A man clad in a dragon robe, his expression majestic and stern, sat upon the dragon throne.
"Reporting to Your Majesty—last night, Taichu Pavilion was infiltrated by the purple-robed demon. The Pavilion Master was abducted. At this point, nearly ten Heavenly Freedom Realm experts have already been taken by the purple-robed demon."
A white-haired eunuch reported in a shrill voice.
Hearing this, the Emperor of Nanjue furrowed his brows deeply.
"This purple-robed demon is truly lawless! How dare he act with such impunity!"
Across the Nine Provinces Continent, there were once nations such as Beili, Beique, Western Chu, and Nanjue.
Now, Beique and Western Chu had both been destroyed by Beili.
Yet Nanjue had managed to maintain its independence—
which alone was enough to show that, while Nanjue was not as overwhelmingly powerful as Beili, it was by no means weak.
And yet now,
a dignified great nation
was being thrown into chaos by a single demonic cultivator.
Nanjue's martial world was already inferior to Beili's.
After this incident,
whether Nanjue would even still have a martial world in the future
was now a serious question.
After a moment of contemplation, the emperor spoke:
"Dispatch the two Protectors, Xu Jun and Shou Ji. Have them unite the major sects and jointly capture the purple-robed demon!"
"This servant obeys!" the eunuch replied sharply.
…
At the same time—
within a mountain valley shrouded in blood-red mist.
Ye Dingzhi stood holding an unparalleled divine sword, baleful aura condensed around him.
Shua!
The divine sword suddenly flashed.
A vicious gash split open Ye Dingzhi's palm, blood pouring out.
Immediately afterward—
something eerie happened.
The divine sword, like a true demonic weapon, began greedily absorbing the blood flowing from Ye Dingzhi's hand.
At the same time,
the originally pristine, jade-white blade
seemed to be dyed by blood—
turning entirely black and crimson, the entire sword trembling violently.
No one knew how much time passed.
A chilling, soul-piercing sword intent spread throughout the entire valley.
Ye Dingzhi seemed possessed, wielding the divine sword as he repeatedly executed sword forms.
Finally—
he slowly came to a stop.
The divine sword in his hand had completely transformed into a demonic sword of red and black hues, wrapped in dense baleful aura.
At this moment, the demonic sword trembled incessantly,
as if desperately yearning for something.
Ye Dingzhi looked at the quivering demonic sword with indifference.
"The Immortal-Demonic Sword Art has finally reached Great Completion."
"But…"
"A demonic sword still requires blood sacrifice
to become a true demonic sword."
Deep within the valley,
a group of people stared at this scene in unspeakable terror.
"Demonic cultivator! He's the real demonic cultivator!"
"It's over—he's going to use us to sacrifice his sword!"
"Damn it! Taichu Pavilion is the number one sect of Nanjue, yet we're being slaughtered by a single demon!"
"Everyone! I am the Sect Master of Xuantiān Sect, at the peak of the Nine Heavens Realm! Since death is inevitable, we might as well fight that demon together!"
As soon as these words were spoken,
many immediately echoed in response:
"Right!"
"We'll fight him to the death!"
The Xuantiān Sect Master seemed fired up, about to charge forward first.
And yet—
it was unclear whether the demon was simply too confident or something else—
after being captured and brought here,
none of these top-tier experts had been restrained at all.
Their cultivation hadn't been sealed.
They weren't even bound by a single rope.
The Xuantiān Sect Master had barely taken two steps—
when he suddenly recalled the scene from the sect hall before his capture.
His body stiffened.
He quickly turned his head and glanced back.
Just as he suspected—
among the dozen or so top experts present,
not a single one had moved.
Some had even quietly taken a few steps backward.
Yet their mouths still loudly urged everyone to fight the demon together.
"You—You people!!!"
The Xuantiān Sect Master roared in fury.
"Are you even human?!"
The Xuantiān Sect Grand Elder awkwardly tugged at his sleeve and whispered:
"Junior Brother… judging by that demon's aura, his strength is likely at… Half-Step Divine Wanderer Realm."
Hearing this, the Sect Master's entire body trembled, his heart sinking into despair.
Half-Step Divine Wanderer.
Across the entire Nine Provinces, only a handful of people possessed such power.
In Nanjue,
only Yusheng Mo at his peak,
and one figure within the imperial court,
had ever reached this realm.
Though they themselves were top experts of the martial world—
compared to Half-Step Divine Wanderer,
the gap was greater than that between a human and a pig.
To someone at that level,
killing them would take no more than a flick of the fingers.
At this moment,
the Xuantiān Sect Master noticed that the surroundings had suddenly fallen into dead silence.
Everyone was staring at him.
No—
to be precise,
they were staring at his back.
Instantly,
his body went rigid, a wave of extreme terror flooding his heart.
Trembling, he slowly turned around—
only to see that at some unknown moment,
a terrifying figure wreathed in baleful aura
had appeared right behind him.
In that figure's hand
was a black-and-crimson demonic sword.
The sword itself trembled endlessly, radiating icy killing intent.
"Relax. I won't use you to sacrifice the sword."
Ye Dingzhi said calmly.
"I only want you to become human puppets."
As he spoke,
Ye Dingzhi slowly placed his palm
against the Xuantiān Sect Master's forehead.
...
...
A short while later.
Inside the valley.
Before Ye Dingzhi,
ten figures knelt respectfully on the ground.
"Greetings, Master!"
Ye Dingzhi nodded slowly.
"Rise."
These ten top experts from various sects
were all at the Nine Heavens Realm.
This could be considered the preliminary completion of the first stage of the mission.
Still remaining—
five Soaring Realm experts,
and one Great Free and Unfettered Realm expert.
Those—
were the true peerless powerhouses.
Even across all of Nanjue,
only a handful existed.
And now,
the entire Nanjue martial world had already fallen into panic.
Major sects sealed their gates.
Top experts fled far away.
For an entire day,
Yan Lingxia had searched several sects
without encountering a single expert above the Heavenly Freedom Realm.
However—
Ye Dingzhi had long anticipated this situation.
After all, anyone capable of stepping into the Heavenly Freedom Realm
was no fool who would wait around to be captured.
Previously, when Yan Lingxia challenged Nanjue's experts,
her methods were ruthless,
but she hadn't killed many.
This time, however, was different.
This time, it was outright abduction.
Anyone who heard of it would panic.
At this moment—
a figure flew into the valley from outside.
"Master!" Yan Lingxia knelt respectfully.
Ye Dingzhi asked calmly,
"Any leads?"
Yan Lingxia nodded.
"Reporting to Master—this subordinate has discovered that Qingfeng Sect will hold a grand martial tournament the day after tomorrow, inviting all major sects of the martial world."
Ye Dingzhi chuckled softly.
"So they're certain you'll go."
Clearly—
this was an open scheme,
designed specifically to lure Yan Lingxia to Qingfeng Sect.
And yet—
this open scheme was extremely effective.
When the time came,
all the top experts would gather at Qingfeng Sect.
What they would never imagine—
was that the terrifying purple-robed masked figure
they feared so deeply
was nothing more than a puppet.
Ye Dingzhi lightly brushed the demonic sword and said calmly:
"It's time for you to taste blood."