Chapter 115: Answering Slaughter with Slaughter—Overwhelming Power Is an Art, Too
For the first time in her life, Tie Xinlan experienced despair.
From childhood until now, when had she ever not been fawned over?
Within the Divine Water Palace, she had been protected and idolized by her elders and fellow disciples.
Outside the Divine Water Palace, countless young talents of the martial world had coveted her, flattering her at every turn.
Yet today, after coming to Jiangzhou, she had suffered setback after setback at the hands of a single man—for the first time in her life.
That alone would have been bad enough, but she had actually been slapped across the face by him!
It was utterly inconceivable!
After the shock came fury.
Tie Xinlan was enraged by Ling Xiao’s rudeness and insolence.
But she did not dare move.
Ling Xiao’s attitude clearly showed that he truly did not care about her identity—and that he might genuinely kill her.
Thus, Tie Xinlan did not dare try to stop Ghost Valley. She could only stand there and watch helplessly as Ghost Valley slaughtered every last disciple of the Waterborne Association.
Was this not another form of humiliation?
She clenched her fists and bit down hard on her pearly teeth.
“Ling Xiao! Ling Xiao! I hope Kongtong doesn’t kill you in the end. Otherwise, I won’t be able to seek revenge against you in the future!”
...
Night had fallen deep. The weather had grown slightly cooler, and Jiangzhou’s sky was completely shrouded in dark clouds. A drizzle began to fall, carrying a faint scent of blood through the air.
On the great road leading to Jiangzhou’s border, a black figure stood proudly against the wind, advancing step by step.
Before long, ten thousand people had gathered behind him.
Not long after that, the number had swelled to tens of thousands.
One man had become tens of thousands, and the killing intent had transformed from a single current into a vast, heaven-reaching tide.
Dark clouds churned overhead, as though stirred by that boundless killing intent.
...
At the border between Jiangzhou and the northwest, a fine drizzle fell without end. Beneath it, a dense sea of figures stretched across the land, occupying three mountains that rose a thousand meters into the sky.
Kongtong’s army of two hundred thousand had long since formed battle lines and stood ready.
Atop the central mountain stood the elders of Kongtong, proud and imposing.
Three thousand Martial Saints!
As one of the nine foremost sects in the martial world of Huaxia, Kongtong naturally possessed a number of Martial Saints sufficient to look down upon all challengers.
It was the existence of so many experts that had forged Kongtong’s supreme glory and secured its place as the ninth-ranked sect.
At the summit stood the leader of the group. His beard and hair were as white as snow, and he wore a white robe that gleamed like freshly fallen frost.
Though old, his deep-set eyes radiated a terrifying brilliance, so powerful that none dared meet his gaze.
The First Elder of Kongtong—a fourth-level Martial Venerable.
A true expert.
He gazed up at the starry sky, his eyes deep and sharp as swords. His stare pierced directly through the clouds overhead, and a pair of fierce glints reached toward the heavens, gathering the countless rivers of stars within his mind.
Around him, the other elders’ eyes flickered incessantly, all of them filled with intense fighting spirit and killing intent.
“First Elder, the time is nearly here!”
“Three minutes remain!”
“In three minutes, Kongtong will flatten Jiangzhou! That brat from Ghost Valley dared to claim that Kongtong had no one left, recklessly disrupt the northwest, and kill our young master. This grudge... must now be settled!”
The others swallowed hard, their eyes burning with an unending battle lust.
The drizzle was swept away by their fighting spirit. Before a single drop could touch the ground, it was blown aside, leaving the mountain peak not even slightly damp.
The seconds and minutes passed. Those three minutes seemed to stretch into thirty years.
When the bell of midnight rang, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky, opening the curtain on a new battle for supremacy among the hundred sects.
This was an epic destined to set the souls of the descendants of Yan and Huang ablaze.
Within this epic, there would be no distinction between kings and defeated foes. Every participant would be a hero.
Blood would be the pigment that stained the epic red.
Victory would be the banner proclaiming its triumph.
And slaughter would be the only melody capable of bringing the epic to life.
The heavens and earth would turn in their eternal cycle, vast and blood-red. Everything would be reborn amid the flames of war, renewed with fresh blood, driving Huaxia toward even greater glory.
The instant the lightning exploded, killing intent suddenly filled the First Elder’s eyes, blood vessels standing out across them.
He lightly tapped the ground with his foot, and his body rose into the air. Amid the flashes of lightning, he stood proudly beneath the heavens.
“Men of Kongtong, it is time to display the skills you forged through years of bitter cultivation!”
“Use the blood of Ghost Valley’s men to carve a path for Kongtong!”
“This time, in the battle for supremacy among the hundred sects, Kongtong will surely rise another level!”
“Advance upon Jiangzhou and Ghost Valley! Kill!”
His command thundered like a bolt exploding beside the ear. The disciples of Kongtong, their eyes crimson, let out furious roars so deafening that they drowned out the thunder in the sky.
Two hundred thousand mighty soldiers advanced with the wind, crossing Jiangzhou’s border and charging straight toward the city.
Yet before this army had traveled even a mile, an equally overwhelming aura erupted from Jiangzhou’s side. Its might was in no way inferior to that of Kongtong’s forces.
The First Elder’s pupils narrowed slightly.
“Who goes there?”
“Ghost Valley. Ling Xiao.”
The four simple words came with a thunderous detonation and slammed deep into the First Elder’s heart.
Lightning illuminated Ling Xiao’s face, handsome yet brimming with masculine force, and the First Elder’s heart gave an involuntary jolt.
“What an exceptional young man. No wonder he was able to kill Kongtong’s young master. With this aura alone, he has already defeated Gucheng by three points!”
After a pause, his eyes narrowed slightly. Two streams of killing intent pierced through the drizzle and reached ten miles away.
He gave a cold snort and said, “But tonight, you will die in regret. The moment you descend into hell, you will regret that, on this day in this life, you ever chose to oppose Kongtong.”
“This will be the most foolish choice of your entire life!”
“Too much nonsense. Leave no one alive.”
The indifferent words ignited the flames of war in an instant.
Lightning tore apart the curtain of night. The eighty thousand elite disciples of Ghost Valley’s Hall of War surged forward like dragons and tigers, charging straight into Kongtong’s army.
The First Elder laughed disdainfully.
“A mere few tens of thousands dare oppose Kongtong? Ridiculous! Watch how Kongtong crushes Ghost Valley! Men, destroy Ghost Valley’s army. I shall reward each of you with an Aperture-Opening Pill. Those who kill the most enemies will receive an additional Vitality-Enhancing Pill!”
Aperture-Opening Pills and Vitality-Enhancing Pills were both precious medicines desperately desired by martial cultivators.
An Aperture-Opening Pill could assist in advancing one full level of cultivation, with a success rate of over sixty percent. Each pill was worth twenty million.
A Vitality-Enhancing Pill could instantly restore all the spiritual energy expended by a peak Martial Master. It was a life-saving treasure worth one million each.
Both were exceedingly rare treasures.
Under the promise of such generous rewards, brave men would inevitably emerge.
The moment the First Elder finished speaking, the eyes of Kongtong’s disciples lit up, and they surged forward in a frenzy.
Their battle cries shook the heavens and earth. Even the grass and trees fell silent, daring not make the slightest sound.
Momentum rose like a breaking eastern wind, while the great clouds of the northwest swept inward, nearly crushing Ghost Valley with the force of thunder.
But—
At the very moment the two armies clashed, a thunderous explosion erupted, and a mushroom cloud shot into the sky.
Immediately afterward, the battle cries unexpectedly weakened...
“Hm?”
The First Elder could not help frowning slightly.
“What is happening down there?”