From this day forward, the Outer City shall wholly belong to the Celestial Sanctuary.

The black-robed elder's heart tightened, feeling as though the other party's gaze could pierce straight through his divine soul.

He did not dare to hesitate in the slightest. Bowing immediately, his tone became even more respectful:

"It is absolutely true! We juniors speak no falsehoods! We were merely on a routine patrol. If Senior has matters to attend to here, we will withdraw at once and absolutely will not disturb you!"

Right now, he only wanted to flee this place of trouble as quickly as possible. The pressure exuded by the existence before him was even greater than facing the unknown dangers in the deepest depths of the Outer Domain.

The corners of Gu Changyuan's mouth seemed to curl into a very faint, almost mocking arc.

"Since you all like to 'assess the situation' so much, and bear the responsibility of maintaining 'order'..."

His tone remained flat, yet it instantly made the hearts of the four City Lords leap into their throats.

"Then it is just as well. We can settle another score while we are at it."

He raised his chin slightly, gesturing toward the ruins below and the ten cultivators suspended in the air above them, who were being tortured out of human shape and writhing silently.

"My disciple was nearly assassinated in a trap within the territory governed by your Outer Domain, forced into a situation of certain death."

Gu Changyuan's voice grew a few degrees colder.

"And the assassins seemed quite familiar with the environment here, even possessing a deep understanding of certain special formations. They were fully prepared.

Regarding this matter, shouldn't you four City Lords who 'maintain order' also... give me an explanation?"

As his words fell, the nine giant swords that had been hovering in the sky simultaneously let out a low, resonant hum from their blades.

An invisible pressure crashed down, enveloping the four City Lords.

"Ugh!"

The four of them let out muffled groans at the same time, their bodies violently sinking downward!

Although the pressure this time was nowhere near as terrifying as the one that suppressed those ten people earlier, it was still enough to instantly make their breathing stagnate and the flow of their spiritual energy turn sluggish.

They desperately circulated their cultivation bases, only barely managing to stabilize their figures in mid-air and avoiding being crushed to the ground on the spot.

They looked down in horror.

They saw that the ten cultivators who had previously been incredibly arrogant and had set up the ambush were now all sporting extremely twisted and hideous expressions. Their eyes were bulging, and their mouths were wide open, yet they could not produce a proper sound.

Only gasping, hoarse sounds of leaking air and extremely faint, agonizing whimpers that seemed to originate from the depths of their souls escaped their throats.

Their bodies were contorted at angles that defied human anatomy. Black baleful aura wildly darted around beneath their skin; they were clearly enduring some sort of indescribable, endless torment!

This hellish scene, combined with the nine giant swords in the sky that looked ready to slash down at any moment, and the flat yet infinitely majestic gaze of the unfathomable man before them...

The hearts of the four Outer City Lords completely sank to rock bottom, a chill rushing straight from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads.

It's over!

This Senior's disciple encountered danger here. As the nominal administrators of this place, they could not escape implication no matter what!

Looking at the other party's posture, if they could not explain clearly or satisfy him, it was to be feared... their fate would not be much better than those guys suffering torture below!

The black-robed elder's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling. His brain spun madly, trying to organize words to explain, beg for mercy, or shirk responsibility...

But all the words were stuck in his throat. Under the other party's indifferent gaze and terrifying coercion, he could not utter a single word.

The other three City Lords also had ashen faces, their entire bodies stiff.

In a moment of despair, they subconsciously turned their gazes to the three women beside Gu Changyuan, trying to find a glimmer of hope or a chance to plead for mercy.

However, when their eyes truly fell upon Ye Qingxue, they collectively froze in shock.

Their attention had just been entirely captivated by that unfathomable senior. Now, looking closely, this white-clad woman standing beside him with a cold and aloof aura...

Wasn't she precisely the one who had risen to fame in the Nine Heavens Realm in recent years, the ruler of the Heavenly Human Holy Land at the height of her power—First Ancestor Ye Qingxue?!

There were many legends about the mysterious founding ancestor of the Heavenly Human Holy Land, but this First Ancestor Ye Qingxue was a real figure who walked the world and awed all directions.

With the cultivation of a Half-Immortal, she suppressed her peers with her sword and ruled the Holy Land. She was universally recognized as one of the top experts and faction leaders in the Nine Heavens Realm.

And just now, this senior had personally said "my disciple"...

In other words, the man before them was the legendary founding ancestor who had been missing for a thousand years and single-handedly created the miracle of the Heavenly Human Holy Land.

This realization exploded like thunder in the minds of the four City Lords!

No wonder the Heavenly Human Holy Land could rise so powerfully in just a short millennium, possessing such unfathomable foundations.

With such a terrifying ancestor holding down the fort, and an incredibly talented disciple like Ye Qingxue at the helm, it would be strange if the Holy Land didn't prosper.

Given the methods this ancestor had just displayed, let alone founding one Holy Land, founding three wouldn't be a problem at all.

While their thoughts were in turmoil, four majestic Half-Immortal auras sped over from the distance. It was none other than the other four City Lords of the Outer Realm City.

They had received news from within the domain, sensed the anomaly here, and hurried over to investigate.

But before they could even get close, Gu Changyuan, too lazy to wait, casually raised his left hand, saving them the travel time.

Filled with immense gratitude, the eight Half-Immortal City Lords of the Outer Realm City stood together before Gu Changyuan, every one of them bowing their heads in submission.

Their minds spun wildly, calculating how to give this mighty figure a satisfactory explanation to save their own lives.

Gu Changyuan couldn't be bothered to look at their feigned humility, nor did he have the patience to wait for them to dawdle over their excuses:

From today onward, the Outer Realm City, along with all the strongholds, passages, and related rights under its jurisdiction, shall entirely belong to the Heavenly Human Holy Land.

All future revenues of the Outer Realm City are to be handed over to the Heavenly Human Holy Land.

As for the specific management affairs, the eight of you will still be in charge to maintain the basic operation and order of the Outer Realm City.

Hand over everything?! Isn't this daylight robbery?!

Hearing his words, the eight Half-Immortals felt a fierce surge of anger in their hearts, but they quickly backed down and unanimously agreed.

They couldn't beat him... They weren't on the same level at all... Resistance meant only one path—death, and a fate worse than death at that.

Cultivation was not easy. To reach the Half-Immortal stage, who among them hadn't gone through untold hardships, possessing long lifespans and a yearning for higher realms?

Dying here just like this would be too huge of a loss.

Seeing that they knew what was good for them, Gu Changyuan gave a slight nod. He raised his hand and tapped the air eight times toward them.

The eight men only felt a numbness between their brows. An irresistible force probed into their seas of consciousness, extracting a tiny wisp of a spiritual sense mark from each of their life-bound spiritual senses.

That mark acted as a shackle left by Gu Changyuan in their minds. Should they harbor any disloyalty, Gu Changyuan would only need a single thought to obliterate their spiritual senses, shattering their souls completely.

Gu Changyuan collected the eight strands of Spiritual Sense imprints into a jade talisman and stored it away safely. With another wave of his right hand, eight flawlessly white tokens engraved with the words Outer Elder materialized out of thin air, gently floating down before the eight city lords.

"From this day forth, you are the Outer Elders of the Celestial Holy Land stationed in the Outer Realm City. While you hold no actual authority within the Holy Land itself, you possess absolute say in the Outer Realm City, second only to the official elders."

The system's cultivation binding could only be linked to three factions; he could not stack his cultivation base by simply plundering other forces. Furthermore, cultivators who joined his faction required both time and a sufficient level of loyalty before a cultivation link could be forged with him.

By establishing these Outer Elder positions, he wanted to observe exactly how long and in what manner these high-level cultivators who had just joined his ranks would take to complete this connection.