The Coward

Chu Yuan leaned back in his chair, speaking casually:

"Keeping him alive is more useful than killing him. Didn't you see how he looked just now?"

Li Tu thought for a moment, then suddenly grinned:

"Got it! The cult leader is using him as a negative example, reminding others every day not to follow his example!"

Chu Yuan remained silent for two seconds.

While not entirely accurate, it's pretty close.

"Alright, you can go now. Keep an eye on the border, and report back to me immediately if anything happens."

Li Tu clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Alright!"

After he left, Chu Yuan sat alone in the hall, rubbing his temples.

To be honest, the person he most wanted to kill was Xue Lie.

But with Xue Lie's attack, he had no reason to intervene.

Unless you have the strength of the peak of the Tribulation Transcending stage, you should wait to deal with the opponent when they reveal a weakness.

Moreover, what happened today should be enough for them to process for a while.

As for the righteous path...

Come if you want, don't come if you don't.

Anyway, he doesn't have to go in person.

With a thought, Chu Yuan's puppet clone opened its eyes.

The first thing you see is a face that's very close to your eyes.

Yun Qingyao was squatting in front of him, her eyes wide open.

"Senior Brother Yuan! Did you see that just now? The Demon Lord is so handsome!"

Chu Yuan: "..."

What is this girl thinking about all day long?

.....

Bloodthorn Valley.

The name sounds impressive, but it's actually just an inconspicuous little outpost on the southern border.

It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and faces outwards on one side, directly opposite the territory of Zhengdao.

There were only about a hundred people in the stronghold, and the sect leader, Li Xueyi, who had the highest cultivation level, was only at the late Golden Core stage.

After the ten major sects submitted, smaller sects also gradually submitted to the Xuantian Sect.

Bloodthorn Valley is one of them.

At this moment, Li Xueyi was standing on the stockade wall, his face pale.

Five miles outside the stockade wall, a dense cluster of tents stood. The banner of the Qinglan Sect fluttered high, alongside the banners of three other righteous sects.

Five hundred people.

Five hundred righteous cultivators blocked his doorway.

"Sect Master, they're here again!"

A disciple ran up, his voice trembling.

Li Xueyi looked up and, sure enough, more than a dozen figures flew out of the opposite tent and landed three miles outside the stockade wall, standing in a row.

The leader was a young disciple of the Qinglan Sect, at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. He was quite handsome, but his mouth was very foul.

"You cowards of Bloodthorn Valley, do you dare to come out today?"

The group of people behind him burst into laughter.

"If you're too scared to come out, then stay put and don't keep the grandpas from sunbathing!"

"I heard your sect leader is named Li Xueyi? What a name! Blood-stained clothes, once he put it on, he never took it off, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The cursing came in waves, clearly audible even from three miles away.

On the stockade wall, the Bloodthorn Valley disciples all had ashen faces.

One of the younger disciples couldn't hold back any longer:

"Sect Master, let me go out and meet them!"

Li Xueyi slapped him on the head:

"What do you mean, 'know'? Have you even reached the Golden Core stage? They have five hundred people, and you're going to go out and deliver vegetables?"

The disciple covered his head and said aggrievedly:

"We can't let them curse like that..."

Li Xueyi didn't speak, but just stared intently at the group of people opposite him.

He also wanted to rush out and slap those foul-mouthed guys to death.

But he dared not.

Behind him were about a hundred disciples, the one with the highest cultivation level being him, who was at the late stage of the Golden Core realm.

There were 500 people on the other side, more than 20 of whom were at the Nascent Soul stage, and the leader was an elder at the early Tribulation stage.

Rushing out would be suicide.

"Wait a little longer."

Li Xueyi gritted his teeth:

"I have already sent a message to the Xuantian Sect, and the Demon Lord should have replied."

"But it's been three days already..."

The disciple muttered to himself.

Li Xueyi did not respond.

He was anxious too.

Logically speaking, although Bloodthorn Valley is a small sect, it is still a legitimate ally of the Xuantian Sect.

Surely someone like that wouldn't just ignore them?

Three days have passed since the message was sent, and it has disappeared without a trace.

Li Xueyi felt increasingly uncertain.

The other side started hurling even more insults.

"The demonic path is full of cowards. Isn't your Demon Lord a coward too?"

"What demon lord? A paper tiger! If he's so powerful, why doesn't he come out and show himself?"

"Exactly! I heard he only showed up briefly during the last pilgrimage to the Hall of Bones. Who knows if he was faking it?"

On the stockade wall, the Bloodthorn Valley disciples were furious.

But I still didn't dare to move.

Just then, a disciple stumbled up the stockade wall, his face flushed, and he could barely speak:

"Sect Leader! They're here! They're here!"

Li Xueyi's heart tightened:

"Who's here? Has the righteous path attacked?"

"No, no!"

The disciple took a deep breath and suddenly raised his voice:

"The Xuantian Sect has arrived! Three thousand! A full three thousand!"

Li Xueyi was stunned.

Everyone on the stockade wall was stunned.

"How many?"

"Three thousand! I saw it with my own eyes! A dark mass, all people from the Xuan Tian Sect, and they've already reached the entrance to our valley!"

Li Xueyi suddenly turned around and looked towards the valley entrance.

really.

A black line was surging in from afar, getting closer and closer, becoming clearer and clearer.

The leader was a strong, burly man, unarmed, with a large flag embroidered on his shoulder bearing three large, blood-red characters.

Xuantian Sect.

Li Tu.

Li Xueyi's legs went weak, and he almost couldn't stand up.

Li Tu!

That's the leader of the Xuan Tian Sect's Battle Vein, a ruthless person in the mid-stage of the Tribulation Transcending Realm!

He actually came in person?

They brought three thousand men with them?!

At the foot of the stockade wall, Li Tu had already arrived with his men.

He planted the flag in the ground, looked up at Li Xueyi on the stockade wall, and shouted in a voice loud enough to deafen anyone:

"You are the leader of Bloodthorn Valley?"

Li Xueyi quickly jumped down from the stockade wall, nearly twisting his ankle upon landing. Ignoring the pain, he ran to Li Tu, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and bowed.

"I am Li Xueyi, greetings to Clan Master Li!"

Li Tu waved his hand:

"Alright, enough with the formalities. The cult leader sent me with these men to back you up. Where are those brats over there?"

Li Xueyi pointed outside the village wall:

"It's right there, about five miles from where we set up camp."

Li Tu glanced in the direction he was pointing and grinned.

"Three thousand against five hundred, this battle is pointless."

He waved his hand:

"Everyone, follow up! Let's show them what real power looks like!"

The three thousand disciples of the Xuantian Sect sprang into action, following Li Tu as he walked towards the outside of the village wall.

Li Xueyi paused for a second, then quickly followed.

As he walked to the edge of the stockade wall, he suddenly remembered something, stopped, and turned to look at the disciples who were still standing there in a daze.

"What are you all standing there for? Come with me!"

The disciples looked at each other in bewilderment:

"Sect Master, where are we going?"

Li Xueyi took a deep breath, straightened his back, and his voice became several degrees louder:

"Go see how those bastards across the street shut up!"

The gates of the village were wide open.

Li Xueyi was the first to walk out, followed by about a hundred Bloodthorn Valley disciples.

Behind them stood three thousand disciples of the Xuantian Sect, a dense, dark mass that completely blocked the outer perimeter of Bloodthorn Valley.

Inside the opposite tent, the righteous disciples were cursing enthusiastically when they suddenly saw this scene and were all stunned.

The leading Qinglan Sect disciple opened his mouth, but the words got stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter them for a long time.

Li Xueyi walked to a point a hundred paces outside the stockade wall, stopped, and stood with his hands behind his back.

He cleared his throat and shouted across the street:

"Who just called me a coward? Step forward and let this sect master see you."