Heavenly Sky continent - Ruins of Blood Moon Forbidden City’s Central Palace.

“Ren Yao! Your wicked schemes and evil acts will finally end.”

The old white-haired elder with the fiery gaze cried out as he levelled his sword, pointing the tip directly at the accused in a threatening manner. All around him several other white-bearded old coots also tightened their grips on various weapons.

The other party was a beautiful, apathetic looking person who was currently lounging languidly on the satin pillow of a half-destroyed throne.

He limply raised one hand and followed the thin golden chain from his slender wrist to the crimson gold furred neck of the small creature at the end of the leash.

He gave a long dry and weary sigh.

“You’ve already killed my monkey and all my servants.”

“If you’ve come here to kill me, do it already. Don’t waste my time with this pointless blather. If not screw off!”

He took a draw from the end of his long ornate pipe and let out a breath of mystical glittering pink and purple smoke. As the vaporous cloud drifted upwards, he locked eyes with the lead instigator.

“Ho. Good, good, very good. We Sword-immortals of the Celestial Sword sect, those graceful Fairies of the Falling Sky sect and the Blade-devils of the Immortal Executioner sect, plus a myriad of countless other smaller clans and schools, came here today to do precisely that.”

“Do you dare to think we won’t after going so far as to destroy your once proud Blood Moon Palace?”

The feminine man on the long couch closed his eyes and tilted his chin to the ceiling, or what remained of it, before opening them once more to stare at the gathered crowd. His long eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings as his dispassionate gaze captured all who stood before him.

“Honestly. Don’t care.”

He raised one dainty hand again, the sleeve of the cherry blossom patterned deep red robe slide down to reveal a delicate wrist and arm of smooth porcelain white skin. Unblemished like pure jade.

The weapons in the gathered cultivator’s hands began to vibrate and struggle violently.

With a flick of his wrist, they wrenched themselves free and flew towards him as he slowly raised himself from the long couch, the delicate gold tether dissolving like sand. Even the precious heirloom Water-mirror sword of the Celestial Sword sects Grand Elder flew away from its owner.

The Attraction art.

It was not a very high-level skill. Every cultivator at the initial stages of the lowest realms learned this particular skill, but it became something completely different in the hands of a peak Black Qi realm cultivator like the infamous Ren Yao.

With a couple of light, graceful steps, he arrived at the bottom of the dais, the confiscated weapons swirling around in the air overhead.

“Exquisite… truly exquisite.”

He murmured as he used one elongated fingertip to gently stroke the length of the heirloom sword in an almost seductive manner, a couple of the younger cultivators near the back of the crowd could only witness the celestial beauty making suggestive gestures and gulped hard.

“I have always done what I wanted.”

The soft voice floated out drifting sweetly into the ears of the crowd.

“If I liked something, I took it. If I disliked something, I cast it away. With little regard to the opinions of others. In the beginning, I was called a heretic, an evildoer, but then I become a devil and a demon because I had the strength to remain free.”

“I have never cared for what others have called me but if I just let you kill me here today, then how would I still have the face to call myself Ren?”

With that, he made a caressing motion, and the Celestial Sword Elders Water-mirror sword rotated till it was pointed at him once more, inches from his vulnerable neck.

Those butterfly lashes fluttered once again as all the weapons hovering in the air aligned their killing edges to face him. There was a strange sadness in those enchanting eyes.

“I have lived my life my way for near 100,000,000 years. With a mere intent, I could summon the wind and rains or with a single hand blot out the sky. When I claimed myself as Second under Heaven, in all the years I lived and for all the years after, who’d dared to claim they were First.”

“Honestly, I regret only not knowing how tediously boring cultivating to such a stage would become.”

Before anyone could stop him or even move against what was about to happen, each of those stolen weapons plunged straight down, even the exquisite sword pierced towards him.

A multitude of swords, spears, daggers, blades and various other weapons surged forward converging onto one spot. There was not an area of his body left untouched by cold metal nor an inch of his robe that remained whole, but the coup-de-gras came from the Water-mirror sword as it effortlessly slid into his unguarded throat.

The tens of thousands of gathered experts watched as their target died, an odd uncomfortable feeling welled up inside of them, as though they’d lost something.

One by one, they slowly came back to their senses. Summoning back their weapons now that the control of the other no longer held them.

When almost all the weapons had withdrawn, the body of Ren Yao began to change. The skin flaked, and the whole body started to crumble to dust, even the luxurious red cherry blossom robe disintegrated. Shocked as they watched this unfurl, several experts began to cough and convulse.

They fell to the floor, foaming at the mouth as the strange symptoms spread.

Hands clenched in agony, groups of cultivators were dropping like flies.

The Grand Elder Sword-immortal from the Celestial Sword sect looked around stupefied, he was one of the stronger cultivators and was furiously circulating his cultivation base in a bid to stem off the effects of whatever it was.

Next, to him, a beautiful young woman dressed in nun garb had a pale face as she hurriedly poked her acupoints.

He felt a ripple in his soul and turned his gaze to his sect’s heirloom treasure sword, the blade of which was showing signs of blackening and corrosion.

The raid and subsequent fight at the Blood Moon Palace had been so calm that they had forgotten the fearsome moniker they’d attached to this devil in human skin: Ren Yao the Venomous Butterfly.

He dropped to his knees and coughed up several mouthfuls of dark blood, his complexion turning black and his vision blurry.

Unseen by anyone a strange translucent swallow-tailed butterfly fluttered around the room before disappearing into the open sky. Against which its body became transparent before finally disappearing.