Chapter 535: Nothing Is More Beautiful Than the Death of a Beauty

Hei Hei Louxi marched across the battlefield, her feathered armor gleaming, her figure supple, a pair of massive black wings rising and falling behind her, each flap bringing forth torrents of death.

In a short time, several more Jin Dan peak cultivators of the General Heishi clan perished, and countless surrounding Jin Dan cultivators lay dead on the ground.

"Ghost…"

Many direct-line General Heishi Golden Core cultivators stared in terror at the battlefield.

Centuries of experience and combat wisdom told them that fleeing meant death—maximum casualties on the battlefield did not come from the front lines, but from the pursuit and slaughter of retreating forces.

Yet other voices, equally rooted in centuries of experience and combat wisdom, warned that holding firm would lead to total annihilation, not one left alive.

In the Cultivation World, morale matters—but not that much.

Fear born of the desire to survive, the longing for life, rational thought—all mixed together—left many Jin Dan cultivators mentally chaotic, their battle formations slow to respond, and the rate of Jin Dan deaths accelerated further.

While Hei Hei Louxi was unleashing her full might, no one knew an invisible shadow was slowly approaching.

"The aura of Fa Yi…"

Jiang Ding's eyes flickered, revealing anticipation.

A middle-aged man in green robes appeared suddenly behind Hei Hei Louxi, holding an iron ruler, stroking his handsome beard, his expression upright and righteous, radiating the demeanor of a true Daoist master.

Boom!

The instant of first contact, the black shield shattered, its spiritual light dissolving.

Hei Hei Louxi severed a late-stage Golden Core cultivator with her wings; the direct-line Golden Core formation was on the verge of collapse, and her guard unconsciously slackened—then her pupils contracted, a jolt of terror striking her.

Boom!

Like two iron mountains colliding, sparks erupted, piercing sonic waves threatening to rupture eardrums, slicing the ground into jagged fragments.

Hei Hei Louxi's fair face turned ashen, and she cried out sharply.

The instant of second contact, spiderweb cracks spread from the point of impact across her feathered armor, then turned to dust, revealing a tall, graceful woman with a single crimson beauty mark beside her lip.

The iron ruler descended, striking the back of her skull.

Beautiful as she was, fitting as she was, Hei Hei Louxi's death delighted him immensely.

"Who?"

After all, a beautiful thing withering before one's eyes, blood and death blooming like fresh flowers, unrelated to oneself—

This was clearly a heavy artifact at the peak of Earthly Demon Fulfillment; though only a foot long, it weighed at least one hundred thousand Jin Zhi Zhong—no flesh and blood could withstand it, not even an iron mountain could escape being crushed to powder.

"Hei Yu Pan!"

The sudden transformation drew every eye.

In a blur, an ancient-looking black jade disc, radiating mysterious light, materialized at the back of her skull, blocking the iron ruler at the last possible instant.

An iron ruler, silent and unseen, had crept up, poised for a long time, and now smashed toward the back of the feathered woman's skull.

Hei Hei Louxi spat blood and reeled backward; the once elegantly curved back of her skull had collapsed into a large crater, with faint white pulp and blood oozing out.

What a magnificent scene this would be.

"Puff!"

This was her rare ancient treasure, forged of unknown material, always unbreakable, highly sentient, capable of self-defense, having saved her life countless times.

Looking at her face, blood gushed from her mouth and nose, her lovely visage now obscured by filth and gore, grotesque and terrifying, her aura plummeting like a cliff's edge, starkly contrasting her earlier majesty.

"The world holds many heroes—no matter how strong you are, lose the initiative, and you're useless."

Jiang Ding silently admired this scene of a beauty's withering, unable to suppress a sigh.

At this moment, the upright middle-aged man's appearance was fully revealed.

"True Person Guichi!"

"We pay our respects, True Person! Thank you for your intervention!"

The Northern Plain clans' strict distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate branches, orderly succession, and established rules!

Each bowed deeply, ignoring the battlefield's peril, their etiquette and posture flawless—as if they had been specially trained, all identical.

"Guichi!"

In contrast, the collateral Jin Dan cultivators were stricken with grief and terror.

The Northern Plain's leading orthodox sect—the Guishan Iron Clan—True Person Guichi!

Jiang Ding's eyes flickered, recalling the man's dossier.

A cultivator who had comprehended Fa Yi, he had shone brilliantly on the battlefield against the Dari Sect, his fame spreading far and wide—but more renowned than his strength was his signature fighting style: always lurking in shadows, smashing skulls from behind.

"Fascinating."

Jiang Ding, however, focused more on why the Guishan Iron Clan and True Person Guichi had intervened.

Guishan Iron Clan.

Why was it called "Guishan"? Why was it revered as the Northern Plain's orthodox patriarch?

Because their way of survival was built upon rules!

The Northern Plain clans' strict distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate heirs, orderly succession, and established rules!

Just as the General Heishi clan's Spirit Beast Immortal City specialized in skinning, using the products themselves and selling the surplus for needed pills and heavenly treasures, and the Long Long Xingshang clan thrived on commerce to obtain what they required—

The Guishan Iron Clan also had its own livelihood.

Namely: rules.

Every year, across the Northern Plain, legitimate cultivators summoned members of the Guishan Iron Clan to witness weddings, funerals, marriages, and the succession of positions and family lineages.

To verify whether these events conformed to Northern Plain clan rules: whether the heir was of legitimate bloodline, whether he met the seniority order, whether he had received approval from higher-ranking elders… and so on.

Generally, if a legitimate cultivator's wedding or funeral lacked a witness from the Guishan Iron Clan, no other clan would recognize it.

In return, the legitimate cultivators naturally offered vast quantities of spirit stones and heavenly treasures to the Iron Clan as tribute for their labor.

Even when no weddings or funerals occurred, they still sent substantial offerings.

And the Guishan Iron Clan must respond in kind.

They had to maintain orderly succession and clear bloodlines among the legitimate branches across the Northern Plains. Whenever something violated that order — a subordinate striking a superior, a runaway slave killing their master, an outsider Nascent Soul appearing — they were obligated to deal with it, even at the cost of their own lives.

That was the condition for receiving tribute every year.

Of course, after the rise of the Dari Sect, maintaining order became increasingly difficult. Outsider Nascent Souls not only appeared but nearly wiped out their entire clan, and great bandits like Blood Flowing Cloud emerged one after another — nothing like the ease of a thousand years ago.

However,

Even so, a change in the legitimate-branch status of the entire clan—a violation of the bottom line, a collapse of rites and music—could never be permitted!

For ten thousand years, what had the Tie family been receiving tribute from so many legitimate-branch cultivators for?

Precisely to secure their own position!

If they took no further action, the Tie family's foundation would be finished.

"You… how despicable!"

Hei Hei Louxi stared fixedly at the sanctimonious middle-aged cultivator opposite her, her heart full of regret.

In terms of personal strength, she was inferior.

But after commanding the army formation, that man was no match for her — even combined with Black Sky Ripple's army formation, they still weren't her match; at most they could escape.

If she had been a little more careful, had not been so smug and lost her vigilance the first time she revealed her full strength, she would never have fallen to such a result.

"Slaying a wretch who knows no human relations, who strikes at his superiors, who knows no respect for rank — where is the despicability in that?"

True Person Ruler smiled gently, unbothered.

With a beckoning gesture, the iron ruler swelled into a pillar dozens of zhang tall, carrying a vast shadow, sending out rings of heavy ripples as it smashed down viciously at the woman on the ground.