678 Trampled to Death

Now, if the Barren State was split up into nine regions according to the Holy Roads, the Dawn Road would be considered part of the same region. Taihang Mountain and the Ning Clan were both within the region of the Dawn Road, the eastern area of the Zhongzhou City. Back then, both Ning Huang and Yuan Zhan had entered the Holy Road from the Dawn Road. As such, the Taihang Mountain was not far from the Ning Clan.

The Ning Clan had also once been an elite clan. At its prime, it had experts on the Barren Sky Ranking, but it was now on the decline. Now, the Palace's Elder Ning was already the most influential person that the Ning Clan could produce.

For the past few days, the Ning Clan Leader Ning Yuan had had a feeling of unease. That day, the assassination had failed and Ning Yuen had died. Until now, they did not know who had protected Ye Futian, but it was at least a magi, otherwise, they could not have killed Ning Yuen. If he had a person of that level protecting him, what other factions were behind Ye Futian?

The reason they had dared to assassinate Ye Futian was naturally because he had been expelled from the Palace and the Palace would not interfere. As long as the assassination succeeded, nobody would know who had done it. Even if someone managed to find out, who would stick up for Ye Futian?

Although the Zhuge Family and the Alchemy City had some relations with him, that was only because his brother and sister were in these factions, but they were not the ones in power. So, the relationship would definitely not be too intimate, even if Zhuge Qingfeng and You Chi valued Ye Futian's potential. If Ye Futian was dead, all that potential would be pointless.

Back then, Ning Huang's death was definitely a thorn in the Ning Clan's heart. However, Ye Futian had entered the Holy Zhi Palace to cultivate and they could not kill him in the Palace. Afterward, he had become the first on the Law Rank and he was protected even better. The Ning Clan had once thought that revenge was impossible until Ye Futian had been expelled from the Palace. That was when the assassination plan had begun. However, they had failed. The corpses of the five Sage Plane experts were left there, so they would know who did it at a glance.

Thud. A dull sound was heard and Ning Yuan frowned. What was happening? It was not only him who had heard the sound. At that moment, within the huge Ning Clan residence, many people felt the ground shake.

Outside the Ning Clan residence, the people within the city looked dumbfoundedly at the scene before them, it was a herd of Golden Apes. On the ground, rampaging Golden Apes trampled the ground, causing cracks to appear. The Golden Apes had violent demonic Qi around their bodies and in the front. The Golden Ape bodies rapidly grew to a size of ten meters, each of them looking like a mountain, crushing the ground beyond their feet as they walked forward. There were also immensely strong Golden Apes walking in the air. The Golden Ape at the forefront appeared to be the king of the apes; its golden body standing tall at tens of meters, giving people an immovable, divine feel.

Many people started escaping in all directions. They had realized that the Golden Apes appeared to be heading for the Ning Clan residence. At that moment, there were people flying into the air from the Ning Clan residence. When they saw the grand sight before their eyes, they were startled and their bodies started to shiver.

It was the Golden Ape clan from the Taihang Mountain. What were they here for?

There were people flying into the air in succession and even Sage Plane figures appeared. Standing in the air, he looked at the king of Taihang Mountain across the air and bowed slightly, saying, "Greetings to Taihang Mountain's Ape elder. What has elder come for?"

"Kill," Yuan Hong said with an extremely cold voice, completely devoid of emotion. In the next moment, the tens of Golden Apes beside him held razor-sharp golden spears in their hands and golden rays flew through the air. The golden spears then flew towards the Sage Plane expert below like golden lightning.

It was too quick, those who had thrown their spears were all strong Golden Apes from Taihang Mountain. The Sage Plane expert was horrified and retreated immediately, but the sky of raining spears rained down and he could not dodge them.

Tch… With a giant sound, the giant golden spears impaled his body, pinning him to the ground. A Sage Plane expert, dead on the spot.

In the Ning Clan, countless people watched the scene with trepidation, fear filling their minds. The Taihang Mountain had sent out all its experts to kill them.

"Elder Yuan Hong, when has my Ning Clan ever offended the Taihang Mountain?" someone roared, only to see a Golden Ape land right in front of him and crushing him with its golden palm, killing him in the air.

As deafening rumbling sounds were heard, the Ning Clan's main door was smashed to dust. Next, the buildings in the Ning Clan's residence were rapidly destroyed and the Golden Apes landed on the area above the residence, their might surrounding the entire residence.

"Yuan Hong!" a voice shouted. The Ning Clan Leader, Ning Yuan, flew into the air with an extremely grim expression and howled at Yuan Hong, "I did not know that Yuan Zhan was there at that time, but I guarantee that Ning Yuen would definitely not have laid a hand on Yuan Zhan." He had already knew that Yuan Zhan had left the Palace with Ye Futian. Ning Yuen naturally had his own insight and would not kill Yuan Zhan. After all, they had no grudge with Yuan Zhan and did not want to, nor did they dare to offend Taihang Mountain.

Yuan Hong's golden eyes swept across Ning Yuan. Even until now, Ning Yuan probably did not know why he was here.

"Since the Ning Clan likes their outstanding Sage Plane figures, today, none of the Ning Clan's Sage Plane figures will be left alive. If any Noble Plane dares to step in, kill them all." Yuan Hong's voice sounded like a storm in Ning Yuan's ears, leaving him in despair.

None of the Ning Clan's Sage Plane to be left alive. If Noble Plane cultivators interfered, they would all be killed. This was akin to severing the Ning Clan's lifeline.

In the Barren State, the Sage Plane cultivators were the elite figures. A faction could only be considered elite unless it had a Sage Plane cultivator. Some small cities could not even hold their own in the Barren State without a Sage Plane cultivator, not to mention a Clan. Moreover, the Ning Clan was a strong clan and would definitely have offended many people. The clan also had many treasures. If their Sage Plane experts were all killed, how would the Ning Clan survive?

Bang, bang, bang. The huge Golden Apes stepped forward and started killing. The Golden Ape clan was renowned for its strong battle ability. How could the declining Ning Clan be a match for them? It was absolutely a one-sided massacre.

In another part of the battlefield, there were strong Sage Plane experts holding halberds in their hands, riding Qilins and assaulting a Golden Ape. However, the Golden Ape did not move and allowed the halberd to pierce its body, but the halberd could not even pierce through its skin. The Golden Apes naturally had invincible bodies that were forged by gold. His giant hand grabbed the halberd, snapping it in half, then slashed downwards and split the other party into two. He did not use much technique and chose to use tyrannical force to crush the other person instead.

Below them, the Ning Clan's members all had pale faces and boundless fear in their hearts. How could this be? Was it because of the incident that had been spreading wildly? However, the Clan Leader had already said that he would not touch Yuan Zhan, why was Taihang Mountain still here?

"Yuan Hong, are you mad?" Ning Yuan's eyes were blood-red as he howled, "You dare to commit genocide against a clan in the Barren State? How will the other factions in the Barren State dare to co-exist with you?"

"When you committed murder by using a Sage Plane expert to assassinate a Noble Plane cultivator, did you not think of the consequences?" Yuan Hong said coldly, staring down Ning Yuan.

"Ye Futian killed my Ning Clan's genius, Ning Huang. This is between my Ning Clan and Ye Futian. What does it have to do with your Taihang Mountain?" Ning Yuan bellowed. Seeing all the Sage Plane cultivators die, he had gone into a frenzy.

"Ye Futian killed Ning Huang, so you wanted him dead. Now, you tried to kill Ye Futian, so I'm here to kill you. After today, the Ning Clan will be removed from the Barren State," Yuan Hong said nonchalantly. As he heard his words, Ning Yuan's expression became ghastly and he stared at Yuan Hong, saying, "Not possible, this is not possible. What relation does Ye Futian have with your Taihang Mountain? It can't be just because he knows Yuan Zhan."

Yuan Hong had led the Golden Ape clan to kill them, not because of Yuan Zhan, but because of Ye Futian. He had considered the Zhuge Family and Alchemy City. He felt that these two major factions would not make a huge move because of Ye Futian, but he had not thought about Taihang Mountain. Evidently, Ye Futian, who had disappeared after that day's assassination attempt, was now in Taihang Mountain.

"Dead people don't need to ask that many questions," Yuan Hong replied cruelly. He stretched out his hand, and a golden rod appeared in his giant palm. He stepped forward and the earth shuddered under him. The golden rod crushed downwards, its might causing the entire Ning Clan residence to crumble. The other people's battles all stopped at that moment. The power of the rod seemingly could cause the heavens to collapse. Before the rod had even landed, crashing sounds could be heard as the Ning Clan residence repeatedly exploded, and some weaker cultivators were pressed to the ground, unable to move, spurting blood, feeling as though their internal organs would be crushed.

"No!" Ning Yuan bawled and a giant Qilin appeared, flying towards the air. However, under the rod strike, the Qilin was smashed to smithereens.

Yuan Hong was an elite high-level archmage and 18th on the Barren Sky Ranking. Ning Yuan was a mid-level archmage. There was an entire cultivation level of difference between them, not to mention that their battle abilities were not on the same level. When Yuan Hong personally descended upon the Ning Clan, there was already no doubt about the outcome.

As the rod struck down, Ning Yuan was pounded to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth. The color paled from his face as he saw a giant foot crushing down upon his body, getting closer by the second. Ning Yuan felt utterly pained. Was he going to die in such a humiliating way? Being crushed to death…

Countless gazes stared in his direction, watching Yuan Hong's foot trampling down. With a thunderous clap, the ground ruptured and cracks appeared in the entire residence as the Ning Clan members watched with looks of despair. Their clan leader had been stepped on and crushed to death. What a humiliating way to die.

"Do your job." Yuan Hong raised his head and looked at the Golden Apes in the air. The Golden Apes immediately went on a killing spree and howls of agony could be heard all over the Ning Clan. The Noble Plane cultivators all shivered, not daring to participate in the battle, their cries being completely drowned out by the battle.

The Ning Clan was finished. After today, they would be removed from the Barren State, all because their Clan Leader had ordered an assassination on Ye Futian.

Not long after, the ground shook and roaring sounds could be heard as Taihang Mountain's demonic beasts took to the skies and left. Outside the residence, countless people came over to the Ning Clan, but what was left was crying and rubble.

The apes on Taihang Mountain are really brutal, many people thought. The Golden Ape clan were still demonic beasts after all, and the rage of a demonic beast was utterly barbaric!