“Right. I have been told that you wish to destroy the sect village thing where I’ve been for a while. I just wanna say… don’t.”

****

Xue Zhuang stared at Long Di for the longest time like he was looking at an idiot. Suddenly, a thought came to him as he turned his gaze towards the dragon, but based on its stance, it didn’t seem like it would be making a move.

There wasn’t much to say about the Grand Preceptor. He explicitly stated that he was here to observe and nothing more. Of course, he brought some children here as well, one of who was a yuan demon.

Moreover, there were two extremely powerful demons on either side of the young demon.

Looking closely, the old demon looked like a yuan demon too, but there were notable differences that were obvious at a glance. However, what was even more jarring was the lack of aura around this old demon.

Moreover, it seemed like the Copper Seat wasn’t in charge here. Since this was the case, he was sure he would get some answers after he was done.

Growing smarter, he asked the Grand Preceptor one final question, “Will my sect, or myself be punished for killing this child?”

The Grand Preceptor shook his head to indicate he could act as he pleased.

This was all Xue Zhuang wanted to know and turned his full attention back on Long Di.

“Though I don’t know why these people brought you here, your life is mine,” Xue Zhuang sneered.

Long Di was feeling a helluva lot better since Xiannu Liang didn’t let up on healing him ever since she started.

“You’re sure you don’t wanna let bygones be bygones?” Long Di asked.

A vein throbbed on the Blood Crypt Sect’s forehead. “You killed my son!”

Long Di, who feigned being hurt emotionally, asked, “What about all the good times we had together?”

“What are you talking about!?” Xue Zhuang had never seen this child before in his life!

Long Di put on a ‘duh’ gesture before recounting, “Remember that time, you said ‘There is an open door to heaven, but you chose the closed path to hell,’ and I was like wow, that’s original. Like… that’s the perfect catalyst for friendship if I ever saw one.”

Yaomu Shou slapped her forehead when she heard this, followed by Shen Ling, Xiannu Liang, Jia Yan, and just about everyone else that followed Long Di here.

The only exception was Pebbles, who nodded his head in agreement. To him, Long Di knew friendship.

Xue Zhuang was sure he would go mad in dealing with Long Di, so he simply nodded to the general of his army.

“Boy, if there is one thing I will do for you, it is to show you what will befall your sect by demonstrating it on you!”

Boom!

The soldiers took one unified march that shook the land!

“Hua!”

Their battle roar was deafening and accompanying it was a vicious killing intent.

Of course, Long Di felt this and wasn’t about to die here and slowly stood up. Even then, Xiannu Liang stood beside him to heal him.

She was shaken in the face of the army and the murderous intent they exuded, but Long Di beat back an Imperial Divine Edict. She truly believed that even if the sky fell, he would be there to support it.

Sure, his last battle didn’t end well due to him being sneak attacked at the last minute, but she believed that he wouldn’t be caught off guard by something like that again.

Because of this, she didn’t fear these experts because Long Di was here. That was all the reason she had and all the reason she needed. So until he sent her away, she would stay here and tend to his wounds.

Bam!

The Bloodletting Regiment arranged themselves in a formation and each soldier had a faint blood qi swirling around them.

Soon it grew thick enough to see from far away. There was a metallic stench to it that tickled Long Di’s nose.

Whoosh!

The blood qi surged like a roaring wave and appeared like a furious tempest!

Xue Zhuang stood at the forefront while the general stood behind him. The commanders and squad leaders held their place executing hand seals that seemed to influence the blood qi in a specific way, moulding it to their advantage.

The blood qi then snaked and twisted around until it merged into a massive tiger that housed the entire Bloodletting Regiment!

The experts who came here, which included all the ninth fusion powerhouses that took part in the sneak attack against Long Di were shocked at the power of this army.

Some of these people were famous existences that Xue Zhuang would never have the chance to see normally. Their shocked gazes made him feel prideful in his Bloodletting Regiment.

The mountain of resources that he had poured into them had not gone to waste.

“Lord Whiskers, you might wanna… what the heck are you doing?” Long Di looked back to call Whiskers to his side only to see Pebbles sitting comfortably on Whisker’s head.

“Asserting dominance,” Pebbles innocently answered.

Long Di sighed as he knew this wouldn’t be the last time something like this happened. “Get off Lord Whiskers’s head, please. We have a deal that I just thought of.”

Pebbles frowned, “ugh, fine.”

As soon as he did this, he jumped off Whisker’s head and Long Zhe then flicked the Shidashi Mao towards Long Di and Xiannu Liang.

Though it was flicked with slightly more force than the duo before it and was twirling like an out-of-control spinning top, it landed perfectly on its feet.

‘Such a peculiar ability to have,’ thought Long Di to himself.

Whiskers came up to his side with a tired expression and looked at both Xiannu Liang and him.

“You ready Lord Whiskers Furryback The First?” Long Di asked.

“Nyan…” Whiskers shook its considerable head.

“Well, you better be ready quick and fast then,” Long Di replied.

Pebbles’s heart melted when he saw that Long Di still understood the feline tongue.

“A man of culture if ever there was one,” Pebbles said with a smiling nod.

Long Zhe snorted at this, clearly displeased with just about everything he just saw.

Long Di then looked back at Jia Yan and sent a spiritual transmission to him.

The young demon looked down and seemed to be thinking hard about something. It didn’t take long for him to look at Long Di with a resolute expression before he furiously nodded in his direction.

He then looked to the Grand Preceptor, “U-Uhm sir?”

“Say no more,” The Grand Preceptor smiled and tapped his cane on the void, sending Jia Yan gently beside Long Di and the others.

When Long Di and Xiannu Liang saw how gently Jia Yan was sent over to them, they looked back at Long Zhe with strange expressions.

“What!?” Long Zhe growled.

Long Di didn’t say a thing which Xiannu Liang emulated.

He then looked at Jia Yan and stated, “it’s not going to be easy. Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Jia Yan said with resolute conviction.

Long Di nodded when he saw this. He then turned his attention back to Xue Zhuang and the army that stood opposite him.

“Are you done?” Xue Zhuang actually stood there waiting for him.

Of course, the only thing that drew a sliver of concern from him was the creature he had by his side.

“C-Could that be a s-shidashi mao!? No, it can’t be! Those things can’t be tamed, and this child doesn’t look like a beast tamer either. I’ll just keep an eye on it.”

The stories regarding the shidashi maos were mostly nightmares and nothing else. Many people hadn’t even seen one. They were, all of them, omens.

The description was vague, but clear enough for one to identify them. However, one of the most defining traits was their overwhelming murderous intent and their inability to be tamed and their striking similarities to cats due to them being the apex of what cats were. They were a different breed of magical beast.

“Yeah, do what you will.” Long Di gestured for Xue Zhuang to continue.

The Blood Crypt Sect master didn’t stand on reservation upon hearing this and said to his general, “you can start.”

He then looked to the third elder, “You go stand at the back of the army. Don’t leave or I’ll kill you.”

“Y-yes, sir!” The third elder scurried off to the back of the army in an instant.

Jia Yan and the others felt nothing but disgust and disdain for the third elder.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The armoured feet of the Bloodletting Regiment shook the plains as they thundered towards Long Di and everyone else to wipe them out!

Whiskers was readying to shed the shackles and go to town on these idiots. Jia Yan unsheathed his weapon as well, though a look of fear still appeared.

“Now! Di-”

“Wait!” Long Di raised a hand to stop him for a second.

“What!? It’s too late to beg for your life!” Xue Zhuang said in the face of Long Di’s attempt to stop him.

Long Di’s look couldn’t be any more indifferent as he said, “Just a question is all.”

When the Grand Preceptor heard the question Long Di posed, he lost his perennial calm and his eyes widened in shock.

“Would you like to know the name of my cultivation technique?”