Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1404 - 1404 0796 Blood Stains the Capital City_2

Chapter 1404: Chapter 0796: Blood Stains the Capital City_2 Chapter 1404: Chapter 0796: Blood Stains the Capital City_2 The twelve hours passed swiftly, and, as per Qi Tian’s request, the total number of cultivators who gathered before the palace was less than three hundred—a minor fraction of the numerous cultivators in Great Zhao Capital City, merely about one thirtieth.

Qi Tian had anticipated such a scenario. He immediately called the ghastly faces back and then split them into two groups. He left one group in front of the palace to watch over the cultivators who had rushed over, ordering them to stay put and not move. If anyone dared to disobey his command, they would be killed on the spot.

Afterward, Qi Tian, along with Gao Jinmei and the remaining ghastly faces, took off from the palace. He cranked the Heavenly Dao Engine’s sensing function for Spirit Qi to its limit and began sweeping through the Capital City, street by street, as if plowing the earth. Upon finding a cultivator, regardless of whether they were male or female, young or old, or original residents of the Capital City, there was only one outcome: he would command the ghastly faces to drag them out from their hiding places, bring them to the main street, and behead them. After chopping off their heads, the heads would be thrown onto the streets to rot as a public warning. Then he continued the search, discovering and killing one after another, showing no mercy or hesitation.

Qi Tian knew there would definitely be cultivators wrongfully accused among them, who might not have committed any evil in Capital City or simply did not wish to be constrained by others and refused to heed his orders. Normally, that would have been irrelevant, but not now.

As Emperor of Great Zhao Nation, Prince Zhao had been murdered, and Qi Tian needed people to be buried with him. He required countless heads to declare to the world that the death of Prince Zhao had touched his reverse scale, and whoever did so would die. It didn’t matter whether the ones killed were the perpetrators or mere bystanders; their presence in Capital City at that time was their original sin.

Qi Tian acted swiftly, but flipping the entire Capital City inside out and beheading over ten thousand people turned the city into rivers of blood, which took him nearly a day’s time.

The original murkiness and gloominess of the Capital City had since fallen into dead silence. Whether commoners or others, they all remained hushed and terrified, scarcely daring to speak out loud for fear of drawing Qi Tian’s attention, lest their heads be the next to fall.

Qi Tian did not go through a second round of purging. Having killed over ten thousand cultivators encompassing all stages from Qi Cultivation Period to Gold Core Stage, men and women, young and old, none were spared—every single one became a beheaded ghost. Such slaughter was sufficient, serving both to comfort the spirit of Prince Zhao in heaven and to warn all under the heavens.

Only then did Qi Tian return to the palace. Those cultivators who had heeded Qi Tian’s call and rushed here were watched closely by the ghastly faces, all quivering with fear, not daring to speak.

Upon Qi Tian’s return, these cultivators sensed an overwhelming murderous aura emanating from him, which only increased their terror.

Qi Tian regarded them and said indifferently, “Just now, I have combed through Capital City and, all in all, killed over ten thousand people. Just like you, they were all cultivators. They didn’t listen to me, so I simply sent them off to meet Yama. Some might say I am domineering, ruthless, and unreasonable, all of which are true. Yet, this is my duty. Some of you may know me, while others do not, so let me introduce myself. My name is Qi Tian, the National Master of Great Zhao Nation and the very man some of you came from afar intending to kill. My duty is to ensure the security of the royal family, especially the emperor’s safety. However, the Emperor of Great Zhao Nation has been played to death by you lot. Very well then, if it’s broken, let it be completely shattered—you kill, and I kill. Let’s see who, by not abiding by the rules, manages to survive in the end.”

When they heard Qi Tian introduce himself as Qi Tian, many of the cultivators gathered in front of the palace grew fearful. Initially, they had seen the edict issued by the crown prince and thought that killing Qi Tian would be an easy task, but now, seeing Qi Tian like this, they knew that to fight against him was to seek death itself.

So someone shouted, “Master Qi, you wish to kill those people to avenge Great Zhao Nation’s emperor, and we wholeheartedly support you. Have you summoned us here to assist you? If you require it, we are more than willing to serve you, to act as your enforcers.”

Qi Tian smiled and said, “You are mistaken, I have called you here to provide you an opportunity, a chance to prove your innocence to us. Now, you may begin your accusations, just name three individuals, reveal the atrocities they have committed here in the Capital City, whether they have shown disrespect to the emperor, whether they have shamed and humiliated civil and military officials to the utmost, or whether they have oppressed the common people of the Capital City. If you can do this, you may be able to lighten the sins you bear, and perhaps earn your freedom. Come now, who will be the first? I must warn you, if you refuse to accuse others, it means you have guilt within, so what use is there in leaving such a person in this world? Better to join the emperor down in hell.”

No one dared ignore Qi Tian’s warning. Immediately, some cultivators raised their hands and started to accuse others as per Qi Tian’s demand.

Once someone started, those who were accused naturally retorted in kind, but according to Qi Tian’s stipulations, they too had to accuse three individuals, so just retaliating against those who accused them would not suffice, they had to drag two more down with them. As a result, the number of people being accused, and those counter-accusing, kept increasing.

The several hundred cultivators gathered in front of the palace accused each other back and forth, and in the end, except for a very few people—who presumably were free of guilt because no one accused them—the rest were all pointed out for their myriad despicable deeds.

When these people had finished their accusations, Qi Tian waved his hand, and the ghostly visages sprang into action. Regardless of how many people the cultivators had accused, if they had done evil in the Capital City, the ghostly visages charged at them and killed them outright.

Only then did the cultivators realize the direness of the situation. But when they thought of resisting or fleeing, there was no chance at all. With the power of the ghostly faces, just one could crush them, let alone now that Qi Tian had unleashed all of them; there was no opportunity to be found.

In the end, aside from Qi Tian and Gao Jinmei, fewer than twenty cultivators could still stand in front of the palace. The rest lay strewn across the streets, lying in pools of blood.

Qi Tian looked at the remaining cultivators, snorted coldly, and said, “You might consider yourselves fortunate that no one accused you, but this does not mean you are without sin. Let’s not even mention whether you have ever done evil here in the Capital City; merely standing by with folded arms when the emperor was slain is a crime sufficient for you to pay dearly. However, today too many have been killed, and I am weary. Your crimes will not be pursued further. You may go now. But before you leave, I must warn you, if you are not from Great Zhao Nation, then do not commit evil within Great Zhao in the future. If you are from Great Zhao, then you must search your conscience and ask yourselves, is it not because of your doing that Great Zhao has come to this state? Do you not feel any shame? If those foreign cultivators had met with resistance when they first started their wrongdoing in Great Zhao, would today’s events have unfolded? Would the emperor have been murdered?”