"Greetings, fellow daoists. My name is Li Ling of the Six Paths Demon Sect, and I have humbly come to take your lives. I would ask that you cease resistance and allow me to behead you in order to retain a full corpse upon death." Li Ling greeted politely with cupped fists, bowing slightly to the group of Fire Heart Sect disciples who came to surround him with a mixture of puzzled and grim faces.

Hearing his words, their faces changed greatly as they knew that the moment of truth had come. However, what the disciples did not understand was how Li Ling was able to break into their sect protection array, something which the Sect Leader had assured them would hold off the foes until he brought reinforcements to catch the besiegers off guard from behind.

As for letting these Mortal Flesh disciples in on the plan, what a joke!

The Fire Heart Sect had around eleven Body Foundation Practitioners in total, of which Li Ling had killed six of them and enslaved the remaining five, practically crippling the high-end power of the sect. Even with just about two hundred first realm disciples here, Li Ling was not worried at all, even though his magic power had now been consumed till about 20% remained, as the restoration of his legs was also extremely pricey.

The disciples around Li Ling began murmuring with each other, wondering what to do in the face of his offer. After all, even if they killed Li Ling, they were still 'stuck' in the sect's protection array, and by all means, the next batch of disciples would come.

On top of that, Li Ling had just shown the mystifying ability to bypass their formation and even heal what seemed like crippling injuries, which suggested he knew daoist arts that were typical of a top power like the Six Paths Demon Sect.

Even if they could kill him, how many of them would remain after?

"Erm, Fellow Daoist Li, is there any compromise we can make?" One person at the peak of Mortal Flesh and surrounded by disciples who seemed to be a relatively trusted figure stepped out and inquired.

Li Ling sized the fellow up and decided to throw over a scan.

｢Name: Kong Beiwu

Status: Poisoned.

Age: 29/150

Slaughter Points Value: 10

Cultivation Base: Mortal Flesh Perfection (100%)

Remarks: The Senior Brother of the Outer Sect and one of the most respected disciples among their group. He is actually quite a respectable fellow who bears the pain of the sect's cultivation technique without 'offloading' it into a woman through intercourse, which actually makes his Fire Qi extremely pure, making him the strongest among his peers. However, this behavior, coupled with his wrongful assessment of his Top-Grade Fire Spirit Root by the Sect Elder along with the constant exposure to the fiery heat of the volcano had led to him being deeply poisoned in his spirit root, causing him agony when he cultivates, which is why he has failed to break through despite his talent. Should he survive this poisoning, his top-grade spirit root has a 30% chance to upgrade to an Earth-Grade Fire Spirit Root!｣

Li Ling smiled externally, but his thoughts roiled in his mind. He began to feel as if his cosmic luck had been fully activated after awakening the system, because how did he meet another potential candidate for spiritual root harvesting right after Luo Roumei in such a short period of time?

His plans changed on the spot as his posture became relaxed.

"Indeed, I have more use for you all. As a disciple of a top sect, you can imagine that I need to cultivate my own force of loyal troops, and seeing a sect full of ready-made youngsters like you all makes me reluctant to let you be killed by my peers."

Li Ling nodded to the group amiably. "So since you are their spokesperson, gather those who are willing to submit to me and become one of my people, then come back with me to the Holy City of Tianmo Empire."

This offer caused the eyes of many to shine. As seen even with the Body Foundation fellows, the general consensus was that death was inevitable and all forms of begging were useless; your best bet was to survive through a fluke or elite-level hiding.

But if there was a way out, who wanted to die? Especially since this way out was as solid as a rock, being taken as a subordinate by an actual Six Paths Demon Sect disciple!

Immediately, thunderous buzzing occurred in Li Ling's spirit sense as countless voice transmissions were thrown about, most of them heading towards Kong Beiwu who quickly became dazed and overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Li Ling browsed through Huo Yang's memory book for the details of the sect's array and found all its information there, which basically gave him the ability to control it to a small extent without the Sect Master's token on hand.

"Fellow Daoist Li, practically everyone is willing to follow you if you will have us." Kong Beiwu revealed with a tone full of responsibility as he bowed to Li Ling a few minutes later.

Li Ling nodded with satisfaction. "Good. Make sure to collect all the wealth as well as the various things of value still in the sect and give them to me. In order to get all of you out, just my face is not enough, I will have to smoothen some hands in my sect here and there."

Indeed, when these disciples thought about it, how could it be easy to take so many of them out, even if this person was a legendary Six Paths Demon Sect disciple? They also understood the underlying rules within demonic sects where bribery was seen as a normal thing, even able to be freely discussed.

As such, the disciples present scrambled to loot the sect as quickly as possible before this person changed his mind, because this might be their only chance to escape this calamity. As for their loyalty to the sect and their skepticism of Li Ling, the former was non-existent while the latter was pervasive.

After all, not only was it a demonic sect, but this sect in particular had basically abandoned them to die. Even if the Sect Leader did not say it, how could these fellows here be stupid, not realizing that they had been left behind as a decoy?

That the Sect Leader would bring 'reinforcements' to help them later on was laughable, not even a child would believe it. However, as they had no option before, as they could not resist the Sect Leader and the elders, these 200 or so disciples could only watch unwillingly as their more elite peers were taken out to guard various resource points.

However, who did not know that those fellows were the first realm disciples with the best talent and were also disciples or relatives of the elders who took them along?

If it was not for his rejection of taking an elder as his master because he did not want to go down that crooked path of defilement, Kong Beiwu might also have been taken away by the Sect Leader's group and protected.

Likewise, there was a suspicion towards Li Ling from most Fire Heart Sect disciples, wondering what his true goal was. He could either be trying to lower their guard, trying to rob them, or even trying to sell them off to someone else.

They recognized the problems that came with Li Ling's offer, one being the reason he would even need them in the first place when there were sure to be many better options that he could pick up outside.

But whether it was their sect elders or Li Ling, they could only blame their own weakness and go with the flow, hoping for the best outcome.

Once they gathered the things in the sect, all eyes fell on Li Ling, who pointed a finger at Kong Beiwu. "Don't resist."

Though it could be formless and invisible, Li Ling opted to make a grand display of manifesting a seven-colored light that transmitted from the tip of his finger to the brows of Kong Beiwu, which passed by his Sea of Consciousness and entered his spiritual space, imprinting on the core of his soul.

The young man showed no discomfort on his face as he closed his eyes, an 'M' symbol forming on his forehead. When he opened his eyes, they gleamed with a spiritual light, seeming even brighter than before, as if he had gained a stronger spirit and mind.

This, more than anything, reassured the onlookers and reduced wariness towards Li Ling, because it meant that he wouldn't just enslave them and wipe out their wills. This was a real issue many of them were fearful of, but thankfully, it did not come to pass.

"Give all the accumulated goods to him, he will now be your group leader, in charge of communications between myself and you all." Li Ling gestured to Kong Beiwu with his chin, folding his arms casually.

The others hesitated but still handed over their storage bags and pouches to Kong Beiwu, which were so plentiful that the young man's arms were full of them by the end. Li Ling however, did not look at this and nodded to the group.

"Now follow me out of the barrier and make sure to keep up. Any stragglers will be left behind, because I don't take the weak under my wing."

Saying this, the Mountain Splitting Blade descended from above, having gained access into the formation after Li Ling had reviewed Huo Yang's memories and knew the core functional control of it. Unfortunately, he couldn't deactivate it completely nor activate its full range of features, but he could make small adjustments and controls.

"Come on." Li Ling beckoned to Kong Beiwu, who unhesitatingly carried his load onto the slightly crowded Mountain Splitting Blade, which held the terrified young lady who had never seen so many Fire Heart Sect brutes in one place, especially since all their eyes fell on her at once.

Funny enough, when Li Ling only called Kong Beiwu to come up, on top of only enslaving him, many became worried and were about to act regardless of the situation, because if he took off, how could they catch up to him if he was lying to them?

But seeing that he even captured a mortal woman who was quite beautiful—by their standards, not Li Ling's—and was clearly intending to take her back, they rather relaxed greatly. This woman was solid proof that he was willing to even burden himself with deadweight just to satisfy his pleasures, so indeed, he would likely want to keep them around.

Many even began to wonder if maybe Li Ling's status within his sect was not so good? After all, why take mortal women and mere low-sect disciples like them under his wing when there were better options? It seemed that when they eventually departed with this new master, they should find ways to break off and find better candidates to serve.

Li Ling did not care about the thoughts and considerations of these fellows. From the moment Kong Beiwu had been controlled and claimed all the valuables, his goal had been achieved, so he commanded the heavy and slightly crowded Mountain Splitting Blade to ascend to the top of the formation, pausing to overlook the disciples below who were moving to follow him.

With a sneer of derision, Li Ling flicked out a finger and released a tiny pebble that grew in size rapidly as it fell below, enlarging to become a meteor that covered the entire sect in its purview.

Due to the speed and proximity, the remaining Fire Heart Sect disciples didn't even have the time to cry out in fear or regret their actions, because they were all flattened into meat paste by the daoist art, which even penetrated through the volcano and caused it to shatter.

This agitated the bubbling magma within that had previously been somewhat controlled by the Grade 3 formation, causing it to go haywire as it began to leak out through the hole created in the side of the volcano, covering the land and causing untold destruction.

Li Ling simply surveilled this from high in the sky, with the terrified young woman and the grim Kong Beiwu as his audience.

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