Sword and I unified, sword heart enlightened, Ye Bufan felt his sword heart was firmer than ever, and his person had reached a very mysterious state.
Ryūgen Hito swung his saber at Ye Bufan, and Ye Bufan also swung his sword at the opponent. This sword stirred up the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the power of the attack instantly increased several times.
"Huh?" Ryūgen Hito's eyes jumped, feeling a sense of inexplicable crisis rising from the bottom of his heart.
"Bang—"
His saber collided with Ye Bufan's sword, and Ryūgen Hito was sent flying backward, his whole body being torn apart by the sword energy of Ye Bufan's strike.
His clothes were torn to shreds by the sword energy, and his skin felt as if pieces of flesh had been scraped off, stinging with pain.
"Sword Domain!" As a practitioner of the saber, Ryūgen Hito naturally recognized the power of a domain. He was within Ye Bufan's domain, and Ye Bufan was the master of this domain.
"No! A cultivator at the early stage of Core Formation, where did a domain come from?" Ryūgen Hito narrowed his eyes at Ye Bufan, the only explanation being that Ye Bufan had obtained the inheritance from the Taiyi Divine Sect, otherwise, such a situation would not have occurred.
"Boy, you possess a Sword Domain at such a young age. No wonder you dare to fight me, a cultivator at the mid-stage of Core Formation, while you are still at the early stage. Hand over the inheritance, and I can spare your life." Ryūgen Hito stood his ground, breathing heavily, and spoke to Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan smiled slightly and said, "In our Nine Provinces, there's always a saying: villains die because they talk too much."
As soon as the words fell, Ye Bufan unleashed all the true qi in his body. Within the Sword Domain, sword energy surged, and Ye Bufan mobilized a trace of the Dragon Emperor Token's energy to participate.
Ryūgen Hito's right eyelid twitched. He felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and a voice in his heart constantly warned him not to confront it head-on.
He gripped his katana tightly with both hands and swung it at Ye Bufan. The next moment, the spot where he had been standing turned into a bloody mist.
"Blood Escape!" Ye Bufan didn't expect the opponent to use Blood Escape.
"I didn't expect that after reaching the Core Formation stage, I could actually mobilize a trace of the Dragon Emperor Token's energy. Just a small amount of energy raised the power of the entire Sword Domain by several times. Coupled with the domain's amplification, even Ryūgen Hito had to flee." Ye Bufan sighed inwardly.
With the energy of these two Dragon Emperor Tokens, what would it be like to gather all of them?
As soon as Ryūgen Hito fled, the Sakura Island faction immediately crumbled. They were attacked from the front by the cultivators' sects and from the rear by the cultivators' families.
Just as Ye Bufan had predicted, Bai Zizhen and Shangguan Chengtian's secret discussion was aimed at luring out the mastermind behind the scenes. Then, through false intelligence, both sides would cooperate to trap and capture them, creating an opening to lead this group of people to escape.
After an hour of intense battle, all the people from Sakura Island were dealt with. The captured Talisman Masters were either killed or committed suicide if they refused to be captured.
The sects and families quickly cleaned up the battlefield and marched twenty kilometers eastward, finally stopping to rest in a strategically advantageous and difficult-to-attack mountain valley.
As soon as Ye Bufan sat down to rest, Song Mingqin ran over and patted him on the shoulder.
"Ye Bufan, many people saw your fight with that Ryūgen Hito just now. You've become famous among our sects and families now. Senior Bai said he wants to thank you specifically after things are settled," Song Mingqin said.
"Senior Bai is too kind," Ye Bufan waved his hand and asked, "Are we planning to close the door and beat the dog now?"
Song Mingqin nodded. "This time, in addition to the name provided by the Underground City, we also had a breakthrough from the cultivators' families. It was like hitting two birds with one stone."
"Oh?" Ye Bufan was surprised that there was also a gain from the cultivators' families.
Song Mingqin told Ye Bufan that Bai Zizhen and Shangguan Chengtian had conspired, pretending to split into two paths. In reality, Shangguan Chengtian was circling through the forest and heading towards the cultivators' sects. Everyone was bewildered at the time. Then, it seemed that Huangfu Yun of the Huangfu family noticed that a few people were missing. After some investigation, they caught the culprit red-handed while they were trying to upload information to the Sakura Island people.
At Song Mingqin's warm invitation, Ye Bufan also went to observe the meeting between the two sides.
Ye Bufan stood to the side and saw Chu Tai, and an elder from the Tao family, Tao Liangce, who was presumably from the cultivators' families, bound in the middle of the crowd.
"Everyone, my lord and I, along with Patriarch Shangguan, conspired in this plan. We didn't expect to catch two big fish. It's truly an unexpected joy," Bai Zizhen happily shared the day's gains with everyone.
"Senior Bai, I believe there must be some misunderstanding between us. How could I, the esteemed Sect Master of Tianyuan Sect, be an informant arranged by Sakura Island?" Chu Tai put on an innocent act.
Bai Zizhen smiled slightly and retorted, "Chu Tai, then tell me, what were you doing at one of Sakura Island's bases the night before?"
As soon as he said this, the entire hall was in an uproar, and all eyes fell on Chu Tai.
"Me? Could it be a mistake?" Chu Tai said.
"I knew you'd say that," Bai Zizhen snorted coldly. "I specifically inquired about your information from the elders of your sect and discovered that your true identity is an orphan from Sakura Island. You were adopted by the previous Sect Master when you were young and brought back to the sect. We thought you would be loyal growing up in our Nine Provinces, but little did we know you would betray us like this."
Chu Tai looked back in the direction of Tianyuan Sect. The elders looked at Chu Tai with expressionless faces.
"Hmph, loyal?" Chu Tai, seeing that the situation had come to this, no longer pretended and said, "I've known since I was young that I am from Sakura Island. In ancient times, our Sakura Island was a vassal of your Nine Provinces, always suppressed under your feet. I am not resigned to this. Why do you suppress us? Isn't it because you have vast lands and abundant resources?"
Ye Bufan watched from afar and sneered.
"Sakura Island is worthy of its name. How can they all be so petty?" Ye Bufan remarked.
"That's why they are only our vassals," Ye Qingcheng said.
"Tao Ming, what crime do you deserve?" Shangguan Chengtian questioned the elder named Tao Ming.
"Tao Ming, our Tao family has never mistreated you. How could you do such a thing?"