373 Killing Spree

"This..."

As the mountain breeze blew across the valley, Zhou Tian gazed at the few corpses before him, speechless.

How did the highly-skilled people of the Imperial Court, a 9th Tier spiritual knight and 3 9th Meridian Wu Zongs, die in front of his eyes so easily?

"Fang... Brother Fang!"

Looking at Fang Yuan, he started to stumble on his words. "Have you really formed the Divine Body and attained True Divine?"

Looking at Fang Yuan's power, there had to be only one explanation.

"True Divine? I'm not that powerful yet!"

Fang Yuan turned around and smiled sheepishly. However, the fact that he had killed the 4 of them so easily just now still made Zhou Tian unable to speak a single word.

'Through the encounter just now, I now know his martial arts ability as well!'

Fang Yuan clenched his fists. 'Even in the outside world, without the effects of the Ultimate Segregation, I am still able to win anyone that's not a True Divine!'

Furthermore, after refining his blood with that of the witch's, his physical body was also comparable to that of a True Divine and he would stand a chance against any True Divine as well!

'Unknowingly, my martial arts has improved tremendously and it is slowly becoming as powerful as my dream master's ability... Or it might even be more powerful already.'

'This kid...'

Zhou Tian looked down. He could feel that the commotion from afar was beginning to settle down as well, and thoughts ran wild in his mind.

'The alliance might have intentionally placed us here as bait for us to be ambushed, but this Fang Yuan... he has the ability all along and yet chooses to conceal it. He is indeed dangerous and unpredictable!'

"Sir, what should we do next?"

Zhou Tian humbly enquired. He already regarded Fang Yuan as a True Divine.

At least, in the harsh environments of the 9 Extremes Mountain, Fang Yuan was comparable to having half the power of a True Divine!

"It's the same plan. We shall observe... Now that we have killed these few leaders, we can continue to patrol and wait to see if anyone else will approach us. It will be a big accomplishment for us to kill them.

Fang Yuan chose the option which favoured him.

"This is... good!"

Zhou Tian promptly agreed.

Fang Yuan's future was limitless. With that understanding, he knew he had to establish good relations with him.

...

At the base near the messy stone array.

Smoke billowed in the air as the entire altar shattered into many pieces, revealing a pitch-black underground hole.

In the surroundings, a few dream masters and Wu Zongs laid on the floor and their blood stained the ground.

"Kill!"

Groups of martial artists in black robes appeared. They were all in the Meridian Opening Realm as they forced their way into the base.

"Strike!"

A dream master waved his hands and a layer of fog appeared. In the fog, a few icicles appeared as well.

A few martial artists succumbed to the attack and a few holes were pierced through their bodies, spewing blood all around.

"Hmph... the few of you are just servants. How dare you fight against your master?"

This dream master laughed. Suddenly, a big hole appeared beneath him. A Wu Zong draped in yellow robes appeared. Wielding a sword and swinging it around, it resembled the tongue of a snake. With that, he went straight for the dream master's throat.

"You..."

A layer of icy armour appeared over the dream master's body. However, it was too thin and the sword managed to pierce through it, making its way to the throat and piercing through it as well.

'What a pity... If this was outside, how would this even happen?'

The dream master's mind was filled with thoughts of unwillingness before he fell squarely to the ground.

If this was outside, he could quickly restore his elemental force and the icy armour would be able to at least withstand the piercing of a thin sword.

"Great! You're indeed the powerful Sword Burrower, Wang Tong!"

The few Wu Zongs around started to cheer.

"If not for the Anti-dust Robe given to me by the Imperial Court, I will not be able to succeed so easily!"

Wang Tong gave a humble smile before gripping tightly on the thin sword in his hands, which resembled a spiritual snake. "Dream masters are overbearing! They have created chaos everywhere they go and treat martial artists like us as servants. We need to let them get their just desserts!"

"You're right!"

The few Wu Zongs cheered in unison as they started to cry tears of hatred.

However, it was inaccurate to say that dream masters were evil and overbearing. It was simply the fact that with dream masters around, other professions would never get to shine.

Furthermore, being more powerful, dream masters would be able to get their hands on more resources.

Therefore, considering the rarity of spiritual lands and prosperous lands, how would the other martial artists and spiritual knights survive if all of these rare resources belonged to dream masters?

Therefore, they started to develop a hatred for dream masters and all of them came out once they caught wind that the Imperial Court was about to wage war on dream masters.

"Die!"

A few martial artists roared as the spiritual meridians on their bodies started to glow. In a flurry, their enemies were sliced and diced into many pieces, revealing the dream master which was being protected in the centre. "Please spare me..."

"Chi! Chi!"

The swords did not stop. With a few slices, the dream master was sliced into 5 pieces.

"Are these people from the Imperial Court?"

The group of Wu Zongs made their way into the crypt and created a commotion as they entered. With that, Peng Xuan came out. With the wave of his right hand, a handful of golden-coloured sand flew into the air and transformed into streaks of lightning. It was a powerful move indeed.

This was his famed magical equipment, the 'Golden Steel Thunder Sand'. It was made from 12,900 grains of black sand and refined by elemental force. Afterwards, it would go on to seal each and every lightning in it to become gold in colour. If thrown at the enemy, the streaks of lightning would be released at the same time. Although it would not be as powerful as a heavenly tribulation, it was powerful in its own way and hard for anyone to even defend against it.

"How timely it is for Lord Xing to leave and for Fang Yuan and Zhou Tian to have yet to return!"

Although he was obsessed with the technique of refining corpses, he was not stupid and could detect that something was amiss.

At the moment where he released his Golden Steel Thunder Sand, 3 Golden Corpses emerged from the crypt. They had ferocious looks on their faces and was entirely gold in colour. They were impenetrable as they advanced out of the crypt.

"Eh? A dream master in the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage?"

Such a combat power immediately piqued the interest of the few 9th Meridian Wu Zongs and spiritual knights around.

"Aw! Aw!"

The Golden Corpses shrieked. They were unafraid of death and their nails were sharp and poisonous. Effortlessly, they managed to kill and formed a path in their wake.

However, as soon as they reached the end, 2 of the 3 Golden Corpses were already beheaded.

"Hmph... The Imperial Court of Da Qian, just you watch out. How dare you destroy my Golden Corpse! I will take revenge for them!"

Peng Xuan heaved a sigh before throwing out a feather. "The Thousand Feather Burrowing Technique..."

The feather was a pristine white and had a translucent spiritual glow to it. It was obvious that there was some sort of escaping burrowing technique sealed in the feather. With his chant, the feather was about to be activated.

"Hmph! Are you thinking of fleeing?"

A tall figure appeared behind Peng Xuan.

This person was shockingly skilled to be able to sneak up to a dream master in the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage.

"Aw! Aw!"

The remaining Golden Corpse was filled with fear. With a weird voice, it leapt forward but was being punched away. His entire head was punched into its thoracic cavity as it fell to the ground, motionless.

"Chi!"

Peng Xuan was stunned. Looking at the bloodied hand which appeared before his chest, he gave a pitiful look. "A True Divine martial artist? A captain from Yanwu Court? What a pity... strike!"

"Whoosh!"

As the glow of the feather descended on Peng Xuan, it covered him inside. Instantly, he became a streak of light and flew away.

"Hmmm? The burrowing technique of a dream master in the 7th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage?"

The tall figure was stunned. As he gazed at the disappearing Peng Xuan and the black heart which was squelching in his hand, he revealed a sinister smile. "This is interesting... Did he transform himself into a zombie? No wonder it is able to survive after my punch... What a lucky fellow!"

"Pa!"

As he tightened the grip on his hand, the heart exploded into a mist of blood.

"Capital leader!"

The other martial artists and spiritual knights quickly settled their respective targets before bowing respectfully. "We have cleared this entire base. In total, we've killed 15 dream masters and 37 Wu Zongs!"

"What a pity. Xing Yunzi is a sly fox and has already left long ago. There are another 3 dream masters in the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage, but none of them is here... It is rumoured that the Realm Alliance are lax in their rules, and that is indeed true! Quickly destroy this place! Let's leave!"

The capital leader used a clean cloth to wipe his hands as he calmly gave out his orders.

The Imperial Court had long known that the 9 Extremes Mountain was all along a trap. However, with the competent Hidden Dragon Guards and other skilled personnel, they could afford to take the bait and escape.

However, little did they know that the dream masters of the Realm Alliance were all sly. Although they had accomplished their mission, they only killed a few non-essential personnel and were therefore unsatisfied.

"Yes, Sir!"

The Wu Zongs knew that he was powerful and therefore quickly agreed before making their way down the crypt.

Not long after, there was a faint roar of a dragon. The entire crypt started to crumble and within moments, it was buried underground. There were flames burning all around the base.

...

"Wow... This is such a pitiful loss. I can't even bear to witness it..."

After a long while, Zhou Tian and Fang Yuan finally returned and destruction was all they saw.

Many of the dream masters and Wu Zongs had their heads severed and stacked up, forming a small hill. It was a sign of taunt.

"There were all accomplished people, but now, all that's left of them are bones..."

Fang Yuan examined the unjust looks on their faces but did not manage to find the heads of Peng Xuan and Xing Yunzi. With that, he shook his head.

They were all smart and cunning people to begin with. Therefore, they would not blindly sacrifice themselves, especially for the sly Xing Yunzi.

Looking at things, it seemed as though these two powerful dream masters were tipped-off and had already escaped long ago to leave the remaining dream masters to fend for themselves.

"Fang Yuan! Zhou Tian!"

A few streaks of light suddenly appeared. They carried familiar spiritual auras with them. As they arrived at the base, they transformed into a few dream masters with desolate faces.

Taking a closer look, Fang Yuan realised that Xing Yunzi was leading them and accompanying him was Feng Xinzi.

"Where were you when the Imperial Court attacked?"

Xing Yunzi asked coldly. "While we were fighting with all our lives, where were you?"

"Of course in a fight as well!"

Fang Yuan retorted with confidence. "While I was patrolling with Zhou Tian, we had detected traces of Wu Zongs. We chased them to over 30 miles from here and we finally killed the 4 of them! Their heads are here!"

Zhou Tian retrieved 3 heads. They were the heads of 9th Meridian Wu Zongs and their spiritual auras were indeed terrifying.

They could not lie about this, for there were techniques in this world which would allow one to retrieve information from a severed head.

"9th Meridian Wu Zongs?"

Feng Xinzi examined the heads and exclaimed.

"What? All three of them?"

Xing Yunzi's expression changed. If these three Wu Zongs were to combine forces and attack him together, he knew that he would not be able to escape.

"Not just that, there was another 9th Tier spiritual knight as well. However, it was a pity that his head was smashed beyond recognition..."

Zhou Tian remarked.

He was clear that he would stand by Fang Yuan's side. Therefore, he had to cover up for Fang Yuan and help him as much as possible.

After all, chasing after enemies and leaving one's position of duty were very different things.

"Keke... Not bad!"

Feng Xinzi forced a smile. "To think about it, both of you have accomplished something during this mission. I will report it to the alliance on your behalf..."