Chapter 97: A Thorough, Complete Purge

"How dare you! Who dares lay a hand on our Holy Church!"

Two disheveled figures burst out from the ruins, faces full of fury — they were none other than the Branch Hall Master and Vice Hall Master of this Holy Church branch.

The expanded range had also weakened the power somewhat.

Therefore these two Divine Image Realm cultivators had survived thanks to their spirit artifacts, but their combat strength was already reduced to a tenth of what it was, their auras withered.

They glared furiously at their surroundings, trying to find the enemy.

But what greeted them were only two invisible slashes — in an instant their heads had already relocated from their necks, their bodies half-kneeling on the ground as copious blood splattered everywhere, the scene incomparably bloody.

As for the several hundred Holy Church members inside the church, they naturally went to meet their god.

On top of the city wall.

The people from the various major forces who were watching this scene were stunned speechless.

That power just now… was man-made?

Jiang Qin spoke again, his voice calm: "Next."

Qiu Jie swallowed, hurriedly lowering her head to check the map.

"Feng Family, residing at the south-city coordinates…"

"Li Family, north-city, coordinates…"

Her voice at this moment was like the Grim Reaper beckoning — every time she spoke, a bolt of thunder would fall from the heavens to destroy everything; if one wasn't enough, then another would follow.

In less than three minutes, the three largest civilian forces in Dongxing Shi had already become non-existent in all but name.

The number of dead Martial Artists had already exceeded 2,000.

Jiang Qin, however, felt it was still far from enough, so he looked at Qiu Jie and said coldly: "This few people still isn't enough! Tell me the coordinates of those families who only sent servants and stewards — they're being cleaned out anyway, so let's just kill them all in one go!"

The moment these words came out, the people of those nine families were terrified.

They hurriedly ran to kneel directly below Jiang Qin, their eyes filled with terror as they kowtowed continuously, their voices trembling.

"C-Commander Jiang, please give us one more chance!"

"Yes, we absolutely won't dare next time. Right… our Lin Family has money and people — our Lin Family can donate all our money, and as for people, I can persuade the clan head to have every Martial Artist in the clan join the army, at your complete disposal!"

"Please give us one more chance!"

Every kind of excuse was offered, their postures humble to the extreme.

But the people beside them had no heart to mock or belittle them — only a chill ran through them. Having witnessed a scene like that just now, their courage had been completely shattered; it had already exceeded the scope of their understanding of Divine Image Realm Martial Artists.

"Bang—!"

The crack of sniper rifles rang out, and the nine kneeling, kowtowing figures collapsed one after another into pools of blood.

Four soldiers not far away holstered their sniper rifles, their eyes containing only coldness and exhilaration.

In the past, these families clearly had the ability to slay Fierce Beasts yet hid behind the city wall, even using ordinary people as their human shields — they simply didn't treat human lives as anything. Now they've gotten what they deserved!

Not a single ripple stirred in Jiang Qin's eyes as he looked at the remaining people.

"Let me advise you not to misunderstand."

"I don't care at all about the Martial Artists under your management, but as long as there's a second voice besides mine in this Dongxing Shi, then even if I have to slaughter half the city's Martial Artists, I won't hesitate in the slightest."

Jiang Qin had no time to slowly restore order, so he chose the most hassle-free and most direct method — at the same time, using this approach to tell certain people something.

Order still stands. Even if the times change, it should be Jiang Qin who changes them!

As Qiu Jie tremblingly reported the coordinates, several bolts of thunder fell from the sky, carrying terrifying power, and amid the screams of Martial Artists one after another, thoroughly purged them.

Many were killed — perhaps if they had united, they could have formed a decent force.

But Jiang Qin didn't care.

What this land never lacked was two-legged creatures walking about.

Only with absolutely iron-fisted methods could those with rebellious intentions be intimidated.

…

About half an hour later.

Staff members took out equipment and began recording.

Those usually incomparably arrogant scions of Martial Artist families were now, one by one, trembling with fear, scrambling over each other to come register — terrified that being a step too slow would get their entire clan wiped out by that devil. It was simply too terrifying!

He casually wiped out over a dozen families, killing several thousand people without the slightest hesitation.

Afterward.

Chen Xiaohu walked over to Jiang Qin, hesitated, then spoke:

"Boss, I feel like there should have been a better way to handle this. Those families are certainly hateful, but the servants and ordinary people in their households are innocent — this time, I'm afraid quite a few were killed by mistake."

Jiang Qin glanced sideways at him. "Looks like you're not cut out to be a leader. If we don't wipe those people out in one go, once they get word and flee, how many more people will be dragged in then? And how much more will it cost us to completely eliminate them?"

Luo Jun beside them nodded in agreement — he had a military background.

Jiang Qin's method was undoubtedly the optimal choice.

Now he genuinely admired the young man before him from the bottom of his heart — whether in strength or temperament, both were impeccable; he had even achieved the best in every aspect. No wonder he had been designated as the new leader of the Zhenling Bureau Inside the Circle.

That Bureau Chief Yue truly made an incomparably correct decision.

…

Tens of thousands of li away from Dongxing Shi.

That is, Qu Wai.

A hundred-meter-tall, towering city wall stood upon the earth, stretching beyond sight.

Danger was the norm here.

Countless fresh blood had dyed the originally bronze-colored city wall into a Xuese Changcheng.

The generals atop the city wall, having just repelled a wave of beast tide, sat cross-legged to rest. The beast tide attacked ferociously — often launching over a dozen assaults a day, never giving them a chance to catch their breath, so they had to remain in a constant state of combat readiness.

And a hundred li beyond the Xuese Changcheng stood a massive Otherworld Rift.

No—this Rift couldn't even be described as enormous; its length spanned several thousand meters, and countless Fierce Beasts had emerged from within it, and as Time passed, it was continuously expanding.

Inside one of the command posts.

Yue Beishan, as the former Director-General of the East China Bureau, after taking up his post at the Frontier was responsible for serving as the person in charge of a war zone.

The high-end combat power of this war zone was basically composed of personnel from the Zhenling Bureau.

He was at this moment pondering the possible Time of the Fierce Beasts' next attack.

A liaison officer rushed in, a look of joy on his face.

"Commander Yue, we just received news transmitted from Inside the Circle!"

"The matter you told me to keep an eye on has a result—half a Day ago, Jiang Qin suddenly appeared at Dongxing Jidi Shi!"

Hearing this, Yue Beishan subconsciously stood up, his expression full of pleasant surprise.

"Is it true!"

"Absolutely no mistake!" The liaison officer nodded vigorously and continued: "Not only that, the moment Jiang Qin showed up, he single-handedly resolved a medium-scale beast tide, then wiped out more than a dozen Martial Artist factions within Dongxing Jidi Shi, completely bloodwashing those families."

Hearing this, Yue Beishan behind the desk was even happier, and he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

These past two years, because of the chaos Inside the Circle, the higher-ups had given him plenty of pressure; he had always brushed it off with various excuses, and now this two-year wait had finally not been in vain.

As for whether letting the chaos Inside the Circle continue for two years, paying such a great price to wait for Jiang Qin, was it worth it?

This was originally one link in Yue Beishan's plan.

Even without Jiang Qin, it would have been the same.

What he wanted was for those rats hiding in the dark to jump out on their own all at once, and after completely eradicating them, only then could Huaguo unite without any internal worries, to jointly resist the disaster.

"Jiang Qin, oh Jiang Qin, you finally didn't disappoint me."

"Hurry up and strive to grow even stronger…"

"I'm waiting for you in Qu Wai!"