“Zither Fairy, are you doing this for Long Chen?” Hu Xiaolin’s gaze immediately became as sharp as a blade.

Zi Yan shook her head. “I’m not here for Long Chen. I simply feel that you are going too far. There’s no need to torment it. I won’t mention the chains piercing its body, but to even pierce its soul with your chains is too much.”

“Zither fairy, I respect you because you have the Illusive Music Immortal Palace behind you. However, if you want to become enemies with us, then please go ahead and make your move!” interrupted Sha Guangyan.

Sha Guangyan, Peng Wansheng, and Ye Qingkuang all intensely disliked Zi Yan. Back then, outside the Eastern Xuan City, they had tried to block her carriage, and Ye Qingkuang had been slapped in the face by her.

Sha Guangyan’s group of three stood behind Hu Xiaolin, staring coldly at Zi Yan. The atmosphere instantly grew tense again. The Zither Fairy was known to be the Illusive Music Immortal Palace’s number one genius.

Ever since she was young, she had been nurtured with only the best resources. Although practically no one had ever seen her fight, the fact that she had slapped Ye Qingkuang across the face had shaken the Eastern Xuan Region. Rumor was that she was also a terrifying Empyrean. If they really fought, it would be a heaven-shaking battle.

“It seems you’ve misunderstood my intentions. In truth, I don’t want to witness this battle. I can practically already foresee the ending.” Zi Yan looked at Sha Guangyan and the others, and she couldn’t help but feel some pity for them, as well as profoundly helpless. “So, I hope we can avoid this battle. That will save more lives.”

“Hahaha!” Sha Guangyan laughed loudly before coldly saying, “What a joke! Avoid this battle? Zither Fairy, you’re wrong. This isn’t a battle, it’s a trial, a trial of justice against evil. Long Chen betrayed the human race by colluding with the Spirit World’s demons. He slaughtered his fellow humans. Then, upon returning to the continent, instead of submitting himself to justice to pay for his sins, he destroyed his own sect along with dozens of other sects. The heavens are enraged, and so is humanity. Without killing him, there’s no way to appease the anger of the people. Without killing him, there’s no way to appease the heavens.”

Zi Yan shook her head. She couldn’t be bothered to reply to his impassioned play. “Since you insist, I won’t say any more words. I just hope you won’t regret this.”

After saying that, Zi Yan walked to a side of the plaza. That was the neutral camp. She had already expressed her viewpoint and said what she had come to say. She had done all she had to do. Now she calmly acted as a spectator.

“Big sister, this scene is strikingly similar to what happened in the Eastern Wasteland back then,” said a woman beside Zi Yan.

This woman was precisely the Yu Tong who had gone with Zi Yan to the Eastern Wasteland as a tempering experience. She had also become a powerful expert, but now she sighed emotionally over her memories.

“Yes. The Eastern Wasteland’s Qing Prefecture, the discussion of the Dao in the Immortal Intoxication Pavilion, and Mu Xue’s capture before the Hidden Dragon Abode.” Zi Yan looked into the distance, also seemingly lost in her memories. “Could this be fate? It’s like another cycle. But this time, the scale is even more terrifying.”

Thinking of when she had first gotten to know Long Chen, Zi Yan was filled with emotion. She was a genius the Illusive Music Immortal Palace had gone all-out raising. Her path had been easy, and her cultivation base had progressed like it had wings.

On the other hand, Long Chen hadn’t been raised by anyone. He had relied on his own power to forge ahead, and yet he had maintained a similar cultivation speed.

One of them was flying in the sky, while one was running on the ground. The one of the ground had swathes of water to swim through, thousands of mountains blocking his path, but she was unable to throw him off at all.

She had the great support of the powerful Illusive Music Immortal Palace, while Long Chen had nothing. He could only rely on himself, and yet he had still reached his current height. There was probably no way to imagine how much he had paid to do that.

“Big sister, the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow is so pitiful. Can you save it?” asked Yu Tong. She couldn’t help feeling pain upon seeing a divine steed-like existence be tormented into this state.

“I can’t. Sha Guangyan is extremely vicious. Those chains aren’t ordinary. Just now, I tried testing them, but he stopped me. He clearly saw through what I was doing, which was why he interrupted me just now. However, that only confirms my guess,” said Zi Yan helplessly.

“Once Long Chen arrives, he’s going to go crazy. What will you choose to do? Will you still stand to the side? Or will you kill Long Chen?” asked Yu Tong with a complicated expression.

“I don’t know.” Zi Yan shook her head. Her eyes were pained.

Yu Tong looked at the pain in her eyes and couldn’t help feeling bad for her. She shut her mouth, no longer saying any more.

Hu Xiaolin also didn’t say anything upon seeing that Zi Yan didn’t cause any more trouble. Instead, he was led to the front of the plaza by Peng Wansheng. Someone had already prepared a special large seat for him.

Everyone had only just sat down when a new group of people walked in. This group didn’t have the slightest aura or Heavenly Dao fluctuations. However, there was a certain killing intent lingering on their bodies that seemed to not exist at the same time. It gave others a bone-chilling feeling, as if they were specters that had floated out of hell.

“The Bloodkill Hall’s people have come as well!”

In this world, only the Bloodkill Hall’s assassins had this ability to completely conceal their auras.

“Isn’t that Bloodkill 1? Even he came.” Some people recognized the handsome man standing at the front. They had seen him appear in the Eastern Xuan City.

However, their group was lacking that mysterious girl now. Bloodkill 1 was standing at the very front.

Bloodkill 1 was also an Empyrean, and a very terrifying one at that. Because he was an assassin, if he hid in the dark, only a few people in the entire world could survive his attack. Assassins were the most hated but also most feared existence.

Bloodkill 1 led a group of experts from the Bloodkill Hall forward. He first looked at the opposing side composed of Yue Zifeng and the others. A faint smile appeared on his face. That smile was very calm, and it was unknown what he was thinking.

Bloodkill 1’s gaze passed across Yue Zifeng to Zi Yan. He paused slightly at Zi Yan before slowly walking toward Sha Guangyan’s side.

Sha Guangyan nodded to Bloodkill 1. He made space for him, having them sit in a core spot with them to express their respect.

The Bloodkill Hall’s people were not fit for society. They essentially never revealed themselves in the open. They didn’t like interacting with others, so they also didn’t speak with them.

Hu Xiaolin and the other Xuan Beasts didn’t even glance at them, acting like they hadn’t seen them.

As time passed, more and more experts entered the city. However, the majority of them chose to enter Sha Guangyan’s camp. They had truly come for the dragon slaughtering part.

There was also a small portion who joined the neutral camp. Originally, the neutral camp was split into two sides around the execution stand, but now the side that Zi Yan was at had more people. Clearly people preferred standing near her. Just getting close to a fairy was a kind of honor, while the main reason was that it was safe.

The sky brightened. There were still four hours until noon, which was the official start of the Dragon Slaughtering Convention. At that time, the ax head would fall and cut off the head of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow to complete the ceremony.

That was why more and more people were arriving right before noon. Experts tended to be arrogant and cold, so they only came right on time.

As a result, during this time, another seven Empyreans arrived. Six of them joined Sha Guangyan’s camp, while one joined the neutral camp.

As more and more experts arrived in the Grand Han’s capital, people finally experienced why people were saying that the great era was coming.

There were over ten Empyreans, and tens of thousands of rank nine Celestials. There were close to a million rank eight Celestials. This Dragon Slaughtering Convention had drawn out all the heavenly geniuses of the Eastern Xuan Region.

The normally arrogant rank nine Celestials were completely drowned out by other geniuses here. They no longer felt high and above. They felt themselves to be ordinary.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the city shook and startled cries rang out. An evil air exploded in the distance when a group of people walked over.

It was a group of thirty-some people. They were all at least rank nine Celestials, while their leader was a tall, scrawny man. His clothes were tattered like he was a beggar.

He held a wine gourd in his hand and gulped down large mouthfuls as he walked. However, people saw that what was dripping out of the corner of his mouth wasn’t wine, but blood. The most frightening thing was that it wasn’t the blood of Magical Beasts. It was the essence blood of humans. Only the essence blood had spiritual yuan fluctuations.

A scent of rot and decay filled everyone’s noses. People almost wanted to vomit.

“Corrupt experts…” People whispered between themselves. What were Corrupt experts doing here?

The Righteous experts all clenched their weapons, glaring at these Corrupt experts.

“The Dragon Slaughtering Convention’s only target is the fiend known as Long Chen. Everyone should put down your previous enmities. Today, both sides will mind their own businesses,” announced Sha Guangyan.

“Bullshit! The enmity between the Corrupt path and the Righteous path is as deep as a sea. We are like water and fire. Who can guarantee that they won’t start killing us in the middle of the convention?” shouted someone.

“I can.”

Suddenly, everyone saw a group wearing Pill Valley’s robes walking over.

The leader was surrounded by flowing flame runes, and an intense heat caused the space around him to twist. He was like a god of fire walking in the mortal world. All the world’s flame energy was kneeling to him.

“My Pill Valley can guarantee that as long as you don’t attack the Corrupt path, the Corrupt path will not attack you. Today, we are united against just one enemy. Long Chen,” said that flame-wrapped expert.