Lord of the dead: Exiled by my sect

Face-Slapping the Vipers

Zhao Feng scrambled backward like a dog, his hands scraping against the jagged stone of the ruined plaza. His face was a mask of pure, unadulterated horror. "L-Li Tian... you're a monster... you're supposed to be dead!"

Li Tian didn't answer with words. He took a single step forward.

BOOM!

The sheer weight of his peak Foundation Establishment aura, mixed with the chilling dread of the Death Core, crashed down upon the Judgment Plaza. Hundreds of inner disciples who were standing nearby instantly coughed up blood, their knees buckling as they slammed face-first into the dirt. They couldn't even lift their heads under the pressure.

"A monster?" Li Tian’s voice was as cold as a winter tomb. "Ten years of bleeding for this sect, and you branded me a traitor. Today, I'll show you what a real traitor looks like."

"Die, you demon!" Grand Elder Wu shrieked, his mind completely unhinged by the loss of his right arm and his ruined cultivation. With his left hand, he drew a crimson taloned dagger from his robes—a forbidden demonic artifact he had hidden for decades—and lunged at Li Tian with his remaining Qi Condensation strength.

Li Tian didn't even look at him. He simply flicked his wrist.

A three-inch blade of grey Primordial Death-Sword Qi shot from his index finger.

SHUCK!

The grey light didn't just pierce Wu's chest; the moment it made contact, the necrotic power of the Death Core instantly evaporated the old man's remaining life force. Grand Elder Wu froze mid-air. His skin turned grey, his hair withered into white ash, and before his body even hit the ground, he disintegrated into a pile of dust that scattered in the wind.

A core elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect was erased in a single breath.

The silence that followed was absolute. Thousands of disciples stared at the pile of ash, their minds completely blank with terror.

"Grand Elder Wu tried to frame me to cover his own failure to refine the Heaven-Breaking Jade," Li Tian said, his voice echoing across the mountain peaks, amplified by his soul energy. "Who else among the elders knew? Speak, or I will slaughter every white-robed cultivator on this mountain."

"Presumptuous sinner!"

A thunderous roar shattered the silence as a massive pressure descended from the highest peak. The Sect Master finally moved, descending like a god of wrath. His eyes were bloodshot, and his robes flared with the terrifying, suffocating power of a Nascent Soul expert. He wielded the sect's heirloom weapon, the Sky-Shattering Sword, which hummed with thousands of layers of golden defensive arrays.

"Li Tian! You colluded with demons, murdered an elder, and destroyed the sect's spiritual vein!" the Sect Master bellowed, his voice shaking the remaining mountaintops. "Even if the Heaven-Breaking Jade chose you, this seat will execute you today for the honor of the ancestors!"

The Sect Master slashed down. A golden sword beam three hundred meters wide cleaved the sky, intending to erase Li Tian from existence.

Li Tian stood completely motionless, the terrifying wind of the Nascent Soul attack whipping his black hair across his face. He didn't lift his grey sword. He didn't invoke Jian Wudi's intent.

Instead, a cruel, mocking smirk played on his lips.

"Shao Qing," Li Tian whispered. "Kill him."

Behind him, the silver-haired Demon Empress let out a soft, venomous sigh. The absolute slave contract embedded in her soul pulsed with a burning fire, forcing her body to move according to his will.

"As you command... Master," she purred, her voice dripping with a terrifying mixture of submission and world-ending malice.

Shao Qing stepped in front of Li Tian. Her silver eyes flared with a deep, bottomless purple light. She didn't use a weapon. She simply raised a single, flawless porcelain hand and caught the three-hundred-meter golden sword beam with her bare fingers.

CRACK!

The Sect Master's ultimate attack shattered like brittle glass in her palm.

The Sect Master's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "What?! A Nascent Soul beast?! No... this aura... you are an ancient Demon King!"

Before the Sect Master could even attempt to retreat, Shao Qing vanished. She appeared directly in front of him, her face inches from his. With a swift, brutal movement, she drove her hand straight through his golden defensive arrays, grabbed his throat, and slammed him violently down into the center of the ruined Judgment Plaza.

BOOM!

The entire mountain peak groaned as a massive crater opened in the stone. The high-and-mighty Sect Master, a Nascent Soul powerhouse who ruled over millions of mortals, lay coughing up mouthfuls of golden essence-blood, his chest crushed and his heirloom sword snapped in two.

Shao Qing kept her foot firmly planted on his throat, turning her head back to look at Li Tian like an obedient pet waiting for its next order.

Li Tian walked slowly to the edge of the crater, his boots stepping over the rubble until he stood directly over the broken Sect Master. He looked down, his gold and crimson eyes reflecting the older man's absolute despair.

"Twelve hundred years ago, Jian Wudi built this sect to protect the righteous," Li Tian said, his gray sword qi scraping against the Sect Master's cheek, drawing a line of fresh blood. "Today, your ancestors have personally revoked your lease."

"Wait... Li Tian... wait!" Zhao Feng's weeping voice interrupted from the edge of the pit. He was crawling on his knees, begging, his face covered in dirt and tears. "We were brothers for ten years! I was forced into it by Wu! Please... spare me! I can help you rule the sect!"

Li Tian turned his head slightly, his gaze locking onto the brother who had sold his soul for a promotion.

But before Li Tian could swing his blade to end Zhao Feng's miserable life, a massive, mechanical alarm suddenly blared inside his skull—not from the sect, but from the system itself.

[Ding! System Emergency Alert!]

[Detected a World-Class Spatial Crack opening at the sect’s ancestral tombs! An alliance of five rival Supreme Sects has just breached the external borders, taking advantage of the collapsed spiritual vein!]

[Current Enemy Count: 50,000 Cultivators, led by three Half-Step Spirit Severing Ancestors!]

The ground began to shake violently once more, but this time, it wasn't from the Abyss. From the northern horizon, thousands of massive, golden war vessels flew through the clouds, their cannons already glowing with a light that could incinerate entire cities.