Chapter 56: The Fall of Liuyun
Si Chen led Heishan and Chifeng on foot, yet they arrived at the true mountain gate with surprising speed.
Even the stone stele bearing the sect's name had been blasted to rubble by someone, its shattered fragments scattered across the ground. Only from the broken pieces could one barely make out the characters "Liuyun" and "Sword."
Wherever the eye fell, there was nothing but crumbling walls and broken ruins.
This was the Cultivation World.
When you stood at the summit, all directions paid tribute and flowers bloomed in your honor.
But the moment you showed weakness, those who had once groveled at your feet would instantly transform into jackals, leaping upon you to tear you apart and devour every last scrap.
It had not even required Si Chen to lift a finger himself — even though he was the one who had set all of this in motion.
"Tsk, tsk. Ruthless enough — they've dug three feet into the ground," Heishan muttered, surveying the surroundings with a rough voice.
Just then, the faint sounds of clashing blades and shouted curses drifted from deep within the sect grounds.
The three exchanged a glance and walked toward the source of the noise.
* * *
Outside the main hall of the Liuyun Sword Sect.
A group of ragged, hollow-faced remnant disciples of the Liuyun Sword Sect had gathered in the center of the plaza. Most were the elderly, the weak, women, and children — or young cultivators of meager cultivation with nowhere else to go.
Every one of them had been forced to kneel on the ground, their faces etched with terror and despair.
Surrounding them was a group of cultivators clad in matching fitted attire, their expressions cold and severe.
At their head stood a middle-aged man with a sinister cast to his features. His hands were clasped behind his back, his chin tilted slightly upward, his gaze filled with utter contempt.
The sole surviving Elder of the Liuyun Sword Sect — a white-haired old man at the Early Core Formation Stage — was kneeling before this middle-aged man, kowtowing repeatedly, his forehead already bruised a deep purple.
"Senior Fang! Senior Fang, please show mercy! Lü Ci acted against all reason and offended the Fang Clan — he has already been put to death, and that was no more than he deserved!"
"But — but those of us who stayed behind to guard the sect are innocent! We knew nothing of it, and we would never have dared! Please, I beg you — raise your hand in mercy and leave us a path to survival!"
The middle-aged man addressed as "Senior Fang" was named Fang Yong.
"Old Chen," he said softly, letting out a gentle sigh, a faint expression of regret crossing his face. "You and I have known each other for many years. I know the kind of man you are."
His tone shifted, yet remained just as mild: "But Lü Ci dared, at a moment of crisis, to use a direct-line scion of the Fang Clan as a stepping stone. That was a trampling of the Fang Clan's dignity. The clan is furious and has issued the order… to exterminate the sect entirely."
He leaned down slightly, meeting Elder Chen's despairing eyes, and smiled with a helpless air. "If we do not erase the Liuyun Sword Sect from this world, where does the Fang Clan's face go? So… I'm sorry."
"Senior Fang!"
Splurt—!
The kneeling Elder Chen was still trying to plead further, but Fang Yong had already grown too bored to listen.
A cultivator behind him raised his blade and brought it down. A flash of cold light, and a head rolled across the ground, its expression frozen in unwillingness and terror.
"Elder!"
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Among the kneeling Liuyun Sword Sect disciples, several cried out in grief and fury, struggling to rush forward — only to be cut down effortlessly by the surrounding Fang Clan cultivators.
Fang Yong did not even glance at the bodies. He simply said in a flat tone, "Clean it up."
"Yes!"
The slaughter began.
Cries for mercy and wails of anguish were cut off abruptly. Blood rapidly dyed the plaza floor crimson, and in a mere moment, the plaza fell utterly silent.
Fang Yong swept an expressionless gaze over the main hall — the last symbol of the sect.
"It's an eyesore just looking at it."
He said it lightly, his figure slowly rising into the air. He raised his right palm, and vast spiritual power began to gather, ready to flatten this final remnant of the Liuyun Sword Sect with a single strike.
At that moment, his movement paused ever so slightly.
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of three figures walking slowly along the ruined corridor not far away.
A young man in blue-grey cloth robes, his expression calm, a small red bird perched on his shoulder.
A powerfully built man with his arms crossed, wearing the look of someone watching a show.
A short-haired man with wild, spiky hair and fierce eyes, lazily stifling a yawn.
This peculiar trio appeared so abruptly amid the ruins of a freshly carried-out massacre.
The middle-aged man of the Fang Clan furrowed his brow, displeasure rising within him. Where had these death-seekers come from, daring to interrupt his business?
He assumed them to be a few Rogue Cultivators passing by to scavenge for scraps.
But then his gaze fell on Si Chen once more…
Wait!
That young man's face — hadn't he seen it somewhere before?
In a flash, an image from an urgent internal clan transmission blazed through Fang Yong's mind.
A young man who had made Young Master Fang suffer a crushing loss at the Dragon's Fall and had caused Old Mo to perish!
It was him! That Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator called Si Chen?!
No — this aura… Late Core Formation Stage?!
How long had it even been?
How could he possibly have leaped from the Foundation Establishment Stage to the Late Core Formation Stage? Had he been concealing his cultivation all along?
No… could it be… that dragon pearl?!
Fang Yong's eyes instantly blazed with heat.
That junior, Fang Heng, had repeatedly stressed within the clan that if this person were ever found, he must be reported immediately — no rash action was to be taken.
But who did Fang Heng think he was? Nothing more than a good-for-nothing who lorded his direct-line status over everyone, and who had now dragged the clan's reputation through the mud. This time especially.
If he himself could capture Si Chen and reclaim the dragon pearl… even force out every gain Si Chen had made at the Dragon's Fall…
The credit, the treasures — all of it would be his! It might even be possible to surpass the other branches within the clan in the future!
Just as his mind was spinning with schemes, calculating how to monopolize this "Fortuitous Encounter" for himself, a crude voice broke through his thoughts.
"What are you staring at?! Never seen someone this handsome — a bear… uh, a person — before?"
Heishan went straight on the offensive. One look at the other party told him they were no good people, so he figured he'd start with insults.
Fang Yong was momentarily taken aback, and only then did he look more carefully at the two figures beside Si Chen.
Though they had taken on human form, a man of his caliber immediately recognized their true nature from the demonic energy they had not fully suppressed and their distinctive bearing — these were the two third-rank demon clan members that Fang Heng had mentioned.
But so what? He himself was a great cultivator at the Late Nascent Soul Stage!
"And here I wondered who it might be — turns out it's just a pair of beasts."
Fang Yong's tone remained mild, but his words dripped with contempt. "What's the matter? Haven't had enough of Wanji Mountain, and now you've come to the human domain to seek death?"
"I'll seek your father's grave!" Heishan ignited instantly, rolling up his sleeves and stepping forward. "Who do you think you are? I could fart and blow you two miles away!"
Chifeng said nothing, but wind blades had already begun to swirl faintly around his body, his icy gaze locked on Fang Yong.
Si Chen raised a hand and gently held back Heishan, who had been about to charge forward.
"Are you from the Fang Clan?" he asked.
Fang Yong smiled faintly, still looking down from above. "Indeed. I am Fang Yong. You must be Si Chen — that boy Fang Heng has been 'thinking of' you quite fondly."
As he spoke, the Fang Clan cultivators had already begun to spread out slowly, subtly encircling the three.
But Si Chen paid no attention to these small fry whatsoever, and didn't even respond to Fang Yong's remark about Fang Heng.
He simply handed Red Bean on his shoulder over to Chifeng and Heishan. "This one, I'll handle myself."
"Huh?" Heishan blinked. "Brother, this old fellow looks like he might be a bit thorny!"
Si Chen slowly rose into the air, ascending to the same height as Fang Yong, then turned and waved a hand down at Heishan and Chifeng below.
"It's fine."
Fang Yong looked at Si Chen's utterly unconcerned manner and found himself amused rather than angered.
A junior who had only just leaped to the Late Core Formation Stage through some stroke of luck dared to face him — a Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivator — alone?
Should he call it admirable courage, or breathtaking stupidity?
And Si Chen's only thought was:
Perfect — time to test… that strange core.