"Seven Killings Daoist, alright, I’ve noted it down."
Richard shrank back to his normal state, then casually gestured to hold the Seven Killings Sword, which emerged from the disintegration of the Seven Killings Daoist, in his hand.
The long sword had no guard, the blade was slender, and the hilt was like jade, resembling a bamboo pole. On the sword’s blade, seven mysterious Daoist Texts were faintly visible. With a slight infusion of energy, various anomalies would appear on the blade.
After a brief test, the seven Daoist Texts on the Seven Killings Sword turned out to be the Four Elements, Metal, Plant, and Thunder.
In the words of the Fire Spirit God, that would be Five Elements plus Wind and Thunder.
Looking at the seven Daoist Texts on the blade, Richard clicked his tongue in wonder: "The Dao Techniques have all been distorted, yet these texts can still function. The mystery within is truly unfathomable."
The Fire Spirit God gently shook his head and said, "It’s no mystery, my lord. The Daoist Texts haven’t been distorted because the sword itself contains these rules. The unwarped texts, as long as they are written, can connect with the Heavenly Dao without needing rules, making ordinary objects and those imbued with rules indistinguishable."
Richard was momentarily stunned, then shook his head in self-mockery: "Got fooled, I actually forgot that this thing inherently contains rules."
Putting away the Seven Killings Sword, Richard soared into the sky, gazing at the vast land.
Though the Immortal Country’s size far surpassed Richard’s imagination, even with the great commotion caused by the Mad Immortal, this fragment still retained tranquility over large areas.
Richard roughly estimated that the size of this fragment was probably as large as the entire landmass of the Immortal Country World.
Squinting his eyes, within his sight, Richard seemed to spot vast clusters of palaces.
"Seems not everyone left; some have remained."
As his thoughts shifted, Richard’s figure instantly appeared hundreds of miles away. After a battle, Richard felt exceptionally free, even his spatial jumps became smoother.
Minutes later, Richard arrived at the cluster of palaces he had seen. To call this area a cluster of palaces would be less accurate than describing it as a set of large factory-like buildings. These structures lacked decoration and appeared quite rough. However, based on Richard’s experience, he could tell these buildings were extremely sturdy and durable.
These buildings were situated on a vast plain, and in the distance, Richard also saw many objects resembling sheep pens.
At this moment, numerous werewolves in this factory area were using Dao Techniques to refine a Giant Beast into a blood-red stone. This stone contained an extremely rich amount of Life Energy, suitable for healing, whether used to make a Magic Potion or consumed directly, it would be quite effective.
"This must be what the werewolves refer to as Blood Essence," Richard muttered to himself as he looked at the stone.
Upon landing on the ground, the chaotic voices of the werewolves instantly entered Richard’s senses.
"Swine! Hurry up, if you delay the Immortal Venerable’s alchemy, I’ll turn you into Blood Essence!"
"Steward, steward, the Barbaric Beasts are used up, hurry up and restock!"
"Steward, the Barbaric Beasts have arrived at the Wild Beast Cage."
"Old Wang, the Immortal Venerable’s movements seem too big this time. I heard from other towns that the Immortal Venerable’s state is increasingly..."
From the confused chatter of the werewolves, Richard roughly understood what these werewolves were up to. In short, these werewolves were doing something akin to the work of a Medicine Farmer.
Except that their product isn’t medicinal herbs, but high-grade materials known as Blood Essence.
They were raising Barbaric Beasts in the Wild Beast Cage and, once the beasts matured, they would be slaughtered and refined into Blood Essence, which would then be delivered to a dedicated convoy responsible for transporting Elixir Materials to the Immortal Venerable, the Mad Immortal.
If nothing unexpected happens, there would be many such places within the Immortal Village Fragments.
With a sweep of his spiritual power, Richard took in the whole factory area. Amongst the werewolves, Richard quickly noticed that all the supervisors wore clothes embroidered with a badge.
If he remembered correctly, this badge should be the family emblem of a certain noble clan.
"Looks like the civilians sent up by the werewolves over millennia have been used as laborers in places ."
The noble families, in addition to sending Elixir Materials into the Immortal Country, also sent those with cultivation potential into the Immortal Fate of the Immortal Country. In the past, Richard thought these people became Daoists, but it’s now clear that a civilian remains a civilian even in the Immortal Country.
The vermin of the noble families would never relinquish their hold over them.
Leaving the factory, Richard wandered leisurely across the continent.
The region where the Mad Immortal was located lay at the easternmost part of this fragment. That place was scenic but perpetually uninhabited due to his frequent episodes of madness. But the western part of the fragment was different.
When the Supreme Sect’s Leader became the Mad Immortal, he seemed to deliberately avoid the area of the Supreme Sect. As a result, vast remnants of the Supreme Sect were preserved intact in the western part of the fragment.
Most noble werewolf families lived in these ruins.
While observing the ruins, a group of somewhat unfamiliar figures entered Richard’s view.
These beings were robust, with scales similar to fish scales on their bodies, and heads reminiscent of the Giant Dragons Richard remembered. Yet, while Giant Dragons usually evoked an image of majesty and ferocity, these dragon-headed beings conveyed a sense of awe-inspiring sanctity.
"Are these the natives of the Immortal Country World?"
Richard descended from the sky, landing near those dragon-headed beings.
His sudden appearance startled the dragon-headed beings, who had been heading to some destination, and they quickly assumed a defensive posture, shouting at Richard:
"Who are you, and why do you trespass within our Supreme Sect!"
Richard’s expression was somewhat odd; the Sect Leader of the Supreme Sect had just disintegrated into a soldier before him, and this group of dragon people was now claiming to be members of the Supreme Sect.
"Fire Spirit God, what are these guys?"
Fire Spirit God responded with a hint of disdain, "These guys are dragon people, a race in the Immortal Court that’s among the few that cannot cultivate. Dao Ancestor took pity on these dragon people who couldn’t cultivate, altered their origins, and brought them into the Immortal Court’s pure land as the court’s servants... Alas, now that the Immortal Court has collapsed, these dragon people can occupy and take over.
Richard looked at the dragon people in front of him, spreading out his spiritual power. He soon replied, "Not necessarily. These dragon people were likely permitted by Seven Killings to take over the Supreme Sect."
With that, Richard took out the Seven Killings Sword.
"The Sect Leader has disintegrated into a soldier, and before doing so, he entrusted the Supreme Sect to me; this sword is the proof."
The dragon people were first stunned at his words, then furiously exclaimed, "You arrogant fool, how dare you curse the Sect Leader!"
As they spoke, the dragon people’s bodies shook, and a layer of golden light immediately appeared on them.
"Bold scoundrel, take my punch!"
Richard was somewhat taken aback at the words; he hadn’t expected to encounter a lunatic. But lunatics have their uses too; at least this lunatic’s displayed ability made Richard very curious.
"This is... a talent ability based on some kind of bloodline power. Wait, this is another evolution road!"
The dragon people were currently using neither Dao Technique nor its derivative, but a new evolution road based on their bloodline.
The dragon person threw a punch which landed on Richard with a "bang," but Richard remained unmoved, while the dragon person was instead shaken back by the counter-force of the punch.
Richard watched the retreating dragon person with interest and said, "Interesting, it seems the Sect Leader left me quite a lot."
This dragon person was only a first-level creature, yet the power of this punch reached one thousand energy levels. And this wasn’t even their full strength.
Skipping further entanglement with the dragon people, Richard swept his spiritual power and quickly found the leader of this group of dragon people—a fourth-level dragon person.
This dragon person looked very old, but in Richard’s perception, the life radiation from this dragon person was as vigorous as a sun, completely disproportionate to their aged appearance.
At this moment, this dragon person was kneeling in the main hall of the Supreme Sect, dressed in white robes, seemingly in mourning.
Richard stood behind the dragon person and said blandly, "It seems you already know the news of the Sect Leader’s disintegration."
"...No, I don’t know. I only know the Sect Leader has fallen. How he died, I do not know."
The old dragon person stood up and turned to look at Richard.
"You said the Sect Leader disintegrated?"
Richard did not answer but simply presented the Seven Killings Sword to the old dragon person. Upon seeing the seven Daoist texts on the sword, the old dragon person’s eyes froze, and then he returned the sword with both hands.
"I didn’t expect I would be able to witness the legendary Seven Killings Sword. Since you have obtained the Seven Killings Sword, I assume that everything pertaining to the Supreme Sect has been entrusted to you by the Sect Leader."
Richard nodded without any mental burden.
"In that case, I pay my respects to Sect Leader."
With that, the old dragon person bowed his head to Richard.
The old dragon person’s straightforward bow surprised Richard. He had thought the fellow would resist; after all, aside from the Seven Killings Sword, he had no other proof. But unexpectedly, the old dragon person simply knelt.
However, his straightforwardness saved Richard quite a bit of trouble.
Richard stepped forward to help the old dragon person up, "Please, rise, please, rise. May I ask your name?"
The old dragon person stood up straight, bowed slightly, and said to Richard, "My name is Yun Luo; you can call me Old Yun Head. The Sect Leader is new here, and likely is not aware of the Supreme Sect’s situation. I am inadequate, but can guide Sect Leader and provide an introduction or two.
What would the Sect Leader like to see first?"
"To see what... let’s go to the Scripture Pavilion first."
Upon hearing Richard’s request, Old Yun Head’s eyes lowered, concealing his inner thoughts.
"First to the Scripture Pavilion, huh? Indeed, the Sect Leader wouldn’t entrust the Supreme Sect to a barbarian. It seems this person should be an outstanding youth from some world."
As Richard was observing Old Yun Head, Old Yun Head was also observing Richard.
Though Richard used a radiation rule to restrain all life radiation from himself, dragon people are inherently sensitive to sensing flesh creatures. He felt that Richard was very young, young enough to be less than two thousand years old.
This age and being a fourth-level creature, he was either a World Guardian from a native world—meaning a barbarian—or a genius from a civilization.
Though he knew the Sect Leader wouldn’t entrust the Supreme Sect to a barbarian, Old Yun Head still stayed alert and tested Richard.
At present, it seems Richard definitely isn’t a barbarian.
"Then please follow me; although Dao Ancestor’s Dao Technique has been distorted, there are still many Dao Techniques that can be used."