Chapter 299: Lightning Strikes!

Twenty-two... Twenty-three... That's more than half of them, right?

Wang Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly. He had swept the city below with his spiritual consciousness three times. The more than twenty foreign cultivators he had discovered were all hiding in different corners of the city, and they clearly looked different from the people of the Saros Empire.

However, the rest all had white skin, colored eyes, and hair of iridescent hues. Wang Sheng had never been good at telling such faces apart. Fortunately, due to the deterrence of the heavenly tribulation, the city's police and local cultivators had sealed off intersections and begun checking suspicious individuals. They had also already forced out several foreign cultivators.

Hovering in the air with his sword on his back and his hands clasped behind him, Wang Sheng pondered,

If someone powerful was hunting me down, where would I hide?

Wang Sheng raised an eyebrow, then slowly lowered his gaze to the six-story apartment building below him.

Hiding in plain sight? Good tactic.

"

Hmph!

"

His cold snort fell like a heavy hammer on the hearts of the two people hiding in one of the apartments' bedroom wardrobes. Before they could even react, Flying Haze pierced through the wall as if it were a mere curtain of water, shooting straight into the wardrobe. Following two muffled grunts, it flew out the window, its blade crackling with lightning as it sped toward a nearby hotel.

Twenty-six.

Mu Wanxuan stepped forward on Ice Crystal and lightly tugged at Wang Sheng. "Junior Brother."

Her gentle eyes showed a trace of concern for Wang Sheng's state of mind. After all, he had gone on a killing spree today. From the snowy plains to the pine forest, and now here, seventy to eighty foreign cultivators had already fallen to his sword. Too much killing could easily affect one's Dao Heart.

Wang Sheng gave his senior sister a faint, warm smile. "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm not fragile enough to develop a heart devil from killing a few enemies."

Mu Wanxuan nodded lightly. "

Mm.

"

Today's events made Mu Wanxuan realize that her junior brother, who used to sleep clutching a wooden sword and often smiled in his dreams, had always stood in front of her when trouble came. Moreover, when praise was due, he would always let her take the lead.

While she was lost in thought, Wang Sheng added, "Showing our enemies mercy is cruelty to our own people."

Mu Wanxuan clenched her small fist, and her delicate face tightened in solemn determination. "

Mm!

"

She wanted to show that she, too, could strike down enemies, and that she was not some ornament that her master and junior brother had to protect. Her Dao Heart wasn't fragile either.

Wang Sheng smiled faintly once more. "I'll let you know if I need your help. For now, I alone should be enough."

Mu Wanxuan tucked her hands into her sleeves and answered a little dejectedly, "Okay."

She could not express it well with words, but she wanted her junior brother to rely on her a little as well.

Soon, shouts in fluent Hua language rose from below.

"Daoist Master Fei Yu! We have already contacted the Hua Republic. A high-ranking official named Chi Ling asks that you turn on your phone, restrain your anger, and avoid doing anything that can harm our nations' relationship! Our men will fully assist you in searching for those criminals! Please do not destroy our city! We have hundreds of thousands of innocent lives here!"

Wang Sheng frowned slightly. Even if he turned on his phone, the tribulation clouds above blocked the signal, rendering it useless. It was also rather exaggerated to say that he was destroying the city. He had already calculated before that even if he fully initiated the lightning tribulation, it would just cut the city's power, destroy some buildings, and level the plaza at the city center at most.

"What now?" Mu Wanxuan asked softly.

Wang Sheng smirked, signaling for his senior sister not to worry. He then amplified his voice again. "Once I have eliminated the last of the escaped cultivators, the lightning tribulation will disperse on its own."

The middle-aged man shouting below smiled wryly, turned, and shouted a few words to those behind him.

"Daoist Master Fei Yu, in many international matters, the Saros Empire shares the same position as the Hua Republic!"

Wang Sheng smirked again. Y

et you have done your fair share of backstabbing.

"Understood."

His tone deliberately carried a trace of impatience. The man below frowned in thought, but he could only shake his head and sigh. In truth, several missiles and high-energy laser weapons had already locked on to Wang Sheng. He sensed it faintly, but his spiritual consciousness did not warn him of danger.

To the north and east of the city, convoys of armored vehicles rapidly advanced. Manned and unmanned combat aircraft also swept past at low altitude, avoiding the lightning overhead.

Though their weapons were aimed at Wang Sheng, they helped scour the city for foreign cultivators. Saros's forces hated those who had brought disaster to their land so much that they would grind their teeth until they bled.

In such a situation, what would the enemy do?

Wang Sheng knew that the two groups of foreign cultivators he had chased down only had a few powerhouses among them; they could not seriously harm him. Now that Saros's military was exerting full force, the enemy had nowhere left to run. A simple identity check would expose them.

If he were in their position, he would fight desperately, contact as many allies as they could reach, and break out in several directions at once.

As he had thought, over a dozen individuals suddenly appeared across the city. They split into three groups and frantically fled to the north, west, and south. Whether by design or coincidence, several obvious gaps had been left in the surrounding cordon, and the fugitives were heading straight for them.

They had no choice but to gamble.

A group of cultivators, each one as strong as the Daoist sects' Illusory Core Realm cultivators at most, now competed in speed with Flying Haze.

Wang Sheng took into account his senior sister's wish to join the battle. He felt that making every decision for her would be overly domineering and that he should respect her wishes.

"Senior Sister, I'll leave the north to you."

"

Mm!

" Mu Wanxuan firmly replied. Ice Crystal gleamed with frosty light, and lightning illuminated her as she sped northward.

As lightning bloomed across the sky, Wang Sheng flicked his left hand, making Flying Haze race to the east. Meanwhile, he remained suspended in the air, exerting pressure over the city. Three to four of his targets had yet to reveal themselves.

In under a minute, Mu Wanxuan caught up with the six foreign cultivators fleeing north. Hovering in the air, she pressed her palm downward. Yin-yang qi raged forth, binding the six to the ground almost instantly. She then pressed her delicate hand down, splitting their foreheads open in unison. Without sparing them a glance, Mu Wanxuan turned and flew back to Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng had forgotten that they had fought corrupt cultivators side by side before. Moreover, when he had gone into seclusion in the Wudang Mountains, she had roamed the secular world, tempering her mind and battling criminals. Killing enemies was no burden to her. Wang Sheng only tended to shield her now because he had emerged from seclusion with a stronger desire to protect her.

By the time she returned, Flying Haze was already at Wang Sheng's feet. The celestial-grade flying sword that had accompanied him for many years remained free of even a speck of blood.

"Nice job!"

Mu Wanxuan gave her junior brother a thumbs-up. Wang Sheng smiled, about to reply, when he looked into the distance.

From a rooftop, a white flag rose. Two men and a woman hiding in the rooftop water tank stepped out. The woman held the flag, staring tensely at Wang Sheng and Mu Wanxuan.

Wang Sheng ignored their surrender. Flying Haze flashed across the air, immediately ending their lives.

Mu Wanxuan's brow furrowed slightly. "White flag..."

"They tortured Instructor Yan, forced him to kneel and beg for mercy. He chose to fight to the death, so today we fight to the death as well," Wang Sheng calmly replied.

Mu Wanxuan nodded lightly.

Wang Sheng amplified his voice once more. "In three minutes, I will release the power of the lightning tribulation. Keep away from tall buildings and their lightning rods."

The man who was fluent in Hua language immediately turned and shouted. The entire city fell into tense silence again. After being notified by the authorities, many of the citizens went out into the streets to film the spectacle.

Lightning rained down from the heavens, striking nine times in succession. Each blast cleaved into the lightning rod of a tall building.

By the time the tribulation clouds in the sky finally dispersed, Wang Sheng and Mu Wanxuan had already vanished. On a rooftop, the brawny Sarosian sighed deeply in relief and then muttered curses in his own tongue.

Behind him, someone quickly reported in the same language, "General! Our radars have detected the two targets heading west!"

The sigh that the middle-aged general had just breathed got caught in his throat.

"Calculate their path and warn everyone in their way not to anger them! They are simply hunting the criminals who killed the Hua Republic cultivators!"

"But General, they're in the territory of our great Saros!"

"Believe me, before such power, we cannot call ourselves great. We have to first ensure our people's safety. As a Hua Republic saying goes, 'When immortals fight, mortals suffer.' This is beyond our ability to influence."

Just then, a messenger rushed onto the rooftop.

"General! An ability user claiming to be a vampire prince has appeared above our capital! He demands we inform the two Hua Republic cultivators to meet him there for battle! He threatens to destroy our capital if they do not respond!"

"A vampire... prince?"

"He single-handedly destroyed the square before the Red Plaza."

The Saros general could not help but groan. Pain flooded his gaze.

"This has truly turned into a battle of immortals. Find a way to inform those two Hua Republic cultivators immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"