Outside the Nine Peaks barrier, a vast crowd had gathered in a state of utter commotion.
At the very least several thousand people were congregated there, and judging by the size, those three factions had managed to rope in and manipulate quite a few more helpers over this period.
Yang Kai observed with detached calm, extending his Divine Sense outward. He quickly identified three large groups among the thousands that stood out by sheer numbers, and he immediately understood—they were the Broken Profound Mansion, the War Soul Hall, and the Nether Sect, along with the allies they had dragged along.
Beyond these three major groups, no shortage of miscellaneous factions had also shown up. They clustered here and there in scattered formations, gazing coldly toward the Nine Peaks.
The moment Xu Hui and the others appeared, the cultivators who had been attacking the barrier hastily retreated and jumped back. Everyone else also wore expressions heavy with wariness.
A centipede dies but never falls apart—even though the Nine Heavens Holy Land had fallen on hard times, it was still a formidable power that had endured for countless ages. Both its history and its foundations dwarfed any faction present.
There was still deterrence to be had.
What's more, they all knew that if they failed to destroy the Nine Heavens Holy Land this time, then when it rose again, not a single faction here would escape retribution.
Every Holy Master of the Holy Land had reached the pinnacle of the third layer of the Entering Saint Realm—this was practically legend. Across the entire continent, apart from a scant handful of powers, no faction could guarantee its disciples would ever achieve such a level of cultivation.
Against such a power, they could not help but feel some measure of dread.
Under the sweep of Yang Kai's Divine Sense, the number of Entering Saint Realm experts was laid bare at a glance.
Fifteen at minimum!
Among them, two were at the second layer of the Entering Saint Realm. The rest were all first-layer.
In terms of both numbers and cultivation, the Nine Heavens Holy Land was at an overwhelming disadvantage.
"Xu Hui, I've known you for nearly a hundred years, and it's only today that I realize you're actually a turtle. What—think you can just hide behind your Nine Peaks barrier and live comfortably? Think that lets you wash your hands of the blood your previous Holy Maiden spilled?" From the three great factions, the one in the center was led by a wizened old man who barked out those words.
His words triggered uproarious laughter from the crowd. A cacophony of jeers and insults erupted.
Xu Hui's expression remained cold and indifferent. "Zhang Ao, why must you be like this?"
Hearing the name, Yang Kai's gaze shifted, and he studied the aged man more carefully.
Zhang Ao—a powerhouse of the Broken Profound Mansion, at the second layer of the Entering Saint Realm. Xu Hui had mentioned him more than ten days ago. Of these three factions, the only one worth worrying about was this Zhang Ao. He hadn't put the others on his radar, but this man possessed the same level of cultivation as Xu Hui himself. If they truly clashed, the outcome would be impossible to predict.
"What about me?" Zhang Ao snorted coldly. "Today I've merely brought these friends of ours to your Nine Heavens Holy Land to seek justice for their fallen loved ones!"
"Justice?" Xu Hui's piercing eyes were filled with undisguised contempt. "A despicable wretch like you dares to speak of justice?"
"Whether I'm despicable is not for you to decide." Zhang Ao let out a derisive snort. "Your previous Holy Maiden went out into the world and slaughtered innocents, killing without mercy—and you people in the Nine Heavens Holy Land just hid in here and did nothing. For those who died, where is the justice? Did they ever provoke your Holy Land? In what way did they wrong you? They didn't even know you!"
"Exactly! You let your previous Holy Maiden ravage the world—that demands an answer!"
"If you don't hand over the previous Holy Maiden for execution, we'll destroy the Nine Heavens Holy Land today!"
"I'd say they're all cut from the same cloth. Maybe that previous Holy Maiden was sent out by them in the first place to do her killing."
"..."
The crowd seethed with fury, voices overlapping as they shouted accusations. Though the words were ugly, most of them held a grain of truth. Xu Hui and his people heard it all, burning with anger but unable to mount a rebuttal.
It wasn't that they didn't want to deal with the Aunt Saint Nan—it was that they simply lacked the means.
The old Holy Master was dead. The sole surviving Holy Maiden and the future new Holy Master had been brought back from the Demon Borderlands at great effort. Where would they find the time and energy to handle the matter of Aunt Saint Nan? What's more, Aunt Saint Nan was a master of the Nine Heavens Divine Skills. Xu Hui and the others were no match for her, and confronting her would only court humiliation.
The last time Aunt Saint Nan had attacked, they had expended tremendous effort just to drive her back, and the Holy Land's foundations had been devastated in the process, with disciples killed and wounded in droves.
Watching the expressions on Xu Hui and his people, Zhang Ao grew ever more smug. He pressed his advantage relentlessly, shouting again and again that Xu Hui must hand over the hidden Aunt Saint Nan and execute her before everyone present, to comfort the spirits of those who had died innocently.