บท 199: Collateral Damage
Three of the strongest warriors of the Rising Sun Tribe were cut down by Yaan in a single strike…by his first strike!
In fact, his attack looked extremely casual. It was as if he didn't even put any effort into it!
Following their deaths, the flesh and blood of those Aztecs lost its vitality, shrivelling away and losing its Life Essence. This bizarre scene caused everyone on both sides to pale, they looked towards Yaan with aghast expressions, not understanding how he had done this!
Naturally, this was the effect of the abyssal blood sword.
By now, there were almost 30 4-Star Realm Aztec warriors surrounding Yaan. He allowed their numbers to accumulate prior to making his first strike - naturally, he had a reason for doing this.
Firstly, he wanted to make a big impact, so having more people surrounding him was desirable.
Secondly, he wanted to gather the Aztecs together in one place. Like this, they would be much easier to kill.
Slowly, Yaan raised his sword up above his head. The Aztecs stared at the blade with lingering shock and fear in their eyes. Some were able to overcome their fear, releasing courageous war cries as they madly charged towards their overwhelmingly strong opponent. Others were frozen on the spot, unable to move, but also unwilling to retreat.
Others took a few steps back, subconsciously retreating. Those who acted this way were reprimanded by the other Aztec Elders.
"Cowards!"
"You disgrace the Aztec name!"
"You have failed your bloodline, your ancestors are looking down at you all in disgust!"
"Disgraceful, you-"
Whoosh!
At this moment, Yaan's arm dropped down. The blade seemed to move at an ordinary speed, and yet, the Aztecs were completely helpless, unable to evade!
BANG!
Another Aztec was killed instantly, whilst the shockwave of the attack slammed into five others, injuring them badly.
"This-!"
Yaan did not give them time to move away. After injuring those five, he moved in like a spectre of death, slashing out five times in rapid succession. He slaughtered the five 4-Star Realm powerhouses and releasing a shockwave that injured even more Aztec Elders!
Unlike his previous kills, Yaan did not completely decimate the bodies of these five. Instead, he killed them precisely, sending sharp sword light through their hearts and brains, whilst disconnecting their blood vessels from their Vital Cores.
Like this, he easily harvested five Vital Cores before they were affected by the abyssal blood sword. He placed them away into his spatial ring as if he was merely out collecting herbs.
From start to finish, Yaan did not use any special techniques other than the footwork that he had naturally adapted from the Agile Sword Arts after years of training in this way. By now though, his foot work was not really a part of the Agile Sword Arts, it was simply his own style of general combat…
Yaan decided that when he had truly perfected this general swordplay and footwork, he would give it a name, turning it into a new sword art in its own right.
Right now, Yaan was clearly dominating the battle. In fact, he was using this period of combat to experiment with his new-found strength. After all, this was his first battle after developing immortal stage comprehension in the dao of illusions!
Even though he was not even putting in much effort, Yaan was quickly developing his skills, adjusting to fighting with his dao manipulation ability.
Suddenly, Yaan stopped. He glanced back at the tribe leader and raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you just standing there and watching?"
The tribe leader quickly recovered from her shock, immediately reacting to Yaan's words.
"Everyone, attack! With senior on our side, the Rising Sun Tribe does not stand a chance!"
'I should probably tell her my name, being called 'senior' by someone a hundred years older than me is quite awkward…' Yaan thought mildly.
In an instant, the battle reached its peak. Yaan calmly walked through the battlefield, unobstructed by the explosions of light and blood caused by the two sides engaging in a reckless all-out brawl.
4-Star Realm body temperers possessed vast deposits of Vital Energy, and they were also able to utilise vital treasures. Because of this, the battles between those at the 4-Star Realm were incomparable to 3-Star Realm battles, which were largely limited to close combat brawls on the ground.
The shockwaves from the battle were horrifying. At first, the Aztecs attempted to keep the battle away from the main tribe, choosing to fight at the permitter of their tribe, high up in the air. Unfortunately, this battle was far too chaotic, and before long, nobody had the mind to pay any attention to their surroundings.
The war between the dozens of 4-Star Realm warriors spread outwards, and before long, the Rising Sun Tribe's weaker residents were implicated, as were the lands and the homes of the people. The 3-Star Realm warriors attempted to assist the battle, but their efforts were futile. Even if they launched projectiles upwards, how could they hope to injure a 4-Star Realm body temperer?
At the very most, a group of 3-Star Realm Aztecs might be able to briefly distract a 4-Star Realm opponent during their battle against another 4-Star Realm Aztec Elder. However, this only seemed to anger the 4-Star Realm elders of the Bloody Totem Tribe, causing them to strike back at those ants on the ground in their fury.
Boom!
A street below was decimated as one of the Bloody Totem Tribe Great Elders casually lashed out with his battle axe. Screams resounded in the streets below, but these screams soon became muffled under the collapse of the buildings and the fires that raged across the town.
Yaan's expression remained cold as he stared down at the destruction which he had created. Even as those pitiful weaker warriors died due to the actions of his side, he did not show any signs of mercy. War was a brutal affair and Yaan was no longer a naïve child. He naturally understood that things would turn out this way, he had already prepared himself to face these atrocities head on.
Before long, every 4-Star Realm Aztec Elder in the vicinity had been slaughtered. Their heads fell from the sky, their bodies were desecrated with cuts and slashes, their blood formed a mist which saturated the still air, and their cores were torn from their bodies, harvested and kept as spoils of war by their killers.
The Aztecs fought bravely, but in the end, they were cut down like livestock.
Contrary to Yaan's expectations, not one of the Aztec warriors chose to retreat, even when they knew that they were not his match…some were clearly afraid, taking multiple steps back when facing him, but not one individual truly turned tail and ran.
This was a result of the Aztec culture, or perhaps the War Flower Empire culture, thoroughly engraining itself into their hearts across the years. These people had lived their entire lives believing in principles like bravery and honour, so even when they were clearly outmatched, they faced their deaths without even considering another option.
"People are truly shaped by their environment…" Yaan muttered to himself with a complex sigh.
Compared to the cultivators on the Qi Plane, these warriors were simply too different, they genuinely valued their pride and honour above their own lives. Some people in the Southern Continent also thought like this, but even in the Southern Continent, most cultivators valued their own lives above all else.
Yaan's initial thought was that dying like this rather than attempting to flee and survive was absurd, but he also realised that he too was simply a product of his environment…his way of thinking and his outlook on life and the world had been shaped by Rui, and he had clearly adopted at least a portion of her mindset. In that sense, he was no different to anybody else.
Yaan lightly shook his head, then continued on into the tribe.
With the bulk of the 4-Star Realm Aztecs dealt with, Yaan did not intend to continue fighting. They had already caused heavy casualties to the tribe just from the residual impact of the battles alone, but he did not actually want to massacre this entire tribe. Such low realm cultivators were of minimal use to Yaan's cultivation, and in the end, these people were more valuable alive than dead. Yaan planned to capture the Rising Sun Tribe and assimilate it into his force as a vassal of the Bloody Totem Tribe.
After living in the Southern Continent for some time, Yaan had developed some degree of understanding when it came to the overall structure and functioning of a cultivation society.
Why was it that so many sects and clans ruled over large regions of land, allowing mortals and weaker cultivators to live within their domain?
One reason was of course to nurture future powerhouses for the organisation, but the other reason was to produce, process, transport, and deal with resources.
Countless people were involved in the chain of resource production, a chain which eventually led to a single powerful cultivator getting what they needed to continue with their cultivation. This was true in the Southern Continent, so of course it was also true in this place, where practically all cultivation was body tempering and relied on the continual consumption of vast quantities of resources.
Since the war flower law prevented lone cultivators from achieving anything in the empire, Yaan decided to raise his own force. As for how successful this would be, he couldn't say for sure, he had never attempted anything like this in the past…but even if he failed and his force collapsed, So what? Couldn't he just move on and try again?
Yaan headed towards the centre of the Rising Sun Tribe. There were seven alters in the Rising Sun Tribe, each nurtured an elixir. At present, there were only two elixirs which were ready to be harvested and consumed. The first of these, Yaan had already seen, whilst the second was located within the centre of the tribe.
The tribe's central alter nourished the most valuable elixir. Yaan immediately made his way towards this place, not wanting to see someone take advantage of the chaos and steal this asset for themselves.
It wasn't long before he arrived at the central alter. The Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and one of the great elders trailed far behind him, it would take them another few minutes to reach this place.
When Yaan reached the central alter, he immediately narrowed his eyes. Perhaps others might not notice it, but he could sense a powerful aura from underneath this alter…
Yaan's gaze seemed to pierce through the world, causing an illusion to ripple outwards. In his vision, the alter became partially transparent, allowing him to see straight through the heavy stone, onto the figure sat in the lotus position underground.
The figure's eyes snapped open and he turned towards Yaan in shock. In the next moment, a 16 foot tall Aztec appeared in front of Yaan, and without even saying anything, he raised a giant sword above his head and swung down with a ruthless expression.
A giant golden sword formed from a powerful Vital Energy surrounded the large sword, stretching out for dozens of feet in an instant. This sword of energy travelled shockingly fast for its size, reaching Yaan before he could even say anything.
But Yaan was not caught off guard. Even though he was suddenly attacked by a 5-Star Realm body temperer, he didn't panic.
This person was only at the Initial 5-Star Realm - it was likely that he had ascended quite recently and was currently stabilising his cultivation, otherwise he would have joined the battle before now.
However, Yaan was careful, he did not want to damage the elixir which was being nurtured by this alter.
Whoosh!
Bang!
Yaan evaded the golden blade, then immediately struck out with his sword ruthlessly, cutting the 5-Star Realm Aztec in half and obliterating his Primal Soul in a single strike!
The powerhouse died with a stunned and unwilling expression plastered across his face, but Yaan was not paying attention to this.
For a moment, Yaan's cold demeanour seemed to freeze. He stared dazedly into the distance, looking at the wreckage caused by his strike just now. He had been so focussed on avoiding damaging the elixir, that he did not realise that he had struck towards a small town street…
Dozens of buildings collapsed. The weaker cultivators broke down in the streets in fear, sadness and anger, roaring at the skies as they vented their terrible feelings towards this situation.
Yaan's gaze landed on a small shop, within which, a family had been taking shelter.
He found that he couldn't look away from the two bloodied corpses of the young Aztec children, lying on the ground lifelessly.
Yaan's eyes widened, and for a moment, he forgot about his ruthless resolve. He reached out with his hand, muttering to himself as if in a trance…
"I…I didn't mean to…"
Suddenly, images from his past flashed through Yaan's mind. For the first time in a while, he recalled his earliest memory, the memory of when the elder from the Heavenly Path Sect had indifferently killed his family, and his baby sister.
In this moment, Yaan had a strange thought…
'Have I really become this?'
"Senior?"
At this moment, the tribe leader and the great elder arrived. The battle hardened woman saw Yaan's dazed expression and approached him slowly, calling out uncertainly, not sure what was wrong.
To her, and to most others on the Blood Plane, scenes like this were only normal.
In fact, Yaan knew that many other mortals and children had died as a result of his actions today, but perhaps, he had simply avoided dwelling on this fact, wordlessly consoling himself that it was not he who had killed them personally…
As the woman called out to him, Yaan was drawn back to reality. Within a few seconds, he forcefully suppressed the chaotic feelings in his heart. He crushed the uncertainty and melancholy that he was feeling, forcing himself to ruthlessly trample over his own heart once again.
Yaan's expression returned to its normal, indifferent appearance.
"I'm fine." Yaan lied, not to the tribe leader, but to himself.
The cracks across his dao soul spread further.
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