Chapter 1164, We Shall Spare Their Lives

Translator: Silavin

 

Ouyang Bai Ge’s words were not without reason.

 

After all, whether it was Yei Xiu or Jiang Baishen and the others, they had made it abundantly clear that these Sacred Jiang Family members were, one and all, so thoroughly corrupted in their thinking as to be labelled as devoted cultists.

 

Expecting them to simply abandon the Slaughter Ancient God and walk away was just wishful thinking.

 

Even if these people could not stir up much trouble, and even if one might argue they were, to some extent, innocent.

 

Because the ideas they harboured were inevitably linked to the Slaughter Ancient God’s indoctrination, when all was said and done, these people were the Slaughter Ancient God’s most fanatical devotees. They were nuisances that had to be dealt with one way or another.

 

Left alive, even without any fighting ability, they would still be an unnecessary source of trouble.

 

The cleanest solution was to kill them all.

 

That said, for Lu Fan to personally raise his hand and cut everyone down just like that was something he genuinely found it difficult to do.

 

Especially when the opposing group included not only many women and youths, but even a large number of children!

 

The older Players among the young ones were one thing, but to strike at a group of children with his own hands…

 

Even a beast would find that difficult, would it not?

 

And so, after a brief internal struggle, Lu Fan let out a long breath and said with a rueful smile. “I guess I still have a soft spot in me. Teacher Ouyang, don’t kill them. Just confine them, and once this is over, they can be exiled away from the Western Border.”

 

He then glanced towards the helpless group and added. “There are many resources here. I would rather not destroy them all in the course of fighting these people.”

 

The simplest thing was to round them up and be done with it.

 

“Heh heh!” Ouyang Bai Ge laughed lightly. “As far as I am concerned, either way is fine. Since that is what you prefer, sure. We can simply spare their lives for now.”

 

She thought for a moment, then said, “I shall open up my Void World and have them confined inside. Once matters of the Sacred Jiang Family have been resolved, we can release them. As for how they are dealt with after that, that can be left entirely up to you.”

 

“Many thanks, Teacher Ouyang,” Lu Fan said sincerely.

 

“This is nothing.” Ouyang Bai Ge waved her hand dismissively.

 

Then she reached out and traced a line through the air, and a larger Void Rift opened.

 

It was far wider than before, and from within it surged countless purplish black tendrils, sweeping out towards those of the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

These people did not have Combat Specialised Professions, so their Combat Power was too weak to resist.

 

Faced with Ouyang Bai Ge’s Skill, the group dissolved into panic in an instant, with no idea how to respond.

 

The earlier resolve of dying gloriously alongside the Sacred Jiang Family evaporated entirely.

 

Nevertheless, that young Jiang Family Player still had some spine. He was the first to collect himself, and cried out loudly, “Everyone stay calm, fight them! We’re going to die either way, don’t let these outsiders look down on us!”

 

With that, he was the first to charge forward, greatsword in hand, hacking away at the swarming tendrils.

 

He swung that great blade with genuine ferocity, and to his credit, actually managed to sever a few of the tendrils.

 

But his strength was far too weak to withstand Ouyang Bai Ge even for a moment. His fleeting display of courage was quickly cut short, the remaining tendrils effortlessly coiling around him and dragging him bodily into the Void Rift.

 

The other members of the Sacred Jiang Family, seeing him taken down so swiftly and pitifully despite all his resistance, became even more frightened.

 

The group, like a rabble of stragglers, could not mount any effective defence whatsoever.

 

Even had they truly united as one, against Ouyang Bai Ge’s Void Insects, they would have had absolutely no means of fighting back.

 

Some clashed with the tendrils, others fled in dismal panic. None of them came to any good end, each one coiled up and dragged into the Void World.

 

Then the gateway to the Void World closed, and the cries for help from within got abruptly cut off.

 

Seemingly concerned that Lu Fan might worry about these individuals, Ouyang Bai Ge offered an explanation of her own accord. “Rest assured, this Void World I have opened up contains food and water, and not much danger in terms of Void Insects. As long as they do not earnestly seek their own deaths and end their lives of their own will while inside, there will be no real danger to them. They could even live inside it indefinitely, without any difficulty.”

 

Lu Fan nodded and clasped his hands toward Ouyang Bai Ge. “Many thanks, Teacher Ouyang.”

 

Ouyang Bai Ge waved her hand. “No need for thanks. We need to focus on finding the Slaughter Ancient God.”

 

“Right.” Lu Fan nodded, then spread out his spiritual threads, letting them spread across the area, searching for any trace of the Slaughter Ancient God.

 

As his spiritual threads extended, he quickly perceived certain telltale signs.

 

Things were exactly as he had anticipated. The Slaughter Ancient God had long been prepared for their arrival.

 

At this very moment, the Slaughter Ancient God was waiting on another Sacred Island, one directly above them, quietly expecting their arrival.

 

Lu Fan knew well what that Sacred Island was. It was the very place where the Slaughter Ancient God had previously annihilated him in a single instant.

 

“The Slaughter Ancient God has been awaiting us for quite some time,” Lu Fan said, lifting his eyes to the sky above and drawing a slow, deep breath.

 

Ouyang Bai Ge had already spread her own spiritual threads a moment earlier and had received the same intelligence as Lu Fan.

 

Her expression, too, became grave and composed. She quietly said, “What lies ahead is the final battle that has brought us here, and the most decisive one. Give it all you have. If anything goes wrong, I will find a way to send all of you away safely. None of you need fear for your lives. So when the time comes to act, everyone should fight without restraint.”

 

Everyone nodded. Their trust in Ouyang Bai Ge was without doubt.

 

“Let’s go.” Faced with the Sacred Jiang Family’s accumulated treasures spread out before them, Lu Fan had no mind to concern himself with any of it.

 

Without slaying the Slaughter Ancient God, all of this had nothing to do with them.

 

At Lu Fan’s call, everyone deployed their Flight Skills and rose towards the Sacred Island suspended in the sky.

 

This time, that Sacred Island was not particularly high above the Sacred Island they were on.

 

Furthermore, the uppermost Sacred Island was far smaller in area than the others, comparable in scale to a small Map.

 

This Sacred Island contained but a single altar.

 

Though the Slaughter Ancient God’s altar was imposing in his own right, he was, in the end, nothing more than a being that fit within an altar.

 

Upon stepping onto the altar, the gaze of every person present fell first and without exception upon the enormous statue that dominated the very top of the sacrificial platform ahead.

 

The statue was identical in form to the one they had seen at the Tie Family, but far larger in scale.

 

Each of the Slaughter Ancient God’s nine heads was rendered with vivid, lifelike precision, radiating a crushing pressure that bore down on all of them.