Chapter 22: As for the Gray Daoist, just kill him.

"Elder Gray, Qinghe County is merely a tiny speck of a town. Why go to such lengths? I could take it down by myself..."

"Attend to your own duties. I have my own plans. The blood sacrifice in Qinghe County is just a secondary objective; finding the talent is the true goal of this journey."

"Understood, Elder."

"Go and do your part. Once Cangzhou is captured, the flesh and blood of the entire province will be ours to consume, and the pinnacle of the martial path will be within reach."

"Thank you, Elder."

...

Amidst the hypnotic, droning voice of the old Daoist, the white-robed inner sect disciples grew uncontrollably excited, their pace quickening.

The old Daoist, known as Elder Gray, waved his horsetail whisk in the air, and a surge of green energy flowed into the bodies of the guardians beside him.

The next second, the sturdy guardians, their bodies covered in intricate runes, displayed expressions of ecstatic pleasure. They reached back to unhook the war drums made of human skin from their backs.

With bone mallets in hand, they struck the drumheads with violent force.

The resulting sound waves rippled through the air, spreading for thousands of meters.

Under the influence of the bone-hammered drums, the outer sect disciples and believers on the perimeter wore expressions even more ferocious and hideous than before. Their charge toward Qinghe County accelerated by at least thirty percent.

"Those curs of the Great Qian had better not be lying to me, or I, Daoist Gray, will ensure they suffer dearly."

"To think that a mere bone fragment and a young girl hidden in this Qinghe County could be worth ten top-grade Grade-Seven medicinal elixirs, plus the inner core of a Grade-Five pure-blooded demon—it is truly bizarre..."

"But that is none of my concern. Find the fragment, break through to Grade Five, and Cangzhou will belong to the Bone Path!"

Elder Gray narrowed his eyes, peering into Qinghe County.

A moment later, he closed his eyes again, yet the slight trembling of the wrinkles on his weathered face betrayed him. He was extremely excited, unable to fully contain his emotions even in his state of meditative detachment.

"When the time comes, it won't be impossible to trade members of the Green Lotus Path to the Great Qian in exchange for certain things."

As for how to dispose of the Green Lotus members later... simply trading them to the Great Qian would suffice. After all, although both the Green Lotus and the Bone Path belonged to the White Lotus Sect, they were not partners. While they had avoided open conflict for the sake of the believers, they were, in truth, as incompatible as fire and water.

As long as it was done discreetly, no one within the sect would care what Elder Gray did.

...

"I shall start the slaughter with you lot. Living in this world without purpose, ignorance is no sin, but to hold ignorance as a virtue and abandon one's humanity—that is unforgivable."

Yang Le leaped down from the cliff, facing a sea of White Lotus followers clad in blood-stained white robes, wielding sickles.

This time, Yang Le knew their origins: Grade-Nine practitioners, outer sect disciples of the White Lotus Sect's Bone Path. The Grade-Ten quasi-martial artists were merely initiates among the believers.

Seeing them, Yang Le drew his sword. There was no trace of fear in his heart.

...

Even with thousands of enemies before him, the intent behind Yang Le's blade was chillingly murderous. To Yang Le, if numbers mattered... his cheat would have been in vain.

"Take him down!"
"I want his flesh!"
"Give me his leg bones as my entry offering to the sect!"

As Yang Le struck, the dozens of White Lotus followers who had surrounded him noticed him. They stared at him like sheep awaiting the slaughter, an insatiable hunger for flesh and blood radiating from their eyes.

Whether human or demon, once one practiced demonic arts, none could resist the temptation of blood and meat. To them, Yang Le was no longer just a person; he was a stepping stone to martial advancement and a ticket to becoming an outer sect disciple.

Instantly, a dozen sharp sickles descended upon Yang Le from all directions.

"Your eyes look like those of beasts."

Yang Le did not particularly enjoy killing, but if he were killing beasts, that was a different matter entirely.

In such a predicament, Yang Le charged into the crowd. His sword was filled with surging sword energy as he spun in mid-air. The surrounding sword aura shredded the White Lotus followers within a ten-meter radius into a pulp of flesh.

"Getting closer. I need to be faster."

Clearing the area, Yang Le did not pause. He glanced at the location of the white-topped sedan chair and charged forward even faster, his blade cutting through lives like flowing water. Whether they were Grade-Ten, Grade-Nine, or even the occasional Grade-Eight martial artist, they were all felled by a single strike of his sword.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Le was less than a thousand meters from the white-topped sedan.

...

"Elder, an anomaly has occurred."
"Speak."
"A Grade-Seven martial artist has broken into the formation and is heading straight for you."

Shortly after Yang Le entered the fray, Lin Jingyu, Elder Gray's chief disciple who had just vanished, reappeared by his side to report.

"Kill him. Divide his blood essence among those who strike him down."

To Elder Gray, a Grade-Seven charging into the Lotus Bone Array was simply courting death. Since he wished to die, let him be killed. Glancing briefly at the figure of Yang Le flashing through the crowd, Elder Gray dismissed him entirely.

...

"Elder, give me five breaths, and I shall have his head."

As an inner sect member of the Bone Path and a disciple of Elder Gray, Lin Jingyu was also a Grade-Seven practitioner. He commanded eighty-one female cultivators as his cultivation cauldrons and practiced the Life-Death Yin-Yang Art.

Although the intruder was also Grade-Seven, he was merely a human from the backwater of Cangzhou. How could he possibly be his match?

As Elder Gray finished speaking, Lin Jingyu's figure vanished instantly, piercing through the formation to lock onto Yang Le.

...

"Hmm?"

"Grade Seven? It seems the intelligence from Zhangsun Ji was flawed. To have a Grade-Seven practitioner appear in such a situation—it seems that Elder Gray is at least Grade Seven himself."

The moment Lin Jingyu appeared, Yang Le spotted him. There was no helping it; amidst a crowd of mongrels, the sudden appearance of a Grade-Seven martial artist made it impossible not to notice.

"Mortal, why do you not kneel before the Immortal Venerable?"

As Lin Jingyu arrived, four women landed first, immediately kneeling and pressing their hands to the ground, their beautiful faces filled with reverence and terror.

A second later, Lin Jingyu, wearing nothing but a shred of white cloth around his waist, descended and landed directly on the bare backs of the kneeling women.

"I am the disciple of Elder Gray, an inner sect member of the White Lotus Sect. Kneel and live, or remain standing and die!"

Treading on the backs of the white-clad women, whose flesh was partially exposed, Lin Jingyu looked at Yang Le with arrogance, viewing him as nothing more than an ant.

"You're quite the performer. Let's see how many of my sword strikes you can take."

Yang Le's response was remarkably simple. He swung his sword and began his assault!

"Hmph, although you are Grade Seven, a savage martial artist like you is but a firefly before the moon compared to me—"

"You... you're so fast..."

Before Lin Jingyu could finish his sentence, Yang Le's sword had arrived. A flash of cold light, and Lin Jingyu's feet were severed.

The one who fell to his knees was... Lin Jingyu.

"My apologies. As it happens, there is no moon tonight."

With the next strike, Yang Le severed Lin Jingyu's head.