A row of Ye clan members hung in the air, suspended by Yun Xiao's governing sword. Their tongues had been severed completely, and their dantian—a source of their cultivation power—had been destroyed. Their faces were pale with grief, shock etched into every expression.
As they saw Yun Xiao and the other revered swordsmen, Ye Tiance, Yao Manxue, and others, tears streamed down their faces as they pointed at Yun Xiao in furious hatred. Each person dangled lifelessly, suspended in the air. The sight left onlookers—the sword cultivators—stunned, their scalps tingling with horror.
"The entire Ye clan, completely destroyed!" gasped someone in the crowd, their exclamations echoing again and again. People exchanged troubled looks, watching the three great sword masters and their Divine Sea Realm clansmen, who had once been so fearsome, now reduced to misery and rage.
"These three sword masters came here with threats, intending to shame the Sword Pavilion and its leader."
"But in the end, Yun Xiao didn't spare them—why would he allow anyone to disgrace others?"
"The first sword master came to shame others but ended up bleeding from his own head…"
The Sword Pavilion's Shangguan Yu and others watched, their faces lit with wild joy.
Their anger had been dispelled. A new dawn had arrived.
They marveled at Yun Xiao's ruthless decisiveness.
"I knew he had something up his sleeve, but to use it so boldly?" someone remarked. "This young man really is ruthless."
A woman in a black dress bit her red lip lightly, her gaze both reproachful and amused. Yun Xiao's actions had surprised her, leaving her anxious yet intrigued.
"Do not act rashly!" Yun Xiao commanded, flinging a row of bodies aside as if they were nothing. No one dared make a move, whether they were opening palace gates or raising weapons. They stood frozen, their eyes fixed on Ye Tiance.
Ye Tiance's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth all bled as he trembled with repressed fury. "Yun Xiao!" he hissed through clenched teeth, his voice seething with rage.
This was the most furious he had ever been—yet also the most helpless, unable to do anything but stand there in impotent anger. Yao Manxue, Zhang Jian, Liu Xuan, and others could only stare, stunned.
"Ye Tiance," Yun Xiao said coldly, "tell me, if the men of your clan are all eunuchs, how will this once-great Ye family continue for generations? Do you really think you can intimidate anyone now?"
Ye Tiance spat bitterly, "You are merciless."
He looked down and saw his own son, as well as his father, with a bloodstain below their dantian. A surge of black blood filled his mouth, thick and nauseating, but he swallowed it, unable to spit it out. His fury was consuming him from within, as though he'd been poisoned.
"All castrated?" someone whispered in shock. "This boy… he really went that far!"
"In three years, the ghosts of Sword Pavilion will find peace at last, thanks to him," murmured another bystander.
Some wept openly at the sight. For them, it was both justice and a release of long-held resentment.
From within the crowd, the remaining Divine Sea Realm sword cultivators of the Ye clan rallied around Ye Tiance, their eyes bloodshot with fury.
"You're courting death!" they shouted, and with a flurry of movement, several swords flew toward Yun Xiao, even disregarding the safety of their own clansmen in their rage.
"A sneak attack?" Yun Xiao sneered, shifting his governing sword to his palm. With a sudden motion, his three-foot azure blade unleashed a powerful strike, scattering twenty-two Sword Gangs in an instant.
Suddenly, with a single strike, Yun Xiao's sword shattered eight incoming flying swords, causing them to explode midair. After utterly destroying these weapons, Yun Xiao skillfully maneuvered his governing sword, stepping on the remnants, and continued to raise a disabled Ye clansman into the air.
Those who had attempted a sneak attack were thrown into disarray. Their Sword Souls shattered, their physical forms destabilized, and with eyes rolling back and foaming at the mouth, they fell to the ground, convulsing. Eight Divine Sea Realm Ye clan members were left incapacitated, barely distinguishable from the dead.
"Amazing!" gasped the crowd. "How did this young man, with such a low cultivation level, achieve this?"
"Has his Sword Soul reached an unimaginable level?"
"Yet, the rank of one's Sword Soul isn't closely tied to one's cultivation stage," murmured others, filled with doubt.
"You will die a terrible death!" snarled Ye Tiance, watching with fury as his eight Divine Sea Realm clansmen were defeated.
"Are you getting anxious now? We're not done yet!" Yun Xiao's words sent a chill through the hundreds of sword cultivators facing him, their hearts sinking.
There was more to come. They were on the verge of breaking down.
"I heard you planned to make Ye Guying's name shine across the world?" Yun Xiao taunted, arching an eyebrow.
Ye Tiance's eyes twitched. "You…"
"Look around," Yun Xiao replied, gesturing behind them.
Suddenly, from the first, third, sixth, and seventh Sword Peaks, beams of Sword Souls shot into the sky. Blue lights sparkled across the heavens, like stars illuminating the vast night sky, visible to all.
Ye Tiance had intended for this moment to be a grand celebration for his sect. Instead, he stood disgraced, his face dark with shame and anger.
"It's almost a mockery for Sword Souls to be revealed now," whispered someone in the crowd. "Such humiliation…"
"Wait! Look closely!" someone shouted, drawing everyone's gaze upward.
The characters glowing in the sky didn't spell out "Ye Guying," as intended, but rather read: "Cheap Dog Ye Guying!"
The words "Cheap Dog" glowed from the direction of the first Sword Peak, clear enough for all to see.
"This isn't a tribute but a disgrace…"
The phrase lingered in the sky, shining brightly.
At last, disciples from the first Sword Peak noticed the error and removed the words, but the "Cheap Dog Ye" remained visible.
"It was a disciple from the first Sword Peak who left those words!"
Everyone looked at each other in shock, turning toward Ye Tiance. He was furious, his fists clenched tightly, veins bulging, his face turning purple with anger.
"It seems not everyone in Blue Soul bows to Ye Tiance!" shouted Zhao Xuanran from within the crowd, her voice booming in the night air.
"You have brought shame upon yourself, Ye Tiance," she continued, pointing at him. "You used deceit and cruelty to lead others astray, trampling on morality and honor. You do not deserve to be a leader among sword cultivators, and your Ye family will never command the respect of the Blue Soul Clan!"
Ye Tiance's followers bowed their heads in shame, others exchanging uneasy looks. Some among the second, fourth, and fifth Sword Peaks hesitated, glancing at each other in confusion and embarrassment.
"For three years, we've lived under his tyranny, forced to compromise our principles," whispered one disciple. "Our generation of sword cultivators, brought so low—it's a disgrace!"
They trembled, eyes filled with helplessness.
"Yun Xiao!" shouted Ye Tiance, his anger breaking into a twisted smile. "Very well! Tonight, I'll let you savour your victory, boy. Enjoy it while it lasts. But when Ye Guying returns, we will settle this once and for all."
Yao Manxue and Zhang Jian sneered. "Let him celebrate now. Soon he'll be judged by Ye Guying himself," Zhang Jian scoffed.
Today had ended in defeat for them, but they clung to the hope that Ye Guying would return to take control.
"Fall back!" ordered Ye Tiance, face dark and bruised from swallowed rage, reluctantly calling his forces to retreat.
"Did I say you could leave?" Yun Xiao's voice cut through the night, cold as ice.
Ye Tiance turned back, seething. "What else do you want?"
Yun Xiao pointed at the over a hundred cauldrons. "Take these, divide them in four, and dump them on the ancestral halls of the first, third, sixth, and seventh Sword Peaks. The ancestors need to see the disgrace brought upon them."
The audacity of his words made Zhao's Senior Sister shiver.
"How dare you!" roared Zhang Jian, his face twisting with anger. "You go too far!"
"Do I?" Yun Xiao replied. "It's your group that has disgraced your own ancestors!"
"Yun Xiao, don't push your luck," Zhang Jian yelled, his voice trembling with fury.
"Is that your father?" Yun Xiao glanced at Zhang Jian, lifting his sword and, without hesitation, cut down Zhang Jian's father, kicking the head back toward Zhang Jian. "Apologize to him."
Everyone gasped, holding their breath in horror.
"Father!" Zhang Jian cried, clutching his father's body, overcome with rage and despair.
"Do you dare—?" Yao Manxue started, but before she could finish, Yun Xiao's sword flashed again, sending her parents' heads flying toward her.
"Father! Mother!" Yao Manxue staggered back, her face pale and eyes bloodshot.
"Such ruthlessness!" someone murmured in awe.
"A true ruthless one, one who dares to defy the despicable!" shouted a disciple, his eyes blazing with fervor.
With that, Yun Xiao shook his hand, tightening his hold on the terrified Ye clansmen, who stared at Ye Tiance, begging for mercy.
"You want to leave? If I see you hesitate, I will kill one of your men for each second you delay!" he warned.
Ye Tiance's face turned pitch black with anger and shame.
Yun Xiao swung his sword, severing several bodies and sending them hurtling toward Ye Tiance. The remaining prisoners wailed, pleading for mercy.
At that moment, Ye Tiance could no longer hold his composure. Blood surged to his throat, spilling from his mouth as he choked on his own fury, forced to watch the devastation of his clan.
"Good," he muttered bitterly. "Zhao Jianxing was maddened by rage, but Ye Tiance has been driven to insanity!"
The Divine Sea Realm sword cultivators looked between Ye Tiance and Yun Xiao, deeply shaken.
"Ye Tiance," Yun Xiao said with a smile, "consider yourself lucky. I will allow you to retreat, but remember: your clan owes its survival to me."
Ye Tiance clenched his teeth in humiliation, but he could do nothing but comply.
Yun Xiao watched them go, a hint of satisfaction in his gaze as they retreated in disgrace, with Zhang Jian at the lead, barely able to stand under the weight of their shame.
Buzz!
At that moment, over a thousand Divine Sea sword cultivators, compelled by Yun Xiao, had no choice but to follow Sword Pavilion towards the seventh Jianfeng peak.
"Senior Sister Zhao, I must watch this show. Care to join me?" Yun Xiao stood in the night wind, smiling at the woman in the black dress.
"Sure!"
Under the moonlight, Senior Sister Zhao seemed momentarily stunned, then quickly nodded, her beautiful eyes filled with warmth. She needed to see this with her own eyes to finally let go of her anger.
"Let's watch together," Grandpa Qin said cheerfully, though there were tears in his eyes.
"Grandpa, you can't see."
"Even if I can't see, just hearing this bunch of despicable people cry out is satisfying enough!" Grandpa Qin replied.
"Absolutely!"
Yun Xiao continued leading a group of captives.
They followed him!
Flying with sword cultivators by his side, it didn't take long before they arrived at the seventh Jianfeng's ancestral hall.
This ancestral hall was dedicated only to the Zhang clan, not the entire seventh Jianfeng, so most of the seventh Jianfeng elders were somewhat relieved…
"No! Yun Xiao, can't we discuss this?" Upon arrival, Zhang Jian's voice broke into sobs.
The dignified seventh sword leader quickly knelt down before Yun Xiao.
But Yun Xiao only tightened the chains around each Ye clansman's neck. Whoever dared to move recklessly would be strangled on the spot!
Who dared to act recklessly now?
"You reap what you sow. I, Yun Xiao, don't harm others first, but if you oppress me, I'll retaliate tenfold. Don't blame me if your ancestors' graves start smoking!"
Yun Xiao's cold eyes swept over the crowd handling the cauldrons.
"Oh!"
"No! No…"
Zhang Jian rushed forward to shield the ancestral hall.
A moment ago, he had been arrogant and sneering, but now!
"Pour it over his head!" Yun Xiao extended a hand, causing the captives to turn pale and start sobbing.
"Oh!" Ye Tiance groaned in anguish.
The great cauldron lids clanged open, and foul blood, decaying corpses, and monster excrement cascaded like a waterfall, covering the nearby peaks, the stench filling the sky.
"–!"
Zhang Jian collapsed in the filth.
"Generations…"
He crawled forward, seeing what was once a glorious hall now stained black and reeking.
Zhang Jian immediately burst into tears!
"Hurry up; next!" Yun Xiao shouted coldly.
Next was the sixth Jianfeng!
"Endure it for now. In three days, I'll make sure Sword Pavilion never recovers!" Ye Tiance's voice was as menacing as a demon's.
"Yes! Once I take care of this Yun Xiao, Sword Pavilion will be obliterated!" Yao Manxue's face twisted in anger, her family slaughtered today, and now her clan's ancestral hall befouled.
Following was the first Jianfeng!
By the time Ye Tiance arrived at his own ancestral hall, bodies lay everywhere.
These were all his clan's supporters – all dead!
The influence of the first Jianfeng had plummeted. In fact, after this massacre, the remaining sword cultivators hardly supported Ye Tiance anymore!
Crash!
Thirty cauldrons of blood, rotting corpses, and monster filth poured down.
The stench filled Ye Tiance's ancestral hall!
Ye Tiance thought he could bear it.
But as the once "Hall of Loyalty and Valor" now stank and became a filthy place, he couldn't hold back.
"Ah–!"
Ye Tiance dropped to his knees.
"Ancestors, I am guilty! Within three days, if I don't destroy Sword Pavilion and wipe out Yun Xiao, I will bring my own head before you!"
He knelt in the filth, blood and dirt mixing, growling through clenched teeth!
"Yun Xiao! Now release my people!" Ye Tiance turned, his voice ice-cold.
"Release them? Did I ever say I'd release them?" Yun Xiao turned to Senior Sister Zhao.
"I didn't hear that," Senior Sister Zhao smirked.
This was just like when Ye Tiance had secretly opened the sword-sealing formation – now Yun Xiao was paying him back in kind!
He looked at Ye Tiance and sneered, "You were too naive. I'll keep these captives with me – whether I'm eating, sleeping, training, or spending time with girls, they'll be by my side. If you so much as lay a finger on anyone from Sword Pavilion, I'll ensure your entire Ye clan is wiped out!"