Chapter 133 (3): Death Sentence

After concluding her correspondence with Night Demon, Yan Beihan immediately went to seek out Yan Nan.

"You already promised me that piece of divine metal, grandpa. When are you going to give it to me?"

"I'll give it to you once you've made some inroads in your spear training under Duan Xiyang."

"Grandpaaa~~~"

"I'm not going to let you pout your way out of this! Your sword is too short and too light, so heavy and long weapons like spears, hammers, staves, and halberds will pose a very potent threat to you. You must learn the way to beat the spear in order to keep yourself safe in the future. This is a matter concerning your lifelong safety, so I'm not going to accept any compromise."

"Fine," Yan Beihan groaned. "By the way, I heard you're summoning the pope of the One Heart Church for an audience, is that right?"

"How do you know that?"

"Night Demon killed a lot of people from the main church during the Parasite Ascension Project, and I heard that those clans are planning to target Yin Shengong for vengeance."

A hint of killing intent instantly appeared in Yan Nan's eyes.

"Who would dare to go after someone I've personally summoned?"

"I'm serious, Grandpa! This is something that you need to keep an eye on," Yan Beihan insisted.

"Fine, then let them come if they dare! I want to see who would dare to blatantly challenge my authority like this!"

Yan Beihan wound her arms around one of Yan Nan's as she shook him back and forth like a spoiled little girl and said, "Grandpa, I'm trying to recruit Night Demon to my camp, and he personally made this request of me, so I have to do something!"

"Alright, alright, you can make whatever arrangements you please within the city."

"Thank you, Grandpa!"

With that, Yan Beihan skipped away joyfully, while Yan Nan looked on with a doting smile.

***

Meanwhile, in the Mountain Moving Sect.

Peak Master Jin Changjie of the Flying Sword Peak was not looking very pleased as he asked, "Is Fei Yibin still not back yet?"

"Not yet, but they should be on their way back by now."

"As the leader of our sect, my senior brother can't personally come forward to squabble with the One Heart Church, so I naturally have to take the burden upon myself. It's only thanks to us that they were able to start such a successful escort agency, yet they haven't offered to share any of the profits with us at all! What a bunch of insolent, ungrateful scoundrels!"

"Indeed, Master. I'm just worried that Junior Brother Fei could run into some trouble over there."

"Like what?" Jin Changjie scoffed. "Are you suggesting the One Heart Church would dare to kill them?"

Jin Changjie was very confident that such a thing wouldn't happen.

Even if the One Heart Church didn't agree to hand over any of the escort agency's profits, Jin Changjie was certain that they wouldn't oppose the Mountain Moving Sect. Even if one were to disregard the fact that the One Heart Church was inferior in power to the Mountain Moving Sect, they still required the Mountain Moving Sect's services in providing identities for them if they wanted to continue operating the escort agency.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Mountain Moving Sect had just received a report from one of his subordinates.

"Sect Leader, Peak Master Jin of the Flying Sword Sect has already sent some people to the White Cloud Prefecture."

"He's always been far too obsessed with money. What's the point? It's not like there are significant profits to be reaped from this."

"Should I send someone to stop him?"

"Let him do as he pleases. I'm sure the One Heart Church will comply with his demands. A peak master needs to have some power and autonomy."

***

At the same time, Bu Chou had arrived at the Mountain Moving Sect.

Carried on his back was a memorial tablet, upon which were engraved the words: "In memory of my sworn brother, Deng Tianfang."

Up ahead was a seemingly boundless expanse of mist. It was the Spirit Mist Array, the protective array of the Mountain Moving Sect.

In the past, these arrays were all able to draw upon the power of heaven and earth, but ever since the will of the heavens was muddled by the pope of the Church of the Self-Righteous, the connection to the heavens had been severed, thereby significantly weakening these arrays.

Bu Chou gently stroked the memorial tablet on his back as he murmured, "You must've grown impatient after waiting all these years for me to finally seek vengeance for you. I hope you don't resent me. You know how much I hate having to do things for the sake of the 'bigger picture.' All my life, all I've wanted is to smash whatever I please to bits with my staff.

"However, there are times when even I must bow to the bigger picture. Master Nine has personally requested me to hold off on seeking vengeance for you, so I had no choice. However, the long-awaited day has finally come! I don't know if you've grown weary of waiting, but I certainly have! I carried you all the way here so you can watch me as I deliver justice!"

He raised a hand as he spoke, and a radiant, golden staff appeared in his grasp.

The staff was over twenty feet in length, and as he stamped it onto the ground, the entire earth shuddered.

"All those of the Mountain Moving Sect, listen up! I, Bu Chou, have come to deliver retribution to your sect! Come out and kneel before me!"

His voice rang out like rumbling thunder, causing the Spirit Mist Array before him to ripple and churn violently.

Immediately thereafter, he commenced a countdown.

"Three!"

***

Inside the Mountain Moving Sect, everyone was stunned by Bu Chou's thunderous declaration, not least of whom was the sect leader.

It's been over 1,200 years... I thought he had forgotten, but I suppose this day was bound to come eventually...

The patriarch of the Mountain Moving Sect, Wei Yunxiao, had been sworn enemies with Deng Tianfang, Bu Chou's sworn brother, and Wei Yunxiao had massacred Deng Tianfang and his entire clan while Bu Chou had been in seclusion in a bid to move up to the tenth position on the Cloud Weapon Archive.

By the time he came out of seclusion, Deng Tianfang was already dead, and apparently, it was only on Dongfang Sansan's request that he had held off from seeking vengeance.

All of the high-ranking members of the Mountain Moving Sect were aware of this chapter in history, and on this day, retribution had finally come.

Before they had a chance to make any preparations, Bu Chou had already commenced his countdown.

"Assemble all of the sect's high-ranking members!" the sect leader yelled in a frantic voice.

"Two!"

"What do we do? There's no one who can oppose him!"

"One!"

An earth-shattering boom rang out, and all of the twelve peaks of the Mountain Moving Sect shuddered violently in unison.

Immediately thereafter, the boundless sea of mist looming over the entire sect was abruptly parted.

With just a single swing of his staff, Bu Chou had destroyed the Spirit Mist Array!

"I came all the way here to visit your sect, yet no one has even bothered to let me in? Such an insolent sect should be erased from the face of this world!"

With another swing of Bu Chou's staff, all of the Mountain Moving Sect disciples converging toward him instantly fell dead out of the heavens, their bodies smashed to pieces.

With an almighty sweep of Bu Chou's staff, several hundred disciples were pulverized before they even had a chance to cry out.

Immediately thereafter, Bu Chou's staff descended toward the main peak like a destructive monolith, and everyone in the palace on the main peak frantically fled for their lives.

The entire palace was obliterated, as were all those who were too slow to evacuate.

From there, Bu Chou went on an almighty spree of destruction, smashing everything and everyone in his path.

"You better be watching, Brother Deng! This is all for you!"

In the span of just a few seconds, the Mountain Moving Sect was already completely unrecognizable.

"Please stop, Senior Bu! Let's be civilized and talk things out!" Sect Leader Tian Guang yelled frantically.

Bu Chou completely ignored him as he continued on his spree of destruction.

The Jade Sword Peak collapsed under his staff, raising a gargantuan cloud of dust and debris.

Almost immediately thereafter, the Flying Sword Peak was also gone, and the Divine Sword Peak quickly followed.

No one was able to stand in Bu Chou's path, and after just a few minutes, the death count had already exceeded ten thousand.

Perhaps an even more terrifying statistic was the number of injured disciples, which was precisely zero.

Clearly, Bu Chou was not here to take prisoners.

All of a sudden, several figures shot out from the rear mountain.

"Bu Chou! Stop!"

"Finally come out, have you?" Bu Chou sneered as he turned to the figures that had just arrived on the scene. "I thought you were going to bunker down and make me pluck you out of your den!"

The group consisted of five people, and they were furious at the sight of the carnage before them.

"What more do you want, Bu Chou? You've already laid waste to our sect and killed so many of our disciples! Is this how the Guardians do things?"

"Don't try to conflate me with the Guardians!" Bu Chou sneered. "Next, you're going to try and lecture me about seeing the big picture and having mercy for the sake of the world, right? What's your name?"

"I am Sun Changxiao," the leader of the group, an old man, declared.

"Alright, Sun Changxiao. I'm here to tell you that this is

exactly

how the Guardians do things!"

"You have to be reasonable, Senior Bu! If you keep this up, you're only going to ruin the Guardians' reputation!"

"You're right! Looks like I have to kill all of you now so there's no one to tell the tale! That's the only way to keep the reputation of the Guardians intact, is it not? I've come here to avenge my brother, yet you're trying to nag me about the greater good! According to my personal set of laws, that's a crime punishable by death, and the punishment is to be carried out immediately!"