Cut!

Unsure for the moment whether Nangong Wan truly intended to take revenge on him, Lin Yun shook his head slightly. I'm about to make my escape anyway. There's no need to fear her revenge.

He told Han Li not to worry, then explained why he had come to the imperial palace of the Yue Kingdom.

"Before I joined Yellow Maple Valley, members of the Black Fiend Sect came to my door intending to harm me, and a feud was born. Now that I've learned where their headquarters is, naturally, I've come to collect a little of what they owe me."

Liu Jing immediately sympathized. Filled with righteous indignation, he declared that everyone had the right to put these fiends of the Demonic Path to death.

As they were talking, a sweet voice suddenly rang out overhead.

"Senior Brother Liu, Junior Brother Han, why are you still here? Where are the other Black Fiend Sect members?"

Beneath the moonlight, Chen Qiaoqian and Zhong Weiniang descended from the sky with a pale-faced, middle-aged man in imperial robes.

Lin Yun frowned at the middle-aged man in imperial robes. Examining his aura, he found a dense, bloody demonic energy about him. Though at first glance the man showed no trace of magical power, closer observation revealed a thread of exceptionally powerful magic lurking within his body, held in reserve.

Knowing that this Yue Emperor was the leader of the Black Fiend Sect, he transmitted his voice to Han Li. "Junior Brother Han, warn your senior brothers and sisters to be wary of this man!"

Lin Yun was not particularly familiar with Liu Jing and the others. Rather than abruptly transmitting his voice to them and provoking a reaction that would stir the grass and alert the snake, he left Han Li to warn them.

Han Li stood behind Liu Jing. Seeing Liu Jing about to go over to greet them, he was just about to warn him when he noticed Chen Qiaoqian standing beside the Yue Emperor. His heart tightened, and he quietly took out a defensive magic artifact while transmitting his voice to Chen Qiaoqian.

Meanwhile, the others began exchanging greetings. At Han Li's warning, Chen Qiaoqian's expression changed involuntarily, though fortunately it was hardly noticeable in the darkness. She hurriedly took Zhong Weiniang by the arm and quietly drew her away from the Yue Emperor.

Only then did Han Li transmit his voice to Liu Jing and the others.

Just then, a blue-robed man appeared silently behind Lin Yun, raising a hand that shone with red light to claw at his back.

The corners of Lin Yun's mouth lifted slightly. At some point, an azure pearl had appeared above his head, casting down a shimmering, watery curtain of light that enveloped him like rippling water.

Ripples spread across the watery curtain, dissolving the blue-robed man's heart-gouging strike into nothing. At the same time, its undulating light held his red-glowing hand fast against the curtain, leaving it unable to move.

"You're the one I've been waiting for," Lin Yun said with a smile as he turned.

A vicious gleam flashed in the blue-robed man's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he tore off the bloody hand stuck to the watery curtain. A flash of blood-red light carried him far away.

The sudden turn of events immediately drew everyone's attention. Han Li seized the opportunity to retreat to Chen Qiaoqian's side, holding a shield before him.

"How did you discover me?" the blue-robed man asked, staring at Lin Yun with dark, venomous eyes.

"And why would you attack me?" Lin Yun countered with a faint, ambiguous smile. "For these, perhaps?"

As he spoke, he spread several Blood-Congealing Five-Element Pills across his palm.

Pale-faced, the blue-robed man snorted coldly and said nothing more. Instead, he took a green bottle from inside his robes, poured out a blood-colored pill, and tossed it into his mouth.

Color instantly returned to his pale face. A dazzling blood-red halo shone at the severed end of his right arm, and a moment later, before the astonished eyes of Zhong Weiniang and the others, a complete hand had regrown!

The blue-robed man flexed his newly grown hand and looked darkly at the group. A strange smile suddenly appeared on his gloomy face. "Heh heh... you can all die now!"

Lin Yun smiled as well. "Quite the boast, fiend."

Without ceremony, he gave a sharp command: "Cut!"

Behind the blue-robed man, the Clearvoid Invisible Sword quietly emerged from empty space. An invisible streak of sword light sprang from nowhere and swept soundlessly around his neck, without the slightest flare or any intricate trickery.

A sudden chill struck the blue-robed man's heart, but before he could react, his head had already parted from his body. The invisible sword light twisted, shredding even his soul to pieces.

Just before the blue-robed man was slain, the previously pale-faced Yue Emperor had somehow appeared behind Liu Jing. Almost at the exact moment the blue-robed man's head fell, a blood-colored claw reached for Liu Jing's back, precisely mirroring the blue-robed man's sneak attack on Lin Yun.

But Han Li had already warned Liu Jing, so he was prepared. A barrier shimmering with crimson flames instantly enveloped him.

Then, as the blue-robed man's soul shattered, the savage expression on the Yue Emperor's face abruptly froze. His face turned deathly pale, and the vicious claw he was about to thrust forward stiffened in place.

Yet he froze for only an instant before recovering. He shot backward to one side, ignoring everyone else to stare venomously at Lin Yun, who had just slain the blue-robed man.

Only then did he ask grimly, "When did you discover it?"

"We discovered it ages ago! You're the real leader of the Black Fiend Sect, aren't you?" Song Meng said bluntly, raising a Talisman Treasure toward the Yue Emperor.

Lin Yun beckoned over the blue-robed man's corpse, and a fiery-red pearl flew from it into his hand. Only then did he turn to the Yue Emperor. "That blue-robed man was your avatar, wasn't he? So I just destroyed your split soul? He must have been a eunuch, while you're the emperor. Heh heh..."

The Yue Emperor stared darkly at Lin Yun without saying a word. The destruction of his split soul had already inflicted grave damage on his own soul, and all the Blood-Congealing Five-Element Pills were in Lin Yun's hands. He now had almost no hope of turning the tables.

Beside them, Liu Jing had dispelled his protective barrier. Brimming with righteousness, he declared, "Why waste words on this evil heretic? Attack together!"

At his words, the others unleashed their respective means. Talismans, spells, and magic artifacts all hurtled toward the Yue Emperor.

A protective blood-red radiance lit up around the Yue Emperor, blocking all their attacks. Moreover, that bloody light could corrupt magic artifacts, stripping the attacking artifacts of their spiritual power until they were like lifeless objects.

Though startled, the group immediately switched in unspoken accord to attacking with only talismans and spells.

Lin Yun did not join in, merely watching them attack the Yue Emperor. It was not because he feared that bloody light would corrupt the Clearvoid Invisible Sword. His sword was a treasure made to refine demons and naturally had nothing to fear from blood-red light that corrupted magic artifacts. Besides, the Clearvoid Invisible Sword was a magic treasure whose substance and form had been refined. How could a paltry bloody glow damage it?

Because I appeared, none of them have suffered any casualties. Apart from Han Li, their temperaments haven't been tempered enough for this to count as a true trial

, so this gravely wounded Yue Emperor is just the thing to hone their resolve, Lin Yun thought privately as he stood to one side.

Their aptitudes were all fairly good among Yellow Maple Valley's Foundation Establishment disciples. Helping them would count as doing his part for the valley.

Seeing that their attacks were ineffective, Liu Jing's face darkened considerably. He immediately took a fiery-red jade box from his Storage Bag, then removed a peculiar talisman enveloped in red light.

Surprise appeared on everyone's faces. Senior Brother Wang cried out involuntarily, "Th-this is a True Treasure!"

Lin Yun also looked curiously at the True Treasure in Liu Jing's hand. The methods used for Talisman Treasures and True Treasures in this mortal world were truly distinctive, actually allowing magic treasures to be turned into talismans.

A moment later, Liu Jing finished activating the True Treasure. With a confident expression, he told Han Li and the others still besieging the Yue Emperor to move aside.

He blew gently, and the firebird formed from the True Treasure in his palm immediately flew out.

Meanwhile, the Yue Emperor, who was struggling to withstand the others' attacks, showed a flash of vicious resolve. He took a bare black saber hilt from inside his robes and held it in his hands. After spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto it, he began chanting under his breath.

When Liu Jing's True Treasure firebird drew near, the Yue Emperor hurled the hilt straight into it. A violent explosion erupted where the two collided.

He had actually detonated a powerful, incomplete magic treasure, intending to use the True Treasure's might to take everyone down with him!

But he had clearly underestimated the resources of disciples from a major sect.

The Supreme Goodness Pearl above Lin Yun's head cast down watery light, dissolving the explosion's shock wave into nothing.

The spiritual light on the defensive magic artifact before Han Li and Chen Qiaoqian fluctuated violently for a moment, then instantly dimmed. Both of them paled and staggered several steps backward.

The others were not so fortunate. The shock wave hurled them more than a dozen zhang away, and they each spat out a large mouthful of blood. They had clearly suffered serious injuries, but none were fatal.

They struggled to their feet and looked toward the center of the explosion.

Liu Jing, who had faced the explosion head-on, had already lost consciousness. Almost no part of his body remained unscathed. Had his chest not still been rising and falling, everyone would have thought he had died in the blast.

"Senior Brother Liu!" Ignoring her own injuries, Zhong Weiniang hurriedly staggered over to him.

The Yue Emperor was little better off than Liu Jing. His golden crown had been blasted who knew where, and his imperial robes hung in tatters, soaked beyond recognition by the blood pouring from his body.

"Hahaha... die, all of you!" The Yue Emperor let out an inhuman roar and suddenly raised a hand to point at Lin Yun off to one side. Two streaks of blood-red light flashed out in succession, reaching Lin Yun in the blink of an eye.

The Supreme Goodness Pearl flashed again, pouring down watery light. The attacks of the two Blood Spirit Drills were once again dissolved into nothing.

"You truly don't know when to stop courting death."

Lin Yun sighed softly. The Clearvoid Invisible Sword struck again, and the Yue Emperor's head instantly parted from his body. He could not have been more thoroughly dead.