The two thousand-odd evil men held the reins of their horses, looking ferociously at the First Song Sect disciples’ leader in the center. If Gu Hai gave the order, they would all charge in to tear that thoroughly charred cultivator to shreds.
The countless cultivators held their breath as they watched. The surroundings quieted at the sudden change in atmosphere.
The many cultivators celebrated that they had not charged in together with the First Song Sect disciples. Otherwise, they would be in a sorry state now.
Most of the hundred First Song Sect disciples already died. The survivors were severely injured, incapacitated. They could only lie there and watch Gu Hai pointed his horsewhip at their leader.
“I said that I did not want to come! I said that I did not want to come!”
“Sect Master, save me!”
“Please spare us. We won’t dare to do this anymore!”
The surviving First Song Sect disciples cried out weakly.
Far in the distance, the First Song Sect disciples’ leader appeared extremely unsightly. Typically, the seniors show up after the juniors get beaten up. However, I have not beaten up your juniors yet, not even gotten close to your sons.
Close to a year ago, the First Song Sect disciples’ leader had seen Gu Hai while he was beside the First Song Sect Master. Back then, Gu Hai had been like an insignificant ant he could crush with his little finger. Now, Gu Hai pointed a horsewhip at him? Gu Hai’s sons even killed close to a hundred of his martial nephews, but he had to feel fearful of Gu Hai?
“Mister…Mister Gu!” the First Song Sect disciples’ leader said with an unsightly expression.
“Were you the one who said that you wanted to kill my sons?” Gu Hai asked with a serious expression.
Gu Hai did not want to let this moment go, as many people were watching. He wanted to leave an impression on everyone, to let them know that anyone who targeted his family would have to pay a heavy price.
“Yes, but I did not…” The First Song Sect disciples’ leader wanted to explain his way out of this.
“Profound Legion, kill!” Gu Hai ordered coldly, not giving the First Song Sect disciples’ leader a chance to plead for mercy.
Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak!
Many of the Profound Legion’s evil men immediately drew their bows.
“Mister Gu! It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!” the First Song Sect disciples’ leader protested anxiously.
“Release!” Scar shouted coldly.
Whoosh!
Hundreds of arrows shot at the First Song Sect disciples’ leader. Every arrow contained Veritable Energy, appearing very ferocious. It seemed like the arrows would immediately pierce many holes in him, turning him into a sieve.
Hundreds of arrows approached in a barrage.
The countless cultivators around felt a chill in their hearts. If it were them, they definitely could not block it. It was over for the First Song Sect disciples’ leader.
That First Song Sect disciples’ leader swung his sword in one direction, sending out large amounts of sword qi.
Boom!
After the intense clash, a large number of arrows fell to the ground. However, there were too many arrows; the First Song Sect disciples’ leader could not defend himself against them all.
“Gu Hai, you! Hah!” The First Song Sect disciples’ leader glared, feeling startled and angry.
Boom!
Suddenly, the First Song Sect disciples’ leader’s hair turned crimson as a sinister, fiendish crimson aura surrounded him. His hair suddenly transformed into tiny snakes that merged. In the blink of an eye, his head of hair turned into hundreds of crimson snakes.
The many snakes danced wildly in the air. As they opened their jaws, they turned incredibly huge, charging at the rain of arrows.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
The snakes hissed ferociously as they crashed into the arrow rain.
Boom!
The snakes knocked away the rain of arrows. However, a few of the snake heads got shot and broke off, falling to the ground.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
When the snake heads landed, they gave off sizzling sounds, and a sinister, crimson aura emerged. They did not turn back into hair but withered slowly, remaining as snake heads.
This immediately caused a commotion among the surrounding cultivators.
“That First Song Sect disciple’s eyes became very sinister. His hair turned into many red snakes. How disgusting!”
“What an intense evil aura!”
“How did his hair turn into snakes? Furthermore, so many of them!”
The countless cultivators gazed at this scene in horror.
The two thousand-odd evil men also changed their expressions. Even Gu Hai revealed a shocked expression.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
The countless snake heads on the First Song Sect disciples’ leader’s head twisted around quickly, baring their fangs at Gu Hai while they hissed.
Hair turned into snakes?
“Hah!” the First Song Sect disciples’ leader roared as he pounced in one direction. It seemed that he wanted to use his ferocious appearance to scare away the surrounding evil men and take the opportunity to flee.
The hundreds of crimson snakes on the First Song Sect disciples’ leader’s head danced in the air, baring their fangs and hissing ferociously. This did inspire fear in everyone’s hearts.
However, the First Song Sect disciples’ leader happened to move towards Gao Xianzhi.
Gao Xianzhi also appeared horrified. However, he glared as he said, “Don’t let him run. Fire the arrows!”
“Hoo-ah!” the evil men bellowed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Many arrows shot out.
Ordinary cultivators could not match the evil men in experience. Although the snake heads startled the evil men, they immediately calmed down.
“Kill!” After shooting arrows, the evil men grabbed their weapons and charged at the First Song Sect disciples’ leader.
Boom!
A sinister crimson aura enveloped the First Song Sect disciples’ leader, his strength apparently increasing by several times. As he swung his sword, he sent out many manifested swords, ferociously chopping down at the evil men.
“Hah!”
The group of evil men quickly worked together to surround and attack the First Song Sect disciples’ leader.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
The snakes danced about as the First Song Sect disciples’ leader swung his sword. Even so, the evil men still kept him trapped in the center, forcing him to defend with all his might.
Gu Hai remained seated on his horse as he looked coldly into the distance.
“Is this First Song Sect’s Elder Bai? I heard that he stalled at the second layer of the Golden Core Realm. However, his strength now…,” Gu Hai said.
“His strength now did indeed increase severalfold. Furthermore, there’s that head of snake heads,” Scar said with a frown at the side.
Gu Hai turned his head and looked coldly at Scar.
Suddenly, Scar’s expression changed. He immediately shouted to his subordinates, “Kill him! Take down this evil demon!”
Rumble…!
Scar rushed into the battle.
Shing!
Suddenly, an evil man in the distance swung his sword and chopped off Elder Bai’s right arm.
“Argh!” Elder Bai let out a miserable shriek.
Elder Bai’s strength significantly decreased after he lost his right arm.
“Kill!”
Boom!
A Golden Core Realm evil man rushed forward and chopped off Elder Bai’s head.
“No!” Elder Bai roared in despair. However, his head flew into the air.
Boom!
The battle ended. The evil men all moved over.
With a sullen expression, Gu Hai dismounted and stalked to Elder Bai’s head. The cultivators around felt curious, wanting to check it out. However, while they surrounded the head, no one dared to get close.
A sinister crimson aura filled the place where Elder Bai’s head landed. The snakes on the head struggled in pain for a while before going limp. Soon, they stopped breathing. However, they did not turn back into hair, remaining as snakes when they withered.
The evil men’s eyelids twitched.
“Speak! What happened to him?” Not far away, Gao Xianzhi questioned a surviving First Song Sect disciple.
“I don’t know! None of us know!” a First Song Sect disciple shouted in horror. He was already on his last legs.
The hair turned into hundreds of snakes?
Gu Hai’s expression turned sullen.
“Milord, this person was spirit-assimilated!” Shangguan Hen said from the side.
“Oh? Do you know about this?” Gu Hai looked at Shangguan Hen in bewilderment.
The evil men all looked at Shangguan Hen as well.
“Yes. This subordinate has seen such cases before. This person should have been spirit-assimilated, no longer human. He was already half-human-half-spirit, a kind of monster.” Shangguan Hen nodded.
“A half-human-half-spirit monster?” Gu Hai stared at Shangguan Hen.
“Yes. An animal spirit consumed his mortal soul and infused its spirit essence blood into him. The spirit essence blood altered his body and nurtured a spirit essence soul, creating a new mortal soul,” Shangguan Hen explained.
“Oh? The heavenly soul comes from heaven, the earthly soul comes from reincarnation, while one’s parents provide the mortal soul. The animal spirit ate his mortal soul and gave him a spirit essence soul. Does that mean he was no longer the descendant of humans but an animal spirit? However, as this is an acquired state, he ended up being half-human-half-spirit?” Scar said in shock.
“A monster?” Gu Hai stared at the snake-covered head before him.
“An animal spirit’s essence blood and essence soul are extremely precious. An animal spirit typically would not give them to another person. Furthermore, animal spirits that can induce spirit assimilation in humans are powerful, at least in the Nascent Soul Realm. Based on his head, it looks like a snake spirit spirit-assimilated him!” Shangguan Hen said with a frown.
“What would be different after spirit assimilation? Is there anything else aside from the earlier transformation?” Gu Hai stared at Shangguan Hen.
“Their nature would become like that of demons. The earlier crimson aura is the aura of demonic spirits. Having turned into a demonic spirit, they can bring out a burst of strength five times their regular strength, which is quite incredible. Furthermore, snake-type spirit-assimilated monsters like this like to feast on human hearts and livers!” Shangguan Hen said grimly.
“Ah! Ah! No wonder! Along the way here, two of my junior brothers died mysteriously. They had lost their hearts and livers. At that time, we thought that animal spirits ate them. It turned out that it was Martial Uncle Bai? It was Martial Uncle Bai?!” The First Song Sect disciple who collapsed on the ground stared at the monstrous head of Elder Bai in horror.
Gu Hai’s pupils constricted as he looked at Elder Bai’s head, appearing gloomy. Elder Bai got spirit-assimilated? Is it just him, or are there many people in the First Song Sect like this?
“Thoroughly burn it!” Gu Hai ordered coldly.
“Yes!” the evil men answered.
“Adoptive Father!” Cries of joy came from not far away.
Gu Qin and Gu Han led their subordinates in rushing over to Gu Hai.
No cultivator dared to block their path, quickly making way for them.
Seeing his two adopted sons coming over, Gu Hai revealed a faint smile.
“Salutations, Adoptive Father!” Gu Qin and Gu Han greeted respectfully when they were near.
“Salutations, Master!” the group of Gu Residence servants greeted excitedly.
All the servants had seen their master’s might and prestige earlier. The countless cultivators all betrayed horror in their eyes as they looked at Gu Hai.
“Is everything well at home?” Gu Hai asked with a smile.
Gu Qin smiled faintly and was about to speak when Gu Han rushed to answer, “Adoptive Father, rest assured. We did exactly as Adoptive Father instructed. We fast-tracked the buildings, as it had been somewhat dangerous lately. First Brother and I moved to the fort just recently. The explosion earlier was stupendous. The First Song Sect disciples, who were incredibly arrogant, all exploded! Hahahaha!”
Gu Han appeared excited. However, Gu Qin remained remarkably calm as he said, “Adoptive Father, everything is well. However, there have been many cultivators with bad intentions nearby.”
Gu Hai’s expression grew stern as he turned his head to survey the surroundings.
Countless cultivators in the surroundings still looked towards Gu Hai with some hope.
“I’ll lay a large ritual array right away. All intruders will be killed without mercy!” Gu Hai snorted coldly.
The surrounding cultivators immediately goggled.
