Ling Tian Sword God

”I didn’t expect we’d encounter something like this right after arriving,” Ling Yin said, surprise on her pretty face.

”Forget it. We’re new here; it’s best not to stir up trouble.” Ling Chen shook his head, showing no intention of getting involved.

This isn’t the Five Kingdoms, a place we can easily control, Ling Chen thought. Here, the strength of the Sky Apex Realm might not count for much.

”We’re not looking for trouble, but it should be fine to see what happened, right?” Ling Yin smiled. She spread her palm, releasing a butterfly. It looked incredibly lifelike, yet no Life Breath emanated from it. Clearly, this was a Butterfly Puppet.

Ling Chen frowned slightly but didn’t stop her. If one doesn’t look closely, it’s impossible to tell it’s a puppet, he mused. It should be fine.

The butterfly flew stealthily into the mountain gate of Qingcheng Palace.

「Inside Qingcheng Palace.」

Wherever the Butterfly Puppet flew, corpses lay scattered on the ground. Some were decapitated; others had gaping holes in their chests. Regardless of the wound’s size, all had been killed by a single, fatal blow; there were no secondary injuries.

Residential halls and palaces were burning, the crackle of flames occasionally breaking the silence.

”It seems Qingcheng Palace has been wiped out.” Through the Butterfly Puppet’s eyes, Ling Yin clearly saw the devastation within Qingcheng Palace. Her face paled at the sight of the corpses and burning buildings.

”Wiped out?” Ling Chen was also shocked. From the outside, Qingcheng Palace was clearly no ordinary small Sect; its scale surpassed any Sect in the Five Kingdoms. He hadn’t expected it to be annihilated.

The Sect that destroyed Qingcheng Palace must be a formidable power, Ling Chen thought.

The Butterfly Puppet slipped deeper into Qingcheng Palace, flying into a grand hall in its innermost sanctum.

This grand hall was guarded by figures in black wearing Bronze Masks; every entrance and exit was sealed.

”Speak! Where exactly is the fragment of the Sword Immortal Poetry? Tell us, and we might spare your life.”

Inside the grand hall, two people in black, a man and a woman, were interrogating a young girl. Both had frigid demeanors and seemed accustomed to standing in the shadows, concealing their faces from outsiders.

The speaker was the man; his voice suggested he was young, likely in his twenties.

”I don’t know! I don’t know anything...” The young girl, drenched in blood, clutched her head, her expression one of utter terror. The blood, however, was not her own but belonged to others.

”It seems you prefer the hard way.” The young man’s eyes turned cold, a hint of killing intent surfacing.

”Don’t be hasty, Senior Brother.” The woman beside him stopped him. Then, she squatted down, smiling as if she had no intention of harming the girl. ”Luo Xian’er, that fragment of the Sword Immortal Poetry is hardly a treasure; it’s more like a death warrant. Your entire Qingcheng Palace was destroyed because of it. If you hand it over, I promise to let you live peacefully.”

”Otherwise,” the woman in black sneered, ”you know Our Tangmen have hundreds of torture methods. As long as someone is alive, we can make them talk. Staying silent now won’t help you in the slightest; it will only hasten your end.”

”I really don’t know what the Sword Immortal Poetry is!” The girl named Luo Xian’er shook her head vehemently. She couldn’t understand why this was happening. Yesterday, everything had been fine. Today, Qingcheng Palace was in ruins. These people in black were all incredibly powerful Experts, particularly skilled in assassination. Overnight, they had eliminated all of Qingcheng Palace’s Experts. The Sect Leader and the Elders had all died at their hands.

Strange, does she truly not know? The woman in black frowned. She could see no hint of falsehood in Luo Xian’er’s eyes. Could it be that she really knows nothing?

”Impossible!” the young man insisted. When the Qingcheng Swordsman passed away, Luo Xian’er was the only one with him. If the fragment of the Sword Immortal Poetry wasn’t on the Qingcheng Swordsman, it must be on Luo Xian’er, or they hid it somewhere.

”Since Senior Brother is so certain, let’s take her back with us. Handing her over should be enough to report the completion of our mission,” the woman in black said.

”Yes, take her.” The young man nodded, a cold glint in his eyes. Annihilating Qingcheng Palace had taken considerable effort. If not for the recent passing of Qingcheng Palace’s foremost Expert, the Qingcheng Swordsman, allowing them to launch a surprise attack, they could never have wiped out a Sect of Qingcheng Palace’s magnitude so easily overnight. Even for them, the Tang Sect. This particular order had come from a prominent figure within the Tang Sect, not a directive from the entire Family.

Just as two of the masked individuals in black moved to apprehend Luo Xian’er, the young man’s peripheral vision caught a butterfly landing on a petal on the windowsill.

”This butterfly... I’ve never seen this species before.” The young man reached out, and with a flick of his wrist, drew the butterfly into his palm with an unseen force.

In the next instant, however, his expression changed dramatically.

”What’s wrong?” the woman in black asked quickly.

”This is a puppet! Someone is using this Butterfly Puppet to spy on us! Damn it!” The young man’s face darkened, his eyes glinting fiercely.

”What?” The woman in black was stunned. She hadn’t expected anyone to be so audacious as to use such methods against members of their Tang Sect.

”The one controlling the puppet is nearby! Find them immediately and kill them on sight!” the young man ordered sharply.

「Outside, on the back of the Dragon Puppet.」

”Oh no, we’ve been discovered!” Ling Yin’s face suddenly paled as she exclaimed.

”What? Then let’s get out of here, quickly!” Ling Chen hadn’t expected their minor actions to be discovered. His expression darkened instantly. He hadn’t wanted to meddle in others’ affairs in the first place, much less provoke someone they couldn’t afford to offend.

”That man is skilled; I think he already knows our location.” Ling Yin’s pretty face grew serious. She looked at Ling Chen somewhat helplessly. ”Brother Ling Chen... those people claim to be from the Tang Sect.”

”The Tang Sect?” Ling Chen’s expression changed drastically, immediately turning grim. The Tang Sect, the Dominator of Yi Zhou, was the very last power he wanted to offend right now. He hadn’t anticipated that this unintentional act would lead to such dire consequences.

Right now, their only option was to leave this place quickly, before their pursuers could catch up.

”Where do you think you’re going?!” Just as this thought crossed Ling Chen’s mind, a shout boomed from overhead. A group of people in black appeared in their line of sight. They were all airborne, their backs equipped with wings made of some unknown material, and they were closing in with astonishing speed.