Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan stepped forward, letting his black-and-white robes sweep across the ash-covered ground. Each of his steps did not merely press the dust beneath his feet but also suppressed the deathly aura emitted by the demon practitioners. In his eyes, this parade of ghosts was nothing more than a patch of weeds waiting to be harvested.

"Presumptuous!" roared the Weaver in blood-red robes. "You speak as if we are livestock ready for your slaughter? We are messengers of the God of Death, Great Ancestor Mo Sha. How dare you act so disrespectfully before us?!"

Zhi Xuan paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing as the memory of his conversation with Li Chen regarding the Great Ancestor of the Soul-Devouring Demon Sect refilled his mind.

"Ah, so it is that Great Master," Zhi Xuan murmured. "Mo Sha, the figure rumored to desire a touch of the Sacred Passage gate. A fairly powerful Divine Transformation figure, but a God of Death? How hilarious."

The man in red robes flinched, his pale face flushing red with burning rage. In front of all his followers, the authority of his ancestor had just been trampled upon by a youth who did not even show a clear ripple of energy.

"You dare insult the Ancestor?!" he shrieked, his voice so sharp it shattered several remaining glass windows of nearby buildings. "I will ensure your soul is tortured in the Cauldron of Hellfire for nine thousand years!"

He raised his thin hand, his long-nailed fingers forming a forbidden seal. Instantly, the black smoke around him solidified, manifesting three Soul-Devouring Banners that radiated absolute darkness.

The three Soul-Devouring Banners spun in the air, emitting the screams of thousands of resentful spirits that tore through the silence of Red Flame City. A bone-chilling cold spread instantly, making the Shen Clan disciples behind Zhi Xuan shiver violently despite being within the protective formation.

Zhi Xuan only watched with a flat gaze, unmoved. "Soul-Devouring Banners? Truly characteristic of your sect. If you hand those over to me in submission and surrender your body obediently, I might release your soul to go into reincarnation."

"Big words!" the Weaver roared, his face distorted by deep hatred. "Swallow him, Soul-Devouring Array!"

The three banners shot forward, positioning themselves at three angles that locked Zhi Xuan's movements. From behind the tattered cloth of the banners, thousands of black hands from resentful spirits reached out, attempting to seize Zhi Xuan's frame and forcibly pull his consciousness into the abyss of despair.

Zhi Xuan stood still, his body appearing to warp within the spatial manipulation caused by the banners. "Truly stubborn, aren't you?"

He waved his hand, and a Scythe instantly appeared in his grasp. He swept it around him, forming a vortex that easily uprooted the banners from his surroundings.

"What?!" the red-robed Weaver staggered back, his eyes bulging as he felt his spiritual connection with his three heirloom banners forcibly severed. "What weapon is that? How can the law of Soul-Devouring be broken with a single physical strike?!"

Zhi Xuan gave no answer. He spun the massive scythe in his hand, creating a whistling wind that sounded like the whisper of death. "Your banners are too noisy. Too much useless emotion. These souls... they are not even worthy of being nutrients for my own banner."

"That scythe... he... Gu Fengyan?" whispered one of the Ancient Shen Clan disciples, his lips trembling violently. "Slaughter Gods Crescent... it truly is him... the bearer of the Banners of Calamity..."

Zhi Xuan faded into a shadow, crawling through every shadow cast by the bodies of the demon practitioners. When he reappeared, there was only the sound of souls being uprooted, as if the scythe blade were plucking souls without wounding the flesh.

"If a Divine Transformation expert accompanied you, I might run," Zhi Xuan whispered as he pulled the soul from a Soul Transformation practitioner. "But you are merely little rats ignorant of the sky's vastness, so do not hope to move much more."

The man in red robes watched his followers fall one by one like wheat being reaped in harvest season. No blood was spilled, but every time the black scythe swung, the light of life in the demon cultivators' eyes was extinguished instantly, leaving bodies that were whole but empty of souls.

The Soul Lantern shot out from Zhi Xuan’s body, rotating in the air as the souls of every Soul Transformation expert were drawn out, gathering behind the glass of the lantern which rippled with thousands of wandering souls. Zhi Xuan's movements could not be stopped; whenever a Soul Transformation practitioner moved, their own shadows ensnared them, and Zhi Xuan appeared there.

Within a few breaths, the sight of the dozen practitioners now only left a terrifying painting. Some were slumped over or caught in mid-flight attempting to escape, yet frozen in place. Some had no time to move and simply stood in the void of their own bodies.

Only the red-robed Weaver remained, standing frozen amidst the expanse of his subordinates' empty bodies. The arrogance that had overflowed earlier was replaced by a darkness creeping into his heart. He looked at the Soul Lantern in Zhi Xuan’s hand, a treasure radiating absolute oppression against all types of soul cultivation.

"You... you are not just a talented practitioner," the Weaver’s voice trembled, now raspy from pure terror. "Swallowing the souls of Mo Sha's followers... you are triggering a war you will not be able to end!"

Zhi Xuan halted his steps, his great scythe resting on his shoulder while his Soul Lantern glowed brighter each time it absorbed a new soul. "A war will not start if there are no witnesses to begin it. Now, it is your turn."

*ZRAKK!*

Zhi Xuan waved his hand lightly, throwing the scythe toward the Weaver expert. The Weaver shot backward, both hands trembling as he detonated a void talisman. Immediately, a void rift appeared behind him, and he dove into the gateway.

"Trying to run?" Zhi Xuan hissed, raising his hand and making a motion as if twisting space. "Return."

The air around the void rift suddenly roared, as if the laws of space and time in Red Flame City submitted to the will of Zhi Xuan’s fingers. The rift that was supposed to be the Weaver's escape door instead twisted and shriveled, turning into an inverted vortex.

"NO! This... Peak Weaver Transformation?!" the Weaver screamed hysterically. His body, already half-swallowed by darkness, was jerked out with a force that crushed his shoulder bones.

Zhi Xuan closed his fist with a sharp jerk. Instantly, the space around the Weaver expert solidified into an invisible prison pressing from all sides. The Weaver hung in the air, his limbs stretched stiffly like an insect pinned by a needle.

Zhi Xuan spoke no more; he directed the Slaughter Gods Crescent to gouge out the soul of the Weaver Transformation expert, leaving a void in the body as the soul's sigh slowly descended and shot into Zhi Xuan’s Soul Lantern. The body fell helplessly, creating a thud that kicked up dust.

Zhi Xuan stood amidst the ruins, waving his hand as the scythe returned into his body. The Divine Cauldron floated out, humming low as it sped toward the empty mortal bodies. The Divine Cauldron spun in reverse, and a vortex appeared, drawing in the dozen practitioner bodies.

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*"Refining the body of a Weaver..."* Zhi Xuan thought. *"I already have two empty bodies of Weaver Transformation experts, but my understanding of the Ancient Nirvana Puppet technique has not yet answered how to weave a puppet with a Weaver Transformation cultivation level."*

Zhi Xuan took a long breath, letting the hot steam from the ground of Red Flame City wash over his expressionless face. Behind him, the Shen Clan disciples remained frozen in a suffocating silence.

"Gu Fengyan... that Senior... he is Gu Fengyan!" whispered one disciple, his tone full of fear. "I heard that he was coming to the Ancient Shen Clan, but I didn't expect him to come here too."

"Senior..." one male disciple mustered the courage to stand, though his knees were still shaky. "We... we owe you our lives. But those bodies, why is Senior collecting them?"

"We aren't saying anything, Senior!" interrupted another disciple, shaking his head at the male disciple. "Please don't kill us, we promise not to ask or tell anyone!"

Zhi Xuan turned his head slightly. His gaze swept across the deathly pale young faces of the Shen Clan disciples; no killing intent radiated from him.

"You do not need to promise anything," Zhi Xuan said, his voice flat. "The outside world will only know that the Shen Clan disciples managed to survive the Soul-Devouring Sect's ambush due to your ancestors' protection. What you saw here... let it be buried with the dust of Red Flame City."

He walked closer to the female disciple who had begged him earlier. With a nimble flick of his finger, the remaining bottles of spiritual pills provided by Shen Ruolan landed before the girl.

"Use those to sustain the breaths of your dying comrades. Your Holy Maiden did not send me here to be an executioner for her own disciples," Zhi Xuan continued.

Hearing the Holy Maiden's name mentioned, the tension among the disciples eased slightly, replaced by an indescribable sense of awe.

"Thank you... Senior Gu," the female disciple whispered with a trembling voice while clutching the jade bottles.

Zhi Xuan did not respond. He turned his gaze toward the eastern sky, where the black clouds were beginning to fade, but the heat from Sky Furnace Mountain grew increasingly scorching.

"What caused you to be attacked?" Zhi Xuan asked without turning. "From your faces, you seemed to only learn the name of that sect when I first mentioned it."

The male disciple who had dared to stand took a step forward, swallowing hard before answering. "Senior, we have been here for a long time. We guard the Earth Fire Core and several extremely precious Heavenly Metals stored safely in Sky Furnace Mountain."

He wiped his bleeding temple, his eyes staring blankly. "But last night, we were suddenly ambushed by those foreign practitioners. Many of us fell because we were unprepared to fight the infiltrators last night. Moreover, we had no Weaver expert."

"Senior Brother Lin, he is dead," whispered the female disciple, her voice piteous as she looked down. "If I had been just a bit faster, he wouldn't have been pierced by the banner of those foreign practitioners. I regret it so much."

Zhi Xuan remained still, but his eyes looked at the three banners of the previous Weaver expert that had been tossed far away. He moved his finger, and the banners immediately shot before him.

Zhi Xuan examined the three banners closely. He could feel the remnants of the consciousness of Lin and the other Shen Clan disciples still struggling within the entanglement of the banners' black threads, slowly being digested by the demon essence.

"Regret will not return a soul already crushed by the wheel of death," Zhi Xuan said coldly.

He moved his finger, triggering energy from his Six Paths Reincarnation Disk; immediately, the souls of the trapped disciples were separated from the banners. Zhi Xuan stood still, merely watching the souls. "Fortunate. They are not so corroded that they cannot still be reincarnated."

"Return, Reincarnation." Zhi Xuan waved his hand, and the souls floated into the sky. "I hope in your next life, you will no longer be in the position of fertilizer."

A silvery-white light glowed briefly, carrying the unfortunate souls toward a cycle unreachable by worldly grudges. The remaining disciples could only watch with teary eyes. Zhi Xuan then turned to the three banners of the Weaver who had now lost its master.

*"Soul-Devouring Banners,"* Zhi Xuan thought. "Useless. The Ruthless Heavenly Banner already possesses demon warrior souls that are far more ferocious. However, the souls trapped within these three banners can serve as decent food for the souls of those demon warriors."

Zhi Xuan waved his hand, grasping the **Ruthless Heavenly Banner**; the grey cloth fluttered softly. "Devour."

Instantly, the grey cloth of the Ruthless Heavenly Banner surged violently, radiating a ruthless aura capable of causing dread. From the tears in the ancient cloth, dozens of black shadows shaped like demon claws shot out greedily toward the Weaver's three banners.

A sickeningly loud screeching sound echoed in the air as the demon warrior souls within the Ruthless Heavenly Banner began to tear apart the essence of the Soul-Devouring Banners. In a matter of breaths, the three treasures of the demon sect were reduced to ash. Zhi Xuan flicked his hand, storing his banner back into his storage bag.

"Hmm?" Zhi Xuan murmured, turning toward the back. He looked far behind the disciples. "It seems several young masters and their guards have arrived."

He sharpened his divine sense, reaching out far; he smiled thinly. "It seems they want to take advantage of the misfortune. News of this destruction traveled so fast, and the priests of righteousness always come to say hello."

The dust that was dancing wildly in the air of Red Flame City suddenly fell, forced to submit by the pressure of a new aura coming from the horizon. From three opposite directions, flashes of light shot forward, numbering in the hundreds as they approached the region of Red Flame City.

"Those are the sects surrounding the Sky Furnace Mountain region," whispered one disciple, his voice trembling with hope. "They have come to give us aid."

"Ah, thank heaven! Look! Those are the banners of the Lotus Mountain Alliance and the Sacred Flame Pavilion!" shouted one Shen Clan disciple while pointing to the sky.

"We are saved! They must have heard the chaos here and intend to rescue us!" another added, trying to stand with his remaining strength.

"But wait... why are they coming in that formation? Shouldn't this be a rescue mission?" The female disciple holding the pill bottles from Zhi Xuan murmured softly, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Hundreds of practitioners landed with intentional thuds, creating a line that surrounded the ruins where Zhi Xuan and the disciples stood. In the front row, a magnificent palanquin carried by four fire lion monsters stopped. A handsome young man in gold robes embroidered with fire dragons stepped down, the folding fan in his hand clicking softly.

"Ck, ck, ck. Truly a heartbreaking sight," the young man said, his eyes sweeping across the ruins of Red Flame City with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "Who would have thought the grand Red Flame City under the protection of the Shen Clan could turn into a graveyard in one night?"

"Young Master Yan of the Sacred Flame Pavilion?" The male Shen Clan disciple stepped forward limpingly. "Thank you for your arrival. We were attacked by the Soul-Devouring Sect, thank heavens you—"

"Stop right there, brat," interrupted an old man standing beside Young Master Yan. "We didn't come to hear your complaints. We came because we felt a very dangerous energy vibration."

"Aid? Who said we came to aid ants who can't even guard their own front yard?" Young Master Yan laughed, the sound of his fan closing. "Look around you. The city is destroyed, the Earth Fire Core is in turmoil. The Shen Clan has failed, and failure means loss of ownership."

"What do you mean, Yan Lu?!" shouted the male Shen Clan disciple, his face turning red with suppressed rage. "Sky Furnace Mountain is our clan’s sovereignty! You want to rob us in the midst of disaster?!"

"Rob? What a harsh term," Yan Lu turned to look at the elder beside him. "Elder, doesn't the law of the jungle in Chi Di say that unguarded resources belong to those capable of securing them?"

"Correct, Young Master," the Elder snorted, his sharp eyes fixed on the pill bottles in the female Shen Clan disciple’s hand. "Hand over all those pills, and surrender the access keys to the Heavenly Metal warehouse. If you obey, we might let you go to report to the Ancient Shen Clan."

"Don't hope for it! This is a gift from the Holy Maiden!" The female disciple hugged her jade bottles tightly. "You... you are truly cowards! Where were you when the Soul-Devouring Sect slaughtered us?!"

"We are here now, and that is what matters most," a beautiful woman in green robes from the Lotus Mountain Alliance stepped forward. "Stop this drama. Hand everything over, or we will consider you accomplices of the demon sect that just attacked this place."

"Accomplices?! We are the victims!" shouted the Shen Clan disciples in unison. "Are you crazy?!"

"Who can prove it?" the woman smiled cynically. "A city is destroyed, yet you are still alive. And look at that..."

She pointed at Zhi Xuan, who was walking around the ruins. "Who is that man? Walking around like a beggar scavenging for treasure."

Zhi Xuan halted his steps; he did not turn, only his head tilted slightly as if listening to an annoying bird's chirping. He squatted for a moment, scratching the ground as if performing a task.

"Your words are truly presumptuous!" shouted the male Shen Clan disciple, his voice breaking with anger. "This Senior is the one who saved our lives! He is the one who exterminated those soul-devouring demons alone!"

Yan Lu laughed uproariously, his fan pointing toward Zhi Xuan’s back with contempt. "Him? A vagabond without a sect emblem, without the aura of a grand practitioner? You must be insane with fear, brat. It is obvious he is the accomplice left behind to clean up the remnants of the treasure."

"Elder," Yan Lu signaled with his chin. "Catch that beggar. I want to know what dirty technique he uses to hide here."

The Elder stepped forward, his hand forming an energy claw. "Hey, vagabond! Turn around and prostrate yourself if you still want your head to stay attached!"