Free Web NovelChapter 354: Chapter 186: White Bone Demon Body: Obtaining the Yin Fire Fiend
The Cyan Cloud Sect was gone.
It happened suddenly, catching everyone off guard.
Normally, as one of the three Major Sects of Hezhou, one wouldn’t expect it to last for millennia, but it made no sense for it to just... vanish.
But when Xiao Chen moved against the tide of people and arrived outside Qingxiao Mountain, he saw a heart-stopping, dizzying sight: steep cliffs jutted out where the landscape had been torn open, and water hung suspended in the air, with nowhere to fall.
A massive amount of pitch-black Demonic Qi surged into the sky, transforming a ninety-nine-li radius into a Demon Realm devoid of any Spiritual Qi.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi was frighteningly low for two to three hundred li around, and it was still slowly dropping.
If left unchecked, the entire region might one day become a barren wasteland.
"This..."
Xiao Chen was a bit stunned. He’d come all the way to Hezhou, yet he hadn’t even had a chance to interact with the Cyan Cloud Sect.
He had never met Shao Mingyou, the sect’s chief disciple, who was known to have a Celestial Spirit Root and was widely considered a future Golden Core cultivator.
He had never met the legendary Qingxiaozi, said to have reached Core Formation through the Path of Wood, nor the other two Golden Core True Men of the sect.
Even the Cyan Sky Waterfall, which he had only ever seen in an illustration in the *Hezhou Travelogue*, was now a thing of the past.
The scene before him was undeniably real.
It seemed the Cyan Cloud Sect was now truly a thing of the past.
’So, a prodigy who never gets the chance to mature is ultimately nothing at all.’
Xiao Chen sighed, taking the moment as a warning to himself.
Almost everyone in Hezhou had believed that Shao Mingyou was destined to reach the Golden Core realm and inherit the title of Qingxiaozi.
Who could have imagined such a turn of events?
’It’s the same for me. Even with my Augments and the hope of one day Becoming an Immortal... I still need to maintain a healthy sense of caution until that day actually comes.’
’As for the here and now, I first need to figure out what exactly is going on at Qingxiao Mountain.’
’Who—or what power—could have annihilated the Cyan Cloud Sect with such overwhelming speed?’
’The White Bone Sect shouldn’t have this kind of power,’ Xiao Chen worried. ’Could a new faction have entered the fray?’
’The only question is, who?’
’Until I figure this out, I can’t just rush in to search for Evil Qi. I’d just be wasting my Blade of Night.’
Using the *Sealing Acupoint Concealing Qi Technique* to mask his aura, Xiao Chen came to a stop on a small mountain more than fifty li away.
He found a crevice in the rock on the summit to hide in and began to keep watch from a distance.
’Whatever happened here, I’m surely not the only one who’s come to investigate.’
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he saw a group of people flying over on their swords from a distance. They didn’t slow down at all as they entered the Demon Realm.
They shot straight into Qingxiao Valley, a new canyon formed where Qingxiao Mountain had been torn apart.
A short while later, he saw groups of Qi Refining Cultivators. Each had a simple Storage Bag tied at their waist and a massive sack slung over their back as they transported supplies into the valley.
Judging by their attire, they were almost certainly Demon Cultivators from the White Bone Sect.
This, however, confused Xiao Chen.
’Could this really be the White Bone Sect’s doing?’
’It doesn’t seem to make sense.’
’It’s common knowledge that the White Bone Sect has no Golden Core cultivators. So how could they have possibly defeated the Cyan Cloud Sect’s three Golden Core True Men?’
The White Bone Giant was formidable, but it was only useful for bullying ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
Before a Golden Core True Man, it was nothing more than an oversized toy.
The situation remained unclear, so Xiao Chen didn’t rush. He remained hidden in the crevice, waiting patiently.
「About two days later」, two streaks of astonishingly fast Tunneling Light finally cut across the distant sky.
They immediately began to circle Qingxiao Valley, apparently investigating the situation within.
The newcomers were none other than Thousand Bamboo True Man and Master Ming Yue.
Long ago, after Master Ming Yue broke through to the Golden Core realm, at Master Yaohua’s strenuous persuasion, they had secretly agreed to lend the Lingyuan Sect a hand in their fight against the Divine Fire Sect.
The two of them were different from other Daoists; they had no great enterprise to worry about or protect.
All they had to do was set up an Array in Qianzhu Market to block any potential Tribulation Cultivators.
This left them free to act, making them perfectly suited to serve as an ambush force or a surprise contingent.
Unfortunately, the battle at the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace had been completely unexpected. The Righteous Dao was entirely unprepared for a full-scale confrontation.
Their original plan was simply to open a path and rescue the Foundation Establishment Cultivators trapped inside.
They never expected the Secret Realm’s Restriction to collapse completely. Still less did they expect the Demon Dao’s Golden Core cultivators, led by Master Nijie, to launch an all-out, no-holds-barred assault.
As a result, they were caught completely off guard by the Divine Fire Sect’s sudden attack.
Thousand Bamboo True Man and Master Ming Yue never even had a chance to join the battle. Instead, they were forced to appear at Seeking Plum Mountain and Luoyan Mountain to help with the defense.
Worse still, they failed to hold Seeking Plum Mountain and Luoyan Mountain, and in the end, the Lingyuan Sect lost another crucial line of defense. freeweɓnovel.cøm
If things had ended there, it would have been nothing more than a localized defeat.
If they could buy enough time for their Golden Core True Men to recover from their injuries, they could have maintained the stalemate.
In such a dire situation, the Lingyuan Sect even considered contacting the Cyan Cloud Sect.
Things had reached a point where they were willing to concede some benefits in exchange for the help of the Cyan Cloud Sect’s Golden Core True Men against the Divine Fire Sect.
If all went well, they might even have been able to retake Seeking Plum Mountain and Luoyan Mountain.
However, the situation developed in a way no one could have predicted.
At almost the exact same time as the defeat at the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace, the Cyan Cloud Sect was annihilated overnight.
The news reached the Lingyuan Sect almost instantly, leaving the other Daoists utterly shocked.
