On the other side, Huang Shang was forcefully devouring the Soul Body of an Initial True God.
Another Initial True God had already sat inside his flying artifact and was fleeing rapidly into the distant void, when suddenly a dazzling golden light appeared before him. Then he saw a golden fist continuously enlarging. With a loud *Dang!*, it directly smashed his flying artifact, sending it flying backward.
'With me here, you can't escape.'
Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm and Hu Miao appeared simultaneously, blocking the path of this Initial True God.
Seeing someone blocking his way, the Initial True God couldn't help but be greatly startled. But when he clearly perceived the energy auras of Hu Miao and Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm, he couldn't hold back his fury.
'Those who stand in my way shall die!'
He roared angrily, wanting to force Hu Miao and Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm aside.
But at that moment, a resplendent sword beam had already slashed toward his back.
'No good!'
The Initial True God was frightened out of his wits. Two True God-level artifacts shot out from within his body, simultaneously activating to block the sword beam behind him.
With two loud *Dang!* sounds, the two artifacts were directly sliced in half.
Then an utterly terrifying sword Dao energy enveloped the Initial True God, suppressing him there, unable to move.
If it weren't to preserve the body of this Initial True God, this sword beam would have already hacked him into countless pieces.
The next moment, Ye Yunfei and Huang Shang arrived simultaneously.
'It's over!'
The Initial True God immediately revealed a look of despair. Earlier, so many True Gods, along with two Intermediate True Gods, had not been a match. Now, he was the only one surrounded here. He understood that no matter what, he couldn't escape calamity.
Soon, the Soul Body of this Initial True God was shared between Ye Yunfei and Huang Shang, and his corpse was also collected by Huang Shang and placed into a dark and gloomy Corpse Bag.
By now, all the True Gods around the Guqing World Cluster had been eliminated, with not a single one managing to escape. However, a large number of the other members from the Guardian Faction and Yin Corpse Hall had seized the opportunity to flee.
Another portion had been casually eliminated by Ye Yunfei, Huang Shang, and Hu Miao during the course of the battle.
After the battle concluded, Ye Yunfei took out the Jade Ruyi and activated it to conceal his aura, then quietly departed.
'Excellent! All the corpses left behind by those fellows belong to me now!'
Inside the Illusionary Shadow Pagoda, Huang Shang began taking inventory of the spoils obtained from this battle.
The items left behind by the Yin Corpse Hall masters had almost all fallen into his hands, especially those Corpse Path-type artifacts and a large batch of refined corpses.
'These already-refined corpses are all incredibly tough and possess formidable combat power. As long as I obtain enough corpses, I can form a Corpse Army. When we get the chance, we should continue to target those Yin Corpse Hall fellows to snatch more corpses,' Huang Shang said.
'I think the most important task is to eradicate Yin Corpse Hall. Otherwise, in order to collect corpse sources, this faction will definitely massacre more worlds in the future,' Ye Yunfei stated.
'Yes, corpses are the most vital cultivation resources and strategic resources for those Yin Corpse Hall fellows. The more corpses they collect, the stronger their overall power becomes. So, they will definitely keep collecting more corpses incessantly,' Huang Shang nodded. Having cultivated Corpse Path techniques, he knew how important corpses were to Yin Corpse Hall.
Soon, the events that had transpired outside the Guqing World Cluster were relayed back to the headquarters of Yin Corpse Hall and the Guardian Faction.
'How is this possible? A fellow who cultivated Corpse Path techniques actually took action against our Yin Corpse Hall? Who exactly is that guy?' After receiving the news, several core elders of Yin Corpse Hall were filled with suspicion and disbelief.
'Could there be a traitor within our Yin Corpse Hall?' one of the core elders guessed.
'Apart from Corpse Path techniques, that fellow also seems to have cultivated Ghost Path techniques!' A middle-aged man standing nearby spoke up. This man exuded a dense corpse aura, his face pale as paper, as if he never saw the sunlight.
'Cultivating both Corpse Path and Ghost Path... are there such experts in the Sixth Void? Immediately send people to investigate this matter. We must get to the bottom of that fellow's identity!' another core elder of Yin Corpse Hall commanded.
'The number of True Gods our Guardian Faction has lost in the Guqing World Cluster has exceeded ten, including three Intermediate True Gods! Who would have thought a mere Guqing World Cluster could inflict such heavy losses on our Guardian Faction!' At the same time, in an opulent palace within the Guardian Faction headquarters, a high-level member roared angrily.
In this palace, every high-level member of the Guardian Faction looked furious. Because during this period, the Guardian Faction had lost many True Gods, causing internal unease and panic.
Especially those Initial and Intermediate True Gods, most of whom now hid in their cultivation caves, not daring to venture out easily. Everyone suspected there was surely some faction or expert specifically targeting the Guardian Faction.
The core elders of the Guardian Faction also felt a headache. They understood if things continued this way, the morale of the Guardian Faction's members would plummet, and cohesion would disintegrate.
'Let's do this: send a Heavenly God to the Guqing World Cluster to confront that legendary ancient sword expert. Also, thoroughly investigate exactly who acted outside the Guqing World Cluster. Ascertain their identities, then take action to show everyone in the entire Sixth Void the consequences of provoking our Guardian Faction,' an old man sitting cross-legged in the center of the palace slowly spoke.
This old man was the supreme leader of the Sixth Void branch of the Guardian Faction, known as the Prison Master.
'Old Wizard, you follow up on this matter. During this period, our Guardian Faction has lost quite a few True Gods. There must be something strange going on. Perhaps some faction or expert is specifically targeting our Guardian Faction. It's highly likely to be that fellow you deduced earlier,' the old man looked towards a Wizard in a broad robe beside him and spoke.
'Prison Master, rest assured. I have been continually deducing that fellow's whereabouts, and I have already made some progress. I believe I will soon be able to lock onto him and confirm his identity and origins,' the old Wizard nodded and replied.
'Relay my order. From now on, accelerate the process of conquering this Sixth Void. Any faction, family, or World Cluster that our Guardian Faction approaches, if they dare to resist, wipe them out,' the old man swept his gaze around the hall, then said clearly.
'Prison Master, are we really going to take action now?' Hearing the old man's words, the other high-level Guardian Faction members in the hall perked up. A senior True God couldn't help but ask.
'Correct. We can officially begin action now. This is an order from Headquarters. Everyone, rest assured, Headquarters is our backing. If necessary, Headquarters will send reinforcements to our Sixth Void at any time. In short, our Guardian Faction will definitely dominate the Sixth Void. Not only the Sixth Void, soon, all eight Void Fragments of the Chaos Void Sea will become our Guardian Faction's true domain. Headquarters has declared that our Guardian Faction will be the sole power across the eight Void Fragments in the future. All other factions have no reason to exist,' the Prison Master raised his voice passionately.
Everyone in the hall was energized. They all understood that once the Guardian Faction truly ruled the Sixth Void, the high-level members in this palace would become the people with the greatest power in the Sixth Void. They would wield absolute power and could allocate and use all cultivation resources within the entire Void at will. How glorious that would be.
'Also, my true body will soon return to the Sixth Void to lead all of you in dominating this Void Sea. Everyone must work hard. After all, the Sixth Void will belong to us,' the Prison Master continued.
'Prison Master, please rest assured. We will definitely work hard,' in their excitement, all other Guardian Faction high-level members in the hall shouted out loudly, each fantasizing about the bright prospects of ruling the Sixth Void.
'Ah, Prison Master, the support personnel prepared to be sent to the Eighth Void have been selected and can depart at any time,' a senior True God spoke up.
'Proceed according to the plan,' the Prison Master nodded, then slowly closed his eyes, beginning to rest in silence.
The other Guardian Faction high-level members in the hall, seeing this, wisely withdrew one after another.
The Prison Master before them was not his true body, but a rather weak Soul Clone. Normally, he stayed in this palace with his eyes closed, preserving energy. Usually, if there was nothing important, this Soul Clone wouldn't even speak much.
Soon after, a gray-robed middle-aged man walked step by step to the outskirts of the Guqing World Cluster.
'Battles truly happened here before. Moreover, several True Gods from our Guardian Faction perished here.'
This gray-robed middle-aged man stopped at a certain spot outside the Guqing World Cluster, scrutinized for a moment, then slowly spoke. This spot was exactly where Ye Yunfei had previously slain the experts from the Guardian Faction and Yin Corpse Hall.
'This is indeed the place. I need to carefully deduce and see if I can capture that fellow's aura,' a Wizard in a broad robe spoke from behind the gray-robed middle-aged man.
After saying this, the old Wizard sat cross-legged and began performing a secret divination technique for deduction.
One after another, deduction-related runes continuously streamed forth from between his palms, seeping into the surrounding space, beginning to trace the various events that had transpired in this area of space.
'That fellow seems to possess a very sophisticated concealment-type artifact. It seems his origins are not simple. Such a sophisticated concealment-type artifact isn't something a common faction could produce. Could it be that there truly is a powerful faction backing this fellow?' After deducing for a while, the old Wizard frowned and said.
At the same time, the gray-robed middle-aged man had already entered the Guqing World Cluster. After sensing for a moment, he arrived at the previous spatial location of the Sword Shrine, two sharp, dazzling lights shooting out from his eyes.
'Sir, I don't care whether you are a true body or just a remnant soul, or even just a soul power imprint. In this Sixth Void, choosing to oppose our Guardian Faction is not a wise choice,' the gray-robed man said slowly, his gaze fixed on the location of the Sword Shrine.
After saying this, he fell silent, awaiting a response.
However, there was no response from the space ahead.
'Sir, are you planning to hide? That's unnecessary. It's better to come out and meet,' after a while, the gray-robed man sneered and spoke again.
Still, there was no response from the space ahead.
'In that case, I'll have to personally invite you out,' finally, the gray-robed middle-aged man grew somewhat impatient and spoke in a displeased tone.
Saying this, he extended his hand. A very ordinary-looking dagger appeared in his palm.
The gray-robed middle-aged man gently pushed his palm forward. The dagger soared into the air, slowly advancing toward the space ahead.
Initially, the dagger only moved forward slowly, seemingly releasing no energy at all.
But gradually, more and more terrifying rumbling emanated from the dagger, and the surrounding space began shaking gently in rhythm with the dagger's advance. In the end, the entire space of the Guqing World Cluster began shaking violently along with the dagger's rhythm.
One terrifying peal of thunder after another reverberated through every inch of space within every world of this cluster. Visible to the naked eye, wherever the dagger passed, the space ahead began to disintegrate inch by inch, turning into pitch-black, absolute dark space devoid of any energy, laws, or any other things.
'Sir, you can't hide before me. Better come out obediently and meet,' the gray-robed middle-aged man sneered.
Just at that moment, with a loud *Hong!*, a resplendent sword beam suddenly manifested, directly colliding with that dagger. An utterly terrifying impact energy instantly surged outwards in all directions. At that moment, it seemed as if the entire space of the Guqing World Cluster was about to be overturned.
The gray-robed man, feeling the terrifying sword Dao energy contained within that sword beam, couldn't help but startle and retreated several steps.
'I dislike having my quiet cultivation disturbed. Leave while I haven't truly taken action yet.'
A grand voice suddenly rang out, reverberating throughout the entire Guqing World Cluster.