Striking the chain with her sword proved to be a futile endeavor. However, she didn't reach her current cultivation stage out of pure coincidence. As soon as she realized that it was a seal, she immediately tried to undo it by tracking the seal's core... but failed.
Before she could completely decipher the seal, another chain caught her left arm, followed by both ankles. More chains popped, reaching for her arms and thighs, with one even wrapping around her neck. A total of nine jet-black chains!
"To think you would identify it instantly. As expected of Miss Earth Immortal, should I say?"
The old man cackled with a victorious smile, appearing before her like a phantom. "This chain is part of the [Ritual Sealing Technique: Nine Chains of Domination]! It was said that it could even hold a Heaven Immortal. With your level, you can never break free from this!"
Meng Yinuo could feel the chains draining her strength. The old man's words started to gain more credibility as she suffered under the chain's effects.
*CLINK!*
The chains suddenly got pulled taut, extending Meng Yinuo's four limbs wide. A scowl of pain washed across her face for but an instant.
"Kaha! Kahahahaha!" The old man laughed maniacally as if he had lost his mind. "Ah! As the last remaining Sect Leader of the traditional sects, I'm honored to witness your demise, demon!"
An evil grin spread across his face as he moved closer to Meng Yinuo, whispering. "Thanks to you, now the entire cultivation world will be under MY control!"
The black chains weakened Meng Yinuo to the point where she couldn't even mutter a single word anymore. Her eyes were turning heavier, and her breathing started to feel more like a burden. Still, the old man's words caused a flood of memories to flash before her eyes like revolving lanterns.
The warmth and smiles of her sect disciples—things that now only existed in her memory.
Meng Yinuo's sect was a relatively newer one, with her taking over as the sect leader after her master's passing. Despite all that, they quickly rose in ranks, gaining power on par with the six traditional sects. No, they were even more powerful than any one of them at a certain point. It was an achievement worthy of pride.
However, the other sects didn't look upon their rapid rise with approval.
When Yinuo entered seclusion, trying to break through to the Earth Immortal stage, the tragedy happened. The six traditional sects, along with countless smaller sects, joined hands in "purging" Meng Yinuo's Unity Peak Sect.
By the time she finished her seclusion, nothing but ashes remained, not only of their sect but also of their sect members. At that point, while wallowing in despair, she caught wind of the fact that everyone joined hands to denounce their sect as a "demonic" one. This information quickly sent her into a wild frenzy. From then on, she swore revenge against everyone who had a hand in destroying them.
Without rest, Meng Yinuo started piling corpses upon corpses in every sect she visited. Cultivators and non-cultivators, merchants, the old and even the young, she didn't leave anyone alive. It was a literal massacre, a path paved with rivers of blood.
Her rampage continued for a long time, spanning hundreds of years, and when only a tenth of the sects remained, they started the three-decade-long siege, leading to her current predicament.
All the remaining cultivators joined hands to fight her, taking breaks to recover in cycles. Yinuo was literally fighting against the entire world!
After finishing her recollection, the will to continue gradually faded from her heart. Only the irritating grin on the old man's face remained in her blurry vision.
"... No." Meng Yinuo's whisper was low but clear. "I'd never let myself fall this easily!"
*CLANK!* *KRIIIIIIII!*
She curled her limbs, exerting force against the chains holding her. A powerful tug!
The nine chains started to release a threatening sound, as if they were about to buckle from their links. However, although her strength was greater than that of a normal Earth Immortal, it was still not enough to undo her shackles. In the end, she lost momentum and completely lost the ability to do anything.
"Y-You scared me for a moment there. Too bad you don't have much energy left! Hah!" The old man cried as he wiped the cold sweat falling down his cheeks.
He called for a golden scimitar, gripping it tightly in his hand, and pierced it through Meng Yinuo's chest in one motion. "Now, die!"
Yinuo's face didn't change much as the sword pierced through her. All her senses were already numbed, after all. Still, the wound inflicted by the golden scimitar never stopped bleeding, as if it were a curse. Just like that, her life running out was only a matter of time.
The old man pulled the scimitar back, exclaiming in annoyance, "What a tenacious monster!" He then poised the blade, about to chop Yinuo's head off instead.
At that moment, something changed in the surroundings. The air that was cold before started to prickle his skin like needles, and the dark clouds became a level darker. The old man was familiar with what this change represented, causing his face to turn a shade paler rapidly. "YOU BITCH...!"
Meng Yinuo couldn't move anymore. If she could, then she would definitely be raising her middle finger to the old man while cursing him using her entire vocabulary.
"It's a tribulation! Everyone, evacuate from here now!"
The old man was a sect leader, despite being rotten, after all. He knew the dangers of getting dragged into another cultivator's tribulation. The more cultivators present within the practitioner who activated the tribulation, the more violent and powerful it will be.
Among those participating in the current battle against Meng Yinuo, half were members of his sect. If all of them get caught up in it and die, then their sect's losses would be unimaginable! Possibly even dropping them to the weakest rank among the remaining sects instead!
Of course, the tribulation wasn't something that would happen without reason. The one undergoing the tribulation—who called for the Soul-Destroying Lightning Tribulation—was none other than Meng Yinuo herself!
'If I'm dying anyway, then I'll drag all these fuckers along!' That was the only thought in her blurry mind then.
An Earth Immortal's tribulation was on a completely different scale than other stages, covering an entire planet. In short, hiding from it is futile. They could only pray that the lightning wouldn't strike them and disintegrate their souls into nothingness.
The yellowish-white flashing lightning changed, turning a purplish-black color and falling down at random intervals.
*CRACKLE!* *BOOM!*
The lightning flashed, and one of the normal cultivators got hit. His entire body turned to ashes as his soul dissipated, not leaving anything behind.
With that as the opening, more lightning fell. Each strike took dozens of cultivators' lives. The old man panicked, wanting to reorganize their army. However, a lightning bolt fell on top of his head at that moment. Without his life-saving artifact in hand, he would have died then and there!
"Shit! I'm getting out of here!"
He screamed in fright, pulling a teleportation talisman and vanishing instantly. Meng Yinuo sighed upon seeing the last enemy leader run away.
"..."
Calling upon all her remaining energy, she moved her head to stare up at the dark clouds. She could feel that lightning was already brewing right above her.
'Dammit... Just when my revenge was about to finish... I can't even watch how everyone dies anymore.'
Just as she predicted, a lightning bolt fell on top of her head the next moment. Meng Yinuo closed her eyes, accepting her fate... But that wasn't the end; rather, her story was just beginning.