Dumbfounded by the sudden attack, the remaining cultivators did not even get to scream before they too were ripped off the ground and flung into the air.
"AAAAHHHHH!!! AHHHHH!!!"
Panic ensued.
The younger cultivators cried like a group of headless chickens.
Only Zhang Xukai still remained in the array with his spiritual beast.
"Don't run!" He shouted. "Stop panicking! Get back into your formation!"
But while Zhang Xukai was busy shouting orders at his frightened comrades, Mo Zhiyuan had already arrived in front of him and grabbed him by the neck.
The former Nightfall Emperor rose into the air, dragging Zhang Xukai with him. The disciples of the Seven Sky Pillars Sect shrieked pitifully.
"AHHHHH!!! NOOOOOO, SECT LEADER!!!"
"NOOOOO, PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!"
Mo Zhiyuan gave these young cultivators a sidelong glance, his gaze brimming with reproach. The Seven Sky Pillars Sect once housed cultivators with the courage of lions and the fortitude of bears. Where did they all disappear to? How did the sect end up raising these useless animal cubs?
Ah, right…
Mo Zhiyuan chuckled to himself when he remembered that he had already slaughtered every single one of them a hundred years ago.
The perverted facial expression on his face triggered Zhang Xukai's rage.
"You... demon!" Zhang Xukai spat, his face turning red from lack of air. He dug his fingernails into Mo Zhiyuan's hand, but the latter did not seem affected at all.
"Where is Shen Ruizhe?" Mo Zhiyuan asked. "Why did he send a band of weaklings like you to me? Is this his idea of entertainment?"
"Y-Youuuu..."
Zhang Xukai wriggled in Mo Zhiyuan's grip to no avail.
A soft smile touched Mo Zhiyuan's lips. As Zhang Xukai watched, bewildered, a gigantic dark cloud emerged behind Mo Zhiyuan, brimming with a suffocating demonic aura. Slowly, it coalesced into a solid black mass.
Zhang Xukai's eyes widened in shock when he recognized the dark creature looming behind Mo Zhiyuan. It was Mo Zhiyuan's spiritual beast --- the shadow dragon.
It pierced Zhang Xukai with its big, bright purple eyes, the same color as Mo Zhiyuan's eyes.
"How can you..."
Zhang Xukai's pupils shrank in terror.
"But Shizun has clearly..."
Shen Ruizhe had already dispersed Mo Zhiyuan's shadow dragon a hundred years ago! Zhang Xukai saw it happen with his own eyes!
"Let me tell you a secret, Shixiong," Mo Zhiyuan sweetly said. "Light disperses shadow, but shadow will always return when light fades. Get it?"
Without waiting for Zhang Xukai to answer, Mo Zhiyuan ruthlessly slammed his former shixiong against a mountain cliff, breaking all bones in his body at once. Beneath the chorus of terrified cries, the sickening sound of bones breaking carried with disturbing clarity through the air.
The senior cultivators of the ten great sects began hurling one attack after another at Mo Zhiyuan. It was unclear whether they tried to save Zhang Xukai or just wanted to preserve their faces in the light of absolute defeat. The first one underscored their bravery, the other their folly.
Either way, their pathetic attempts were blocked by the shadow dragon's barrier before they could touch an inch of Mo Zhiyuan's skin.
Zhang Xukai lay across a bed of snow, blood pooling beneath his body.
For someone at his cultivation level, unless he was killed during this confrontation, he would never die.
Mo Zhiyuan did not want to kill Zhang Xukai. He merely wanted to vent his anger by torturing Shen Ruizhe's beloved disciple.
And what a heartless person Shen Ruizhe was, too.
To send Zhang Xukai to him like a lamb fit for slaughter?
Did Shen Ruizhe overestimate Zhang Xukai or underestimate Mo Zhiyuan...?
Mo Zhiyuan cracked his neck from side to side before sauntering toward Zhang Xukai, his every step radiating thick murderous intent.
He squatted, grabbed the base of Zhang Xukai's long hair, and yanked it upward. Forced to meet Mo Zhiyuan's bright purple eyes, Zhang Xukai glared at him in hatred.
"Where is Shen Ruizhe?" he asked again.
In response, Zhang Xukai spat at Mo Zhiyuan's face. The glob of saliva trickled down the villain's cold face.
"Go to hell, demon," Zhang Xukai snapped, his eyes shining with stubborn determination in the face of death.
Mo Zhiyuan's lips curled into a devious smile.
"I have given you two chances to prolong your life, but you just don't know what's good for you. In that case, just die."
Mo Zhiyuan's hand, sharp as a blade, was aimed at Zhang Xukai's chest. But just before it pierced Shen Ruizhe's beloved disciple and ripped out his heart, a horrified cry erupted some distance away from them. It came from one of the disciples of the Seven Sky Pillars Sect.
"Nightfall Emperor, please spare my sect leader! Grandmaster Shen... Grandmaster Shen is entombed at the mausoleum!"
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Author's note :
Why don't I give you all time to grab some tissues, heheh~
It's just a little knife, I promise. You won't be that hurt <3