Chapter 286: Ding the Sect Destroyer

The Changyan Academy finally fell into a slow silence, and everyone felt a chill down their spines.

This was outright suffocating the Changyan Academy—a top five sect of the Ascension Realm—with a deadly imprisonment array.

Ding Huan stretched out his hand, sweeping up and collecting countless rings and storage pouches. Then he threw out several more array flags and gestured with a flick of his wrist.

One supreme-grade spiritual vein and seven superior-grade spiritual veins were forcibly ripped out and taken by Ding Huan.

This was not the end—a burst of flame descended upon the Changyan Academy, engulfing the entire place in an instant, turning it into a sea of fire.

Wang Pingdao said nothing more; he knew Ding Huan and Fu Qijian were enjoying themselves now, but when the powerful ones from Jiuyuan came to settle accounts, he wondered if these two would still feel so triumphant.

"If that's the case, then I'll take my leave." Wang Pingdao bowed, then turned and walked away.

Ding Huan said calmly:

"Are you leaving so easily, City Lord?"

"What? Are you planning to keep me too?" Wang Pingdao's tone grew even colder.

Ding Huan didn't know how this City Lord had come to power, but he trusted Fu Qijian would explain it to him.

In the Ascension Realm, not even Ding Huan and Fu Qijian, let alone Lin Yuqi, could touch this City Lord.

"So many people died in Jiuyuan City, so many factions were wiped out, yet you never showed your face—now that the Changyan Academy is in trouble, you're the first to arrive…"

Ding Huan's tone was utterly calm.

Wang Pingdao looked at Ding Huan and said coolly:

"How I conduct myself is none of your business, Lord Ding. If you don't know who I am, I'm sure Master Fu will tell you. Goodbye!"

With that, Wang Pingdao turned and hurried to leave.

Fu Qijian had not told Ding Huan who Wang Pingdao was, but his Daxu Sword had already unleashed a shower of sword light, enveloping Wang Pingdao.

Wang Pingdao was terrified:

"Fu Qijian, you dare lay hands on me?"

A wave of death swept toward him—he summoned his treasure, but before his technique could unleash, its domain was struck by a vortex of killing intent, instantly disrupting his technique.

The next instant, Fu Qijian's sword light slashed across his neck.

Fu Qijian and Ding Huan had just cooperated to kill several Human Immortals—Fu Qijian struck with his sword, Ding Huan unleashed Yellow Flower Kill.

Even without Ding Huan's help, Fu Qijian could have easily slain these Human Immortals alone, but together, they needed no second strike and saved precious time.

Wang Pingdao's head flew through the air, his Primordial Spirit still trapped inside—he stared in disbelief at his own corpse.

Why? How could Fu Qijian dare kill the City Lord of Jiuyuan?

Didn't Fu Qijian know why Jiuyuan was called Jiuyuan?

Wang Pingdao's Primordial Spirit finally burst from his mind sea:

"Fu Qijian, are you mad? Don't you know I come from Jiuyuan…"

What awaited him was not Fu Qijian's sword light, but another strike of Yellow Flower Kill from Ding Huan.

Yellow Flower Kill, a mental technique, was tailor-made for targeting Primordial Spirits.

Once Wang Pingdao's Primordial Spirit was sucked into the vortex of mental killing intent, his only thought was regret.

The Shi family's Changyan Academy was gone. Others would come searching for Ding Huan and Fu Qijian—why did he, Wang Pingdao, have to meddle?

He ended up meeting two reckless fools and lost his life here.

Fu Qijian swept up Wang Pingdao's rings and engulfed his body in flame, as if he had done nothing at all.

"Senior, the information I received was that Madam Lou and Lady Liu entered the Opening Heaven Battlefield. They even used methods to bring Shi Qiqiu with them into the Opening Heaven Battlefield."

A sudden voice reached Ding Huan's ears via voice transmission.

Ding Huan's mental sense saw a thin, small man quickly slip into the crowd and vanish.

"Thank you, Lord Ding, for avenging my Yuanyang Pavilion," Tang You came forward to express her gratitude.

She had only hoped Yan Jie was safe; she had never imagined her pavilion's blood debt could ever be repaid.

Ding Huan said to Tang You and Han Xiaonü:

"I know where Lady Liu and Madam Lou went. If I can save them, I won't stand idle—leave Jiuyuan City now."

"Yes." Han Xiaonü and Tang You knew they could offer no help by staying behind Ding Huan.

After Han Xiaonü and Tang You left, Fu Qijian said:

"Ding Huan, shall we go to the City Lord's mansion now?"

Ding Huan shook his head: "No. We must leave as quickly as possible."

He had originally planned to head to the City Lord's mansion after destroying the Changyan Academy, but while imprisoning the academy, he used Great Calculation Art to divine the future—he must leave immediately.

Ding Huan still had great faith in the Great Calculation Art.

After Ding Huan and Fu Qijian left Jiuyuan City, the entire city erupted in chaos.

Just days ago, the arrogant and dominant Changyan Academy had been wiped out—completely, utterly erased.

That alone was shocking, but worse still, the Jiuyuan City Lord, Wang Pingdao, had also been killed.

With the Changyan Academy gone and the City Lord dead, whispers began to spread among the crowd:

"The Changyan Academy thought that with several strong ones gone to the Opening Heaven Battlefield, they could recklessly destroy other sects—yet in the end, destruction came to them."

"Exactly. The Three Heavens' Star Continents are vast beyond measure, teeming with powerful beings—never push things to the extreme, for if you do, others will do the same to you."

"Do you know who Ding Huan is? He loves destroying sects—he's wiped out countless sects in the Daoist realm. Some call him Ding the Sect Destroyer."

"This Changyan Academy might just be the beginning—who knows how many more sects he'll annihilate?"

"Regardless of who Ding Huan is, wiping out Changyan Academy is one thing—but killing the Jiuyuan City Lord? That won't be easily settled."

"And Jiuyuan is about to receive powerful reinforcements—this matter has become enormous."

…

Ding Huan and Fu Qijian had just left Jiuyuan City.

Batch after batch of highly gifted cultivators from the Ascension Realm arrived in Jiuyuan City.

Because a very important event in the Ascension Realm was about to begin: Jiuyuan would be recruiting new disciples in Jiuyuan City.

Of course, every disciple Jiuyuan recruited was naturally without a single inferior talent.

Any disciple who entered Jiuyuan was a top talent among the Geda Sects, or rather, a prodigy.

The three prodigies of the Tiandao Sect—Gu Lianghui, Luo Xuan Xianzi, and Fan Lechang—also arrived in Jiuyuan City.

"Sister Luo Xuan, do you feel something's off about Jiuyuan City?"

As soon as he entered Jiuyuan City, Gu Lianghui sensed something was amiss.

"Something enormous happened here not long ago," a young voice interjected.

Gu Lianghui and the others turned and saw several men and women approaching together.

The speaking man, Gu Lianghui recognized—he was Jiu Lu from the Danding Sect, at the Fifth Layer of the True God realm.

Jiu Lu could only be called a cultivator with decent talent; the woman beside him was no ordinary person—her name was Xiang Qiuxu.

Xiang Qiuxu's cultivation was only the Third Layer of the True God realm, yet her age was not great—she was even under thirty, making her talent terrifyingly astonishing.

That was not even the peak of her talent; her greatest strength lay in the fact that she was a Level Seven Spirit Pill King.

Across the entire Threefold Heaven Star Continent, the number of people who could refine Level Seven Spirit Pills could be counted on one hand.

Most of those who could refine Level Seven Spirit Pills were old masters.

Someone like Xiang Qiuxu, under thirty and already refining Level Seven Spirit Pills, could not be described merely as a genius.

Add to that her beauty, which was not much inferior to Luo Xuan Xianzi's, and one could imagine how many sought her as a partner.

Among all the young talents of the Ascension Realm, few did not long to become her Dao partner.

Even Luo Xuan Xianzi had less popularity than Xiang Qiuxu; Luo Xuan Xianzi was beautiful, yes, but her temperament was cold and aloof, and she was merely stronger in Dao techniques.

Clearly, she was not a good Dao partner.

Xiang Qiuxu was different—her Dao techniques were formidable, and she was a Level Seven Spirit Pill King. If she became your Dao partner, the benefits she brought could not be measured by any other means.

"I humbly seek your guidance," Gu Lianghui quickly bowed and asked.

Since emerging from the Opening Heaven Battlefield, his temperament had become much gentler than before.

Jiu Lu sighed and said:

"Because a sect in Jiuyuan City was wiped out…"

"Was it the Yuan Yang Pavilion?" Gu Lianghui immediately asked.

Everyone knew the Yuan Yang Twin-Cultivation Pavilion had been destroyed by Chang Yan Academy.

But the Yuan Yang Pavilion was no major sect; its destruction should not have caused much impact.

"No, it was Chang Yan Academy," Jiu Lu replied.

"What?"

Upon hearing that Chang Yan Academy had been wiped out, not only Gu Lianghui and Luo Xuan Xianzi and the others, but everyone who had just arrived and heard the news froze in shock.

Chang Yan Academy wiped out? How was that possible? Chang Yan Academy had seven or eight human immortals and was one of the Five Great Sects of the Ascension Realm—how could such a force be destroyed?

"Brother Jiu, you say Chang Yan Academy was wiped out? Who had the audacity and ability to do this?"

This time, the speaker was a woman; from her tone of shock, it was clear she could not believe it was true.

If Ding Huan were here, he would certainly recognize this woman.

Cen Fengqin of the Changyuan Sword Dao—after years apart, she was now at the First Layer of the True God realm; she had come here hoping for luck, to see if she might be chosen by Jiuyuan.

Jiu Lu smiled: "I heard it was a sect master from the Dao cultivation realm named Ding Huan—he and another person destroyed Chang Yan Academy."

"Master Ding? How could he possibly be this powerful?" Not only Luo Xuan Xianzi and the others were shocked, even Cen Fengqin was stunned.

Cen Fengqin knew well how formidable Ding Huan was—when she was still at the Void God realm, she had suffered defeat at his hands.

Later, she heard Ding Huan killed Shi Chuncang of the Shi family before Shi Qiqiu's eyes, and was the one who led everyone out of the Opening Heaven Battlefield; she had always been wary of him.

In her view, even if Ding Huan was powerful, he could not possibly wipe out Chang Yan Academy.

Jiu Lu said: "I heard the man who joined Ding Huan was Fu Qi, the owner of Fu Qi Sword Workshop—Fu Qi and Ding Huan together destroyed Chang Yan Academy. And that's not all—Fu Qi also killed the city lord of Jiuyuan City, Wang Wang Pingdao."

Everyone drew a sharp breath; all here knew Wang Wang Pingdao's origins.

Wang Wang Pingdao was a product of Jiuyuan itself—otherwise, how could he have become city lord of Jiuyuan City at only the Third Layer of the Human Immortal realm?

"Why did Master Ding wipe out Chang Yan Academy?" another asked.

Before Jiu Lu could answer, someone volunteered:

"I heard Chancellor Shi had a feud with Ding Huan, and Ding Huan killed Shi Chuncang of the Shi family right before Chancellor Shi's eyes."

Jiu Lu shook his head:

"That's not it. It's because Chang Yan Academy wiped out the Yuan Yang Pavilion and slaughtered every woman inside."

Ding Huan must have had a deep connection with the pavilion's mistress, Lou Fenyen—this is why he intervened and destroyed Chang Yan Academy."

"Hmph, clearly a scoundrel, a piece of trash. Fraternizing with a bunch of shameless women, he wiped out Chang Yan Academy, one of our Ascension Realm's great sects!"

To everyone's surprise, Xiang Qiuxu, the prodigy of the Danding Sect, sneered coldly, showing no restraint in her anger.

"Sister Xiang, watch your words," Jiu Lu quickly warned.

(That's all for today's update, friends—goodnight! Extra chapters are still barely holding on—Lao Wu here humbly asks for monthly votes! I won't dare ask when there are no extra chapters.)