After Yun Ling had finished speaking, a flying sword swooshed audibly through the air, heading straight towards his face.
When the sword was about to hit him, Yun Ling merely tilted his head to the side, easily avoiding it. The sword missed its intended target as it flew past him speedily.
Yun Ling glanced at the Riverspan Sect disciple who was responsible for that attack. Said disciple unconsciously took a step back in fear the moment Yun Ling's eyes landed on him. However, Yun Ling only looked at him for a second before ignoring him as he turned his attention towards the rest of the Riverspan Sect disciples.
"Is that all you've got?" Yun Ling asked.
The Riverspan Sect disciples were all silent. They were easily defeated by Yun Ling who seemed like he wasn't even particularly trying. From the short exchange they had, they knew how vastly superior he was to them. Towards Yun Ling who completely dominated them, they didn't even have the courage to meet his eyes. Still, they couldn't help but feel a considerable amount of damage to their pride. For them to be defeated by a single person when all of them were working together...
It was humiliating. Especially so since it happened in front of the disciples from other sects who saw the fight from beginning to end.
"How boring," Yun Ling stated as he looked at them in disinterest. "I expected more from sect disciples but it seems I was bound to be disappointed."
The Riverspan Sect disciples lowered their heads. They didn't dare to talk back. They had no choice but to swallow this anger in silence.
"Man, talk about being pathetic. There were twenty of them yet they couldn't even beat one person. If I were them, I would just commit suicide to redeem myself!"
The silence in the surrounding area was broken by a sinister comment from the audience.
Almost everyone from the Riverspan Sect immediately turned towards the crowd angrily. They wanted to find the culprit and have them take back their words, partly so they'd be able to regain some face, and partly so they'd have someone to vent their frustrations at. However, they were having a hard time finding the culprit who was blending in the crowd by just looking around. They also couldn't afford to carelessly move since Yun Ling was still there.
"In the end, the Riverspan Sect is merely a second-rate sect. No matter how much they've gotten stronger now than in the past, second-rate will always be second-rate."
"The Riverspan Sect had truly lost face this time."
More and more malicious words were directed to the defeated disciples from the crowd.
"What did you say?!"
"Come out if you dare!"
Although the Riverspan Sect disciples were already angry from the first remark, they didn't dare do anything in consideration of Yun Ling. However, with the additional defamation against them, they were pushed beyond the limits of what they could endure.
Yun Ling looked at them in mild amusement. All of this happened because of him. No matter who it was you asked, the Riverspan Sect disciples did nothing harmful against him. However, when that man from their sect approached him, he wasn't able to control himself. He was the one to attack them first. He was the one to blame for everything.
Yun Ling realized his mistake but it was too late. He had already dealt the first blow. The only thing he could do was to find a remedy to the situation which he already thought of quite a few ways to do so.
First, he could just bow his head and apologize to them. But there's no telling whether they'll accept his apology. Sect disciples are quite arrogant in nature than your regular cultivator since they had the backing of their sect. Very few cultivators from the secular world dared to offend them because of their sect. Aside from that, Yun Ling's pride also wouldn't allow him to apologize. There was no way he was going to apologize to these inferior sect disciples.
Second, he could bribe them off. As the son of the clan master of the Yun Clan, one of the most powerful clans in the empire, Yun Ling wasn't lacking in treasures. He could just give a few treasures to them in exchange for overlooking his action. Though these disciples were being provided by their sect, there was no way the sect can fully accommodate every sect disciple for only the most exceptional ones will receive such special treatment from the sect. As for the rest, they'd just receive the bare minimum.
Although Yun Ling could just bribe them, these disciples certainly wouldn't accept it. Had the fight happened in a private place, there was a big chance they would. The problem was that their fight happened in public, right in front of the disciples from other sects. If Yun Ling bribed them and they accepted it, they would definitely be mocked and humiliated.
This is why Yun Ling used the third method he thought of.
That was to escalate the fight until it became a big deal and attract the attention of the other sects.
Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god— this was the philosophy behind his action.
Yun Ling's action was no longer just to remedy the situation. Yes, he wanted to resolve it but that had become a second priority for him. His first priority was for his name to spread in the other sects through these disciples and get a certain person's attention. Additionally, once he becomes famous enough in these areas and the other sects, situations like this wouldn't happen as often to him since people would be wary of him.
Still, Yun Ling didn't expect the people from other sects to take the initiative to humiliate the Riverspan Sect disciples. It turns out the rivalry between the sects was quite something.
"The Thousand Mountain Valley's entrance is now open. You may now enter," a deep rough voice resounded in the area coming from the entrance itself, attracting everyone's attention.
Yun Ling looked at the source and saw a middle-aged man whose white wavy beard had reach onto his chest. The man seemed to notice Yun Ling's gaze as he looked back at Yun Ling in return.
'I can't see through his cultivation realm,' Yun Ling thought as he inspected the man.
The man nodded in appreciation as he sized up Yun Ling, 'What an interesting youngster.'
Yun Ling began to move towards the entrance, making the Riverspan Sect disciples wary.
Seeing this, Yun Ling merely smiled, "Relax, I no longer have any time to play around with you."
With that, Yun Ling entered the Thousand Mountain Valley under everyone's watchful eyes.