Wu Long looked at the four men, all of whom were in the Core Formation Realm, and shook his head as he knew that the three beauties behind him who overwhelmed opponents in their own realm, were still not ready to take on these people one-on-one.
"Lan'er, Ziyan, Min'er, you will take the one on the far left together, leave the rest to me. If you can deal with him in a stable manner I may keep another one alive for you"
Wu Long said looking straight into the eyes of the people in front of him as rage and incredulousness appeared in their expressions.
"You arrogant mongrel!"
The one on the far left that Wu Long pointed out became enraged.
"Senior Grand Elders! Save us!"
Sect Elders, who were still dying under the hands of Wu Mengqi as well as the Cao mother and daughter, pleaded but the gazes of these Senior Grand Elders did not move from Wu Long's calm and relaxed figure.
Senior Grand Elder was a term designed for those who transcended the cultivation realms designated for Grand Elders in the sect which had no one in the realm above the one they reached, meaning they were technically in the same cultivation realm as the Sect Leader.
If among them, someone reached a higher realm they would become the new Sect Leader and the whole hierarchy of realms would shift to meet the new standard of cultivation realms of the whole sect. This was the process a sect went through over and over to become of a higher grade.
"Leave this arrogant brat to me while you capture those women"
A figure appeared from a distance, stepping out of the movement technique. His robes were more luxurious as well as regal, indicating a leading role even though he was in the Core Formation Realm as the four that appeared before.
The other four bowed slightly to the leader of this branch sect.
"They will make for excellen-..."
The eyes of the sect leader shown with a greedy light as he looked at the six heavenly beauties.
Wu Long sighed, slightly disappointed. He first had an impulse thought to keep this man alive, maybe get out some more information about Nie You's Master. But he changed his mind since he did not really need much more information at this point, as sparks flew in different directions while Wu Long's figure blurred and appeared before the Branch Sect Leader.
The man's eyes widened as he felt a strong force transmit through his arm when their weapons collided, shocked both by the speed with which Wu Long moved as well as the power of the strike as his hand turned numb and his shoulder up to the back had a pang of pain go through them.
As Wu Long's voice fell the Branch Sect Leader's eyes widened and darted to the side where a spear-wielding Senior Grand Elder was holding on to his arm while his spear fell into Wu Long's hand. His face slightly distorted when he realized that the strike was done at the same time Wu Long attacked his subordinate.
Hua Ziyan's eyes also widened when she realized that she saw this move before. The simplicity with which Wu Long inflicted the injury on this Senior Grand Elder was absolutely the same as when he inflicted an identical type of injury on Zhao Wuji on that rainy day they met about a year ago.
The sharp contrast between the opponents did absolutely nothing to make the scene look more challenging to pull off for Wu Long, causing her to lightly tremble in excitement.
'So this is what he meant'
She thought as she saw that, remembering when he said that Cultivation Realms were not the only factor that decided the outcome of a battle, and her own battle state started to boil as she turned to look at the Senior Grand Elder that Wu Long pointed out as their target before.
The Senior Grand Elder noticed the glint that appeared in the eyes of the three women when they looked at him, feeling himself looked at as a prey which deeply wounded his pride.
Talismans flew into the air as straight blocks of square barriers fell on the other three Senior Grand Elders from the Formation Dome above, trapping them inside as the three beauties started a bombardment of attacks on the one that remained free. The three straight square pillars were still connected with the dome above, becoming columns in this surreal architectural scenery.
"Heh, you seriously thought this thing was just there for decoration?"
Wu Long asked the Branch Sect Leader with a chuckle, accurately reading his expression to which the latter's face grimaced with even more anger while more and more columns descended from the sky trapping regular Grand Elders next.
The sword in Wu Long's hand went into the sheath, and then was stashed into his spatial ring as the spear that he held horizontally with the spear blade pointing behind him spun in his hand as he turned to avoid the Branch Sect Leader's strike while simultaneously adjusting the grip on the spear as he spun around and faced the man with the spear already pointing down and to the side in a relaxed pose.
"The Swords of Asura"
The Branch Sect Leader shouted out as six Spiritual Qi replicas of the sword he held in his hand appeared behind him, one pair pointing diagonally down, one horizontal, and one diagonally up.
'It seems that Nie You's Master did teach his more important subordinates some techniques that are of use'
Wu Long thought as he saw a familiar technique he once used to use regularly himself.
The swords then started moving as if held by arms as the Branch Sect Leader moved toward Wu Long.
"Nine Orchids Spear Art, third form, Night Bloom"
Nine spear projections appeared around Wu Long and clashed with the man's swords as they both were thrown away a little distance from each other.
"N... Nine Orchids Spear Art... how... how do you?"
The Branch Sect Leader's eyes widened as he saw the technique no one but the Master of the main sect supposedly knew in this world.
"Oh, so he is a sword and spear wielder, though I suppose more of a spear since he taught you the sword"
Wu Long chuckled as he knew very well that the man was not likely to teach something he excelled at himself.
Wu Long detected the man fighting Hua Ziyan, Shen Min and Wei Lan use the same sword technique moments later, but since they still managed did not interfere.
He then looked at the spear in his hands with a slightly interested look.
"Say, why does your subordinate have something better than you in his hands?"
He asked and chuckled seeing the surprise and confusion on the face of the Branch Sect Leader.
"I see, so none of you realized... oh well. Don't get too lonely, you'll see the others soon"
He then shrugged his shoulders and the surroundings became discolored, as the sunlight became dimmer even in this summer day. The sounds became dimmer and then stopped flowing entirely in this strange bubble of space seemingly cut off from the rest of the world that still had all the vibrant colors and light, and sounds resounding and echoing everywhere.
"What are you-...? ... ... !?!?"
The Branch Sect leader started speaking in even more confusion and then blood flowed from his mouth mid-question, trickling down the sides as his face froze in even more confusion.
He slowly looked down and his eyes widened at the sight of a ten centimeter wide circular hole going straight through the center of his chest, the sides perfectly smooth as if someone cut out the part in a perfect shape of circle all the way to his back so the scenery behind could be seen through the new opening.
"Wh-at ... is.. thi-..."
The man looked up at Wu Long trying to talk through the flowing blood as more and more of it poured from his mouth but could not finish as he fell face-down to the ground.
Wu Long lightly answered the question as he turned to observe how his beauties fought while the discolored space turned normal again.