Lu Qingshan smiled. It was a bloodthirsty smile.

  “Kill!” roared the gate guard at the front. They unsheathed their weapons, but before they could finish doing that, Lu Qingshan was already on their walls. His first move blew open the head of the one who shouted.

  “Kill,” he roared as well. Every enemy martial artist standing close to him was stunned by the roar. The next moment, they were all killed with a single swipe to their chest. It didn’t even take two breaths for the sect’s walls to fail.

  But the battle had only just begun. In the distance, smoke signals from every part of the sect rose into the sky. A mass of martial artists were flooding in their direction to defend their homes.

  Lu Qingshan gazed down at them with sorrow. Even though they hadn’t turned on each other, the same bloodlust as the ones in the city had appeared on each of these martial artists as well. Like ants, they recklessly rushed towards him, with no regard for their own lives after he had slaughtered the guards with ease.

  Since they wanted to court death, Lu Qingshan would oblige them. He disappeared from the top of the walls and slammed into the crowd the next instant. Blood splattered everywhere. His physical body alone was more than enough to pulverize them. There wasn't an ounce of martial dignity in this massacre — soon, half the crowd had disappeared into mist.

  Lu Qingshan was disturbed to discover the crowd mostly consisted of Flesh Tempering experts and the occasional martial artist who hadn't even entered the first stage of Mortal Shedding. There were only a few Bone Tempering martial artists, and even they couldn't withstand his fleshly body. These people were many levels below an expected average disciple of a large sect. Instead, they were guests, likely to come trade or rest, but would never be included in the Blade Shadow Valley's ranks.

  He simply roared, and the rest of them died on the spot. Lu Qingshan was almost stunned by the turn of events. Each of them must've had a mutated Green Heart Worm inside them. Just his Tiger Roar was enough to shock them to death.

  The real disciples were staying in the temple. Lu Qingshan had kept the Marrow Tempering stage Bloodseeker Flies with him, since their combat power and low numbers made them more useful in battle than the other flies. They discovered each place the disciples were hiding and the experts guarding them.

  Behind him, the rest of the sect caught up, staring down at the corpses with some horror in their eyes. The Blade Shadow Valley had become so wanton as to feed everyone residing on their lands with the worms. How many martial artists in the city were infected?

  "This has to be a recent ploy," Lu Qingshan said, trying to ease their worries. "Their sect can make secret medicines, but they usually don't spread them everywhere. Most of us should be fine, especially since we have tighter control over our own bodies with our higher realms."

  "I hope you're right, sect master," Miao Mei said with a grimace. She was the one who took it the hardest.

  Lu Qingshan ignored the corpses and continued onwards. None of the Blade Shadow Valley's disciples — outer, inner, or core — stood a chance against him. They had to bring out their Elders for any ounce of hope.

  And they did come. The first group that greeted Lu Qingshan's group was a large arrangement of dozens of Marrow Tempering martial artists. They consisted mostly of older men, and Lu Qingshan knew they were what the sect considered as discarded waste with no hope of reaching any higher.

  "Stand down," one of them said. "Or we will be forced to slay you, demon."

  "Hypocrite," Lu Qingshan muttered. "Blind fools." He didn't say anything else but charged forward. Seven steps cracked the earth and wrought ruin on the temple's floor. The man who spoke had his head launched into the sky.

  Spears, staffs, sabers, and swords were the most common weapons aimed towards his body. None of them cracked his skin, though some came close. But he repaired the surface wound in a single breath and sent the attacker flying. Behind him, Lu Qingshan was reinforced by his sect, who picked off any stragglers he sent their way.

  It was becoming clear that no number of Marrow Tempering martial artists was enough to stop Lu Qingshan's march. The few survivors who lingered in the back managed to get away. At least they thought they did — as they ascended the temple steps, a man emerged from the doorway. The sword in his hands pierced their throats, and then it hummed.

  "Shameless cowards," he spat. The blade still looked spotless.

  Lu Qingshan recognized a special weapon when he saw one. But how powerful was the thing compared to Qin Ye's flying sword? He readied himself for a fight, because he didn't recognize the man's face. To send him here with something like that meant one thing: the man was an Innate realm expert.

  A sword ray almost took his head clean off. But Lu Qingshan sidestepped the cut without losing even a lock of hair. His practice spar with Marquis Zhou had given him the necessary experience to battle an Innate realm expert.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "You're the only coward I see," Lu Qingshan taunted. "Fighting someone below your level while staying at range? Pathetic is all you'll ever be." He dodged another sword ray, and another, then slowly began making his way towards the man.

  In frustration, the Innate realm expert was forced to approach him as well. Lu Qingshan was barely able to dodge by enhancing his speed with brief bursts of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique. He couldn't go all out just yet — it wasn't the time.

  From the temple's doors came another large group of martial experts, with recognizable faces in the crowd. They were the true core disciples of the sect, along with real Elders at the level of Viscera Tempering. Outnumbering Lu Qingshan's own group many times, these martial artists thought it would be an easy victory. They were wrong.

  Forty nine cracks appeared in the pavilion's floor. Two weaker Viscera Tempering experts immediately found themselves with a hole in their chest. Lu Qingshan had torn out their hearts in that one brief moment, only to return to his battle with the Innate realm expert the next. Their deaths were so sudden that nobody had time to react.

  The enemy's morale instantly dropped. Liu Yingting's poisons made it worse. A toxic, pitch-black cloud of gas enveloped the Blade Shadow Valley's reinforcements, choking them while their compatriots silently fell to the floor. Some of the martial artists stumbled around and tripped over their dead bodies.

  Lu Qingshan focused back on his battle. The Innate realm sword expert he was facing was starting to adapt to his brief uses of the Seven Steps Technique. The proof of this was a deep cut along Lu Qingshan's side, almost reaching bone even though the sword had only grazed him. Even now, the wound stung, and it wasn't healing.

  And to make matters worse, another man was stepping out from the temple doors. "Need help?" he asked with a cocky smile, leering down at them. Two Innate realm experts at the same time was a bit more than what he could currently fight.

  As Lu Qingshan prepared to unleash the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique's full circulation, he escaped another series of cuts with many wounds all over his body. There was no time left to think. But then a whisper came from the black gas behind him. In the man's rush to finish him off, he found himself unprepared for the sword strike that emerged.

  Qin Ye held the beautiful red flying sword in his hands. The blade entered the Innate realm expert's body with ease. He twisted the weapon, and they were set aflame.

  Their horrific scream was drowned out by Lu Qingshan's palm. In one swift motion, he shattered the man's ribs, almost tearing the Green Heart Worm out from the wound.

  "Enough," a deep voice said darkly. A sudden change fell over the battlefield. All the martial artists from the Blade Shadow Valley coughed out blood. They soon collapsed to the floor, clutching their chests.

  "Worthless ants," Liu Wanli muttered. He waved his hands, and the Green Heart Worms poked their heads out from dissolved abdomens. "I have no use for you anymore."

  Lu Qingshan finally felt a tinge of dread. His eyes wandered over to Liu Yingting and Feng Ranran, the two who had taken the Black Blood Pills made from Liu Wanli's mutated Green Heart Worms. Fortunately, they were fine. But Liu Yingting's shaking hands and furious eyes made him worry he was about to do something very reckless.

  A gust of wind instantly blew the dark gas away. Liu Wanli’s mastery over his spells was on another level compared to the previous demonic cultivators he faced, but it hadn’t yet matched the Qi Refinement cultivators who fought inside the mountain forest range. Liu Wanli had not yet achieved Qi Refinement, and was likely just a Mystic Membrane stage cultivator.

  Seven bright colors sprang from the box in Liu Wanli’s hand when he saw who emerged from the smoke. Lu Qingshan recognized what it was. A wisp of true qi — used for a peak Embryonic Breathing cultivator to transition into the Qi Refinement stage.

  “Liu Yingting,” the man said in a low voice. “You’re still alive.”

  “…”

  “I thought all of you were dead.” There was resentment in Liu Wanli’s tone. “Come to avenge your family? With just this rabble?”

  Lu Qingshan scanned the city for any signs of other immortal cultivators. The only glimmer of hope was that there were none.

  “You are dead,” Liu Yingting howled. He couldn’t take it anymore. “I will break your bones, flay your tendons, and skin you alive!”

  “As if you could,” Liu Wanli scoffed. “Fool who does not know the immensity of heaven and earth. The difference between you and I is like the difference between a human and an ant.”

  “All of you are no different,” he continued, sweeping his mocking gaze over each of their figures. “Worthless mortals. I don’t know why my master keeps me from slaughtering ants like you.”

  “You have a master? He won’t be happy about this,” Lu Qingshan said. “Master for a day, father for life.”

  “You’re wrong. My master would only be happy with my decision. There’s nothing stopping me.” Liu Wanli smiled. “Besides, he’s no longer here to control me. I make my own choices now.”

  “Did you just say your master’s not here?” Lu Qingshan’s eyes turned bright. Liu Wanli’s expression darkened. But it was too late for regret.

  A horrific pain shot through Lu Qingshan’s body. Forty nine steps broke through the earth and a fist too fast to see came crashing into Liu Wanli’s body. In an instant, he tore through a shallow black membrane and pulverized his heart.

  Blood gurgled down his throat as he stared wide-eyed. He choked out a sound, only to witness a second hand tear his head off. A low chant that sounded like insect chirps prevented the Green Heart Worms from fleeing. Then the head was crushed into paste, and the bits and pieces fell to the ground.

  Lu Qingshan landed on the floor with the true qi jade box in hand and turned his gaze onto the sect’s disciples. “If you want to kill, just kill. No need for all that talk. Arrogance only gets you killed.”

  To not lose all face after that provocative statement, Lu Qingshan did another scan throughout the city. There were still no signs of immortal cultivators coming his way. His flies all remained in place without making frantic movements.

  “Let’s go collect our spoils,” he said to the still awestruck sect members. His body hurt. Though it was much better than the first time he unleashed the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique in full. At least he wasn’t bleeding from his eyes. But he needed medicine fast.