The first to notice his presence were the three Sword Attendants; three old men with extremely sharp features and an aura appeared around him, each with the strength of the peak Sovereign Profound Realm.
All three of them stared at Yun Che with an almost emotionless gaze; emotions felt like a foreign concept when one looked at them.
"Who are you?" One of them inquired, his voice sharp and dominating, trying to hurt him just by his sword intent alone.
But, of course, the Sword Intent vanished before it even reached close to Yun Che, who still held an easygoing smile on his face.
"Weren't you guys looking for me? Now that I am here, no one recognizes me... Really makes me sad."
The old men frowned collectively.
"If you don't state your name and purpose next time, we will kill you." They were direct with their approach. Sword Aura burst out of their bodies, each enough to suffocate the space around them, as they all collectively tried to pressure Yun Che; it obviously didn't work on him.
"Oh my, how savage. You would rather hurt me than have a civil conversation. I guess I expected too much from a bunch of cultivators." Yun Che chuckled and stared fearlessly at the three men before he loudly announced, enough for everyone within the main hall to hear his voice. "I'm Yun Che, the grandson of the so-called demon you guys sealed within the Heavenly Sword Villa. And I have come to take over the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Silence instantly engulfed the whole of the main hall as the eyes of the three old men widened slightly at the boldness of the young man in front of them. This was the first time they were facing someone who dared to directly enter their main hall despite the enmity between them.
"Did you come here to surrender then?"
"Huh?" Yun Che stared at the old man with utter bafflement before he sighed. "Right. About that…"
His sword hand blurred, and a sword energy was released in the direction of the three old men, startling them.
"I'm here to take over this place." Yun Che smirked, staring as the three old men struggled to dodge his slash. "So I'll give you all a choice: surrender or die. Choose fast, though, I ain't got enough time for your bullshit."
The expressions of the three old men changed. The slash alone allowed them to understand the difference between their strength. Even though Yun Che's strength showed that he was only at the Emperor Profound Realm, the slash told a whole other story; they could feel the threat from him.
All three of them stared at each other before their gazes turned collectively towards the smirking Yun Che.
"Sword Attendant Heartless."
"Sword Attendant Merciless."
"Sword Attendant Emotionless."
All three of them introduced themselves individually, treating Yun Che as an opponent worthy of their respect.
"Funny titles." Yun Che chuckled. "Guess you guys are choosing the latter. Very well. Come then. As merciful as I am, I'll make your death quick and painless."
"Don't be too arrogant." Merciless replied. "We haven't started fighting yet."
Yun Che stared at him before his lips curled up, not replying to him. Obviously, he had already considered this fight as his victory.
"Though are you sure you don't want to join the fight, Sword Master Wentian? Or are all the rumors regarding you false?" He turned his head and looked towards the main hall, aware of Xuanyuan Wentian's presence inside.
"There is no need for the Sect Master to join. We are enough to take care of you."
"Really now…" Yun Che turned his head back towards the three old men and smiled. "Let's get started then."
The moment his voice fell, profound energy burst out of the three old men like an endless tsunami, easily shaking the space around them; it looked like it was on the verge of breaking apart.
Merciless, Emotionless, and Heartless; all three of them had reached the peak of the mortal realm. Their strength was enough to endanger the safety of the Blue Pole Star.
Even one of them was enough to scare the whole continent with the exception of other Sacred Grounds. Now, with all three of them together, one could imagine the horror their all-out power brought to the world.
Yet, Yun Che stood freely without any change in his expression. The pressure, enough to squash any Emperor Profound Realm cultivator like a bug, felt like an everyday wind to him.
OMMM Loud vibrations were produced as Merciless waved his sword towards Yun Che. The space seemed to be distorted as a sword slash traveled and appeared in front of Yun Che instantly.
But before it could hit him, Yun Che simply raised his hand and caught it. The moment the slash touched his hand, as if met by its worst enemy, it dispersed silently in the air.
Three old men had their eyes widened as they stared at Yun Che with an unbelievable expression. Even if Merciless didn't put his all in that slash, it was still powered by the strength of the peak Sovereign Profound Realm. For Yun Che to stop it effortlessly… They finally understood why Yun Che sounded so confident in his strength.
"You're strong," Merciless praised.
"Don't state the obvious now," Yun Che chuckled. "I am the future ruler of this continent, after all."
"We will see about that," Heartless scoffed. He looked at Merciless and Emotionless, all three coming to the same decision—attack together!
Next second, all three took their positions around Yun Che, creating a three-man formation which trapped him inside.
Sword energies rampaged like an unstoppable force as all three raised their swords in the sky.
A huge formation suddenly bloomed below Yun Che; the rampant sword energies instantly gathered inside this formation before creating thousands of flying swords all around the sky.
No matter where one looked, all they could see was flying swords. The next instant, all of them turned and pointed towards the center of the formation where Yun Che stood.
"Immortal Slaying Formation!" and the flying swords vanished. Cutting through the air and space like butter, they all flew towards Yun Che at an unprecedented speed.
"That's cool," Yun Che commented. "Lemme try it too."
Yun Che gripped Yan'er tightly before raising her and pointing her towards the sky; another identical formation bloomed below him, overlapping the already opened formation. Sword energies, the same if not stronger than the three old men, were released from Yun Che before coalescing into swords.
"Immortal Slaying Formation," he softly muttered.
"Boom... Boom... Boom..." Explosions appeared all over the sky as swords from both sides collided with each other, while the three old men stared at Yun Che as if staring at a ghost.
Immortal Slaying Formation was their personal technique that they had created after millennia of working together. They could not believe their own eyes, seeing Yun Che effortlessly copying it and displaying it with the same, if not even greater, mastery than them!
"How..."
"—Is this possible, right?" Yun Che smirked, staring at the horrified gazes of the three old men. "I just happen to be a little genius myself."
"You..."
"Well, let's end this, shall we?" Yun Che once again raised his sword and slashed towards Merciless. The poor old man couldn't even understand what happened before his world turned upside down.
Heartless and Emotionless stared wide-eyed as the head of Merciless rolled in the sky before falling down, his body soon following after.
Unmoved by the feat he just achieved, Yun Che once again waved his sword towards the remaining two old men.
The space once again distorted and the sword slash appeared in front of the stunned Heartless and Emotionless.
Feeling the danger to their lives, their bodies instinctively released all the profound energy inside them in hope to dodge or even block the coming slash, but it was useless; the next instant, two fountains of blood appeared.
In a second, all three Sword Attendants that Mighty Heavenly Sword Region took pride in were defeated! They couldn't even retaliate against Yun Che's single move before succumbing to death.
"Are you coming out or not? Or perhaps you want me to send a personal invitation to you?" Yun Che's inquiry was answered with the loud sound of bells; Mighty Heavenly Sword Region has entered an all-out war state!
...
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