Jun Nie saw this with serious eyes.
"You idiot, I had told you to not kill him before we found out who was behind him!!!"
He shouted and ran towards Jun Haru. He wanted to find the man not just because he was scared, but also because he wanted to find out how they found out about his schemes. And if he knew this, he might also know why Ma Wan Liu killed his brother.
But that was not possible anymore. The one bridge that could connect him to that person was dead.
"You scoundrel!!"
It could be seen that his desire for revenge still exceeded his love for his son.
Just as he was about to hit Jun Haru, he heard a voice from behind and turned around.
It was Zihao De.
Jun Nie dodged Zihao De's metallic waves.
"Zihao De, you traitor. I thought we were working together. I gave you the Second Life Ka for Ming Qi."
Working together didn't mean working to start a war. They had secret trades going on, that's all.
Jun Haru jumped backward and ran as fast as he could.
Other rank 4 cultivators didn't bother with Jun Haru. He was just a rank 3 cultivator, not even worth looking at. They were more focused on their own battles.
The inheritance was about to open, they couldn't laze around. They couldn't run as well. They knew that when the inheritance opened, the one closest to it would be the one entering it.
For some reason, the inheritance gate started to glow about ten days ago, and its glow was increasing with every passing day. Nobody knew why, but they were sure of one thing: the inheritance was about to open.
Even the ones who were sent by the clans didn't think of the clan and wanted the inheritance for themselves. The gate was small, and it could allow only one individual to pass through at a time. Thus, everyone here arrived at a conclusion: this inheritance might only allow one individual to pass through and then close again.
The Ma clan hoped that their side would obtain the inheritance, this way, they could use it as well as share it with their companion clans. The same was the case for the Bai clan.
However, what they didn't know was that after the inheritance started to glow, almost everyone had developed a greed for it. Forget about others, they weren't even planning on sharing it with their own clans.
It was strange, even if not many, at least a few would stay loyal to their own kin and clan, but here, nobody thought of this. It seemed like the inheritance was somehow affecting their minds.
As a result, everyone was trying to stay near the inheritance.
"Jun Nie, tell me, where is Ming Qi? Is he even alive?" Zihao De was furious.
He fiercely kept on attacking Jun Nie.
Jun Nie, mostly defending, pulled out a cloth. He blew at it. They were standing right in the middle of the battlefield, far from the inheritance gate.
When Jun Nie did that, Zihao De jumped back, not just that, he turned around and began to run as fast as he could. Not just him, everyone around them—who saw Jun Nie do that— abandoned their battles and ran as fast as they could.
Even their opponents who were fighting them didn't chase them, they also ran. As for the people—who didn't know why these cultivators ran— also ran knowing that it must be dangerous.
Everyone, who was in front of Jun Nie, was running.
When Jun Nie blew at the cloth, it fluttered a little bit before coming to a stop. However, after that, a fierce wind blew, and the cloth fluttered heavily.
The wind was like a thousand blades, its sharpness so high that it could damage even a rank 5 defensive ire, let alone rank 4.
Three cultivators couldn't evade in time, the wind blew past them and tore their bodies into pieces in seconds. If they were wearing any ires, they might have barely survived at the brink of death but they didn't as they didn't have any.
One managed to evade it within time, but the wind still managed to touch the cultivator's left arm, severing it from the body.
AHHHHHHH AAAA AAHH!!!!!!
The man shouted.
As for Zihao De, he had almost left the Wind's range, but it managed to touch his back. Even though a ire of blue chain had appeared around his whole body, it couldn't completely help him. The wind managed to damage his ire and injured his back though not severely. The reason being that by the time it reached him, its power had been reduced and he was also wearing an ire. Not to mention that it only managed to touch him.
The cloth he used was known as the Piercing Wind Blade. It was one of those rarest attack-type ires. But that was not all of it, Jun Nie also used a Ka to buff its attack. As a result, if a rank 5 cultivator endured the attack without any ire, he would no doubt be shredded to pieces.
However, this ire had a catch: it could only be used again seven minutes after its initial use.
But, a sneak attack from it was enough to kill many rank 5 cultivators. He was the second elder of the Ma clan for a reason.
Even though injured, Zihao De turned around to face Jun Nie again. The battle began again.
On the other side, Shu Ti was fighting Chan Woo, a man with a burly body. He was a Ma clan elder and a body cultivator.
"Elder Chan, I am impressed. You are indeed a worthy opponent," said Shu Ti.
Even though he was a rank 5 cultivator, he was using only rank 4 cultivator's strength.
"It's strange, even though I managed to almost catch you many times, you somehow manage to always overcome me. I wonder how?" Chan Woo was confused.
He had cultivated his body, so he was obviously a close-range cultivator. Even though he managed to get close to Shu Ti, he could not catch him. It was like Shu Ti would gain a sudden boost.
No matter how strong Chan Woo was physically, he was still using speed-type ka to catch up to Shu Ti, and so was Shu Ti using Kas to run from him.
The war continued, more corpses fell, more cultivators joined the battlefield and this continued.
Not only this, separate cultivators also joined the battlefield.
As time went on, the glow on the gate started to intensify. Its patterns started to change: the carvings of a man holding a sword appeared, and he wore a crown. Behind him stood his throne. In front of him stood a huge crowd.
Below the man lay two corpses. These corpses seemed to resemble the man wearing a crown, seemingly his sons.
Behind him stood his throne, behind the throne stood a figure, seemingly a woman.
Behind the woman stood many people.
Behind that, the gate came to an end.
The gate's size changed, it was now eight feet tall. The gate architrave¹ had snake carvings on it, its transom² had black sun drawn on it, whereas its lintel³ exuded⁴ black wisps.
The wisps were increasing and emanating throughout the whole battlefield.
"Is the inheritance about to open?"
"I must have this. I can feel the aura, it's very strong."
"I still can't understand the condition it requires to open."
"If I am not wrong, it must be related to blood. Didn't you guys notice that no blood is accumulating on the ground even though the war has been going on for two weeks on this ground already? There are so many corpses lying in the ground, but not much blood,"
"He is right, now that I notice, why isn't there any blood accumulating on the ground?"
The cultivators were discussing while also fighting. Even though the ground was red, there was not much blood on the ground.
After noticing this—even though not completely sure—they began to gang up on the weaker cultivators.
"You cowards, you call yourselves cultivators!!!" A young man was surrounded by many cultivators. His name was Jana Ru. He was a separate cultivator and rank 4.
A woman attacked first with a grass leaf, the man managed to dodge the leaf, but a fire came at him from the side, burning his right arm. This man didn't have any Ire.
The cultivators, bit by bit, injured and killed the man. It didn't stop there; the clan cultivators began to join forces to eliminate independent cultivators as well as those from other clans.
Now, the forces recruited by the Ma clan and the Bai clan had turned against them as well. At first, both clans had thought that the inheritance could be shared, so they didn't mind sharing the inheritance with other clans, but now, everyone on the battlefield discovered something else. This inheritance might only be for a single individual.
Everyone was fighting when they saw a man running at a fast speed towards the inheritance. After focussing a little bit, they noticed that the one running towards the inheritance gate was none other than Zing Ghe.
"Zing Ghe?"
Zing Ghe came to a stop in front of the inheritance gate. As there was no rank 5 cultivator here besides Shu Ti, nobody was able to stop him. As for Shu Ti, he was waiting to strike at the right moment.
"Brother Zing, what are you doing here?"
Almost everyone stopped fighting. They knew that as long as Zing Ghe was standing near the gate, there was no meaning in fighting.
The moment the inheritance opens, the one closest to it will enter, right now, that was Zing Ghe.
"What? Obviously, I am going to take this inheritance," said Zing Ghe with a grin.
"Brother Zing, that's an injustice. You are not supposed to be here."
"And why is that?"
"Don't pretend you don't understand. Zing Ghe, or should I call you an overwatcher? You know the punishment an overwatcher gets for violating the rules, right?" Said Jun Nie with narrowed eyes.
His revenge mattered, but that doesn't mean that he didn't care for the inheritance. Who knows, it might make him strong enough to kill Ma Wan Liu with his own hands.
"An overwatcher cannot get anything placed as rewards, forget about the rewards, you cannot even get anything involved in the competition. Both the Bai clan and the Ma clan placed the inheritance as the prize. So, it makes it something you can't vie for," Zihao De, looking at Zing Ghe, spoke these words.
To him as well, revenge could be taken later on, but not the inheritance. He knew what benefitted him right now was the inheritance. As a result, he stopped fighting Jun Nie after seeing the fragility of the situation.
"So what, right now, I am going for the inheritance. If you can stop me, do so," Zing Ghe was pretentious. Declaring a war in front of more than one hundred and fifty cultivators.
Even ten rank 4 strong cultivators could defeat him if coordinated properly.
"Brother, according to your clan rules, if an overwatcher goes against the rules of the clan, they would be stripped of their title and pursued by the entire clan until they perish, think before you leap."
Zihao De still tried to convince Zing Ghe.
"Are you all coming at me or not?"
"No need for that. I alone am enough,"
Jun Nie said this and stepped forward.
…..
1 An architrave is the horizontal and vertical trim that frames a door or window.
2 A transom is a horizontal crosspiece or window above a door.
3 A horizontal structural beam above a door or window that supports the weight of the wall above it. (No wall here though)
4 Discharge or release