Chapter 676: Giving You Room To Play
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Ancestral teaching! Oh, ancestral teaching!"
Wang Changfeng bemoaned, "How could I, Wang Changfeng, be honored to see Ma-i Sect's ancestors below?"
He suddenly charged wildly towards Yun Yang while roaring, "Supreme Cloud! This old man's life is yours! If you have the guts, follow me!"
Before his last words lingered in the air, he rushed into the fog and triggered a self-explosion. With a loud bang, flesh and blood detonated in the air. Wang Changfeng had turned into a mist of blood, dying alongside the destruction of his cultivation skill.
With the explosion, a cloud of fog formed a shape that coalesced with the wind; Yun Yang's saber glinted crimson again.
"Anyone wants to bring me on their way as well? Try me; it'll save me the trouble!"
Ge Zuheng heaved a long sigh and raised his blade to end himself, fully intending to follow Wang Changfeng.
…
After some time, a total of a hundred and thirty-six Ma-i Sect members were all slaughtered. This portion of the sect was exterminated without any survivors. Blood stained the ground, converging into streams of red.
Yun Yang and the ten Yama Kings left in silence, not bothering to pick up the pieces of the tragic sight.
A stone monument was set in place.
"A hundred and thirty-six members of the Ma-i Sect were killed here. The Ma-i Sect has disobeyed their ancestral edict and intervened in the war of two empires – they are loathed by Yutang's militants!"
"Yutang's Supreme Cloud has struck today to exterminate the sect and slaughtered its people. Those who violate Yutang shall be executed, no matter how far they try to run!"
There were some remarks for elaboration below, explaining the situation clearly. It was signed off with "Yutang's Supreme Cloud has erected this monument to pay tribute to the loyal souls, to appease the people, to warn the world, to remind the martial world!"
The signature was penned with brimming killing intent and an overweening tone. Yet, everyone who saw the monument did not think it overbearing, as if everything was perfectly reasonable.
Those who saw the plate felt shaken, without an exception.
The monument stood tall against the sun, still exuding a coppery scent of blood that did not fade, even from dozens of miles away.
Not long after, people began to pass by the place. When their eyes rested on the inscription of the plate, their heartbeats hastened, while goosebumps ran through them before they cheered thunderously, feeling immensely comforted.
"It's Lord Supreme Cloud!"
"Lord Supreme Cloud exacting revenge for our soldiers!"
"All hail Lord Supreme Cloud!"
"Who in this world dares to stare Yutang in the eye with Lord Supreme Cloud's unforgiving ways?"
…
In Tiantang City, the military and civil sides worked together to seal the entire east side of the city upon Yun Xiaoyao's order.
The quarantine operation this time was unprecedentedly forceful. It was not merely words on paper or simple actions; they had moved all the civilians from the east side of the city out of the area.
The Empire of Yutang announced its dictum, "The emperor has no intention to intervene with the black and white of the martial world, but all martial world affairs are strictly prohibited from harming Yutang's civilians. The east of the city is temporarily given free rein. This is only limited to the east of the city, for only seven days."
"After seven days, great martial practitioners and cultivators who have entered Yutang are kindly requested to leave. Those who stay on after the deadline will be taken as lawbreakers and shall be penalized sternly."
"Within this exceptional week, the Yutang government shall collect the corpses of any martial artist who have unfortunately met their demise and send the remains to their hometown, to their roots. Any belongings shall not be appropriated!"
"Yutang shall capture and execute any violator without mercy."
…
The government had officially stated their stance, expressing the attitude of Yutang's imperial court clearly.
'Fight as you wish – we know that we won't be able to stop you. We've set the boundary for all of you instead, you can play just within the east of the city.
Since we've set the rules and allowed all of you to play, we've given you enough face. With such a condition, if you still want to break the rules, then we will let it all go; no one gets to play!
'We respect all of you, so we have given you space. If you respect us as well, we will take care of matters after death, no matter who dies – we will send your belongings to your home after your death as well.'
'If you don't respect us… well…'
Once the dictum was announced, the martial artists who entered Tiantang City looked disdainful and could not care less about it as they entered the battle. However, all of them had followed it, intentionally or otherwise.
Even those who had always prized mystery had chosen to wear items that could specify their identity.
Everyone was well aware of the situation. All of them thought highly of themselves, assuming they were lucky, thinking that heaven's blessings were exclusively upon them. They would be the one who would ultimately acquire the dragon hide treasure! It was only their own assumption after all. With so many pinnacle experts gathered here, it was too easy to be met with a mishap. Even if their cultivation base was higher, it was hard to guarantee that there would be no accidents.
As the host of the land, the Yutang government had agreed to pick up the pieces after them – they would definitely do it. This was much more reliable than a martial world promise; after all, no one dared be certain that they would leave here alive.
Since the governing administration had made such a promise, they would definitely fulfill it. If they were to break their promise or did not accomplish it fully, it would rouse critics. It would be tantamount to failing the promise made to the world's warriors. That would be substantially damaging to Yutang's reputation.
The assassins were disgruntled, of course. 'Isn't doing this pushing us to the edge of the cliff?'
'What will happen to us when you move all the civilians away?'
Therefore, they went to great lengths to spoil Yutang's migration.
All the martial artists seized the opportunity. 'You'll have to present yourselves if you want to stop the move. Then we'll follow the moving troops and we can plan an ambush when all of you step out to stop the operation!'
There were several thousand of Yutang's official experts led by Yun Xiaoyao who were watching over the move as well. The appearance of the assassins to stop the move would be repulsed by both Yutang officials and the martial world experts.
After dozens of violent conflicts, the assassins suffered from a great loss and finally gave up on the plan.
Yutang obeyed their rule as well; they ceased attacking when the assassins ceased their attempts to stop the move.
This way, the assassins felt the mounting pressure diminish significantly. After all, the Yutang government was the local; they were all too familiar with the geography of their city.
The assassins refrained from making a move, thus the martial world artists halted their actions. As the killers conserved their energy for the ultimate act of retaliation, the martial world practitioners waited for backup to arrive as well.
Discreetly, a substantial amount of talk was guiding the actions of the practitioners. Everyone thought them to be utterly reasonable as well.
"The dragon hide treasure map must fall into the hands of the assassins. They're too powerful. Once they break free, we won't be able to find them again."
"So we need to work together and annihilate the assassins first, to snatch the treasure map. That'd be the best way to go."
"We'll fight based on our skills after that."
All of them thought that to be a perfectly reasonable plan.
Subsequently, Yun Xiaoyao would send some men to collect the corpses every once in a while. All the collectors were ordinary soldiers; they were sent into the area by the thousands each time they searched for dead bodies along the way. Countless ace cultivators in the entire east district let them be as if they had not seen them – no one would lay a finger on these ordinary soldiers.
Occasionally when they greeted the soldiers, it was with friendly gestures. Some of the practitioners who were more well-to-do would even give the troops some money to express their gratitude. The subtext was likely, "Brother, if you find me lying here one day, please make more effort, seeing that I have rewarded you today. My broken arms or legs… do finish collecting them for me…"