“Quick, go inform the elders at once!”
The other man was equally panicked. The two turned and charged straight into the Ji Clan Compound Thirty-Eight.
“Elders! Terrible news! Terrible news!”
While flying inward at top speed, both men shouted at the top of their lungs. As Martial Lords, their roars echoed across the entire Ji Clan branch compound.
“What is all this commotion?”
In a heavily guarded courtyard, an elder who had been meditating suddenly snapped his eyes open. Ninth Layer Martial Emperor aura surged from his body. With a single step he shot forward; the doors to his chamber were blown open by the sheer force of his presence.
At the same time, outside Ji Clan Compound Thirty-Eight.
The army of over ten thousand skeleton warriors soon reached a distance of one or two hundred li from the compound.
The skeleton general raised his long spear high, then brought it down. Gripping the weapon with both hands, he strode forward through the air and thrust the rust-spotted golden spear straight ahead.
Sssk!
A beam of white light tinged with faint gold exploded from the spear tip. Dazzling radiance illuminated heaven and earth. The peerless spear beam seemed to carry the power to annihilate entire armies, making the world itself tremble. Terrifying pressure filled all eight directions.
At the exact moment the skeleton general attacked, the ten skeletons behind him and the entire army of ten thousand unleashed their own strikes in perfect unison.
The front ranks slashed with sabre beams, axe-shaped white crescents, arrows that glimmered with faint golden light, and countless white spear beams. All of it merged into a vast, majestic river that shot toward the Ji Clan compound like lightning.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Tens of thousands of energy streams, carrying a sinister chill, slammed into the compound. Titanic shockwaves erupted. Peerless fluctuations surged outward from the impact zone in every direction, drowning and obliterating everything within dozens of li. The entire Ji Clan compound was swallowed by the raging ocean of energy and destroyed.
The whole area instantly became a sea of violent power. Even the land one or two hundred li away was battered by the terrifying waves.
The ground shook as though a massive earthquake had struck.
Aside from the endless thunder of explosions, no screams could be heard; or perhaps any screams were simply too weak and too brief, instantly drowned out by the roar.
Far behind the skeleton army, Lin Xiao stared dumbfounded at the scene ahead.
He had known the ten-thousand-strong skeleton force would be terrifying, but he had never imagined anything like this.
At that moment, Ji Clan Compound Thirty-Eight seemed on the verge of annihilation, submerged beneath those horrifying shockwaves.
He had seen half-step Martial Saints fight; none came close to this level of power.
This single strike was probably not far from a true Martial Saint’s attack.
One blow had been enough to erase the entire Ji Clan branch from existence.
Lin Xiao was certain that even the Ninth Layer Martial Emperor experts of Compound Thirty-Eight could not have survived.
“W-what on earth is happening over there?”
Guang Tao and the others, now a thousand li away, stared in horror. Light soared into the heavens ahead; shockwaves blotted out the sky. Even from this distance the spectacle was clearly visible.
The disturbance was simply too great; they could feel faint tremors in the ground beneath their feet.
“It’s the Ji Clan compound! Something huge has happened to the Ji Clan!”
The leading elder cried out in shock.
“Quick, let’s go see!”
The group accelerated toward the scene.
Outside the former Ji Clan compound, Lin Xiao judged that the branch had been completely wiped out. He recalled the entire skeleton army, then hovered alone in the void, watching the rolling energy gradually dissipate.
It took a long while before the energy completely dispersed.
When it finally cleared, a gigantic crater a hundred li across had replaced the former compound.
Not a single building, ancient tree, corpse, or even drop of blood remained. Everything had been utterly annihilated.
Lin Xiao flew forward and inspected the area. As expected, nothing was left. No survivors, not even a single storage ring.
An attack this devastating had apparently destroyed even spatial rings.
Lin Xiao felt a twinge of regret. The wealth of a Ji Clan branch compound would have been astronomical, but it had been obliterated along with its owners.
Without delay, Lin Xiao left the ruins of Compound Thirty-Eight at top speed.
An explosion this massive would definitely draw countless people.
Shortly after he departed, Guang Tao’s group of over a dozen arrived in the void two or three hundred li away.
Seeing the colossal crater where the Ji Clan compound had once stood, everyone froze in stunned silence.
“The Ji Clan… Compound Thirty-Eight… is gone…” Guang Tao muttered blankly.
“Good heavens! Destroyed in a single strike? Was that a Martial Saint?” the leading elder exclaimed in disbelief.
“Yang Province is about to be turned upside down!”
Another cultivator cried out.
The Ji Clan was the overlord of Yang Province, one of the continent’s peak powers. Very few dared provoke them.
Previously, when Lin Xiao had merely killed a Ji Clan Ninth Layer Martial Emperor at their gates, it had already caused an enormous uproar.
But that had been child’s play compared to this.
Now an entire Ji Clan branch compound had been wiped out. This would certainly shake the Ji Clan headquarters to its core.
Moreover, an attack of such magnitude was very likely the work of a Martial Saint.
A clash between Martial Saints would be world-shaking; it could alter the entire power structure.
The whole of Yang Province would tremble because of this.
Not only Guang Tao’s group, within a short time countless cultivators rushed to the scene.
Soon after, the earth-shattering news spread in every direction.
Like a message with wings, it infiltrated every street and alley. Everyone who heard it could scarcely believe their ears.
Someone had declared war on the Ji Clan.
Identity unknown. Strength unknown. Quite possibly a Martial Saint.
An event of this magnitude left countless people afraid even to speculate.
“Heavens! Ji Clan Compound Thirty-Eight has been erased. Something massive is about to happen in Yang Province.”
“The Ji Clan’s foundations run unfathomably deep. Who would dare do this?”
“Whoever it is, they will not meet a good end.”
Within days the news had spread across an immense area.
During those same days, Lin Xiao flew at maximum speed toward the nearest remaining Ji Clan branch, Compound Thirty-Seven.
With both vital energy and spiritual power at full output, Lin Xiao was confident that unless a half-step Martial Saint or an exceptionally powerful Ninth Layer Martial Emperor rushed there immediately, no one could arrive faster than him.
News travelled by people. As long as he reached Compound Thirty-Seven before word did, they would have no time to prepare.
Even if the news reached them first, Lin Xiao feared nothing.
With this terrifying skeleton army, as long as no true Martial Saint appeared, who could stand against him?
The Ji Clan’s Martial Saints were surely only at headquarters, countless li away. By the time news reached them and experts were dispatched, who knew how long it would take?
Thus Lin Xiao was extremely confident he could destroy Compound Thirty-Seven as well.
