Chapter 55: Three Factions, the Sunward Blossom, and Three Saints (Please Keep Reading, Subscribe, and Vote)

"My dad is invincible!"

Blood splattered onto the people of Heavenly Funeral City before they even registered what it was. Hao Long's son roared with a face full of murderous intent.

"What is this?"

Something landed on him. Hao Long's son reached up and wiped his face, his hand coming away smeared with red. He froze for a second, assuming it was the blood of the Li family.

It wasn't until Hao Long's head rolled to a stop right at his feet that Hao Long's son let out a shrill scream, his murderous intent instantly morphing into sheer panic. "Dad!"

His dad? His dad was dead?!

"Second Steward?!"

"This is bad!"

The arrivals from Heavenly Funeral City were utterly dumbfounded, shocked beyond measure. Their unimaginably powerful Second Steward had just been blown to pieces?

Killed in a single second?

In an instant, their bodies stiffened and trembled. Their fanatical fervor receded like the tide, replaced by a freezing chill. They didn't even dare to look toward the Li family members.

With horror etched across their faces, several of them turned and fled. Even the Second Steward had fallen; what else were they supposed to be waiting for?

Divine light emerged beneath the feet of some, while others hurled out talisman after talisman. Hao Long's son snapped back to his senses, his eyes a mix of shock and fury, and hurled a fragment of a formation array. It enveloped his entire body, instantly preparing to whisk him away.

"Li family, how dare you kill my dad! You're courting death! Heavenly Funeral City will never—"

Hao Long's son raged, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Li Xuan looked calmly at the group from Heavenly Funeral City. The next moment, their legs buckled, and their bodies instantly vanished into nothingness, leaving them with no time even to feel shocked.

Not a single person from Heavenly Funeral City was left behind; every single one of them burst apart like fireworks.

The Li family members were thoroughly exhilarated. Their Ancestor was simply too powerful.

"Let's go," Li Xuan said casually, giving Ye Qingcheng a nudge with his foot.

Ye Qingcheng looked thoughtfully at Li Xuan's retreating back. She hadn't even been able to decipher how Li Xuan had killed those people.

Li Zhan raised his hand, and a flying boat materialized from his profound ring. Li Xuan and the others stepped aboard, instantly transforming into a streak of light.

"Respectfully sending off the Ancestor!"

The Li family members cried out in unison, their expressions brimming with pride.

Watching the flying boat depart, the crowd in the distance who had come hoping to join the Tailong Sect stood in a daze.

Li Xuan had killed too quickly, and their cultivations were too low; they hadn't even seen clearly what had happened.

The people from Heavenly Funeral City were simply gone?!

And they were such powerful cultivators.

"Who do these nobodies think they are, coming to the Li family to shout and swagger! Ridiculous!"

"I told you all along, what Heavenly Funeral City? They're nothing more than fragile glass before the Li family Ancestor!!"

"Transformation Realm? Even Transformation Realm is useless! You want to destroy the Li family? In your dreams!"

"Hehe, if you want to join the Li family, just wait until they open recruitment."

The people from Yucheng who had followed along wore smug expressions. The Li family Ancestor was as formidable as ever.

Hearing the words of the Yucheng locals, the cultivators eager to join the Li family broke into smiles and nodded repeatedly.

Awe churned in their hearts. The Li family was actually this terrifying—those Heavenly Funeral City cultivators whom they had looked up to as towering figures had simply exploded, killed in a heartbeat.

It was the Li family Ancestor who had made a move!

The Li family Ancestor was immensely powerful!

They had been wrong; the Li family truly had nothing to fear from Heavenly Funeral City. After all, looking at the corpses on the ground right now, the Li family had straight-up slaughtered the Second City Lord's Second Steward.

An absolute slaughter!

*

A hundred miles away from the Li family, within the territory of the Tailong Sect, lay a spiritual stone mine belonging to the Li family. A considerable crowd had already gathered there.

Above the spiritual energy-rich mine, tendrils of powerful golden spiritual rhyme formed the shape of a blooming flower, emitting rolling ripples and creating rippling, scorching flames in the surrounding air.

This was the floral rhyme of the fourth-grade exotic flora known as the Shangyang Flower, a sign that it was on the verge of maturing and triggering a natural phenomenon.

All around, figures looked up into the air, while even further away, numerous gazes burned with covetous desire as they stared at the Shangyang Flower phenomenon.

"A fourth-grade Shangyang Flower! What a treasure! This is an exotic flora that even has wondrous effects on Saints!"

"This seems to be a spiritual vein belonging to the Tailong Sect. Strange, why haven't people from the Tailong Sect shown up?"

"You're too behind on the news! The Tailong Sect has already been destroyed! The ones holding the Tailong Sect's territory now are a clan called the Li family!"

"The Li family is truly out of luck. They were the first to discover this fourth-grade exotic medicine, only for Heavenly Funeral City to find out about it. And then, well, you know the rest."

"True. Who knows whose hands this fourth-grade exotic medicine will end up in?"

Distant cultivators gazed with envy at the Shangyang Flower phenomenon in the sky. This was a priceless saint-level medicine—a saintly flower capable of granting profound insights to Saints.

As for the Li family, no one paid them any mind. Did they really expect the Li family to compete with Heavenly Funeral City, the Zhou family, and the Earth Dragon Sect for a saintly medicine?

"The Shangyang Flower..." Zhou Shu, the head of the Zhou family, stared with undisguised greed at the phenomenon in the sky.

He possessed a towering physique, and behind him stood rows of Zhou family disciples.

Joy surged in Zhou Shu's heart. This fourth-grade exotic flower must belong to the Zhou family. Their Zhou family Patriarch was nearing the end of his lifespan; perhaps this fourth-grade saintly medicine would allow their Patriarch to break through!

"Hah, you two are quite shameless. We of Heavenly Funeral City spotted this saintly medicine first, yet you come here to snatch it. Do you not take Heavenly Funeral City seriously at all?" The Second City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City stared sinisterly at Zhou Shu and Wang Tai, the master of the Earth Dragon Sect.

Wang Tai grinned broadly. "Second City Lord, that's a rather meaningless way to put it. Such supreme treasures naturally belong to those with the virtue to claim them."

"And my Earth Dragon Sect happens to be virtuous."

"Heh," the Second City Lord, Yin Zhou, sneered. "Fine. Very well. You Earth Dragon Sect have quite the nerve."

Resentment burned in Yin Zhou's heart as his gaze swept over a few figures lying on the ground. "Damned trash, if not for you..."

Several figures lay sprawled on the earth, pinned down by men from Heavenly Funeral City, their bodies soaked in blood.

"Haha, Yin Zhou, why are you losing your temper over a few small fries? If not for them, did you really think we would have discovered this?"

Zhou Shu laughed heartily, causing Yin Zhou's gaze to turn glacial.

"Of course I won't kill them yet," Yin Zhou said, the corners of his mouth curling up. "I'm going to annihilate that so-called Li family first, make them watch their loved ones die one by one, and then skin them alive!"

Cruelty festered in Yin Zhou's mind. If not for the disciples of that damned Li family meddling, Heavenly Funeral City might actually have had a chance to secure a complete saintly medicine!

A complete saintly medicine!

Damn it, infuriating! Yin Zhou glared with icy malice at the Li family disciples, looking as though he wanted to devour them alive.

At that exact moment, a surge of saintly might erupted, causing everyone to look up.

"The First City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City has arrived! Along with the Saint of the Earth Dragon Sect and the Patriarch of the Zhou family. They're all here!"

"Hiss! I thought I might get to catch a glimpse of the true form of the fourth-grade exotic flora—maybe even inhale a breath of its aura and ascend on the spot. No chance of that now!"

"Three Saint-realm powerhouses! I wonder if they're going to start a war."

Everyone lifted their gaze to the skies.

Up above, three figures materialized. Saintly might billowed, blotting out the sky and earth. The First City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City was a middle-aged man who cupped his fists and said, "Fellow Daoists, this saintly medicine was discovered by our Heavenly Funeral City first. For you to make a move now is entirely unreasonable."

The Earth Dragon Sect's Saint chuckled. "Reason? Fist size is reason! Cut the crap. Are we fighting, or are we splitting this saintly medicine right now?"

"Cough, cough. If you want to fight, let's fight. If you don't want to fight, hurry it up," coughed the Zhou family Patriarch. Frail and aged, his entire body emanated an aura of decay; yet, neither of the other two dared to underestimate this old man.

Both of them had only recently stepped into the First Heavenly Layer of the Saint Realm, whereas the Zhou family Patriarch was already at the peak of the First Layer.

The Earth Dragon Sect's Patriarch sighed inwardly. If Chu Xiang of the Earth Dragon Sect were here, perhaps they could have teamed up to claim this saintly medicine!

What a pity. As soon as Chu Xiang came out of closed-door seclusion, he had vanished, seemingly to cause trouble for the Tailong Sect. He wondered if Chu Xiang had received any of his messages.

"Very well. Let's divide it first." Seeing that force was out of the question, the City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City took a step back, his gaze turning sinister. "Two gentlemen, I want that so-called Li family. You have no objections, do you?"

The Zhou family Patriarch shook his head, keeping his hands tucked in his sleeves. "Never heard of them. Do as you please."

"The Li family?" The thought flashed through the Earth Dragon Sect Patriarch's mind. Wasn't this the Tailong territory?

"Fine," the Earth Dragon Sect Patriarch nodded as well.

"Good, it's settled. We three split the saintly medicine evenly, and the Li family is mine!" declared the City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City, a flash of murderous intent crossing his eyes. Second City Lord Yin Zhou had already told him that if not for the Li family's interference, Heavenly Funeral City would have had a real shot at claiming the entire saintly medicine!

The Zhou family Patriarch and the Earth Dragon Sect Patriarch both smiled faintly. The Earth Dragon Sect Patriarch chuckled, "You carry far too much killing intent."

The City Lord of Heavenly Funeral City replied with cold ruthlessness, "I am going to tear the Li family into ten thousand pieces."

"The three of you are being rather overbearing, aren't you? Not only did you injure disciples of the Li family and carve up the fourth-grade exotic medicine within our spiritual vein, but you also want to annihilate my Li family and tear them into ten thousand pieces?"

A voice suddenly rang out right beside them.

All three of them started violently. Turning their heads in shock, they saw a young man in dark robes standing there with his hands clasped behind his back, calmly looking down at them.