Not far away, Duo Ji exclaimed in surprise, “Old Pang, is that really you? You’re still alive?”
This Third Uncle Pang’s name was Pang Tongyuan, and he was a senior figure in the Ziling Sect like Duo Ji. Moreover, he was Xiang Yangzhan’s advisor in the past and had been in charge of putting forward plans and ideas for the sect. He was the one who had come up with many good methods of administering the sect.
In fact, he was the one who had noticed signs of Di Batian’s rebellion and had warned Xiang Yangzhan to be on guard against Di Batian’s ambition. At the time, Xiang Yangzhan was at the peak of his power. Thus, he did not think much of the warning. Xiang Yangzhan felt that with his strength far beyond Di Batian, Di Batian wouldn’t dare to rebel.
But after Xiang Yangzhan went missing from his duel with Shangguan Wusheng, Di Batian rebelled. Pang Tongyuan was spared because Di Batian greatly admired his wisdom. Alas, Pang Tongyuan refused to serve Di Batian. Thus, he was kept in prison and was subjected to constant torture, making it so that living was worse than death. Pang Tongyuan had not imagined that he would have a chance to see Xiang Shaoyun return, and he was gratified by what he saw.
“Third uncle, it’s really you!” Xiang Shaoyun called out as tears started dripping from his eyes.
In the past, the person he hated most in the Ziling Sect was none other than this Third Uncle Pang. This was because Third Uncle Pang had always disliked how Xiang Shaoyun would waste all his time in leisure and nothing else. Each time this third uncle saw him, he would be subjected to a harsh scolding that would greatly embarrass him.
At first, Xiang Shaoyun constantly complained to his father about the scoldings he received, but his father never did anything about it. On the contrary, his father supported this third uncle as well, telling the third uncle to discipline him more. At one point, he even developed an innate fear toward this third uncle.
Years had passed since then. When Xiang Shaoyun saw his third uncle once again and saw how badly his third uncle had been tortured, his heart ached greatly. Now that he had grown up, he knew full well that Third Uncle Pang only had good intentions back then. Third Uncle Pang was only so strict with him due to love, yet Xiang Shaoyun ended up disliking this third uncle. For that, Xiang Shaoyun’s heart was filled with regret.
Tears streamed down his cheeks. His heart was pained at the thought of his third uncle’s sufferings, and he was remorseful that he had not listened to this third uncle in the past. He hated himself for it.
“Get on your knees, Xiang Shaoyun, if you don’t want to see your third uncle losing his head,” threatened First Gold, who could see just how much Xiang Shaoyun cared for Pang Tongyuan.
“Kill me if you have the guts. Now that I have seen how capable a man the young master has grown into, I can die with no regrets,” said Pang Tongyuan unyieldingly.
“Is that so? I’m afraid your beloved young master wouldn’t bear to see you die. Hahaha,” said First Gold smugly.
“Young master, i-ignore us! Kill all of these traitors!” said a different loyalist who had similarly been brought out of prison.
The other loyalists were also prepared to die. None of them wanted to live, and they all started saying the same thing.
“Xiang Shaoyun, do you want them dead or alive?” asked First Gold, ignoring what they were saying.
Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes turned red with bloodlust, and he yelled, “They will all stay alive, while all of you will die!”
Immediately, he released the Nether Soul Domain. Everyone in the vicinity was wrapped in it, completely isolated from the outside world. These were Ziling Sect loyalists, and Xiang Shaoyun had to protect them at all costs. He would not let them die.
First Gold and Di Youguang were greatly alarmed. They had thought that Xiang Shaoyun would submit with hostages in their hands. This space that had appeared out of nowhere seemed too suspicious, and they couldn’t even react before they were trapped within it.
“Kill them!” First Gold shouted in alarm.
But before they could even touch the hostages, chains shot out from all directions, giving them a great fright. They were forced to deal with the chains since they weren’t interested in getting tied up by the chains. Alas, Di Youguang was too weak and couldn’t put forth any sort of effective resistance. He was the first to be captured.
“Guardians, save me, quick!” he shouted in panic.
“Like I said, not even your father can save you,” said Xiang Shaoyun coldly. He then dragged Di Youguang out of the Nether Soul Domain and slashed him into two from his waist right in front of everyone else.
The Di Sect members went limp from fear.
“I repeatedly said that those who surrender would be spared. Since all of you have refused to surrender, don’t blame me for showing no mercy,” said Xiang Shaoyun as he erupted with thick killing intent.
At his words, the Di Sect members scattered in all directions in panic.
“The sect master has lost another son! Is his family line going to completely end here?”
“This must be karma. In the past, the sect master tried to kill Xiang Shaoyun. And now, karma has returned to bite him.”
“This is a world where the strong trample upon the weak. Since the sixth young master is weaker than Xiang Shaoyun, he only has himself to blame for his death.”
“Why is the sect master not back yet? He needs to come back and deal with this little bastard already.”
…
When faced with strength they couldn’t resist, the Di Sect members descended into a chaotic mess that completely lacked teamwork. More importantly, a large portion of them used to be Ziling Sect members. They were the ones who had submitted to Di Batian out of their fear for death. Few of them had any sort of backbone.
As for the new members, they hadn’t been in the sect long enough to have a sense of belonging. Only a few people were truly loyal to Di Batian, but Xiang Shaoyun had already killed off most of them.
That was why the Di Sect members had sunk into such a disorderly state, failing to unite and put forth any resistance against Xiang Shaoyun.
In Xiang Shaoyun’s Nether Soul Domain, First Gold and some other people were finally tied up by the chains. They were now completely at his mercy.
The three remaining Golden Guardians might be strong, but they were greatly suppressed in the Nether Soul Domain. With the ghostrune Sovereign in the domain, they couldn’t resist his soul attacks. Thus, the endless chains eventually captured all of them.
Even Xiang Shaoyun’s clone was in the domain. Just the clone alone was strong enough to defeat all of them in the domain.
“You are a cocky bunch, but all of you will die here today,” said Xiang Shaoyun coldly as he swept his gaze through the three guardians.
“Let us go alive, or the high monks from the Righteous Buddhist Sect will not spare you,” said First Gold, who was now sounding much less confident.
Xiang Shaoyun had been intending to kill them, but he stopped when he heard them mention the Righteous Buddhist Sect. He asked, “You come from the Righteous Buddhist Sect?”
“That’s right. We’re all from the Righteous Buddhist Sect. You can’t even begin to imagine how powerful the sect is. It is much more powerful than the Di Sect. You better release us. We are willing to forget all of this. Don’t get into trouble you can’t handle,” said First Gold. He thought that Xiang Shaoyun would fear the Righteous Buddhist Sect’s reputation, and he saw some hope in surviving this incident.
“Sure, I can spare you from death, but you still need to be punished,” said Xiang Shaoyun with his eyes narrowed. He proceeded to torture them until they were on the brink of death. Then, he used the Nether Dragon Soul Curse to put all three of them under his control. He was going to use them to gather information about the Righteous Buddhist Sect since he still had something he needed to do there.
