No sooner had the old man finished speaking than his soul body was subjected to a forceful suppression, leaving him no strength to struggle further.
Two thousand seven hundred Soul Power weapons, along with Mind Sword, Mind Reading Art, and the Puppet Soul Thread Secret Art—any single one of these he would have been powerless to resist, let alone all of them attacking simultaneously.
Soon, the old man ceased his struggles. A vast number of puppet soul threads had deeply bored into the interior of his soul body, seizing complete control of it.
Then, the old man stood up, his gaze docile and his expression respectful.
"Master."
The old man respectfully bowed to Ye Yunfei.
"You and all your disciples have betrayed the Sword Realm, haven't you?"
Ye Yunfei asked.
"I report to the Master, both I and all my disciples have betrayed the Sword Realm. In truth, our entire Chihong Sect from the Third Void has already betrayed the Sword Realm. In reality, the Chihong Sect has now become a branch stronghold of the Blade Realm," the old man answered respectfully.
"Just as I thought."
Ye Yunfei's expression turned somewhat grim.
Over these past years, the Sword Realm had painstakingly developed many external sect forces, cultivated numerous heirs, and accumulated strength. This was an extremely difficult endeavor, requiring immense expenditure of energy, time, and effort. And now, it turned out so many of the Sword Realm's heirs had become turncoats—this was a massive blow to the Sword Realm.
"The reason our Sword Realm has so many traitors definitely has to do with the Blade Realm behind it all. In fact, the Blade Realm has never given up their intention to root out every last trace of our Sword Realm. While our Sword Realm secretly developed sect forces, cultivated heirs, and amassed strength, the Blade Realm was constantly engaged in sabotage, continuously hunting down and killing the heirs our Sword Realm had developed externally. They must also be the ones who subverted these Sword Realm heirs," Sword Elder chimed in.
"Just how many people within the Sword Realm now have already betrayed it?"
Ye Yunfei asked the old man again.
"Master, as I know it, of those who have returned to the Sword Realm, at least a third are already traitors to the Sword Realm. Moreover, these Sword Realm traitors have in fact all pledged allegiance to the Blade Realm, serving as pawns inserted into the Sword Realm by the Blade Realm. Their main purpose is to create disruption within the Sword Realm and seek opportunities to assassinate other heirs of the Sword Realm. Quite a few of the heirs who have returned to the Sword Realm during this time have already been secretly killed," the old man said.
"If that's the case, then I must hasten to root out and eliminate every single traitor. Otherwise, more Sword Realm heirs will suffer," Ye Yunfei's face darkened upon hearing this, a thick, dense killing intent leaking from him.
"Correct, we must get rid of those Sword Realm traitors quickly, or our Sword Realm will suffer even greater losses," Sword Elder agreed.
"Take me immediately to see the other Sword Realm traitors. Leave out none of those you know," Ye Yunfei commanded the old man.
"Yes. Master, I understand," the old man said respectfully.
Not long after, guided by the old man, they arrived before another Sovereign God's cultivation grotto.
After entering the Sword Realm, most of these Sovereign God-level Sword Realm heirs chose to go into secluded cultivation, wanting to take advantage of the environment here to advance their sword path cultivation. Even the traitors were the same. Although they had betrayed the Sword Realm, they hadn't abandoned their sword path cultivation. On the contrary, they wanted to elevate their sword path cultivation to an even higher level.
"Master, I must also report another matter. All heirs returning to the Sword Realm are required to engrave the sword path inheritance they cultivate onto jade slips and hand them over to the five stewarding elders. To my knowledge, the sword path inheritances engraved onto these slips will be selectively distributed for cultivation to those traitors who have already betrayed the Sword Realm. The Blade Realm is preparing to cultivate a group of sword cultivators as weapons against the Sword Realm. They even plan for these traitors to take over the Sword Realm in the future, turning it into a branch stronghold and territory of the Blade Realm," the old man suddenly reported again.
In his subconscious, Ye Yunfei's interests represented his own. Therefore, he immediately reported anything he remembered to Ye Yunfei without reservation.
"The Blade Realm is utterly detestable! They aim to sever the last hope for our Sword Realm's reconstruction entirely!" Sword Elder exclaimed through gritted teeth, enraged upon hearing this.
"Let's go in and meet this guy."
Ye Yunfei looked at the cultivation grotto before them and spoke to the old man.
"Brother Ouyang, I have some problems with my cultivation I wish to consult you on," the old man spoke.
"Brother Bai, you jest. Your attainment in the sword path surpasses mine. It should be I seeking guidance from you, Brother Bai. Why have you come to consult me instead? However, since you're here, Brother Bai, please come in and have a seat," a voice sounded from within the grotto, after which the door to the grotto opened.
The old man controlled by Ye Yunfei strode inside. A tall, thin old man was already waiting within the grotto. This old man was also a Second-Grade Godking, and he too had betrayed the Sword Realm, having in fact become part of the Blade Realm.
"I mainly wanted to consult Brother Ouyang on issues concerning the cultivation of the blade path," the old man controlled by Ye Yunfei spoke.
"So that's how it is. It seems Brother Bai has started devoting time and energy to blade techniques. That's a good thing, seeing as we'll both be men of the Blade Realm in the future. However, lately I've still been mainly spending my time on sword techniques. Since this is the Sword Realm, its environment for cultivating the sword is uniquely endowed, perfect for training in swordsmanship," the tall, thin old man spoke.
Yet, just as he finished, his expression abruptly changed dramatically, for Ye Yunfei had, in an instant, unleashed several Soul Power martial techniques and Mind Power techniques, simultaneously assaulting his soul sea and attacking his soul body. The tall, thin old man was completely unprepared for Ye Yunfei's attack, for he and the old man controlled by Ye Yunfei were both traitors to the Sword Realm and belonged to the Blade Realm. He never expected someone would launch an assault on him here.
Moreover, given Ye Yunfei's level of soul power, the various attacks he unleashed were utterly beyond resistance.
"Bai Hua! What's going on? Did you play a trick?" The tall, thin old man roared, glaring furiously at the old man surnamed Bai while desperately mobilizing all his Soul Power energy and Soul Power artifacts to resist Ye Yunfei's terrifying attacks.
Bai Hua did not speak at all, merely standing off to the side with a cold sneer on his face. Before entering, Ye Yunfei had already set up isolation formations outside the grotto, so any commotion inside could not be sensed from the outside.
A Second-Grade Godking simply could not withstand Ye Yunfei's Soul Power attacks. Moments later, the old man surnamed Ouyang gave up struggling, and his gaze began to turn docile.
"My respects, Master."
He quickly stepped forward and saluted Ye Yunfei with the utmost deference. Ye Yunfei briefly questioned him about the various details he knew. The information provided by the old man surnamed Ouyang was largely the same as that given by Bai Hua. Furthermore, through this old man surnamed Ouyang, Ye Yunfei learned about yet more traitors.
The old man surnamed Ouyang hailed from an obscure sect in the Third Void, but in reality, that sect had also been cultivated by the Sword Realm, with most of its members focusing on sword technique cultivation. It's just that now, everyone in that sect had betrayed the Sword Realm, turning it into a branch stronghold of the Blade Realm.
"It appears the Blade Realm's infiltration into our Sword Realm is truly deep," Sword Elder seethed with anger upon learning that another force developed by the Sword Realm had defected to the Blade Realm.
"Indeed. I hadn't realized the Blade Realm's penetration into the Sword Realm had gone this far," Ye Yunfei was also somewhat taken aback. To think that the forces the Sword Realm had so painstakingly fostered and developed externally had been plucked mid-way by the Blade Realm, turning them into forces of the Blade Realm.
In the time that followed, Ye Yunfei had these two Sovereign God slaves continue leading him, finding excuses to visit other Sword Realm heirs who had betrayed the Sword Realm. Moreover, Ye Yunfei first targeted those traitors at the Sovereign God realm. Of course, when encountering Heavenly Gods, he would take the opportunity to control them as well, turning them into his slaves. Using the Puppet Soul Thread Secret Art, the highest cultivation realm Ye Yunfei could control now was Third-Grade Godkings.
As time passed, Ye Yunfei controlled more and more traitors, turning them into his slaves. And the more slaves he controlled, the greater his freedom of movement within this cluster of buildings.
Now, Ye Yunfei knew that the five elders he had met earlier in the palace were called the stewarding elders. They were currently the highest-ranking leaders among these Sword Realm heirs within the Sword Realm. But in fact, among these five stewarding elders, there were already those who had betrayed the Sword Realm.
"Are you certain that Elder Lu has betrayed the Sword Realm and is a Blade Realm spy planted within the Sword Realm?"
Ye Yunfei looked at the dozen or so Sovereign God-level slaves standing before him and asked.
So far, Ye Yunfei had already controlled fifteen Sovereign God-level swordsmen cultivators. These fifteen cultivators were originally trained externally by the Sword Realm, but they had all since betrayed the Sword Realm and were in fact already Blade Realm followers.
"Master, I am certain. Because I came to the Sword Realm following Elder Lu, and Elder Lu himself came on the orders of a Blade Realm elder. Moreover, I once accompanied Elder Lu to the Blade Realm, so I dare confirm that Elder Lu is a traitor," an elderly man with a slightly plump physique stepped forward and reported to Ye Yunfei. This old man's cultivation was at the Third-Grade Godking realm.
"Master, besides Elder Lu, Elder Jia is also a traitor. Like Elder Lu, he long ago pledged allegiance to the Blade Realm," another Third-Grade Godking beside him spoke up.
"Good. I will deal with them both later," Ye Yunfei nodded.
In the ensuing period, Ye Yunfei had his slaves lead him to seek out every single traitor, Heavenly Gods included. Having amassed many slaves within this cluster of buildings, Ye Yunfei now moved with great freedom. He hid within the Phantom Tower and had his slaves carry the tower, seeking out the traitors one by one.
Several days later, over two-thirds of the traitors within this cluster of buildings had become Ye Yunfei's slaves. Simultaneously, Ye Yunfei discovered that, during this time, more Sword Realm heirs were continually arriving at the Sword Realm from other external voids. Some of these newly arrived heirs expressed dissatisfaction when required to hand over the sword path inheritances they cultivated, and were immediately imprisoned. Several of Ye Yunfei's slaves even received orders to find opportunities to kill these disobedient Sword Realm heirs—though, of course, now those slaves obeyed only Ye Yunfei's commands, so they took no action.
"Now it's time to settle accounts with those two stewarding elder traitors," Ye Yunfei said coldly, having just finished controlling a Perfected Heavenly God into submission within a small courtyard. He slowly turned his gaze towards the palace from earlier.
Not long after, one of Ye Yunfei's Third-Grade Godking slaves arrived at the palace's entrance.
"Liu Qing, what is your purpose here?"
As soon as Ye Yunfei's slave reached the palace gate, a voice emanated from within.
This Third-Grade Godking controlled by Ye Yunfei was named Liu Qing. He was Elder Lu's confidant, having followed Elder Lu to the Sword Realm.