Xie Qing was startled by a loud explosion that interrupted his thoughts. He couldn''t help but shudder in fear as he realized that the beam hadnded dangerously close and could have easily severed his arm. "Ugh... it''s just a scratch, but it still hurts! And my body is trying to be taken over by devilish qi...hmph, how arrogant!"


    Xie Qing gripped his sword tighter and snarled in frustration. It was a humiliation. How could he, a noble cultivator of the righteous path, be infected by devilish qi?!


    Shu-shu-shu...


    Shu-shu...


    "Shut up!"


    Xie Qing shouted, and the illusionsthat had beenwhispering to him disappeared. Soon, the battlefield came into view. Three-legged crows circled above, and a horde of "zombies" was just five steps away.


    "This is bad!" Xie Qing scowled. "I won''t be able to hold out on my own! But no one will be able toe here! All connections are closed, and the gate...damn. I won''t be able to reach it in time!"


    The situation was dire.Hecouldn''t escape, andhecouldn''t fight back. Although quality always surpassed quantitywhen it came tocultivators, Xie Qing couldn''t be sure he could get out of this alive.


    "The townspeople pose a limited threat. They can only hinder my concentration on the battle with these damn crows, but even that is dangerous!"


    Xie Qing narrowed his eyes as he sensed danger in the skies. He saw the crows forming aspecialformation, and soon...


    BDZYYYN''!


    A strange sound, as if from a hundred thousandsers, echoed high in the sky, followed by a bted explosion.


    BOOM!


    Ahugser, a hundred meters in diameter, fell in the central area of the town. As a result, even the townspeople controlled by the devilish qi could not escapebeing destroyed.


    "This is... the Light Punishment! But now, it should be called the Dark Punishment!" Xie Qing thought in shock.


    The Light Punishment was aplex Daoist technique that dates back to ancient times. The three-legged crows could use this technique if they formed aspecialformation.


    And under this attack...


    "Even a cultivator at the Divine Transformation stage would be helpless!"


    Things were getting serious. The beam of dark energy was getting closer and closer to himwitheach second, making his hair stand on end.He couldn''t escape; he was surrounded by zombies!


    "I have rescue tokens... but because of the formation,their effect will be limitedto the city radius, which is equivalent to uselessness," Xie Qing thought.


    He gripped his sword tighter andeasilyfended off the zombies attacking him with their wooden movements.


    And then, the moment came...


    "Ugh..."


    Xie Qing''s skin began to boil, and he narrowed his eyes. The beam was only ten steps away. So, he shouted loudly:


    "Will of the Empress of Swords... I am the SWORD!"


    Vshuuuh!


    The Sword Aura instantly burst out of Xie Qing''s bodyand envelopedhim like a shield.Then, he narrowed his eyes and shouted another technique:


    "Will of the Empress of Swords... Wrath of the Sword Empress!"


    Boom!


    The whole world seemed to tremble. Xie Qing had to use all his strength to stay in ce.


    However, thanks to this movement, the situation on the battlefield changed for the better.


    The zombies were pierced by hundreds of swords from the ground, allowing himto finally escape.


    Bz-z-z...


    "Gh-h..."


    As Xie Qing was escaping, the beam still slightly touched him, and although the devilish qi trying to take control of his body was unpleasant, he had no choice but to keep running.


    Finally, when hehadretreated to a safe distance of ten meters, he noticedthat the beam was getting weaker.


    "No wonder... The Light Punishment is a powerful spell that can onlybe usedby beings with Immortal Qi...so my task is to drag out time as much as possible. And then...


    "I''ll kill them all! I''ll roastthem,andmake kebabs! Bastards!"


    Xie Qing had always been proud and sometimes even arrogant, onecould say it was in his blood. The reasons for such behavior were unknown.


    So, his current pitiful state, to say the least, did not inspire anyfort and shook his pride.


    "Phew..."


    The young man took a deep breath. He remembered his beloved women and then shook his head. For a moment, dangerous thoughts entered his mind.


    "I seem to be getting angriertely. I need to stop,"hescowled andthenlooked at the beam. "The beam can''t move... the energy consumption has reached its peak, so the Three-Legged Crowsare stuckin the clouds without the ability to move... this is a good opportunity."


    He took two steps back.In his mind,hundreds of techniques shed, and he chose one simple but good technique.


    God Sword Strike.


    The main feature of this technique was that the longer you held it activated, the stronger the attack would be on release.


    It was not suitable for activebat, and you couldn''t move. However, in situations where the opponent was standing still...


    "Well... let''s swing!"


    Xie Qing smiled predatorily and then swung vertically.Thiswas followedby silence.


    But after two seconds...


    "Kiii!"


    "Kya!"


    The Three-Legged Crows let out terrifying screeches. One could only imagine how painful it was for them.


    All because of a single sh that consisted of hundreds, even thousands of swords, struck their bodies, burning them from the inside with the Sword Aura.


    Against the mannequin, Xie Qing used only a fraction of the power of this technique. If he had identally injured any of the spectators, he would likely not have survived.


    "What a beauty!" Xie Qing thought, finally feeling the burning in his heart subside.


    The falling Three-Legged Crows looked like they were from a painting. They fell into one ce, forming a small hill that grew with each second.


    "Kaaaar!"


    Finally, even the strongestof themcould not withstand this power and fell.


    Xie Qing did not dare to underestimate his opponents, so hemade suretheir bodies turned to ashes.


    The townspeople (who numbered about a hundred) controlled by the monsters fell dead. They looked dried up. Nowtheywere corpses.


    The formation above the city also broke from the power of the God Sword Strike technique.


    "I''m so tired..." the young man sighed and copsedonto the ground. "This technique ispowerful,butpletely useless in activebat... ugh!Well, I guessI need to report this incident."


    At first, he thought he should tell Xu Mei about it, but the city was far from the Heavenly Sword Sect, and there was no need to involve her in this story.


    So, Xie Qing made a decision. He took out a golden token with a dragon engraving andthensent Qi into it.


    When the token lit up, the young man spoke:


    "Your Majesty."


    It was the Empress!


    ***


    In the imperial pce, Yu Longfeng set aside themunication token. She frowned.


    "It seems I have indeed be too rxed. These bastards have pulled off something like this with an important city...it''s my fault. I was too focused on developing cities close to the capital," Yu Longfeng thought and said out loud: "Immediately resolve this issue. Allocate funds to officials for restoration and inspection of all cities in the Dynasty.


    If I find out that they have made even one mistake that has led to the loss of important cities and teleportation formations...their fate will be cruel!"


    "As youmand, Your Majesty!"


    People appeared from the shadows. They bowed to her and disappeared again into the bright night.


    However, even after that, there was still displeasure on the Empress''s face.


    "And, by the way, why did this guy talk to me as if I were stupid?!He even reminded mefive timesin an annoyed voice to watch over the teleportation formations!Does he think this Empress is foolish?!"


    Yu Longfeng twisted her mouth and then puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.


    "Like master, like a student. Birds of a feather flock together!"


    ***


    "Haaah... haaah... Damn it, if this city is in the same shit, I swear I''ll seize the Dynasty and personally cut off the heads of those idiots who didn''t take care of it!"


    Xie Qing was near another city with a teleportation formation that could redirect to other continents.


    He was all sweaty - he had to run fast because the Lunar Festival week in the Dynasty was approaching, which would be a holiday before the start of the new year...


    And then nothing would work! Because everyone would be on vacation!


    Fortunately, he made it in two days. Running ten thousand miles was hard even for a cultivator, and there were no cities nearby to hire carriages...and the system?


    "Damn, who came up with this crap? 570,000 Spiritual Stones for a stinky carriage? Good thing I made it on foot! At least I didn''t ruin my health!"


    ...hejustdidn''t want to spend the money.


    And as if the Heavens had heard his call, the city gates were guarded by ten guards and more than twenty hidden warriors.


    Their average level was at the intermediate stage of the Soul Nascent. It was precisely such cultivators whowere neededfor protection!


    "Hm? Inner court disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect... Cao Ni Ma?"


    The guards exchanged nces. They looked both puzzled and annoyed.


    "What? That''s my name! Do you have something against my name?!" Xie Qing snarled in annoyance and thought to himself: "It''s not my fault, myimagination just ran out..."


    The guards could only snarlin annoyanceand let this disciple into the city.After all, on the token...strangely enough, it was the same name.


    When Xie Qing''s back disappeared behind the gates, they exchanged nces:


    "This is fucked up".


    "Yeah".