Translator: AnubisTL
"Sect Leader, you must save me! That so-called Limitless True Lord is clearly just looking for an excuse to harass our Blood Lotus Sect!"
Elder Zhu, his face streaked with tears, spoke with such pitiful desperation, like a wronged young wife.
Several other Blood Lotus Sect Elders, close to Zhu, chimed in:
"Elder Zhu is right! This Limitless True Lord only just arrived in Precious Lotus City. How could he possibly have time to take on a disciple?"
"Exactly! I bet this Limitless True Lord has ulterior motives. He's just looking for any excuse to make trouble for us."
"We can't let him get away with this! If we do, the Blood Lotus Sect's prestige will be ruined!"
"..."
At the bottom of the blood pool, the Blood Lotus Sect Leader sat cross-legged on a lotus throne, his face dark as a thundercloud, as if water might drip from it at any moment.
His gaze fixed on Elder Zhu, who was sobbing and sniffling, the blood-red robes trembling on his shoulders.
"Didn't I tell you all to keep a low profile these past few days?" The Blood Lotus Sect Leader's voice was thick with fury, and he looked like he wanted to slap his incompetent subordinate to death.
He had just finished issuing his orders, yet before he could even turn around, one of his own elders had already provoked that calamity star.
What should he do? Personally cleanse the sect?
To avoid giving the Limitless True Lord any grounds for criticism, it seemed like the only option.
But as the other elders had pointed out earlier, where would the Blood Lotus Sect's prestige go after this? How would he maintain his authority over the masses?
As the Blood Lotus Sect Leader wrestled with this dilemma, a powerful wave of divine sense suddenly swept over the area, rapidly enveloping everything.
"Xiao Jing, do you know how to play dead?" Li Qing asked calmly, supporting his disciple.
Lin Jing's eyes flickered with confusion, but she nodded.
Without another word, her body went limp.
Seeing this, Li Qing shifted his other arm around her waist, while the hand that had been supporting her waist now cradled her legs.
Lifting his disciple into a horizontal carry, Li Qing's gaze turned ice-cold. He declared in a deep voice:
"Today, every member of the Blood Lotus Sect, without exception, will be buried here as a funeral offering for my beloved disciple."
His voice, amplified by divine sense power, reverberated like a thunderclap across Precious Lotus City, reaching the ears of every resident.
"Who dares to cause trouble for the Blood Lotus Sect in the city?"
"What kind of madman is this? He truly doesn't know the immensity of the heavens and the earth."
"Since the day I was born, I've never seen anyone so arrogant."
"Let's go! Let's go see what's happening!"
Citizens throughout Precious Lotus City heard Li Qing's thunderous declaration simultaneously and surged into motion, eager to witness the spectacle.
The martial alliance warriors still stationed in Precious Lotus City froze in place, disbelief etched across their faces.
Had they accidentally inhaled the illusion toxin from the Illusion Toxin Mushrooms? How else could they be hearing such a declaration in Precious Lotus City?
"It seems the voice came from the Blood Lotus Sect's main headquarters. Does someone actually dare to provoke the Blood Lotus Sect's wrath?"
"Hahahaha! This is truly unbelievable! Could it be that the Blood Lotus Sect has angered a powerful figure from the outer domain?"
"Let's investigate the situation and report back to Alliance Leader Miao."
"..."
Figures darted from every corner of Precious Lotus City, converging toward the city center, eager to witness the unfolding drama.
Deep beneath the city, in the blood pool, the Blood Lotus Sect Leader naturally heard the earth-shattering declaration.
At that moment, his expression turned completely dark and menacing, realizing that today's situation might not end so easily.
"Sect Leader, this man is truly going too far! He dares to publicly declare his intention to annihilate our Blood Lotus Sect within the city!"
"This matter demands an explanation! We must make him pay the price today!"
Several Blood Lotus Sect Elders turned to their sect leader, whose face shifted between fury and calculation.
"Even a clay figure has some temper. Does this Limitless True Lord really think I'm a pushover?"
The Blood Lotus Sect Leader rose slowly, his face as dark as the blood pool beneath him, and swiftly flew out of the crimson depths.
"Fellow Daoist Limitless, you—"
Before he could finish, a suffocating pressure suddenly descended from the night sky.
Boom!
Li Qing slowly opened his mouth, and a hammer no larger than a thumb flew out.
As it soared through the air, the hammer rapidly expanded, swelling to an absurd size in the blink of an eye, until it resembled a small mountain.
This was Li Qing's natal magic treasure, the Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer.
Since its refinement, this was its first public appearance.
The Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer soared toward the heavens, its hammerhead already transformed into the size of a mountain.
Boom!
At Li Qing's command, the terrifyingly massive hammer descended, its target the entire Blood Lotus Sect Main Headquarters below.
Soon, those who had rushed to the vicinity of the headquarters witnessed a scene they would never forget.
The Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer, radiating unstoppable momentum, crashed down with such force that it seemed to compress the very air into collapse.
Before the eyes of the assembled onlookers, the Blood Lotus Sect Leader, who had just emerged from the ground, was immediately struck by the hammer's devastating blow.
"Blood Lotus Supports the Heavens!"
The Blood Lotus Sect Leader had long sensed the terrifying hammer looming in the sky, but the blood pool beneath him was the foundation of his power, making evasion impossible.
In a flash, the sect leader erupted upward like a blooming lotus, soaring skyward to meet Li Qing's Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer head-on.
Seeing this, Li Qing couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, impressed by the sect leader's courage.
Alas, courage alone cannot conquer the world.
This natal magic treasure, forged from pure Primordial Chaos Stone, possessed a power beyond imagination.
Bang!
A deafening crash echoed as the blood lotus, formed from the Blood Lotus Sect Leader's transformed body, barely touched the descending face of the Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer. His entire form plummeted like an arrow shot from a bow.
Moments later, the Lotus Building shuddered violently three times.
Everyone stared in stunned silence. Was that the Blood Lotus Sect Leader who had just been smashed down?
Before their shock could fully register, the colossal hammer continued its descent.
"Sect Leader!!!"
"A natal magic treasure? Impossible! We're in the End of Dao Era! Spiritual energy has been depleted for centuries. How could anyone still wield a natal magic treasure?"
"The Great Dao was severed! How could such a person exist?"
Within the Blood Lotus Sect Main Headquarters, some wore expressions of disbelief, while others were gripped by utter despair.
Most of the elders present had once been foundation establishment realm cultivators before joining the Blood Lotus Sect at the Sect Leader's summons. Though they had abandoned the immortal dao, their knowledge remained.
This massive hammer, capable of shattering the very earth, was undoubtedly a magic treasure—one that only an immortal cultivator could wield!
At the bottom of the blood pool, Elder Zhu watched the scene unfold, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
"What are you waiting for, Old Zhu? Run!"
The other elders scattered in all directions, fleeing frantically as if possessed.
Elder Zhu, belatedly realizing the danger, joined the chaotic escape. He finally burst out of the Blood Lotus Sect Main Headquarters just as the Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer crashed down.
Boom!
A deafening, earth-shattering roar reverberated through the air. The Blood Lotus Sect Main Headquarters, a structure that had stood in Precious Lotus City for centuries, collapsed in an instant.
The entire city shook violently, as if struck by a massive earthquake. Every building trembled violently.
The ground quaked and swayed, threatening to crumble at any moment.
With a single strike, nearly half of the Blood Lotus Sect members who failed to escape perished.
At the epicenter of the impact, Li Qing's hammer had carved a massive crater dozens of meters deep, sinking the city center into a vast pit.
Those who witnessed this scene gasped in unison, drawing in sharp breaths of disbelief.
Could such devastation truly be wrought by human hands? Even a third-tier exotic beast would struggle to unleash such destructive force.
They wondered if they had been poisoned by the Illusion Toxin Mushroom, and everything they were seeing was merely a hallucination.
But this was Precious Lotus City, not North Mang City. How could Illusion Toxin Mushrooms possibly be here?
Yet Li Qing's gaze was utterly cold as he cradled his disciple in his arms, his icy eyes sweeping over the surviving Blood Lotus Sect members.
Whether elders or ordinary disciples, none dared meet Li Qing's glacial stare.
Thud!
They all immediately dropped to their knees, not even daring to lift their heads.
"True Lord, spare us! True Lord, spare us!"
"Limitless True Lord, please spare our lives! We were blind to your true identity!"
"..."
But Li Qing's only response was a single word:
"Kill!"
As his murderous command echoed, his divine sense surged forth, enveloping the area like a domain.
Within this domain, blades of divine sense materialized, each a strengthened version of the Soul Condensing Slash. With his core formation realm divine soul, he could now execute such feats effortlessly.
As golden blades slashed through the air, Blood Lotus Sect members widened their eyes before collapsing lifelessly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As they died, the cultists reverted to their original, mutated forms.
Li Qing, cradling Lin Jing in his arms, began to move, his qi mechanism firmly locked onto the spiritual power beacon he had planted on Elder Zhu earlier.
His seemingly unhurried steps effortlessly closed the distance, overtaking Elder Zhu's frantic, panicked flight.
"You want to run now?" Li Qing's icy gaze fixed on the elder, whose lower half had transformed into a White Serpent.
"Spare me, True Lord! Spare me! Don't kill me!" Elder Zhu frantically kowtowed on the ground.
Li Qing merely sneered. "Rest assured, I won't grant you such an easy escape," he said. "I'll break every bone in your body, one by one, until they're crushed to dust."
"Death would be a gift for you."
He shuddered to think what might have happened if he hadn't been vigilant while cultivating the spiritual power beacon in the book pavilion, extending his divine sense to monitor the Blood Lotus Sect's movements. He might never have been able to rescue his disciple today.
A woman changes greatly as she grows older. When he first saw the scene at Hundred Serpents Hall, he hadn't immediately recognized Lin Jing as the disciple he had taken in at Giant Rock City.
Fortunately, Lin Jing's dying words had instantly alerted Li Qing to the truth: the person on the verge of death was none other than the disciple he had taken in at Giant Rock City.
His own disciple, reduced to blood food by this elder of the Blood Lotus Sect.
At this thought, Li Qing's heart surged with boundless killing intent. He took a sudden, decisive step forward.
Crack!
The crisp sound of bone shattering echoed through the air as Li Qing's foot crushed Elder Zhu's hand bones into powder.
"Ah!" Elder Zhu roared in agony, his murky eyes twisting into a ferocious glare.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
As the words left his lips, white serpents erupted from Elder Zhu's body.
"You dare?" Li Qing sneered, summoning a crimson pill fire that engulfed his form.
The scorching flames instantly incinerated the white serpents into ash.
These serpents were intimately connected to Elder Zhu's flesh and blood. Their destruction sent waves of agonizing pain crashing through his mind.
True to his word, Li Qing systematically crushed every bone in Elder Zhu's body into dust.
By the end, Elder Zhu had fainted from the unbearable torment.
But Li Qing wasn't finished. He condensed his divine sense power into a needle and jolted Elder Zhu awake once more.
When Elder Zhu regained consciousness, he found himself utterly limp and powerless, yet wracked by excruciating pain.
He was completely crippled!
"No! You fiend! You're a fiend!"
Li Qing ignored the man's ravings. With a final surge of pill fire, he reduced Elder Zhu to ashes, leaving him to die in agony and despair.
"Xiao Jing, remember this: never show mercy to your enemies."
"Mercy toward your enemies is cruelty toward yourself."
Lin Jing, pretending to be dead in Li Qing's arms, nodded slightly. Though her eyes remained tightly shut, she couldn't see anything, the sounds around her gave her a clear sense of what was happening.
"Understood, Master."
Finally, Li Qing turned his gaze toward the center of the crater left by the Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer. With a half-smile, he called out:
"Fellow Daoist Yue, how long will you keep playing dead?"
A figure clad in a blood-red kasaya soon crawled out of the rubble. The Blood Lotus Sect Leader's face was ashen; his sect's foundation had been nearly obliterated. Both the main headquarters and its disciples had been slaughtered by the tall, imposing youth.
"Such ruthless methods... who are you?" the Blood Lotus Sect Leader rasped, his voice hoarse. "What has my Blood Lotus Sect done to provoke you?"
Hearing this, Li Qing sighed softly and answered directly:
"Your sect's elder attempted to assassinate my disciple. Do you think that's not provocation enough?"
"As for who I am? I almost forgot to mention that."
"Li Qing, Dao Guardian of the Martial Alliance!"
(End of the Chapter)
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