"What do you mean by that, Brother?" Feng Jun snapped, veins bulging across his forehead.
"I meant exactly what I said," Ye Wuji replied calmly.
Feng Jun narrowed his eyes. "Which brother are you?"
"Ye Wuji."
"Ohh… so it's junior brother Ye Wuji," Feng Jun sneered. "When did a weakling like you get the guts to talk back to me? Mid-stage Qi Refining Realm, right? I'm already late-stage—you should know the difference between heaven and earth."
"Say whatever you like," Ye Wuji said coldly. "But it's still the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard."
Feng Jun's face reddened with fury, his veins pulsating. "You want to act tough? Fine. Give me a second and I'll teach you the difference between heaven and earth myself."
"Enough, Feng Jun!" Bai Qi barked. "Ye Wuji is right. It's a terrible idea. Even if the righteous sects let us live and use us in their war, they'll still kill us afterward when we're no longer useful."
Everyone, except Feng Jun and the three cultivators he brought, nodded in agreement.
Feng Jun narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold. "Looks like I'll have to use force after all. I gave you all the chance to follow willingly, but if you won't come with me… I'll drag you there with force."
Ye Wuji exhaled quietly.
"So that's why he brought those three cultivators... He plans to offer us as a gift to gain favor with a righteous sect… Is he a brain-dead? Even if he did get some kind of guarantee, they'll still kill him the moment they get what they want. That plan of his was doomed right from the start."
Chen Xi looked confused. "Why, Brother Feng Jun? Even if you force us to go with you, how do you expect us to fight for them?"
Feng Jun let out a chilling laugh. "That part doesn't matter. All I have to do is deliver you—dead or alive. I already received assurances from the disciple of the Heavenly Mountain Sect's master."
Ye Wuji's expression remained unchanged. "You're only four people. You think that's enough? You should've brought more if you were serious about this."
Feng Jun scoffed. "Reinforcements? Why would I need that? I'm the only late-stage cultivator among you, and those three behind me are also late-stage Qi Refining. This will be over before it even starts."
Ye Wuji chuckled. "Thanks for the info. That's good to know."
Bai Qi, Chen Xi, and the rest paled at Feng Jun's boast.
Then Ye Wuji added, "By the way… do any of you have a Blood Essence Harvesting Array?"
Everyone—Feng Jun, his three companions, Bai Qi, Chen Xi and others—turned to him with baffled expressions, as if he'd lost his mind.
Ye Wuji frowned. "I asked a question. Do any of you have one?"
Both Bai Qi and Chen Xi nodded, almost shouting in unison, "I have one!"
Ye Wuji's smile returned and he clapped. "Excellent. Both of you—come over here."
The two hesitated for a moment, but in the end still made their way to him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Ye Wuji?!" Feng Jun roared.
"Choosing who I'm going to save," Ye Wuji replied calmly, eyes landing on him with an eerie smile.
He could've just let everyone die and taken the array from their corpses… but keeping a few alive for future use such as contacts, resources and information was far better.
Feng Jun sneered. "You're insane. You're still only mid-stage. Don't overestimate yourself."
Ye Wuji didn't reply. He just smiled quietly.
Feng Jun clenched his fists. "Fine, whatever. You're all dead anyway."
He snapped at the three cultivators beside him. "You three, those three are mine—kill the rest!"
Then he charged at Ye Wuji without hesitation.
But, Ye Wuji didn't even move. Bai Qi and Chen Xi quickly hid behind him, watching with anxious eyes.
As Feng Jun closed the gap, hand stretched out to strike—
—But then, Ye Wuji's eyes flashed with a cold glint and two shadows suddenly appeared by his sides, silently as ghosts.
Feng Jun flinched, attempting to shift from offense to defense, but it was too late.
One shadow appeared before him, its fist punching straight through Feng Jun's chest with brutal force. Blood burst from his mouth as his body convulsed.
But before he could even fall to the ground, the second shadow arrived to and slashed its claws across his throat, cleanly severing his head.
Blood sprayed like a fountain as Feng Jun's head was cleanly severed from his neck. His eyes, wide with confusion, remained locked onto Ye Wuji—as if still seeking an answer. But Ye Wuji hadn't moved a single step. He stood there calmly, smiling faintly, as if nothing had happened.
Feng Jun's lifeless head hit the ground with a wet thud, rolling to a stop, those vacant eyes still fixed on Ye Wuji.
A thin mist of blood hung in the air.
The other three cultivators—Jiang Tao, Lu Min, and Heng Ren—who had already slain the remaining disciples from Scarlet Soul Sect, froze. Horror bloomed across their faces as the reality of what had just happened crashed down on them.
"F-Feng Jun…?" Heng Ren stammered, stepping back in panic.
Ye Wuji didn't even glance at them. "Si Wei. Xue Sha," he ordered flatly. "Clean up the trash."
The corpse soldiers moved instantly.
Si Wei, the Rank 1 corpse soldier, blurred into motion with a lightning speed. His fist slammed straight into Jiang Tao's abdomen with a sickening crunch as blood and bile exploded from Jiang's mouth.
Before Jiang could even scream, Si Wei's hand tore upward, shredding flesh and snapping ribs like dry twigs until it burst through the man's collarbone, emerging with a fistful of his spine clutched between his fingers.
Jiang dropped like a sack of meat, twitching violently on the ground before going still.
Lu Min screamed and turned to flee.
"Too late." Ye Wuji muttered as his eyes narrowed coldly.
He raised his hand, Bloodflame Claw igniting.
His fingers ignited in blazing crimson flames, and his Qi flared violently. With a single motion, he slashed the air, and a crescent arc of bloody fire ripped forward like a scythe of death.
It struck Lu Min in the back. The impact incinerated his robes and flayed the skin from his spine, charring flesh and bone as his blood boiled into steam. Lu Min shrieked once, but the sound gurgled into a rasp as his lungs boiled.
He fell, twitching violently, but then, he stopped moving too and didn't move again.
Only Heng Ren remained, frozen in disbelief.
He fell to his knees, his eyes wide with horror. "W-we surrender! Don't kill me please… I'll serve you! Anything! I-I have spirit crystals, techniques, I…"
"Trash should know when to speak… and when to die," Ye Wuji interrupted coldly.
His fist flared with deadly light. Qi condensed along his knuckles, pulsing violently.
In a blink, Ye Wuji was in front of Heng Ren.
Heartburst Fist.
The fist landed squarely against Heng Ren's sternum. And a deep crack echoed through the cave.
Heng Ren's eyes bulged, and a deep cracking echoed from within his chest. His mouth opened to scream, but instead of words, flames burst from his throat, tongue, and eyes reducing him to a charred sack of meat.
He fell backwards, smoking and convulsing in a grotesque seizure, until silence reclaimed the cave.