Ao Kun broke free and rose, glaring furiously. "You're courting death! Do you know who I am? I..."
Whoosh!
Something whistled through the air.
A long saber gleaming with dark light plunged straight down.
Horrified, Ao Kun formed seals with both hands, conjuring a golden screen of light that blocked Jiang Yantian's Yang-Extinguishing Saber.
The moment he blocked it, Ao Kun sneered coldly. "Heh, a mere..."
"Break!" Jiang Yantian shouted softly.
The Yang-Extinguishing Saber began spinning rapidly around a single point.
Crack! A splitting sound rang out.
"Impossible!" Ao Kun cried out.
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, the dark light broke through his screen.
Shlick!
"Argh!"
A wail rang out.
Everyone present was dumbfounded.
In one move, that darkly gleaming saber had pinned the Heavenly Saber Sect's young sect master, a Nascent Soul expert, to the ground!
It had pierced clean through him.
Even in death, the Heavenly Saber Sect's young sect master would never have imagined that the other man would kill him simply for having a foul mouth and talking too much.
Everyone saw the scene clearly.
Ao Kun's Nascent Soul actually burst out of his body, meaning his Nascent Soul was all he had left.
Most terrifying of all, Jiang Yantian reached out and seized Ao Kun's Nascent Soul in his palm, and it dissipated instantly.
Everything happened so quickly that the Heavenly Saber Sect's other elder could not even react before their young sect master croaked.
"Young sect master!" the other Heavenly Saber Sect elder roared like a madman.
Fuck, the young sect master had only come out this time to gild his credentials. Now he had lost his life, and even his Nascent Soul was gone. His body was dead, and his Dao had utterly vanished.
"You... you killed our young sect master! Our Heavenly Saber Sect..."
Whoosh! Jiang Yantian raised his hand to suppress him, and two Fine Steel Chains gleaming with eerie light spiraled out of his black sleeves.
They wrapped straight around the elder.
"If you hadn't spoken, I would've forgotten to kill you!"
"You two can keep each other company!"
As his words fell, Jiang Yantian's Yang-Extinguishing Saber, embedded in the ground, began humming and trembling from end to end.
With a crisp clang, it returned on its own, shooting toward the elder's chest, tip first.
"No, no!"
Shlick!
Blood splattered!
Another clean penetration, and another Nascent Soul expert fell dead on the spot.
"That... there's something strange about that saber. It can actually kill experts of the same realm outright..."
Quite a few people noticed the clue.
Logically, even if a Nascent Soul expert's body was pierced through, they would still have the strength to fight.
Yet both members of the Heavenly Saber Sect died instantly after being pierced through, leaving everyone trembling with fear.
That elder's Nascent Soul also burst out of his body, only to be seized by Jiang Yantian a few breaths later.
The other sects sucked in cold breaths.
None of them dared look.
They did not want to provoke someone so bloodthirsty and ruthless, and the Heavenly Saber Sect's affairs had nothing to do with them.
Even a dog would refuse to be the bird that stuck its head out or the one hurling moral condemnations.
Luo Xingcai's beautiful eyes, too, stared at Jiang Yantian in shock.
She knew Jiang Yantian had not killed without cause.
The other man had spoken disrespectfully to her first, which was why he had acted.
Now that things had come to this, she did not want to say anything more. If the Heavenly Saber Sect came to demand an accounting, she would face them alongside Jiang Yantian.
But this fellow was still too impulsive.
The Heavenly Saber Sect had suddenly lost two Nascent Soul elders.
Their disciples grew uneasy one after another. They did not dare do anything, and facing Jiang Yantian, they did not even dare curse at him.
Yet they still could not bear to leave.
After all, who would willingly give up an opportunity so easily?
For a time, quiet returned to the scene.
At last, the hour of midnight arrived.
Waves of wailing suddenly emerged from the Spirit-Imprisoning Forbidden Land, echoing through heaven and earth, utterly chilling.
The outer layer of talisman restrictions began shattering and falling away.
"The forbidden land is open!"
"Blood Domain Sect, enter!"
In an instant, the voices of the various elders rang out.
Hearing their elders' instructions, the sect disciples surged inside in a mass.
The elders followed them in as well.
Once they entered the forbidden land, they found an entirely different realm, as though they had gone into another small world.
Luo Xingcai was about to give the order when Jiang Yantian hastily caught her delicate hand.
Luo Xingcai's slender body trembled, and her gaze fell to her hand.
"Master, there's no hurry. Let them go in first. In a forbidden land like this, entering first doesn't mean you'll get the opportunities!"
Luo Xingcai understood what Jiang Yantian meant, but with her hand held in his, she still felt a little shy.
So she gently tugged and slowly pulled it free.
Only after waiting a while did Jiang Yantian speak.
"Move out!"
All the disciples were already impatient, and they rushed inside in a mass.
They feared the people from other sects would beat them to the opportunities.
Luo Xingcai and Jiang Yantian exchanged a glance, then flew forward.
Inside the Spirit-Imprisoning Forbidden Land, almost everyone lost their sense of direction.
They could not distinguish east, south, west, or north at all.
All they knew was to stay as close together as possible and move forward.
As the sect disciples ventured deeper, the atmosphere within the forbidden land grew increasingly oppressive.
The shrieks, roars, and whispers of resentful spirits, evil spirits, Spirit Devourers, and all manner of spirit entities intertwined.
No one dared let their guard down. Everyone remained fully alert, watching their surroundings.
Suddenly, gusts of wind began howling shrilly.
The dead trees began swaying eerily, their branches waving like arms.
Plumes of black smoke rose from cracks in the ground, condensing into spirit entities of all different shapes.
"Careful!"
The Formation Dao Branch's steward elder suddenly shouted softly and raised a hand to ward them off. "Formation Branch disciples, form a formation and protect yourselves!"
Everyone immediately held their weapons before them.
A Grand Momentum Eight Trigrams Formation took shape on the ground, enveloping them all.
They did not dare act rashly. At the very least, they could not make any reckless moves before these spirit entities attacked them.
The spirit entities glowed with a cool, eerie hue, each taking on the appearance they had possessed in life as they approached the disciples in groups.
Black flames also burned upon the spirit entities. The temperature plummeted, and a suffocating pressure spread.
"This is... the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts!" Luo Xingcai said slowly.
"Mm. In a situation like this, whoever strikes first suffers first. These fellows can still keep their composure."
Jiang Yantian responded calmly as well.
The other sects that encountered this situation, however, were not so fortunate.
They advocated attacking. Wherever there was danger, opportunity accompanied it.
But how could fighting these evil spirits be easy?
Quite a few immediately died in the mouths of the evil spirits.
In truth, the most anxious person at that moment was Ye Feng.
He did not need to worry about any of this.
With Elder Long here, coming to this place was like walking on level ground, utterly easy.
But now, Ye Feng knew he could not rush for results. There was plenty of time. Later, he could slip away quietly and collect the secret treasures that belonged to him, one by one.
"Within the Spirit-Imprisoning Forbidden Land, what really matters is your mindset. Keep it steady, and there won't be much trouble. If one person makes a mistake, they can easily drag everyone else down!"
Luo Xingcai and Jiang Yantian discussed things overhead.
"Mm, the wails coming from the other directions have already made that clear, while our side still has zero casualties."
"As long as no one courts death, everything will remain peaceful."
Jiang Yantian understood the place quite well. The Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts was like a test of patience.
If you could keep your composure and let the hundred ghosts pass through, you would generally be fine. But if you attacked, the evil spirits would retaliate.
As guardian elders, neither Jiang Yantian nor Luo Xingcai intended to offer a warning.
Not unless matters reached a critical point.
"Master..."
"Hmm?" Looking down below, Luo Xingcai answered Jiang Yantian gently.
"Did you see what I drew today?"
At his words, Luo Xingcai's slender body froze.
She pressed her red lips together and softly murmured, "Mm."