Slaughter

In the distant sky.

A cultivator from an aristocratic clan on Black Demon Island looked around and chuckled. "Fellow Daoists, why are you still standing by and watching? Are you really going to hand the treasure tree's spirit fruits to the Xun Household cultivators for nothing?"

With that, he flew lightly toward the summit and unleashed a flying saber at the Jade Water Formation.

Hiss!

Scarlet flames wreathed the flying saber. In an instant, it sliced through the formation patterns within the barrier's light, leaving a sizable breach.

Fortunately, the barrier's light flowed and quickly restored itself, giving him no opening to exploit.

The other spectators saw a chance to seize treasure amid the chaos. At once, more than a dozen flew out together and attacked the Jade Water Formation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, the jade-green barrier light teetered on the verge of collapse.

The situation reminded Fang Hong of a saying-when one fell into a well, stones came raining in from every direction.

He continued feeding spirit stones into the formation disk, then took out a Soul-Washing Pill and swallowed it. So furious that he laughed instead, he swept his gaze over them. "Since you're determined to seek death, I'll grant your wish!"

He removed the golden flying sword from his wrist, took a talisman from his storage pouch, and wrapped it around the sword. Then he raised his hand and sent the flying sword forth.

The talisman instantly fused with the flying sword, as though abruptly raising it to a whole new level, making it blaze with a terrifying golden edge and overwhelming killing intent.

The golden flying sword abruptly became a brilliant streak of sword light too dazzling to look at. Like a ferocious beast freed from its shackles, it shot out of the Jade Water Formation and streaked through the air like lightning!

Overwhelming, razor-sharp killing intent merged with the sword light. Faster than lightning, it pierced one cultivator after another besieging the Jade Water Formation, leaving mutilated corpses falling across the sky like kites with severed strings.

Before this sword light, everyone's protective spiritual light and treasures crumbled at a single blow.

A second-tier talisman, the Seven-Kill Armor-Piercing Talisman!

Fang Hong simply gave his nature free rein. Whatever their identities, backgrounds, or reserves of power, he would cut them down with a single stroke and kill to his heart's content.

At the foot of the mountain, Chai Hongzhou looked up at the scene and murmured in disbelief, "Just how many second-tier talismans does he have?"

Xun Li was doing everything he could to keep the Upper Clarity Sword Talisman occupied when a hair-raising sense of terror suddenly swept over him. Looking up, he saw a streak of golden sword light fly out of the Jade Water Formation, roaming freely through the crowd and slaughtering.

Wherever the sword light passed, blood sprayed in all directions, and severed limbs and mangled remains fell like dumplings dropped into a pot.

The cultivators besieging the Jade Water Formation were either pierced through the forehead by the golden sword light, beheaded with a single stroke, or cut in half at the waist. Their deaths were gruesome, and they had no time even to cry out for mercy.

It was an indiscriminate slaughter.

In an instant, Xun Li felt as though ice water had drenched his entire body. His fighting spirit vanished, his soul fled and his courage shattered, and he turned to flee.

But how could his flight outpace the sword light? He had flown only a few yards before the golden sword light swept across his chest, cleaving his body in two on the spot. He screamed miserably, plainly beyond saving.

Only after cutting him down did the golden sword light turn gracefully back into the Jade Water Formation.

Outside the formation, nothing remained. Deathly silence filled the surrounding sky.

The cultivators watching from afar turned and left, not daring to linger even half a second longer, afraid that the golden sword light would fly out again.

Yet the figure of the youth in his wide robe and flowing sleeves atop the mountain was branded into everyone's heart like a red-hot iron, with unprecedented brutality.

On a nearby mountain, Su Yao's lovely face was likewise filled with astonishment.

The scene she had imagined, of Fang Hong scrambling in panic and fleeing in disarray, had never appeared.

She and Fang Hong had grown up together, and she had always thought him merely a pampered young master of an aristocratic clan with no great ambitions.

Her future brother-in-law carried an air of haughty privilege. Though he was not as domineering as other aristocratic clan scions, he was merely a mild-tempered, mediocre rich boy, unlikely to amount to much.

Who could have imagined that this upheaval would transform him into a fierce man who remained calm and composed in a crisis, decisive and ruthless!

She had heard some female rogue cultivators on Yunchuan Island say that a man's growth often happened overnight.

She had thought it merely a crude joke traded among female cultivators. Now that she considered it, however, it held another, deeper meaning.

Chai Hongzhou flew to the summit with a thick stack of storage pouches, his expression unconsciously taking on a measure of deference and awe.

"Fellow Daoist Fang, these are those people's storage pouches. Twenty-five in all: twelve from Xun Household cultivators, ten from cultivators of other lineages on Black Demon Island, one from a Wonderful Sound Pavilion cultivator, and two from Ghost King Sect cultivators."

Fang Hong felt refreshed in body and mind, all the pent-up anger in his chest dispelled.

He took the storage pouches, raised an eyebrow, and asked with a smile, "There were fellow sect members of yours among that group, Fellow Daoist Chai?"

Chai Hongzhou gave an awkward, accommodating smile. "I wasn't close to either of them."

He hurriedly tried to change the subject. "The Xun Household originally sent thirteen people to break the formation. One slipped away partway through."

Fang Hong did not concern himself with that either, asking casually, "How many more Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals do you need, Fellow Daoist Chai?"

"Not many," Chai Hongzhou replied. "Nine more will make a hundred."

Fang Hong took out nine Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals and handed them over. "You can leave this secret realm first, Fellow Daoist Chai."

Chai Hongzhou nodded, accepted the crystals, and put them away. Then he added quietly, "You've killed quite a few aristocratic clan scions from Black Demon Island this time, Fellow Daoist Fang. You'll need to watch out for retaliation in the future."

At that, Fang Hong asked in return, "Were any of them children of Golden Core cultivators?"

"Probably not." Chai Hongzhou thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Then there's no problem." Fang Hong smiled calmly.

As long as a mighty Golden Core cultivator did not personally come to exact revenge, he had nothing to fear for the time being.

Besides, the Yunchuan Fang Clan did not eat its meals for nothing. Though its overall strength fell short of Black Demon Island's six great aristocratic clans, if Fang Jian, a mighty Golden Core cultivator, became bent on revenge and began assassinating and slaughtering the six clans' low-level cultivators on a massive scale, Black Demon Island would find it utterly unbearable.

Secretly harming a Golden Core cultivator's legitimate son to avenge a few Qi Refining members of their lineages would hardly be worthwhile.

Two days later.

The three spirit fruits on the Ice-Soul Treasure Tree suddenly shone with brilliant auspicious light and fell from the branches one after another.

Fang Hong reached out to catch them and discovered that the three spirit fruits had actually solidified into tangible forms, cool and soothing in his hand.

He sniffed their fragrance. The candlelight in the Life Mirror within his sea of consciousness shone brightly, so there was clearly nothing wrong with them.

He immediately began taking large bites. The more he ate, the richer the fruit's fragrance seemed, its flesh sweet and exceptionally delicious.

After he finished all three spirit fruits, a mass of icy energy gathered within his dantian's sea of qi.

He sent his divine sense into his sea of qi to examine it inwardly and discovered that a talisman seed shimmering with white light had quietly condensed there. It seemed to be part of his sea of qi, moving at his will.

All manner of profound insights surfaced in his mind.

It still needs to be nurtured with magical power for a while before I can use it.

Fang Hong looked at the Ice-Soul Treasure Tree beside him and could not help remarking wistfully, "If only other spells and divine abilities could be learned this way too."

Unfortunately, such natural spiritual treasures were destined to be rare.

"It's time to leave."

He flew lightly down the mountain, searched the surrounding area for half a day, and found a teleportation altar.

He placed a hundred Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals on the altar.

Lines of blue-glowing formation patterns immediately lit up across it, and spiritual light surged within the altar. First, all the Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals vanished. Then a dazzling wash of flowing light flashed before Fang Hong's eyes, and he was teleported away.

The next moment, his figure appeared inside the Dome Hall.

Quite a few cultivators had been standing nearby. When they saw it was him, they instinctively stepped back, leaving a broad, empty space around him.

Fang Hong looked around and found the hall much emptier. Of the original two hundred-odd cultivators, fewer than a hundred or so had returned.

The cultivators in the hall gathered in twos and threes, talking among themselves. Most groups consisted of two or three male cultivators gathered around a female cultivator.

Fang Hong saw Su Yao standing alone in a corner, still dressed in a plain white gown. Her tall, slender figure rather resembled a crane standing among chickens.

He immediately walked over.

"Did it work?" A slight flicker passed through Su Yao's eyes as she spoke first.

"It did."