Countless sharp peaks were penetrating the sea of clouds, and all of them populated with weathered pines that did not seem to mind the altitude. That was all Han De's eyes could see, in all directions.
It truly reminded him of… the Starfall Mountain Sect. After pretending so hard and for so long, the birthplace of his current body became synonymous with home, without knowing.
But that wasn't all. The crucial aspect of Starfall Mountain that Han De would never be able to forget, was that it had the viscerally authentic Xianxia experience, in every corner!
Han De stood still and gazed at the scenery. His disciples behind, treading air thanks to the Through the Starlight footwork technique. They too took in the view, some with marvel, some with indifference, some with excitement.
Far above were Han De's servants. They too, were inspecting everything with curiosity.
Almost all of them had spent the entire voyage getting instructed in the ways of observing, capturing, and eliminating anomalies from Old Peng. The highest cultivation experts among them immediately recognized the intent to go against the heavenly order. Perhaps this was a mission given to the young master by the Long family, most of them theorized. But of course, everyone kept their opinions to themselves.
Their mission was to obey and protect the young master Long De at all costs. Not one of them could forget, their sacrifice would be rewarded in full, even in death. Such was the power of higher beings. In fact, even the Divinity Formation experts couldn't help but envy young master Long De's crippled servants. Those people had gained a good chance at elevating their existence!
Below, Han De operated the mysterious footwork technique once more, and the lackeys followed, invisible to anyone under the Transcendent Realm.
'… This is seriously faster than my old sword flight…' Han De couldn't help but comment inwardly. It was unfortunate that he didn't know how to measure his speed in familiar terms! However, it seemed that the upgrades to his techniques were worth it, even if the result wasn't as "Heaven-Defying" as advertised.
As the scenery changed, Han De's Reality Sense picked up the departure of the celestial ship. The power it used just to start its journey back, seemed far larger than what Han De felt on board. Once the sudden flash of energy subsided, the ship was already gone from Han De's detectable range.
'So it begins.'
Now, Han De and his disciples were truly alone, in a completely alien world, with almost nothing.
'…'
Well, he still had over a thousand lackeys with him of course. Along with fifty personal servants specially selected by the Long family.
He also received extensive reports about the political structure and the culture of the continent. In some ways, he knew more of this world than whatever remained of his home planet!
And of course, of course, he still had obscene amounts of spirit stones, pills, refining materials, along with enough elemental gold and silver to make even the richest dragon blush.
Han De's lips slightly curled upwards. 'Huh. Now that I think about it, that's not so bad.'
Then, there was the fact that his family was a whisper away. Probably.
'… Ok, that's a bit…'
Not to mention, he also had the System, and everything that entailed. Including, but not limited to, heavenly flowers randomly blooming around his feet!
Soon however, all those dangerous highly intrusive thoughts disappeared into the ether with the appearance of irregular structures on the horizon.
A sect built around a river, where the sharp mountains paved way to a thick forest as far as the eye could see. Just as that scout mentioned. This was the home of the Blood Oath sect, where demonic cultivators of the atrocity-focused type thrived.
And of course, this was the first -and the last- time Han De would make a personal intervention at a sect level. Probably. Hopefully.
'There's a grand array below the grand array, two stacks, with the bottom one nearing Immortal Realm level. One of the Spirit Origin masters has quite the cultivation base, probably the sect manager of sorts. The most powerful one, the Unity Realm master near the grand array… has a slightly unstable signal? Recently broke through perhaps?'
The clarity of his Reality Sense had improved leaps and bounds, Han De noticed without any joy.
'Compared to my lackeys, their spiritual power is really weaker.'
Not that he expected an unexpected surprise at the last juncture, but it felt good to confirm that the scout's report was accurate to the 99th percentile!
Han De nodded. Physically this time.
"Cultivators seek to be unbound by the cycle of life and death. Dao is endless, and so are the ways to surpass the cycle." Han De said, then turned back and displayed Profound Smile E (Ominous Edition). "But not all of them are equal." His smile slowly faded away and he faced the sect once more.
"Surpassing the cycle does not require breaking it."
Han De paused for effect, and to psych himself up. But he realized that was a mistake, because he needed to calm himself down instead! Too much excitement could lead to a mistake, or worse, a crack in his facade!
'… Deep breath. Just one, just one breath.' One breath was fine, but two were too close to the border of nervousness!
He slowly breathed the foreign air, filled with countless tiny "scents" that he never noticed before. That breath almost turned into a sigh, but Han De stopped himself before it crossed the threshold!
"We, the righteous cultivators, should leave a world better than we found it. And we will start now." He said slowly, realizing he couldn't delay any longer.
This was the moment.
In the blink of an eye, countless shields enveloped the disciples, then became completely transparent. Bar Ning Bi, none of them could see or feel their existence.
The original three disciples finally understood their master's intentions. Jin Shu in particular, focused with all her being. This was the first time they would witness the unbridled power of their master, after all.
Meanwhile, Han De wasn't sure if his disciples' defenses were enough. The concern wasn't about their safety, since, he still had a pocket Xin Meili with him. But if the shield were to fail without any effort, it could be a considerable setback to his reputation!
'Well, if I do more, I might alert the demonic sect altogether, or I would appear too unsure. I suppose I could reinforce during the assault if or when needed…'
Then, the legendary fast-thinking technique appeared once again! Han De relied on his Reality Sense to detect everyone's rough location. He rejected the anxiety that came from realizing how rapidly his Reality Sense was improving, almost in real-time. That, was for another time.
Han De the Array Grandmaster, immediately recognized the properties of the larger, four-dimensional grand array. Aside from using brute force, this grand array didn't have any weaknesses. Even their focal points would constantly shift within their boundaries!
Han De the Sealing Grandmaster, with the help of Han De the Survivor, enumerated all possible escape routes with >98% confidence, and how to counter them.
Han De the Grandmaster Illusionist, stood ready for the performance of his lifetime. This wasn't just a personal intervention, but the ultimate proof of concept for surviving the impossible.
Masters and Grandmasters, everyone gave the operation their all.
Except for Han De the Survivor, who saved 11% of its energy to find the perfect escape route, just in case things went south!
Then, Han De the Swordsman, finally smiled.
* * *
Inside the central cultivation chamber, Huang Yue realized she used the last Bloodshadow Soulcrushing pill.
That… was bound to happen, at some point. But Huang Yue was hoping that the moment would come far, far later!
It wasn't a cheap pill after all, nor was it easy to make! The ten pills the Death Lotus Syndicate made required ten times the resources of the entire region combined!
"Haa… This power…" Huang Yue clenched her fist. With another batch, she was sure to advance to the mid-stage of the Unity Realm. There was no doubt in her mind!
And then, out of nowhere, a beam of impossibly pure yang energy appeared far above, and a cracking sound followed.
Huang Yue couldn't even react for a moment. She didn't even feel the slightest sense of danger! And yet, the thing that shattered, was clearly the outer array.
Before she could even send a voice transmission, everything became dark. It was as if she was surrounded by countless sharp swords! The aura of a master, without any doubt.
Clearly, this wasn't the time to hesitate. She released her domain, disintegrating everything between her and the night sky, instantly. Except, she realized, what she was seeing wasn't the night sky, but countless threads of sword Qi instead. Without any warning or pause, the assault on the true grand array began.
Huang Yue reigned her fury, closed her eyes to try and find the source of this attack. Those swords were clearly of the Nascent Soul realm. Yet, their power was strong enough to cover the entire sect. Were they getting attacked by tens of thousands of Nascent Soul cultivators? Or did they somehow offend an eccentric old monster, hellbent on humiliating them?
"Found you!" She softly whispered. Though the sword aura was incredibly violent and dense, it wasn't even a match. Her Unity Realm Spiritual Sense cut through it like a hot knife through butter!
At another time, how easily she broke through may have alarmed her, but everything was happening too fast. This wasn't the time to think!
500 li away, were six figures surrounded by incredibly thick Qi. But the one attacking, was less than 40 li away, was surrounded by a blinding light. Huang Yue still couldn't feel any sense of danger!
A hairline fracture appeared on the grand array, in less than a breath since the start of the assault!
Huang Yue stood tall, her robes fluttering in the wind. She took out every single treasure she had.
The fracture widened into a crack. At the same time, Huang Yue felt the ripples of another technique, but what, she couldn't ascertain! Even still, it was a Nascent Soul technique.
By this time, the elders of her Blood Oath sect had caught up. All of them were watching, waiting, for the grand array to fall before making their move. The enemy, though appeared to be in the Nascent Soul realm, had proved their power already. Why not let them tire themselves tire out a bit more?
A "young" man with milky white skin, the first elder of the Blood Oath sect, frowned. "Who would use such a supreme treasure?" He muttered.
This was the thought on all elders' minds. Some were trying to figure out if they could recover that supreme treasure, some secretly trying to read the expression of their sect leader. One by one though, their minds fell silent. In just a few seconds, the grand array was on its last legs, with cracks wide enough for one to escape. Yet, no attacks landed on the sect grounds.
Huang Yue smirked after calculating the possible outcomes. And with that, elders of the Blood Oath sect also understood!
This new enemy, though had powerful heavenly treasures, was still inexperienced. Perhaps an orthodox progeny that stumbled upon a never before seen holy ground, succumbed to delusions of grandeur, and decided to take matters into his own hands.
Why else would someone with exceptionally pure orthodox martial arts, attack without announcing their presence? Clearly, this person, this boy, lacked the decisiveness of the fiendish path. And that lack of resolve manifested itself when he refused to take advantage of the cracks.
And why was this person obviously male? A look at their own sect leader was enough. Countless orthodox cultivators lost their Dao hearts with but a simple gaze from her. It was easy to guess what a power-drunk boy would fantasize about.
If their grand array wasn't disintegrating before their eyes, most elders would've roared in laughter.
In less than ten seconds after the start of the attack, the true grand array, finally disappeared into nothingness. All that Blood Oath sect elders could see, were countess threads of Sword Qi on an otherwise pitch-black sky.
One of them had a thought. 'Why aren't they shaped like swords?' That was all the time it took for a tyrannical aura to descend. And with it, came the strange Sword Qi.
Two of the eight elders were instantly pierced, though that wasn't enough to kill them.
"Kill!" The first elder shouted while fending off the attack.
The tyrannical aura strengthened further. Between defending against the endless barrage of Sword Qi and resisting the tyrannical pressure, the third elder finally snapped. "You dare!" He charged at the figure emanating pure light.
All around them, the Core Formation elders had already succumbed to the aura. Lucky ones only collapsed with countless wounds, but those lacking in providence, turned into indistinct piles of mush. And it seemed that even that wasn't enough. Seeing such hatred, such unbound cruelty, the second elder finally felt a chill in his spine.
Nascent Soul experts fared better, but all of the great elders could see that they had mere seconds left.
Suddenly, a wave of energy passed by. The sky seemed a little less bright, and the swords seemed weaker. Huang Yue realized that this was a mental art in an instant! She circulated her Qi and forcefully shattered the illusion, only to see the third elder getting impaled by hundreds of swords!
"… Why…" The third elder said with blood gushing from his throat. His vacant yet bitter eyes were the evidence of the ruthlessness of the mental attack.
Huang Yue held up a golden scroll that appeared out of nowhere. She could hear the deafening echo from the power of space within. Starry Pathways Atlas, a heavenly treasure that even Immortal Realm experts would fight over. Able to create an undetectable tunnel through space. It was insulting to use such a priceless artifact this early, but this wasn't an ordinary assault, Huang Yue realized.
Shielded by the heavenly treasure, Huang Yue and the seven remaining elders, watched their sect getting decimated by the strange Sword Qi. Hundreds of Nascent Soul realm cultivators, not only died in body, but in soul as well. All their souls burned away, without exception. None of them could even defend themselves. The sight was enough to incense even the most indifferent among them.
Half a breath had passed, and the assault shifted focus. Now, it was the turn of the sect structures, above and underground. Training facilities, abodes, immortal caves, libraries, halls, down to the cobblestones of the paved roads. Another half a breath, and all that was left of the Blood Oath sect, was mere dust.
Who would have such a deep-seated animosity towards them? Huang Yue wondered. Though she couldn't use her spiritual sense to check due to the Starry Pathways Atlas, it was obvious that nothing was spared, not even the slaves that the orthodox faction was so fond of.
The more she saw, the more calm she became. This foe, she decided not to kill, as that would be an undeserved mercy.
Huang Yue and the great elders traveled through the corridors in space. Plural, not singular. This trump card was rarely used in the Blood Oath sect's history, but Huang Yue had full confidence.
One full breath later, everyone exited the space at different locations and immediately created a killing formation, with Huang Yue as the center. She swung her whip with full power aiming to cripple, but…
"… Is that you, my love?" A voice, a trembling voice that she hadn't heard in a long time. "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you…" Huang Yue felt surprise, only for an infinitesimally small fraction of a second. And with that, a burning pain appeared on her left shoulder.
Everything became obvious. She fell for that wicked mental art! Without even a whimper, she circulated her energy at full power. The illusion was harder to break this time, but no such technique could stop someone like her, a Unity Realm expert with experience in myriad illusion arts.
Another treasure flew from her body, but suddenly the heavens themselves trembled with a suppression field. While she was defending herself against the endless barrage of swords, the tyrannical aura started condensing!
"My little girl, run! Don't look back!" Before she could even react to the voice of her long-forgotten father, blinding pain hit all four of her limbs. Huang Yue screamed to break out of the illusion.
Though holding on, she had already lost an arm. Why or how, she did not know, but this foe was ready to use any means necessary to kill her. It was a battle of attrition that she was destined to lose, if the cadence of the battle stayed the same.
On the outskirts of the killing formation, she heard a silent plea. "Mommy…" Uttered the first elder, her right-hand man, was all that was left of the Blood Oath Sect. His soul was cut into countless pieces, his body had become an unrecognizable mass of flesh, with chunks floating around in the air.
Meanwhile, Huang Yue realized her heavenly escape treasure had turned into dust, perhaps not even deemed worthy of taking. That left her with only one option.
She released her True Qi to enhance the effectiveness of her Blood Peach Blossom Dance. The amount of willpower she put into this was truly anything but ordinary. A tiny mistake could cause a deviation and kill her, yet she was already defending against endless attacks, physical and mental. Even Huang Yue didn't know if she could do it, but in desperation, she rose to the challenge!
Her Blood Peach Blossom Dance Qi suddenly manifested and enveloped the figure clad in light! She swallowed the blood she almost coughed up and gently blew air, knowing that its sound would echo across space to daze her target. With that, her True Qi would be able to enter his body.
Just as she expected, everything became still all at once. The sound of wind disappeared, swords stopped and their lights dimmed.
Huang Yue showed a confident, wicked smile. Seeing the man falter, her smile even grew wider. "Come to me." She whispered. He had to be killed, but at least she could taste him a few times before that happened.
"… uncou…"
In total silence, faint mutterings traveled far and wide. And as a Unity Realm master, Huang Yue naturally heard it. This voice came from the six figures surrounded by thick yang energy. The people that she had momentarily forgotten about.
Uncouth? Was that what the youngest boy said? Huang Yue's eyes focused on him. The Qi surrounding them was a protective cocoon of sorts. But the boy himself? She realized he had pure vital Qi, and a broken, but special body constitution on top of that. An excellent material for a cultivation vessel!
"Shh… It's over. Just close your eyes, my dear." The boy suddenly spoke. No, it wasn't the boy, the voice came from…"I will always lo-" The memory of that sweet whisper disappeared. Or was it that it didn't exist in the first place? She couldn't tell.
Reality suddenly distorted and Huang Yue got a glimpse of thousands of seals, countless swords, and incomprehensibly intricate arrays. Strange worlds entered her vision, lifetimes flashed, loved ones disappeared. Great nothingness enveloped her as she saw countless realities vanish in vain.
Why, she wanted to ask, even as the last sliver of her soul burned away to nothingness. Why?
As the light of Han De's techniques dimmed, silence was restored. Still, Han De used the sect leader's remnant Qi to make a divination, just to ensure that she was destroyed in body and soul. Obviously, he would rely on his lackeys to do a perfect cleanup later, but it was worth taking precautions by himself as well.
'… Alright, looks like it's over.' Han De internally breathed a sigh of relief. 'F*ck, that was…' Han De closed his eyes to forget about her dying screams.
Though the result was successful, Han De's plans had utterly failed. There were so many deviations, he despaired at the thought of doing something like this again.
'… No, no, no. No way…' Han De swore off personal interventions on the spot. However, he also realized he might be planting a major flag, so he temporarily shelved personal interventions instead. Temporarily.
'… I really succeeded by dumb luck… Holy S#$%… If their cultivations weren't so weak, I would've failed, and my lackeys would have to make a move…'