'You still want to use ordinary cultivators to threaten me?'
Facing the group threatening him, Qi Ping only let out a cold sneer in his heart. How could he not have anticipated this before he struck?
In truth, long before he took action, Qi Ping had investigated Starfall City thoroughly. He knew which faction had how many people, their distribution, and exactly what they had done. He had even secretly investigated the habits of many Foundation Establishment cultivators. Over the past few years, Han Li and Zhang Da-niu had used their roles as Wardens to gather a wealth of useful information for him.
Before this purge began, Qi Ping had rehearsed countless scenarios. Naturally, he wouldn't have missed the possibility of ordinary cultivators being used as leverage.
Thus, before he even activated the array, Qi Ping had already used his bees to assassinate many isolated or secluded Foundation Establishment and Qi-Refining cultivators. One could say the core combat strength of the black industry factions had already been weakened by a significant margin.
Although some disappearances had been noticed, no one had linked it to him in the short term. After all, with his status, why would he need to assassinate anyone? If he wanted someone dead, the factions would usually bind the person and bring them to him themselves. Thus, while some had noticed people missing over the last two days, it hadn't caused much of an impact.
As for the Foundation Establishment Perfection and late-stage cultivators, Qi Ping had struck them down just moments ago. This was to prevent the chaos from becoming unpredictable once the purge started. By the time he activated the array, many factions had discovered the deaths of their cultivators and even suspected Qi Ping, but none had imagined he would go as far as a full city-wide purge.
The bees had been placed long ago. Even though some had been discovered, it didn't affect his plan. Only when Qi Ping's execution decree was announced and the slaughter began did everyone link these anomalies together.
assassinating the core combat strength in a short time, deploying the bees, and dismantling any possibility of organized resistance! In the long term, he had spent years investigating and lying low just for this moment!
The only thing they couldn't understand was why Qi Ping had announced the decree beforehand. Wouldn't it have been better to just start killing? That would have better prevented any unified resistance. But they quickly discovered one reason: they couldn't get out!
Every Foundation Establishment and Qi-Refining cultivator found that no matter which route they took, they were blocked by bees surrounded by wind spiritual energy or blood-red bees.
The bees wrapped in wind radiated the aura of the late stage of Rank 2 and formed a terrifying battle formation. Foundation Establishment cultivators were being sliced into fragments by wind blades! The blood-red bees were only at the early stage of Rank 2, but their numbers were far greater than the wind-attribute bees. They specifically targeted Qi-Refining cultivators. Under the frenzied slaughter of the blood-bee formations, those cultivators had no chance of resistance!
Every black industry faction in Starfall City was surrounded by bees! Wind and blood bees appeared in almost every corner of the city!
Yet, the bees were not the most terrifying part. The most horrifying was the white-robed figure in the sky. Every so often, blue raindrops that terrified even perfected cultivators would strike at the Foundation Establishment experts, or at their bases and gathering points. Faced with these raindrops that possessed extreme speed and piercing power, only a few late-stage and perfected cultivators could barely resist. For everyone else, touch meant death!
And once a raindrop exploded, it took a large group of cultivators with it. Even those who could resist found that after a few strikes, combined with the siege of the wind-attribute bees, they couldn't hold out for long!
It was then that many cultivators suddenly realized—why were there so few Foundation Establishment cultivators left in Starfall City? When they looked up at the figure in the sky, they had their answer.
From the moment Qi Ping announced the purge, they had already lost!
"Aaaargh!"
"No!"
"Spare us! we are willing to offer our souls and serve you forever!"
Realizing resistance was impossible, many people's will collapsed. Their madness was replaced by despair and terror. Agonized screams, cries, and pleas for mercy echoed throughout Starfall City.
At this moment, the black industry factions lost the last sliver of hope. But faced with their pleas, Qi Ping's slaughter did not falter, save for the occasional consumption of spiritual liquid to recover his power. He had waited for this day for far too long!
Ever since he took office, through the records and evidence gathered by Han Li and Zhang Da-niu, Qi Ping had seen what true hell and tragedy looked like—some cases were even worse than what he had seen in the Immortal Alliance. While the Alliance only wanted talented children as blood food, Starfall City displayed every ugly facet of human evil to its fullest. The experiences of Mo Fan and Mo Yunxi were merely tiny, insignificant snapshots of the horror.
Qi Ping had been mentally prepared, but after seeing it for himself, he had remained silent for a long time. So had Han Li and Zhang Da-niu. That was why they had put everything into the tasks Qi Ping assigned them. They had never agreed with the purge plan as much as they did during that time. To them, it was no longer just about self-preservation; it had taken on a much greater significance.
And today, the purge was finally unfolding!
Qi Ping continued to reap their lives from the sky. His divine sense swept through the city, taking in the wretched death of every individual. This was an outlet for him, a release of the emotions he had suppressed for years. These people all deserved to die! Even if their souls were scattered, it wouldn't be enough to pay for their crimes!
As the cultivators fell like wheat before a scythe and the slaughter neared its end, a true vision of hell was revealed. Mangled corpses covered the entire city, each face etched with madness and terror. Bright red blood flowed into every corner of the streets.
Yet, in this landscape of hell, what permeated the air was not despair. It was the tears of hope in the eyes of the survivors, and the sound of weeping that had been suppressed for countless years...
Beyond that, there was the look in Qi Ping's eyes, as if a massive weight had been lifted from his soul... and a sudden glow of blood-red light rising around his body...