"Mercy, Lord! Mercy, Lord!"
Suddenly, pleas for mercy rang out once more.
They were from those who had come to crusade against the Chu Heavenly Clan.
In the beginning, over ten thousand crusaders had arrived.
Although a portion of them had fled immediately after being repelled by the Chu Heavenly Clan's Clan Master, the majority had remained.
When the Blood Devouring Hall appeared, some of those people chose to follow the Blood Devouring Hall and continue their assault on the Chu Heavenly Clan.
And those people had just now been killed by Gu Mingyuan — every last one of them.
The ones currently kneeling and begging for mercy were those who, after being spared by the Chu Heavenly Clan's Clan Master, had merely continued to spectate rather than joining the Blood Devouring Hall's campaign against the clan.
Unlike those who had perished, they had not been ungrateful. In fact, compared to the dead, one could even say they had shown a measure of decency.
But in the end, they had come here with the original intention of crusading against the Chu Heavenly Clan, so they were terrified.
Terrified that Gu Mingyuan and the Chu Heavenly Clan would not let them go.
"What's the deal with these people?"
Gu Mingyuan asked. After all, she had only just arrived and was unaware of the specifics regarding those individuals.
"Senior, they came here looking for trouble as well. However, after the Clan Master drove them off, he had already declared that they would be spared. Since they didn't turn around and bite the hand that fed them like those other ones did, I think we should let them go."
Although Chu Feng had arrived later than the Clan Master, he had still gotten here far earlier than Gu Mingyuan, so he had already learned the full details from the people around him.
"I see."
Gu Mingyuan nodded, then gave a sweep of her sleeve.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
In an instant, countless specks of light shot out from within her sleeve. Like arrows, they pierced into the bodies of those kneeling on the ground.
The moment the light entered their bodies, every single one of them filled with terror, thinking that Gu Mingyuan had suddenly struck to kill them.
But they were quickly stunned to discover that although the light had indeed entered their bodies, there were no wounds on their skin, nor were there any signs of pain.
"It's Soul Poison!"
Before long, someone let out a horrified cry, having identified exactly what that light was.
"What? Soul Poison?"
Hearing those words, the faces of every person there turned deathly pale.
Soul Poison, as its name implied, was a toxin that fused with the soul.
For martial cultivators who had reached their level of strength, the physical body was nothing more than a vessel — the soul was the true foundation.
Even if their physical body were shattered, they would feel no pain. But if their soul were harmed, even the tiniest scratch on their body would bring them excruciating agony.
And this Soul Poison merged directly with the soul. One could well imagine the consequences.
It was the kind of thing that could threaten their very lives.
"This Soul Poison will not take your lives, nor will it hinder your cultivation."
"As long as you keep your distance from the Chu Heavenly Clan from now on, you will live out every last year you were meant to live."
"But if you persist in your foolishness and refuse to learn your lesson, then this Soul Poison will teach you what it means to wish you were dead."
Gu Mingyuan said coldly.
"Your Highness, we will never dare again! We truly will never dare again! Please, give us a chance to live!"
"Your Highness, we beg you! We only came here today to put on a brave front — we never actually intended to fight the Chu Heavenly Clan!"
Those people were so frightened that they dropped to their knees once more, crying out for mercy.