Blood dripped down Mengfei's lips and chin, staining her silver robes red.
Across from her, emotion returned to Emperor Solesword's impassive face. The sword in his hand, his lifebound artifact, emitted cracking sounds as it started to fissure from the tip. Slowly, piece by piece, metal shards fell from the sword.
The fissures didn't even stop once they covered the entire hilt. Instead, they started crawling up his arms. Despite the cracks on his face, despite knowing of his impending doom, Emperor Solesword's smile remained. "Sword Sovereign Xi, no Xi Mengfei. Did you ever imagine that you would actually fall under an immortal emperor's hand?"
"You were too confident, attaching a false title onto yourself. How could you call yourself a sword sovereign without even developing Sword Intent? Look where that got you now," Emperor Solesword gloated.
As his body followed his sword's fate, starting from his hands and feet, he started to laugh. It was a mad laugh filled with mirth and insanity. He succeeded, but at what cost? His actions only benefited the remaining members of the Tripartite Alliance and the Anti-Heaven Alliance. The Leakless Sect had become all but history.
Suddenly, his laughter stopped as if someone had choked him.
Mengfei started to disintegrate too. Only her body turned into silver wisps that evaporated into the air. Despite her body disappearing, she showed no fear. The crystalline sword in her hand disappeared, and even her skin turned the same color as the wisps.
"No," Emperor Solesword gasped.
Not long later, Mengfei's entire body dissolved into silver mist and evaporated.
A mocking laughter entered Emperor Solesword's ears. "Haha, what right does an immortal emperor have to look down on Grand Elder Xi?"
Emperor Solesword turned to see a single emperor-level war formation flying toward him. The rest of the war formations sent to deal with him had focused on other targets since he was not long for this world.
"You mocked Grand Elder Xi for her lack of Sword Intent, but you didn't know that you were the lacking one. The difference between an early immortal monarch and a peak immortal monarch is more than thirty times. Why would you think that the difference in strength would be closer between an immortal emperor and an immortal sovereign? Don't you find your thoughts ridiculous?" the war formation asked and laughed.
"Y—Y—You!" Emperor Solesword angrily said. He would have pointed at the war formation, but only his head and the upper part of his chest remained. "Then what did I kill!?"
"Kill? You think too highly of yourself," the war formation said. "That was only one of Grand Elder Xi's incarnations. You used all your trump cards and even forwent the chance of reincarnation just to kill one of her incarnations, aren't you laughable?"
Emperor Solesword roared at the sky. Only his head and neck were left now. He laughed, a bitter laugh filled with reluctance and regret. "I'm unwilling. UNWILLING!"
As if he hadn't already pushed the knife deep enough, the monarch controlling the war formation continued speaking. "As an immortal emperor, I don't want to look down on your memory, but do you think the rumors of Grand Elder Xi's ability to strike anywhere in the Huang Realm are just that, a rumor? I'll tell you that not only is that rumor true, but she can lock onto anyone based on certain criteria. Say, being a member of the Leakless Sect."
Emperor Solesword wanted to scream in fury, to use his teeth and rip out the Buzhou Immortal Sect's immortal monarch’s throat, but he could only glare. And even then, it didn't last long as his eyes, too, fractured off in shards. Soon, all evidence of the Leakless Sect's immortal emperor ceased to exist in the world.
A snort thundered from the war formation. Soon, it turned its attention to the rest of the Leakless Sect’s members. Grand Elder Xi had already eliminated all the mortal cultivators. Now, it was their turn to clean up the stragglers.
The Leakless Sect's most powerful war formations were the Leakless Emperor War Formation, an upgrade of their Leakless Monarch War Formation that Tianyi faced in his Inner Devil Tribulation. Still, the Leakless Sect could not field as many emperor-level war formations because they needed three monarchs manning each war formation.
In total, they deployed five Leakless Emperor War Formations, eight Leakless Monarch War Formations, and tens of weaker monarch-level war formations. In contrast, the Buzhou Immortal Sect directly deployed ten emperor-level war formations, such as the Jadelight Emperor War Formation, Heavenly Maiden Empress War Formation, and Great Unity Emperor War Formation.
Coupled with the oppression brought about by Mengfei's Eight Trigrams Tri-Unity World, it was a one-sided slaughter—especially after Emperor Solesword's death.
High above in the sky, the violet-robed Mengfei watched the massacre with no change in emotion. Nine days later, ten immortal monarchs and hundreds of true immortals stood before Mengfei. A few true immortals perished, but that was an acceptable loss.
"Grand Elder, we've eliminated all life from the Leakless Sect," an immortal monarch reported.
Mengfei nodded. "The ships?"
Monarch Violetsnow gestured toward the wreckage of the moon Mengfei created. Floating above it were seven of the ten warships they brought, emptied of all occupants.
A black crystalline sword appeared in Mengfei's hand, and she slashed out. Several sword-shaped qis flew out with each swing, but they didn't resemble Mengfei's attack, but rather the deceased Emperor Solesword.
The sword-shaped qi that resembled Emperor Solesword so much struck the seven warships, sinking them and causing them to crash onto the ruins. Mengfei wasn't done yet, as she clenched her fingers.
Half the warships and the rubble formed another sphere, only ten times smaller. Then, a molten glow appeared from the center, succeeded by a volcanic explosion that further muddied the evidence of battle.
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Satisfied by her handiwork, Mengfei nodded. She turned toward the immortals and raised her arm. A portal leading to what appeared to be the Vast Void materialized. "Go."
Seven immortal monarchs nodded and entered the portal. Following behind them were seventy percent of the true immortals, leaving three immortal monarchs and thirty percent of the true immortals.
"Move on to phase 2 of the plan," Mengfei ordered. She gazed at the sky of the Eight Trigrams Tri-Unity World and said one word, "Shatter."
The fabric of reality twisted and shattered, revealing the Leakless Sect's original surroundings, with the one exception of the now-destroyed Leakless Sect. The Eight Trigrams Pillars also sunk and buried themselves into the ground. Cracks littered its surface, and its previous spiritual light had vanished, like broken tools.
Mengfei wasn't done yet as she raised the black crystalline sword above her head like she had done all those years ago when she left Paradise Sand City. When she brought her sword down, thousands of swords, exactly like the one in her hand, descended all over the Heaven Continent, except hundreds of times larger.
The only difference between now and then was that her targets were members of the Leakless Sect. As long as they were part of the River of Reincarnation in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, Mengfei could locate them and cut the grass by the roots.
"Let's go," Mengfei said. She led the remaining immortals back to the Immortal Sect. She didn't summon the pillar of light from Heaven-Earth-Man Trinity Palace and traveled using a detour, as if to avoid detection.
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"Cloud Goddess, Cloud Goddess!"
Inside the Sacred Hall of the Cloud Goddess Cult, the Cloud Goddess opened her eyes from her couch. She saw an elder from the Drifting Feather Sect barge in with horror flashing across his eyes. She frowned, "Trespassing without permission is punishable even if you aren't a member of the Cloud Goddess Cult."
"You can punish me however you want later. There's big news!" the elder practically screeched. "I just received news that the Leakless Sect had been wiped off the face of the Huang Realm!"
Instead of shock or horror as he expected, the Cloud Goddess only lowered her eyes and muttered, "Has it already begun?"
"What?"
"I said, have you confirmed that the news is true?" the Cloud Goddess asked.
"Yes, yes!" the elder said. "We don't have the exact details, but all of our spies reported that they saw swords descending from the sky and killing Leakless Sect members. Furthermore, we lost communication with the Leakless Sect, and the Nihility Sect and Jade Cauldron Sect have descended into a panic!"
The elder sighed. "If only Monarch Yonderheart hadn't died competing for the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus. We would have been able to gather more accurate information."
"No need," the Cloud Goddess said, much to the elder's shock. She stood up and said, "Summon all the upper echelon of the Anti-Heaven Alliance. It's time to fully absorb the Tripartite Alliance into our fold."
Less than an hour later, all the grand elders, sect masters, and immortal monarchs of the three forces gathered inside the Cloud Goddess Cult's Sacred Hall.
"Without a doubt, the Buzhou Immortal Sect has finally made their move and destroyed the Leakless Sect," the Drifting Feather Sect Master said.
"How is that possible?" a grand elder from the Five Element Sect asked. "Even if they have an immortal sovereign, they attacked the Leakless Sect's headquarters."
"I think we should ask the Cloud Goddess." At Monarch Fiveseal's words, all eyes turned toward the leader and founder of the Cloud Goddess Cult. "Is it possible for an immortal sovereign to destroy a first-rate force like the Leakless Sect in such a short time?"
"Yes," the Cloud Goddess said. Although a few of them suspected it, they couldn't help but gasp. Additionally, they also gazed at the Cloud Goddess in more fear.
"However, the price Sword Sovereign Xi paid definitely isn't small," the Cloud Goddess continued. "The best evidence is that we didn't see any pillar of light. Although it has a cooldown of ten years after each use, it is the fastest method to travel, possessed only by the Buzhou Immortal Sect."
"According to my guess, they must possess a method on an even higher level than that pillar of light that would allow them to teleport anywhere without any notice, allowing them to attack the Leakless Sect unaware," the Cloud Goddess said.
"T-then w-what should we do?" an elder from the Drifting Feather Sect asked, fear evident in his voice.
"Why are you cowering now?" the Five Element Sect Master rebuked. "We already estimated the Buzhou Immortal Sect has far more means than they showed. If you're too scared of fighting, just kill yourself now!"
The Drifting Feather Sect Master scowled but didn't refute his fellow sect master. Morale was more critical than ever. If he allowed the fear to spread, then they would run around like headless chickens, benefiting their enemies.
"Still, his words hold merit. What should we do?" a grand elder from the Five Element Sect asked, his voice far calmer.
Again, all gazes landed on the Cloud Goddess. "Give chase. As I said before, Sword Sovereign Xi must have paid a high price to exterminate the Leakless Sect silently and in a short amount of time. There is no better time to kill her than now!"
"But what if this is all a trap to lure your holiness out?" the head priest of the Cloud Goddess Cult asked in worry.
"There is nothing to worry about. I can always flee," the Cloud Goddess calmly said. "While I give chase, we mustn't stand around doing nothing."
"Since the leader of the Tripartite Alliance has fallen, there is no better time to absorb the remnants than now. The Nihility Sect is powerful, but they are only one first-rate force. As for the Jade Cauldron Sect, they are only a second-rate force," the Cloud Goddess said. She gazed at the two sect masters. "As to how to bring them under us and incorporate them, I'll leave it to you two."
The Drifting Feather Sect and Five Element Sect Masters finally showed a smile. The two had entered a tentative alliance because neither wanted to submit to the other, resulting in less than ideal battles against Buzhou Immortal Sect. But with the Leakless Sect gone, the Anti-Heaven Alliance's power will soar and with greater unity than before.
"Leave it to us," both of them said.
The Cloud Goddess then turned toward her head priest. "You lead a batch of missionaries and convert the mortals to the cult. No matter how powerful the Buzhou Immortal Sect is, even they wouldn't dare to massacre mortals en masse and incur Karmic Sin."
"Yes, your holiness!" the head priest said.
Once the Cloud Goddess had more believers, not even Sword Sovereign Xi would be her opponent. Alas, all things must balance out.
The members of the Drifting Feather Sect and Five Element Sect all grimaced. Since they allowed the Cloud Goddess to convert the mortals in their territories to her cult, her power had soared. What had once been an equal alliance was no longer.
The two sect masters gazed at each other and glared. Since the number one spot became uncontestable, they would have figured out who became the number two most powerful force among each other.
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San Jiuling collapsed onto his knees and stared at the ruin of the Leakless Sect in grief. As tears streamed down his cheeks, he roared at the sky. "Buzhou Immortal Sect, not only have you killed my blood brother, Dong Chifan! But you also massacred my sect and killed all my loved ones! This debt, I'll pay it back a hundredfold!"