Xiang Wuying brought the group with him and headed directly for the mission control building. Li Yang was curious why they didn"t just meet there from the start, but he didn"t give voice to his curiosity, as it didn"t matter too much. The group entered the yellow dome, Xiang Wuying heading directly for a counter located at the far end of the dome, almost hidden away in the shadows. There was a gray-haired old man clad in a black robe sitting behind the counter, his arms folded over his chest and his eyes closed. He didn"t even open his eyes when Xiang Wuying walked up, only asking a quick question."The formation jade?"
Xiang Wuying nodded his head, causing the black-robed elder to dig into the sleeve of his robe, pulling out a head-sized plate made out of green jade. Strange runes were carved into the surface of the plate, a faint trace of Qi lingering around them. The black-robed elder handed the plate to Xiang Wuying, giving the group one last reminder.
"Make sure to proceed with caution, and do your best to not let anyone die."
Right after the elder finished his words, he tapped the plate with his finger, causing a silver light to shoot out from it and surround Li Yang and the others. Li Yang felt s.p.a.ce around them turn viscous, stretching out and completely encase them in a coc.o.o.n.
The silver light quickly flashed once more before vanishing, the group now finding themselves standing on the flat peak of a mountain that was a few kilometers tall. There were several more mountains in front and around them, forming a circle with a large basin in the middle, a city located at the center of the basin. Li Yang glanced at the ground beneath them, seeing several runes similar to the ones on the jade plate carved into the dirt. Slightly curious, he decided to trace the runes with his finger as he questioned Xiang Wuying.
"So there was a spatial formation here. Is it a temporary one?"
The runes used to carve this spatial formation, a formation that could teleport people through s.p.a.ce, were quite different from the ones Li Yang was used to. There was also the fact that they used a jade plate to teleport here, rather than a different spatial formation, which caused Li Yang to guess this formation was only carved recently for the sake of this mission.
Temporary spatial formations did exist back when Li Yang was at his peak, but they were exceedingly rare and incredibly hard to create. Could the Yuan clan afford to create temporary spatial formations as they wished? Or had someone perfected the art of creating temporary spatial formations while Li Yang had been dead?
Xiang Wuying stored the jade plate into his interspatial ring, casually shrugging his shoulders as he gave a quick explanation.
"Yes, it was set up by one of our scouts a few days ago. It has enough energy for about 3-4 activations."
Xiang Wuying explained it so nonchalantly, but Li Yang couldn"t help but be a bit shocked. It could be activated 3-4 times? Back when he had been alive, even the best temporary spatial formations could only be used once, maybe twice if the one who used them wasn"t worried about getting thrown through s.p.a.ce haphazardly. It seemed like some things had truly changed quite a bit since he was last alive. Xiang Wuying stepped closer to the edge of the peak, pointing at the city below them as he started a more detailed briefing of the mission.
"The city you see below us is known as Yeow.a.n.g city, it"s the place where the Ghost Banner sect has settled down. The Ghost Banner sect cultivates by killing living beings and refining the souls of those beings into either their weapons or their bodies. They might have been sent by the Puppet G.o.d sect in an attempt to cause some of our cities to lose trust in us, so we will also look for any evidence that the two are connected."
Yeow.a.n.g city was completely round in shape, tall stone walls surrounding the entire city and protected it from any attacks. Most of the buildings in the city were made out of wood, but at the center of the city stood a large rectangular palace made out of orange stone, clearly of a higher quality than any other building in the city. This was their target, the Ghost Banner sect.
Ghost Banners, flags or weapons that could hold human souls and use them to attack, had also existed when Li Yang was alive, but they weren"t too widespread, as the sheer amount of souls one needed to create a truly strong weapon like that was absolutely absurd. But from listening to Xiang Wuying"s words, it seemed like one could also cultivate like that? Had new cultivation methods popped up while Li Yang was dead?
Li Yang was starting to grow a bit curious about exactly what had happened while he was dead, as well as how long he had actually been dead. This universe was very old, so billions of years could easily pa.s.s without any new cultivation techniques or other advancements being made. But now, not only had this continent completely changed shape, a new cultivation technique had popped up, and even temporary spatial formations had been perfected. If even one of those things happened within a few million years, it would be quite extraordinary. But now, all three had happened, so it turned from extraordinary to suspicious.
Xiang Wuying and the three others didn"t notice Li Yang"s thoughts, Xiang Wuying pulling out a palm-sized crystal tablet from his interspatial ring. The faces of three men were projected above the tablet, Xiang Wuying"s expression turning serious.
"These three are the sect leader and his vice-sect leaders. If any single one of them escapes alive, this mission will be considered an utter failure, understood?"
The leader of the sect had a rather square, yet handsome face. He had a neatly groomed mustache that drooped slightly, brown hair tied into a neat bun, and clear blue eyes. The two vice-leaders seemed to be twins, both had the same green eyes, both had the same slicked-back black hair, and both had the same stubble on their chin. After making sure that everyone memorized the three faces, Xiang Wuying put away the tablet.
"We have three things to focus on during this mission. The first is to make sure that as few of the citizens as possible are harmed, the second is the ensure that none of the sect members manage to escape, and the third is to look for evidence that the sect was sent by the Puppet G.o.d sect."
The people living in the city were citizens that belonged to the Yuan clan, as disciples of the Yuan clan, it was their job to protect them from harm and ensure that they could live in peace. Xiang Wuying swiped his interspatial ring, several yellow flags embroidered with blue runes that formed a solitary cloud appearing in front of him.
"To ensure that we can complete the first and second goal, all five of us will infiltrate the city incognito. Each of us will enter the city from a different point, and we will place these flags in certain key locations that I will inform you of as we enter. The flags will create an array that surrounds the entire sect, preventing anyone who doesn"t have a talisman like this from entering or leaving."
Li Yang inspected the array flags, quite amazed at how high quality they were. It seemed like arrays and things tied to them had improved drastically in the time he was gone, so it seemed like he had to spend some time reading up on arrays again to catch up with the changes.
Xiang Wuying handed each member of the group three flags and a pin made from yellow metal, pulling out a map of the city and giving them all detailed explanations on where to put them. He then took out several paper talismans, five white and wife green ones. The white ones were engraved with a shining star, while the green ones were engraved with a triangular shield.
"We will then enter the sect from five different locations and sweep it completely clean. The only people you have to spare are the maids and other servants, but only as long as they had nothing to do with the sect activities. If you encounter the sect leader, use this white talisman, it will inform everyone else about your location and let us all rush over. Then you use this green talisman, it will create a shield around you that will defend you from the attacks of the sect leader. Don"t be arrogant or conceited and try to take on the sect leader alone, wait for everyone else to arrive so that we can take him on together."
They could not fail this mission, and they weren"t completely certain what sort of tricks the sect leader might have, so to make sure that there was no chance of failure, not even Xiang Wuying would take on the sect leader alone. After handing everyone a talisman, Xiang Wuying gave them all a deep glance, putting out his hand.
"Alright, let"s go and get the mission underway. May we all return to the sect alive."
The others quickly put their hands on top of Xiang Wuying"s, with Li Yang lagging a bit behind since he had never seen a ritual like this before. Once everyone"s hands were placed on top of Xiang Wuying"s they raised them high and gave a low shout, spreading out and heading down the mountain to reach their designated positions.
Li Yang switched robes before he entered the city, putting on the violet wolf-skin robes that he was more comfortable with. After he casually entered the city, Jinwu started to hop around on his shoulder, sending him pleading glances whenever they walked past any vendors that sold warm food. But rather than buy him any food, Li Yang disappointed him by giving him a mission instead.
"Jinwu, could you fly above the city and keep an eye on everything? Make sure that no one gets to just sneak away during the chaos."
Members of the sect might be within the city as the array goes up, so by having Jinwu keep an eye on the city from above, Li Yang could make sure that no one escaped, reducing the chance of their reward getting lowered. Jinwu immediately started to caw, letting out both complaints and worried words, but Li Yang quickly calmed him down by giving Shenlong a pat.
"don"t worry, I"ll keep Shenlong and Huanglong by my side, so there won"t be any danger."
Jinwu was worried that Li Yang would encounter the sect leader or one of the vice-leaders without him, leaving him vulnerable. But as long as Shenlong or Huanglong was around, he could still fuse with them to increase his strength. Jinwu still let out a few complaints, mostly because he was being left out from all the fun, so Li Yang bought him some grilled skewers of meat to soothe him.
Jinwu ate the skewers and then took off, soaring above the city and vigilantly scanning it. Once Jinwu left, Li Yang started to do his part, moving through the city and placing down the three flags he had been given, preparing the array.
A few minutes later, a thick fog started to appear in the midst of the city, surrounding the palace and the area around it. The citizens quickly found themselves unable to reach the palace, pushed away by a strange force in the fog. Li Yang had the pin that was given to them by Xiang Wuying, so he could freely enter the fog, drawing his sword and walking towards the eastern part of the palace, his designated position.
Other than the three leaders of the sect, there was no one in the sect that could give Li Yang a proper fight, allowing him to easily ma.s.sacre people as he entered the palace. His sword blazed with crimson flames and crackled with azure lightning, an icy cold mist coiling around his left arm. Thanks to his tracking technique, no one was able to escape his notice, burnt and frozen corpses littering his wake.
He killed practically everyone he came across, even those that begged for mercy and swore to never practice their techniques ever again. The only ones he spared were the servants that had been forced to serve the sect. He directed the servants to leave the palace, as the entire place had already started burning from the battles that took place all over the area.
He continued to slowly slaughter his way through the palace, the sound of screams and blazing flames ringing in his ears, the smell of blood and ash tickling his nose. This was the battlefield, this was his second home. After moving through the palace for a few minutes, Li Yang encountered a person dashing towards him, a smile appearing on Li Yang"s face as he waved at the person.
"Hey, it seems like my luck is rather good, I managed to encounter one of the vice-leaders. Would you mind just spilling the beans on where your sect treasury is? I can"t let you leave, but I can make your death quick and painless."
The person who was running towards him was one of the vice-leaders of the sect, Gao Gang, a cultivator who had half a foot into the middle stage of the Ascending Heaven realm. If Li Yang could receive not only the reward for this mission but also loot the treasury of this sect, he would be able to increase his strength by quite a bit. Gao Gang stopped in his tracks when he heard Li Yang, quickly pulling out a long and thick gray mace covered in spikes, clicking his tongue and letting out a somewhat insane laughter.
"Tch, Yuan clan sc.u.m. Today your "good" might have beaten our "evil", but in the future, you too will all be crushed! Everyone will know that you are the same as us, mere murderers!"
Gao Gang was already convinced that their sect would be crushed here today, they might not even be able to escape with their lives. But it didn"t matter, as long as they could spread a few lies about the heartless ma.s.sacre that took place here today, their duty could be considered half-complete. But sadly, he was facing Li Yang, who wouldn"t even allow them to hold onto that slim hope of half-completing their mission.
"I guess the five people you had escape the city right as the array was activated are what makes you so confident? Sorry, but they are already dead. But don"t worry, all of you will join them shortly."
Gao Gang immediately turned pale when he heard Li Yang"s casual remark. How had he noticed the five members that were spread throughout the city? He didn"t doubt his words, as Li Yang had even stated their number and when they started to flee the city. Jinwu had been keeping a vigilant watch, so the moment the five people moved to flee the city, Jinwu gave them a quick scan, and judging that they belonged to the evil sect, he killed them and turned their bodies to ash.
The corner"s of Gao Gang"s thin mouth twitched repeatedly. The five disciples he had chosen to stand ready in the city were all only around 14 years of age, so young that they were meant to evoke pity in the hearts of those seeking to kill them. But this youth in front of them had gotten them killed, and he didn"t even seem to bat an eye as he talked about it. He tightly grasped his mace, slowly stepping forward as he curled his mouth into an ugly sneer.
"Heh, is this how the "good" side does things, killing fleeing people and those who have given up on the fight?"
The Yuan clan was one of the great powers that ensured the lives of the citizens of this continent, they could indeed be considered to be the "good" guys. But facing the taunts of Gao Gang, Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Good and evil are nothing but perspectives, everyone having their own definition. I am not killing you because you are evil, I am killing you because I don"t like you and the way you do things, it"s that simple."
Jing Yimu considered himself to be good, judging Fang Ying to be evil. Li Yang, on the other hand, considered Jing Yimu to be evil, as he had sought to kill Li Yang"s wife. Li Yang had long ago stopped bothering with the more widespread definitions of good and evil. If he liked something, it was good, if he didn"t like it, it was evil. A very simple, and very selfish definition. Gao Gang didn"t respond to Li Yang"s words, slowly walking closer. Li Yang raised his sword, his lips curling into a very faint smile.
"And from the very beginning, I have never been someone who could be considered "good"."
As he spoke, Shenlong and Huanglong turned into a stream of energy that sank into his body. His hair turned a deep golden in color, while his eyes turned a dark violet, his robe changing and turning into a loose robe that was golden and violet in color, decorated with the image of twin dragons.
He did the fusion without Jinwu this time, so he didn"t grow two feathery wings. Instead, his pupils turned into slits, golden and violet scales growing on his neck and spreading up to his chin, a whip-like golden tail growing out behind him, ending in a sharp tip. There was no one else in the surrounding area, so he could freely use as much strength as he wished.