359: The kindness of Your Excellency can never be repaid!

At his feet lay three Branch Leaders of the Tianli Cult in the Early Golden Core Stage, all dressed in uniform grey robes.

However, they were now completely lifeless, their bodies charred black, clearly killed instantly by a Lightning Technique.

Not far away, Liu Wusheng and Teng Qianjue, the two guardian generals, were also covered in blood, their Auras weak and withered.

They could barely stand by supporting each other, their eyes filled with fear and despair as they looked at the middle-aged Cultivator.

Murong Jingyang, the leader of the Tianli Cult, stood before them, though he looked quite disheveled now.

His Black Daoist Robe was already stained with blood and grime; his hair was disheveled, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, indicating he had sustained significant injuries.

Yet his gaze remained cold, staring fixedly at the Immortal Master in the Late Golden Core Stage in the sky.

This Cultivator in brocade robes was the Grand Elder of a nearby Golden Core Sect called Gale Valley.

The two had no prior connection, but the Tianli Cult had recently tried to entice the Sect's Young Lord into joining the cult.

As a result, news leaked out and the plot was exposed prematurely; this enraged Grand Elder followed the clues and charged straight into this temporary stronghold of the Tianli Cult.

What happened next went without saying.

"A mere evil cult dares to target my Gale Valley?"

"Today, I shall make you rats vanish from this world forever!"

The Cultivator in brocade robes sneered and said no more; as he raised his hand, a fierce and violent lightning light began to condense in his palm.

Clearly, he was about to launch a killing blow to completely erase these foul rats of the Tianli Cult.

Liu Wusheng and Teng Qianjue looked hopeless, but a flash of determination crossed Murong Jingyang's eyes as he prepared for a desperate final struggle.

However, at this critical moment.

The aggressive Grand Elder of Gale Valley in the sky suddenly stiffened his hand that was condensing the lightning.

The cruel expression on his face froze instantly, replaced by a look of sheer horror, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in existence!

"No...!"

Before he could even let out a full sound of shock from his throat.

In the next instant, a scene that made the skin of everyone from the Tianli Cult crawl unfolded.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling brilliance, and no sign of any energy impact.

That powerful Immortal Master in the Late Golden Core Stage, who just a second ago seemed to hold the power over Life and Death.

From his head to his torso, then to his limbs, and even the Lightning Technique half-condensed in his hand—everything vanished silently in an instant!

It was as if he had been slowly erased by an eraser, leaving no trace, not a drop of blood, and not a hint of Aura behind, as if this person had never existed in the world!

A deathly silence enveloped the underground space.

The people of the Tianli Cult, whether it was the heavily injured Liu Wusheng and Teng Qianjue or the low-level members who had survived by luck, all stood there dazed, looking at each other.

The expressions on their faces were strange, shifting from despair and terror to ultimate confusion.

"What... were we just doing?"

"How did I get such heavy injuries?"

"What happened here? Why is it such a mess?"

"How did Branch Leader Xu die?!"

"..."

Whispers filled with confusion began to rise.

All the cult members, including Liu Wusheng and Teng Qianjue, seemed to have suddenly developed amnesia, forgetting everything that had just occurred.

They forgot the existence of the Gale Valley Grand Elder and even found the source of their own injuries inexplicable.

In their memories and perceptions, the parts regarding the battle just now—more precisely, the parts related to that Immortal Master in the Late Golden Core Stage—had been crudely erased by some invisible force!

Even Murong Jingyang, who had the highest cultivation, had a look of confusion in his eyes; he could not recall what had happened at all.

Yet the ruins before them spoke volumes of the fierce battle that had just taken place.

But now the enemy was nowhere to be seen, and they were all still alive and well.

Murong Jingyang had an instinctive intuition telling him that all these bizarre changes must be related to His Honor!

"Could it be that His Honor took action?"

Murong Jingyang pondered, and the thought uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.

"Yes! It must be! Besides His Honor, who else possesses such unfathomable power!"

"His Honor must have sensed our peril and descended a Divine Ability from the shadows to obliterate the powerful enemy and protect us!"

A surge of indescribable excitement and fanaticism suddenly welled up in Murong Jingyang's heart!

His Honor's kindness truly can never be repaid!

Loyalty!

Taking a deep breath, Murong Jingyang suppressed his churning blood and agitated mind.

Since the great enemy was gone, the cleanup would be much easier to handle.

He turned his head and saw the cult members looking around blankly and whispering like headless flies; frowning, he immediately barked:

"What are you all standing around for? Get out here and clean up the mess!"

He pointed at the messy cave space, his voice carrying unquestionable authority: "Remember to collect all the corpses!"

These were great tonics; he had to find an opportunity to offer them to His Honor and couldn't let them go to waste.

"Yes... yes! We obey the Cult Leader's decree!"

Although they were confused, the prestige Murong Jingyang had built up over a long time made Liu Wusheng, Teng Qianjue, and the others instinctively bow and accept the order, beginning to direct the surviving members to clear the battlefield.

Murong Jingyang walked aside alone, watching the busy crowd and falling into deep thought.

"Right, Gale Valley!"

A cold glint suddenly flashed in Murong Jingyang's eyes.

Although he couldn't remember the middle-aged man in brocade robes in the Late Golden Core Stage, he hadn't forgotten his original goal.

He figured that what they had just experienced must be inextricably linked to them.

But since His Honor was watching this place closely, could he perhaps act a bit more freely and stop being so cautious?

"Soon. Once I've annexed Gale Valley, I should be able to step into the Late Golden Core Stage!"

A sharp light flickered in Murong Jingyang's eyes.

As the Tianli Cult expanded like a plague, the mortal desires Murong Jingyang absorbed daily became increasingly thick, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

Anyone else would surely be polluted by this massive amount of mortal desires and turn into a monster through Dao-transformation mutation.

However, Murong Jingyang's situation was special; he had been personally brainwashed by Ji Ruge, the main Banner Spirit of the third-grade peak-tier Magic Treasure, the human emperor banner.

With a Mental Seal stamped into his brain, he had, by a stroke of luck, eliminated the hidden danger of losing emotional control.

Except for his unstable cultivation Foundation, everything else was the same.

But that was no big deal; Murong Jingyang hadn't taken those matters to heart in the first place.

He had only one goal: to build up a colossus as quickly as possible through a snowball effect.

Then, he would replace a Blessed Land and have his Tianli Cult take its place.

Subsequently, he would completely clear the path to the Inner Domain for His Honor!

And now, he was getting closer and closer to that goal!