Ethereal Peak.
The sect went silent after news of Su Zimo’s death in the Dragon Burial Valley.
Xuan Yi and the other two had parted ways with Su Zimo for slightly more than a month.
None of them expected that it would be an eternal parting!
It did not matter how external cultivators viewed Su Zimo, how they said that he was a demon with an innately feral personality, that he was a fiend who loved to kill.
In the hearts of Xuan Yi and the others, Su Zimo would always be a disciple of Ethereal Peak!
In order to protect his sect mates, he sacrificed himself as bait in the battle at Dongling Valley and lured away everyone from Blood Crow Palace while undertaking the immense risk of dying.
In the sect competition, he was outstanding and ascended beyond everyone with a domineering aura, shutting the mouths of all sects and cultivators that mocked Ethereal Peak forever!
In the Great Qian Ruins, he singlehandedly forced back three strong sects and protected the safeties of Xuan Yi and the other two, allowing them to return with rewards while curing the disheveled old man’s injuries at the same time.
He was the number one Weapon Refinement Master of Great Zhou!
He was at Extreme Foundation Establishment, the second after the Human Emperor!
He had unlimited potential such that even the Emperor of Great Zhou had high regards for him!
He was the pride of Ethereal Peak, but…
All of that had now disappeared along with Su Zimo’s leap.
Liu Hui sighed gently. “Dao Being Xuan Yu declared that he wanted to annihilate the Su family. Given his cultivation realm as a Void Reversion and the background of Glass Palace, it’s probably over for the Su family.”
“Mortals should not be implicated in grudges between cultivators. To think that even an immortal sect like Glass Palace would resort to something so despicable! Immortal sects? They’re nothing but shameless!” The disheveled old man cursed hatefully.
Xuan Yi remarked deeply, “I’m guessing that Dao Being Xuan Yu is not going to take action personally against a mortal in light of his status.”
Although that was the case, no sect or faction in the North Region dared to protect the Su family.
It was not only because of Dao Being Xuan Yu or Glass Palace. Rather, Su Zimo’s identity was way too sensitive.
He even killed too many paragons of the North Region for the Vermilion Fruit fight while incinerating hundreds of Nascent Souls – he had offended almost all the major sects and factions of the North Region!
Anyone that dared protect the Su family would be pitting themselves against the entire North Region!
The Great Zhou Dynasty did not dare to do it.
Ethereal Peak did not dare to either.
A failure would instantly result in a calamity befalling them!
To be fair, against the current circumstances, Ethereal Peak was already enduring immense pressure for not severing their ties with Su Zimo.
Sect Master Ling Yun released his spirit consciousness and surveyed his surroundings before whispering, “Senior crane has already left the sect to head for Yan Country. I hope that she’ll be able to make it in time. This is an extremely serious matter that must not be leaked or the sect will be met with impending annihilation!”
Xuan Yi and the others nodded hurriedly.
At that moment, a powerful and familiar aura sped over from not far away.
The old immortal crane was back!
Everyone from Ethereal Peak was alerted!
Pushing through the door, the old immortal crane could not conceal her fatigue and surveyed her surroundings before sighing. “I was too late.”
Upon hearing that, everyone from Ethereal Peak felt their hearts skip a beat.
The old immortal crane continued, “Xuan Yu did not appear personally due to his status. He sent dozens of Glass Palace disciples in a group to the capital of Yan Country and the King of Yan, Su Hong, is nowhere to be found.”
Everyone from Ethereal Peak heaved a sigh of relief but they were confused.
If Su Hong’s whereabouts were unknown, he should be safe for the time being as long as he was not in the hands of Glass Palace – why would the old immortal crane then say that she was late?
Why was there a hint of sadness in her tone as well?
The old immortal crane continued, “The group from Glass Palace was furious due to their fruitless trip and laid down the order to slaughter the entire city in order to force Su Hong to show himself!”
Everyone’s mouths dropped agape as they looked on with disbelieving expressions. For the longest time, they could not recover from their misery.
Slaughter the city… those words were short but they sounded extremely grim.
Almost everyone from the capital of Yan Country were mortals!
Against the powerful might of cultivators, those mortals had no way of defending and their lives were similar to ants!
Although they did not witness it personally, everyone from Ethereal Peak could imagine the desperation and helplessness those mortals felt against the cultivators.
Everyone seemed to be able to hear the tragic cries.
Everyone seemed to be able to envision endless arms flaying, seeking help.
The old immortal crane closed her eyes, as though she could not bear to recall, and sighed. “By the time I arrived, the capital of Yan was filled with rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. It was devastating and looked like it was hell!”
The disheveled old man clenched his teeth and snarled, “B*stards!”
“Creating such massacres against mortals because of the grudges of cultivators. Are they truly not afraid of divine retribution?!” Liu Hui’s voice was quivering.
“There’s no such thing as divine retribution in this world,” Xuan Yi mocked bitterly.
The old immortal crane continued, “More than halfway through the massacre, cultivators of the fiend sects arrived, led by their Pure Maiden. They fought against the Glass Palace cultivators and forced the latter back.”
“In that case, there’s an extremely high chance that Su Hong was rescued by Pure Maiden Sect.”
“That should be the case.”
“It was lucky that the fiend sects arrived. Otherwise, all the mortals in the capital of Yan…”
Everyone from Ethereal Peak suddenly went quiet as they discussed.
Silence overwhelmed them.
Those that killed were from the immortal sects while those that rescued were from the fiend sects.
It had to be said that this was truly a great irony.
Who were the true immortals and who were the true fiends?
Right from the beginning, Ethereal Peak was established for the sake of protecting the masses while exterminating fiends and demons.
But now, when they said the words, ‘It was lucky that the fiend sects arrived’, everyone felt their values collapsing within them.
Did it mean that they had to kill Su Zimo for his demonic cultivation?
Were they still going to continue hunting down the fiend sects despite the fact that the latter saved the masses?
An ex-disciple of Ethereal Peak, Yan Beichen, was now a fiend as well.
Furthermore, he was a great fiend among them, an Asura!
However, Yan Beichen had once said that although he had killed plenty of people in his lifetime, he had never laid his hands on mortals.
Asuras killed divine beings but they did not massacre for fun.
Wasn’t a fiend such as him much holier when compared to the masses from Glass Palace?
After a moment of silence, just as everyone thought that everything was over, the old immortal crane pursed her lips and took a deep breath before continuing, “After the group from Glass Palace left, they were still indignant and went on to massacre 13 other cities on their way back to vent their frustrations…”
“What!”
Everyone from Ethereal Peak was shocked.
“Within a single day, countless people in the territory of the Yan Country lost everything with their families broken apart. The death toll alone has already crossed 30 million!”
No natural catastrophe would be this scary!
The true catastrophes were often made by men.
Gripping his fists, Xuan Yi said coldly, “Although Glass Palace is an immortal sect, aren’t they afraid of incurring the wrath of the entire cultivation world by massacring innocents like this?!”
“They’ve got the reason to back it up,”
The old immortal crane shook her head with a look of irony in her eyes. “Glass Palace stated that because Pure Maiden Sect of the fiend sects appeared in Yan Country, it meant that Yan Country was in cahoots with the fiend sects. In that case, because the mortals of Yan Country have long fallen into the path of the fiends, Glass Palace was upholding justice by slaying fiends and demons.”
Everyone from Ethereal Peak felt a sense of helplessness and their hearts felt stuffy.
That reasoning sounded absurd and hilarious.
Everyone knew that Glass Palace merely massacred the mortals just to vent their frustrations.
However, nobody could refute it.
That was the way the world was – strength reigned supreme.
Everyone from Ethereal Peak who knew the entire events of things knew that the mortals of Yan Country were innocent.
However, how many people could tell the real truth?
In other vassal states, in other corners of the world, there were still countless mortals who did not know of the truth applauding the immortals for exterminating evil while upholding righteousness…
The mortals at the lowest rungs were the easiest to be hoodwinked and deceived.
