Bloody Blade

The small city was like a living Hell. Dozens of Evil Path Disciples, wielding weapons, were relentlessly slaughtering innocent civilians.

The weapons in their hands were coated in thick blood, but the blood vanished in an instant. It didn't drip off; instead, it was absorbed by the weapons.

After absorbing the blood, their weapons emanated an even more malevolent aura, as if a bloodthirsty demon had caught the scent of a delicacy and was stretching out in greedy desire.

As for those Evil Path Disciples, every time they killed a civilian, a faint wisp of blood energy was absorbed into their bodies. It was like an addiction, making these Evil Path Disciples increasingly excited, their eyes filled with a bloodthirsty gleam.

This small city only had a population of a little over a hundred thousand, and there weren't many cultivators inside. Even the garrisoned soldiers only had Qi Gathering cultivation. Before these elite Evil Path Disciples, who had reached the Tendon Transformation stage, they didn't even have a sliver of a chance to resist.

The Evil Path Disciples crazily slaughtered the panicked, fleeing civilians. Only a small portion of people, who chose the right escape route, managed to flee the small city.

However, most of the people were trapped within the city, unable to break out. One could only see heads flying into the air one after another, blood splashing towards the heavens, while they could only weep and scream helplessly.

In their eyes, these Evil Path Disciples were demons—a group of unstoppable demons. Adults hugged their children tightly, covering their eyes with their hands, not daring to look at the tragic scene themselves, and could only wait silently for death to arrive.

Cries of agony filled the air, mixed with the triumphant, sinister laughter of the Evil Path Disciples. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy this feeling.

After blocking several exits, they just leisurely brandished their weapons, watching those faces of terror and despair, which made them exceptionally excited.

"You group of demons, I'll fight you to the death!"

A child of only seven or eight years old suddenly rushed out, holding a small wooden sword in his hand.

The wooden sword was very crude; one look and it was clearly a child's toy. Yet, the child had a face full of fury, and he charged at an Evil Path Disciple, holding the wooden sword aloft.

"Xiaohuzi, come back quickly!"

Just as the child rushed out, a woman screamed in horror, but it was already too late. By this time, the child had already reached the front of that Evil Path Disciple.

That Evil Path Disciple let out a strange cackle. Upon seeing the child approach, he swung his blood-stained longsword towards the child's head.

What he loved most was seeing the bizarre expressions on people's faces when their heads flew off; that was what they, the Evil Path Disciples, appreciated the most.

"Pfft."

Blood splattered everywhere. The scalding hot blood splashed all over the child's face and body, and the pungent smell of blood was nauseating.

However, the child was not afraid. He still thrust the wooden sword in his hand towards that Evil Path Disciple.

"Thud."

To everyone's shock, before the wooden sword even touched the Evil Path Disciple's body, he was suddenly split into two pieces.

As the two halves of the body separated, a figure was revealed, holding a long saber still stained with blood. His robes fluttered, his black hair danced, and he looked like a Heavenly God descending to the world, his aura shaking the heavens.

After Long Chen killed that Evil Path Disciple with a single strike of his saber, he looked at the stubborn boy and seemed to see himself from years ago, holding a wooden sword.

"Well done. When you grow up, you will definitely become an incredible man."

He reached out and tossed the still-dazed child towards his mother, then flew off, rushing straight towards the nearest Evil Path Disciple.

"Kill them all with full force!"

Long Chen let out a low shout that shook the heavens, and the long saber in his hand had already reached the front of another Evil Path Disciple.

The long saber in his hand was not the one Cang Ming had forged for him, but one he had borrowed from Senior Brother Wan. His own saber was too heavy; if he didn't summon his divine ring, he wouldn't be able to use it at all.

Moreover, the consumption was too great. Unless he encountered an extremely formidable opponent, he was unwilling to use it, and these guys before him were clearly not worth using his precious saber on.

After Long Chen made his move, Tang Waner and the others also leaped off their Demonic Beasts, unleashed their weapons, and charged towards those Evil Path Disciples.

Originally, everyone had been a bit nervous, but upon seeing the ground littered with the corpses of innocent civilians, they had long forgotten the fear in their hearts, leaving only fury and killing intent.

"Desolate Wind Slash!"

Tang Waner struck with her full force. The Evil Path Disciple before her was merely an Outer Sect Disciple; although he was also in the Tendon Transformation stage, how could he withstand the full-force strike of a Core Disciple?

He was directly pulverized by the massive wind blade, flesh and blood filling the air. If this were normal times, Tang Waner would certainly have felt distressed seeing this scene.

But today was different. Looking at the flesh and blood filling the air, she felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction. Just as she was preparing to strike again, she discovered that the dozens of Evil Path Disciples around her had all been slaughtered.

"Get on the Demonic Beasts, let's go!"

Long Chen gave a sharp shout and leaped straight onto his flying mount, and the others followed suit. From the moment Long Chen jumped down to the end of the slaughter, only a few breaths of time had passed, and that group of Evil Path Disciples had already been completely wiped out.

The Branch Disciples behind didn't even have a chance to make a move before the battle had ended. Watching the Core Disciples' actions in front, they couldn't help but feel their blood boiling.

"Evil Path Disciples are nothing more than this."

Everyone's confidence increased greatly. Long Chen and the others had killed those dozens of Evil Path Disciples, all with a single-strike kill.

As Long Chen and the others flew away, Demonic Beasts arrived one after another behind them. Over a dozen people jumped down and began to comfort the commoners, evacuating them to a safe zone.

These people who jumped off the Demonic Beasts were the Disciples who had failed the Branch assessment and volunteered to stay behind as handymen; they were responsible for the aftermath work.

This battle would not end in a day or two, so for everyone's safety, they needed to be evacuated.

Long Chen looked at the map in his hand, his expression somewhat grave as he said, "This was only a small squad; the information we received did not include them."

"This means that the scale of this Evil Path invasion is much larger and much fiercer than in the past."

"Therefore, you must absolutely not be careless, thinking that with the protection of the Elders and the law-enforcement Senior Brothers, there won't be any major danger!"

"Long Chen, you mean…" Song Mingyuan was greatly shocked.

Long Chen nodded and said, "According to past records, the experts from both the Righteous Path and the Evil Path will watch the battle from afar. Unless they encounter the danger of total annihilation, they basically won't intervene."

"But even if they do intervene, the other side will also intervene. Both sides have been fighting for countless years and have never driven the other to a dead end, which shows that the gap in strength between the two sides is not large."

"Now that the scale of the opposing side has increased, our pressure is even greater. So, you must absolutely not think that at a critical moment, the Elders will intervene to save us."

"Because if the Elders intervene, the experts from the Evil Path side will also intervene one after another. With them canceling each other out, the final result will still depend on ourselves."

Everyone couldn't help but feel a shock in their hearts upon hearing this. They had indeed thought that the Elders were there to escort them during their trial, which had given them a certain level of comfort.

But with Long Chen saying this, everyone understood that Long Chen was likely telling the truth. When the time came, the Elders would be unable to even protect themselves, so how could they save them?

"You should just know about this kind of thing; don't let the people below know," Long Chen cautioned.

Li Qi smiled bitterly and said, "I actually wish that you hadn't told us, Long Chen. It would be better if we knew nothing at all."

Long Chen shook his head and said seriously, "If you can't even withstand this bit of pressure, how can you become a powerhouse? How can you keep your original heart unmoved between the line of life and death?"

"Ahem, I was joking; don't take it seriously," Li Qi said with an awkward smile.

Long Chen said to everyone, "Since you have chosen to become leaders of a faction, you need to bear all the pressure. You should have this realization."

"Brothers trust you; that is a trust where life and death are entrusted to one another. In order to protect this trust, even if it means death, you must die before others."

"Hehe, what is there to be afraid of? I, Gu Yang, have long wanted to see exactly how strong the Evil Path experts are. As long as they aren't as monstrous as Long Chen, it'll be fine."

Gu Yang laughed with great heroic spirit, but the last sentence amused everyone. Among the Branch Disciples, only Long Chen could suppress Gu Yang.

A-Man was not a Disciple; he was of the same generation as the Sect Leader, so he didn't count. Moreover, this guy had been lying on the back of the Demonic Beast sleeping the whole time; he hadn't even woken up during the battle just now.

Fortunately, this guy's weapon was stored in his spatial ring; otherwise, even a third-rank Demonic Beast wouldn't be able to fly.

They flew over another small city ahead, making everyone's heart sink. The small city, spanning a hundred miles, was a river of blood, with corpses scattered everywhere, a shocking sight to behold.

"These beasts, I really wish I could bite them to death alive."

Some Core Disciples said through gritted teeth. Looking at the corpses of the innocent commoners, everyone felt uneasy.

"You have also seen the cruelty of the Evil Path Disciples and have seen that their faith is brutality. Therefore, when you start fighting in a moment, do not hold back. We want them dead, not alive."

"However, everyone try to control your emotions; don't be like just now and directly beat the opponent into a pulp."

"Although that was satisfying, it wasted all the points. After all, our points are calculated by the head count," Long Chen said.

Everyone nodded. The Branch regulations stated that points were exchanged based on the heads of Evil Path Disciples, because the Branch had the ability to determine the opponent's Aptitude based on the Evil Path Disciple's head and issue rewards accordingly.

Just now, in their anger, they hadn't thought about points at all. Now that Long Chen mentioned it, they couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

Even a single Evil Path Outer Sect Disciple was worth five thousand points. Those dozens of Disciples just now were tens of thousands of points that had just gone down the drain.

While they were flying, suddenly, shouts of battle shook the heavens ahead. They saw an army of tens of thousands crazily besieging the Evil Path experts in front.

The corpses on the ground were almost piled up like mountains, yet those soldiers were still rushing forward one after another, crazily resisting those Evil Path Disciples.

"Everyone, engage in battle!"

Looking at those ordinary soldiers who kept rushing forward despite the danger, Long Chen thought of his father in the Imperial Capital, and for a moment, his eyes turned red.

Following Long Chen's order, everyone leaped off their Demonic Beasts and rushed straight ahead. As they ran, the seventeen teams began to slowly assemble, and under the leadership of the Core Disciples, with Long Chen as the arrowhead, they charged straight towards the Evil Path Disciples.