"I'm Heng Ling from the Worry - Free Peak of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect."
True Lord Heng Ling straightened his back with all his might, announcing his name neither humbly nor arrogantly as he stood in front of Pei Xuanjing and Nan Zhijin.
At this moment, all he wanted was to be a qualified master and protect his disciples.
After the incident with Shen Qing, he had reflected on how terribly wrong he had been. He had devoted all his energy and emotions to Lin Yibai just because she resembled his master in appearance, and had projected his feelings for his master onto Lin Yibai.
But a substitute was just a substitute. Lin Yibai would never be the master as pure and bright as the moon in his heart.
He had received care from his master, but when it came to his turn to be a master, he had failed to fulfill any responsibility towards his own disciples. If his master were still alive, he would surely be disappointed in him...
Hearing this familiar name, Han Ze pondered for a while but still couldn't remember who Heng Ling was.
Seeing True Lord Heng Ling appear alone, looking as if his end was near, Han Ze thought that the Azure Cloud Sword Sect had abandoned him.
He loved seeing such scenes.
So he pretended to be pitying and said, "Look at you. Your status in the sect should be quite high. It's a pity that once you're useless, the sect abandons you without hesitation."
"How about this? Join the Main God's Palace. I'll extend your lifespan and let you enjoy boundless longevity like them."
When called out by Han Ze, the loose cultivators who had just taken the pills looked delighted. They all stood behind Han Ze, holding their heads high, as if a bright path was right in front of them.
Heng Ling remained unmoved. Instead, he curled his lips and let out a self - mocking smile. He murmured in a low voice, "I've really made a huge mistake."
"Ling Zhou... Shen Qing... I was wrong."
Then the sad expression on his face disappeared, and his eyes became firm. "The Main God's Palace has committed numerous evils and killed countless lives. You secretly plotted and stirred up a bloodbath before. Then, in order to fulfill your ambition, you used sweet words to deceive the masses and slaughtered living beings, showing no respect for life at all."
"You are simply a disgrace to us cultivators. Even if I die in battle today, I will never collude with you and become a despicable person like you!"
True Lord Heng Ling, in his green robe, spoke with conviction. Facing countless demons and opponents alone, there was not a trace of fear in his eyes.
At this moment, he finally truly became the unique True Lord Heng Ling praised by the world.
Pei Xuanjing propped himself up on his legs and stood up tremblingly. "Master, I'll fight with you."
Nan Zhijin also forced himself to stand up and firmly stood behind True Lord Heng Ling. "Master... I was wrong about many things in the past. Now, please allow your disciple to make amends."
Hearing this, Han Ze clapped his hands lightly and shook his head constantly. "Tsk tsk tsk, what deep affection between master and disciples..."
"Well, I'll grant your wish."
After saying that, he lightly stepped on the ground. A strong gust of wind mixed with ice and snow rushed out violently in all directions, instantly blowing True Lord Heng Ling's robe.
Han Ze spread his hands, and several sharp ice pillars immediately appeared in his palms. He waved his hands, and the ice pillars immediately attacked the three of them. In the blink of an eye, they were right in front of them.
The three hadn't even reacted and had no time to take a defensive stance.
In panic, Pei Xuanjing pushed Heng Ling away and stood in front of him and Nan Zhijin.
The three closed their eyes tightly, but the expected pain didn't come.
"Hmm?" Pei Xuanjing slowly opened his eyes. The ice pillars in front of him had completely disappeared. Instead, there was a purple - clothed woman with fluttering long hair.
She had her back to Pei Xuanjing, exuding a powerful aura. The pressure of a Void Refinement - stage cultivator made him instinctively feel in awe.
The woman turned her head slightly, against the light, as if checking if they were injured. Then she quickly turned back. The sword in her hand, like a glazed ice crystal, glistened with a cold light.
"Shen Qing..."
Pei Xuanjing blurted out the woman's name blankly, with a hint of disbelief in his eyes.
Shen Qing... had actually reached the Void Refinement stage. She had grown so fast!
Shen Qing shook her slightly numb hand from blocking the ice pillars for the three. Without turning back, she said coldly, "Leave here!"
Pei Xuanjing instinctively thought it was too dangerous here and wanted Shen Qing to leave first. But then Li Xian descended from the sky and stood beside Shen Qing. Looking down at Pei Xuanjing with a condescending attitude, the obvious disdain in his eyes seemed to be saying to Pei Xuanjing: Don't get in the way.
Pei Xuanjing let out a bitter smile. Li Xian had even reached the Fusion stage.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, like gods descending from the heavens. Looking at their well - matched appearance, Pei Xuanjing felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.
He was no longer worthy to stand beside Shen Qing.
Pei Xuanjing almost fled in a hurry, supporting Heng Ling and Nan Zhijin as he left.
Nan Zhijin didn't even dare to look at Shen Qing. Only he himself knew the disbelief, the fear of falling behind, and the guilt in his heart.
Heng Ling's eyes could no longer clearly see the scene in front of him. At that critical moment, he caught a glimpse of a woman blocking in front of him with his peripheral vision.
It was just like so many times before. For a moment, he was even in a daze, thinking that his master had come back.
With Shen Qing's arrival, Han Ze no longer paid attention to those unimportant people. The siblings stood facing each other, but the people they were protecting and leading behind them were completely different.
As soon as he saw Shen Qing, Han Ze's blood boiled instantly. He widened his eyes and looked at her excitedly. "Sister, you've finally appeared. You don't know how long I've been waiting for you."
"Look, am I amazing, brother? With my own strength, I can lead so many people to force these sect cultivators into such a state. Am I a worthy Dragon King!"
Saying that, he pulled out a person wearing the guard uniform of the Main God's Palace from behind and pointed at him, saying to Shen Qing, "Sister, you may not know this. His name is Qian Mo. It was him who assisted me in putting the corpses of the brutally killed mermaids in the temple back then. And him..."
Han Ze pulled out another person and pointed at him. "He is a blood relative of our father. We should call him uncle. It was him who exposed the location of the Dragon Abyss to the humans and demons, which made it so easy for them to break in."
Han Ze kept pulling out people from behind and introducing their identities to Shen Qing one by one.
These people were all the culprits who had assisted Han Ze back then, allowing the humans and demons to successfully break into the Dragon Abyss and causing the tragic deaths of the clan members who didn't support him.
After the deed was done, in order to avoid the punishment of the Heavenly Dao, he had extracted the souls of these dragon clan members,伪装成系统 (disguised them as systems) and parasitized them in people's spiritual consciousness.
They used the system to issue tasks to the parasitized people, making them do things for themselves. Then they rewarded the parasitized people with magic treasures and rare pills taken from the Dragon Abyss.
But now, they had completely occupied the bodies of the parasitized people. Just like Hui Yan, they had imprisoned the original souls and survived in the world using other people's bodies.
The people who were called out stepped forward, with smug smiles on their faces after achieving their goals.
They had waited for tens of thousands of years for this moment.
Now that victory was in sight, they no longer had to endure!