Chapter 24: Nanyun City

Qu Yi controlled Wei Yan, who in turn controlled these over a thousand cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage. In other words, Qu Yi was the true ruler of the Three Cauldrons Sect.
Seeing Qu Yi nod at him, Wei Yan understood what was meant.
“Team One, charge into Nanyun City immediately and capture all inhabitants inside,” Wei Yan transmitted his orders through his spiritual sense.
The members of the Three Cauldrons Sect were divided into a hundred teams, with Xue Can as the leader of each team. Upon receiving the order, he immediately rose and flew into Nanyun City first.
“Kill!”
Xue Can led a hundred men, letting out a fierce cry. Then they rushed into each courtyard, knocking out the inhabitants and capturing them alive.
The Three Cauldrons Sect’s siege of Nanyun City was merely to take control of the city—not out of any grudges, nor to carry out massacres. As long as they could eliminate the city lord, Bai Yuhan, their goal would be achieved.
So, Xue Can led his hundred men into the city, simply knocking out the unprepared cultivators one by one.
Nanyun City, which had always been peaceful, suddenly became filled with a murderous atmosphere. Naturally, the cultivators living there sensed this and immediately flew out of their courtyards, then teleported away from the city, clearly not wanting to be attacked by Xue Can’s hundred men.
Apart from the initial few dozen cultivators, all the thousands of cultivators living in Nanyun City flew away on their own.
Soon, Xue Can and his hundred men arrived at the city lord’s mansion.
Inside the mansion, the city lord Bai Yuhan, who had been in meditation, suddenly woke up. His spiritual sense covered the entire city, allowing him to know what had happened.
“Hmph, a hundred cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage dare to attack Nanyun City? How ridiculous,” Bai Yuhan said. His appearance was ordinary, but his anger made his face twist in a terrifying way.
Suddenly, the entire mansion seemed to plunge into an ice cave as a layer of ice covered it instantly.
Bai Yuhan was enraged!
At that moment, he stood on the roof of the mansion, coldly watching Xue Can and the hundred cultivators behind him.
“Xue Can, it’s you. You’ve brought so many cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage to try and kill me?” Bai Yuhan asked coldly.
Clearly, Bai Yuhan couldn’t understand why Xue Can, a rational person, would dare challenge him, a powerful cultivator just entering the Qi Exit stage, with such a weak cultivation level.
Xue Can remained silent. He raised his hand, and immediately, the hundred cultivators behind him moved.

Among these hundred cultivators of magic, thirty practiced blood-based techniques, thirty practiced physical cultivation techniques, and thirty practiced ice-based techniques. They formed three groups and jointly cast spells to attack Bai Yuhan. The thirty cultivators using blood-based techniques didn’t even bring any magical artifacts; instead, they used the same hand gestures and pointed at the air. A blood mass condensed in the air, rapidly expanding as if forming a pool of blood. This blood pool remained connected to the thirty cultivators, who selflessly contributed their life essence to nourish its energy. Soon, the blood pool gathered enough energy and seemed to gain a sentient quality, as if nurturing an unparalleled Blood Demon. In a short while, a ten-meter-tall Blood Demon took shape and rushed at Bai Yuhan. The thirty cultivators practicing physical cultivation also abandoned their magical artifacts. They formed a circle, clasped their palms together, and their life essence created a circulation. In the center of the circle, clusters of pale yellow mist appeared, looking extremely fantastical. Suddenly, the yellow mist vanished, revealing a ten-meter-tall pale golden giant. As soon as the pale golden giant appeared, it roared and charged at Bai Yuhan. The thirty cultivators using ice-based techniques also didn’t use their artifacts. They quickly formed a circle and pushed out their palms simultaneously. Streams of life essence converged in the center of the circle and rose into the air, reaching heights of over a hundred meters. Then, these icy streams suddenly transformed into a hundred-meter-long ice stick. The ice stick soared upward and swung toward Bai Yuhan. The Blood Demon, the pale golden giant, and the ice stick all possessed powers comparable to those of cultivators in the early stage of leaving their bodies. This was the secret carried by Wei Yan. The reason he was confident in unifying the ten cities in the Hundred Demons Mountain Region and wasn’t worried about the ten city lords was that he had a way to make cultivators in the late stage of the Yuan Ying phase gather their life essence to cast spells with the power of those in the early stage of leaving their bodies. These three spells were “Blood Pool to Demon,” “Physical Essence to Gold,” and “Heaven-Shattering Ice Stick.” Seeing that these people refused to respond to him and instead resorted to force, Bai Yuhan felt even more chilled. Faced with the simultaneous attack from the Blood Demon, the pale golden giant, and the ice stick, he wasn’t willing to flee, as doing so would undermine his dignity as a master in the early stage of leaving his body. Therefore, Bai Yuhan intended to intimidate them with his strength before killing them one by one. “Realm of Frost!”

Bai Yu Han roared loudly, then raised his pale Yuan Ying above his head. The Yuan Ying emitted a subtle fluctuation, causing the spiritual energy in the surrounding area to converge toward it—especially the water-type spiritual energy, which gathered to form a thin layer of ice that surrounded Bai Yu Han entirely.

The Blood Demon raised its sky-blocking hand and slammed it hard against the ice layer, yet it failed to create even the slightest crack. Moreover, the cold from the ice layer slowed down the Blood Demon’s movements, making it appear much weaker.

The Golden Giant also punched the ice layer with a blow that seemed capable of shattering space. Indeed, it was slightly more powerful than the Blood Demon’s palm, managing to create a long fissure in the ice. However, the Golden Giant suffered from the intense cold as well; its entire body was covered in ice scales, leaving it unable to move and causing it to fall straight down before shattering.

Ice Stick swung forcefully downward and struck the ice layer. The existing cracks in the ice instantly widened, splitting the entire layer in two. Yet Ice Stick too was resisted by the cold—seemingly as if all the cold energy converged into a blade, freezing and cracking Ice Stick.

Both the ice layer and Ice Stick fell from the sky.

“You ants! Thinking that by gathering energy you can confront a powerhouse in the early stages of leaving the body? Now, I’ll punish you!” Bai Yu Han shouted angrily from the air, his expression icy cold.

Xue Can and the others showed no fear at all. They watched Bai Yu Han calmly, even with smiles on their lips.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, thousands of people appeared in the air—all of them cultivators in the later stages of Yuan Ying, each unleashing a spell as soon as they appeared.

Of course, these people were other cultivators sent by the San Ding Sect.

Bai Yu Han never expected this. Although his spiritual sense had detected what was happening outside Nan Yun City, he didn’t believe that all these people were with Xue Can’s group, so he hadn’t taken them seriously. The sudden appearance of thousands of people surrounded him completely, both in the air and on the ground, leaving Bai Yu Han in panic.

At the same time, a thousand spells attacked—Blood Giants, Blood Eagles, Bone Demons, White Bone Giant Apes, Hundred-Zhang Ice Spears, Ice Arrow Rain… These powerful spells, combined together, could likely engulf the entire Nan Yun City if they hit the ground.

“No!”

Bai Yu Han was terrified and regretful. He wondered why he had tried to be strong and resist earlier. If he had teleported away and then returned to attack Xue Can and the others one by one, he wouldn’t have fallen into such danger.

Due to the chaos from the previous battle, the space became unstable, preventing Bai Yu Han from teleporting.

Although his strength was great in the early stages of leaving his body, Bai Yuhan’s power was not enough to withstand the attacks of a thousand cultivators in the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase at the same time. After desperately creating an ice barrier, he failed to block even twenty attacks and was soon overwhelmed by the successive spells, his entire body being completely consumed by various energies. Not even a trace of his Yuan Ying remained.

A legendary hero, who attracted attention due to his position as city lord, also brought disaster upon himself. The first step in San Ding Gate’s plan was to seize control of the southern part of the Bai Mo Mountain Region, which naturally meant targeting Bai Yuhan first.

Qu Yi, Wei Yan, and Qing Wu Gui flew over and looked down at the ground below. The previous wave of attacks had completely destroyed the city lord’s mansion, and even the surrounding area within ten miles was reduced to ashes.

“Bai Yuhan is dead. Now, Nan Yun City belongs to us, San Ding Gate. Wei Yan, you take charge of restoring this ruined Nan Yun City. From today onward, the position of city lord will be yours,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Wei Yan forced a smile upon hearing this, knowing that Qu Yi wanted him to bear the brunt of all the pressure that would follow.

“Yes,” Wei Yan replied firmly. Though he understood the situation, he knew he couldn’t resist Qu Yi.

Qing Wu Gui wasn’t interested in any of this; he only cared about improving his strength. If not for Qu Yi’s insistence, he would have rushed into the Bai Mo Mountain Region to fight against those cultivators right away.

Wei Yan sensed that some of the cultivators who had flown away from Nan Yun City were still hovering in the air, likely trying to figure out the reason for this sudden change.

“Fellow cultivators, from today onward, Nan Yun City is territory of San Ding Gate. As usual, if you’re tired from training in the Bai Mo Mountain Region, you can still come to Nan Yun City to rest. San Ding Gate will not hold you back,” Wei Yan sent his spiritual energy at full speed, ensuring his voice reached those cultivators far away.

From then on, San Ding Gate truly became prominent in the world.

There were still over a hundred cultivators scattered outside Nan Yun City. After hearing Wei Yan’s words, they immediately left. They would surely spread the news, telling everyone in the Bai Mo Mountain Region what had happened in Nan Yun City.

Only after sensing that those people had left did Wei Yan turn to the more than a thousand cultivators and shout, “Good. From today onward, Nan Yun City belongs to San Ding Gate. Now, let’s work together to transform this city.”

“Yes, Gate Master,” the group replied in unison.