Chapter 135: Slaughter

Wang Si and the others were still dealing with Wang Wu, who had split the Arhat Hall with a single strike, in the Six Paths Palace's station, when suddenly a clear, resonant bronze bell sound rang out.

Wang Si, Wu Ri, Cha Li, Wu Gang, and Fei Yi, the chief seat of the Incense Kitchen Hall, were all startled and hurried to a majestic hall beside the collapsed Arhat Hall—this was also the main hall of the Six Paths Palace in Great Dragon City.

Inside the hall, hundreds of stone futons were neatly arranged; on the heavy lamp stands, thousands of animal-oil lamps shed bright light, illuminating the entire hall.

Inside the hall stood an offering table bearing several ritual vessels; in the center was a bronze bell the size of a water tank, cast in the shape of a dragon's head. As the group entered the hall, the bronze bell sounded again of its own accord.

Wang Si and the others solemnly bowed before the bronze bell.

A thin mist of light swirled across the bell's surface, and a deep, resonant, powerful voice issued from it: "Wang Si, Wu Ri, Cha Li, Wu Gang, bring all your direct disciples and hurry to Six Paths City."

The light mist faded; Wang Si and the others exchanged a glance and then shouted in unison.

Soon, the direct disciples under Wang Si and the others, ranging from Chonglou Realm to Guanxuan Realm and from Guanxuan Realm to Foundation Establishment Realm, numbered in the thousands. They formed neat ranks, mounted various steeds, and thundered out of Great Dragon City.

Within Great Dragon City, all affairs of the Six Paths Palace's station were placed under the joint control of the Guest Hall's chief seat and Li Meng of the Li family, who was at odds with Tie Dajian. This included all Six Paths Palace disciples tasked with guarding the Great Dragon Cave; their authority was temporarily transferred to Li Meng.

Inside the inn, Wu Tie brooded in his room; beside him, a green fireball the size of a water tank blazed fiercely, as piles of gold coins continually flew into it, melting into golden liquid that, under the constraint of an invisible force field, was shaped into exquisitely cut gold ingots.

Next to the fireball, icy winds howled; the red-hot gold ingots flew out of the fireball and were swiftly plunged into the cold wind.

A continual "hiss" sounded; the gold ingots cooled rapidly, then flew back into the bracer, neatly stacked in each metal box.

Wu Tie's work efficiency was high; he needed do nothing himself, for the invisible force field alone sufficed to complete this tedious recasting and shaping process.

After all, this is the Great Dragon Region, the Six Paths Palace's territory; to recklessly spend tens of millions of longevity gold coins minted by the Changsheng Sect on purchases would be sheer folly for Wu Tie—nothing but inviting trouble.

The shamaness sat quietly at the table, eyes narrowed as she watched Wu Tie forge gold ingots; she clutched a large roasted leg of beast, munching happily with "bah-bah" sounds.

The door gave a soft click as Lao Bai sneaked back in.

The Rat people's intelligence network is highly efficient; in Great Dragon City, as long as one is willing to pay, those specialized Rat information brokers can smoothly glean all kinds of news from Six Paths Palace disciples.

This caravan, whose hair and eye colors differ from those of the nearby peoples of the Great Dragon Region, hails from an extremely distant place, separated from the Great Dragon Region by roughly thirty great domains of outer territory.

That is indeed an extraordinarily long distance; given that traveling between great domains usually takes one or two months, this caravan's one-way journey alone would require at least several years to reach the Great Dragon Region.

Moreover, this demands that they not lose their way, not take a wrong turn, not encounter bandits or sudden dangers, and must travel along the nearest route, unimpeded, in order to spend years arriving here.

"How strange, such a long road… just thinking about it frightens me." Lao Bai repeatedly shook his head in lament.

The straight-line distance exceeds thirty great domains—what an incredibly remote journey, what a vast expanse to cross. Generally, a caravan that plies trade between two great domains already turns a profit.

If one could transport goods between three to five great domains, that would be a superlative great merchants' association, with annual profits an astronomical figure.

Any farther would be pointless; if one went further, not to mention the excessive time cost on the road, merely encountering various risks and being obstructed or plundered by great powers everywhere would increase dramatically.

Therefore, ordinary caravans normally travel only within the few great domains they know well.

Only elite disciples like Tie Dajian, specially dispatched by the Six Paths Palace to gather outer-region data, would spend long years traversing dozens of great domains, collecting information and road maps from everywhere.

Tie Dajian spent nearly three hundred years, yet he merely covered the dozens of great domains surrounding the Great Dragon Region; his farthest reach was roughly a straight-line distance of ten great domains.

Yet this caravan said to hail from the Three Linked Regions behaves in a way that is almost unbelievable.

The false sun above Great Dragon City gradually dimmed, the "night" of the Great Dragon Cave was descending, and a muffled clapper sound suddenly rang out on the city streets. Dozens of squads of Six Paths Palace disciples patrolled the thoroughfares, and more disciples came to the inn where Wu Tie was staying.

They rudely knocked on each guest's door, and the Six Paths Palace disciples warned in gruff voices that Changsheng Sect spies had infiltrated the Great Dragon Cave and the city; tonight, the entire Great Dragon Cave was under martial law.

The Six Paths Palace would mobilize all its forces to exterminate the invading Changsheng Sect spies; any hotel guest who dared step outside the hotel doors would be deemed an enemy of the Six Paths Palace.

"Whatever you need to eat or drink, the inn's maids will bring it to your rooms." The Six Paths Palace disciples' loud voice echoed throughout the inn: "You had best not even leave your own rooms, for if any Blood Light calamity occurs, do not blame us of the Six Paths Palace."

Hearing the commotion outside, Wu Tie came to his room door and looked out.

Several Six Paths Palace disciples in full heavy armor strode proudly down the corridor outside the door; upon seeing Wu Tie, one of them suddenly halted, bared his teeth, and pointed fiercely at him.

Wu Tie recognized this fellow; earlier that day he had traded with the Six Paths Palace, exchanging the Eighteen-Style Arhat Subduing Demon Blade for Tie Dajian and several crates of eighth- and seventh-grade primordial herbs, and when leaving the Six Paths Palace, this man had been one of those who glared at Wu Tie from the doorway.

"What do you mean?" Wu Tie regarded him with a cold stare.

"Be careful!" the man snapped, stepping forward and jabbing his finger hard into Wu Tie's chest, producing a loud "thud".

The man had still wanted to say something, but his finger struck Wu Tie's thoracic vertebra; the thin layer of flesh over Wu Tie's bone was as hard as iron plating, while the bone beneath was absurdly hard.

With a "crack," the man's finger bone dislocated, and his tendons seemed to be tearing.

A stabbing pain shot through him; his face twitched, he gritted his teeth and stifled a cry. He glared at Wu Tie, his right hand trembling violently.

"You want to fight?" Wu Tie coldly eyed him: "Should I lend you a bit of courage? I know your Discipline Hall chief seat Wang Si, Heavenly King Hall chief seat Wu Ri, Vajra Hall chief seat Cha Li, and Arhat Hall chief seat Wu Gang. Are you sure you want to turn against me and come to blows?"

Wu Tie maliciously extended his hand, his slightly protruding fingernail lightly scraping the man's breastplate.

This man's armor was clearly a fine set of Yuan Soldier Heavy Armor, inscribed with numerous protective runes, and inside lay a formation linking all the runes together.

Wu Tie's fingernail was razor‑sharp to the point of recklessness; where it passed, the breastplate was sliced into five smooth half‑inch deep grooves, the inner formation patterns were ripped apart, protective runes burst in fragments, and every plate of the armor flared with blinding sparks, continually cracking and collapsing.

In the span of a breath, the whole suit of armor collapsed into a heap of broken copper and iron that fell to the ground.

Wu Tie laughed at him: "Oh dear, who sold you this armor? Shoddy goods—do you dare wear it to slaughter? I guarantee, if you dare wear it to fight, you won't last a single breath."

Wu Tie laughed brightly.

The man's face turned deathly pale; he stared at Wu Tie's five fingers as if seeing a ghost, then turned and left without a word.

The man himself was a Chonglou Realm cultivator, and his armor could withstand frenzied critical hits from experts below the twelfth heaven of Chonglou Realm without damage.

Wu Tie merely dragged his fingernail across the breastplate, and the entire armor shattered.

If it came to a head‑on fight… Wu Tie killing him would be nothing more than a snap of the fingers.

Wu Tie's combat power is at least equivalent to a being above the fifteenth heaven of Chonglou Realm…… Chonglou Realm: each layer a heaven, each layer a vista, each layer a world‑shaking overturning of strength.

With more than three heavens of cultivation, Wu Tie could kill him with a single exhaled breath.

Trembling all over, the man stumbled far away until the end of the corridor, then turned with his companions and glared hatefully at Wu Tie.

"This place is the territory of my Six Paths Palace." The man snarled: "The experts of my Six Paths Palace are beyond what you outsiders can imagine."

"I know your Discipline Hall chief seat, I know your Heavenly King Hall chief seat, I know…" Wu Tie then rattled off the titles of Wang Si, Wu Ri, and the others; the men's faces fell and they turned and fled in disarray.

The Six Paths Palace's experts…… aren't these the very people Wu Tie just named the Six Paths Palace's experts?

"How absurd, bringing disgrace upon oneself." Wu Tie snorted, reached out, and the shamaness obediently leapt onto his palm, then climbed up his arm to perch on his shoulder, continuing to gnaw her roasted beast leg.

"Be careful, I have a feeling this isn't just a matter of Changsheng Sect spies." Wu Tie frowned, sensing he had overlooked something.

But his experience was still lacking; he vaguely sensed some clues, yet he simply couldn't pull them from his mind and form a clear picture.

"Feeling a bit uneasy…… Old Bai, go scout again…… Be careful, spend more gold coins, let your clansmen cover you……" Wu Tie threw several gold ingots at Old Bai: "At this time, surely the rat people are running all over the streets; those Six Paths Palace disciples wouldn't not let their own information dealers do business, would they?"

Old Bai, grinning contentedly, clutched several gold bricks and slipped away in a puff of smoke.

As Wu Tie expected, now every corner of Long Dragon City is teeming with countless rat people scurrying about—some are direct subordinates of the Six Paths Palace, some are information brokers, and others are spies sent by various merchant caravans.

Everyone haggled tacitly, exchanged information friendly; no matter how the Six Paths Palace imposes martial law, the rat people's information flow cannot be delayed.

Night had deepened; at a place over two li outside the city, the members of the Drifting Troupe were already asleep.

Around several campfires, the troupe's night watch, their heads drooping, began to doze off.

After all, this is outside Long Dragon City, after all it's Six Paths Palace territory—who would expect danger here? Especially since the Drifting Troupe isn't a wealthy caravan; even if bold thieves came to trade here, they wouldn't target the Drifting Troupe.

Silently, figures streamed in from all directions.

Blood-red cloaks, bright silver armor inlaid with gold patterns, uniform standardized armor—these indicated they came from a massive force.

Their longswords spat cold light, the blades wrapped in a half‑inch layer of crystalline radiance.

This proves their sword‑forging technique surpasses that of the Cangyan Realm, the Long Dragon Realm, and the craftsmanship of dozens of surrounding great realms by a wide margin.

Within that half‑inch halo, countless dense, intricate runes swam like nimble fish, emanating an unsettling dangerous aura.

Over a hundred thin figures, wearing half‑body armor and blood‑red cloaks, wielding staffs, flew into the sky and slowly, from a height of a thousand meters above the ground, encircled the entire encampment of the Drifting Troupe.

A bearded man like a lion, over two meters tall, wearing gold armor and likewise draped in a blood‑red cloak, gripped a massive door‑panel sword with both hands, standing on a small mound hundreds of meters away, coldly eyeing the besieged troupe's camp.

"Twelve years have passed—really not a short time…… This time, I can't let him escape again."

"I miss my precious little daughter Lisa…… When I was ordered to leave, she was still a tiny tot."

"Now she should be a pretty little girl."

"I miss my daughter, I miss my son, I miss my wife, I miss those companions."

"Twelve years……"

The big man muttered gloomily: "What a waste of life…… To go back, even if we abandon all baggage and rush at full speed, the road would still take at least three years…… What a waste of life."

"Kill them, leave none, strictly prevent any of his bloodline from surviving…… As for him, capture him alive; without his bloodline we can never activate the ultimate form of the Three‑Linked City, open its royal treasury, and we will forever remain rebels, unable to become masters of the Three‑Linked City‑State."

"Kill everyone; only he must remain alive."

The big man cracked a grin, gave a dry chuckle: "Really…… how ironic, among so many princes and princesses, not one is our old king's own…… What the hell is this?"

In the high sky, hundreds of thin figures simultaneously waved their hands downward.

The surrounding air surged violently; the air within a hundred‑mile radius collapsed inward with all its might, then slammed hard into the Drifting Troupe's camp.

With a deafening boom, the entire camp sank three meters into the ground; countless bodies were instantly torn apart, exploding into clouds of blood mist.

Just one strike, and ninety percent of the Drifting Troupe's members were reduced to bone fragments.