Slaying the Enemy

White Sand Town lay two hundred li east of Golden Ao Mountain. Its population of some two hundred thousand were all blood descendants of the White Sand Lu Household.

Today, Su Yao arrived wearing a fresh red Daoist robe, Zhengji hanging at his waist.

Su Yao hovered in the air and first looked down at White Sand Town. Then he looked toward White Sand Mountain behind it, the very mountain where the White Sand Lu Household was based.

Over the past few days, he had also made inquiries about the Lu Household. Five thousand years ago, the Lu Household had produced a True Person, but none had emerged since. Only because that True Person had been on good terms with the god of Cibi Lake had the household been able to maintain its honored status.

But the Lu Household had committed such an offense that even the god of Cibi Lake could not protect it!

He took five heads out of his Storage Bag.

They belonged to members of the Lu Household he had killed earlier within a hundred li of Golden Ao Mountain. All of them were Qi Refinement cultivators. After death, they should have turned into various minerals, but he had preserved them with a special Secret Method.

With a thought, he descended.

He arrived at the gates of White Sand Town, a long sword hanging at his waist, a Daoist robe on his body, and five heads in his hand.

The mortals around him were terrified at the sight and hurriedly moved out of his way.

When he entered the gates, the once-bustling crowd involuntarily parted to make a path for him.

Someone shouted a curse:

"Where did you come from, you fiend? How dare you run wild on White Sand Lu Household territory?"

Su Yao ignored him and continued forward.

With Su Yao's bearing and the heads he carried, no one else spoke up!

Even the voice of the person who had spoken earlier died down.

After he had gone about two li, someone finally spoke in a trembling voice:

"The heads he's carrying look like they belong to cultivators from the mountain!"

He paused.

"I've seen one of them before. He's a young man of the Yi generation!"

The people around him looked over and finally recognized the heads. They flew into a rage. Su Yao frowned as "Draped in Rosy Radiance" manifested, and he rose into the air once more.

Hovering in midair, he looked toward White Sand Mountain, his voice spreading with the aid of Law Power:

"White Sand Lu Household, you crossed the boundary and injured one of my disciples. I have come today to demand justice!"

He paused.

"Hand over the culprit, and you may yet be spared death. If you persist in your folly, do not blame me for razing your mountain gate!"

When his voice fell, the many mortals below were terrified. After so many years, someone had actually come to stir up trouble on Lu Household territory!

At that moment, the light of a formation rose on White Sand Mountain, completely enveloping it.

On White Sand Mountain, the many members of the Lu Household did not know what had happened. Meanwhile, inside the Lu Household's main hall,

some twenty people had gathered. Hearing Su Yao's voice, they all looked furious. A young-looking man below stepped forward and looked at the elder seated at the head:

"Father, this man has gone too far! We should just fight our way out. He's alone!"

The elder at the head flew into a rage:

"You're the only one with any ability, are you? You gave no thought to the consequences. It would have been one thing to test them, but you even launched a sneak attack! Now that disaster is here, let's see what you do!"

The Lu Household members around them all tried to calm him down. A middle-aged man said:

"Patriarch, why fear him? He came alone. If it succeeds..."

The middle-aged man looked at the young man who had spoken earlier and continued:

"If it succeeds, we'll have the spirit item His Excellency promised Shang'er for his Purple Mansion breakthrough."

The Lu Household members around them all began trying to persuade the elder again:

"The imperial court and the witch tribes around us are all restless. If our household has no True Person, it will be very hard to endure. Shang'er has extraordinary talent. He had already reached Foundation Establishment Late Stage at a hundred and thirty. He is certain to reach Purple Mansion and bring prosperity to our Lu Household for another fifteen hundred years!"

Hearing this, the elder fell silent for a long time. In the end, he nodded and said in a grave voice:

"An arrow once loosed cannot be called back. Since we've brought this trouble upon ourselves, we'll bear it together. Pass on my order: meet the enemy with all your strength, but do not kill him! His background is distinguished, after all!"

Everyone voiced their assent. The elder waved for silence and looked at the young man.

"Lu Shang, you must not leave the mountain. We did all this so that you could pursue Purple Mansion. If you were injured, the loss would outweigh the gain."

The young man was about to protest, but the middle-aged man who had spoken earlier held him back.

The elder continued with his instructions:

"Take the Spirit Artifact. We cannot kill him. As His Excellency instructed, it will be enough to make him lose some face."

Everyone nodded in agreement and left to prepare Law Artifacts, talismans, and the like.

Only the elder and the young man remained in the hall.

The elder looked at the young man, hesitated for a moment, then took out a talisman and handed it to him.

"It was left by our ancestor. After so many years, we've used up almost all of them, and this one is all that remains. Keep it safe and use it to save your life at a critical moment!"

Seeing the look in the elder's eyes, which allowed no refusal, the young man finally accepted it, but he still said:

"Why fear him? If not for my limited cultivation resources, I would be no worse than the person I injured five days ago!"

With that, he turned to leave.

The elder's expression changed slightly at his words, but in the end he said nothing more about it and merely called him back:

"Do not leave the hall until this matter is settled!"

The young man had no choice but to turn back and sit down. Just as he did, the earth shook and the mountain trembled.

Outside the mountain, Su Yao looked at White Sand Mountain, which had given no response for a long time, and sneered inwardly.

Li Fire and rosy light shone in one another's radiance between his brows.

The next moment, Li Fire and rosy light erupted and flew toward White Sand Mountain.

The instant the Li Fire and rosy light struck the light of the formation, violent shaking and a thunderous rumble erupted!

Then a furious voice rang out:

"Impudent brat! How dare you bully our Lu Household like this!"

As the voice fell, some twenty beams of Law Technique light flew out of the formation and struck at Su Yao.

Su Yao remained unhurried. His Immortal Foundation, "Draped in Rosy Radiance," lit up, and rosy light instantly shone in all directions!

Returning Water, Li Fire, Fu Water, cold Qi, Jade Truth, various Witch Techniques, and numerous other Law Techniques-none could reach Su Yao. Instead, the rosy light bounced them back, sending them falling toward White Sand Town below.

Seeing this, some twenty people flew out of White Sand Mountain and barely managed to intercept the many falling Law Techniques.

Only a few wisps of cold Qi released by a cold Qi Law Technique fell into White Sand Town, instantly killing or injuring around a hundred people.

The middle-aged man at their head flew into a rage and unleashed another Li Fire Law Technique.

Su Yao took out Clear Breeze and gave it a gentle swing. Sword Qi flew out, instantly dispersing the Li Fire, and shot onward.

The middle-aged man took out a shield and barely managed to block it.

Su Yao surveyed them and thought to himself:

This Lu Household actually has more than twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators. Twenty have appeared before me, but I don't believe that's everyone in the Lu Household.

After all, the person who had launched the sneak attack and injured Liu Yunhe with a Spirit Artifact was not there. Li Siyi had shown him a recording, so he recognized that person. He looked at the group and said:

"I have no intention of killing or injuring anyone. Hand this person over, and the matter will be settled!"

With that, a recording bead appeared in his hand and displayed a young man.

The middle-aged man was beside himself with rage, but what had happened just now had truly shocked him. He could not identify what Immortal Foundation his opponent cultivated. He knew only that it belonged to the path of rosy light, which had always been rare.

Earlier, twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators had joined forces in a sneak attack, yet their opponent's Immortal Foundation had deflected every attack. They had not even been able to get close to him.

Su Yao looked at the middle-aged man, who was silent and visibly angry, and thought to himself, It seems I still need to provoke them, so that I'll have a more legitimate reason to slaughter every cultivator in the Lu Household! He sneered:

"More than twenty of you came out together, yet you couldn't even touch the hem of my robe. White Sand Lu Household, you truly are fit only to be sneak-attacking rats!"