Chapter 975: Indiscriminate

Yan Buji stood on a reef of a nameless barren island, the sea wind carrying a salty, fishy scent to his face. He slowly raised his hand, a dark red blood droplet hovering in his palm, refined from the last pursuer's body.

"The seventy‑third person......"

He whispered to himself, flicked his fingertip, the blood droplet fell into the sea, instantly dyeing the water within ten zhang red. Several sharks, drawn by the scent, came and frantically tore at the lingering blood aura.

In the distance, a warship bearing the Zhao family banner burned, thick smoke soaring to the heavens. All thirty‑seven cultivators aboard perished.

"Not enough."

Gray mist swirled in Yan Buji's eyes, his form gradually becoming insubstantial. Since the Sun‑and‑Moon Palace and the Zhao family wanted to play, he would play on a grand scale.

Qingxia Sect, a second‑tier sect of the Dongxing Sea Region, has been attached to the Sun‑and‑Moon Palace for a hundred years.

On that day, the Mountain Guard Array suddenly shook violently, and the mountain‑guard disciples, terrified, saw a gray shadow strike the gate like a meteor!

"Enemy attack!"

The alarm bell rang continuously, dozens of cultivators rose into the air wielding swords. The leading Elder barked, "Who comes? Do you know what this place is......"

Before the words finished, the gray shadow was already before them. Yan Buji, expressionless, raised his hand, and the Swallow Desire Pot rose into the air, its mouth emitting a great black light.

"Ah!"

The cultivators felt their souls searing with pain, their deepest desires forcibly provoked. Some suddenly swung swords at fellow sect members, some tore their own clothes madly, and others detonated their dantian outright!

In the Chaos, Yan Buji moved as if in an uninhabited realm. Where the gray mist passed, flesh and blood flew. He did not deliberately massacre, merely harvesting lives calmly, like a farmer reaping ripe crops.

After a single incense stick burned, more than three hundred members of Qingxia Sect, from top to bottom, were all slain.

Three days later, Xuan Sword Gate.

Having learned from Qingxia Sect's disaster, Xuan Sword Gate had long activated its Mountain Guard Array, with twelve Elders forming a sword formation, standing ready.

"Who exactly are you?!" the sect head shouted, "My Xuan Sword Gate holds no grudge against you, why......"

"No grudge?" Yan Buji sneered, "Three days ago, didn't your faction send people to hunt me?"

He stopped talking, golden light flaring from his left eye. Under the Eye of Law‑Breaking, the Xuan Sword Great Array, famed "Unbreakable Ten Thousand Swords," was riddled with flaws. The gray mist slithered in like a poisonous snake, and the entire array collapsed instantly!

"Kill!"

The people of Xuan Sword Gate fought to the death, but the gap was too great.

Yan Buji didn't even use his full power, strolling as if in a garden, moving through the sword light; each point of his finger caused a person's forehead to be pierced.

The worst was the great Elder dubbed "Dongxing Sword Immortal." His signature flying sword had just unsheathed when Yan Buji crushed it with his bare hands, then struck back with a palm, turning it into a spray of blood.

Qingxia Sect and Xuan Sword Gate were annihilated in succession, shaking the entire Dongxing Sea Region!

Inside the Sun‑and‑Moon Palace, Zhao Wuyan's face turned iron‑blue as he stared at two lingering‑image jade tablets. In the images, Yan Buji's gray‑mist‑filled eyes seemed to look straight through the tablets at him. It appeared he had long discovered the Sun‑and‑Moon Palace cultivator spying in secret, yet had not killed him, instead acting arrogantly.

"Madman! This madman!"

He angrily smashed the jade desk, and the Elders below fell silent as cold cicadas.

"Lord of the Palace," a trembling Elder said, "seven subordinate sects have requested to dissolve the alliance, and three have directly sealed their mountains and will not emerge......"

"Useless!" Zhao Wuyan roared, "Send the order: all dispatched disciples return to defend immediately! Also, summon the Supreme Elder out of seclusion!"

The crowd's faces changed at the words.

The Supreme Elder is a Great Vehicle Stage cultivator who has been in seclusion for over a hundred years. To call him out means the matter has reached a life‑or‑death crisis!

At the same time, the Zhao family on Qixing Island was also shrouded in gloomy clouds.

Major sects successively sealed their mountains, keeping the Mountain Guard Array active all day. The once bustling sea market turned desolate, even the boldest caravans dared not set sail. Some cultivators even fled the Dongxing Sea Region, preferring to gamble in dangerous beast territories rather than stay and await death.

The atmosphere in the Zhao family council hall was heavy.

"Another city has been slaughtered..." the intelligence‑overseeing Elder said, voice trembling, "This time it's Qingling City; three thousand cultivators inside, none escaped."

"Lord, our merchant fleet was attacked; all thirty‑seven cargo ships sank..."

"The spirit mines were destroyed, not a single miner survived..."

"The twelve envoy officials sent to pursue were all extinguished, their soul‑lamps snuffed out..."

The Zhao family head's face was ashen, murmuring, "What kind of monster have we provoked..."

What is hard to accept is that Yan Buji never fights head‑on; he targets isolated or weak forces, exterminating entire clans, creating boundless slaughter, yet other powerful cultivators cannot capture him.

In the following month, the Dongxing Sea Region fell into unprecedented panic.

Yan Buji appeared and vanished like a phantom; today he destroyed a spirit vein, tomorrow he slaughtered a clan. He kills indiscriminately, not only targeting the Sun‑and‑Moon Palace and Zhao family, but his methods are so ruthless they chill the bone.

The most terrifying thing is that he always, intentionally or not, leaves images behind, naming people and sending them to Zhao Wuyan.

On the sea surface, the surviving cultivators sang a terrifying ballad:

"Gray mist rises, blood waves surge, Yanluo seeks souls, none can stand in the way......"

Some minor sects even began to secretly venerate Yan Buji's portrait, calling him "Gray Mist Yanluo," praying not to be afflicted.

Zhao Wuyan also poured vast resources into rallying forces to hunt Yan Buji, but Yan Buji never engages in direct, despicable actions, casting a shadow over the entire Dongxing Sea Region.

Yan Buji stood on the sea surface, corpses floating beneath his feet.

Fresh blood dyed the water within ten li red, and several sharks were tearing at the corpse of a Golden Core Cultivator. He stared expressionlessly at the scene, the Swallow Desire Pot hovering before him, its mouth surrounded by black mist, drawing in the last lingering soul fragments.

"Not enough."

He whispered, flicked his fingertip, and a wisp of gray mist pierced the head of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator hiding behind a distant reef. The cultivator hadn't even managed a scream when his soul was pulled into the Swallow Desire Pot, turning into a wisp of blue smoke that vanished inside.

As the slaughter continued, he found the cultivators' desire quality varied—disciples of minor sects had pure, intense cravings; while those of major sects possessed greed that was even more refined.

Thus, he began to make no distinction between friend and foe.

On Sea Market Island, an auction was underway. Hundreds of cultivators gathered, vying for a Fivefold Transformation treasure. When the bidding heated to a fever pitch, a gray shadow silently appeared on the auction platform.

"Everyone." Yan Buji's voice was soft, yet the entire venue fell into Silence instantly: "I have taken your desires."

The Swallow Desire Pot inverted, black light sweeping the venue. Cultivators below the Nascent Soul exploded and died, those above the Nascent Soul fell into madness, slashing each other. Yan Buji strolled among them, harvesting lives as a farmer reaps crops.

After a single incense stick burned, no living being remained on the island. Only the surface of the Swallow Desire Pot bore hundreds of blood‑colored markings.