According to Meng Yan, the twin demonic witches came from the Sky-Demon Sect.
The Sky-Demon Sect was a great sect on par with the Qingyuan Sect and the Heavenly Fire Pavilion, but it wasn't adjacent to the Qingtian Domain. It was separated by several vast domains. In the cultivation world, a single domain was immense; crossing several was something even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't do easily, as the borders were perilous. Rumors said some sects would pose as rogue marauders to intercept foreign cultivators. There were even records of Golden Core cultivators being intercepted and slain.
Thus, for the Sky-Demon Sect to cross several domains to reach Qingyuan territory must have required significant effort. Once a war began, whether they could handle the conflict here while ensuring the safety of their own sect was a serious question. Normally, sects rarely crossed domains to wage war. Their motives this time were worth pondering.
The twin witches, known as the Black and White Twin Slayers, were quite famous within the Sky-Demon Sect. It wasn't that their talent was supreme—their innate gifts were merely decent—but they were resourceful and exceptionally good at cooperation. Through certain known methods, they had become the "pets" of an Elder in their sect, receiving significant resources and rising step by step. Recently, in a sect war, they had defeated a well-known genius through their superior combined attack arts. They were thus evaluated as having the potential for Foundation Establishment. If they didn't fall, they would surely become famous demonic slayers among Foundation Establishment cultivators and secure their place in the heart of that Golden Core Elder. After all, who could refuse a pair of Foundation Establishment twins?
In their current battle with Meng Yan, the twins' performance was impressive. Meng Yan had comprehended the True Meaning of Fire and was close to condensing his Dao-heart Intent, not to mention his peerless physical strength. Under his masterful hammer techniques, a normal ninth-level cultivator wouldn't last long. Yet, the twins were able to withstand his fierce assault, only showing slight signs of decline.
They moved in a formation of their own, their twin swords creating a special array that allowed them to endure Meng Yan's terrifying power through incredible speed. Occasionally, they even forced him to retreat, posing a genuine threat. Having fought him once before, their coordination today was even more refined.
If Qi Ping hadn't joined, they might truly have escaped again. Or, with the help of the Heavenly Fire Pavilion disciple, they might have found an opportunity to seriously injure or even kill Meng Yan. But those were only 'ifs.' Meng Yan had brought Qi Ping, and the disciple had been slain.
Immediately after killing the man, Qi Ping and Yaya joined the fray. Shrouded in Sun-Fire Flames, Yaya dove into the battlefield. With its flames and high-defense feathers, it didn't fear the witches' sword qi—at least until its life-fire was exhausted, their attacks posed little threat. Meanwhile, Meng Yan swung his hammer, pursuing them relentlessly.
Qi Ping executed the same tactic: condensing more powerful explosive fireballs and hurling them whenever he saw an opening. Under the triple assault, the twins' rhythm was shattered, and a massive flaw appeared.
As the white-clad witch was knocked back by one of Meng Yan's strikes, she was hit by one of Qi Ping's fireballs. Her robe, already at its limit, exploded, leaving her back a charred mess of flesh. Under the heavy injury, she spat out a mouthful of blackened blood. Meng Yan closed the distance instantly, and a single hammer strike reduced the white-clad witch to meat paste.
With her sister gone, the black-clad witch's combat strength plummeted by seventy percent. She was no longer a threat.
"No!"
As her sister died, the black-clad witch let out a piercing, tragic scream. Before Meng Yan or Qi Ping could strike, she coughed up blood from the shock of the injury. She abandoned all resistance and rushed to her sister's remains, cradling the fragments of flesh. Blood-tears flowed from her eyes, and her expression turned utterly mad.
Though they were ruthless and their hands were stained with blood, their affection for one another was beyond comparison. For them, as long as the other was there, nothing else mattered. Even losing their chastity, reputation, or dignity... even bearing countless insults and curses. None of it mattered as long as they were together.
But with her sister dead and without even a whole corpse, it was over. To the black-clad witch, nothing mattered anymore.
Facing this tragic scene, neither Meng Yan nor Qi Ping felt any sympathy. Meng Yan, in particular, seized the moment and struck, turning the black-clad witch into meat paste as well.
Sympathize with them? Who would sympathize with the fellow disciples of the Qingyuan Sect who died at their hands? Who would sympathize with the cultivators of the Qingtian Domain they had slain? When they came to this domain to wreak havoc, they should have been prepared to die.
Furthermore, in Qi Ping's eyes, he saw a deeper layer. In this war, perhaps not everyone was here of their own will—especially the Qi Refinement pawns. But the strategies of the Golden Core and Nascent Soul leadership were not something ordinary disciples could decide. To a Nascent Soul Paragon, a talented disciple was nothing more than a threshold for meeting them.
Take Meng Yan: a genius who could comprehend True Meaning and Intent while still in Qi Refinement, with high-level spiritual roots and physique, was still helpless in the face of this war.
'It seems even as a talented sect disciple, one cannot escape the pull of fate. To control one's destiny, one must rely on oneself,' Qi Ping sighed. This only solidified his resolve to stay away from the world. Unless he couldn't obtain techniques or resources, staying hidden was best. Only by keeping trump cards far beyond what others saw could he avoid being schemed against.
"Brother Meng, take the storage bags first. We must leave this place quickly," Qi Ping suggested.
Meng Yan was briefly stunned. In such situations, most people fought to claim the storage bags. Qi Ping had suggested he take them?
'Brother Qi trusts me too much!'
He didn't know that Qi Ping was simply afraid—afraid of being tracked by some mysterious means. Qi Ping was terrified of the bizarre methods used in the cultivation world. Compared to profit, he feared risk more. After all, he didn't have a backer like Meng Yan.