Nikolas was on his knees, propped up by the spear. His armor was cut, blood oozed from it, yet he still had a crazed grin on his face. He seemed to have fun despite being beaten.

The old man, Song Wei, was nowhere to be seen as twelve people in white uniforms surrounded Nikolas. It was an identical uniform with a sword facing upward on the back of their uniform. The difference was the number of the sword.

Six of them had one sword, three of them had two swords, and the last one had three swords. The number of the sword might indicate their status, or maybe there was no meaning at all.

The situation piqued Tang Shaoyang’s interest. Nikolas was stronger than the True God Realm, but it seemed ten of them were still too much for a high-rank Archaic Spirit.

"Surrender, or we will kill you!" The one with three swords on his back spoke, pointing his sword at the falling Nikolas.

Nikolas just chuckled and pushed himself up with the support of his spear, "It’s embarrassing to return like this, but I will at least take half of you with me!"

"Why? Why would you want to fight us to the death? We are not your enemy, and you should never make an enemy of the Sacred Realm’s protector! Surrender and tell us about your master, then we will spare your life."

The man from the Sword Manor genuinely sounded confused. From their perspective, the man in front of him just needed to cooperate, and his life would be spared. Yet this armored man refused the Sword Manor’s generosity.

Tang Shaoyang suddenly appeared next to Nikolas and smacked the back of Nikolas’ head, "Your grandfather told me to smack your head for him."

Nikolas tumbled forward as it was quite a hard slap, but then he smiled sheepishly as he got back on his feet again.

Meanwhile, the ten people from the Sword Manor were shocked to see Tang Shaoyang’s sudden appearance. They could not feel Tang Shaoyang’s presence, and if this man with no presence ambushed them. One of them might die.

Tang Shaoyang then faced the one who spoke to Nikolas earlier and said with a smile, "How about I will spare your life if you guys leave now?"

"Who are you? Are you his friend?"

In the Sword Manor’s people’s eyes, Tang Shaoyang looked like a local of the Sacred Realm. They assumed Tang Shaoyang was Nikolas’ friend, whom they deemed an outsider and needed to be investigated.

"No! It doesn’t matter who you are. Cooperate with the Sword Manor! That’s the only way for your friend to keep his life!"

They misunderstood Tang Shaoyang as a friend that Nikolas made in the Sacred Realm. Unlike the Murim Alliance, the Sword Manor didn’t share the same hate toward outsiders. They didn’t care about the people from the God Realm.

They didn’t mind Nikolas being in the Sacred Realm as long as he didn’t create destruction or chaos in the Sacred Realm. That was why they wanted Nikolas to cooperate with them.

"Didn’t that old man tell you who I am?"

The leader was confused at first, wondering who the old man was that Tang Shaoyang referred to. But they quickly realized the old man was Song Wei. The first one to be dispatched to assess the situation in Xiyun Province.

"I beat that Old Man unconscious, and they came to rescue him," Nikolas said in a whisper. "It seems this Sword Manor operates differently than most factions from the Murim Alliance. They seem to utilize the system properly. That’s the only way for the old man to ask for reinforcement, and the reinforcement arrives so quickly."

What Nikolas said totally made sense. He checked the mountain before, and he did another check when the old man snuck behind him. There was no one on this mountain but them. For the reinforcement to arrive so quickly, the Sword Manor must utilize the portal, and an advanced one, since there was no permanent portal near the mortal.

"You said it yourself that we are not enemies. Since we are not enemies, there’s nothing to be investigated, no? Just leave while I am still being nice."

Tang Shaoyang could tell that the Sword Manor might be stronger than most sects and factions in the Sacred Realm. They must be if they utilized the System, especially the power of leveling up, which could make their bodies stronger by increasing their attributes.

That would make the Body Transformation easier, which was why he could advance in the Heavenly Scripture so quickly.

The Sword Manor might utilize the same method as him, and they were certainly stronger than most of the cultivators he met so far. He was not afraid of them, but he didn’t want to start another battle with the local force. He wanted the Sacred Realm to be stabilized for now.

"It’s for the Sword Manor to decide whether we should continue our investigation or not. Cooperate with us, or we will use force!"

Tang Shaoyang clicked his tongue and summoned the other four knights: Gianni, Mathias, Ruben, and Jovrick. The first thing Gianni did was to smack Nikolas’s head once more.

"Getting embarrassed about my foot. If you are getting overwhelmed by your enemy, you should notify Master. What if they captured you and ambushed Master during the summoning?"

Nikolas could just smile sheepishly. He was old, old enough to be a grandfather. His grandson was, in fact, standing next to him. He was so embarrassed to get scolded like this.

"Get some rest. We will take care of the rest!"

Nikolas took the chance to escape and return to the Spirit world right away.

The Sword Manor people were shocked once more as four more armored men and a man wearing a golden robe appeared. Tang Shaoyang also summoned Han Taiyang. The guy had been helpful to him about cultivation, and so he summoned Han Taiyang.

"You guys should be enough to take care of them, no?"

Gianni let out a sigh. Five of them should be enough, but there was another problem. He coughed and said, "We have been hearing a lot of complaints lately, Master. How about you summon more spirits and make us take one each instead?"

The other spirits were certainly jealous of them because Tang Shaoyang had been summoning them. Not just in the Sacred Realm, even when they explored the Dimensional Tower. Tang Shaoyang’s first choice was always the five knights. Because of that, they would receive a lot of complaints and jabs when they returned to the Spirit World.

No spirit dared to complain to Avyn and Zara, but the others didn’t hold back against them. That was why Gianni made such a suggestion. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

As Gianni said, Tang Shaoyang sensed his spirits’ desire to fight as well. Their will to fight was transferred to him and affected him as well. That made him want to join the fight even though he was not interested at first.

"I see... Let’s see who the lucky spirits are..."

Bronson the Demonic Slayer, Arkanos the Blade Emperor, Yowe the Spear Saint, and Galeon the Archdemon. He chose two undead, one human, and one demon.

"I will take the leader myself!"

As he said that, Tang Shaoyang took out the Azure Dragon Blade. At the same time, he activated the Wrath of Slayer. He planned to fight them without the Bloodline Transformation, but he used Wrath of Slayer for assurance. It boosted his attributes, almost doubling them all.

He didn’t want to get caught off guard and killed in a silly way, as he planned to fight them with just his cultivation.

"Since you don’t want to back down, then you give me no choice."

He lowered his stance, his eyes turned increasingly sharp as golden energy burst forth from his body.

Fifth Heavenly Gate - Heavenly Sword: Heavenly Revoke.

His figure blurred forward as he pulled his sword. The moment he drew his sword, internal energy poured from his sword. He appeared right in front of the leader and swung it toward the body.

The leader was caught by surprise but reacted in time. He put his sword before his body and blocked the incoming sword. His face changed when their swords clashed.

The leader’s body flung backward and crashed into the trees behind. The nine people cried out their leader’s name, Captain Lu Yi.

They wanted to assist their leader, but his spirits also made their move after picking up their opponent.

Tang Shaoyang let out a sigh, looking at his sword. Heavenly Revoke was a drawing sword technique that was supposed to catch his opponent off guard and kill them in one strike. But he realized that it rarely happened. No, it never happened, especially when his opponent was also the God Rank.

He started to think that he hadn’t mastered the technique, but of course, most of the time, it helped him to create an opening. Just like now, he could follow it up with Heaven Fall or Heaven Severing World, but that might kill the leader.

However, he didn’t plan to kill the leader; he just wanted to beat them half to death, serving this as a message to the Sword Manor that he didn’t want to fight them.

"Thank you for sparing my people, Executive Administrator Tang Shaoyang!"