Chu Zhiyuan and his party of nine wove through the bustling crowd.
Compared to the neatness of the inner city, the outer city was somewhat dirty and chaotic, even more noisy, and possessed a wilder, more vigorous vitality than the inner city.
They moved like fish in water, the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd posing no obstacle, and in a short while, they arrived outside a residence.
At this moment, the scene inside the residence was one of utter devastation.
More than a dozen people were locked in a fierce battle, fighting to a stalemate.
Chu Zhiyuan was quite puzzled.
Lying on the ground were eight experts from the Jade Cauldron Sect, four dead and four still alive, staring wide-eyed at the ongoing battle.
Beside them lay two experts from the Town Guard Division, their breaths faint.
Their clothes were tattered, as if they had been blown up by something, their faces covered in small black dots, like teeming ants.
Chu Zhiyuan frowned.
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They must have been subjected to the Jade Cauldron Sect's 'Jade and Stone in Conflagration' technique.
The remaining three experts from the Town Guard Division were being besieged by twelve experts from the Jade Cauldron Sect, struggling on all sides, their situation dire.
Chu Zhiyuan frowned.
Three grandmasters, facing four grandmasters, plus eight innate experts, two of whom wielded God-Slaying Weapons.
The swordplay of these two innate experts was exquisite, and in coordination with the four grandmasters, they made things extremely difficult for the three Town Guard Division grandmasters.
More importantly, the three grandmasters of the Town Guard Division were also in tattered clothes, their faces covered in black dots.
They were on the verge of total annihilation, all having been subjected to the Jade Cauldron Sect's demonic technique of 'Jade and Stone in Conflagration,' but because they were stronger, they had not been defeated, and were struggling to maintain their survival.
So weakened, they were only holding on with a single breath and the resilience of a grandmaster, and it was truly not easy for them to have lasted until now.
This nest of the Jade Cauldron Sect had even more people, and they were prepared, having set up an ambush and immediately used the 'Jade and Stone in Conflagration' technique.
In the alley outside the courtyard, four experts from the Town Guard Division lay dead.
Hidden in the shadows were four experts from the Shadow Sect, coldly watching the four Town Guard Division experts.
Chu Zhiyuan guessed the situation at a glance.
The Town Guard Division experts had sent out a signal for help, and as a result, the four Town Guard Division experts who came to their aid were ambushed by the Shadow Sect experts.
"Who is it? Get out!"
The left hands of the four Jade Cauldron Sect grandmasters were all shattered.
Their speed and strength were extremely fast, but under the Mind-Questioning Saber Art and the Sword-Controlling Art, they still had no power to resist, flying straight out, their hearts shattered into minced meat, and their breath extinguished.
As the four grandmasters fell, the remaining eight innate experts immediately roared, their movements becoming chaotic.
Chu Zhiyuan and Huang Shirong floated into the small courtyard and landed on the edge of the field.
Chu Zhiyuan drew his sword: "Hall Master Huang, let's make this quick!"
"Alright!" Huang Shirong grunted.
After her extraordinary performance with that previous sword strike, she had a deeper understanding of swordsmanship and was even more confident.
Chu Zhiyuan reached out.
A black stone the size of a fist flew into his hand, and he immediately crushed it into small pieces and shot them out.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang…"
In a series of muffled sounds, the Jade Cauldron Sect experts lying on the ground all died, without a single survivor.
"Bastard, damn it—!"
"Kill him—!"
"It's either him or us who dies!
"Jade Cauldron!"
"Jade Cauldron!"
The remaining eight innate experts, seeing this, were not afraid, but instead abandoned the original three Town Guard Division grandmasters, roaring and charging forward with bloodshot eyes.
Chu Zhiyuan's face darkened, a sign that they were about to use the 'Jade and Stone in Conflagration' technique.
His figure flashed, the Inch-Close Horizon Step brought to its extreme, instantly appearing in front of them, his long sword transforming into a sheet of clear light.
The eight Jade Cauldron Sect innate experts were startled, their ferocious expressions momentarily dazed, and then a small red dot appeared on their foreheads.
The small red dot quickly expanded, eventually turning into a bloody hole, gushing out a mixture of red and white.
The light in their eyes quickly dimmed, their angry and ferocious expressions frozen, their eyes staring lifelessly at Chu Zhiyuan.
Huang Shirong helplessly sheathed her sword.
Chu Zhiyuan looked at the three Town Guard Division grandmasters who had come over and clasped his fist: "There are still a group of wounded outside, Mr. Guo, we will take our leave."
"… Your Highness, I cannot thank you enough!" Guo Xun had lost his original suave handsomeness, tugged at the corner of his mouth, and clasped his fist solemnly.
Chu Zhiyuan nodded and clasped his fists: "We have a long way to go, we will talk about it later, goodbye."
"Yes."
Chu Zhiyuan and his nine-member party floated out of the small courtyard and headed towards the second location.
Zou Fang quickly caught up and returned the eight throwing knives that had been wiped clean to Chu Zhiyuan.
Chu Zhiyuan put them in his sleeve and quickened his pace.
An hour later, Chu Zhiyuan and his party of nine reappeared in the depths of the pine forest at the South City Gate of Jade Capital.
His face was gloomy.
His mind replayed the scenes from those five locations.
The grandmasters of the Jade Cauldron Sect were indeed all below the fifth level of the Grandmaster Realm.
But the lethality they displayed was astonishing, all possessing secret techniques to obtain powerful strength at a certain cost.
He realized that these secret techniques almost all involved burning essence and blood, at the cost of a certain part of the body.
At the five nests he had seen, the Jade Cauldron Sect experts had all used this secret technique.
Their power soared, even doubling, rising from the third level to the fifth level, fearless of death, exchanging their lives for lives.
The 'Jade and Stone in Conflagration' technique of the innate experts was terrifying, the blood mist created by their exploding lives capable of severely injuring grandmaster experts.
They all had Shadow Sect experts secretly protecting them.
Once a Town Guard Division expert received a signal and went to provide support, they would be ambushed by the Shadow Sect experts, falling to the ground and unable to rise again.
Some Shadow Sect experts wanted to lure more people, while others directly killed the Town Guard Division experts who came to their aid.
At these five locations, a total of ten Town Guard Division experts were lost.
This made Chu Zhiyuan's face gloomy, his heart heavy.
Ten Town Guard Division experts had died, separated from the world forever.
They were all genius disciples of the four major sects, all with great and bright futures, who had come upon receiving the signal for help, but had lost their lives to the Shadow Sect's ambushes.
Now they were all lying on the cold ground, never to wake up again.
A strange feeling welled up in his heart, heavy, unbearable, uncomfortable, angry.
Even the usually calm him could not help but feel a surge of anger.
When he came to Chu Qingfeng, he found that Chu Qingfeng's expression was calm.
After all, none of the members of Group Six had been lost.
Some Jade Cauldron Sect demons had escaped, but there were already experts with summons orders tracking them down, and they would not be able to escape.
Chu Zhiyuan felt that five people per group were too few.
Admittedly, they did not want to send too many people to avoid alarming the enemy, and five people was the most suitable number, and each group was led by a top grandmaster.
Logically, it should have been enough.
But the Jade Cauldron Sect demons could not be judged by common sense, they were all killers who had come out of a sea of blood, extremely skilled in killing, and could not be judged solely by their realm.
He then shook his head.
Compared to his own crushing momentum, their laborious efforts were probably the norm.
He was the one who was out of place.
The unique skills he practiced were all top-notch.
The Dragon-Subduing True Scripture made his body incomparably strong, already inhuman, the Mind-Questioning Saber Art and Sword-Controlling Art combined, impossible to defend against, and complemented by the Earth Origin Art and Heaven Origin Art.
Any one of these, if others practiced it, would increase their strength several times, let alone him cultivating all of them.
Especially the combination of the Mind-Questioning Saber Art and Sword-Controlling Art, its power was beyond imagination.
More importantly, he had super-sense to assist him, making a move one step ahead, not giving them a chance to use their secret techniques.
This was what caused the devastating results.
"Grand Uncle, let's destroy the Shadow Sect too."
"Hmm—?" Chu Qingfeng looked at him.
Chu Zhiyuan said: "They are even more difficult to deal with than the Jade Cauldron Sect, with them assisting, the Jade Cauldron Sect will be difficult to destroy, it is better to destroy them first."
"What Fourth Prince said is true." The thin purple-robed old man grunted: "These demons are not worth dying!"
Their expressions were indifferent, with no surprise at the loss of the Town Guard Division experts, as if it were commonplace, or as if they had expected it.
"The Shadow Sect is still quite troublesome." Chu Qingfeng frowned.
Chu Zhiyuan said: "The four gentlemen find them, give me the location, leave it to me!"
Dozens of Town Guard Division experts were quietly listening to Chu Zhiyuan and Chu Qingfeng talking.
Before this battle, they might have secretly laughed at his arrogance when they heard Chu Zhiyuan's boast.
Now, with the comparison of the five groups, they knew how powerful he was.
His realm was not the strongest, but his ability to kill enemies was the strongest.
He was worthy of being the First Prince of the Great Jing Dynasty!
"Fourth Prince is heroic!" The thin purple-robed old man clapped: "No problem, we will find them immediately."
Chu Qingfeng looked at Chu Zhiyuan.
Chu Zhiyuan said calmly: "If they are not destroyed, the Jade Cauldron Sect will still sneak into Jade Capital or even the inner city in the future!"
"Have you thought it through?"
"Yes."
"… Alright." Chu Qingfeng looked at the four purple-robed old men behind him: "Within a quarter of an hour, give Fourth the location!"
"No problem!" The thin purple-robed old man chuckled.
