The traitors staggered back, feeling their spiritual Qi being forcefully drained.
Their bodies trembled.
And their hearts sank into an abyss of despair.
One of them, a once-arrogant elder of a top sect, shouted desperately.
"Long Chen! Have mercy! We—we had no choice! The Corrupt Path forced our hand!"
Long Chen's gaze was cold, colder than the void itself.
"No choice?" His voice was eerily calm, yet it carried the weight of an executioner's decree. "You had a choice. And you chose betrayal."
A young Elder, his eyes filled with panic, fell to his knees.
"We were deceived! We—"
SHING!
A crescent arc of sword qi flashed.
His head flew from his shoulders, blood spraying into the sky.
Long Chen didn't even blink.
The traitors screamed, some turning to flee.
But there was nowhere to run.
Long Chen raised his hand.
The Astral Starry Sky Chart pulsed.
Long Chen clenched his fist and pointing his fist to their direction he sloqly chanted "Star Annihilation Fist".
BOOM!
A wave of destructive Astral Force erupted.
The weakest traitors exploded into blood mist instantly.
The stronger ones coughed up blood, their bodies trembling violently, their cultivation bases in chaos.
The sight was horrifying—they were being slowly, agonizingly crushed.
With a flick of his wrist, a pillar of Dark Flame erupted and as Long Chen chanted a certain Scripture—Nirvana Scripture-- The entire Area felt intense flame energy as a lotus appeared in Long Chen's hand with countless Flame Runes singing around it.
As long Chen threw it among those Elderly--
BOOM!
Many elders who had once stood high in the Righteous Path were instantly reduced to ashes.
The last few remaining traitors mustered their remaining strength, their survival instincts finally overcoming their cowardice.
A group of them, led by a sect leader, activated their most powerful techniques in a desperate attempt to kill Long Chen before he wiped them out.
"ATTACK! HE CAN'T KILL US ALL AT ONCE!"
A barrage of swords, flames, and countless divine arts surged toward Long Chen from all directions.
For a brief moment, the heavens themselves seemed to shake under the combined force of their desperation.
But Long Chen simply raised his hand.
Then through his Saber Image and Split the Heavens--A group of traitorous disciples and Elders were cleaved in half.
Long Chen's gaze never wavered.
"You think your pathetic resistance changes anything?"
His Two-Star Battle Armor flared with a surge of celestial energy.
He vanished.
And when he reappeared, he was already in the midst of the traitors.
Afterwards a thunderous explosion, ripping apart an entire faction of traitors, their remains vaporized.
Long Chen moved like an unstoppable god of destruction, each step bringing forth another wave of retribution.
Three traitors were erased from existence, their bodies turning to dust under the pressure of Long Chen's power.
It was too fast.
They had no time to resist.
No time to beg.
No time to even realize they were already dead.
At last, only one traitor remained.
He was the strongest among them, a Early-Stage Sea Forming Realm expert.
He trembled violently, staring at the mountains of corpses that had once been his allies.
He fell to his knees, his face drenched in sweat.
"P-Please…" he stammered.
Long Chen stepped forward, his shadow looming over the man like a reaper's scythe.
His Divine Rings spun one last time.
The traitor gasped as he felt his soul being pulled out of his body, his very essence being devoured by Long Chen's power.
"No… no… no—"
BOOM!
With one final burst of Astral Energy, the traitor was obliterated into pure nothingness.
The air was deathly still.
The battlefield, once filled with the voices of the living, was now ruled only by the whispers of the dead.
The Dragon Blood Legion stood in the distance, watching in reverence, in awe… and in silent approval.
Their leader had not just won.
He had delivered judgment.
Long Chen exhaled slowly, his Two-Star Battle Armor dimming, his Divine Rings retracting, the Astral Starry Sky Chart fading into the void.
It was done.
The traitors had been erased.
Not just their bodies.
Not just their names.
But their very existence.
Long Chen turned to face his warriors, his voice ringing across the field.
"Let this be a lesson."
"This is what happens… to those who betray their own."
The Dragon Blood Legion bowed their heads in solemn agreement.
And as the crimson sun set over the battlefield, casting its dying light upon the blood-soaked earth—
The world would never forget the day Long Chen became the harbinger of divine retribution.
Long Chen's voice was deathly quiet. "A starving man who steals to survive deserves a second chance. But those who betray righteousness for greed and slaughter the innocent do not."
He turned to the battlefield.
The Corrupt Path was annihilated.
The traitors had fallen.
And those who truly followed the righteous path stood victorious, their faith restored.
As the blood-soaked sun set upon sect, Long Chen stood among the fallen, his clothes drenched in crimson.
The Dragonblood Legion stood behind him, unwavering, unshaken.
A young disciple from a fallen sect spoke in awe:
"Long Chen… is this what true righteousness is?"
Long Chen glanced at the sky, then back at the survivors.
Afterwards, Long Chen turned to him, his eyes calm yet filled with an overwhelming presence.
"Righteousness is not following the rules of cowards."
"It is standing for what is right. It is striking down evil without hesitation. It is protecting those who cannot protect themselves. If you have understood that, then stand proud."
The people knelt before him, not as subjects, but in acknowledgment.
That day, the true Righteous Path was reborn.
And Long Chen?
He had not just united them—he had forged a new legend and faith within them.
There were tens of thousands of Peak Corrupt Path experts, traitorous sect leaders, and so-called Righteous Path elites who had secretly allied with evil forces stood in wait, their combined presence suffocating the heavens.
The plan had been simple: Kill Long Chen and make him suffer a lot.
But Long Chen had slaughtered every last one of them.
A high-grade photographic jade, hidden within the skies, projected its contents across the entire Eastern Wasteland. It was no one else other than Elder Xie who had stongest Spiritual Strength within the Martial Heaven Continent with Spiritual Strength equal to Powerful Soul Cultivators from Immortal World so, this was an easy task for him.
Every sect, every commoner, every warrior and scholar saw what had transpired in the 108th Xuantian Monastery.
The massacre. The judgment. The birth of a new order.
They saw Long Chen standing before thousands of traitors and Corrupt Path experts, his sword dripping with their blood.
They heard his words of righteousness.
And now, as the final battle outside the secret realm erupted, millions watched in awe and horror.
But it didn't stop at that Point.
Sect Masters fell. Divine generals were crushed.
The world watched in awe and fear as Long Chen and his warriors annihilated the Corrupt Path's strongest forces within a single day.
By the time the sun set, Su Prefecture was drenched in blood.
And the Eastern Wasteland trembled.
As the days passed, Long Chen's name spread like wildfire.
Some called him a savior, the Hegemon reborn to purge the world of evil.
Others called him a demon, a merciless butcher who knew only slaughter.
But Long Chen did not care.
His goal was clear—to eradicate all traitors and the Corrupt Path.
There, the remaining Corrupt Path experts had fortified themselves, believing they could withstand Long Chen's wrath.
They were wrong.
With the Righteous Path sects who still upheld true justice joining forces with Long Chen, the Corrupt Path's final refuge became a slaughterhouse.
For an entire month, Long Chen personally led the charge into every stronghold, every hidden sect, every underground lair.
And one by one, the Corrupt Path was wiped from existence.
By the time the war ended, not a single Corrupt Path elder, not a single traitorous sect remained in Su and Qing Prefectures.
The Eastern Wasteland was forever changed.
And the Eastern Wasteland became divided.
The Saviors and the Tyrant: Two Voices, Two Fates
To those who had suffered under the Corrupt Path, Long Chen was a savior, a god of war who had freed them from darkness.
To those who feared power, Long Chen was a tyrant, a force of destruction that could not be controlled.
The major righteous sects, after seeing the live recording, were forced to acknowledge the truth—
Their so-called righteous allies had betrayed them.
They bowed before Long Chen, recognizing that without him, the Eastern Wasteland would have fallen into chaos.
But others, unwilling to accept reality, whispered in fear—
"If Long Chen could destroy the Corrupt Path… could he one day turn his blade upon us?"
It was a question that would haunt the world for years to come.
However, with Long Chen's Master--Pill Emperor Yun Qi openly supported Long Chen and Dragon Blood Legion as well as the decision made by them, Long Chen's image of being saviour increased by a lot.
To Be Continued...