As the saying goes, when one holds a sharp weapon, the urge to kill naturally arises.
After his spiritual sense broke through to the mid-third rank, all his spiritual sense secret techniques had made significant progress. The most crucial were the Thunder Corpse and the Grand Yin Malice Corpse; after re-refining, they could now fight simultaneously. Wang Yu, who had learned the advanced spiritual sense techniques of the Heavenly Soul Sect, was gradually achieving proficiency in multi-tasking. Combined with his main body's combat power, he could now truly overwhelm an ordinary early Core Formation cultivator.
He had been itching to find someone to test his skills, and this group conveniently delivered themselves.
Would he tolerate such insolence?
"What do you think you're doing?! This is Yellow-White City!"
The man seemed not to have expected that simply asking to see his face would provoke resistance.
Moreover, having given so much already, what was the harm in giving a little more? Didn't they see that with so many of them, they still had nothing?
What the person was thinking,
Wang Yu neither knew nor cared to guess. But insatiable greed was truly irritating.
"Annoying chatter."
The Foundation Establishment leader's pupils contracted. Before he could see any movement, he felt something red and white smear across his face, a thick, rancid stench violently invading his nostrils.
His body trembled as he looked over.
Several familiar outer sect disciples had all turned into mincemeat, transforming the tavern into a scene resembling a hell on earth.
Heaven have mercy.
He was just a minor manager at the early Foundation Establishment stage~
"Se... Senior..."
Wang Yu retrieved the Wailing Ghost Flute with a turn of his palm. Without the Soul-Devouring Evil Armor Art competing for them, these nascent souls would be refined into Nether Crows to replenish the Ghost Domain power of the magic treasure.
Previously, during his battle with the Red Malice at Yin Ghost Mountain,
the Nether Tiger's thunder had affected them, wiping out the Soul-Devouring Nether Crows accumulated over many years in an instant. Now was the perfect time to use Netherworld Spring Monastery cultivators to replenish them somewhat.
His plea received no response. Just as he was about to beg for mercy, the Foundation Establishment cultivator's vision went dark. Before death, he only saw a pitch-black finger point into the center of his brow.
It was the Soul-Extinguishing Finger.
After storing the fresh corpse in the Nourishing Malice Coffin, Wang Yu's spiritual sense rapidly expanded, enveloping the entire city!
This special wartime border city, Yellow-White City, primarily served as a troop garrison. The mortals had been relocated to cities further back, so there was no need to worry about excessive collateral.
Three breaths later, after searching once with the Myriad-Mile Manifestation Trace secret method,
he discovered Yellow-White City only had two early Core Formation cultivators temporarily acting as commanders. In theory, there should be a peak Core Formation cultivator present.
"Could something have happened recently?"
Before he could ponder further,
*Thump, thump, thump—*
Footsteps suddenly sounded from the staircase. A Qi Condensation third-layer cultivator dressed as a waiter ran down from upstairs. Upon seeing the horrific scene on the first floor, his face changed.
"Help! There are Reverse Spirit Blood Sect spies who have infiltrated!"
Wang Yu instinctively moved to stop his shouting, his hand rising halfway before lowering again.
"Just a bunch of rabble."
He raised the Wailing Ghost Flute to his lips.
*"Woo~ woo woo~~~"*
The Heart-Controlling Demonic Tune, at its maximum range, quietly arose. Cultivators nearby who heard the commotion, before even figuring out the situation, stood rigidly in place.
The flute's melody was pleasant, as if it could transport one to supreme bliss.
Along with the noisy wind, it spread towards the entire city. The stronger his spiritual sense, the more powerful this soul-sound secret technique became when Wang Yu used it.
Its maximum could not exceed the third rank. With reckless expenditure of power, more and more cultivators fell under the control of the Heart-Controlling Demonic Tune. Given Yellow-White City's scale, few could break free.
......
Yellow-White City, City Lord's Manor.
Two early Core Formation cultivators were arguing.
"Elder Xiong, this is an Earth Spirit Fruit Tree! Don't you want a share?"
"Elder Li, one must fulfill the duties of their position. You and I are currently the temporary commanders of Yellow-White City. Since Elder Meng and the others have already gone, they are sure to gain something.
"When the time comes, we can simply purchase one or two from him."
"Ah, you don't understand. This is the Earth Spirit Fruit!"
Elder Li's expression was anxious.
"This item is rare. It can refine Yellow Spring Law Pills. A single pill can increase magic power by a thousand strands. If we can obtain it, breaking through to mid Core Formation will be within reach."
"Yellow Spring Law Pills?"
Elder Xiong revealed an awkward expression. He hadn't been part of the Netherworld Spring Monastery for too long. He was once a minor genius from the Nether Mountain Sect, later joining the Monastery for the legacy of **[Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal]**.
"If that's the case, it is indeed worth going. Should we hand over Yellow-White City to those peak Foundation Establishment cultivators?
"The war in Chasing Moon Prefecture has been suspended for a long time. Presumably, hostilities won't suddenly erupt..."
"Bad news! Bad news!!"
Before he could finish, cries rang out from outside the hall.
An old man at the peak of Foundation Establishment, his ears bleeding, practically crawled in on his knees before the two Core Formation elders, transmitting a message with spiritual sense.
"Sirs, there are Reverse Spirit Blood Sect agents launching a surprise attack on Yellow-White City! It's simply... a complete bloodbath!"
"What?! How could there be no sign at all?!"
Elder Li pulled the man up by his collar, furious at this unexpected incident. He had just planned to go seize the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, and now this happened.
Seeing him taking his anger out on the messenger, Elder Xiong quickly said,
"I'll go check the situation. You activate the defensive formation and then come support me. We need to resolve this quickly... then we can also go try our luck."
"—Alright!"
Grabbing the man, Elder Xiong inquired about the situation along the way. Discovering his subordinate was completely deaf, he couldn't help but ask,
"Why did you destroy your ear apertures?"
"Demonic Tune! There's a terrifying Demonic Tune!"
Elder Xiong's brow furrowed tightly.
"Calm down. How many enemies are there? What cultivation level?"
"Hehe~"
The mad old Foundation Establishment cultivator suddenly let out a strange laugh. A chill ran down Elder Xiong's spine. He hurriedly threw the man aside and simultaneously flew upwards.
Immediately, he saw a hair-raising scene.
In the entire southern district, all the cultivators were lying on the ground, laughing. Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment—none were spared. Only the central area showed slight traces of battle.
Everywhere else looked more like... mutual slaughter, and without any sign of resistance.
At the edge of the southern district, large numbers of cultivators from the northern district had gathered, but they stood firmly behind an invisible line, not daring to cross a single step.
"What exactly is going on? And where is the enemy?"
The cultivators who had rushed from the northern district, upon seeing Elder Xiong, immediately began clamoring.
"One person! There's only one enemy!"
"He's using a soul-sound secret technique. The souls of the dead here have all been sucked away. At least over a thousand cultivators have died here."
"The person wears a mask. His spiritual sense power absolutely reached the Core Formation level. That mind-controlling Demonic Tune is extremely overpowering. Even damaging one's own ear apertures is difficult to avoid."
Through everyone's accounts, Elder Xiong finally grasped some useful information. There was no time to think about the other dead cultivators; catching the perpetrator was the priority.
"And where is that thief now?!"
"We don't know. He was just on top of that pagoda a moment ago."
Hearing this, Elder Xiong's pupils contracted. He realized this was a divide-and-conquer tactic. The long-unactivated formation was evidence.
"Not good."
He exclaimed softly, immediately transforming into a streak of light speeding towards the City Lord's Manor.
However, less than one quarter of an hour after they separated,
he had just returned to the manor when he saw violent lightning scattering out from within, practically leveling the entire manor to the ground.
*"—ROAR!!!"*
The savage Thunder Corpse roared at the sky, then lowered its head and completely bit off Elder Li's head in one bite. It raised the corpse high, tilting its head back to welcome the nourishment of spirit-rich blood.
Nearby, the Grand Yin Malice Corpse, restrained by the lightning, wore a cowering posture, wanting to approach but not daring.
*Gulp—*
Seeing this from afar, Elder Xiong swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty.
How long had it been? Elder Li, who had more experience and was stronger in combat than him, had actually fallen in such a short time...
What Wang Yu had done was actually quite simple.
The perfect stealth effect of Invisibility Art + Earthly Nether Ghost Mask, plus a decapitation tactic of splitting and striking. With the advantage of surprise, both corpses attacked simultaneously.
The Yin Corpse's Curse of Descending Malignance directly reduced the target's condition by fifty percent. Then, the third-rank Soul-Extinguishing Finger provided several breaths of hard crowd control.
The Thunder Corpse descended from the heavens, accompanied by violent thunder, leveling everything.
After all.
All three, including Wang Yu, possessed strength surpassing ordinary Core Formation. Under such circumstances, to ambush a completely ordinary outer sect Core Formation cultivator...
Survival wasn't just unlikely; there wasn't even a moment to react!
"Where do you think you're going?"
Suddenly hearing an unfamiliar voice
caused Elder Xiong, who was sneakily retreating, to freeze.
"Hah... haha... Fellow Daoist, why go to such extremes? We have no enmity between us. There's no need for a life-and-death struggle."
"But your subordinate insisted I was a Reverse Spirit Blood Sect spy. Giving several bottles of first-rank, high-grade spirit pills wasn't enough; he still wanted to remove my mask.
"Tell me, did he deserve to die?"
Hearing it was actually for this reason, Elder Xiong inwardly wished he could grind that man's bones to dust. The atmosphere in the Netherworld Spring Monastery was far worse than in the Nether Mountain Sect.
From top to bottom, they were all people straining to scrape together spirit stones. It was really hard to take.
"Compensation! This Xiong is willing to compensate. Fellow Daoist, name your price. I guarantee I'll pay, and the Netherworld Spring Monastery won't trouble you."
"Are you joking? Using such naive words to try and deceive me?"
*Whoosh—*
The few moments of delay allowed the Thunder Corpse, after draining Elder Li's essence and blood, to roar and charge over, trailing streaks of lightning. It was still not satisfied.
"Damn it! Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal!"
"Oh?"
Seeing the familiar divine ability, Wang Yu's eyes lit up. Remotely controlling the Malice Corpse to execute another Yin Corpse's Curse of Descending Malignance, the Thunder Corpse's Summon Thunder and Call Lightning ability was indeed blocked.
Wherever the murky, yellowish great hand passed, all lightning reverted into the most primitive spiritual energy and dissipated. A divine ability bolstered by magic power truly operated on another level.
Even if Wang Yu's mastery was higher, the power of the other's technique was stronger.
"You've cultivated the *Yellow Springs and Jade Fall Sutra*?"
"What's it to you?!"
With all pretense completely torn, Elder Xiong had no obligation to answer Wang Yu's questions, his mind filled solely with thoughts of how to escape.
Seeing this, Wang Yu was indifferent.
"Won't say? Then I'll look for myself."
*Crackle—*
The Thunder Corpse erupted into action again. Elder Xiong pressed his right hand, and another Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal blasted forth. Just as he was about to retreat using an escape technique, he saw numerous pale ghost hands emerging from the ground, firmly grasping him.
In the distance, the Grand Yin Malice Corpse had its hands plunged into the earth. It was remotely influencing the battle with its Malice Control Art.
As the Thunder Corpse was blasted away, Wang Yu's main body finally joined the fray.
A dragon's roar arose, and a crimson streak of light swiftly streaked past.
Elder Xiong's face showed a flicker of delight, thinking his lure had succeeded. Just as he was about to summon his life-bound magic treasure to deliver a fatal blow to Wang Yu,
his heart quaked.
A killing Asura was silently staring at him, as if immense terror was approaching.
*"BOOM—"*
One punch!
Elder Xiong's body folded in half. Agony brought him back to consciousness. Opening his eyes, he saw his own head gripped in Wang Yu's hand, countless black paper boats surging towards the center of his brow.
*(End of Chapter)*