The cultivators of Kunyu City had never experienced anything like this. Terrified, they dared not breathe loudly. Even those who wished to flee could not move a step. The pressure pinned them flat to the ground.
Even so, a few still crushed their teleportation slips, intending to escape Kunyu City.
Suspended above the City Lord's Manor, Yunxi took it all in. She awarded each such cultivator a single Mystic Frost Needle. They were erased in an instant. These small fry were not her targets. She wanted to force the big fish hiding in Kunyu City to surface.
From the token found in Zhao Qinan's storage pouch, she judged that the evil cultivators' hideout should be somewhere near Kunyu City. Unfortunately, Ancestor Feng Feng had found nothing useful during his soul search. He had only learned that the token had been left in Zhao Qinan's care and would be collected two days later.
Yunxi had moved quickly and intercepted the token en route. Zhao Qinan was already dead. She did not know whether the evil cultivators would notice, so she chose to make one final push to clear Kunyu City of danger. After this, she likely would not have a chance to return.
She unleashed her full strength. All across Kunyu City, cultivators occasionally turned to ice sculptures and died in the blink of an eye.
Inside the City Lord's Manor, Kun Sang wiped away a nonexistent sheen of sweat. He had once thought the Wei clan praised Wei Yunxi too highly. Now, after witnessing her methods, he felt he had chosen wisely to cooperate.
When Wei Yunxi released her pressure, his legs had gone a little soft. That aura nearly matched a Divine Transformation cultivator's. He had only met a few Zūnzhě of that realm, but he knew the feel.
As the cultivators possessed by evil souls shattered into dust before everyone's eyes, some with unstable Dao hearts finally howled:
"Spare me, Zhēnjūn. I do not want to die. I was deceived by the evil cultivators."
"Do not kill me. I will tell you everything…"
Kun Sang's face was cold. He gestured to the guards. They surged out of the manor and hauled back all who confessed to ties with evil cultivators. The interrogations would fall to the City Lord's Manor.
A quarter-hour later, all pleas had fallen silent. Light flashed in Yunxi's eyes. She arrived above the Liu clan estate.
The Liu clan's clan-protection grand array was fully active, and no one showed themselves. Yunxi flicked her finger. A thread of ice art struck the array.
Moments later, a late-stage Golden Core male cultivator walked out and cupped his hands to the woman in the sky. "Wei Zhēnjūn, to what do we owe your knock upon the Liu clan's array?"
"You are the Liu clan's Ancestor?"
The man bowed. "I would not dare claim the title of Ancestor before a Zhēnjūn. I am Liu Moyan."
"Liu Daoyou, would you open the grand array?"
At that, Liu Moyan snapped his head up, clearly at a loss as to how to refuse. Hesitation crossed his face.
Yunxi said coolly, "My Xunzong Mouse tracked an evil cultivator. He appears to have slipped into the Liu clan."
From her sleeve, Dian Dian scratched an ear. "Master, when did Dian Dian smell that? How did I not know?"
"It is a pretext. I need to search the Liu clan. Their grand array went up too quickly, as if they expected this. I did not have time to sweep their estate."
"Oh. Understood."
The array blocked the Liu clan's auras. Even Dian Dian could not perform at his best. If his master said the Liu clan had a problem, then there was a problem. He had unshakable confidence in her.
Liu Moyan's face turned ugly. Yunxi was openly slapping the Liu clan's face, even accusing them of entanglement with evil cultivators.
He forced down his anger."Wei Zhēnjūn, on what evidence do you claim that an evil cultivator hides within the Liu clan?"
"The evidence is inside your clan. Let me enter and we will know. If you fear I will harm you, I can ask City Lord Kun Sang to witness."
Her tone remained even.
In Yunxi's eyes, his vigilance was excessive. Setting aside whether he could stop her current strength, the Liu clan's meager foundation held no interest for her. His level of defense was senseless.
Her gaze shifted. Her figure vanished before Liu Moyan's eyes.
Three breaths later, Yunxi and Kun Sang appeared together over the Liu estate.
Kun Sang's expression was indifferent. "Liu Moyan, open the grand array. Allow me and Wei Zhēnjūn to inspect. You do not wish an evil cultivator to lurk among your people, do you?"
With matters stated thus, Liu Moyan had no choice. He waved his sleeve, opening a path into the estate and inviting them in with apparent respect.
He himself lagged behind. The moment the two Zhēnjūn entered the grand array, he snapped the passage shut and flashed away from the Liu clan.
As soon as they stepped inside, Yunxi and Kun Sang sensed something was wrong. It was too quiet. Unnaturally so, as if no living being remained.
Kun Sang spread his divine sense and cried out, "Not good. Liu Moyan serves the evil cultivators."
He turned to give chase, but the array blocked him. He felt his spiritual power draining rapidly and looked toward Yunxi.
Yunxi said only one line: "City Lord Kun, hold on."
Then she dissolved into the formation itself.
Liu Moyan was at that very moment hammering at a weak point in the city-protection array. In the next instant, his dantian burst. He looked down reflexively and saw a hole where his core had been. When he lifted his head, Yunxi stood before him.
"Impossible. Did you not enter the Spirit-Draining Formation?"
"If I do not enter, how will you expose yourself? It seems your late Golden Core cultivation was traded for with your clansmen's lives.
Why not advance straight to Nascent Soul? Afraid tribulation lightning will kill you? You should be. The Nascent Soul tribulation would turn you to ash."
By the end, her voice was ice. She froze Liu Moyan solid. He could not die yet.
Yunxi whisked him away and reappeared above the Liu estate. Below, Kun Sang gripped spirit stones, forcing them to refill his rapidly dwindling power.
Yunxi summoned the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff. She pointed skyward. Lightning coursed up the staff and roused the hidden thunderclouds above. She braided the two forces into one and unleashed "Might of Ten Thousand Thunders," striking not just the Liu clan's grand array but the Spirit-Draining Formation nested within.
The tyrannical thunder force spread the instant it fell, racing across the light shield. Crackling arcs shattered the formation inch by inch.
With a crashing roar, the barrier broke. A streak of light shot free. It was City Lord Kun Sang.
As the array collapsed, the Liu estate lay exposed to all eyes. Inside, desolation. Not a single figure remained.
Kun Sang bowed, still shaken. "Fortunately, Wei Zhēnjūn left contingencies and broke the evil array in time. Otherwise, I would have perished here."
Yunxi looked over the empty grounds. "No survivors in the Liu clan?"
Kun Sang's face was heavy as he shook his head.