Chapter 87: City-Wide Chaos and Pillage – Courting Death by Picking a Fight

Although the area around Yu Xian wasn’t bustling or prominent, unlike the marketplaces and shops where goods were displayed openly and could be snatched in passing, the spirit beasts near him still made many cultivators’ eyes gleam with greed.

Without a word, some of these cultivators had already begun forcefully breaking the wards and restraints to steal the spirit beasts.

Lu Mian’s expression darkened drastically. He cast a hateful glance at the looters before summoning a spell and flying straight toward the inner city — the outer city was now completely abandoned!

All the resources and items in the outer city shops would be lost, left to be pillaged by these rogue cultivators.

Yu Xian furrowed his brow but didn’t move. His current location was remote, neither a shop nor a warehouse, with nothing worth stealing. Hiding here, he chose to observe the situation for now.

“Today the city falls! I, Liu Jinyun, will not harm the innocent! All of you stay exactly where you are! Once I find the culprit and destroy the Lu Family, I’ll let you leave freely!”

Liu Jinyun, wielding his twin giant swords — Heaven Sword and Earth Sword — descended like a god of war after shattering the city’s great protective formation.

The dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him blocked every escape route. Any Qi Condensation cultivator attempting to leave would be courting death. If anyone above that realm dared to force their way out, it would be a public declaration of guilt, guaranteeing Liu Jinyun’s pursuit — also a death sentence.

Thus, anyone who didn’t want to die had no choice but to remain in the outer city, waiting for the inevitable destruction of the Lu Clan’s inner stronghold and the eventual investigation.

But honestly, leaving the city or not didn’t matter. Most of the rogue cultivators knew that Liu Jinyun’s target was the Lu family — and potentially a scapegoat of a murderer. As long as they didn’t act stupidly, they’d survive.

After all, there were tens of thousands of rogue cultivators here. Liu Jinyun wouldn’t dare commit such a massacre and tarnish the reputation of the mighty Tianyuan Sword Sect, let alone incur massive karmic backlash.

The real danger wasn’t from Liu Jinyun anymore.

The real threat…

Was the looting, stealing, and scrambling for “free” items everywhere.

The entire Lu Family’s outer city was now up for grabs.

Four massive districts, full of hidden treasures.

Before, these things were locked away behind arrays and guards, obtainable only with spirit stones.

But now?

Just cast spells. Use weapons!

Break them open and take what’s inside.

Who was going to stop them?

So of course, they looted.

The outer city dissolved into absolute chaos.

People fought over rare items, pills, magical artifacts, prized cauldrons, beautiful female cultivators, and even personal grudges. Anger flared and violence exploded.

Screams, crashes, magical blasts — it was a warzone.

Yu Xian listened to the chaos with narrowed eyes. He stayed still, carefully observing.

With all the shops soon ransacked, and cultivators losing their minds in bloodlust, the next phase would be murder — robbing and killing other people.

He wasn’t afraid. But stepping out now would be asking for trouble.

Besides, he had no interest in the so-called treasures inside those shops. The real treasures of the Lu Family were obviously secured inside the inner city.

What could possibly be worth it out here?

At best, some third-grade pills or magic tools. Not worth his time.

Right now, Yu Xian had only one plan:

Wait.

Either Liu Jinyun destroyed the Lu Clan, found the alleged killer, and then left — allowing everyone else to exit the city.

Or the Lu Clan somehow repelled or even killed Liu Jinyun. In that case, they also wouldn’t dare keep so many rogue cultivators trapped here.

No matter what happened, Yu Xian would leave.

So he waited.

The chaos grew.

Liu Jinyun, controlling his twin swords — each over a hundred zhang long — swept down toward the Lu Family’s inner city.

BOOM!

The Lu Clan, seeing him approach, couldn’t wait for all their disciples to return. The inner city’s protective formation — the ancestral Guardian Array left behind by Lu Qingquan, their founding ancestor — was activated.

Yu Xian didn’t know the name of the formation, but judging by its terrifying might, it was leagues above the outer city’s defense.

The two massive swords struck hard once more.

But the inner formation trembled only slightly and actually grew more stable — clearly superior.

Liu Jinyun roared, sword aura exploding, seemingly ready to unleash a third sword technique.

But he never struck.

Perhaps he was not yet at that level.

Or perhaps… the Lu Family wasn’t worth it.

So he continued hammering away using only the Heaven and Earth Swords — grinding down the formation, determined to break through.

The siege continued.

The chaos intensified.

But in this world, even if you wish no harm to others, others will harm you.

Only half a stick of incense passed before a massive crowd — over a thousand people — surged toward the beast-selling zone.

By now, almost all the spirit beasts had been snatched and were already being dragged away.

But how could these newcomers accept that?

They couldn’t afford to buy these beasts before, but now they could just steal them!

They fanned out and targeted the earlier looters — especially those holding multiple beasts.

These early looters didn’t have beast pouches — rare and precious items more valuable than high-grade storage bags — so they had to drag the beasts along.

Now, seeing another wave charging to rob them, they couldn’t flee without abandoning their loot. Their only choice was to stand and fight — bloodshot eyes, furious spells, violence erupting once more.

The chaos surged to Yu Xian’s position.

He frowned, tightening his grip on the rope, pulling the Cloud Heron closer.

The bird tilted its head, confused, eyeing the growing battle with curiosity. It wasn’t a wild beast, but a carefully raised Lu Family spirit bird — not particularly intelligent.

“That’s a Cloud Heron! I need it for a mount!”

A shout rang out.

A group of ten cultivators ran over, one of them pointing at Yu Xian and shouting, “Get lost! My master wants that Cloud Heron as a mount!”

Yu Xian squinted coldly, his gaze landing on them.

As expected, trouble had found him. A third-tier flying beast like the Cloud Heron, valued at 7,000 spirit stones, was bound to be coveted.

Among them, most were mid-stage Qi Condensation, two were late-stage, and one was peak-stage — clearly their leader and the one who had spoken.

Yu Xian didn’t bother wasting words.

He just spat one word.

“Scram.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was chilling.

The group froze, their faces darkening. The peak Qi Condensation cultivator — a middle-aged man — sneered and shouted, “Arrogant fool! I was going to spare your life, but not anymore. Disciples, kill him! Bring me that Cloud Heron!”

By now, there was no need to hide one’s cultivation. Everyone had already released their spiritual energy, preparing to fight or defend.

Yet this man had been concealing his cultivation — clearly pretending to be mysterious.

But if he were truly strong, why didn’t he just snatch the other beasts before? Why stand here guarding just one Cloud Heron?

That made it obvious — he was bluffing.

Killing him would be no problem!

“Ignorant fool! Die!”

The eleven mid-stage disciples moved first. Three of them leapt out, each wielding newly stolen high-grade third-tier weapons, slashing toward Yu Xian.

But Yu Xian’s cold gaze flashed with killing intent.

If others do not offend me, I will not offend them. But if they do…

I will eradicate them!

Kill.

With a flick of his hand, three blazing red fire serpents erupted from his fingertips — incredibly fast, far beyond what mid-stage cultivators could handle.

Before they could react —

BANG!

A thunderous impact echoed. The three fire snakes pierced straight through their chests, snaking out the other side, twisting and detonating!

BOOM!

The three attackers stopped in their tracks, staring down dumbly at the gaping, fist-sized holes in their torsos.

They tried to speak, only to cough up blood and collapse backward — dead on the spot.

Suddenly, everything nearby fell silent.

Only the distant sounds of battle and shouting remained.

Yu Xian had made his move — and he would not stop now.

A crisp sword hum echoed.

Using his peak Qi Condensation cultivation, Yu Xian activated the Jade Spirit Sword Art, and immediately cast the Splitting Sword Technique — ten sword shadows appeared in the air.

Nine false.

One true.

The nine illusory blades swept toward the remaining disciples.

The real sword — glowing with a jade-green light — shot toward the peak-stage cultivator.