novelraw Chapter 71 : This Merit Can Still Be Credited?
Chapter 71 : This Merit Can Still Be Credited?
Chapter 71: This Merit Can Still Be Credited?
After a round of discussion, Li Tianwei decided to put all the remaining ordinary people of Panshan City into the Soul Banner.
Since the space inside was large enough to contain living beings, it could hold them with ease.
Then, Li Tianwei went to each of their villages and small towns, gathering the remaining people together and, along the way, adding a few more soul slots to the Soul Banner.
After finishing all this, Li Tianwei sighed with emotion, feeling that he was truly a man of great virtue — even remembering to wrap things up properly.
Just as Li Tianwei was happily tying up loose ends in preparation to return to the Sacred Land of Lingxu, he did not know that his series of actions had already spread throughout the entire territory of the Demonic Sects.
Especially within thousands of miles around Panshan City, not a single living person could be seen.
Who could have imagined that so many people would suddenly vanish without a trace? It was one thing for millions of mortals to go missing — but when even the demonic cultivators disappeared, something was clearly wrong.
The rumors began to spread.
Within the city of Blood Slaughter — the great city under the dominion of the Blood Fiend Sect.
As the major city beneath the Blood Fiend Sect, it gathered an immense number of demonic cultivators.
Since it lay within the Blood Fiend Sect’s domain, it was considered a rather good place — after all, as long as one offered some blood tribute, they were allowed to stay here for a time.
However, on this day, Blood Slaughter City, which should have been bustling and noisy, appeared unusually silent and heavy.
The reason? The news that Panshan City had been annihilated by the Sacred Land of Lingxu, along with every demonic cultivator and mortal within several thousand miles, had caused panic.
Many believed that the Sacred Land of Lingxu was launching another invasion.
Such a method — how terrifying it was!
Within Blood Slaughter City, various demonic cultivators gathered, discussing the news they had received from Panshan City.
“Did you hear? That person slaughtered the entire Panshan City. Not one was left alive — even the ordinary people were all wiped out. His methods are even more ruthless than ours.”
“My uncle’s master’s senior’s disciple said that the Blood Fiend Sect sent a powerful expert to investigate. Judging from the traces left behind, they concluded that everyone had been refined into an Evil Soul Banner — neither living nor dead! Unfortunately, they couldn’t capture the culprit.”
“How tragic.”
“The righteous sects have become too cruel. Those ordinary people numbered in the millions! All were taken away. I heard that the disciple from the Sacred Land of Lingxu practiced strange and sinister methods, using them to refine the Evil Soul Banner.”
The demonic cultivators continued to talk about the incident at Panshan City, their expressions dark and grave.
“Exactly, exactly!”
“These so-called righteous cultivators are becoming less and less human. We’re just demonic cultivators, cultivating by different means, that’s all. But now even the righteous ones are learning from us. It’s outrageous.”
As these demonic cultivators spoke, none of them noticed that among their pack of gray wolves, there was a husky hiding in plain sight.
That person was none other than one of the Sacred Land of Lingxu disciples who, like Li Tianwei, had been scattered across the land when the spatial explosion struck.
Chang Liqing had been lucky.
Since he had once practiced a few demonic cultivation methods, he managed to survive in the territory of the Demonic Sects and knew how to conceal himself.
He was patiently waiting for an opportunity to return to the Sacred Land of Lingxu.
For now, he remained in this gathering place of demonic cultivators, secretly collecting information so that he could later submit intelligence to the sect and earn contribution points.
However, he hadn’t expected that upon arriving here, he would overhear the demonic cultivators slandering the Sacred Land of Lingxu — saying they had massacred cities, exterminated demonic cultivators, and even slaughtered mortals.
How could such a thing be true? They were a righteous Holy Land — how could anyone from there use methods identical to those of the demonic path!
As for his own use of demonic arts, that had been out of desperation.
A disciple of the Sacred Land of Lingxu would naturally use proper righteous techniques — how could they resort to such evil arts?
Hearing all this, Chang Liqing became convinced it was nothing but slander.
He was a disciple of the Sacred Land of Lingxu — who could know the sect better than him? It was obviously a baseless smear, naked and malicious.
Even so, Chang Liqing did not dare to release a trace of his aura.
He had not forgotten that this was the territory of the Demonic Sects, not the Sacred Land of Lingxu.
If he revealed himself, he would likely be refined into a pill before long.
“To think they’d call the Sacred Land of Lingxu cruel… How utterly vile.”
“Demonic cultivators truly have no shame.”
Chang Liqing kept cursing them inwardly.
“Did you hear? That righteous cultivator was said to be so fierce and ruthless because he’d practiced our demonic arts. That’s why he turned out like that.”
The demonic cultivators went on, describing how terrifying that person had been.
When these words reached Chang Liqing’s ears, his body trembled — as if he suddenly thought of something.
The figure that had emanated killing intent, resentment, and countless Dao Intents in the Burning Void Peak’s grand hall — a figure wreathed in heaven-piercing demonic energy — surfaced in his mind.
“This… could it be Senior Brother Li?”
The thought made Chang Liqing swallow hard.
Thinking of Li Tianwei’s terrifying strength — battling Nascent Souls while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm and even killing two of them — how could he not shudder?
Such monstrous power… as a fellow Foundation Establishment cultivator, Chang Liqing knew all too well what that meant.
“Should I… go find him for help?”
With that thought, Chang Liqing quietly got up and sneaked away from the crowd of demonic cultivators.
——
Meanwhile, Li Tianwei, still busy in Panshan City, had no idea that his deeds had already shaken half of the demonic domain and that countless demonic cultivators now spoke of his cruelty.
If Li Tianwei had known how his reputation had spread across the Demonic Sects, one could only imagine his reaction.
But he had no time to care.
Li Tianwei was still sweeping through every corner under Panshan City’s control, clearing out mortals — and along the way, he even encountered a few disciples of the Sacred Land of Lingxu who had been scattered by the demonic spatial explosion.
Upon learning what Li Tianwei was doing, they immediately joined him.
“So these are disciples of the Sacred Land of Lingxu… Truly different from those demonic cultivators.”
Li Tianwei thought as he watched the disciples working tirelessly to evacuate the mortals from the demonic lands.
However, the way they looked at the banner in his hand — filled with fear and deep contemplation — gave him a strange feeling of discomfort.
Still, Li Tianwei understood.
The banner had originally been a demonic artifact seized from a demonic cultivator.
As disciples of a righteous Holy Land, it was normal for them to feel uneasy upon seeing it.
Even so, Li Tianwei firmly believed that, under his hand, this Evil Soul Banner would one day transform into a Righteous Soul Banner.
When that happened, it would radiate the aura of merit and shine with solemn grandeur.
“And why haven’t my merits been credited yet? Can merit even be owed?”
Thinking of this, Li Tianwei looked up at the heavens, slightly displeased.
After all, he had eliminated hundreds of demonic beings and nearly ten thousand demonic cultivators, saving millions of ordinary lives in the process.
Such immense merit — yet Heaven seemed to have defaulted on the payment, giving him not the slightest feedback.
That made Li Tianwei rather uncomfortable.
He had been counting on these merits to comprehend a hundred kinds of Dao Intents and condense his Golden Core.
“Forget it. I’ll settle this once I return to the Sacred Land of Lingxu. The merit Heaven owes me — it’ll have to pay sooner or later.”
Li Tianwei sighed in exasperation, though only the System knew what he was thinking.
It even wanted to complain — not to mention whether this world even had such a thing as “merit,” the kind of merit Li Tianwei imagined and the real kind of merit… were two entirely different things.