Lord Xue Ying

“Teacher, would the Sky Sword Sect send Cosmos Gods over?” Xue Ying asked.

“Relax.” Southern Cloud King smiled, “The battle between religions is also a battle of their reputation. Between similar Primal Chaos experts, our Southern Cloud Sacred Religion is stronger. Naturally, many cultivators felt it was more appropriate to join my Southern Cloud Sacred Religion instead. This sort of battle, if they were to send a Cosmos God to bully a Primal Chaos expert, it’ll be our win. It could not represent your religion is stronger either. But if that Cosmos God were to lose, it’ll be a huge disgrace.”

Xue Ying was enlightened.

The reputation of religion was essential when it comes to spreading it. Hence, having a strong protector was critical.

Even though there were many experts within the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion, other than the native nation, there were still many experts that originated from other countries. But the Realm Heart Great Land was ultimately too big! Hence, there would naturally be differences in the level of protectors across different territories.

“The Black Devil Four Nations have always been the main spreading ground for our Southern Cloud Sacred Religion. Even though the Sky Sword Sect is spreading their religion here too, they did not have any strong reputation here, and neither did they dispatch any formidable experts. Hence, the stronger cultivators from my Southern Cloud Sacred Religion have always been guarding other places to expand the influencing power of the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion.” Southern Cloud King said, “Who would have thought that they will decide to advance into one of the Black Devil Four Nations, the Fiery Zhao Nation, so daringly! Hmph, since they dared to enter, We must give them a good lesson.”

“Is killing permitted?” Xue Ying asked.

“Just act however you think you should.” Southern Cloud King said, “But you have to be careful too! It is certain that those who came to find us for trouble are the experts from the Sky Sword Sect! But in the dark, there could possibly be some experts that originate from the Myriad Realms Ancient Nation or Summer Wind Ancient Nation dealing against you in the dark. Of course… no Cosmos Gods would appear since that would mean the rule is disobeyed, and I can directly act.”

“Yes.” Xue Ying felt rest assured then.

What identity did his teacher have?

He was someone legendary even amongst the famous characters across the entire Realm Heart Great Land. Being a religious master, he would not casually act. Otherwise, he would be lowering his status! After all, if a Primal Chaos expert came to bully them, and if the religious master responded, it would instead create the impression that the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion was bad at nurturing experts on this realm.

Instead, if Cosmos Gods decided to act, and for the Southern Cloud King to respond in action, it would show how righteous the king was.

“The specific matters will be handled by Marquis Qu Ming. What you need to do is to act during crucial moments.” Southern Cloud King looked towards the tall and thin middle-aged man standing by the side, “Qu Ming, you can tell Xue Ying about other trifle matters on the way there.”

“Yes.” Marquis Qu Ming respectfully said.

“Xue Ying, since you have already refined your avatar, your avatar should temporarily stay at the capital. The safest place in the entire Southern Cloud Nation is over at my place. I have the confidence in keeping you alive here.” The Southern Cloud King was relatively confident of himself. In other aspects, like for instance, when facing against existences like Ancestor Fan, he could only escape with his life. Nevertheless, he had smashed quite a considerable amount of treasures which he earned over the long years on improving the capital. Nobody knew who would win in a one-on-one battle.

“Yes.” Xue Ying nodded.

He did not have to worry about the safety of Flying Snow City.

Because the Flying Snow City was a big city. Even the Black Devil Great Lake’s Blood Sacrifice would not occur at such huge cities since this was something the Southern Cloud King forbade. Whoever dared to act, the Southern Cloud King would undoubtedly send an avatar over! Even though he had reached a compromise with the Black Devil Great Lake, it was merely for Blood Sacrifices to be done on small cities, and for them to occur once in a blue moon.

…

Xue Ying brought along his servant, the Magic Dragon and Marquis Qu Ming together. They first relied on the Destructive Realm Teleportation Technique to arrive at the wilderness outside the Fiery Zhao Capital.

“Even though the Fiery Zhao Nation is messy and weak, this is ultimately the capital of the Fiery Zhao Nation. If we were to teleport directly into it using the Destructive Realm Teleportation Technique… the Fiery Zhao Nation would certainly discover our presence, and it might incur trouble.” Marquis Qu Ming explained.

Xue Ying nodded.

Over at the Primal Chaos Void that had weaker arrays, the sect which he was once from, the ‘Great Void Heaven Temple’ could already discover anyone who entered and left the place using the Destructive Realm Teleportation Technique, much less a place like the Fiery Zhao Nation.

The two of them continued flying. The servant Magic Dragon followed obediently.

“Marquis Qu Ming, just tell me what you need me to do when the time comes. You should handle everything else before the operation begins.” Xue Ying said, “I do not really know anything on spreading of the religion.”

“Haha, rest assured. I’ll naturally inform Brother Flying Snow regarding the matters which I need you to do. As for other times? Everything would be done according to your desire to improve the reputation of our Southern Cloud Sacred Religion. Even unleashing a horrifying technique in front of many cultivators is a good thing too since it would attract more cultivators to join our Southern Cloud Sacred Religion.” Marquis Qu Ming said.

Xue Ying understood then.

Any actions that did not disgrace the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion were fine. Doing things to improve its reputation was even better.

That was a simple task actually.

The two of them entered the Fiery Zhao Capital side by side.

“Mn?” When Xue Ying entered, given his perception of the void, he was able to sense some bloody and murderous aura left in the surroundings.

“The Fiery Zhao Nation is, in reality, the weakest of the four nations. Many devils from the Black Devil Great Lake stays here.” Marquis Qu Ming explained, “Murders are quite common even in the capital. As long as the culprit can escape in time before the army comes, it’ll be fine. And anyone with a slightly bigger background could easily get scot-free after killing someone since the army will not chase after it even when they knew of this matter. Nonetheless, most of the devils from the Black Devil Great Lake who stay here do not wish for the capital to be too chaotic. Hence, they would control themselves too. The overall situation is still fine, and compared to the Fiery Zhao Nation, the capital is the most stable place.”

“But as this city is chaotic, many cultivators thirst to be stronger.” Marquis Qu Ming chuckled.

Xue Ying nodded.

Just like how many experts had the same bloodline as he did. Many experts existed in the Realm Heart Great Land, and as they reproduced, even the descendants of Cosmos Gods might not be talented and would turn into commoners. As these commoners married and spread, it resulted in some formidable bloodline hidden in the bodies of countless civilians, albeit they were diluted.

Hence, most cultivators could cultivate using their bloodline along the Dao of Void, and other commonly-seen Dao paths too.

At this moment, everything relied on how attractive the religion was.

…

The sacred palace of Southern Cloud Sacred Religion located at the capital was the biggest hall within the entire Fiery Zhao Nation.

After all, the capital was the biggest city and had the most people–approximately half the population of the nation. The sacred palace here occupied a vast area and was relatively overbearing. Nevertheless, at this moment–

“Haha, Southern Cloud Sacred Religion, do you all only know how to hide inside?”

“All of you are frightened by my Sky Sword Sect to the extent that you all dare not come out!”

“So pitiful. Truly pitiful.”

Just outside the Southern Cloud Sacred Hall, there was a group of ten or so cultivators shouting out. Their voices reverberated across the world.

And Southern Cloud Sacred Hall had activated its arrays to protect itself. The cultivators were deadset on not leaving it.

“Why is the Southern Cloud Sacred Hall shut so closely? I still wanted to enter and ask for some guidance from my teacher.” A young cultivator fell into a daze as he watched from afar. Many people were spectating from the side. An old cultivator answered: “Don’t go. Anyone who is from the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion will be sentenced to death by the Sky Sword Sect if they discover you.”

“What? Sentenced to death?” This young cultivator was startled.

“There were quite a few who died. Initially, some disciples did not know what was happening and wanted to enter the hall to cultivate. They were instead killed by these experts from the Sky Sword Sect.” That old man continued.

“And is the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion planning to watch this happen?”

“What can they do? Did you not see that the entire sacred hall is shut close? With their arrays activated? And how they are deadset on not coming out?” The old man sneered.

“This is too cowardly!” The young man felt sullen, “Is the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion getting worse and worse for them to be bullied by the Sky Sword Sect in one of the Black Devil Four Nations? I have spent quite a lot of cosmos crystals just to gain entrance and cultivate in the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion!”

Spread across the Realm Heart Great Land, most of these disciples were outer disciples.

They entered the religion to cultivate. It was reasonable for them to leave any time and join other religions too. After all, outer disciples could quickly be poached by other religions.

“The experts from the Sky Sword Sect seem very formidable. Who knows if I might be able to improve faster by cultivating there.”

Many discussions were going on.

The Fiery Zhao Nation was originally chaotic. This was a place where the strong feasted on the weak.

Seeing the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion being bullied and were forced to shut themselves within the sacred hall, others would naturally feel that they were weak.

It was okay if this was temporary. If this happened over a long time, the whole religion would be affected nastily.

“Mn?”

In the distance, Xue Ying brought his servant Magic Dragon and Marquis Qu Ming over. They might seem casually traveling over, yet they moved at quite a rapid pace–one step brought them close to the hall.

“He is?”

In the group of experts from the Sky Sword Sect, others were of the Unity realm, and only the leader was a ninth level expert known as ‘Chang Su Wang’. He had trained in the secret impartation of the Sky Sword Sect, ‘Sky Sword Undying Body’ to the tenth level grand perfection stage. Only then did he gain the courage to deliberately come and shout at the Southern Cloud Sacred Religion! It was fine for ninth level experts to conduct such acts. Those who were stronger would disdain from doing it.

“This white-robed young man?” Chang Su Wang immediately recognized him, “It’s that Ying Shan Xue Ying?”

Chang Su Wang might be shocked, though he was not afraid.

The reason why the Sky Sword Sect could spread so wide is due to how formidable the ‘Sky Sword Undying Body’ was. Once it is cultivated to the tenth level grand perfection stage, even Cosmos Gods had a hard time killing him, much less Xue Ying.

“Is this the personal disciple of Southern Cloud King, ‘Ying Shan Xue Ying?’” Chang Su Wang announced loudly. That group of Unity realm experts from the Sky Sword Sect immediately stood behind him.

“Ying Shan Xue Ying?”

“The personal disciple of Southern Cloud King?”

“He is that Ying Shan Xue Ying who cultivated to the tenth level power in just 1.5 billion years? That Ying Shan Xue Ying who could fight directly against White Cloud Devil Master?”

In the distance, many people were gossiping about it. Xue Ying was relatively famous in the Black Devil Four Nations.

“You heard it clearly. This is the Fiery Zhao Nation. Your Southern Cloud Sacred Religion should obediently retreat. Otherwise, things won’t end after a few ordinary disciples are killed just like previously.” Chang Su Wang declared. His voice resounded in the surroundings, “Let us leave.”

Saying that, he immediately turned and left.

He was clear that he wasn’t the opponent of Xue Ying. But he was quite confident of leaving alive.

“Go?”

Xue Ying snorted.

His voice rang in the mind of Chang Su Wang. For a moment, Chang Su Wang was engulfed into the illusory realm.

Even though he was a ninth level expert, he had barely reached this stage by relying on the Sky Sword Undying Body. His soul was merely at the eighth level standard, and facing Xue Ying’s illusory realm, Chang Su Wang could not resist at all. Xue Ying had easily destroyed the soul of the other party with a thought, causing him to die!

Xue Ying had unveiled his illusory realm technique with a lofty step!

Naturally, it would only have such miraculous effect when facing these ninth level experts that reached where they were by relying on external strength. If Xue Ying met those tenth level expert, his illusory realm technique would naturally not be enough.

…

Saying it was slow, but everything happened in an instance.

Chang Su Wang shouted out on the mouth: “Let us leave.” That group of Unity realm experts from the Sky Sword Sect was prepared to be brought away.

When the illusory realm from Xue Ying descended and killed Chang Su Wang. It happened with a wave of his hand.

“Hu!”

Xue Ying’s palm let out a dimmed light. It was crystalline white like jade. One could see the void ahead being swept away. Chang Su Wang and the other ten subordinates had all turned planar. And the next moment, that space had magically transformed into a piece of art.

That piece of art flew over to where Xue Ying was. This art contained Chang Su Wang and his subordinates. They were all standing in a daze and were no longer emitting any aura. Clearly, they were all dead and had become part of the art! If the soul of Chang Su Wang was fine, with his Sky Sword Undying Body, he could still fight his way out after being suppressed into the art.

Nevertheless, he remained still in the art piece, proving the fact that he had died.

Quite a few treasures even flew out from this piece of art into the hands of Xue Ying.

“Hang it on the outer wall of my Southern Cloud Sacred Hall.” Xue Ying held onto this piece of art and passed it to Marquis Qu Ming who was currently staring with his mouth open.

“Good, good.” Marquis Qu Ming nodded dumbly. He was staring blankly at the scroll of art in front of him. Too formidable. Too powerful.

“Remember, you must protect this art with arrays. It must remain hanging on the wall. This is the outcome for the Sky Sword Sect since they dared to act so rampantly in my Southern Cloud Sacred Religion.” Xue Ying said. With the arrays protecting it, even tenth level experts could not destroy it nor take it away!

Hence, by using his illusory realm technique, Xue Ying combined it with the newly-learned secret impartation of the Southern Cloud Sacred 12 styles–Spectacular Painting!