“Whirlwind Slash!” Long Chen charged forward like a gust of wind, appearing amidst the ranks of the Corrupt disciples.

A huge saber image spun around rapidly, leaving behind a trail of flying blood and miserable screams.

Shockingly, in just a moment, Long Chen passed through their entire ranks, leaving behind only a trail of blood and mincemeat. None of them managed to survive.

That was the first time Long Chen had actually released a true attack since this battle started. As soon as he took action, he exterminated so many Corrupt disciples.

There had been four hundred ordinary Corrupt disciples left, but they had all been killed by his single attack. Furthermore, Long Chen’s expression was still completely calm.

Long Chen swung the blood off his saber and rested it on his shoulder.

He smiled to everyone, “Brothers, sisters, you better hurry up.”

Their blood immediately began to boil when they saw Long Chen. If Long Chen was present, they would never have anything to fear, not even the collapsing of the very heavens.

“Kill!”

Everyone’s attacks became even more ruthless. Currently, all that remained were nine Corrupt core disciples. They were enveloped in despair.

They didn’t even have the chance to run. Four of them were immediately killed. The remaining five did their best to charge out, but they didn’t have a chance.

One of them realized that escape was hopeless, and with a roar, his aura exploded, his body beginning to blow up like a balloon.

“He’s going to self-detonate! Run!”

BOOM!

Bloody mist filled the air, but what shocked everyone was that another figure had appeared in front of the person who had self-detonated.

That person was Long Chen. He was completely covered in blood now, but he was holding a person’s head.

“Hehe, even if you want to self-detonate, leave your head behind for me.”

Long Chen tossed over that person’s head. That was worth two hundred thousand points. Waste was definitely not in Long Chen’s style.

Looking at everyone’s stupefied expressions, Long Chen laughed, his smile filling them with warmth.

“Since we’ve already won, you can cheer as much as you like, hahaha!” Long Chen took the lead to laugh. Only then did the others relax enough to cheer to their hearts’ content, releasing all their excitement.

“When did you get back Long Chen?” Tang Wan-er and the others walked over to Long Chen. They hadn’t expected Long Chen to get back so quickly.

“I got here just before the battle started. I purposely hid myself to see whether or not you could all handle this pressure. This time you were all really amazing. I even purposely told Wilde not to go out to let you guys feel more danger.”

Only then did everyone realize that they had forgotten about Wilde. All they had been thinking about was how to kill their enemies.

“Brother Long told me not to help, so you can’t blame me!” Wilde was a bit embarrassed.

Just as the battle was starting, Wilde had received a hidden transmission from Long Chen to not attack. And if he had to attack, he was only allowed to kill the ants, not the core disciples.

Gu Yang bitterly laughed, “We really are dumb. As soon as we started fighting, we forgot about everything, including such a powerful person like Wilde.”

Tang Wan-er was completely red. As the commander-in-chief, she had forgotten about their strongest trump card. She almost died from shame.

“It’s not your fault. Wilde is just too quiet and never talks. He’ll normally just stay resting the entire time. It’s easy to forget him.” Song Mingyuan laughed.

This matter really was too embarrassing. They were afraid that Long Chen would scold them again. It really wasn’t acceptable for them to forget about their own people.

Long Chen laughed. “Actually, this time you benefited from forgetting about him. Because you forgot about how powerful of a trump card Wilde is, you were under an even greater pressure. That allowed you to release your greatest strength.”

Tang Wan-er was still blushing. “Long Chen, are you trying to comfort me? If that’s all you’re doing, I’d rather you scold me.”

Long Chen shook his head. “Actually, I don’t have the right to criticize you. I realized many of my own errors from that battle just now.”

Everyone was startled by that. Long Chen continued, “In this world, there’s no perfect methods, nor systems that are absolutely correct. That includes my own.

“In the beginning, I was hoping to rely on my strength to lead everyone. I knew how cruel our opponents are, and I wanted to ponder about ways to raise my own potential, allowing me to be your shepherd. It was wrong for me to try to guide you all like that.”

“Why?” Tang Wan-er didn’t understand.

Long Chen sighed, “I’ve ended up becoming your goal, just a target for you to focus on. If this continued, you would all just end up being my accessories. If I were to disappear, you would have nothing to adhere to.

“But what is extremely fortunate this time is that I had to leave you all. Before you had completely adhered yourselves to me, you’ve learned you can stand alone.

“You all fought this battle beautifully. During battle, you all forgot about your own safety, thinking only about your comrades behind you.

“That is the power of a will to protect. While facing death, you all managed to discard your innate fear and chose to protect.

“And so, you’ve all obtained your own rewards! Congratulations!”

Long Chen excitedly looked at everyone. That kind of expression was rare on Long Chen who always seemed completely calm.

“Congratulations? Us?”

In their confusion, they all looked at each other curiously. Long Chen seemed to be talking about something specifically…

“Ah?”

When they saw the faces of those around them, they let out startled cries, their eyes filled with disbelief.

“Your ancestral mark’s appeared on your forehead!”

“You too!”

“And you!”

“...”

All the core disciples finally realized the change. At some point, a faint mark had appeared over each of their foreheads.

That was the sign that their ancestral blood had been revived. They all went mad with joy.

Some of the core disciples even knelt on the ground, crying from their excitement. That was just how important awakening their ancestral mark was to them.

Tang Wan-er and the others had no thoughts of laughing at them. In fact, their eyes turned red, as only they knew just how significant awakening their ancestral mark was.

Long Chen couldn’t help but be emotional. Perhaps it was because their luck was good, but in this atmosphere, it was extremely easy to be emotionally moved.

Emotions were amazing things. If someone was willing to risk their life to protect you, then even if you were a selfish person, you would still be extremely moved. Even if you were a cowardly person, you would be able to forget your own fear of death to protect them in turn.

Emotions were also subtle things. During this battle, everyone had been forced into desperation. Within that atmosphere of steadfast loyalty, it was even easier for a person to forget about themselves, allowing them to arouse their most primal power.

Whether or not it was luck, at the very least, this showed that they all had the will to protect each other. Even throughout that critical battle, there had not been a single person to retreat or shrink back. Now that they had passed this trial, they had obtained a great reward.

All of the core disciples had awakened their ancestral marks. Even Long Chen was unable to control his excitement.

If there had been one person, or perhaps a few people, who hadn’t awakened their ancestral marks, that would pose a fatal threat to their troops.

Without that will to protect, it was extremely difficult for a person to awaken their ancestral mark. The chance of success was almost zero. But then, even those who did have a will to protect might not succeed one hundred percent of the time. There was still a significant chance of failure.

If there had been some people who hadn’t awakened their ancestral marks, their mental state would decline. Others would then assume that they were selfish, alienating them from their ranks.

And then those disciples who hadn’t awakened their ancestral marks would feel inferior, giving birth to more negative emotions. At that point, it would be almost impossible for them to ever awaken their ancestral marks.

That was why Long Chen was so deeply moved. Nine people had awakened their ancestral marks at once. That was practically a miracle.

Suddenly, those core disciples all knelt on the ground in front of Long Chen and respectfully swore, “Senior brother Long Chen, our lives are yours.”

Long Chen had helped them awaken their ancestral marks. To them, such a thing was even more important than their lives.

However, Long Chen was given a fright and hastily raised them up. “The fact that you could awaken your ancestral marks was because of yourselves. This is what it means to receive what you are willing to risk. You were willing to give your lives to protect others, and the heavens will give you what others are unable to obtain. So if you want to thank someone, you should thank yourselves, or perhaps the brothers beside you.”

Long Chen’s words deeply touched all of them. They realized that the so-called will to protect was not so simple as it sounded. Perhaps it was simply something impossible to explain with words.

“Also, I very much dislike what you just said. Your lives are your own. Maybe if you give me money instead of your lives, I’ll be much happier, haha- hey!”

Long Chen suddenly felt a burst of pain on his waist. He saw that Tang Wan-er had given him a vicious pinch.

“Stop messing around. Here, you’re the commander again. Stop making your little jokes.” Tang Wan-er handed the transmission tile back to Long Chen.

“Aren’t you already good at being commander?” Long Chen didn’t really want to take it. He would prefer to go out killing.

“Don’t even try it. The sect leader was the one who gave you your duty. The fact that you selfishly left already counts as a violation of the rules. If we were in a real army, you would have already been beheaded,” said Tang Wan-er.

“What’s the point in beheading me? Wait, can I exchange my head for points?” Long Chen received the transmission tile, looking over the new information within it.

There were several recent pieces of news. It said that the Corrupt path’s main forces would arrive three days from now.

But before they arrived, there would still be many Corrupt powers appearing one after another.

What Long Chen hadn’t expected was that it wasn’t just their side that had victories. Some of the smaller Righteous path’s sect’s disciples had been completely annihilated already.

This time, this Righteous and Corrupt battle was much larger and more extensive than the previous years. Hundreds of powers had all gathered. A battle of this extent was quite rare historically. Furthermore, this time it was quite obvious that the Righteous path’s strength was weaker than their opponents. Not all Righteous disciples were as strong as the Xuantian Monastery’s.

“Three days from now, the Corrupt path’s main army will arrive at the Nine Serene Mountain Valley four hundred miles from here. That’s the location of the deciding battle. But we still can’t go over there yet. We have to keep guarding this place. What should we do?” asked Tang Wan-er.

When the Corrupt path’s main army arrived three days from now, they would all have to gather over there. Tang Wan-er felt a great deal of pressure when she thought of such a huge battle.

Although the transmission tile didn’t say how many Corrupt disciples would appear, according to the previous skirmishes, perhaps the number of Corrupt disciples this time would be able to cover all of heaven and earth.

“You don’t need to be worried. Those will just be extra points for us. Furthermore, it won’t be just our Xuantian Monastery fighting then. The other experts from the various sects will also be fighting with us. As for what we should be doing during these next two days…”

Long Chen smiled. “I’ll be teaching everyone a true unrivaled battle tactic!”