"True. Originally Lang Xie intended to exchange them for our members who are imprisoned at other branches." Zi Shou De paused and then nodded in agreement. "But all that is pointless if we end up getting destroyed anyway. Since we have them on hand, we might as well make use of them. We can only stake it on them now."

"I concur," Zi Da Ji said, lending her husband support. "Since the Martial Arts Alliance and these sects so brazenly attacked us, then there is no need to be polite with them!"

"That"s right!" Elder Tie shouted.

"Yeah!"

"Who cares about those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?!"

"They forced us into this!"

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!" Cheng Ping added angrily.

The inner sect elders were all agreeing and voicing their approval. The Great Elders exchanged glances, and nodded grimly.

"That is the best option we have for now," Luo Zhi Chang agreed.

"Even so…what do we do exactly?" I asked. "Inform the leaders outside they we have hostages and return them in exchange for them leaving us alone?"

Zi Shou De rubbed his chin for a while, and shook his head. "No, we can"t trust them. There is no guarantee that they wouldn"t go back on their words and attack us immediately after we return the hostages. On the other hand, as long as we hold the hostages" lives in our hands, they will dare not do anything too outrageous."
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"This might be seem despicable," Zi Da Ji growled. "But our enemies have been more despicable than us."

"Right now, morality is not our concern. Survival is." To my surprise, it was Luo Zhi Chang who declared this. He nodded and glanced at Zi Shou De. "It is as you say, Sect Leader. We must show that we"re willing to carry out our threats and take the lives of the hostages without hesitation if they continue to push us further."

"Show them any weaknesses, and they won"t take our warning seriously." Zi Da Ji agreed. "We must be decisive and ruthless, or we won"t be able to survive!"

Zi Shou De continued to ponder for a bit longer, then he came to a decision. Rising to his feet, he beckoned everyone to stand up (I was already standing up, though).

"Everyone, to the plaza please."

We all obeyed, following Zi Shou De down Flame Volcano and toward the plaza where the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars were. Technically, I didn"t need to tag along, someone of my lowly status normally being dismissed at this stage, but I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me. Hanging at the back in an inconspicuous manner, I followed behind the inner sect elders without anyone knowing I was there. Perhaps Zi Shou De and his wife knew I was present, but they didn"t object to me following even though I technially should be returning to my dorm to rest.

But I really, really wanted to know what was going to happen to the hostages.

While we went down, I hurriedly contacted Tian Yu Di through the Golden Dragon Medallion, and requested him to inform Lang Xie to meet us in the plaza instead. I received a grunt in acknowledgement. Apparently, it seemed that Lang Xie had already begun engaging Xie Zhi Zhang in combat. It sounded like it was going to be a short battle.

To be honest, I needn"t had bothered. With his skills, Lang Xie would locate us easily anyway. But I wanted to save him the time and effort, just in case.

Shi Jing Yun, Wu Tuo and Su Bai Xue were still chained to the Spirit Engraved Pillars. When they saw us approaching, they greeted us with venomous glares, hatred blazing visibly in their eyes.

Their subordinates, disciples and closest confidants had been ma.s.sacred by Blood Blades and the outer sect elders right in front of their eyes, so naturally they would hold a grudge. Despite us clearing the plaza of the corpses (to burn them), the plaza was still stained heavily by blood. Burning the corpses was a priority to prevent diseases, but we didn"t have time to clean the blood. Later, once the war was over, we would wash the whole place and probably repaint it, but for now we had more important matters to tend to.

In any case, the trio were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hatred. I glared back at them, meeting them with equal hatred. f.u.c.king hypocrites. So they could come here and slaughter the disciples and members of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, but we weren"t allowed to fight back? Did they come here to kill without ever being prepared to be killed?

What a joke! If you"re so willing to kill someone, it was only natural that you are mentally to be killed in return. Otherwise, you have no business being a martial artist or wielding a weapon!

However, the trio were shamelessly self-centered and unwilling to admit defeat.

"You think that Nine-Tailed Fox Sect can resolve this crisis with just a single evil demon? Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s fate has been sealed long ago. No one can save it!" Su Bai Xue stared frostily at the crowd gathered before her. "I can hear the sounds of battle even from now. Let me guess, your city is currently under attack from all directions! We are just the first wave. There will many more of us outside Tushan City! Do you really think you can survive all the repeated onslaughts?"

Shi Jing Yun and Wu Tuo also regarded us with icy and disdainful expressions.

Zi Shou De stood before them, calmly placing his hands behind his back. He smiled politely, but there was no trace of warmth in his eyes.

"The martial artists and sects outside know clearly that you are being held hostage here, but they still dare to attack Nine-Tailed Fox Sect? They clearly do not care about your lives. Perhaps it was a mistake not to kill you."

"Maybe they think Nine-Tailed Fox Sect wouldn"t dare to do anything to them," Zi Da Ji offered scornfully.

Behind them, Luo Zhi Chang sighed bitterly. He personally knew the problem with this hostage situation.

Throughout the Great Zhou Empire, Zi Shou De was renowned for being a gentle, calm and composed man who usually left the fighting to his wife. They didn"t think very highly of him and believed him to be someone incapable of violence and ruthlessness. A henpecked husband who allowed his wife to boss him around, in other words. Most people joked that Zi Da Ji was the one who wore tha pants in their marriage.

That was why the sects outside were so confident that Zi Shou De wouldn"t order his sect to kill the hostages. They also knew that he was a famous blacksmith, someone who was more invested in forging Spirit Armaments than in martial arts. Having personally benefited from his crafting skills (he upgraded the spiritual defense for my Snow Aegis), I knew that he was nearly unrivaled, second only to Elder Hai Mo in terms of Spirit Engraving and blacksmithing. But it was that very reputation that led outsiders to perceive him as lacking the resolve to fight back against the Martial Arts Alliance, as someone who was easily intimidated.

They thought we would easily surrender and immediately return the hostages if they attacked, relying on terror tactics to cow us into submission.

At that very moment, Lang Xie appeared. He seemed bloodied and slightly injured, but he was otherwise fine. He bowed in front of Zi Shou De.

"You called for me?"

"Yes." Zi Shou De turned to Lang Xie. "What do you think is the most effective way of stopping the attacks on our city?"

"By killing all our enemies until none remain," Lang Xie replied without hesitation. Zi Shou De clutched his head, as if he had a headache.

"Of course. But I mean in our current predicament, where we are most likely not going to be able to kill them all."

"Ah…" Lang Xie understood. He frowned, as if he was in a conundrum. "I"m afraid I"ve no idea. We"ll just fight to the last man."

"I would prefer to avoid that if possible." Zi Shou De sighed. Then he waved at the three hostages. "But I was wondering why you decided to take these three as hostages if you"re not going to make use of them."

Lang Xie"s eyes lightened up and he nodded, understanding what Zi Shou De meant.

"Y…you wouldn"t dare!"

It was Su Bai Xue. She lost her composure momentarily, her outburst ringing across the plaza, and her face flushed.

"Dark Asura Sect, the Seven Valley Sects and Snow Valley Sect, Divine Shadow Sect, and Cloud Sky Mountain will only kill Blood Blades and outer sect disciples when they enter Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Now that Green Dragon Sect, Heavenly Way Sect and Kunlun Sect have joined us, your defeat is inevitable. But even if we wipe out Blood Blades and the outer sect disciples, we"ll still spare the real blacksmiths and professional Spirit Engravers. Even if Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is destroyed, this select group of people will continue to survive! Elder Hai Mo will enter the Martial Arts Alliance while our thirteen sects will divide the inner sect elders and disciples amongst ourselves!"

Shi Jing Yun sneered shamelessly at the crowd, not at all ashamed of admitting the atrocities they intended to commit. I had made sure to record that and post it all over the Internet. If anything, that should help speed up the parliament process to come to a resolution. Shi Jing Yun looked down coldly at us and shouted.

"However, if something happens to the three of us, then the Martial Arts Alliance will no longer show you any mercy! If we die, all of you blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers will also die along with Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!"

"So you do not have the guts to raise a hand against us!" Su Bai Xue smirked icily. "You"re afraid of dying. You"re afraid of provoking the Martial Arts Alliance and getting killed!"

"That"s why they dare to attack Nine-Tailed Fox Sect! Because they know you are not ruthless enough!" Wu Tuo also laughed.

"What idiotic reasoning." Zi Shou De scoffed as he faced them. "You think I will sacrifice so many members of my sect just to save my own skin, and that of the inner sect elders and inner sect disciples?"

He turned around and raised both his hands proudly.

"Blood Blades, outer sect disciples, outer sect elders…I don"t care what their status is, they are all part of my Nine-Tailed Fox Sect! As long as I"m leader, I"ll do my best to ensure all of us survive! We will stand or die together!"

This, he shouted so loudly that even the Blood Blades at the frontlines heard him. With renewed vigor, they fought so hard they actually pushed the enemies back a few steps.

Morale was a very valuable weapon, indeed. I had to make sure I learn that trick from Zi Shou De. Though I doubted I would ever use it…

He then turned to them, scowling.

"You make up false allegations about us having weapons of ma.s.s destruction just as an excuse to invade our sect. To gather justifications for your criminal actions, because you covet our wealth, power and resources."

"So what if we do?" Shi Jing Yun snapped.

"You"ve been getting ahead of yourselves, growing too powerful and expanding too quickly! Do you think the Martial Arts Alliance will just sit idly and allow you to grow unimpeded?" Su Bai Xue yelled. "You"ll pose a big threat to us in the future, especially economically and politically! We need to check your growth, before you decide to declare independence and break away from the Martial Arts Alliance!"

"And so you decide to invade my sect and kill my disciples and subordinates?" If looks could kill, Zi Shou De would have murdered the trio by now. No, his wife"s glare was even more murderous and terrifying than his, but she wisely stayed silent. "The Martial Arts Alliance is truly corrupted to the core. It can"t be saved."

Wow, I marveled. I was recording the whole thing and streaming it live, and I didn"t really expect to capture such golden footage. If I checked the comments and social media, I was sure the people online would be gong wild by now. And no doubt once this video reached the royal family and politicians, they would have all the proof they needed to make a move.

After they authenticated that the footage was genuine and not a hoax, of course.

"So what do you suggest we do, Lang Xie?" Zi Shou De turned back to the vice-commander of the Blood Blades. Lang Xie in turn glanced at Zi Da Ji, but the overall commander of the Blood Blades shook her head.

"You have more experience in such matters than I do. I have grown soft after serving as my husband"s bodyguard for so many years. I"m sure you"ll be able to handle this better than I do."

"I understand." Lang Xie bowed his head to the Zi Couple. "I will apologize in advance. Whatever I do, no matter how unsightly and terrible it seems, I do it for the sake of the sect, in order for all of us to survive. Please do not stop me."

"We will give you our full support," Zi Shou De confirmed. Lang Xie"s lips quirked a little, not quite a real smile, but almost.

"Since our esteemed guests have rightly pointed out that we lack ruthlessness, shall we rectify that and show some decisiveness?"

He reached inside his robes to draw a weapon, but Hai Mo stopped him. The leader of the inner sect elders stepped forward.

"Lang Xie, wait."

Shi Jing Yun, Wu Tuo and Su Bai Xue had been watching Lang Xie anxiously, knowing that he was completely different from the gentle and calm Zi Shou De. They were aware of his reputation as a bloodthirsty monster, who wouldn"t hesitate to kill anyone who threatened the safety of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.

So when they saw that Hai Mo intervened, they couldn"t help but sigh in relief.

"If you"re going to do this, then please use this." from his storage device, Hai Mo produced a crimson dragon-shaped sword, and handed it to Lang Xie.

Hai Rong, who was standing beside him, couldn"t help but look at him with glistening eyes. "Ah Mo," she murmured quietly. "You…"

The enemy trio went completely still, stunned by the chief inner sect elder"s actions.

"I have gotten to where I am today because of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. The Martial Arts Alliance has done nothing to help me whatsoever with my progress." Hai Mo kept his tone low and detached. "Shi Jing Yun, Wu Tuo and Su Bai Xue have all benefited from my services in the past, receiving Spirit Armaments that I have specially forged for them. But now they wish to destroy our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. do you really think I"m just going to stand around and watch them do it?"

At his words, Shi Jing Yun, Wu Tuo and Su Bai Xue could only hang their heads in shame.

Lang Xie nodded gratefully, and then he turned and approached Su Bai Xue without a word. The red dragon sword gleamed ominously.

"You dare touch me?" Su Bai Xue was desperately suppressing her fear, but cold beads of perspiration were forming all over her face. "If I have even a single scratch on me, Snow Valley Sect will stop at nothing to destroy Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. We will bathe Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in blood. You have best consider the repercussions."

She was the wife of the Snow Valley Sect Leader"s younger brother (his sister-in-law), and thus possessed a high status in the sect. If she was harmed in any way, Snow Valley Sect would annihilate everything in their path as they sought justice for one of their favored ladies.

However, Lang Xie remained unperturbed.

"Perhaps you should have also considered the repercussions when you attacked our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect," he replied quietly.

Then he swung the dragon-shaped sword. In a single stroke, he cut off Su Bai Xue"s left arm.

Su Bai Xue screamed as blood fountained from her shoulder, spraying the Spirit Engraved Pillar and the ground, but even the ma.s.sive amount of blood pumping from her wound was but a drop in the vast sea of blood that had been spilled here before.

"Fei Wu," Lang Xie commanded. Oh…he knew I was here. If the inner sect elders and Great Elders didn"t notice my presence before, they would have now, after he announced my presence. "Stop the bleeding. Seal the wound."

"Yes, sir."

I swallowed, shocked by Lang Xie"s utter ruthlessness. Now this guy was a bada.s.s if I had ever met one. Yeah, I mean, I read how Qin Lie was ruthless enough to cut off someone"s pinky, but I wasn"t Qin Lie. I couldn"t do what he did. I wasn"t a Mary Sue who could practically waltz into a sect and take over as its temporary leader while everyone obeyed me as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Rather, I was the one doing the obeying.

While Su Bai Xue writhed and cried in agony – she would have clutched her shoulder if her right arm hadn"t been shackled to the Spirit Engraved Pillar – I approached her with trepidation. Taking a deep breath, I conjured my qi and froze her wound, halting the bleeding. I was tempted to just freeze her whole body to shut her up, but somehow I didn"t want to hack off Lang Xie when he was in such a ruthless mood.

Lang Xie ignored the disembodied arm lying on the ground and proceeded to a visibly pale and trembling Shi Jing Yun. Just like before, he also cut off his left arm. To his credit, Shi Jing Yun did not shriek in pain like the shameful Su Bai Xue, merely suppressing his outburst to a m.u.f.fled grunt. He squeezed his eyes shut from the pain, beads of perspiration pouring down his ashen complexion, but otherwise didn"t thrash about too much.

"Fei Wu," Lang Xie instructed again, and I quickly froze Shi Jing Yun"s wound to stop the bleeding.

Wu Tuo was next, and just like Shi Jing Yun, he did not react other than a m.u.f.fled curse, but he raised his head and watched me evenly as I stepped forward to treat his wound. He then raised his head to look at Lang Xie with respect.

"We underestimated Nine-Tailed Fox Sect," he admitted, keeping his voice even despite the pain he must be feeling.

"Elder Cheng, Fei Wu. Take the arms and go to the gates where Snow Valley Sect, the Six Valley Sects and Cloud Sky Mountain are attacking, and return them to them. Tell the sects to cease their attacks at once. I"ll give them an hour. If they refuse to heed our warning, then I"ll cut off their other arm. And then their legs. And finally…their heads." He almost smiled icily. "Tell them they are welcome to test me to see if I"m not ruthless enough to keep my word."

Both Cheng Ping and I stared at him, our jaws dropping. Cheng Ping recovered quicker than I did, and nodded with an admiring gaze. I quickly followed suit and picked Shi Jing Yun"s arm, bowing deeply.

"Yes, Lord Lang Xie."

"I will go now!" Cheng Ping added.

Even though I had read Spirit Realm, and knew this was going to happen, I lacked Lang Xie"s decisiveness. No, honestly…I knew readers were going to flame and bash me, but those keyboard warriors had no idea that reading a story was different from reality. You could read a story about killing and death, but when you actually faced such a situation in reality, there was no way you could bring yourself to actually kill someone. I had been forced to kill in life-and-death situations where my enemies had given me little choice, but I had never been in an event where I had to commit something as macabre as cutting off someone"s limbs while keeping them alive, and then carrying their disembodied limbs around to make a statement.

For Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s sake, I had better not throw up here and waste Lang Xie"s intentions. Swallowing the bile in my throat, I steeled my resolve. Lang Xie had already done the dirty work. I was just doing the easy part.

Being an ordinary guy, obviously no one was going to praise me or respect me over whatever dramatic stunt I pulled. Not that the story and characters existed solely to compliment me, anyway, unlike most xianxia stories.

Hah! Serves them right! I thought while cradling Shi Jing Yun"s arm in a cloth. I had wrapped the amputated appendage in a cloth so that I wouldn"t be confronted by such a grisly sight, and to take my mind away from my gruesome burden, I allowed it to float elsewhere. In order to carry out Lang Xie"s orders, I had stopped filming and streaming, but the video had been uploaded to the Internet by now and spread all over social media.

The whole of the Great Zhou Empire should know by now that the true goals of the Martial Arts Alliance were just to plunder, rob and murder, that they were merely carrying out a criminal war in their own selfish interests. The weapons of ma.s.s destruction they claimed that we had were non-existent, excuses they conjured out of thin air to justify their invasion, and I had just recorded them admitting that they lied about it.

Now all we needed to do was…

Wait.

I blinked, suddenly realizing something. Weapons of ma.s.s destruction…weapons of ma.s.s destruction.

That was right!

Balancing Shi Jing Yun"s disembodied left arm with one hand, I raised the other and tapped my comn bead, contacting Zi Da Ji through a private channel.

"Sect Lady Da Ji, do you mind if I propose something?"

"What is it? Why are you contacting me through vox?" Zi Da Ji sounded puzzled.

"Sorry, I just thought of something." I paused to catch my breath. "Do you mind if I take some time to build a weapon? I might be able to manufacture a Spirit Bomb that will help us defend the city. If you don"t mind, I will need Qi Hong"s a.s.sistance as well. We"ll need quite a bit of Spirit Materials, especially extremely pure spirit ores, but I think we"ll be able to build something that will drive back the invading sects and perhaps even deal ma.s.sive damage to them."

"Spirit Bomb?" Zi Da Ji asked hesitantly.

"Oh!" Not surprisingly, Hai Rong"s delighted voice cut into the channel. It made sense. She was a high-ranking officer in Blood Blades and thus had access to every vox channel used by the sect. Even though I said this was a private channel, it wasn"t as if I had access codes to the officers" channel. It was more of the channel used by aides, which I guess was technically my position. "Is that what you used to attack Yan Chi?"

I nodded, then realized that neither lady could see me. "Yeah, that"s right. The Sunburst. Qi Hong and I succeeded in manufacturing a prototype, but if we increase the purity and amount of spirit ores, we"ll be able to amplify the firepower."

"Very well." Zi Da Ji hesitated for a moment as she consulted her vice-commander. The channel was secure, and the pause took a while, probably because she didn"t want the enemy trio to hear about this. "Lang Xie, what do you think?"

"Go for it. One person less won"t make a difference. I"ll notify Jing Wei. Get to work immediately after you return the arm and deliver the warning."

"You heard him," Zi Da Ji told me, resuming her commander role. "Build as many as you can and blow the enemies out of our city!"

"I"ll try," I said, careful not to make any concrete promises. Then I clicked off the comn bead and hurried toward the southern gate.