Gazing at the corpses strewn across Liuren Mountain, everyone else from the Ten Great Sects, the Three Caves and Five Mountains, and the two branch halls—every single one of them—dared not speak, and none even dared to breathe.
In the sky, dark clouds gathered. The great sun had long vanished, dusk descended, and darkness drew ever nearer.
Silence, boundless silence.
Stillness, endless stillness.
This silence and stillness enveloped the heart of every person present, plunging them all into an abyss of endless fear.
That Gu Qingfeng stood poised in mid-air.
His plain, snow-white robe was pristine, untainted by a single drop of blood.
His black hair danced wildly in the wind across his cold, stern face. A pair of sinister eyes swept across the scene, their disdainful gaze domineering, ruthless, shaking minds and cowing souls. No one dared meet his gaze; all who chanced upon his eyes would lower their heads in terror.
"Who else?"
His voice came, neither grand nor mighty, yet it caused everyone present to tremble.
Who else?
The Fenghui Sect Master had been violently slain by his three palm strikes. Over a dozen Supreme Elders at the Nascent Soul realm had been annihilated by a single move from him. Tens of thousands of Fenghui disciples lay dead or wounded beyond count.
In such a situation, who would dare?
The answer was certain.
No one dared.
At that moment.
A figure tore through the void, howling as it arrived.
It was an old man dressed in luxurious purple robes, his figure somewhat portly.
The old man rode the wind, his Spiritual Power vast as the sea, the radiance around him shifting in myriad transformations, his aura particularly astonishing.
Many within the grounds did not recognize this old man, but those who did were all startled upon seeing him.
The old man was none other than the Jiangzhu Ancestor of Jiangzhu Mountain, his Dao-style name Nanqing, a three-thousand-year-old Nascent Soul Old Monster whose Spiritual Power was truly unfathomable.
Not every Nascent Soul expert who had cultivated for millennia had the right to be crowned with the title 'Old Monster'.
Only those with a Purple Mansion Nascent Soul, who had begun their 'transformations', were qualified to be called Old Monsters.
This was a threshold.
A threshold that many Nascent Soul experts could not even touch, a barrier.
Those who could not cross this barrier would see their cultivation halt there. Once crossed, the Nascent Soul could undergo infinite transformations. With each subsequent transformation, one's own Spiritual Power would surge wildly. It was no exaggeration to say that the Spiritual Power of every Nascent Soul Old Monster was as vast and powerful as the great sea.
And as was well known, this Jiangzhu Ancestor had already been a renowned master of the Four Regions even before the great cataclysm.
Anyone of a certain age had almost certainly heard his great name.
Relying on his transforming Nascent Soul, his vast Spiritual Power, and his profound mystical arts, he could wipe out a thousand men with a wave of his hand. Slaughtering entire families, exterminating entire sects—this Jiangzhu Ancestor had been a truly formidable figure in the Four Regions back in the day. His most glorious battle saw him use a single profound martial art, 'Boundless Sea', to instantly annihilate an army of ten thousand, a truly terrifying feat.
Alas.
He had provoked Lord Chixiao back then, was beaten for three days and three nights, and had since lived in seclusion, rarely appearing for a full five hundred years.
If not for the Jiangzhu Mountain inheritor disciple Xiao Fan activating the signal talisman, this long-secluded Nascent Soul Old Monster would likely not have rushed over in such haste.
"What is going on!
What in the blazes...
has happened here!"
The Jiangzhu Ancestor arrived, looking at the ground where over ten thousand Fenghui Sect members lay dead or wounded. Even though he had cultivated for three thousand years and had been a mass murderer in his time, he could not help but pale at this sight.
"Ancestor!
Ancestor!"
Upon seeing the Jiangzhu Ancestor, Xia Pan'er was both excited and worried, rushing over without regard for anything.
"Little Lian, you...
are you alright."
Seeing Xia Pan'er, the Jiangzhu Ancestor finally felt a weight lift from his heart. Then he remembered something and asked, "Where is Xiao Fan?"
"Senior Brother Xiao Fan, he..." Xia Pan'er threw herself into the Jiangzhu Ancestor's embrace, not knowing how to answer.
"Ancestor, Ancestor..." Someone called out to the Ancestor. The Jiangzhu Ancestor looked over and saw the caller, whose arms and limbs were a bloody, mangled mess, leaving only his head and torso standing in a pool of blood. Looking closer, it was Xiao Fan.
"Fan'er!"
Seeing his disciple Xiao Fan, the Jiangzhu Ancestor arrived instantly, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot. Upon inspection, Xiao Fan was not only mangled in his limbs, but his cultivation was also crippled, the man left with only a breath of life.
"Who did this!
Which bastard dared lay a hand on him! I'll exterminate his entire family!"
Whoosh!
In his great rage, the radiance around the Jiangzhu Ancestor flashed wildly. Surging Spiritual Power erupted, rising like a tsunami, scattering the spiritual energy in the sky in an instant and shaking the entire Liuren Mountain violently. His furious roar alone was enough to make people dizzy and disoriented.
"Senior Nanqing, it was him!
It was that evil demon who did it!"
"Jiangzhu Ancestor, this evil demon has killed many of our disciples. You must uphold justice for us!"
"Ancestor, the tens of thousands of Fenghui Sect members were all killed by this evil demon. You must kill him!"
"Senior, Elder Shi Tong was also killed by the evil demon. We beg you, quickly take action and slay this demon!"
The people from the Ten Great Sects and the Three Caves and Five Mountains immediately swarmed over, as if grasping a lifeline, angrily denouncing Gu Qingfeng's crimes.
Hearing that tens of thousands from the Fenghui Sect had been killed by Gu Qingfeng, and that even Elder Shi Tong had been slain.
The Jiangzhu Ancestor could not help but suck in a cold breath. His eyes glared with fury as he forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, looking at Gu Qingfeng in mid-air. The longer he looked, the deeper his frown became; the longer he looked, the greater the shock in his eyes; the longer he looked, the more unnatural his expression grew.
"You!
What!
Are!
You!"
With a swoosh, the Jiangzhu Ancestor flew into the air, staring fixedly at Gu Qingfeng, enunciating each word with a sharp, condensed voice.
"Are you Nanqing?"
Gu Qingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at him, asking lightly, "Nanqing of Jiangzhu Mountain?"
"I am Nanqing of Jiangzhu Mountain!"
The Jiangzhu Ancestor, though furious, did not immediately attack. After all, having cultivated for three thousand years, he was naturally not an impulsive man. A young man with Purple Mansion cultivation had wiped out tens of thousands of Fenghui Sect members. Even he, a Nascent Soul Old Monster, had to be wary.
Of course.
Wary was wary.
It was only wariness.
It was far from fear. Over three thousand years, the Jiangzhu Ancestor had traveled far and wide. The people he had killed numbered at least a hundred thousand. All sorts of demons, ghosts, geniuses, and prodigies had also fallen to his schemes. Pointing at Gu Qingfeng, he roared, "You bastard! Why did you kill my Jiangzhu Mountain disciple!"
"I killed him, so I killed him. What are you going to do about it?"
"You bastard!"
The Jiangzhu Ancestor stared at him with a sinister gaze, gnashing his teeth as he said, "I think you're looking for death!"
"Heh!"
The corner of Gu Qingfeng's mouth suddenly curved into a faint smile. "Nanqing, do you have the guts?"
For some reason, looking at that faint, sinister smile on Gu Qingfeng's lips, an inexplicable fear flashed through Nanqing's heart. Especially when his gaze met Gu Qingfeng's dark, gloomy eyes, it even made his soul feel a tremor of fear.
"You bastard!
Just what are you!"
Nanqing felt fear, growing wary.
"What do you think I am?"