IS Chapter 12

“Master!”

The three disciples were mentally scattered when Lou Shi’s heart was pierced by the Reverse Scale Sword, especially Lou Kui, who orchestrated the event, his face ashen.

None of them fled.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but every time they tried to escape, a chilling sword energy would nail them to the spot. The threat was self-evident.

Lou Kui couldn’t understand it.

What demon had possessed that rebellious son to cause trouble with someone like this?

He was now only grateful that, to be on the safe side, he hadn’t let his wife participate in this matter as well.

Ye Zhuo withdrew his sword from Lou Shi’s heart, and Lou Shi’s body crashed to the ground. His eyes stared at the sky, not yet dead. His chest was still rising and falling, but he no longer had the strength to get up.

Fresh blood dripped from the tip of Ye Zhuo’s sword, forming small pools of blood on the ground.

Ye Zhuo turned towards the other three.

Meeting that indifferent gaze, the three felt their lives were forfeit.

But Ye Zhuo didn’t raise his sword to them; instead, he saw the man run two fingers along the sword’s blade, wiping away the blood.

The Reverse Scale Sword returned to its dark, cold, and bloodless appearance. The blood-like Pattern had also faded, and the words “No Self” on the hilt were faintly visible.

Recalling the man’s sword techniques just now, it seemed that he had indeed entered the realm of No Self.

But in a moment of life and death, who had the mind to critique someone else’s swordplay?

That Ye Zhuo had forcibly killed a Tribulation Passing Venerable Master with a Integration Realm cultivation; taking their lives would be as easy as raising his hand.

Several more breaths passed, and Ye Zhuo still hadn’t attacked them.

Instead, his gaze turned to the eastern peak, his voice clear, cold, and unwavering.

“The two True Men have been waiting for a long time,” he said calmly. “Why not show yourselves?”

True Men?

Lou Kui looked towards that direction in astonishment.

The Immortal Dao had established customs and rules for titles. Only orthodox Immortal Dao cultivators who had reached the Tribulation Passing Realm could be called “True Men.”

Could it be that people from the Dao Sect had come to save them?

That’s right, that rebellious son Lou Ke, who had provoked the evil star, was his son, but he was also the Dao Sect’s first disciple, the face of the younger generation. Even if the Dao Sect put on a magnanimous front, how could they swallow this insult in private?

Realizing this, Lou Kui’s gaze excitedly scanned the eastern mountain, trying to find the Dao Sect True Men’s figures.

A cool breeze blew from the east. The True Men’s figures didn’t appear, but a faint, intermittent, and mournful female voice carried on the wind. Listening carefully, it was somewhat familiar.

Lou Kui frowned, listening. The next moment, his expression drastically changed.

The voice was intermittent and heart-wrenching.

“Lou Kui—Lou Kui!—You quickly…run…run!”

Lou Kui struggled to get up, looking towards the source of the sound.

Ye Zhuo swung his sword, and sword energy shot out towards the east, leveling a large area of green forest on the mountain peak.

Two figures appeared.

One was a handsome Daoist dressed in black robes with a youthful face and white hair, and the other was a disheveled woman kneeling on the ground.

A dark seal was suspended above the woman’s head, and the seal’s power was forcing her to kneel. She was supporting herself with her arms, her body tense and trembling, resisting with all her might.

“Yan’er?!” Lou Kui was horrified.

Looking at that figure and appearance, it was Lou Kui’s wife, Jiang Yan, who was also a Martial Sect Elder and an Integration Realm cultivator.

Lou Kui looked at the black-robed Daoist, his eyes splitting with anger: “True Man, why are you treating my wife like this!”

The Daoist only half-closed his eyes, his expression unreadable.

The seal pressed down again, and Jiang Yan spat out a mouthful of blood.

More noticeable than the blood was a vertical wound about four fingers long between her eyebrows. Because it was opened between her eyebrows, it looked particularly hideous.

At this moment, strands of golden blood were dripping from it.

This wasn’t ordinary blood, but essence blood mixed with the cultivator’s Spirit Soul. As the blood dripped, Jiang Yan’s cultivation level rapidly declined at a visible rate!

She gritted her teeth, struggling to get up under the pressure of the seal.

She had sensed Lou Kui’s plan to intercept and kill Ye Zhuo and had come to help, but she didn’t expect that before she could even attack, she would be captured by this Dao Sect True Man, who was also from The Supreme Purity Mountain, with his terrifying cultivation!

Jiang Yan roared towards Lou Kui’s direction: “They’re not avenging Ke’er at all! They only want to—”

The sound stopped abruptly as the seal fell another three inches, and Jiang Yan spat out more blood.

Essence blood dripped from her forehead in large amounts, the power within forming mysterious Vein in the void.

Ye Zhuo recognized those Vein.

The Nine Heavens, Ten Earths Chaotic Sealing Great Formation.

As the name suggests, the formation could seal and extract the spiritual energy of a region, turning it into a spirit-less land.

Spiritual energy was created by the Heavenly Dao and wasn’t easy to manipulate. Therefore, driving this formation required a great price.

Even so, using the essence soul of an Integration Realm cultivator as a guide was still a significant undertaking.

Spiritual sword rang, Ye Zhuo raised his hand, and the Reverse Scale Sword flew out to strike down the seal, rescue Jiang Yan, and interrupt the formation’s creation.

But Jiang Yan’s smile was as ghastly as a soul-reaping demon.

“None of you will succeed!” She resolutely raised her head and said sharply: “Ke’er, don’t be afraid of being a wronged ghost. Mother is coming to accompany you!”

After speaking, she gritted her teeth, formed a hand seal, and her eyes turned blood red in an instant!

The next moment, her entire body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

An Integration Realm cultivator’s self-detonation was equivalent to a Tribulation Passing cultivator’s full-force strike.

The immensely powerful impact exploded among the mountains, causing landslides and ground fissures. The sealing formation was severed, and Ye Zhuo’s sword was at the forefront, bearing the brunt of the impact. Its momentum instantly stalled, and it was splattered with blood mist.

If it were an ordinary weapon, not to mention being damaged, its power would be greatly reduced from then on.

But the black-robed Daoist remained calm and unhurried, slightly raising his hands.

The seal turned to face the Reverse Scale Sword, intending to take the opportunity to seize Ye Zhuo’s sword.

Ye Zhuo found it quite novel.

The Life-Bound Sword was connected to its master’s spirit, moving as he willed. In an instant, it swooped upwards, its edge grazing the seal before returning to Ye Zhuo’s hand like a stream of light.

Not only was it not taken away by the object, but it also left a chilling scratch on the seal.

The Reverse Scale Sword’s unique feature wasn’t just its indestructibility.

Ye Zhuo had already tested it; no divine weapon could damage this sword, and no human Supernatural powers or spells were effective against it. This should be the characteristic of the Reverse Scale itself.

After all, it was a true dragon’s heart-protecting scale, impervious to myriad calamities.

The Reverse Scale Sword safely returned to Ye Zhuo’s hand, while Lou Kui stared blankly at the direction where Jiang Yan had self-destructed: “Yan’er!!”

He stared intently at the black-robed Daoist, seemingly trying desperately to recall something.

Lou Shi, who was heavily injured and lying on the ground, also made rattling sounds in his throat.

As if remembering something, despair suddenly erupted in Lou Kui’s hateful gaze. He hissed: “You are…you are…the Dao Sect Supreme True Man…you are…Tai Zi!”

He was already seriously injured and on the verge of death, and he was further impacted by the aftermath of his wife’s self-destruction. At this moment, in his rage and grief, his Qi and blood reversed. After shouting this sentence, he couldn’t catch his breath. Only a few gurgling sounds were heard in his chest, and he died with his eyes wide open.

Looking at the remaining severely injured people, their breaths were also weak and their life force was fading.

Each person had a vertical wound between their eyebrows like Jiang Yan, and another profound aura, different from the black-robed Daoist’s, was urging the flow of their essence blood to complete the sealing formation that had been interrupted earlier.

Ye Zhuo unleashed several sword strikes in succession.

He cleanly ended the lives of Lou Kui’s two martial brothers and then, with one final sword strike, severed Lou Shi’s head.

Lou Shi, who had been staring intently at the black-clothed Daoist, revealed a look of relief.

Perhaps he should have been killed by Ye Zhuo’s sword from the very beginning, which would have been better than suffering the humiliation of having his blood extracted and his soul extracted to be used as nourishment for the great formation.

What was the point of cultivating to the Tribulation Passing Realm?

In The Supreme Purity Mountain, the Dao Sect was a hundred times more valuable than the Martial Sect.

Otherwise, why would Lou Kui and Jiang Yan, as husband and wife, knowing that their son was competitive and narrow-minded, still spend a great deal of money to help him enter the Dao Sect and become the seemingly glorious first disciple of the Dao Sect?

In the end, it buried the lives of a master and his disciples.

Lou Shi closed his eyes.

Ye Zhuo sensed the spiritual energy around him.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was split and the mountains had collapsed, a scene of utter devastation. Even though the sealing formation ultimately failed to complete, there wasn’t much spiritual energy left in this world.

Those who had passed the Tribulation had their own Dao and could use their Yuanshen spells. They didn’t rely much on spiritual energy when fighting and killing. He was in the Integration Realm and still needed the spiritual power of heaven and earth to replenish himself.

After all, those sword energies and sword winds couldn’t be created out of thin air.

The other party was obviously a Tribulation Passing cultivator, so this great formation was naturally designed to deal with him.

Only at this time did the other person behind the scenes appear leisurely.

It was a white-robed Daoist, similar in stature and appearance to the one in black robes, with a similar snow-white seal floating beside him, which looked even more powerful than the black-robed man’s.

When he cast his gaze over, it was as if one could hear a long crane’s cry in the dark, full of spirit and vitality.

Apparently in the late stage of the Tribulation Passing Realm.

“I have been in seclusion in the mountains for many years and have not been involved in the world, so it is only today that I have had the chance to witness Ye’s little friend’s demeanor. This humble Daoist is from the Supreme Purity Dao Sect, and my founder bestowed upon me the name Tai Hao.” The white-robed Daoist announced his sect and name politely.

After he announced his name, the black-robed man spoke.

“Supreme Purity, Tai Zi,” he said.

Ye Zhuo observed his aura, which was only slightly weaker than Tai Hao’s but far stronger than Lou Shi’s, roughly in the middle to late stage of the Tribulation Passing Realm.

When Lou Kui was on the verge of death, he had already revealed the identities of the people who came.

Those who came from the Dao Sect and were called “Supreme True Men” must be the Supreme Elders who had been living in seclusion in the mountains and no longer concerned themselves with the affairs of the sect,One mind to seek ascension. Since they were called “Supreme,” their status, seniority, and cultivation were naturally higher than ordinary Elders.

By now, the sun was already scorching, but the two True Men stood on the mountain peak, looking down at Ye Zhuo with expressions that were both mocking and not mocking.

Logically speaking, a Dao cultivator of the late Tribulation Passing Realm and another who was only one step away from the late Tribulation Passing Realm were both trump cards of the Dao Sect. If others were to see these two surrounding an Integration Realm sword cultivator, they would probably laugh out loud and ridicule the Dao Sect for losing face.

However, the two didn’t feel it was shameful.

If they were like that Martial Sect’s Lou Kui, who thought that by inviting a Tribulation Passing Venerable Master, they would be assured of victory, wouldn’t they have ruined their own lives instead? This time, even if they were using a dragon-slaying knife to kill a chicken, they would drive Ye Zhuo to the end of his rope, making it impossible for him to turn back.

With such a formation, Ye Zhuo naturally understood their intentions.

He held his sword still.

Sword intent was already contained within, ready to be unleashed in battle at any time.

As if seeing through Ye Zhuo’s intention to fight to the death, the black-robed True Man Tai Zi smiled: “Little friend Ye seems to be overestimating himself.”

In the late Tribulation Passing Realm, one could faintly see the ethereal path to eternal life.

Looking at the juniors in the Integration Realm at this moment was like looking at little cats and dogs. Even if they had sharp teeth and claws, they could be played with in the palm of one’s hand.

Ye Zhuo didn’t speak, only quietly looked at the bloodstains and the bodies of the Martial Sect members. Then, he raised his eyes and lightly scoffed: “Your sect’s actions are no less than they were in the past.”

“Oh?” Tai Zi seemed to be interested. “Little friend once had some connection with my sect? I wonder which ‘past’ you’re referring to?”

“Why do you say that?” Ye Zhuo’s tone was indifferent. “Who doesn’t know your sect’s style.”

“Alright, Junior Brother.” The True Man Tai Hao, who hadn’t spoken all along, finally opened his mouth. “This trip is only to eliminate a rebel of the Immortal Dao. What’s the point of saying more?”

Ye Zhuo seemed to understand: “This trip is to ensure the capture of Green Mountain’s spiritual veins.”

The True Man Tai Zi laughed when he heard this: “Senior Brother, look at this cold little thing. He’s quite interesting when he speaks, different from other sword cultivators. I like him very much.”

“Junior Brother.” The True Man Tai Hao’s tone was displeased.

Tai Zi put away his smile, holding the dark seal in his hand, ready to strike.

The white seal in Tai Hao’s hand instantly radiated light as well.

In an instant, the world changed dramatically!

If only the Martial Sect had taken action today, no matter what, it could always be considered a back-and-forth, a dispute in the Jianghu.

Leaving Lou Shi a glimmer of life earlier, without dealing a fatal blow, was also a step back taken by Micro-Snow Palace because of its small number of people and weak power.

However, with the Dao Sect lurking behind, it was a inescapable net, with no room for maneuver.

Ye Zhuo drew his sword.

This was a Dao struggle. The jig was up, it was a battle to the death.