"Compared to my own life and death, nothing else matters in my eyes?"
"As long as the benefits I receive are great enough, nothing matters. Betraying Tongguan City is nothing!"
Seeing that he had been exposed, Hong Tongtian decided to stop hiding and revealed his true face.
"You've been serving those filthy Blood Demons for a hundred years?"
This time, even the expressions on Lü Liang and Zhou Xinglai's faces froze, their moods turning extremely grim.
The two of them couldn't help but exchange glances, seeing the killing intent in each other's eyes!
"Of course, you favored sons of heaven cultivate as easily as drinking water. How could you understand my pain and hardship!"
"Due to my aptitude, I've been stuck at the peak of the Core Formation stage for hundreds of years. Without a miraculous encounter, I'll turn to dust in just a few decades..."
"Why should you be able to summon the wind and call the rain, to be kings and overlords, while I have to die!"
"So what if I'm a traitor? So what if I'm a dog of the Blood Race? As long as there are benefits, everything is worth it!"
As Hong Tongtian spoke, a trace of madness flashed in his eyes.
Hearing Hong Tongtian's words, Lü Liang, Zhou Xinglai, and Huo Qiuzhe all believed that Hong Tongtian was beyond redemption.
"Since you've admitted your identity as a spy, don't blame us for being ruthless. Although I, Zhou, wanted to spare Brother Hong's life and hand him over to City Lord Xie Wen for processing."
"However, with the enemy at our doorstep, to avoid any unforeseen circumstances, I can only utterly destroy you to ensure safety."
Zhou Xinglai said with a voice as cold as frost.
Then, without waiting for Hong Tongtian to say anything else.
He flipped his hand, and a bronze token appeared in his grasp.
Zhou Xinglai held the token in his right hand and gently waved it towards the light barrier.
A "squeaking" sound echoed, and a large expanse of azure light shot out, disappearing without a trace after striking the light barrier.
The light within the barrier flickered, and numerous restrictions in the form of swords and sabers spontaneously appeared!
These restricted weapons, evolved from the grand formation, surrounded Hong Tongtian from all directions, leaving him no escape!
Upon seeing these restricted weapons, Hong Tongtian's expression turned panicked, like a mouse encountering a cat.
Without thinking, he pulled out over a dozen magical treasures from his storage bag and used all his spiritual energy in one go, clearly preparing a powerful killing move!
"Let's go. There's nothing more to see. With his cultivation, no matter how desperately he fights, he won't be able to last long within this light barrier."
"Sooner or later, he'll be torn to shreds by these evolved restricted weapons and utterly destroyed."
"We should focus on discussing how to clean up the mess. Although Hong Tongtian was a spy for the Blood Demons..."
"He was, after all, an elder of Tongguan City and the highest-ranking official of the External Affairs Department!"
"If he was an inside agent for the Blood Demons, then there must be quite a few other hidden culprits within the External Affairs Department. If we don't find a way to deal with them, there might be lingering troubles."
Seeing that the restricted weapons had already begun to target Hong Tongtian, Zhou Xinglai lost interest in watching further.
He turned his head and spoke gravely to Lü Liang and Huo Qiuzhe.
Seeing Zhou Xinglai's confidence in the restricted formation, Lü Liang's gaze flickered a few times, and he said nothing more.
Huo Qiuzhe, however, shared the same concerns as Zhou Xinglai, his brow furrowed.
"Everyone should be somewhat aware of the existence of Blood Demon informants in Tongguan City, especially Brother Lü, who must have apprehended some before."
"But if such a high-level cultivator is also a spy, then his subordinates must not be good people. However, if we deal with all of them, we will certainly wrongly accuse a significant portion."
Huo Qiuzhe sighed, also feeling quite troubled.
"This matter is indeed difficult to handle. How about we create a fake puppet identical to Hong Tongtian, then set up a trap to lure them all out, and then capture them all in one fell swoop!"
Upon hearing their conversation, Lü Liang's mind suddenly lit up with an idea!
Huo Qiuzhe and Zhou Xinglai's eyes immediately brightened, both finding it to be an excellent plan.
Below, the three of them discussed a few more details about the trap...
Suddenly, several sounds like something breaking echoed from within the light barrier.
The three of them were greatly shocked by the sound and exchanged bewildered glances.
Just as Zhou Xinglai was about to activate the restricted token again to do something!
With a loud "boom," Hong Tongtian threw a nine-colored barrier-breaking talisman, creating a small hole in the surrounding light barrier, and was about to slip through.
"How is this possible? How could he have a barrier-breaking talisman of this level?"
Zhou Xinglai exclaimed in shock, uttering his disbelief.
Lü Liang and Huo Qiuzhe were also slightly taken aback by this scene.
Zhou Xinglai, having calmed down, let out a cold snort!
He extended his hands, and points of blue starlight gathered between them, then transformed into a sky full of starlight, blocking Hong Tongtian!
Seeing this, Hong Tongtian's face contorted in horror. He quickly patted his storage bag, and a pair of golden, scissor-like magical treasures broke open a small path for him to pass.
He knew very well that a cultivator in the early Nascent Soul stage, facing two cultivators in the middle Nascent Soul stage and one in the early Nascent Soul stage, would be helpless no matter how heaven-defying his methods were.
Therefore, as soon as Hong Tongtian broke free, he naturally intended to end it quickly and escape first.
However, the mere few seconds of delay caused by breaking through the starlight meant he was destined to not escape.
At this moment, Hong Tongtian was as if within reach of the opened gap, about to escape to safety.
But he couldn't escape anymore!
Lü Liang, who had just reacted, instantly blocked his path.
He drew the Snow Drinking Mad Saber and unleashed waves of cold saber energy, slashing towards Hong Tongtian!
This move startled Hong Tongtian greatly. He unhesitatingly transformed the golden scissor magical treasure into two golden dragons, attacking Lü Liang!
Seeing this, a faint cold smile appeared on Lü Liang's lips!
With a dazzling burst of light, Lü Liang and Hong Tongtian immediately engaged in a fierce battle.
After dozens of exchanges, Lü Liang severed Hong Tongtian's head with a single saber strike.
Then, without any wind, the ice flames ignited and burned Hong Tongtian's head, along with his Nascent Soul, into ashes.
Only a headless corpse remained, glistening and lifelike, a blue ice sculpture.
Huo Qiuzhe's mouth widened in astonishment at the sight, unable to close for a long time, his eyes filled with a trace of fear.
He knew that his strength was not much greater than Hong Tongtian's!
The fact that Lü Liang could so easily dispatch Hong Tongtian meant that killing him would not take much effort either.
Zhou Xinglai's expression remained relatively calm, but he too had not expected Lü Liang to hide so much strength!
Seeing their reactions, Lü Liang, who had anticipated this, showed no surprise. He reached out and collected the storage bag from the corpse!
Next, he scanned the area with his divine sense. His pupils contracted slightly, and he then calmly said.
"Since we've killed him, his magical treasures and the contents of his storage bag cannot go to his son. Let's divide them among ourselves!"
"This will prevent disputes over these items later!"
Lü Liang looked at the two and said slowly.
"Brother Lü's words are reasonable. We shall follow Brother Lü's suggestion!"
Perhaps because of Lü Liang's earlier display, Huo Qiuzhe had not yet recovered from his shock.
Upon hearing Lü Liang speak, he instinctively agreed immediately.
Zhou Xinglai pondered for a moment and then nodded in agreement.
When the contents of Hong Tongtian's storage bag were poured out, Zhou Xinglai and Huo Qiuzhe were both greatly astonished.
Apart from a few magical treasures and some elixirs, there were over a million spirit stones in Hong Tongtian's storage bag alone!
Then came items like Blood Sun Ore, Crimson Qi Poison Frog, and Ghostly Evil Grass, one after another, their names exuding an aura of malevolence.
Finally, a blood-red sphere appeared. After inspection by Lü Liang, Zhou Xinglai, and Huo Qiuzhe, they all gasped in shock.
A terrifying rage ignited in their hearts.
It turned out that this blood-red sphere was a storage-type magical treasure!
Inside the blood sphere was a large blood bank, which could only be filled by draining the blood of tens of thousands of people.
"This means that Hong Tongtian's hands are stained with the lives of at least hundreds of thousands of his own kind."
"Hong Tongtian has certainly done this more than once. As for how many of his own kind have died by his hand, only he knows."
After dividing the treasures left by Hong Tongtian, Lü Liang, Zhou Xinglai, and Huo Qiuzhe had a brief conversation and then decided to part ways.
"Since the matter has been perfectly resolved, I shall return to rest..."
"If there are any follow-ups to this matter, you two just need to send someone to call me, and I will definitely come."
...
Wu Tao's expression remained as usual, and he said calmly.
"Brother Lü, feel free to leave if you have matters to attend to. Brother Zhou and I will keep an eye on things here and will absolutely not let Hong Tongtian's cronies escape."
Huo Qiuzhe, seeing Lü Liang about to leave, cupped his hands. His words, which were initially polite, now carried an unconscious tone of reverence!