Waves of searing heat formed an explosive cloud that was almost ten meters tall. Blankets of earth surfaced and rolled towards the sky, mutually interlocking and furling together. The representative of death, a round orb of qi infused with the taste of doom, threw itself straight at Xu Yangyi in the sky!

Before the sphere even arrived, the tremendous blast wave had already collided against his suit, causing it to ripple loudly in the wind! Every single one of his follicles was trembling! He hadn’t foreseen that this enemy would actually be so crazed. In order to kill him alone, the enemy had borrowed a shield of a hundred-plus innocent tourists and used their lives as a cornerstone, simply bereft of human nature!

The opposing party also hadn’t anticipated that Xu Yangyi… could actually jump so high! Moreover, a pair of wings was gliding in the air. Based on their predictions, ten-somewhat meters was Xu Yangyi’s base limit. This suicide bombing employed a machine puppet. Apart from movement, it simply couldn’t have qi otherwise. There was no question that the device’s range and power were sufficient to blow him into smithereens!

Insane… The enemy had already gone insane… Xu Yangyi no longer had the time to consider anyone else, and his two hands immediately formed a seal. “Starfire!!!”

Buzz!

 Without warning, the wings on his back powerfully shook and vibrated. Shortly afterwards, his body rose up by another twenty meters! He reached an inhuman height of over forty meters! However, he wasn’t able to hover for long. Starting from winding around the explosive shock wave in midair, he was smoothly gliding. 

In this moment, there was no sound. Human nature and the world seemed to crumble apart in this instant. Below him, there were eleven ten-meter-wide qi orbs, and in the surroundings… only a swath of bloody red.

It wasn’t the blood of cultivators but rather mortals… the blood of those ordinary tourists. Due to the selfish desire of those in the darkness, while they had arrived to Tianzi Mountain in joy, they would no longer be able to return home.

“Son of a bitch…” Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. The explosion hadn’t endangered him, but the devastation below was a ghastly sight, astonishing both his eyes and heart.

He saw a girl who hadn’t reacted at all in the face of being engulfed by the explosive wave. He saw an old man stare at everything before his eyes in shock. The old man was relatively far away, and his wizened figure screamed out as he turned around, yet because of his advanced age and slow movements, he was swallowed into the sea of fire in the next second. He also saw a youth who had promptly laid down. The youth was covered in cuts and bruises and screaming hoarsely, but he was drowned by the rushing crowd coming from behind.

In all but a fleeting moment, the entrance way of the spirited Tianzi Mountain scenery… had transformed into a lesser hell on earth!

Chaos… Total chaos… Xu Yangyi closed his eyes. He wasn’t too worried about the Cultivation Court, but he likewise wouldn’t sit and wait for death. But… he had a bottom line! He wouldn’t borrow a hundred lives just so a single one would be unable to slip away. At the bare minimum, he wouldn’t do such a thing at the present.

This event… truly stirred the seething killing intent in his heart.

“I…” He glanced downwards at the shrieking and fleeing crowd, his voice firm and decisive, able to cut through nails and iron, “will definitely hang your heads in front of Tianzi Mountain.”

“Your sins are too deep; not even death can wipe away your crimes!”

This explosion had bombed countless families. He, whose family had been annihilated, could understand the agony in this all too well.

The extinguishment of human nature… perhaps it could be said that the actor of this event had long since become unworthy of being human.

Swish swish swish…

 The blast wave finally subsided. Xu Yangyi took a deep breath, stowed his wings, and descended.

All around, there were weeping, screeching, and panicked crowds. Countless people were hugging, regardless of whether they knew each other or not and wailing hoarsely. Below his feet, the ground had been dyed red with fresh blood. Broken and ruined arms were scattered everywhere. There were even more corpses that had been drowned within the spirit shock wave in a flash.

“I know you’re watching.” After ages of silence, Xu Yangyi raised his head and looked all around. His voice was calm, but the killing intent within it seeped into one’s bones and caused a coldness to be born. “So I want to tell you.”

“This time in Nanzhou, even until there’s one last person fighting to the end in the Xingtian Legion, they absolutely won’t allow you to plant your flag!”

A hundred people had died because of him. This was karma. But this was indeed the sin of the person who had acted!

An unpardonable sin!

His actions had trod over Xu Yangyi’s bottom line. Based on his principles, Xu Yangyi absolutely wouldn't shrink back! 

In the crowd, in an extremely distant place, the leader of a tour group coolly pulled down his hat. A sneer hung at the crook of his mouth, and he made a gesture to move.

“Third Master.” At his side, a man whispered, “Wouldn’t it be better for us to finish things now that we’ve taken action…”

The brim of the leading man’s hat was low, his true appearance nebulous. He only nodded. “Although we’ve paid a massive price for this operation, too much doesn’t mean that the Chinese government and the Cultivation Court won’t care. The display of abilities in public is the Chinese government’s taboo. We’ve paid no less than a mid-sized spirit stone mine to get the government to shut up. The target is already on alert now. There’s no advantage in provocation. Once activities really get going, there’s no way that the Cultivation Court won’t be concerned.”

“Its already big enough now.” An old man wearing a red travel hat laughed coldly, “Nothing more than some insignificant mortal lives. To be able to die at the hands of our Nalan Clan is an honor heavier than Mount Tai.”

“I’m not worried about the amount of dead mortals. Whether or not we can kill him is what I care about the most.” The leader used an extremely cryptic gaze to brush an eye over Xu Yangyi. “We waited at the door of the Ironforge Stronghold for several months to get today’s chance… Whatever he came to do at Tianzi Mountain isn’t important. What’s important…” He said apathetically, “is that he must die here.”

“Go…” He hinted at everyone to enter. “Since he wants to go in… we’ll be waiting inside for him… hehehe… The mountain forests… is our home turf.”

No one paid attention to their figures. Even if Xu Yangyi’s spiritual sense was wider, he still would’ve had a hard time finding them in such a chaotic scene. And this scene, in both screeching and wailing, had long since joined to become a block print of mourning.

[1]

“Mr. Xu.” Xu Yangyi’s face was like ice as he ran his eyes over the landscape. Finally, someone walked over from behind him and saluted. “Please… come with us.”

Xu Yangyi turned and glanced dimly at the military captain. The man’s courage was quite good. Over a hundred people had vanished before his eyes, yet he unexpectedly still had the guts to walk into the heart of the explosion.

“I believe my identification has already made a clear statement.” The man’s courage was laudable, but this didn’t represent that he himself was free of mind to keep chatting. “I have an important matter now. If I’ve been verified, let me pass.”

The captain’s face carried deep reverence. Xu Yangyi hadn’t turned around, but he sounded quite young. He absolutely dared not disrespect the other in the slightest. The soldiers on duty that he brought with him were holding guns, yet not a single one of them took aim at Xu Yangyi.

Furthermore… their gun-holding hands were somewhat shaking.

Just now… this man… had soared upwards!

Perhaps everyone else might’ve forgot, but the captain hadn’t! With his own eyes, he had watched Xu Yangyi jump thirty to forty meters up into the air! Was this even human?!

Perhaps he was still moderately skeptical of Xu Yangyi’s SF identification before, but now he didn’t doubt it whatsoever!

“That’s not how things are… Mr. Xu, is there some place you require our company?” The company captain deliberated and said, although his legs were still trembling a little. “This assassin is truly insane! We must bring him to justice!”

Xu Yangyi finally turned his head, looked at the thirtyish-years-old captain, and said calmly, “Your laws can’t control him. But you do indeed have a fitting place.”

“Please speak.”

“Immediately report to your superiors…” Xu Yangyi looked towards Tianzi Mountain. He had finally finished scanning through everyone present. All their reactions were very real. That illustrated one thing… 

The opposing party had already left this place and entered the mountain to wait for him. Perhaps they were even laying down an inescapable net. However, did they believe he would retreat just because of this?

He laughed grimly, “Tell them that no matter what you hear, don’t go in.”

He would personally wipe out all the enemy operatives in Tianzi Mountain!

Finished speaking, Xu Yangyi slowly walked towards the park entrance step by step. All the soldiers watched him come over and looked at him as if he was an asura. Without word or movement, they tightly clenched their somewhat trembling guns.

“Put those things down.” Li Zongyuan promptly followed. “They’re no use against us.”

It wasn’t until their figures had disappeared from the entrance did a sergeant at the captain’s side take a long sigh of relief. He spread out his clammy hands, and stammered, “Who was that guy… Frickin’ awful… That feeling, that oppressive power isn’t normal strength.”

“You haven’t heard about the SF identification?” The captain’s body also went somewhat soft, and he immediately left the heart of the explosion. His voice was also a little floaty. “So it turns out… that department really did exist. What the hell do I know about their operations… they’re all superhumans…”

“SF identification?!” The sergeant was startled. “That identification actually exists? Isn’t this the first time we’ve seen it? Was t-that even human!” 

“Regardless of whether or not it was, the higher-ups haven’t said anything about this ID to us, anyways. They only said to immediately let the person go upon seeing this ID!”

Tianzi Mountain was a famous national-level scenic area. The inside was a stretch of uncivilized, primitive forest. However, while this place was famous, it was still mountain.

The mountain here was different from other places. It appeared not to be naturally formed but instead carved with a blade and chiseled with a hatchet. One mountain lead straight towards the sky, resembling a perfectly straight sword from bottom to top. The absence of an ordinary mountain’s gentleness and agreeability was noted all around. On the contrary, a kind of stern feeling was expressed. Walking here seemed like walking on a tomb of swords.

[2]

Xu Yangyi didn’t take the mountain paths at all. He found a deserted location and promptly traced his storage ring. A strange key immediately floated out in front of him.

Li Zongyuan kneeled down on the spot with almost any hesitation. Moreover… his body was trembling.

“What’s up with you?” Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows and said.

“Master…” Li Zongyuan was gasping for breath and said shakily, “W-Where did you get t-this key… It’s too awful… It, I-I only took a quick look at it, and my spiritual sense feels like it’s going to collapse…”

Xu Yangyi raised a brow. He didn’t feel like that in the slightest. Perhaps… this was the bloodline suppression of higher-ranked demons on lesser-ranked demons?

Xiaoqing… was no longer an azure carp. Through 3,600 years of cultivation, she had almost walked all of human historical development. She had already obtained the form of a Kun Peng!

He didn’t answer Li Zongyuan, only hinting to the toad-demon to stand up. At this time, this key that couldn’t be anymore ordinary unexpectedly flared with a layer of misty azure light. Soon afterwards, heedless of any control, it changed angles by itself in midair and took aim at the shortest and most distant mountain.

“That place over there is our objective.” Xu Yangyi raised an eye and looked over at the endless unbroken forest in the middle. “I don’t know if there are more people hidden here.”

“More people?” Li Zongyuan was surprised but immediately thought that such a situation was given. Since the opposing party was aware that they had entered the mountains and forests, they had evidently squatted at Grandmaster Gao Muya’s door for a good several months. In addition, they had dared to launch an attack here, and this vast jungle was practically a natural hunting ground!

1. “Block Print”. Look up “Ukiyo-e” for a better description of what the author is trying to express. Ukiyo-e is a japanese style of image printing using wooden blocks. Most famously known for sceneries.

2. “Tomb of Swords”. Author might be making a specific nod to a character in another work of fiction by Jin Yong. In the Condor Trilogy, there is an invincible swordsman (Dugu Qiubai) whose resting place is titled the “Tomb of Swords”. It is a mound of swords.

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