Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Kill Without Mercy

Liu Jun Cheng, Sui Jin, Jiang Yi, Sheng Yuan, and Shen Yue formed a Sword Formation, boxing the Silver Devil Guard and the Gold Devil Guard into the center.

The Gold Devil Guard stayed grim and silent as ever. The Silver Devil Guard smiled a little, glanced around the courtyard, and called out: “The Heavenly Sovereign Society has already killed that Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. These five at Golden Core are not our match. As long as you take down the other two, the true blood we harvest will be shared by everyone.”

“This is the true blood of Sword Sect Disciples. Miss it, and you won’t get another chance.”

Her voice carried endless seduction.

Faces in the crowd changed as they turned toward Li Shuang and Ye Zhao Zhao.

Ye Zhao Zhao quickly said: “Don’t worry. With me here, they don’t have a third Golden Core Stage. I will protect Senior Sister Li.”

Li Shuang nodded to the Emotionless Peak group and said, calm yet firm in a way that inspired trust: “Leave it to me.”

“Little Shuang, dealing with them, don’t hold back. Once we pin down the Silver Devil Guard, we’ll come help you,” Liu Jun Cheng said.

“You still have time to fuss over your Junior Sister?” the Silver Devil Guard sneered as her fingernails suddenly lengthened into blades, which she fired straight at the five.

Golden light flashed over the Gold Devil Guard’s fists as he hammered the ground. The floor under the five began to sink.

But Liu Jun Cheng and the others were rich in battle experience. They met the attack without panic, blades flashing, and the fight locked into a stalemate.

Li Shuang drew back her gaze and looked at the people in the courtyard, each with their own thoughts.

Ye Zhao Zhao spoke first: “You all see it. We are righteous disciples. You can still turn back now. Otherwise, once these Sword Sect Disciples free their hands, you’ll all be dead.”

A ripple of unrest moved through the crowd.

Sword Sect Disciples.

Those four words carried weight.

The Sword Sect might be the weakest among the Six Sects, but to rogue cultivators it was still a giant.

If they killed Sword Sect Disciples, wouldn’t the Sword Sect’s seniors act? Could they really escape the Sect’s revenge? Yet the disciples who came were not that high in realm. Did they really have a chance to win?

Those who had only just been duped into coming still had a way out.

But those who had already stepped onto the Devil Path knew that if the Sword Sect took over this place, their practice would be exposed. That would mean certain death.

One choice meant certain death.

The other offered a sliver of life.

From the start, they had no real choice at all.

At worst, they would absorb a Sword Sect Disciple’s true blood and flee at once.

The world was vast. Could the Sword Sect chase them forever?

One was Foundation Establishment Stage.

One was Early Golden Core Formation.

With so many of them, they might well win.

In the courtyard, more and more eyes turned strange.

Ye Qing Er did not notice the shift. Smiling with relief, she said: “Liu Bai, they’re Sword Sect Disciples. We’re saved. We just need to wait for them to defeat the Heavenly Sovereign, and then…”

While she was still happy, Liu Bai let out a cruel laugh as familiar blood red lines crawled up his neck.

Ye Qing Er’s pupils widened.

Liu Bai’s realm had been Peak Qi Refining. In an instant, it jumped to Foundation Establishment Stage.

At the same time, the hidden Devil Path members in the crowd all showed those eerie blood lines.

Liu Bai’s eyes turned cold as he said: “Of these two, only the Foundation Establishment Stage Li Shuang is a Sword Sect Disciple. The other, Fang Qing Yu, does not even carry a sword and is a rogue like us.”

“A rogue at Golden Core may not be that strong.”

“That Sword Sect disciple is only Foundation Establishment. With our numbers, why would we fear one Foundation Establishment?”

“Kill them. Take the Sword Sect Disciple’s true blood. Our path of body refinement will go much farther.”

“If we earn great merit, the Heavenly Sovereign Lord’s reward will let us soar in one step. Then we run at once. The Sword Sect may not even find us.”

He stirred them up.

Ye Qing Er stared blankly at his back.

She did not understand.

Was this truly her Dao Companion? Had he entered the Devil Path long ago? Then taking her to Peacehaven Town was not a coincidence at all. It was a plan.

Other rogue cultivators looked at loved ones beside them turning into fiends in an instant, and their hearts shook as well.

The people they trusted most had led them onto a wicked road.

“You don’t need to look like that,” one Devil Path cultivator said. “The Silver Lord already made it clear. We rogue cultivators have no manuals and are almost fated to miss the Great Dao. Since the Righteous Path won’t accept us, why not seek another way? With a Sword Sect Disciple’s true blood as a boost, this reward is beyond rich. With it, Golden Core and Nascent Soul won’t be out of reach. I brought you onto this path for your own good. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t bother.”

“Stop thinking it over. Follow me and kill the Sword Sect Disciples.”

Some people struggled.

Some despaired.

Some were in pain.

Everyone’s thoughts pulled in different directions.

“Qing Er, you and I are Dao Companions. I won’t harm you. Act with me,” Liu Bai said, looking back at Ye Qing Er.

Her lips trembled.

She gave the slightest nod.

Liu Bai’s heart lifted and he was about to speak again.

Suddenly, a short sword flashed into Ye Qing Er’s hand and stabbed straight for Liu Bai’s dantian.

His heart jolted. He dodged fast and barely saved his core, but a deep gash opened across his belly.

Ye Qing Er’s face was anguished, yet her voice stayed firm as she said: “I cannot climb the Great Dao by stepping on the bodies of the innocent. Liu Bai, from now on, you and I are nothing.”

Gritting her teeth, she struck again.

Cold eyed, Liu Bai stared at her. That Ye Qing Er would attack first.

All the better.

He did not have to feel the slightest guilt.

He brought his palm down for Ye Qing Er’s forehead.

She had already accepted death and only looked at him steadily. [So choosing the wrong person really ends this terribly.] This was the mistake she had made. Now she would bear the cost herself.

But before Liu Bai’s hand could touch her forehead, he screamed.

His whole palm was sliced off.

Ye Qing Er blinked, and in the next instant a strange power grabbed her. Spiritual force whisked her to Li Shuang’s side.

Looking at this courtyard full of monsters and fiends, Li Shuang said evenly: “Those who have entered the Devil Path will be killed without mercy. The rest of you still have a choice. I will count to ten. After I count, those who stand at my side will be reviewed when Sword Sect support arrives. If you are innocent, you may leave.”

“If you still stand against me,” she raised the Black Abyss Sword as it sang in her hand, her voice turning ice cold: “kill without mercy.”