Chapter 23: Total Defeat (2)
"How lucky. There’s one here." The young man had a smile on his face.
The old man's expression changed, "You..."
"Assistant Researcher Bai Feng of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Merit points acquired."
Next, the old man felt his source qi dispersing. He paled and said, "Y-you dispersed my source qi?"
"Yeah. That's easy." Bai Feng explained with a smile, "The Divine Skywing Technique cultivated by the Divine Skywing Sect's master is a useless cultivation method with numerous openings. It was something the divine skywing race used to deceive you fools. It is way too easy to make you suffer from the backlash of your own cultivation. Ah, sorry, I can't keep chatting. I still have something else to do. Die, my friend. Thank you for the merit points."
Once again, Bai Feng flashed the old man a big smile. His willpower erupted and instantly punctured the nine acupoints of the old man. The old man suffered a backlash from his own source qi, instantly killing him.
"Well this is profitable." With a wave of Bai Feng's hand, the old man's possessions flew toward him. "I love nothing more than free merit points. A fourth-stage Skysoar cultivator is worth quite a lot of merit points."
He then looked at the ongoing battle not far away and asked, "Do you need help?"
The Martial Dragon Guards' squad leader roared, "Piss off! Bai Feng, you have been hiding all along. Now you're here to reap the harvest of our hard work?"
"That is absolutely not true!" Bai Feng said with an aggrieved tone, "I just arrived! Sigh, you fellows from the Martial Dragon Guards really have a bad temper. I'm a great researcher. Why would I do something like that?"
Looking at Liu Wenyan who was flying in his direction, Bai Feng immediately smiled, "Congratulations, Martial Uncle Liu for your breakthrough!"
Liu Wenyan glanced at Bai Feng with an unhappy expression. "Shut your mouth. I'm not your martial uncle."
"Martial Uncle, Teacher reminded me to--"
"Scram!" Liu Wenyan showed no mercy and shouted with an ugly expression. He did not seem happy seeing this guy.
Bai Feng sighed. Just how had he offended these people here? He was telling the truth! He had really just arrived! And since he happened to encounter a fourth-stage Skysoar cultivator upon arrival, he decided to help them with that enemy. Was this how they repay him?
Bai Feng stopped talking and landed on the ground. He ignored the ongoing battle as the Martial Dragon Guards and the mayor should be able to deal with one third-stage Skysoar cultivator. If they could get themselves killed even in such a situation, they deserved the death.
"Martial Uncle..."
Bai Feng had barely said anything when Liu Wenyan berated, "Who's your martial uncle?"
"Cough. Cough. Instructor Liu, I'm calling you Instructor Liu!" Bai Feng smiled awkwardly and said, "Instructor Liu, right after receiving your request, the academy sent me over. Teacher is very worried about you--"
Liu Wenyan became even more furious. "I don't need him worrying over me. I'm living a good life. Also, for how tardy you are, you want me to consider this a favor from him? This is an official business, not a private matter! Nobody is doing anyone any favors!"
"Yes, yes! Exactly! You're right!" Bai Feng did not mind the harsh words. With the same fawning smile, he said, "Mar-Instructor Liu, the school is fine, right?"
Liu Wenyan frowned. Behind him, the principal walked over while breathing heavily. With a sad tone, he said, "Five instructors were killed. The city guards and Windcatcher Department have lost more than ten people as well. As for the students...those in the classrooms are fine. Those outside...I'm afraid more than ten of them were killed."
Liu Wenyan's face turned ugly. Bai Feng stopped smiling and awkwardly said, "I had really tried my best to get here as soon as possible. I didn't even stop along the way. Principal Wang, Martial Uncle, I'm sorry. I thought I could arrive in time..."
"Hmph!" Liu Wenyan only snorted angrily instead of saying anything.
The principal did not blame Bai Feng. He said, "All things considered, this is actually a good result. It is even better that you have managed to kill their last Skysoar cultivator as well."
As for the casualties, there really wasn't anything they could do about it. The Myriad Race Cult wasn't weak. With only thirty deaths, they had eliminated so many cult members. This could be considered a great victory even on the Allheaven Battlefield.
...
"So strong!" Su Yu and Chen Hao had arrived near the school gate. They had both witnessed the previous battle. Su Yu was very shocked to see how powerful that young man was.
Previously, the Martial Dragon Guards had spent a long time fighting Hallmaster Chen yet failed to defeat him. There were even a couple of close calls where Hallmaster Chen was nearly able to kill some of them. However, this Bai Feng fellow was able to easily kill Hallmaster Chen. What was his cultivation level?
"So this is someone from a cultural research academy?" Su Yu couldn't help but to give Liu Wenyan a glance. So the instructor hadn't been lying, after all. A random person from a cultural research academy was already this strong. Even a fourth-stage Skysoar cultivator was instantly killed.
Also, the instructor had instantly killed several Infinite Strength cultivators and one second-stage Skysoar cultivator right after his willpower materialization. That was too unbelievable.
"Is this the strength of cultural research academies, the strength of willpower?"
Beside him, Chen Hao was also blanking out from shock as he muttered, "Yu, Skysoar cultivators don't seem that strong at all. Why...do they feel as weak as paper?"
That was really how it looked when Liu Wenyan killed Wu Hen. It was the same when Bai Feng killed Hallmaster Chen. The two cult members had been killed before they could even blink.
"I don't know..." Su Yu was finding all this hard to process as well. His father was a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator. He had always thought that his father was quite strong. But after witnessing people like Instructor Liu and Bai Feng, his father was truly weak! In fact, dozens of Infinite Strength cultivators were killed today. His father must be quite fearless to enter the Allheaven Battlefield with that little strength of his.
While Su Yu was in thought, a shrill voice rang out in the air. The woman's head was cleaved open by Xia Bing, killing her on the spot. Just like that, the attack of the cult came to an end. It ended with a total defeat for them. Hundreds of their elite members had been killed. Not one was spared.
On that day, Su Yu had killed two high-stage Great Strength cultivators. He also got to witness the strength of cultural researchers. In his mind, cultural research academies had been elevated to a much higher height than before. Any random person from a cultural research academy could kill Skysoar cultivators like bugs. As for Instructor Liu, yeah, that guy was probably telling the truth when he claimed that he was the weakest among them.
Su Yu was completely unaware of what the title assistant researcher signified.
…
Nanyuan City had won the conflict with the Myriad Race Cult. After the victory, their next step was to clear the city of the remaining cult members.
At the same time, outside Great Xia City.
Severed Head Mountain.
At the top of a mountain shaped like a body with a severed head, Xia Longwu swung his saber, severing the final head of the divine race experts he had been facing. With a rumble, the five-meter-tall corpse collapsed onto the ground.
"Have mercy!"
Five divine race corpses could be seen on the ground. There was also one survivor. The survivor was not a divine. Rather, it was a human, the sect master of the Divine Skywing Sect. This was someone the humans had hunted for many years. They had never succeeded. He was an extremely powerful cultivator.
At this moment, the mighty sect master was on his knees while trembling in fear. He loudly begged, "Spare me!"
Xia Longwu raised his saber expressionlessly and glanced at the sect master before saying softly, "Since your masters are dead, you should accompany them."
"No! Lord, I can be useful for you!"
The trembling sect master pleaded, "I can lure more divines into Great Xia for you! I can convene a general assembly of the Divine Skywing Sect for you! I can even help you penetrate the inner circle of the Myriad Race Cult and locate the strongholds of the other sects! Lord, spare me! I can be helpful for humanity!"
Begging for mercy was pointless. He had to demonstrate his worth. Xia Longwu was too strong. He must have entered that realm. They had been mistaken. Completely mistaken. The divine skywing race had suffered disastrous losses during this operation. Five of their super experts had been killed in Great Xia. Everything was over for the Divine Skywing Sect. They must have suffered great losses from their attacks in the other cities as well. The sect master knew that this was the end of their sect.
But he didn't want to die. It had been very difficult for him to reach this level of cultivation. He was someone capable of eventually stepping into that realm. He was even willing to give up the chance to transform into a divine. He believed that he could step into that realm even while staying human.
Xia Longwu overlooked the sect master from above. After a long while, he spoke, "Anything else?"
"Yes! Yes! The Divine Skywing Sect has a lot of treasures hidden in a secret grotto. I've been to the divine skywing race's territory. I know the situation there. I can lead the way for humanity! I can help assassinate their experts! Lord, I can even go to the Allheaven Battlefield and fight for humanity! As long as you spare me..."
The sect master trembled as he spoke in panic. He didn't want to die. They had been defeated. Six super experts had attacked Xia Longwu and five had been rapidly killed. That was too terrifying.
"Where is the secret grotto?" Xia Longwu asked coldly.
"Lord, as long as you spare me..."
"Where is the secret grotto?" Xia Longwu asked again. His killing intent surged, not caring for anything other than the answer to his question.
"Lord..."
Swish!
A blade was swung, and a head was severed. Xia Longwu snorted coldly. This fellow sure had a lot of useless things to say. It didn't matter if he was unwilling to talk. Xia Longwu would just get his people to search around. If they couldn't find the treasure, so be it. A mere animal dared to bargain with him? Wanting to live? Dream on! Not one of the six super experts had survived the encounter with him.
Xia Longwu started harvesting the corpses. These divine race corpses were all treasures, and there were five of them here. While he was busy looting the battlefield, a silhouette appeared atop a nearby mountain peak. Xia Longwu did not even spare that silhouette a glance and continued his harvest.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
The newcomer was a middle-aged man. While clapping, he smiled and said, "Xia Longwu, looks like you didn't need my help, after all."
Xia Longwu ignored the newcomer.
"Are all geniuses so arrogant?" The middle-aged man had a carefree smile. "That's understandable. It is incredible that you can reach this level at your age. That is definitely surprising. I had thought that I would need to make a move to prevent these divines from escaping, but you were surprisingly able to defeat them all by yourself. Speaking of, why didn't you keep Yun Hao alive?"
Yun Hao was the sect master of the Divine Skywing Sect. He was a powerful expert.
"Scum like him does not deserve to keep living." After Xia Longwu was done looting the battlefield, he looked at the newcomer and coldly said, "Zhu Tiandao, I don't remember inviting you to Great Xia. What are you doing here?"
"Why are you talking like that? No matter what, I can be considered an uncle of yours. Why are you addressing me by my name? Sigh..." But Zhu Tiandao still smiled and said, "Just because you hadn't invited me does not mean that someone else hadn't. Those old fogies had invited me before leaving."
Xia Longwu did not say anything. Clearly, some people in the prefecture were worried about him since he was going to face the enemies alone.
Zhu Tiandao moved on to a different topic and asked, "You haven't entered that realm, right? I think you're still a little bit off. You're probably in the same situation as me. This feeling of being stuck is terrible, right?
"If you're already in that realm, you would have been able to instantly kill those bastards instead of taking so long to defeat them. I have an opportunity that can allow people like us to progress. We might even be able to get a better look at the path forward..."