"…"
"…"
Looking in the direction of the silver-robed figure, the Ling Yuan family's practitioners—who are all trapped inside of the sub-arrays can't help but turn pale, for they have all witnessed Xia Lie Yang being ripped into pieces.
As for those who were fortunate enough to avoid stepping on a sub-array—
"Run!"
"We need to get out of here!"
"Retreat!"
Towards these practitioners' attempts at making a break for it—using spatial tearing talismans, Long Hua can only choose to let them do so, for he doesn't have much faith energy left to expend on sealing this realm.
At the same time, having these individuals return alive, and to give the Ling Yuan family's elders a report, it's beneficial for the future—for when he does emerge from the Leng Bing Realm.
"The numbers here should be enough."
*Pah!* at the snap of Long Hua's fingers, the sub-arrays' rotation increases in speed, and with each rotation completed—
"Ahh!!!"
"Uh…!!!"
The more withered the practitioners trapped on them became in appearance—for with every rotation completed, the more life energy that is being forcefully drawn from their bodies.
"…"
As the imprisoned practitioners' life energy gathers in front of Long Hua in the form of a green energy mass—
"Devourer."
Summoning a phantom maw—directly above his head, Long Hua has it suck in the gathered mass of life energy.
And in the same instance, Long Hua opens the evolution interface, to which—
"Figured as much."
All four of his basic attribute abilities have leaped from level three to level four without showing any signs of stopping just yet.
As withered bodies of practitioners fell from the air, and were turned into dust amidst the freefall, the weapon spirits' reactions varied wildly.
"This is a deity?"
"Is this not a devil?"
"This is an evil god, right?"
At this point, it doesn't take too much effort to figure out that what is being conducted is a sacrificial ritual.
"The deity's destructive side."
"Indeed."
For the villagers of the Serpent Deity Village—who have been taught from the very beginning that Lord Tian She Zi is a deity with conflicting attributes, they are much more accepting of this vile sight.
However, for Hui Sang and Xu Tian Kun—
(This is that bastard's true nature…)
(Vicious and selfish…)
...…
Having found Qing Yue—who had passed out, Hong Xuan and Xun Yu look upon the sight with different emotions.
"…Xun Yu, you certain about worshipping this deity?"
"Un."
Towards Hong Xuan's question, Xun Yu gives a simply nod.
...…
"…"
Clenching his right hand, Long Hua draws in a deep breath of air.
The current strength of his physical body, it's probably akin to a Nascent Soul realm practitioner.
In other words—
(Even if I don't possess a cultivation base that is equal to the Nascent Soul realm, I can still contend against someone of that strength. Within the Leng Bing Realm, this might actually work out better.)
Glancing at his four basic attributes, Long Hua sees that they have all reached level seven.
...…
Receiving news of Xia Lie Yang's death from Xia Chen Hai, all the elders of the Ling Yuan family rushed to the temple.
Entering the temple's interior, and seeing injured members of the various bloodline branches emerging from dark rifts, Qing Wufeng shouts—
"What the hell happened?!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Stepping into the temple after Qing Wufeng are Su Qian Mang, Lin Jing Yun, and Hou Xu Heng.
"Th-That deity, h-he performed a sacrificial ritual using the others and Elder Lie Yang!"
Towards this answer, the four elders all sucked in a breath of cold air.
"A matter like this cannot just be ignored! That deity, if he really is a foreign realm deity, there's a need to report this directly to the Immortal Emperor!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Hearing Hou Xu Heng's words, the other three elders were quick to raise a frown.
"Report to the Immortal Emperor?"
Similarly, the elders that had just arrived reacted in the same manner, as one of them shouts—
"Elder Xu Heng, have you gone insane?!"
"No, that mustn't happen! This entire matter must be kept quiet!"
"If the Immortal Emperor knows about this, they'll use this as an excuse to take control of the Leng Bing Realm!"
"…"
Realizing his words to be a mistake, Hou Xu Heng stomps his foot onto the ground with an expression of frustration.
Taking a step forward, Su Qian Mang states—
"So long as we're able to deal with this matter ourselves, there's no need to inform the Immortal Emperor."
In response to this—
"Let me head in!"
"Are you stupid? Elder Lie Yang was at the Heaven Immortal stage, what's an Earth Immortal like you going to do?"
"Then you do it!"
As arguments break out here and there, Su Qian Mang frowns. However, an idea quickly appears on his mind.
Stepping to the forefront, and turning to the others—
"Silence!"
"…!"
"…!"
Forcefully ending the ongoing arguments, Su Qian Mang had imbued his Quasi-Heaven Manifestation realm cultivation base into this shout.
Drawing in a deep breath of air, Su Qian Mang states—
"Regardless of how powerful that deity is, he cannot hope to fight against all of us at once. Right now, he's nothing more than a prisoner inside of the Leng Bing Realm."
Stepping forward, Qing Wufeng asks—
"Elder Qian Mang, you mean to say…?"
"When the necropolis opens, that deity will surely take that opportunity to escape from the Leng Bing Realm. We can simply wait to kill him then."
Heaving a sigh, Lin Jing Yun asks—
"And until then, we're just going to sit back, and let him do whatever the hell he wants in the Leng Bing Realm?"
"…"
"…"
Silence looms in the air in response to this question.
Eventually, Hou Xu Heng suggests—
"How about we send a few clansmen into the Leng Bing Realm as observers—just have them keep an eye on the situation? And if there's any major movements, they can let us know—to prepare in advance."
Towards this suggestion, Lin Jing Yun replies—
"Sending some observers in is fine, but when you speak of making preparations in advance… Sending any more large forces in at this point…"
"…"
"…"
Following Lin Jing Yun's eyes, the other elders' expressions darkened.
Of the 5,000-odd practitioners that had entered the Leng Bing Realm this time, less than 1,000 of them had made it back alive.
That means to say, more than 4,000 practitioners of the Ling Yuan family had either been killed or sacrificed.