Astral Apostle

They were originally in a state of disunity and did not have any morale at all. Seeing Chen Feng's ferocity, they quickly stopped fighting in fear as well.

Not long after, the field was already filled with corpses. The ground had turned muddy and dark red. It was impossible to tell if they were stepping on flesh or mud, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.

Zhou Jing was covered in blood. He put away his spear and stood there expressionlessly, but with his face masked in blood, he looked like an Asura.

In front of him were the survivors of the various sects. They were all scared out of their wits. Some sat paralyzed on the ground, while others curled up into a ball and held their weapons shakily.

The surrounding martial artists were dumbfounded. They pinched their arms in disbelief, unable to believe that there was such a terrifying person in the world.

He could easily slaughter a large number of martial arts experts and still stroll around at this moment… Was he really not a demon in human skin?

How could a person cultivate martial arts to this extent?!

Zhou Jing strode forward, and the disciples of the various sects retreated in unison, staring at him in fear.

He casually tore off a piece of barely clean cloth from a corpse and wiped away the minced flesh and bone fragments on his spear.

"The few of you left won't be able to play with me for an entire day if you don't die. Can you admit defeat now?"

"You demon! Even if you kill all of us, we won't disgrace the ancestor and give you the sect's secret manual!"

An elder roared in fear and anger.

The people around him were so frightened that their souls almost left their bodies. They quickly grabbed the elder and stopped him from continuing.

At this point, you're still putting on a false front and shouting? What if that demon took it seriously?

You might be old and tired of living, but we still want to live!

Those diehards were at the forefront of the battle just now and were almost all dead. Now, the remaining disciples of the various sects were those that were slacking off at the back when they fought. Most of them cared more about their lives.

The sect masters of the various sects were also alive. At this moment, their expressions were bitter, and their hearts ached for the losses of their disciples.

"Evildoer! We'll fight you to the death!" The Sect Master of the Diamond Vajra Sect shouted angrily.

"If we hand over the secret manual, how can we face our ancestors?" The Sect Master of the Purple Cloud Palace spoke in a distressed manner.

Many disciples looked at their sect master in fear, their faces filled with pleading.

When Zhou Jing heard this, he said expressionlessly,

"If you want to die, I'll fulfill your wish. However, since you're reneging on your debt, I can only go to your sect in the future and take the secret manual myself. At the same time, I'll remove your sect's name."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sect leaders were incomparably shocked and furious that he would suggest that, but they did not dare to clamor anymore, afraid that he was being serious.

If their sect was destroyed, they would be even more ashamed to face their ancestors. There would be no room for negotiation at all.

Luo Zhen was even more flustered. The other sects were at least elsewhere and had time to prepare, but their Southern Hua Sect was located right here, so Chen Feng could make true his words immediately.

At this moment, Lin Song suddenly stepped out of the crowd and turned to look at the sect masters. He solemnly addressed them,

"Seniors, I have a word of advice."

Everyone was stunned and looked at him.

"Sect Leader Lin, what are your thoughts?" Luo Zhen asked patiently.

Lin Song quickly glanced at Chen Feng, cleared his throat, and spoke solemnly to the various sects.

"As the saying goes, as long as there's life, there's hope. Now that we're already in a life and death situation, we should prioritize protecting the sect and compromise to hand over the secret manual to protect the lives of our disciples. Even if we hold onto the manuals, if we lose our disciples, we will be left with nothing. In contrast, if we give up the manual, our disciples are still safe, and our foundations secure.

Although the secret manual is precious, the disciples are the foundation of the sect's survival. My Wu Mountain Sect also encountered such a calamity back then, but it was precisely because we were worried about the lives of our disciples that we endured the humiliation and handed over the secret manual… Otherwise, the Wu Mountain Sect would have long disappeared."

Hearing this, the surviving disciples of the various sects looked at Lin Song gratefully.

Finally, someone came out to speak up for them!

In order to protect those profound secret manuals that they might not even be qualified to practice, they had lost their lives for no reason. That was something that only the disciples who had been trained to be loyal by the sect were willing to do. They, the ordinary disciples, were unwilling!

Zhou Jing looked at Lin Song in surprise. After thinking for a moment, he spoke,

"That's right. Back then, I wanted to get rid of the Wu Mountain Sect, but they cooperated and handed over their secret manuals, so I let them off. In the end, I don't care if I kill all of you or not. As long as you're willing to admit defeat and follow me to the stronghold as guests to write down your secret manuals, you can leave on your own after this."

Hearing this, the sect leaders fell into hesitation, but they subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief.

They were in a difficult position. Now, someone had finally come out to give them a way out…

After fighting internally for a while, the sect leaders made a decision.

They might have lost all their face today, but fortunately, everyone had lost all their face as well. In the end, the sect still had to survive, so the thought of saving their own life prevailed.

For a moment, everyone regretted getting involved in this mess. If not for the fact that the Southern Hua Sect had taken the lead in holding the Martial Arts Conference, they felt that they did not have to suffer such a calamity at all. It was impossible for them not to resent them.

However, at this moment, they subconsciously ignored the enthusiasm they had shown before they met with trouble today… It was as Zhou Jing said. Most people would not shed tears until they saw their coffins.

Luo Zhen's expression changed as he suddenly cried out miserably,

"As the sect master of the Southern Hua Sect, I invited everyone to work together, but I didn't expect it to cause a huge disaster… Disciples of the Southern Hua Sect, listen up. You have to endure the humiliation and hand over our martial arts secret manual. You can't be Chen Feng's enemy anymore!"

With that, before anyone could react, he suddenly turned his sword onto himself.

Puchi!

Blood splattered far away as he viciously stabbed himself. He swayed and fell to the ground.

In this situation, the Southern Hua Sect was already at the center of the storm. Luo Zhen used his life to give an explanation to the various sects to protect the last bit of face of the Southern Hua Sect. At the same time, it served as an apology to Chen Feng so that the sect would not be punished later.

He deliberately emphasized that his disciples would hand over the martial arts manual because he wanted to hide their sect's true teachings, the spell techniques. Just revealing the martial arts would not hurt the foundation of the sect at all. It was his last small scheme.

Daoist Jade Cloud looked at Luo Zhen's corpse and immediately saw through his plan. He sighed and shook his head with mixed feelings.

Seeing this scene, the expressions of the sect masters changed. They had nowhere to vent their anger, but they could not blame the Southern Hua Sect anymore.

"My Diamond Vajra Sect admits defeat today. If you want the secret manual, take it."

The Sect Master gritted his teeth and spoke.

The sect masters of the various sects were dejected as they finally gave in.

The disciples all heaved a sigh of relief, filled with the joy of surviving a calamity.

"Why didn't you do this earlier?"

Zhou Jing wiped the blood off his face and shook his head.

At this moment, a notification popped up on his interface:

[You have received a Life Episode — [Spear Challenging The Eight Sects].]

[Rating: National Tier]

Zhou Jing took a look and temporarily closed the message, signaling his lackeys to escort the disciples of the various sects.

Although these lackeys had been surrounded by many experts from the martial world just now, because they had formed a battle formation to defend to the death and Chen Feng had displayed his divine might to intimidate the enemy, they were not completely wiped out. In the end, no one from the martial world even surrounded them again, afraid that they would draw Chen Feng's attention and ire.

The lackeys received the order and went forward to tie everyone up. The disciples of the various sects did not dare to act rashly and could only obediently be restrained.

However, at this moment, a few martial artists suddenly walked out of the crowd and bowed to Zhou Jing.

"Chief Chen's martial arts are peerless and admirable. We're willing to submit to Brother."

This situation immediately attracted everyone's attention and surprise.

At this juncture, to stand up and submit to Chen Feng? Wasn't it a little inappropriate?

Why could they not do it in private? Was this any different from slapping everyone's faces in public?

Many people immediately revealed looks of disdain. They felt that these people wanted to step on them and deliberately show their loyalty to Chen Feng to obtain an opportunity to stand out. They were complete bootlickers.

However, these people's expressions were calm.

Zhou Jing looked at them strangely and said, "Get up. We'll talk about this later."

The few of them nodded and stood up, slowly walking towards Zhou Jing.

However, at this moment, something unexpected happened.

Before the surrounding martial artists could react, these people suddenly took out a few black iron balls and pounced at Zhou Jing.

In the next moment…

Boom!!!

The area exploded in flames!

Violent flames and thick smoke rose, devouring Zhou Jing's figure.

Everyone present was stunned. In the next second, they came back to their senses in shock.

"What happened?"

Sha Xingzhou's eyes widened in surprise.

"Could this be… the legendary Western Region Thunderball that can summon lightning and fire?!"