Shen Muzhi's guess was not wrong.
Even on that very night, before the moon had fully emerged from the clouds, a powerful spiritual energy could be felt from below the mountain, rapidly approaching their location.
Everyone knew what this spiritual energy represented. It was the arrival of those detestable cultivators, ready to engage them in a battle to vanquish demons.
This was something they had anticipated from the start, so Liu Buli had no intention of hiding. He simply picked up his long sword and went to the sect's main gate.
He looked up at the plaque that read "Dan Sect."
Liu Buli couldn't help but shake his head and gestured to Shen Muzhi beside him, saying, "When you set fire earlier, you weren't exactly careful. Look at this plaque, it's completely scorched and blackened, you can barely see the characters."
During their earlier cleanup of the sect, Shen Muzhi had been the one doing most of the work. It was precisely because of this that the Red Lotus Night Fire had almost engulfed the entire mountain. However, due to Shen Muzhi's strong spiritual power, there hadn't been any serious incidents of the mountain catching fire.
Apart from the people who were burned, only a few buildings and this plaque outside were affected. From a certain perspective, the damage had indeed been minimized.
Upon hearing Liu Buli's words, Shen Muzhi also looked up and took a serious look at the plaque. Liu Buli was not wrong; the thing was indeed badly burned.
However, when faced with Liu Buli's statement, Shen Muzhi showed no sign of remorse. Instead, he shrugged very calmly and said, "There are only three of us left in the sect, and you can't be the sect leader anymore. It wouldn't make sense for just the two of you high-ranking officials to have me, a servant, attending to you, would it? The Dan Sect no longer exists, so it doesn't matter if the plaque is destroyed. If you think it looks bad hanging there, I can even destroy it more thoroughly. Do you need me to lend a hand?"
As Shen Muzhi spoke, a hint of eagerness flickered in his eyes.
However, Liu Buli didn't give him the chance to act. He swung the long sword in his hand, and with a crisp cracking sound from above them, the plaque was shattered into pieces. Not only that, but the wooden frame supporting the plaque also collapsed, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Seeing him finish, Shen Muzhi couldn't help but laugh.
When it came to personality, Liu Buli was truly uniquely unparalleled.
While they were doing this, the approaching讨伐 (tǎofá - punitive expedition) team finally arrived at the mountain gate in full force. Seeing the three of them standing there, the person at the front of the team shouted loudly, "Liu Buli! We always suspected something was wrong with you, and you have indeed walked down the path of demonic cultivation! We have all witnessed your actions in the past few days! The heavens cannot tolerate a beast like you! However, considering that you have done many beneficial things for the cultivation world in the past, we can afford to be lenient with you. If you are willing to end yourself, we will grant you a complete corpse!"
These words were truly delivered with exquisite politeness.
Liu Buli let out a scoff and said, "If you are so easy to talk to, I am also willing to be a person who is easy to talk to. Since everyone intends to negotiate, why don't we have a good talk? If you are willing to return all the dragon remains you took, I will not kill you."
His words seemed to be genuinely negotiating with those people, but upon hearing them, those people immediately became enraged, cursing Liu Buli furiously, "Liu Buli! You are truly shameless! You are on the brink of death, yet you can still utter such words. Do you really think we can't defeat you?"
"Exactly! Who knows what you want those dragon bones back for? You claim they are yours, why should we believe you? Just because your disciple died with that dragon, does that prove the dragon was your disciple's Dao companion? Don't you even consider things before you lie? Do you take us all for fools?"
"Liu Buli, I used to think you were quite beautiful and perhaps had a good heart. Now I see, those with beautiful faces have terrible hearts! You are indeed the biggest cancerous tumor in the cultivation world!"
The surrounding curses grew louder and louder, and Liu Buli heard them all clearly, but his face showed no signs of anger.
Instead, he slowly curved his lips, revealing a calm smile. He nodded gently and said, "You are right, I am a bad person. I've been pretending to be a good person for so long, and honestly, it's been making me uncomfortable. Now I can reveal my true nature, and I'm quite happy about it. But when you call me a bad person, why can't you take a good look at yourselves? From a certain perspective, you don't seem to be much better, do you? We are all similar beings, so stop flattering yourselves, alright?"
Liu Buli said this, and then began to count on his fingers, saying, "When my disciple was killed, many of you were present, weren't you? We are all acquaintances. When she begged you for help, none of you were willing to assist her, were you? Why didn't you help her? Wasn't it all to wait for her to die so you could divide that dragon? Or to put it more bluntly, you not only didn't help her, but you deliberately released your spiritual pressure, knowing her condition was already very poor, and intentionally stimulated her to make her die faster. Isn't this the kind of thing you so-called good people do?"
Everything he said was the truth.
After all, this was what he had seen through Yun Xiang's final memories. Even if everyone else lied, the memories filled with despair before death could never lie.
And just as he had expected, after he spoke these truths, many of the cultivators who had come to punish him had their expressions stiffen.
This clearly touched a sore spot for them.
However, of course, no one was willing to admit it.
So the topic was diverted again. Someone from the crowd, it was unclear who, pointed directly at Liu Buli and said, "Liu Buli, stop talking about useless things and talk about yourself! You killed an entire city and destroyed the Vajra Sect. I see you're not just entering demonic cultivation yourself, but also to ensure your disciple can eat well, right! He is a demon, stop pretending, we all know!"