"Gu Boji, do you know your crime?"
"Your subordinate knows his crime. Please punish me, Immortal Master."
Facing the questioning of the cultivator, even though Gu Boji was the emperor and committed no fault, he could only obediently kneel and admit his mistake.
It was simply because he was a mortal!
An elder of the Lingyuan Sect at the Fusion Realm looked at Gu Boji's obedient confession with great satisfaction.
"Since you know your mistake, then you shall die."
With that, he beckoned behind him. A small cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, who had barely learned to fly a sword, staggered in front of Gu Boji, dismounted from his flying sword,
picked up the flying sword, and raised it proudly.
"Dog Emperor, do you still recognize me?"
Gu Boji looked up at the cultivator with trembling knees and nodded, saying, "I do."
"Haha, dog emperor, when you killed my father, did you ever think this day would come?"
"No. My father was corrupt and harmed the common people. As emperor, it was right for me to kill him."
As if knowing he was doomed, Gu Boji's back straightened, though he remained kneeling.
"My father's corruption wasn't your instruction. You just thought he was too greedy and found an excuse to kill him."
The Qi Condensation cultivator seemed satisfied with Gu Boji kneeling before him, becoming more indignant as he spoke, fabricating charges against Gu Boji.
The cultivators from the three sects hovering in the air did not urge him to kill, but watched with smiles, occasionally glancing towards Yang Hong.
"A boring farce, it's time to end this."
Seeing that there was no more entertainment and satisfied with Gu Boji's performance, Yang Hong spoke.
As his voice fell, he had already appeared beside Gu Boji.
*Slap~*
The Qi Condensation fourth-level cultivator was blown away by the gust of wind accompanying Yang Hong's appearance, crashing against the palace walls and immediately spewing blood.
"Audacious Yang Hong, how dare you interfere with our three sects' judgment! Are you trying to rebel?"
The third-tier Fusion Realm cultivator from the Lingyuan Sect, with a livid face, flew above Yang Hong's head and questioned him loudly.
"I don't like talking while looking up."
*Boom!*
As Yang Hong's voice fell, the cultivator was smashed directly from mid-air to the ground, leaving a human-shaped crater in the solid bluestone.
Yang Hong walked to the edge of the crater and asked indifferently, looking down:
"What did you just say?"
"Cough cough~ Senior, Gu Li Kingdom is the territory of the Chunlai Sect, Deyuan Sect, and Lingyuan Sect. Behind us is the seventh-rank sect, Dou Niu Sect.
I implore senior to reconsider."
Peng Shengyu knew his kneecaps were shattered and was terrified, but he still tried to be brave.
"So you're threatening me, then you shall die."
"Senior, spare my life! Ah!"
Peng Shengyu had just found Yang Hong's words familiar when a giant palm slapped down. He only managed a half-scream before being flattened into a pulp.
"..."
The cultivators in the air watched this scene in dumbfounded silence. They had just decided the fate of a mortal, but that mortal didn't die, and their companion died first.
"Disciple, are you alright?"
"I'm~ I'm~ alright."
Facing Yang Hong, who gently helped him up and called him disciple with a kind tone, Gu Boji's expression was a mix of terror, pleasant surprise, and hesitation, like a rapid face-changing performance.
"How can you be alright? You're stuttering from fear, how can you be alright?
You guys floating in the sky, get down here and apologize to my disciple!"
Yang Hong's voice was still calm, but to the more than twenty cultivators from the three sects including Deyuan, it sounded like a thunderclap. They quickly landed and apologized repeatedly.
Some even began to say that Peng Shengyu of the Lingyuan Sect was a bad person and deserved to die.
Yang Hong chuckled at their words, while Gu Boji wanted to laugh but dared not.
"As compensation, your three sects shall be disbanded from now on and join my Qingfeng Villa as chores."
"..."
The pleas for mercy instantly froze.
Joining Qingfeng Villa was undoubtedly a good thing, as a sect that could use a fifth-rank flying artifact like the Kongxing Louzhou could not be a small sect.
However, becoming chores was quite insulting.
In the cultivation world, mortals wishing to enter a cultivation sect would either become disciples or chores. Chores were considered property of the sect and could be killed at will.
If one became a chore disciple, they were considered part of the sect, a disciple, and besides not being killed arbitrarily, they could also cultivate the sect's basic techniques.
The difference of two words, "chore disciple," created a vast chasm in status.
"Very well, your silence means tacit consent. I'll give you three days to go back and move. Pack whatever you think is useful and bring it here.
Anyone not appearing in this square after three days will be considered a traitor, and their nine generations of relatives will be exterminated!"
Yang Hong had no time and no need to negotiate with these cultivators. He gave orders.
"Senior, aren't you being a bit too overbearing? Our three families are, after all, fifth-rank sects, and we have Nascent Soul Ancestors guarding them. Aren't you afraid of us fighting back with our lives?"
"You still dare to fight back? Excellent, quickly, quickly call your ancestors to fight back!
Three days, I'll give you three days. If you don't show up after three days,
your sects will be wiped out!"
Saying this, Yang Hong released his suppressed aura, allowing them to leave.
The more than twenty cultivators dared not look at Yang Hong again, turned around, and flew away on their swords.
Watching the three sects' cultivators about to disappear, Yang Hong turned to the three confused individuals, Zhu Yuyan and the others.
"Yuyan, Yuzhi, Wanwan, these are the training opponents I've chosen for you.
Follow them. Those who are obedient and willing to disband their sects, bring them back.
Those who want to resist, destroy them directly!"
Yang Hong's command stunned Zhu Yuyan, Wanwan, and Song Yuzhi, their faces filled with disbelief.
Zhu Yuyan hesitated and said, "Husband, isn't this not good?"
"No! This is very good. The cultivation world is naturally a place where the strong prey on the weak. Think back to when you first entered the cultivation world, before returning to Da Sui, when you didn't know I was a super expert."
Yang Hong didn't offer further explanation. Many things were better understood by the individuals themselves.
"I'll go!"
The first to speak was Song Yuzhi, who had always been the most demure and kind. Perhaps she had experienced more of the dangers of the cultivation world.
Yang Hong nodded, smiling with satisfaction.
"Although I still feel this is not right, since husband requires it, I will go."
Wanwan tilted her head, looking adorably at Song Yuzhi's departing figure, then said to Yang Hong before flying away on her sword.
"I think I understand, and yet I don't fully. However, destroying a sect is indeed no small matter. I will try my best to subdue those cultivators."
Zhu Yuyan no longer argued with Yang Hong and flew away.
After the three flew far away, Yang Hong instructed Gu Boji to continue the power transition and appease the country. He then turned invisible and followed them.
He was a person who was tough on the outside but soft on the inside, and he was worried about his three wives. He watched from afar with his divine sense.
Fortunately, everything unfolded as he expected, and there were no accidents. The three women only went to the sects after the sects had considered their options for a day.
Except for Wanwan, who was a bit heavy-handed and killed the Nascent Soul ancestor of the Lingyuan Sect and all the Core Formation elders, Song Yuzhi and Zhu Yuyan both chose to injure the entire sect without killing anyone.
However, the effect was the same: all three sects chose to surrender and submit.
As the cultivators from these three sects moved out of their sect locations, the blue destiny above their mountain gates rapidly dissipated, while the red destiny of Zhu Yuyan and the other two who executed the subjugation slightly deepened.
"As expected..."