Heaven Refining physique-Chapter 144: Living in their own Delusions

Jiang Hao just looked at the disciple nonchalantly before turning his gaze towards everyone else who had joined these sects in this mission.

There were no Mountain Sword Sect cultivators present, but cultivators from the other two sects were there, most of them belonging to Blazing Valley.

There were lot of spirit beasts too, but he didn’t cared for them, as he didn’t have actively kill them.

"Senior Sister, activate the array only after all of them enter. I am going for a walk."

"Don’t worry junior brother, I have no intention of letting even a single dear guest of ours escape the hospitality we have prepared for them. That would be rude."

Jiang Hao nodded and stepped out of the safe zone path. This single move made the three cultivators flinch. Although they maintained a calm exterior to assure those following them, internally they didn’t wish to fight Jiang Hao at the start. That would be the most dangerous moment, death was guaranteed for those he targeted first.

There was a reason why they had gathered this many baits by making promises and offering rewards.

"So, should I take it that you are accepting our condition by walking out of that safe pathway?"

The disciple of Ethereal Cloud Sanctuary spoke again, hiding a minor teleportation talisman in his hand to use at the first sign of danger.

Jiang Hao didn’t even glance at him, much less reply. He walked until he reached the center of the area where they had hidden the array.

Finally, he looked towards everyone and spoke.

"Since you all have already come, why not begin?"

When the other cultivators heard that, they became amused. Wasn’t he being too arrogant to challenge three thousand of them with just a faulty array that supposedly used his life force? It also looked like he wouldn’t be accepting the offer from the Ethereal Cloud Sanctuary,? what a waste.

"Aren’t you being too arrogant? Looks like joining the Mountain Sword Sect hasn’t helped you much. You should’ve joined Blazing Valley; then maybe you wouldn’t have become a traitor.

But oh well, now that you have become one, don’t worry. We will definitely protect humanity from traitors like you who join hands with spirit beasts. Seriously, what were you thinking? That you could conquer the entire world by doing that?

Till now, humans have managed to exist in this world because of our mighty figures who sacrificed themselves, and it will continue to be so in the future. One or two traitors may come and go, but our unity is enough to overcome such adversaries."

The leader of the Blazing Valley Sect took a short breath after saying all that.

By saying those words, he was trying to impress the cultivators of the two sects.

Well, whether he impressed them or not, his words were indeed effective in making Ya Ting and the others, happy, as this would work in their favour.

The leader continued.

"This is the Sacred Ground of our region. It’s already blasphemy for you to enter here. The main consciousness is fair and views everyone equally as long as they are human, and would not punish you, but how can we allow you to roam freely in our sacred land? Heed my voice, fellow cultivators! There stands the traitor for whom we have travelled without rest, giving up many opportunities along the way, just so we could rid of these pest from our sacred land.

Once we succeed, forget about rewards—we will be respected everywhere for our noble sacrifice.

Let us show him what unity can do. Launch your attacks!"

Jiang Hao listened quietly without saying anything. He didn’t even think about warning them that he bore no enmity and they should not get involved. He was more than happy to show them the way to the underworld for the spirit stones they would leave behind.

This was also the reason he let this man finish speaking, so that the others could gain enough confidence to attack him.

The disciple of Blazing Valley didn’t know it, but he had helped both Jiang Hao and the three sects unconditionally. He really was quite an amusing fellow. ƒreewebɳovel.com

After shouting the command to attack, the first move came from none other than himself. A scorching fireball left his hand, its target none other than Jiang Hao, who watched it approach without any change in expression.

In fact, even if all these cultivators attacked him one by one, it wouldn’t be enough to breach his qi defense, much less harm him. So unless all the attacks landed at exactly the same time, he wouldn’t need to dodge them if he didn’t want to. But there was no need to stand in the center and wait.

It wasn’t as if he was waiting for them to enter the array before attacking, but there was one thing he should not forget, to appear as weak as he could after the initial burst, so that others would hold hope of defeating him.

After deciding how much to reveal, he moved immediately and dodged the fireball. It landed and exploded, creating an even larger impact zone than its size. Jiang Hao stumbled slightly to maintain his balance.

This invigorated the others. They were just about to launch their attacks when Jiang Hao moved again, and this time, his speed was unperceivable. He passed through many cultivators and appeared almost in the center of the group.

This was enough to stop the long-range attacks aimed at him. This was one of the disadvantages of having a large group.

You might have an advantage in numbers, but that advantage can turn into a disadvantage. You can’t attack the enemy for fear of harming your own comrades.

Before Jiang Hao reached the center, he already had a sword in his hand, and it had already been swung at least once before the others could even see him clearly amidst themselves.

The cultivators near him felt only a slight prickling in their bodies before falling into two pieces. They didn’t have any protection of any kind, though it wouldn’t have mattered even if they did.

When the others nearby saw the cleaved bodies, they backed off immediately. Fear was evident on their faces.

When those from the three sects at the front saw that, they gritted their teeth, and one of them said:

"Don’t panic! He has used that treasure again! Let him use it, his life force won’t last long."

When Jiang Hao heard that, he stopped and looked towards the disciple who had spoken.

He was genuinely confused for a second before coming to a realization.

These people had mistaken his physique for a treasure that used his life force to increase his strength. That was actually a very good way to encourage others to take action against him.

Well, if that’s the case, then there was no need to hold back. They could perfectly weave their own story to not be afraid of him. All he had to do was show a little weakness over time to make them believe in their delusions.

He moved again. He wasn’t keen on targeting the disciples of the three sects first. There were still many cultivators staying at the back, if he targeted them, they might run away.

He kept moving among other cultivators, killing every time he stopped. The surrounding cultivators were growing more aggressive by the moment.

To them, it wouldn’t take long before Jiang Hao became too weakened to continue fighting.

There was one thing, though, not everyone might have come for treasure. Some might have truly come to sacrifice themselves to exterminate a traitor and bring peace to the world.

Such people were few, but there were definitely some. Jiang Hao had already seen two or three who seemed too brave for their own good. They had tried to attack him directly instead of backing off whenever he killed nearby cultivators.

The result was no different, they all died. But in death, their expressions were far different from those who feared death and were only here to try their luck at fortune.

The initial massacre continued until Jiang Hao had killed at least a hundred of these cultivators. Finally, he showed slight exhaustion and slowed down a little, though his speed was still quite fast for others. Nonetheless, they were now able to at least see him.

But seeing didn’t mean they could react properly to his attacks, so Jiang Hao continued his massacre. Bodies kept falling, but things changed slightly now. Cultivators had started launching attacks before their death in desperate attempts to save themselves.

Jiang Hao always dodged their attacks, causing them to strike other cultivators on the opposite side if they weren’t prepared to defend.

Casualties increased tremendously. After about a hundred more deaths, which occurred even faster than before, Jiang Hao finally showed more exhaustion.

Killing two hundred cultivators might seem easy, but constantly using blood qi to empower oneself would be enough to drain the blood core of any body cultivator.

Blood cores are inherently different from dantians. Unlike how a dantian can store spirit qi to rise in level, the blood core infuses qi into the blood to make it more potent. It does not store spirit qi but instead infuses every ounce of it directly into the blood.

This infused blood and qi become blood qi. When a cultivator uses blood qi, the qi within the blood moves the blood with tremendous force, greatly increasing the cultivator’s physical strength.

Once all the qi is expended, it does not mean the cultivator’s grade is reduced. In this regard, it is similar to a dantian, once a blood core reaches a certain grade, it remains at that level.