With a deafening clang, the armored leader staggered back five steps, disbelief written across his face. He raised his hand, revealing a sword wound that ran across his entire palm. He looked toward the stone stele, from which a figure in red robes emerged, holding a longsword. A trace of blood still marked its blade, proving that this man had unleashed that astonishing flash of sword light.
Everyone nearby stared in shock at the figure emerging from the stone stele. If their eyes had not deceived them, this red-robed figure had wounded the armored leader with a single strike. The armored leader was a sixth-stage Profound Understanding Realm cultivator. Although he was not among Black King City's strongest figures, someone from the lower realm should never have been able to wound him.
Ye Qing pointed at the red-robed man and asked Ximen Di in astonishment, "He's from your continent too? How could he be so strong? Is he another hidden figure?" Even Ye Tian beside him looked shocked. Someone ascending from the lower realm had directly wounded a guard captain of the upper realm. Nothing like this had ever happened in Black King City. This newly ascended man's cultivation was actually somewhat higher than Ye Tian's own!
Ximen Di stared at the red-robed man, his eyes filled with disbelief, and said woodenly, "He's Liansheng, the Demon Sect's chief steward!"
Hearing this, Ye Qing immediately turned to Ximen Di. "You know him?"
Ximen Di nodded. "Yes, he's Liansheng, the Demon Sect's chief steward I told you about, the one who forced my sect to disband." Ximen Di pointed in shock at the black-clad figures still streaming out. "Could all these people belong to the Demon Sect?"
The armored leader stared darkly at the red-robed man. "Who are you? You actually have cultivation at the Fifth Level of Profound Understanding! Did these black-clad people ascend with you?"
After stepping out of the stone stele, the red-robed man looked curiously around the square and drew a deep breath. He said leisurely, "The sect leader was right after all. The Spiritual Qi in this upper realm truly is abundant, more than ten times richer than in the lower realm!"
He raised his head toward the armored leader and said gravely, "I am Liansheng, chief steward of the Demon Sect. Our Demon Sect has ascended together this time. I hope you will not obstruct us!"
A trace of puzzlement flashed through the armored leader's eyes. He had never heard of a faction called the Demon Sect. It was probably a lower-realm faction. He did not know what had happened on the continent below for so many Martial Sovereign experts to appear at once. There had to be over a thousand of them! And they had not stopped! They were still walking out.
The armored leader's face darkened, and he waved his hand. At once, over a hundred armored guards in the square gathered around, every one of them an expert at the second stage of the Profound Understanding Realm or higher. "No matter where you ascended from, daring to provoke our Blue Rain Clan is courting death. Surrender without resistance, and we can spare your lives. Otherwise, don't blame us for killing you without mercy!"
Liansheng looked at the armored leader, knowing that today's affair could not end peacefully. The longsword in his hand became a streaking meteor, thrusting straight at the armored leader. With a roar, the armored leader conjured four long sabers in his four hands and slashed at Liansheng.
The two immediately began fighting. Perhaps the upper realm's space was more stable, and there was no telling what material the square was made from, but the clash between two experts at the Sixth Level of Profound Understanding did not damage the square in the slightest.
The armored guards in the square also attacked the black-clad figures. Yet in that brief span, another group had emerged from the stone stele. This time, their cultivation was no longer at peak Martial Sovereign; they too had reached the Profound Understanding Realm!
While fighting the armored leader, Liansheng shouted, "Those armored guards are enemies! They seek to stop our Demon Sect's ascension! All Demon Sect higher-ups, attack with everything you have!"
"Yes!" answered the many Demon Sect higher-ups who had already emerged from the stone stele.
The burly Demon Tiger King roared, "You blue brats, take my Demon Tiger Heaven-Rending Claw!"
"Demon Ape Hammers the Heavens!"
"Nine Netherworlds Dark Heaven Palm!"
For a time, the square descended into chaos. At first, the Demon Sect was at a disadvantage, but when an old man carrying a sword emerged from the stone stele, the situation instantly reversed. The old man slowly swung his longsword. His movements were clearly slow, yet each stroke could kill an armored guard.
Looking at the sword-bearing old man, the armored leader was immediately filled with disbelief. He had thought victory was firmly in his grasp, only for another group of Profound Understanding Realm experts to ascend from the other side. Now another expert at the Fifth Level of Profound Understanding had appeared. Was the continent below really so formidable? But wasn't everyone supposed to ascend upon reaching the Fourth Level of Profound Understanding? How had those two remained until the Fifth Level before ascending?
The people from the other factions in the square had initially been merely surprised, wearing expressions of spectators enjoying a show. They did not believe this lower-realm faction calling itself the Demon Sect could defeat the Blue Rain Clan. After all, it had only one Profound Understanding Realm expert. Even if his ability to fight the armored leader to a standstill was incredible, he was only one man.
Yet in just a short time, the Demon Sect had shattered their understanding. Profound Understanding Realm cultivators kept pouring out of the stone stele, and now even two cultivators at the Fifth Level of Profound Understanding had ascended. Messages were continually being sent from the square as they reported the situation to the factions behind them.
Ximen Di, standing to one side, was so frightened that he could no longer speak. He had not recognized the people who ascended at first, but after Liansheng ascended, the Demon Sect's many higher-ups followed closely behind. He recognized practically all of them.
Especially the Demon Tiger King and the Demon Monkey King. If he was not mistaken, both had already reached the Third Level of Profound Understanding, while he had only cultivated to peak Martial Sovereign even with the upper realm's resources. He found this rather hard to accept. Just a few years ago, neither of them could have withstood even one move from him!
The longer the armored leader fought, the more alarmed he became. Although the red-robed chief steward before him was one stage below him in cultivation, his sword was incomparably fast, leaving him no room for distraction. He could only fight with all his strength. Yet in this short time, more than half the armored guards in the square had already been killed. If he did not find a solution, his entire force might be wiped out!
The armored leader gritted his teeth, took a jade pendant from his robes, and crushed it. Instantly, a towering presence rose a hundred li east of the square, and a figure appeared above the square in an instant. The pressure radiating from him made it difficult for everyone in the square to move.
"How is this possible? Even Lanyu Wu has been alerted! He's the Blue Rain Clan's second-strongest expert, and his cultivation has reached the realm of an Eternal Hegemon!" Ye Tian exclaimed in astonishment as he looked at the blue figure that had suddenly appeared in the sky.
"Indeed, Lanyu Ting has really been driven into a corner. He even used the protective talisman his Lineage gave him."
"What a waste. Though these ascenders have decent cultivation, sending two high-stage Profound Understanding experts would have been enough to settle this. Was there any need to waste a protective talisman to summon someone in the Eternal Realm?"
Everyone in the square immediately began discussing it in hushed voices!
Lanyu Wu, known as the Blue Rain Clan's second-strongest expert, stood in the sky. Looking down at Lanyu Ting and the armored guards strewn across the ground, he asked sternly, "What happened?"
Lanyu Ting dropped to one knee and quietly recounted what had happened. When he finished, he pointed at the armored guards' corpses littering the ground and said sorrowfully, "Clan elder, you must avenge our clansmen!"