Chapter 402 - 383: Isn’t Your News a Little Too Late?

Chapter 402: Chapter 383: Isn’t Your News a Little Too Late?

A deathly silence settled over the ruins in the aftermath of the disaster.

Mrs. Su and Su Wenjing clung to each other, their eyes red and their bodies still trembling uncontrollably.

"A god! A true god!"

Mrs. Su’s lips trembled as she muttered the words over and over, tears streaming endlessly down her face.

Su Wenjing, meanwhile, clutched the hem of her sleeve. Her once-spirited eyes now saw nothing but a sea of platinum-white.

In her eyes, the figure in white was a divine savior straight out of a storybook, a true lord who had descended from the Nine Heavens to sweep away all evil.

’Is this... an Immortal...?’

Meanwhile, Su Wenxuan, who had been safely returned to the city, stared at the distant peak that had been razed to the ground. His eyes were bloodshot, and his small body trembled with excitement and awe.

’Boss! *That’s* my real boss!’

As the head of the Su Family, Mr. Su’s thoughts were the most complex of all.

Immortals could command the clouds and rain with a flick of the wrist. Before such power, the struggles of mortals and the schemes of prominent families were utterly fragile.

But that feeling was quickly followed by immense gratitude that the Su Family, and Su Ling’er, had formed such a heaven-sent connection!

This was power beyond the ken of mortals. It was the Su Family’s greatest guarantee of survival and prosperity for the next hundred, or even thousand, years!

However, this was not the time to be lost in reflection.

.....

Su Ling’er stood amidst the ruins. The black qi surrounding her body quickly receded into her, and the crimson in her eyes gradually faded, revealing clear yet resolute pupils.

She had regained her usual clarity.

She gazed at the distant, scorched earth, blasted by the aftershocks of the avatar’s power, and then at Eldest Brother Lin Qingfeng’s otherworldly, white-robed back.

Then, her gaze swept over her other senior brothers as they cleaned up the aftermath:

Ji, who commanded the black coffin, was shrouded in such a deathly yin energy that even the sunlight seemed to bend around him. Shen Nong, who controlled the vines, was chuckling as he fed the bloody remains of the Nascent Soul experts to his plants. After devouring the Nascent Soul flesh, the petals of his eerie Cannibal Flowers became even more vibrantly alluring...

Every one of them displayed strength that far surpassed those veteran Nascent Soul cultivators. Their methods were more efficient, more ruthless, and more... demonic than the experts they had just annihilated!

A fierce storm of thoughts erupted in Su Ling’er’s mind.

’If Eldest Brother is righteous, then what about them? Perhaps they’re kindred spirits? Walking the demonic path, but with hearts that yearn for the light?’

’Is that possible? After all, even though some of the slain Nascent Soul cultivators were from righteous sects, they all seemed to deserve their fate.’

’Or maybe... they really are true demonic cultivators?’

’And... and Eldest Brother is using them to fight fire with fire! Wielding the power of the demonic path to carry out righteous deeds?!’

’That’s also possible!’

Su Ling’er trembled with an excitement she could barely contain. She felt as if she had parted the dense fog of confusion and touched upon a world-shaking, magnificent plan!

’Eldest Brother used a Sword God avatar to face his enemies—such resplendent, divine might! He was clearly declaring his righteous stance to the world!’

’But then he brought out the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to collect their souls... It was deliberate! He did it as a disguise for the true monsters within the sect and for the rest of the world! To show them that he, Lin Qingfeng, is still a titan of the demonic path! It’s all to lull outsiders, and the true evil behind the Guixi Sect, into a false sense of security!’

’He’s using his status in a ’demonic sect’ to do what the righteous path dares not, cannot, and will not do! Eldest Brother is going to use the name of a demonic sect to shatter this corrupt equilibrium!’

’Using demons to police demons, using death to end killing, letting the demonic factions tear each other apart... all to cleanse the world!’

’What Eldest Brother is trying to do... he might be planning to upend the entire Cultivation Realm!’

Su Ling’er’s gaze hardened, all traces of confusion gone from her face.

’It was no accident that Eldest Brother made me a guide!’

’A guide... a guide... My purpose isn’t to lead people down the demonic path, but to guide them *back* from it!’

’I must expel them from the sect before their demonic nature takes root! I will not allow a single opportunist with a wavering heart to tarnish Eldest Brother’s grand, world-saving vision!’

’Eldest Brother, rest assured! I will become your strongest line of defense!’

’I, Su Ling’er, will not spare a single disciple who tries to cross my threshold and enter the demonic den of the Guixi Sect!’

’As for those incorrigible degenerates whose demonic nature is deeply rooted and whose hearts are set on evil... I will follow Eldest Brother’s example and pit demon against demon. I’ll let them fight the other demonic scum outside. That can count as the one good deed of their insignificant lives.’

’Then, I will devour their demonic nature, using evil to nourish the sacred.’

’For Eldest Brother’s sake, I will help him purify the Guixi Sect and restore light and justice to the world!’

.....

「Outside Anhe City, on the scorched earth.」

The smoke of battle had not yet cleared. The avatars of the six Nascent Soul experts had long since turned to dust, leaving behind nothing but a stretch of charred land.

In the center of the most devastated section of the ruins stood Ji, facing east with his arms raised high. "HAAAH—! Heavens above! What lonely souls and abandoned bones linger here? What resentful spirits weep blood and wail in the astral winds?"

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust! Cease your haunting, you sullied souls! Your broken bodies are but gravel for the foundation of my Guixi Sect’s great Dao; your flesh and blood, absorbed into the roots of the Cannibal Flowers, shall find true immortality—!"

Ji was performing the final cleanup, checking for any lingering souls or hidden traps, preparing to send them all to their final rest.

Shi Gandang hefted the giant hammer that was taller than he was onto his shoulder. "Ptooey!" He spat and roared with laughter. "Haha! Bunch of weaklings dared to challenge me, the successor of the Artifact Refining Pavilion’s Sword Refining Skill? They really didn’t know who they were messing with!"

As he spoke, he disdainfully opened his system reward panel. A look of disgust crossed his face when he saw the so-called "Top Five Placement Reward."

"[Martial Arts Secret Manual]? Who are they trying to kid?!"

Without a second glance, Shi Gandang pulled the manual from his inventory and casually tossed it to Lin Qingfeng. "It’s yours, Guild Leader."

"This junk might sell for a decent amount of copper coins, but you can’t trade it for Spirit Stones. It’s not even worth selling to the system store. It’s just taking up a slot in my inventory."

To players from a major sect like them, worldly martial arts? What was that, some kind of caveman-level stuff?

A single fragmented scroll chosen at random from their sect’s Cultivation Hall would be considered a priceless family heirloom by those players.

The only useful things from this battle were the six Nascent Soul "materials" and that Undying Bone. Those were far more valuable than the garbage rewards the system handed out.

Elsewhere, Wang Xian let out a huge yawn. He was sprawled like a salted fish on the back of his equally lazy Grievance Beast. "Ah, I’m dead tired... I’m heading back to the sect to lie down. So exhausting. Why is playing a game this much work?"

The group dispersed, each transforming into a streak of light and flying off toward the gates of the Guixi Sect or other cities within a few hundred miles.

In the blink of an eye, the land that had just witnessed a great battle returned to a deathly silence.

Just as Lin Qingfeng was about to depart, two messages popped up almost simultaneously.

PING—!

[Zhang San]: Holy crap! Guild Leader! Anhe City is being invaded! You should hurry over there and help! The two of us just got online, we couldn’t log in before!

[Li]: Oh, by the way, Guild Leader, we found out that the demonic invaders respawn at the Guixi Sect after they die. Speaking of which, there’s already a huge pile of new disciples squatting at the gate with their hands on their heads.

Lin Qingfeng looked at the two messages, which felt like they had arrived about three years too late, and the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

’Seriously? Isn’t this news a little... late?’