I care. What you do has nothing to do with me." Dou Qin gave a soft huff and turned away.
Having said everything he needed to, Fang Ling immediately departed and caught up with the main force heading toward the Six Harmonies Sect's headquarters.
Before long, Dou Qin had treated all the Heavenly Net Church's wounded.
She then waited another twelve hours before the White Family's forces finally arrived.
The White Family had sent three Heavenly Balance Realm experts. Besides the White Family brothers, there was also the somewhat older Bai Cunyun.
Bai Cunyun was the brothers' uncle. Like the White Family's ancestor, he spent most of his time in secluded cultivation and rarely appeared.
Although the White Family had sent only thirty thousand cultivators, that already amounted to forty percent of its entire strength, clearly demonstrating its commitment.
The White Family's cultivators had all prepared themselves for a bitter battle.
But when they actually arrived, every last one of them was dumbfounded.
Many of the less experienced disciples were so frightened that their legs went weak.
The three hundred thousand skeletons lay piled on the ground, a horrifying sight.
Even people as widely experienced as Bai Jiang felt their scalps prickle at the scene.
When Dou Qin saw the White Family's army arrive, she immediately flew over.
Bai Jiang looked at her and hurriedly asked, "Physician Dou, what exactly happened here? Where is Young Master Fang?"
Dou Qin replied, "Several hours ago, Fang Ling wiped out all three hundred thousand of these Six Harmonies Sect members by himself."
"Then he took his subordinates to the Six Harmonies Sect's headquarters and its branch halls to finish things off."
"Fang Ling asked me to tell you that he appreciates your favor. But the dust has settled now, so you've made this trip for nothing..."
"You're saying Young Master Fang killed these three hundred thousand people all by himself?" Thinking he had misheard, Bai Jiang asked again.
Dou Qin nodded. "Yes. By himself."
"He even deliberately set up a barrier before killing them. From the very beginning, he never intended to let a single person escape."
"All those pale bones... Alas, I truly never imagined his bloodlust would be so strong."
Bai Jiang said little and immediately led the White Family's cultivators back home.
Dou Qin went along with them, planning to take her disciples out of Dragon City and return to the Medical Immortal Valley as soon as she got back.
Meanwhile, at the Six Harmonies Sect's headquarters.
With the sect's elite forces annihilated, its defenses could not withstand a single blow. Fang Ling and his followers had already breached them.
At that moment, he was in the Six Harmonies Sect's forbidden grounds-Windstone Gorge.
The Six Harmonies Sect was a first-rate faction in the Southern Sun Kingdom, with a legacy stretching back many years.
But after strolling through its treasury earlier, he had been dissatisfied.
To his subordinates, the Six Harmonies Sect's treasury might have been quite good, but it contained nothing useful to him.
Later, he heard from Mister Mo that there was another forbidden area deep within the Six Harmonies Sect: Windstone Gorge.
Black astral wind capable of damaging bones blew here year-round, and the deeper one ventured into the gorge, the stronger it became.
The Six Harmonies Sect had designated such a dangerous place as forbidden grounds because its supreme inheritance was a body-refining art.
That art required external forces to temper the body, and the astral wind unique to this place was highly effective.
But fearing that uninformed disciples might rashly enter and lose their lives, the sect had simply made it a forbidden area.
He slowly advanced, feeling that even a Netherworld Beast would struggle to withstand the wind at his current position.
This made him curious about what lay at the end of the gorge that could produce such formidable astral wind.
I doubt any of the Six Harmonies Sect's masters throughout the generations ever managed to reach the end of this gorge, he thought.
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