I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Chapter 380: Chapter 297: A Visitor from Zixia

The Demon Spirit Sect.

Atop a giant, ancient tree.

The current Spirit Destruction Hall Master of the Celestial Demon Sect was on his first visit to the Demon Spirit Sect. Under the guidance of a disciple, he quickly met with the Demon Spirit Sect Leader.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two sat down to discuss business.

"Fellow Daoist Xue, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Is there an important matter to discuss?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader asked. He knew the personality of the previous Spirit Destruction Hall Master well, but he didn’t know much about the current one.

"Sect Leader Luo, by my count, it’s been seven years since we renewed our assault on the Celestial Cloud Sect, and our progress has been limited."

The Spirit Destruction Hall Master got straight to the point, bringing up the Celestial Cloud Sect.

"Seven years... Yes, I’m well aware." The Demon Spirit Sect Leader shook his head and sighed. "In the last great war, we were able to achieve some results, wiping out the Celestial Cloud Sect’s subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influence. This time, we’ve had no such success."

The Demon Spirit Sect Leader’s words gave the Spirit Destruction Hall Master the urge to curse him out.

’Did the Demon Spirit Sect achieve anything on that front last time?’

’According to his knowledge, they clearly achieved nothing.’

’Those achievements belonged to our Celestial Demon Sect.’

’He wished the Demon Spirit Sect Leader would stop using the word "we."’

However, considering that the Demon Spirit Sect was performing much better this time around, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master suppressed his impulse.

"Sect Leader Luo, I wonder if you’ve noticed something."

"Noticed what?"

"The number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm seems to be increasing."

"I’ve had that feeling as well." The Demon Spirit Sect Leader nodded. "On several occasions when we’ve attacked the Celestial Cloud Sect’s subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influence, we’ve seen new faces among their Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiners."

Each new Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm represented a new and potent defensive force.

In confrontations between Core Formation Influence, Foundation Establishment Level cultivators are typically the main force, while those at the Core Formation Level are responsible for finishing the fight.

So far, neither their own Core Formation experts nor those of the Celestial Cloud Sect had clashed.

"As the attackers, we already have to expend far more effort to achieve victory. The more new defensive forces that appear in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm, the harder it will be for us to take them down later on."

Defending is much easier than attacking. The defenders have the advantage of a Grand Array, so the attacking force often needs to be two or three times larger just to have a chance of victory.

And that’s assuming the defenders’ reinforcements don’t arrive in time.

If reinforcements do arrive, you end up with a situation like ours: seven years of fighting with no substantial progress. Not only that, but we’ve also suffered considerable losses among our Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The number of cultivators we’ve lost has already started to outpace the number of Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiners we’ve eliminated.

"In my opinion, the most troublesome part is that mysterious Spirit Refiner," the Spirit Destruction Hall Master recalled. "There have been several ambushes where our people were wiped out in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm without sending back a single scrap of information. I believe the only one capable of that is the mysterious Spirit Refiner."

Among them was even an Elder at the Peak of Foundation Establishment who specialized in concealment.

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s doing.

Besides the mysterious Spirit Refiner, there shouldn’t be any other Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm with that kind of ability.

For a dignified cultivator at the Peak of Foundation Establishment to be unable to even send back a message—that in itself was a terrifying thought.

"So, what can we do about this mysterious Spirit Refiner?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader said. In any case, he couldn’t think of any good ideas himself.

A number of their Demon Spirit Sect Elders, as well as Foundation Establishment cultivators from their subsidiary forces, had likely died at the hands of this mysterious Spirit Refiner.

Just as they were speaking of the mysterious Spirit Refiner...

Suddenly, a Sound Transmission Talisman appeared before the Spirit Destruction Hall Master.

To receive a Sound Transmission Talisman while he was here meant something important must have happened.

Without a word, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master immediately tapped the Sound Transmission Talisman, and a voice entered his mind.

"Fellow Daoist Xue, what happened?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader immediately asked, seeing the Spirit Destruction Hall Master’s expression change in an instant.

"The Xianglin Sect has been wiped out."

The Xianglin Sect was one of the Celestial Demon Sect’s subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influence, ranking second among them in terms of overall strength.

The destruction of such a powerful subsidiary was a significant loss for them.

"The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s doing?"

"Who else besides the mysterious Spirit Refiner could have done this?"

As he spoke, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master’s expression grew darker and darker. He had just come to the Demon Spirit Sect to discuss their next moves against the Celestial Cloud Sect, only to be confronted with this.

"Were all the Foundation Establishment cultivators killed?"

"Not yet. Two were on a mission in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm and escaped the disaster."

"To survive an encounter with the mysterious Spirit Refiner... that’s the best one could hope for in a terrible situation." The Demon Spirit Sect Leader offered some comforting words, though his mind was on matters within his own Demon Spirit Sect’s territory.

’Speaking of the mysterious Spirit Refiner, he still hasn’t come to our territory so far.’

’Of course, I definitely don’t want the mysterious Spirit Refiner appearing in our territory. If that happened, we would likely lose one of our own subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influence as well.’

The Spirit Destruction Hall Master listened, feeling extremely frustrated. The mysterious Spirit Refiner was constantly weakening the strength of his Celestial Demon Sect.

This reduction in strength meant that later, after the Celestial Cloud Sect was finally destroyed, it would be difficult for them to gain the upper hand in negotiations with the Demon Spirit Sect.

’Can we really let this go on?’

The Spirit Destruction Hall Master was already starting to contemplate this question. But the decision to stop was not his to make; it depended on the Sect Leader and the Supreme Elder of his sect.

He thought back on it.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s actions had all taken place during the great war.