I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

A sense of despair and retreat began to grow in the hearts of many.

Chi Fentian took in everyone's reactions and became even more smug, sneering, "Didn't expect that, did you? I knew you would retaliate! Although Yan Lie and the others are useless, they still risked their lives to obtain information."

"You think killing Yan Lie and Chi Rong will shake the foundation of my Crimson Flame Sect? Naïve! I paid a considerable price to persuade Elder Gui Yin of the Netherworld Valley to intervene, but… once I take you down, seize Qing Shi City, and absorb the remaining forces of your Book Sword Sect here, all my losses will be made up, and I'll even profit! Hahaha!"

His laughter vanished, replaced by a chilling murderous intent: "Now that you're here, you're not leaving! Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

Within the Crimson Flame Sect's formation, nearly fifty Nascent Soul stage cultivators, led by four peak Nascent Soul stage cultivators, surged forward like a crimson tide! Their momentum was overwhelming!

Wen Ruohai gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing his injuries, and unleashed his Nascent Soul power: "Form the formation! Prepare for the enemy!"

The disciples of the Book and Sword Sect barely managed to steady their minds and formed a long, serpentine sword formation. Chu Wuyue's white pupils gleamed with fighting spirit and determination, while Yun Qingyao was surrounded by swirling mist, ready for battle. But anyone could see that the situation was extremely precarious.

At that moment, Qin Yuan took a step forward.

He faced the overwhelming crimson torrent with a calm expression, though a cold glint flashed deep in his eyes.

"Four Nascent Soul Peak cultivators... just right." He muttered to himself, his voice audible only to himself.

The next moment, Qin Yuan's figure disappeared amidst the disdainful gazes of Chi Fentian and the others, the astonishment of Wen Ruohai and the others, and the worry of Chu Wuyue and the others.

No, it didn't disappear; it was just too fast, leaving a faint afterimage in its place.

When he reappeared, he had already cut into the front of the Crimson Flame Sect's charging formation like a ghost, less than ten feet away from the alluring woman wielding a flaming whip and the silent giant carrying a giant sword!

"You're courting death!" The alluring woman sneered, flicking her long whip, which transformed into a giant fiery python that lunged forward! The silent giant drew his greatsword, a ten-zhang-long crimson sword beam tearing through the air and slashing down diagonally! The two worked in perfect coordination, sealing off all of Qin Yuan's escape routes.

Chi Fentian and the black-robed Ghost Elder watched with leisure, as if they had already foreseen Qin Yuan's fate of being instantly torn apart.

However, faced with this combined attack that was enough to severely injure or even kill an ordinary peak Nascent Soul cultivator, Qin Yuan simply raised his right hand.

make a fist.

A flash of dark golden light appeared and disappeared on his fist.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, only a simple and unadorned punch, which was thrown straight out to meet the giant flaming python and the crimson sword light!

"boom--!!!"

At the moment of impact, time seemed to freeze for a split second.

Then, to everyone's disbelief, the menacing fiery serpent shattered into pieces! The incomparably sharp crimson sword light broke in two!

The force of the punch was devastating, its momentum undiminished, piercing through the shattered energy turbulence and landing solidly on the chests of the alluring woman and the silent giant.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

Two muffled, heart-stopping explosions rang out almost simultaneously.

The alluring woman's cold smile froze. She looked down at her chest, where a bowl-sized, transparent hole had appeared, allowing light to pass through from front to back, and her flaming whip hung limply. The silent giant's greatsword slipped from his grasp, his chest also caved in, and the life in his eyes rapidly faded.

The two swayed, and then, like broken sandbags, plummeted straight down from mid-air.

The entire room fell silent.

Chi Fentian's maniacal laughter froze on his face, his eyes filled with utter horror. Elder Guiyin, clad in black robes, gasped, a look of utter shock appearing on his sinister face for the first time.

Wen Ruohai, the true disciple of the Shujian Sect, Chu Wuyue, and the others were all dumbfounded, their minds blank.

One punch! Just one punch! Two peak late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators perished!

How is this possible?! Isn't Qin Yuan in the mid-Nascent Soul stage? Even if he broke through, he's only at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. How could he be this strong?!

"You...you were hiding your strength?!" Chi Fentian screamed, his voice trembling.

Qin Yuan shook his hand as if he had only done a trivial matter, then turned his gaze to the remaining Chi Fentian and Elder Guiyin, his voice eerily calm: "Now, it's your turn."

Elder Guiyin's expression shifted, fear and greed mingling in his eyes. He gritted his teeth, and black energy erupted from his body, transforming into a gust of yin wind as he fled madly towards the distant horizon without looking back! He was so terrified that he didn't even want the reward!

"Ghost Yin! You!" Chi Fentian was both shocked and furious. He never expected that the outside help he had hired at great expense would be so incompetent, and that he would be scared away in the first encounter.

Qin Yuan didn't even glance at the fleeing Gui Yin; his gaze was fixed on the lone Chi Fentian.

Chi Fentian's face turned deathly pale. He felt the terrifying killing intent contained in that cold gaze, and all fighting spirit left him was replaced by boundless fear.

He finally realized what a terrifying being he had provoked! The price, the city—none of that mattered now; survival was the priority!

"I..." He wanted to beg for mercy, or even surrender.

But Qin Yuan didn't give him a chance.

The figure flashed again.

Chi Fentian felt a blur before his eyes, and a dark golden palm lightly pressed down on the top of his head.

"No..." Chi Fentian roared in despair, his nascent soul burning wildly as he attempted to self-destruct.

A faint golden light emanated from Qin Yuan's palm.

"Pfft."

It sounded like a watermelon shattering. Chi Fentian's roar abruptly stopped, and his head, along with the nascent soul inside, was instantly shattered into a cloud of blood mist, and his headless corpse slumped to the ground.

From the moment Qin Yuan made his move to the moment Chi Fentian died and Elder Guiyin fled, only ten breaths had passed.

The remaining fifty-odd elite members of the Crimson Flame Sect were completely petrified, as if frozen in place. They watched helplessly as their strongest city lord and two guest elders were either instantly killed or scared away, and finally, even the city lord was crushed like an ant...

"Run away—!"

Suddenly, someone let out a piercing scream, and the Crimson Flame Sect's formation collapsed instantly. All the cultivators were terrified and scattered in all directions, wishing they had two more legs.

Qin Yuan did not pursue these lowly soldiers. He hovered in the air, his dark golden aura, typical of a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, enveloping the entire area. His voice was icy: "Lava City now belongs to the Xuan Yuan Sect. Those who surrender will not be killed; those who resist will die."

The sound wasn't loud, but it reached the ears of every fugitive clearly, like a death knell.

Some of the Crimson Flame Sect cultivators were terrified and immediately dropped their weapons, kneeling in surrender. Many more fled into the wilderness without looking back.

Wen Ruohai and the others seemed to awaken from a dream, staring at the gray-robed figure in the air and the routed Crimson Flame Sect cultivators below, their hearts filled with shock and disbelief. This… was it? Lava City had changed hands just like that?

Chu Wuyue trembled with excitement, and Yun Qingyao's cool eyes also sparkled with excitement.

The Xuan Yuan Sect... actually possesses a core city like Lava City! This was something they wouldn't have dared to even dream of before entering the battlefield!

The takeover proceeded exceptionally smoothly. With the city lord dead, all the high-ranking officials perished, and most of the garrison scattered or surrendered, the Lava City's defensive formations, under Qin Yuan's oppressive aura, failed to mount even a symbolic resistance and were taken over by the Shujian Sect's formation disciples.

When the banner of the Xuan Yuan Sect was planted on the tallest tower in Lava City, all the Xuan Yuan Sect disciples who had come with Qin Yuan, including Yun Qingyao, Han Bing, Ye Guying and others who arrived later, were so excited that they burst into tears.

They came from the bottom-ranked Xuan Yuan Sect, yet they actually built a foundation in this brutal battlefield of a hundred sects!

Qin Yuan took over the city lord's mansion and quickly arranged manpower, inventoried the treasury, comforted the surrendered soldiers, and repaired the city defenses that had been slightly damaged in the battle.

Lava City's resources were indeed abundant, with spirit stones piled up like mountains, and pills, materials, and magical treasures galore, far surpassing those of Bluestone City.

According to the alliance agreement, Qin Yuan gave half of it to the Book and Sword Sect. Wen Ruohai naturally had no objection and was even more convinced of Qin Yuan's strength and credibility.

However, when night fell and Lava City experienced its first surge of alien demons, everyone sensed that something was wrong.