“Go, now.”

The black-bearded man narrowed his eyes. At last he tore his gaze from Shen Yi and glanced at the smear of pulp outside.

Killing without asking a single question was rare among demon slayers.

Whatever else they were, they still worked for the court, and that meant some kind of procedure.

But desperate times called for desperate measures. If that young disciple had raised the alarm and brought all of White Cloud Cave running, today would only have gotten messier.

The young man was decisive, at least, if a little ruthless. No wonder he'd been put in Meng Xiuwen's seat.

“Pull out.”

Mei Jiyao formed a hand seal with a flick of her fingers.

With their cultivation, slipping away from here was no great feat for demon slayers like them.

Better still if they could do it without a commotion.

At the two Demon-Slaying Officers' orders, the group used their methods once more and swept toward the mouth of the tree palace.

Then, without warning—

The huge ancient tree that filled the whole abyss suddenly began to shake!

The trunks sunk deep into the cliff walls tore free all at once and, like a monstrous hand with countless claws, swiftly closed over the top of the abyss.

Somewhere along the way, a crowd of figures had appeared on the snaking vines.

All wore White Cloud Cave's dharma robes, and they gazed down with still, cold faces.

A chilling voice echoed through the abyss.

“Whoever barges in unasked…”

“…is a thief.”

Neither the Demon-Slaying Officers nor even Ye Jing, the youngest of them, was much alarmed by the sight.

The gap in realm between the two sides was just too wide.

Even with the ancient gold-jade tree behind it, White Cloud Cave would be hard put to keep any of them here.

Bluntly put, if not for the true god on the scene, and the worry of exposing the court's business to the Immortal Court, any one of the Demon-Slaying Officers could have made this so-called immortal sect with a direct line to heaven sorry it was ever born.