Chapter 1072: The Sinners' Fresh Blood Washes Away the Filth of Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting

Under the will of Canghai Tianjun, the entire Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting Cultivation World began to be shrouded in a faint crimson hue.

Over ninety thousand sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital were all mobilized, and they often chose to come in the dead of night to the cave abodes of certain cultivators, knocking on the door with solemn courtesy, saying there were matters that needed to be communicated.

As for why the Great Sun Sword Capital's hundred thousand sword cultivators numbered only ninety thousand plus?

Because the internal purge had already been completed: in voluntary and fair sword duels, death-penalty sword cultivators faced life-and-death combat against sword cultivators who challenged them one after another; killing one person earned them several hours of rest to recover magic power and divine sense.

Then, another sword cultivator would challenge that death-penalty sword cultivator.

If no one dared to challenge anymore, multiple cultivators would surround and kill the death-penalty sword cultivator, carrying out Master Tushan's law upon them.

—This situation almost never occurred; in an emerging and upward-bound sword cultivator collective, such a battle-fearing sword cultivator could never climb to a high position, unable to advance to the Nascent Soul realm.

This cycle repeated until the death-penalty sword cultivator died.

In the desert, in the great sea, in the mountains and wilds, within formations that sealed off inside and out, the sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital held one life-and-death sword duel after another; the fresh blood of high-rank sword cultivators flowed ceaselessly, the spiritual light of their life-bound flying swords dimmed as they fell to the ground, and one more life in the world was gone.

Until at last, all the death-penalty sword cultivators had perished, and sword intent shot straight into the clouds.

Many sword cultivators' sword intent broke through during this process, their comprehension of swordsmanship increasing greatly; a single bloody battle was comparable to dozens or hundreds of years of bitter cultivation, intoxicating to the soul.

Countless sword cultivators ended the affair with lingering unwillingness, dispersing in all directions with even stronger desire to carry out Master Tushan Canghai Tianjun's will.

"Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun, on the eighteenth day of the ninth month, two hundred and nine years ago, while serving as city lord of Yellow Sand Xiancheng in the Western Desert, you privately killed several million mortals and low- to mid-rank cultivators and demon cultivators, slaughtered nineteen Golden Core cultivators in one locale, refined them into the demonic treasure Eighteen Demonic Fire Skulls, and then disguised it as a black sandstorm disaster. Did this happen or not?"

Mu Mu Tianxue smiled as she looked at a short, plump, exceedingly kindly old man who had stepped out from his cave abode's formation — a cultivator at the early Nascent Soul realm.

The aura around her fluctuated as she sealed her own cultivation down to the peak of Golden Core Stage; unless she suffered an attack from someone other than her sword-duel opponent, the seal would not be lifted.

Even if she died in battle.

This was a secret art developed over these three hundred years by numerous Nascent Soul sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Sect; even a peak Nascent Soul cultivator could not violate the seal they themselves had set.

There was no way around it.

With Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting's external enemies all gone, only criminal death-penalty cultivators could be put to death; each one was incomparably precious, and their lives had to be utilized to the utmost, with no waste permitted.

Besides Mu Mu Tianxue, there were also several thousand sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital surrounding the area, among them seven late Nascent Soul cultivators, twenty-one early- and mid-Nascent Soul cultivators, and the rest juniors of Golden Core Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage.

They were here to serve

as a reserve force, to prevent Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun from escaping, and to take over from her and continue the sword duel should Mu Mu Tianxue die in battle.

One had to understand that there were only twenty-seven death-penalty Nascent Soul Zhenjuns; each one was very precious and could not be wasted.

Of course, other Nascent Soul Zhenjuns did not have the arrogance to suppress their own cultivation down to the peak of Golden Core Stage — that would be seeking death.

Apart from the law-enforcement sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital, as Mu Mu Tianxue's voice spread outward, many Golden Core, Foundation Establishment, and Nascent Soul cultivators in the surroundings were startled and gathered toward this place, watching in fury.

In the eyes of these many people, Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun was a sincere and honest elder, kind to others; beneath his plump exterior beat a kindly heart. In ordinary days he often looked after the juniors and treated his peers extremely well, so many cultivators instinctively wanted to step forward for him.

However, upon seeing the sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital, many cultivators' pupils contracted and they instinctively took a step back.

The Great Sun Sword Capital!

Over these several hundred years, as the Great Sun Sword Capital gleefully took up the duties of law-enforcement cultivators, its reputation had been deteriorating rapidly, and it had already acquired various vile names such as "imperial court's hounds," "running dogs," and "butchers." It had always been despised and feared by people, and could be said to be an existence loathed by man and dog alike in the Master Tushan Cultivation World.

For an ordinary cultivator, to say they had a sword cultivator friend was grounds for their surrounding friends to cut ties with them.

Over these several hundred years, whenever the cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Capital moved out collectively, it invariably meant a guilty cultivator was about to die — and to die in a cruel sword duel, without exception.

Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun walked out with an ashen face; though his complexion had always been pale to begin with, now it was pale tinged with blue, terror pushed to the extreme.

Ice Blood Master Dinghai Zhenjun Mu Mu Tianxue!

A peak Nascent Soul cultivator!

She had once followed Master Tushan Canghai Tianjun on campaigns in all directions, slaying countless enemies; over the past several hundred years she had faintly borne the title of the strongest Master Dinghai Zhenjun in Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting. How could he, Skull Spirit, an early Nascent Soul cultivator, even compare?

"Could there be some misunderstanding?"

"Senior Ice Blood…"

Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun's voice was dry and rasping, and he said with bitter anguish: "If you wish to take this junior's life, you need only say so outright — why go to such pains to frame and slander me?"

"Outside Yellow Sand Xiancheng, black sandstorms occur every several dozen years; they occasionally shift and fall upon populated areas. What does that have to do with this junior?"

"The Great Sun Sword Capital carries the expectations of Canghai Tianjun — is it so that you may wantonly frame good and virtuous cultivators?"

"You sword cultivators hone your swords with blood — do you truly think no one knows?!"

Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun said furiously.

His words swiftly stirred the empathy of the surrounding cultivators, who were filled with righteous indignation.

Hounds and running dogs like the Great Sun Sword Capital — no one believed they would enforce the law impartially; their thirst for life and blood was too great, and they had strong vested interests.

In the eyes of many cultivators, this

was a conspiracy by sword cultivators against law cultivators.

Following Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun's words, Mu Mu Tianxue slightly restrained her killing intent.

No matter how outsiders viewed it or whether they approved, they had to explain everything clearly and demonstrate that all their actions conformed to Master Tushan's law, or disaster would follow.

"Skull Spirit, you are glib indeed."

Mu Mu Tianxue revealed a charming smile: "Your life-bound demonic treasure, the Eighteen Demonic Fire Skulls — where did so many skulls and living souls come from?"

"You say it was a chance encounter, obtained from an ancient cultivator's cave abode. Then, would you be willing to come with me to the Qi Sect for examination, to determine whether these skulls are recent or ancient?"

"I recall that the number of human and demon cultivator corpses you purchased was hardly sufficient, wasn't it?"

Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting had long ago ordered the destruction of many Mo Dao Gong Fa that used humans as raw materials, but there were always those who sought shortcuts — either developing new ones, or applying orthodox methods to demonic purposes.

In the past, Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting had also confiscated many Mo Dao Fa treasures; these were valuable wealth and were not destroyed. Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun had exploited this legal loophole.

"Furthermore,"

Mu Mu Tianxue glanced at the hazy sun in the sky and tapped with one finger: "This is what you did back then."

A hazy light bloomed from her fingertip — it was a scene from over two hundred years ago: a black-robed, masked figure who had just advanced to Nascent Soul Stage continuously altering the direction of a black sandstorm, and finally, within the black sandstorm, wantonly collecting the essence-blood and living souls of a million people.

"No!"

"This is fabricated by you!"

Skull Spirit Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face went deathly pale.

His body trembled.

He could not comprehend it; two hundred years had passed, yet someone could still uncover the events of that year, and with such detail, as if they had witnessed it firsthand.

"That is not for you to decide."

Mu Mu Tianxue revealed a greedy smile, slowly drawing a long sword of flowing fresh blood.

"Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun, outside the walls of Master Tushan Xiancheng, you slaughtered a million living beings. The Law Hall of Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting has sentenced you to death. Execute immediately. Executioner: Mu Mu Tianxue."

A jade slip bearing the great seal of the Law Hall and signed by the avatar of Tushan Canghai Tianjun floated forth; the characters upon it illuminated all directions, clearly visible to those around.

"This is unjust!"

"Just some mere ants!"

Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun knew there was no room for maneuver; he let out a bitter laugh.

His face twisted into a hideous grimace, tearing away the guise of kindness he had worn; he burned his vital blood and fled madly into the distance, seeking a sliver of life for himself.