Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 269 Turning the Tide (Part 1)
The protective array collapsed in an instant, but the attacks of the remaining magical artifacts and spells did not diminish and continued to attack the Hu family.

bang——

With the formation broken, the Hu family no longer had anything to rely on for defense.

Countless attacks rained down on the Hu Clan Ancestral Hall.

The leading cultivator from Suspended Sword Mountain remained expressionless and uttered only two words: "Please."

The Chen, Liu, and He families, having completed their foundation building, exchanged glances and immediately unleashed their magical artifacts, attacking the Hu family.

Faced with the prospect of their profits being divided up, the three of them were naturally eager to act, fearing that the other two would get the first move, affecting the subsequent allocation of resources and causing their families to fall behind.

Also joining the attack was the Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Xuan Yuan Sect.

The other cultivators, including Song Yan, simply stood by and watched, with no need to intervene.

The disparity in strength between the two sides is too great; the demise of the Hu clan is only a matter of time.

All we need to do is hold our position and prevent any of the Hu family members from escaping.

With the tide turning against them, the Hu family's defeat was inevitable. Three Foundation Establishment cultivators from the family, including Hu Haotian, took to the air to make a final stand.

In an instant, a bloody massacre began near the Hu Clan Ancestral Hall.

Various magical artifacts, spells, and talismans clashed fiercely.

Under the cover of darkness, fireballs explode, icy winds howl, and vines meander...

One after another, Hu family cultivators fell into a disadvantageous position, and after letting out a miserable scream, they could no longer stand up.

The monks who participated in the cleanup seized the spoils after the slaughter, beaming with joy, and continued searching for their next target.

A divine light rises on the battlefield; the defeated bleed and die, while the victors run rampant.

This is the true appearance of the cultivation world.

Song Yan hovered quietly in the air, coldly observing everything on the battlefield, his face devoid of joy or sorrow.

Perhaps he would have felt a little reluctant in the past, but now he is no longer so naive.

To sympathize with the Hu family is to desecrate all the innocent cultivators who died because of the chaos caused by the demonic cultivators on Dragon Pool Mountain.

Just as Hu Haotian said, he did nothing wrong; it was just a matter of different stances, and he lost the gamble.

But losing always comes at a price.

Countless innocent cultivators were trapped in the Great Enclosure Building, and the entire Yang family had to bear the responsibility.

This purge only targets cultivators, not mortals.

But once they leave, will the Chen, He, and Liu families really let those ordinary people from the Hu family go?

Song Yan's divine sense spread out completely, covering the entire Hu family and surveying the entire battlefield.

At first, the Hu family was full of enthusiasm and was able to hold their own against the Nine Meridians cultivators.

However, the two sides were completely unequal in terms of numbers and strength, and the situation quickly turned into a one-sided massacre.

"Ok?"

Song Yan suddenly frowned, activated his Observation Sword Eye, and spotted a striking white figure amidst the chaos of battle.

It was a small paper figure.

The little paper figure crept furtively to a pool of blood and then slowly lay down.

The white paper quickly disappeared, stained with blood.

"..."

Song Yan pondered for a moment, then looked away.

Above the Hu Clan Ancestral Hall, seven Foundation Establishment cultivators were locked in battle.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Chen family wielded a gourd-shaped magical artifact, which hovered beside him.

The magical power surged, and pale blue spiritual energy continuously spewed out from the gourd, transforming into a gale that howled across the area.

The other two teams also employed their own unique strategies, launching relentless attacks.

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Hu family used all their trump cards to fight back desperately.

Hu Haotian was covered in blood. The three of them were facing four Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they could barely hold on. They had also consumed a lot of energy to protect the ancestral hall's protective array.

For now, all we can do is desperately try to defend ourselves.

The number of Qi Refining cultivators in the Hu family is decreasing. One of them, a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator with an ordinary appearance, was fighting and resisting others when he suddenly looked up at the sky.

With a casual slash of his crimson blade, he killed a cultivator of the ninth meridian.

His entire body burst into a crimson hue, transforming into a streak of blood-red light as he fled eastward out of the encirclement.

It then changed direction and headed northeast.

The person was so fast that the Foundation Establishment cultivator stationed in the east didn't even have time to react.

"Escape technique?!"

This person has not yet established his foundation; he is merely a cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining and is unable to fly.

It seems to be some kind of special escape technique.

Just as they were about to set off to give chase, they saw Song Yan from the Northeast urging his sword energy while making a hand gesture to the cultivators on either side.

"You two can stay here and look after this person. He seems unusual, so please leave him to me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Yan's figure vanished like a reflection in water.

Everyone looked up and saw that his figure had already transformed into sword light, closely following the streak of blood.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators on the left and right were surprised, but then they felt relieved when they thought of the power of the sword strike on the ruins of the Yang family.

It's just a Qi Refining Perfection stage; handing it over to this Fellow Daoist Song will certainly not be a problem.

It was just a minor incident, and no one paid much attention to it.

Xu Ziqing only glanced at him before looking away, and did not question Song Yan's strength.

Over the northeast of Longtan Mountain.

Two streaks of light, one red and one white, were chasing each other, and Song Yan's gaze grew increasingly solemn.

With You Taixu pushing himself to the limit, few cultivators of the same realm could keep up with his speed.

But the person in front of me gave me a feeling that I could never catch up with him.

That speed didn't reach the Golden Core realm, but it far surpassed that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators...

Soon, the two streaks of light arrived at the edge of Dragon Pool Mountain.

They stumbled into a desolate valley.

The ordinary-looking cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining suddenly stopped his escape.

The surging, bloody air currents caused the vegetation in the valley below to bend low.

Song Yan felt a chill run down his spine, and the sword light vanished in an instant, his figure freezing in mid-air more than ten feet away from his opponent.

The sword energy within his body remained hidden, his gaze burning brightly as it pierced through the gradually dissipating crimson blood mist.

The ordinary-looking Qi Refining cultivator slowly turned around.

Without any earth-shattering fanfare, as if a layer of dust had been brushed away, its disguise gradually crumbled and dissipated.

A pale, bloodless middle-aged face was revealed.

The man had his eyebrows lowered and his eyelids half-closed, looking as if he hadn't woken up properly and was listless.

His Taoist robe rippled like water, eventually transforming into a loose, wide white robe that billowed gently in the mountain breeze.

"what……"

He let out a hoarse sigh, as if muttering in a dream.

His weary gaze fell on Song Yan, tinged with amusement.

It's like examining a delicate object that's about to break.

From the cuffs of his white robe, two white paper figures crept out furtively and floated beside him.

“Song Yan…” he finally spoke, “I have long admired your name.”

His aura remained unchanged, still at the peak of Qi Refining.

This statement seems somewhat arrogant in the face of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

A dangerous glint flashed in Song Yan's eyes.

"Did Elder Yang Wenxuan send you to kill me?"

His lips moved slightly, his voice calm and undisturbed: "Xinshan Sanren".

A hint of surprise flashed in Xin Shan Sanren's weary eyes.

But this surprise quickly turned into a morbid excitement: "Heh..."

A half-smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse. "You actually recognize me?"

Xin Shan Sanren's eyes darted around, seemingly lost in thought, but he then nodded: "Yes, yes. It's him!"

"He offered me a benefit I couldn't refuse, and he wants to use me to kill you."

Song Yan's heart stirred slightly.

Although the matter is almost certainly true, there's a sense of unreality in the way Xin Shan said it, as if it were a joke.

Xin Shan Sanren paused, his lifeless eyes scanning Song Yan up and down, as if piercing through his skin and examining his soul.

“Strange…so strange…you’re about to die, but you don’t seem scared at all.”

"Is it because of the integrity of sword cultivators, or...?"

"You have no idea of ​​the difference between you and me?"

The moment the words fell, a suffocatingly terrifying pressure, like an overwhelming tide, suddenly erupted from Xinshan Sanren's seemingly frail body!

This is Master Xinshan Sanren, in his prime.

A demonic cultivator at the Pseudo-Core Formation Realm!
The immense spiritual pressure instantly froze the air in the mountains, even making the moonlight appear hazy.

Faced with this overwhelming spiritual pressure.

Song Yan's hair fluttered, but his posture remained upright, and his black and gold Taoist robe fluttered in the wind.

Only those cold, dark eyes began to slowly reveal a sharp, golden light.

Within it, a dreamlike radiance flowed subtly.

"Unyielding and unyielding, you certainly have the air of an ancient sword cultivator."

Xin Shan Sanren maintained his lazy demeanor, casually raising his right hand with his fingers spread wide.

"Let me see what it's like when such a genius cultivator dies."

Song Yan's eyes flashed with golden light, and he activated his Void Observation Sword Eye at full power!
Almost at the same moment Xin Shan raised his hand, a dreamlike aura surged out from the Sword Palace, and sword energy slowly flowed around him.

"Congeal."

Xin Shansan clearly uttered a single word.

It was described lightly, like a sigh.

Boom!
Song Yan felt his blood suddenly stop flowing, and even his heart stopped beating.

His spiritual energy dissipated, and his sword energy stagnated.

"Even at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, he still drew his sword when facing a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator."

Xin Shan Sanren's words slowly reached my ears: "Your courage is commendable."

"pity."

A crimson light condensed in his hand and shot towards Song Yan.

"..."

But when the scarlet light shot out, Xin Shan Sanren frowned slightly, sensing something was amiss.

A crimson aura passed through his body, and Song Yan's figure rippled like a stone thrown into water.

Through the Looking Glass!

"Oh?" Xin Shan Sanren's gaze sharpened.

"Illusion?"

When did it start...?

He even lowered his head to double-check whether the demonic spell he had just cast had actually been performed.

hum-

Song Yan's figure blurred for a moment before reappearing in the same spot.

Although he was not injured, blood was still seeping from the corner of his mouth.

A mysterious and illusory aura suddenly spread out, and in the eyes, it seemed as if there were endless clouds and celestial palaces, with the ever-revolving crystalline moon.

The sharpness of the sword intent surged wildly.

Xin Shan Sanren casually made a gesture, and a smear of blood gathered in his hand.

"A dying struggle, all in vain."

The palm is loosely clenched.

Song Yan felt his blood suddenly turn cold, as if it had turned into bone-chilling ice, or as if millions of invisible blood vessels had instantly pierced through his meridians.

The burgeoning sword intent that was gathering was ruthlessly extinguished by an invisible hand.

Before it could even draw its sword, it shattered and vanished completely!
"!"

A dull, cracking sound sent chills down my spine.

Song Yan's body, along with the protective sword energy that was not yet fully formed, withered and shriveled from the inside out in an instant.

Flesh and blood, bones, sword energy—everything that gave him strength and support was dissipating at an unbelievable speed.

A strange, dark red crystalline substance began to emerge from his body.

In the blink of an eye, the eerie crimson spread throughout his body.

Before even a trace of pain could appear, a corpse froze in the night wind, life extinguished.

"Heh, what genius?"

Xin Shan Sanren shook his hand.

"To be noticed before one has even grown up, isn't that just being a prey?"

He slowly descended along with Song Yan's corpse, staring at the lifelike yet lifeless and cold crystallized body in mid-air, a hint of curiosity finally flashing in his eyes.

A gentle force lifted it from afar, allowing it to land steadily on the ground.

However, Xinshan Sanren discovered that Song Yan did not have a Qiankun bag or any flying swords or magical artifacts.

He frowned, sensing something strange.

In that instant, an eerie aura swept across the valley from outside the boundaries of Longtan Mountain.

The aura was ethereal and mysterious, its source and location difficult to discern, yet it existed with unparalleled clarity.

Xin Shan Sanren's outstretched hand suddenly stopped and instantly retracted into his wide sleeve.

"Ok?"

His face still showed that tired look, but there was a hint of caution between his brows.

He looked down at Song Yan's body; she was no longer breathing.

"...It's not advisable to stay any longer."

Xin Shansan was extremely cautious by nature, and rarely risked his life unless there was a huge profit involved.

Without hesitation, he swirled his wide white robe around.

His entire body, along with the two small paper figures beside him, instantly transformed into several streaks of gray-white light, merging into the night.

It continued to disappear silently towards the northeastern horizon.

The desolate valley was silent, with only Song Yan's dark red, crystallized corpse remaining, motionless.

Almost immediately after Xinshan Sanren left, a thick black mist began to rise from the corpse.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, gushing from the corpse and slowly condensing less than ten feet away, transforming into a stumbling black shadow.

The black figure moved extremely clumsily, almost crawling out from the corpse.

Once its shape stabilized and completely solidified into the form of a person, its appearance was exactly the same as Song Yan's.

He stumbled out, glanced back at Song Yan's corpse, but showed no joy on his face.

His expression was full of fear and disbelief.

"A madman... a complete madman!"

Even the voice was exactly the same as Song Yan's.

Black mist surged around him.

He only cursed Song Yan's corpse once, then dared not linger and quickly blended into the night in the mountains, disappearing from sight.

Under the moonlight, Song Yan's body lay silently on the ground in the valley.

On a branch that no one noticed.

A crow perched high up, its golden eyes watching everything that was happening.

(End of this chapter)