Under the cover of night, hundreds of people emerged from the woods, silently making their way towards Shilong County.
Suddenly, torches on the city wall moved rapidly, and the faint sound of gongs could be heard from afar.
This was like a signal, and everyone, without a word, immediately quickened their pace.
As columns of fire rose behind the city walls, they no longer concealed themselves, charging towards Shilong County at their fastest speed.
Ji Yuan's true form, standing at the edge of the woods, suddenly had a sharp glint flash across his eyes. He then shot up into the sky, transforming into a brilliant sword light, piercing through the void towards the distant city wall!
A distance of one or two li was covered in just over ten breaths. The sword light he transformed into appeared in front of the city wall and then abruptly plunged downwards diagonally.
RUMBLE!!!
Amidst the shouts of the rebel soldiers on the city wall, a deafening roar suddenly erupted!
In the dust-filled air, the sturdy city gate immediately shattered into pieces, and the rebel soldiers guarding behind it were instantly cut down by the overflowing sword light!
Then, the beam of sword light suddenly stopped and instantly flew over the city wall, revealing the figure of a young man.
Ji Yuan stood in mid-air, his formidable spiritual power surging, a potent sword intent erupting from within him.
He formed a sword seal with one hand and made a sword finger with the other, pointing at the city wall several times. Sword qi shot out from his fingertips, piercing the foreheads of the rebel soldiers.
In just a moment, the rebel soldiers on the city wall were cleared, leaving only a few dozen below the wall.
These people, looking at the sudden turn of events before them, were unsure whether to ascend the wall or to first extinguish the fires.
However, they had no time to deliberate. Soon, hundreds of soldiers entered through the shattered city gate in an orderly fashion.
The sounds of killing and shouting erupted without warning, echoing in the silent night sky.
Just then, a golden stream of light streaked through the air, revealing a young man clad in a light blue divine robe – the divine avatar had arrived.
Ji Yuan's true form met his gaze, and then, without a word, they flew off in two different directions.
Along the way, whenever they encountered scattered rebel soldiers or allied martial arts sects, the true form and the divine avatar would strike, killing them on the spot.
In a very short time, Ji Yuan's true form arrived at a sprawling mansion and looked down from the air.
This mansion originally belonged to a wealthy merchant in the city. However, after the rebel army occupied Shilong County, the owner not only had all his wealth and property confiscated but also met a tragic end with his entire family slaughtered.
Although it was nearing dawn, the mansion was still filled with music and revelry. From the main hall of the residence, decadent sounds emanated, and the graceful figures of women were reflected on the windowpanes.
Ji Yuan did not conceal his presence, releasing his aura without reservation. Though only at the peak of the second realm, he possessed a power comparable to that of an early third realm cultivator.
The more than twenty cultivators within the mansion naturally sensed this powerful aura, and some immediately quietly climbed out of their windows.
However, these first-realm cultivators did not head towards the main hall but stealthily tried to escape the place.
The moment they felt the powerful aura envelop them, their first thought was not to unite and defend, but to flee as quickly as possible.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan slowly shook his head. If the disciples of a sect were like this, how could they ever become strong?
But this had nothing to do with him.
He slowly looked down and saw over a dozen cultivators rushing out of the main hall and landing on the open ground in the courtyard.
A group of people looked up at the sky, fear appearing in their eyes one after another. The old man at the head wanted to speak, but a cold snort suddenly rang in his ears.
With a flick of his finger, the more than a dozen cultivators were struck as if by lightning, standing stunned on the spot as if they had lost all consciousness.
Ji Yuan flicked his sleeve, unleashing over a dozen tiny sword qi, which instantly pierced the foreheads of these cultivators.
After searching the cultivators for spiritual artifacts and other items with his spiritual power, he was about to turn and leave, but he suddenly let out a soft "hmm."
Under his vast divine sense, Ji Yuan quickly detected an anomaly within the mansion. His body then flickered, and he arrived in a luxuriously built courtyard.
He gazed at a rock garden before him and flicked his sleeve, releasing waves of spiritual power that shattered it, clearing a space.
Where the rock garden had once stood, a subterranean cave guarded by several formations was revealed.
However, these were ordinary formations, and Ji Yuan didn't even need to use any other means. With just a few consecutive sword qi strikes, he broke through most of them.
He descended into the cave and found it filled with spiritual light, brimming with all sorts of spiritual items.
Under the illumination of more than twenty night-shining pearls, these spiritual items shimmered with multicolored light, and the air was thick with abundant spiritual energy. They were indeed piles and piles of spirit stones.
At the same time, Ji Yuan also received synchronized thoughts from his divine avatar. In another small sect's mansion, a treasure vault of similar scale had been discovered.
It was hard to imagine that two small sects could have such accumulated wealth, comparable to some stronger forces.
If he was not mistaken, these were all collected by the other party after defecting to the Rebirth Tower and plundering during the rebel army's attack on the city.
However, the areas occupied by the rebel army had already descended into chaos. These people had no opportunity to sell the plundered goods and convert them into resources they needed.
Now, it all benefited Ji Yuan, as he collected everything into his possession.
After collecting a large amount of spiritual items, he slowly walked out of the treasure cave and then leaped up, traversing across the rooftops of the houses.
Although his cultivation allowed him to hover and fly for short periods, it consumed too much spiritual power. If it wasn't necessary, he wouldn't use it.
His previous infiltration of Shilong County was done with a specific purpose, so he had only taken a brief glance.
Now, examining it more closely, a surge of anger rose within him.
After the main force of the rebel army withdrew, the situation in Shilong County had become even more dire. With the rampant acts of various martial arts sects, the civilians who had luckily escaped disaster ultimately faced utter destruction.
Saying that nine out of ten households were empty would be an understatement. Often, in large areas, very few ordinary citizens could be seen. Houses showed no signs of light, appearing somewhat terrifying and eerie in the night.
Along the roads, in secluded alleys, and even on the city's river, countless corpses were visible everywhere, some already reduced to white bones.
The entire Shilong County was shrouded in an overwhelming sense of resentment, and evil spirits and ghosts had begun to proliferate within the city.