Exterminate the Devil Cultivators!

Outside the Land God Temple, the wind died down.

Three figures descended from the sky, touching down on their toes without making a sound.

The female cultivator leading them wore a red dress and carried a dark crimson banner. A burly bald man stood to her left, and a sinister-looking young man to her right.

The stench of blood and Sha was thick enough to make one sick.

The female cultivator stopped, frowning. The courtyard was a little too quiet...

The temple doors were gone, too.

"Fourth Brother?" the burly bald man called.

There was no answer.

The female cultivator raised a hand, and the blood banner stirred without wind. She stepped through the temple entrance and swept her gaze over the corner: three shriveled corpses and a mangled body with its head smashed in.

The bone jar was gone, and so were the Storage Bags.

"Who did this?!"

The sinister young man snarled through gritted teeth. From the darkness, a massive bear paw reached out soundlessly, heading straight for the back of his head.

There was no spiritual power fluctuation, only the muffled sound of air tearing apart!

The sinister young man reacted at once, drawing a black shortsword with a backhanded motion to block.

Crack.

The shortsword snapped, and the bear paw struck the young man's shoulder, crushing half of it outright. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the temple.

The young man screamed and went flying sideways, his breath as faint as a thread.

The blood banner in the female cultivator's hand shook violently. A great cloud of red mist poured out, enveloping the space ahead.

Shi Jian's figure emerged from the red mist.

He neither dodged nor evaded, letting the red mist strike his body with a corrosive hiss. Using the momentum, he charged into the burly bald man.

The burly man was quick to react. With a wave of his hand, a bone shield appeared in front of him to block.

But in the next instant, Shi Jian opened his mouth and let out a low roar. His Divine Sense roar slammed straight into the burly man's mind, making him falter.

Shi Jian's claws had already swung out. One swipe tore through the bone shield and left three bloody furrows on the burly man's chest, deep enough to expose bone!

At the same time, his other paw attacked.

The burly man had no time to worry about anything else and hastily shielded his head and chest. But the bear paw abruptly changed direction, its claws giving a light hook and tug.

The Storage Bag at his waist was snatched away in an instant!

"You're courting death!"

The female cultivator had only just recovered from the Divine Sense roar. Seeing that the bear demon had dared to injure someone, she sent a torrent of blood-red light surging from her banner, straight at Shi Jian's face.

Shi Jian glanced at the Storage Bag in his paw and took several steps back. Unafraid of the blood banner's attack, he turned and smashed through the Land God Temple's rear wall, making as if to flee.

"After him!"

At the sight, the bald man grew frantic, disregarding even his injuries. That Storage Bag held more than half a lifetime's savings!

If he lost it, he might as well die.

The red-robed female cultivator gritted her teeth, fed the sinister young man a healing pill, and turned to pursue the black bear alongside the bald man.

But neither of them expected what came next.

Shi Jian had already slipped into the mountain forest, concealing his presence and disappearing in a flash.

He estimated the time and looked up at the northern night sky.

In the far distance, a streak of extraordinarily sharp lightning was approaching at tremendous speed. Clearly, the people from White Cloud Temple had arrived.

And they were moving far faster than expected.

The red-robed female cultivator also sensed the disturbance to the north.

Her expression turned ugly, and she hurriedly put away the blood banner.

"Second Brother, retreat!"

She was no fool. White Cloud Temple's reinforcements had arrived; staying any longer would be courting death.

"Do you think you can escape?"

A thunderous shout came from the heavens. A giant sword broke through the clouds, trailing dazzling white light as it slashed down at the female cultivator in an instant.

The ground shook, and dirt flew everywhere.

The female cultivator barely managed to dodge. She saw an old man standing atop the giant sword, dressed in White Cloud Temple's Daoist robes, his hair and beard white...

The presence of a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator swept over them in an instant!

Yunsong followed behind the old man, standing in midair on his flying sword. His presence was impressive as well, carrying a sharp edge...

"Cunning villains! You dare run wild on White Cloud Temple's territory? You truly are courting death!"

The old man formed hand seals, and the giant sword became hundreds of sword shadows that enveloped the two Devil Cultivators. The shadows split into beams of light, forming something like a sword formation.

Their killing power towered to the heavens, their righteous Qi vast and mighty!

The female cultivator bit the tip of her tongue and spat a mouthful of Essence Blood onto the blood banner. It blazed red as she tried to block the sword shadows.

The burly bald man formed a spiritual power shield and resisted with all his might. Already grievously wounded, he grew increasingly pale...

Shi Jian stepped out of the shadows. He did not rush to attack; he was waiting for the right moment, a chance to kill with one blow and render great service!

Sword shadows clashed with blood-red light.

The female cultivator's blood banner was formidable, but under the suppression of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage elder, she ultimately fell into a disadvantage. The burly bald man fared even worse.

Several more wounds appeared on his limbs, deep enough to expose bone.

The sinister young man, who had caught his breath, now found himself under Yunsong's watch. Yunsong pressed his hand downward, and a giant sword descended from the sky.

One strike pierced his body and pinned him dead to the ground!

Seeing that one had been dealt with, the old man laughed aloud and called out:

"Junior Brother Yun, seal off their escape!"

"Don't let a single one of these fiends get away!"

Yunsong nodded. His flying sword became a streak of light and circled behind the two Devil Cultivators. With a point of his finger, several flying swords sped across the sky.

Despair flashed in the female cultivator's eyes.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Shi Jian, then looked at the White Cloud Temple elder before her.

"Since I can't live, we'll die together!"

The female cultivator roared and drove the blood banner into the ground. Her hands rapidly formed seals, and the spiritual power in her body surged wildly into it.

The blood banner began to swell violently, countless cracks appearing across its surface!

"She's going to detonate her Law Artifact!"

Yunsong's expression changed. A Foundation Establishment cultivator deliberately detonating a top-grade Law Artifact could injure even someone at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage!

The old man's brows knitted tightly, and his hands flew through seals as he tried to suppress the blood banner's detonation with his sword formation. But the red mist spread too quickly, and the formation showed faint signs of collapse.

Just then.

Shi Jian moved. He burst from the shadows, his massive body stretching out in midair as his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Yao Qi erupted in full!

Ignoring the female cultivator, he landed directly in front of the blood banner, which was about to detonate. He raised a bear paw, and a vast surge of Demon Power pressed down.

"Suppress!"

Shi Jian uttered a single word and slammed his paw onto the blood banner...

Boom!

A thunderous, muffled blast erupted against the ground. Shi Jian had forcibly contained the blood banner's explosive power within a radius of three chi, using his flesh and Demon Power.

A deep crater collapsed into the ground. Shi Jian stood at the bottom, both paws pressing firmly against the shattered blood banner. A large patch of black fur had been blasted from his paws, and blood seeped out, but he did not even grunt.

The old man seized the chance, and the sword formation closed in at once.

Hundreds of sword shadows pierced the female cultivator's body from behind in an instant. She was slain on the spot without being given a chance to self-detonate, dying with her eyes open.

The remaining burly bald man was already badly wounded, and now he was alone.

In the end, Yunsong killed him with three sword strikes, chopping him into pieces!

The battle of techniques ended as quickly as it had begun. In the blink of an eye, the night wind dispersed the remaining blood mist.

The old man put away his sword and walked to the edge of the crater.

He looked at Shi Jian at the bottom, surprise flashing in his eyes.

"You're Shi Jian? The spirit beast guarding the Sun Clan?"

Shi Jian slowly rose and shook the dirt and blood from his body. He looked up at the old man, his gaze and tone utterly calm.

"That's right."

"Devil Cultivators trespassed into our territory, and the Sun Clan was in danger, so I naturally had to act. These three Devil Cultivators intended to plunder the lands under the Sun Clan's rule; their deaths were only fitting."

The old man nodded, a trace of admiration appearing in his eyes.

"Though you are a beast, fellow Daoist, it is rare to find one with such a heart for protecting mortals. I am Lei Lie, an enforcement elder of White Cloud Temple."

"Thanks to your intervention in suppressing the blood banner tonight, fellow Daoist, we were spared what would otherwise have been considerable trouble capturing these Devil Cultivators."

Shi Jian said nothing in reply, merely giving a slight nod. He made no requests, as though he truly were a good beast devoted to the people.

"Since the Devil Cultivator threat has been eliminated..."

"Fellow Daoist Shi rendered great service this time. Although you acted in self-defense, your performance was still outstanding."

"How about this? There are eight first-rank Spirit Veins under Hongtian County's jurisdiction. From now on, the spiritual taxes from those eight households will be handed over to the Sun Clan to collect on our behalf."

"From now on, the Sun Clan's annual spiritual tax will be raised to forty percent."

"What do you think, fellow Daoist Shi?"