Seven days. That was all the time Lin Wudi gave the Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning.
Seven days to hand over everything they owed him, or he would come take it himself.
Word of what happened in Azure Cloud City spread like wildfire across the entire Azure Province.
A seventeen-year-old waste who couldn't cultivate for three years fell off a cliff… and came back at the peak of Foundation Establishment.
Then, in front of two clan heads and a dozen Golden Core elders, he beheaded the City Lord's son and the Sacred Land's new direct disciple with a single casual slash.
No one saw the sword move. They only saw two heads hit the ground and blood paint the hall red.
After that, the Lin Clan gates stayed closed. No one dared to knock.
Until the morning of the seventh day.
Boom——!
The sky above Azure Cloud City split open.
A thousand-meter-long golden flying ark tore through the clouds, ancient runes blazing across its hull. Nine flood dragons pulled it forward, each one at Nascent Soul level.
The flag that fluttered on the ark bore one word in blood-red script:
"Absolute."
The Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning had arrived.
And they had not come alone.
Seven more giant arks followed behind it, representing the seven strongest sects within a million miles. Even the reclusive Grand Xia Royal Family had sent a prince to "watch the show."
Hundreds of thousands of people kneeled in the streets.
On the main ark stood an old man in star-white robes, hair and beard completely white, yet his eyes burned like twin suns.
Peak of Soul Transformation Realm — Elder Gu Tianji, one of the ten great enforcers of the Sacred Land.
Beside him stood a woman in snow-colored palace dress, face hidden behind a thin veil, aura cold enough to freeze souls.
Saintess of Absolute Beginning — Xue Wuxia.
Core Formation peak at twenty-two years old. Rumored to be the next Holy Lord.
Gu Tianji looked down at the tiny Lin Clan below and spoke, voice rolling like heavenly thunder.
"Lin Clan patriarch, bring out that insolent child Lin Wudi. For the crime of killing a direct disciple, he shall be suppressed for ten thousand years beneath the Thunder Prison Peak!"
"If the Lin Clan resists… the entire clan will be erased from the Azure Province today."
Inside the Lin Clan hall.
The Great Elder's face was pale. His hands shook as he held his teacup.
"Wudi… that is a Soul Transformation expert. Eight sects have come. We… we cannot win."
Lin Wudi sat calmly in the main seat, slowly drinking tea.
He wore the same plain black robe as seven days ago, but now a faint layer of sword intent lingered around him like mist.
"Great Elder, do you know why I left the two clan heads alive that day?"
The Great Elder shook his head blankly.
Lin Wudi smiled.
"So they could bring the message for me."
He stood up and walked to the gate.
The Lin Clan disciples parted like a tide.
Lin Wudi stepped out alone.
Hundreds of thousands of eyes locked onto him instantly.
Some with pity, some with mockery, some with fear.
Gu Tianji looked down from the ark, expression ice-cold.
"So you are Lin Wudi. Kneel, cripple your own cultivation, and follow me back to the Sacred Land to receive punishment. I can leave the Lin Clan a path to survival."
Lin Wudi raised his head.
His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every ark.
"Old dog, you're late."
"I said seven days. Today is the seventh day, yet you only dare to show your face now."
The entire city gasped.
Gu Tianji's eyes flashed with killing intent.
"Impudent junior! Do you think reaching Foundation Establishment makes you invincible? Today I will show you the gap between ants and true immortals!"
He raised one hand.
A giant palm of starlight condensed in the sky, covering the sun, pressing down toward Lin Wudi like the hand of a god.
Soul Transformation realm divine ability — Starfall Palm!
Even a mountain would be flattened.
The Great Elder and the others turned deathly pale and closed their eyes.
They could already imagine Lin Wudi being smashed into meat paste.
But the next second.
Lin Wudi moved.
He didn't dodge.
He simply raised two fingers.
A three-foot sword qi, pitch-black and seemingly ordinary, shot out from his fingertips.
No light, no sound, no terrifying aura.
Just a thin black line.
Yet the moment it appeared, every sword cultivator within a thousand miles felt their natal swords cry out in terror.
Pfft!
The black sword qi lightly touched the giant starlight palm.
The palm that could crush mountains.
Silently split in half.
Then it shattered into countless motes of light, drifting away like fireflies.
The entire city fell silent.
Gu Tianji's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"This… this is impossible!"
Lin Wudi looked up at him and spoke calmly.
"I'll give you three breaths to kneel and apologize."
"Otherwise, today your Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning… will lose one enforcer."
Gu Tianji laughed from pure rage.
"Arrogant child! Let this elder see what demonic art you cultivated!"
He flashed and appeared directly above Lin Wudi, the void distorting around him.
A silver spear appeared in his hand — top-grade spirit treasure, Starbreaker Spear!
He thrust downward.
The spear hadn't arrived yet, but the killing intent already crushed the stone tiles under Lin Wudi's feet into powder.
Lin Wudi shook his head.
"Too slow."
He finally drew his sword.
No, he didn't even have a real sword.
He simply extended two fingers as a blade.
The black sword qi from before reappeared, only this time it was thirty feet long.
Then three hundred feet.
Then three thousand feet!
A single black line hung across the sky like a stroke of ink drawn by the gods.
Lin Wudi spoke one word.
"Cut."
The black line fell.
Gu Tianji only had time to let out half a scream before his body, his spear, his Soul Transformation cultivation base… everything was neatly sliced in half.
Blood rained from the sky.
Two halves of a corpse fell on either side of Lin Wudi.
The whole city was dead silent.
You could hear a pin drop.
On the ark, Saintess Xue Wuxia's veil fluttered slightly. Her cold voice finally carried a trace of shock.
"You… what realm are you?"
Lin Wudi flicked the blood from his fingers.
"Does it matter?"
He looked up at the eight giant arks in the sky and spoke indifferently.
"I'll say it one last time."
"Kneel, or die."
On the Grand Xia Royal Family's ark, a white-haired prince suddenly stood up, voice trembling.
"This aura… could he have already stepped into the Nascent Soul realm? No, that's impossible!"
Lin Wudi was too lazy to explain.
The bronze cauldron in his dantian spun slowly.
A terrifying devouring force quietly spread out.
The nine flood dragons pulling the Absolute Beginning ark suddenly roared in fear and crashed to their knees in mid-air.
The ark lost control and began to fall.
On the other arks, the faces of the sect leaders finally changed.
They realized this black-robed youth in front of them was no longer the trash young man from seven days ago.
He was a monster.
A monster that had devoured an ancient inheritance.
Saintess Xue Wuxia took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Her voice was still cold, but carried a hint of respect that even she herself hadn't noticed.
"Lin Wudi, the Sacred Land is willing to offer compensation. Name your price."
Lin Wudi looked at her.
Under the veil, Xue Wuxia's heart suddenly jumped.
Those eyes were too calm.
Calm to the point of indifference.
As if he was looking at ants.
"I want only one thing."
He raised his hand and pointed at her.
"You."
The entire city sucked in a breath of cold air.
The Saintess of Absolute Beginning, the number one beauty of the Azure Province, the woman countless heaven's chosen dreamed of… he wanted with a single sentence?
Xue Wuxia's face under the veil finally changed color.
"You!"
Lin Wudi continued calmly.
"From today onward, you will follow me. Not as a slave, not as a dao companion, but as a sword maid."
"Polish my sword, carry my wine, warm my bed when I'm drunk."
"If you agree, the grudge between me and the Sacred Land ends here."
"If you don't…"
He looked up at the massive ark fleet, smile faint.
"Then today, all eight sects will be buried with Nangong Qing."
Dead silence.
Xue Wuxia's fingers hidden in her sleeves clenched tight.
She had never been so humiliated in her life.
But she knew.
If she said no, everyone here would die today.
Finally, she spoke, voice trembling slightly.
"I… agree."
Lin Wudi nodded.
"Good."
He turned to leave.
Then seemed to remember something and looked back.
"Oh, right."
"Tell your Holy Lord."
"Thirty years is too long. I only seize the day."
"Give him three months. Have him wash his neck and wait."
"Three months later, I will personally visit the Sacred Land… and take his head."
After speaking, he walked back toward the Lin Clan.
Leaving behind a field of corpses and eight trembling sect arks.
No one dared to stop him.
From this day forth, the name Lin Wudi shook the entire Azure Province.
And this was only the beginning.