Chapter 159 Purging

Purging

Out of the around ten thousand people that Xue Bai outed as a traitor, almost all of them participated in the charge just now. And after Yue Zifeng's sword art, only less than 400 remained.

Feng Hai was among them. However, his current expression was less than calm.

The reason Feng Hai hadn't participated in the fight was that he knew he was a traitor, and he wanted to lessen his sins.

However, now, he could only kneel on the ground like a child who was waiting for his father's punishment.

Xue Bai's Gravity Field Array Formation was genius if you acknowledge the fact that it was his first work and was self-created. However, it still had a huge flaw.

It didn't discriminate between ally and enemy.

So currently, no matter if they were about to charge into the crowd or not, everyone within the array formation's domain was kneeling on the ground.

Thankfully due to the arrangements of the Core Elders, the strong were in one spot, while the weaker cultivators were in a different one.

This way, Yue Zifeng could purposefully weaken the Gravity Field Array Formation in certain areas and make sure a Qi Sea realm disciple didn't get the same pressure required to immobilize a Law Engraving or even a Domain Lord realm Elder.

Because of this, while Feng Hai wasn't being killed under the pressure, he was still forced down to the ground in a miserable and embarrassing position.

Yet he wasn't very focused on his pathetic appearance but rather on the sheer number of corpses around him.

Yue Zifeng's Myriad Swords Convergence Art: Ten Thousand Sword Fall was a secret technique of the Soaring Soaring Sect and its most prized sword technique.

It was a killing art in its purest form.

And Yue Zifeng didn't plan to use it as an empty threat, so for every sword that landed, a life was reaped.

Almost 10,000 bodies were all in the square, and Fang Hai was now forced to lay amongst them like a corpse himself.

If this were to happen any other day in his life, Fang Hai would immediately have been outraged and set out to kill every perpetrator involved. Now, he only wished that Yue Zifeng could mistake him for one.

"The trials continue. Any person accused who thinks they are innocent may attempt the Heart Testing Sword and prove it," Yue Zifeng calmly said as he put his hands behind his back, "If not, we should get this farce over with."

Undoing the Gravity Field Array Formation, Yue Zifeng let the remaining people try and prove their innocence.

Sure, it was possible that there were innocent people within that charge, but even if there were, the second they took up their swords and attacked their fellow disciples, they were guilty.

The world was cruel, and while it could've been their only hope at survival, Yue Zifeng was a sect leader first and foremost.

How could he just wait to see who was truly guilty while his disciples, friends, and brothers were being attacked by his enemies?

He didn't have anywhere near the amount of magnanimity to do that.

Disciples continued to try and test their innocence, and yet even after almost 300 people attempted, no one passed the test.

As Yue Zifeng killed more and more people mercilessly, eventually, the surrounding disciples grew numb to it all.

It was definitely a little horrific and traumatizing to see Yue Zifeng slaughter so many people at once with no change in his expression, but after that, nothing else affected them.

After all, what were a few hundred more deaths compared to the brutal and swift execution of almost 10,000?

Bodies were killed by Yue Zifeng and deposed with a simple bolt of lighting until, eventually, there was only one person left.

Fang Hai

A myriad of emotions was running throughout Fang Hai: regret, unwillingness, and bone-deep jealousy and envy, yet at the end of it all was a faint acceptance and clarity.

Knowing he'd die, he looked over at his 'Perfect Senior Brother' older brother with a disdainful smirk.

"You know, when I first approached to join the Blood Saber Sect 15 years ago, I was disdainful at first. After all, I had the oh-so-perfect and reliable Senior Brother as my elder brother. So how could I, his younger brother, be any worse?" Feng Hai said with an odd sense of calmness, attracting the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

Feng Hai just openly admitted to being a traitor!

Such gossip was good enough for months on end!

"Yet as the years passed, the gap between us didn't lessen or even stay the same, no," Fang Hai mockingly said, "They increased! I even stupidly thought it was because of my lack of effort and not the talent disparity. But after another few years, I realized how stupid I was."

"I accepted, and they promised to make me a Core Disciple as long as I gave them your head." Fang Hai said before something suddenly happened.

His stomach started bulging up as if he were being stuffed like a turkey.

Confused and terrified, Fang Hai tried to stop it, but he realized that he couldn't, nor could he even shout for help.

And soon, in front of the crowd's eyes, Fang Hai's body burst like a balloon, sending gore everywhere.

Since his last panic-filled expression made it look like something he couldn't control, no one in the crowd knew what happened to Fang Hai to make such a thing happen.

Only the higher-ups in the sect with more information at their grasp did.

'He most likely spoke too much, and the seal branded onto him killed him before he could leak anything vital,' The Elders all thought.

Seals like this were often placed on corpse soldiers, assassins, and spies for very standard reasons.

Jobs like those needed both vital information and were always at risk of being killed or caught.

Tortue was something that almost every cultivator knew how to do to some extent. And while most cultivators in these occupations were trained to withstand great pain and torture, you could never be too sure.

So to prevent any vital information from leaking, most cultivators with such an occupation were branded with a seal that prevented them from saying too much information that could hurt their backers/employers.

Away from the elders, the older brother of Fang Wei was mortified at seeing his own brother die in front of him.

"No!!!" Fang Wei yelled out emotionally.

Running over to go to his brother's last position, he quickly tried to do something to help out of hysteria.

This time no one stopped him. Elder Long was a brute without any restraints, but he had emotions.

"Clear the area." Yue Zifeng said aloud, "The sect will be on lockdown for the next two months, and not even a fly is to be allowed outside. If someone is caught outside, then they will be labeled a traitor and have a bounty enlisted on their head."

The surrounding disciples and elders didn't have objections and quickly left, except for the ones close to Feng Wei.

Instead, they all gathered around their Senior Brother in hopes of attempting to console him. However, they truly didn't know what to say.

Fang Wei loved his little brother just as much as his own life, so when Fang Hai did in front of him in such a horrific manner, it was obvious just how broken he was.

Yue Zifeng could see this, and while he had no mercy or empathy toward Fang Hai, he did have high hopes for Fang Wei. So before he also left the area, he flew down toward him.

"Fang Wei, we all have high hopes for you and your low Black-grade Martial Veins. I only hope you can step out of this shadow and continue down your path," Yue Zifeng calmly said as he patted the still-groveling Fang Wei on the shoulder.

Fang Wei didn't respond instantly and stayed mute for a moment.

Seeing this, Yue Zifeng only sighed.

Looking over at Elder Long, Yue Zifeng motioned him over.

"Elder Long, Fang Wei is an extremely talented youth. Make sure he doesn't lose himself in anguish." Yue Zifeng said.

"Don't worry, Sect Leader! This old bag of bones can't do much, but he knows how to raise a genius!" Elder Long laughed, sending shivers down the spine of all the disciples nearby.

Following his words, Elder Long grabbed Feng Wei with his bony hand and flew off toward his mountain.

Alone once more, Yue Zifeng scanned the area to make sure the job was done cleanly. And after he confirmed it, he looked back at the teleportation array hall, where quickly his face turned dark.

"Are those melon seeds?!"

Xue Bai, Zhu Que, and Xiao'er were sitting on the top of the teleportation array hall chewing on melon seeds and watching the show.

"Master, that cool was so cool!" Xue Bai yelled out excitedly, "When are you going to teach me that? Have you been holding out on me?"

"Turn off the defensive array." Yue Zifeng didn't bother to reply and instead ordered.

However, Xue Bai rebelliously shook his head and said no.

"God no," Xue Bai was no fool, "Look at your expression. If I turn it off, won't I be at your mercy?"

He could see Yue Zifeng's anger and knew he would be punished if he let the man in.

"I can break it before you teleport Bai'er." Yue Zifeng spoke as he lifted a palm, "I'm telling you to open it so we can leave. We have more to talk about at my mountain."

Sensing his previously foolish thoughts, Xue Bai obediently turned off the defensive array allowing Yue Zifeng entry.

The defensive arrays were at most of the peak Yellow-grade, so how could they withstand an attack from Yue Zifeng?

Yue Zifeng, now inside, had a strong urge to beat up his disciple, but after remembering his promise, he calmed himself down.

"Come to my peak once again. We have to talk about the Wang Clan." Yue Zifeng spoke as he teleported away.