Chapter 686: Sacrificing the People

The moment Xiao Nanfeng and his party stepped through the barrier surrounding Taixu, they could hear frenzied shouts coming from within the black fog.

"Save me! Don't kill me! No!"

"I can't defend against these cursed soldiers anymore! Save me!"

Countless shouts could be heard from all over. Xiao Nanfeng and his party rushed forward to find a group of cultivators covered in blood, trying to batter down the barrier of black fog with the last of their strength. They seemed to have been forced into desperate circumstances. Behind them were wisps of blue, ghostly fire. Spectral soldiers phased in and out of existence from around those flames as they chased after the cultivators.

"Save them!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

"Die!" Ye Dafu and the others charged forward.

The golden cultivators were incredibly strong. They easily took down the spectral soldiers one after another, but the soldiers didn't die. Rather, they scattered into shards of ghostly blue fire and vanished deep into the fog.

"We can't kill them? What's going on?" Ye Dafu and the others exclaimed.

"Thank you, benefactors!" The cultivators bowed down in gratitude, simultaneously relieved at having been saved and fearful about what had just happened.

"What was that?" Ye Dafu demanded.

"Spectral soldiers," a cultivator replied. This morning, the city lord sent word stating that a seal had broken open within the city. Countless spectral soldiers are emerging and killing all the citizens within. The city lord himself was screaming—I'm afraid he may have perished as well," one cultivator spat out bitterly.

"Spectral soldiers? They look more like puppets animated by spiritual power to me," Ye Dafu replied.

"Why is there a barrier trapping you in here?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"The city lord suddenly activated it yesterday saying that some demon was about to emerge. He said he was going to seal the city and slay the demon for the good of the world, and we had no choice but to wait within. This morning, the demon broke out of its seal and began to rampage. According to the city lord, these spectral soldiers are its doing."

"This is what Li Qianjun said?" Xiao Nanfeng scoffed. "What a farce. He must have released these spectral soldiers himself."

Xiao Nanfeng had witnessed Li Qianjun releasing such spectral soldiers with his black pagoda relic back at the Southeastern Aquatic Palace. It was clear that Li Qianjun was deliberately killing his citizens—and trying to trick them with an excuse while he was at it.

"Benefactor, the whole city is in a mess. Please save us!" the cultivator begged.

"Please save us!" All the cultivators in the vicinity dropped to their knees.

They had been chased around the city for half the day, and they had seen countless others killed by these spectral soldiers—and almost lost their lives themselves. They were naturally going to grasp at whatever hope they could find.

"You can follow us for the time being, but let me make this clear: if we can defend you, we will, but if we can't, we're going to focus on our own safety first. Do you understand?" Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Yes—thank you, benefactors!" the cultivators exclaimed.

Any hope was better than none. The fact that these cultivators were even willing to provide a modicum of support was better than they could hope for.

"Let's go have a look around," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.

"Got it!" everyone chorused.

Xiao Nanfeng brought the cultivators toward where the closest screams were coming from.

Xiao Nanfeng was defending these cultivators out of pity on one hand, and because of their importance as eyewitnesses on the other.

He had to take on the divine empire of Hongyue, and any negative attention that Hongyue received would make his life significantly easier. The rumor that he had once spread about Yin Shenhua rearing his citizens like livestock had dealt great damage to the morale of Dayin. The fact that Li Qianjun was trying to kill everyone in his city would be an incredible asset if he could make it widely known.

The cultivators followed behind him as they ran toward a street. The spectral soldiers there were slaughtering cultivators wholesale. All those they killed were shrouded in black smoke before all their blood was extracted from their bodies and sent spiraling into the air. The resulting corpse shriveled up and clattered to the ground.

"Sacrificing one's people for the sake of a relic is against the will of the heavens. Kill these spectral soldiers!" Xiao Nanfeng declared.

"Kill them!" Ye Dafu and the others shouted.

They quickly took down one spectral soldier after another, causing them to burst into fragments of ghostly fire that vanished into the fog. The rescued cultivators dropped to their knees in exhaustion and gratitude.

Meanwhile, Xiao Nanfeng's words planted a thought in their heads: "sacrificing people for the sake of a relic"? What did he mean?

"Everyone, protect your relatives and friends. If any of you can kill these spectral soldiers, help us take them down. We'll fight our way out!" Xiao Nanfeng instructed.

"Understood!" the rescued cultivators replied.

Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath and shouted into the air, "All citizens of Taixu, I am Xiao Nanfeng, Martial Aspect of the Imperial Court. I'm willing to join you in defeating these spectral soldiers and take down the demon trying to sacrifice your lives for power's sake. All those who have nowhere to flee, come to me! Let's work together to take down this foe!"

Xiao Nanfeng's voice boomed across Taixu.

The cultivators who had found themselves in dire straits all across the city perked up.

"Hurry over there! Someone's leading a defense against these monsters!"

"Follow me! We'll all head over and meet up with Martial Aspect Xiao. We might be able to save ourselves then."

"We'll only die if we stay here. If we head over there, we might be able to make it out alive."

The scattered cultivators all across the city rushed toward Xiao Nanfeng's location.

Just then, in a certain corner of the city, Zhao Yuanjiao's eyes widened as he heard Xiao Nanfeng's voice. "Nanfeng? What's he doing here?"

"Division Leader Xiao must be here to find us," a blackguard suggested. "Given the thick fog in the city, it's likely impossible for him to identify where we are, so he must be trying to get us to head toward him instead."

Zhao Yuanjiao nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry he had to go through all this trouble. Come on, let's go."

"Got it!" his party of blackguards replied.

Meanwhile, in the city lord's manor in Taixu, countless black-armored soldiers were stationed around a wide-open space with a gigantic circular blood-red altar at its center. Black smoke striated with fresh blood swirled around the altar, sending the blood within. Then, the black smoke surged out from the altar again as it headed back into the city.

As the altar absorbed the deluge of fresh blood, it glowed a sinister red color. Countless blood-red chains around the altar bound the Demon Child tightly around its center. The chains seemed as though they were burrowing into the Demon Child's body, causing blood to flow thickly down the Demon Child's head.

"Mother, it hurts! Mother, help me, please..." the Demon Child cried out.

Beside the altar were two figures: the Demon Child's father, Li Qianjun, and Sage Green Lotus.

"You really are troublesome," Li Qianjun murmured.

Sage Green Lotus grimaced. "If not for Xiao Nanfeng, I wouldn't have had to go to this extent. That said, as far as you're concerned, doesn't it just move all your plans one day ahead? Surely it's not a big deal."

"I wasn't yet prepared, and there are some special citizens I wanted to evacuate from the city. Your sudden kidnapping of my son forced me into action. If people find out about what's going on here, you'll have ruined my reputation," Li Qianjun said coldly.

"So be it. These citizens might as well be livestock. Why do you care about them? They should be honored to be sacrifices to this altar. What's more, even if there are cultivators with avatars at large, aren't you blaming all this on a demonic outbreak? Let the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue help you suppress the news, and it'll all blow over." Sage Green Lotus smiled.

Li Qianjun snorted. "I shouldn't have worked with you in the first place."

"If you didn't, how would you have managed to produce the Demon Child in the first place? Without my seventh-grade lotus, you would never have unlocked the true power of your pagoda."

Li Qianjun glanced at Sage Green Lotus coldly. "Enough. None of this nonsense. Let's hurry up and activate the seal."

Sage Green Lotus eyed the Demon Child on the altar. He laughed. "We're almost ready. The altar has all but finished absorbing the fresh blood it needs. It'll be able to boost the power of my seventh-grade lotus and crack open the seal for you. We'll be done in no time."

Li Qianjun nodded grudgingly.

The Demon Child continued to bawl in pain. "Mother! Father! It hurts—please help me!"

Li Qianjun watched on stonily.

Just as everyone's attention was fixated on the altar, Xiao Nanfeng's voice could be heard in the distance.

"Xiao Nanfeng? What's he doing here?" Sage Green Lotus exclaimed.

"Did he follow you in?" Li Qianjun gave him a dour look.

"That's impossible. He's only a True Immortal. I would have easily discovered him if that were the case," Sage Green Lotus murmured.

"The formation around Taixu activated yesterday and has sealed the city since. That means he must have made it here yesterday—he must have followed you in."

"What a pest," Sage Green Lotus spat out.

"But isn't it good that he's here? We won't have to hunt him down, then." Li Qianjun's eyes flashed with frost.

He activated the pagoda in his hand. The doors on its third floor were suddenly flung open, causing wisps of ghostly fire to appear en masse. Rather than humanoid spectral soldiers, however, the wisps manifested as ferocious tigers.

Li Qianjun conjured up an image of Xiao Nanfeng. "This is Xiao Nanfeng. He's going to be where the fighting is most concentrated. Catch him or kill him, it doesn't matter."

The tigers roared, then vanished into the black fog.

"This pagoda of yours really is an incredible relic." Sage Green Lotus eyed the pagoda greedily.

Li Qianjun smirked. "Do you want it?"

Sage Green Lotus shook his head. "It's an amazing relic, but if you were to hand it to me, the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue would stop at nothing to hunt me down."

"You could exchange it for your seventh-grade lotus," Li Qianjun said, smirking.

"Dream on!"

The two cultivators continued to focus on the altar, readily having dismissed Xiao Nanfeng's sudden appearance, fully confident that the spectral tigers would be able to finish him off.