Sect Master’s Immortal Journey - Chapter 534
Although the situation in the Deadly Sea of Sand is fraught with danger, it has remained relatively stable. The main forces inside are the wandering sand monsters and the Demonic Cultivation from the Black Wind Grave and the Demonic Cultivation from the Little Demon Cave.
Recently, the Demonic Cultivation from the Little Demon Cave launched a surprise attack and directly broke through the defenses of the Black Wind Grave, capturing the Ghost Cultivators and transforming them into demons. This undoubtedly greatly increased their strength.
Under the leadership of Meng Zhang, the Taiyi Sect is actively exploring the Deadly Sea of Sand and has also recruited many Foundation Building stage cultivators from outside.
At this moment, an anomaly occurs in the Deadly Sea of Sand. Will it affect Meng Zhang’s plans? Will the Demon Wind Gobi, which is adjacent to the Deadly Sea of Sand, be affected by this anomaly?
When An Xiaoran thinks about these questions, she no longer wants to stay in the Deadly Sea of Sand. Urged by her, everyone speeds up their pace. Apart from encountering two sand monsters on the way, they are not delayed by any other incidents and leave the Deadly Sea of Sand directly.
Not far from the Deadly Sea of Sand, in the area belonging to the Demon Wind Gobi, there is a place called Tiger-Wolf Plain. It is an endless plain separated by a large mountain range and the Deadly Sea of Sand. In the center of the plain lies a Second Rank spirit vein.
After the Taiyi Sect increased its investment in the Deadly Sea of Sand, they constructed a market in this place and named it Tiger-Wolf Market. This market serves as the forward base for the Taiyi Sect’s exploration of the Deadly Sea of Sand. It is where teams set off to explore the Deadly Sea of Sand and where returning teams rest and resupply.
The Foundation Building stage teams passing through this area have brought a considerable amount of traffic and business to this market. The customers here are mainly Foundation Building stage cultivators, and although their numbers are not large, their purchasing power and consumption capacity are strong.
In just a few years, this place has unexpectedly developed into a bustling area. To effectively manage this place and deter the Foundation Building stage cultivators passing through, Taiyi Sect has not only set up a Second Rank protective formation in Tiger-Wolf Market but also stationed several Foundation Building stage cultivators here year-round.
Originally, An Xiaoran planned to rush back to the current mountain gate of Taiyi Sect, Grand Lion Ridge. However, after traveling all the way, everyone is a bit exhausted. Moreover, after leaving the Deadly Sea of Sand, everyone feels relieved, including the Qian Family brothers, who want to take a temporary rest.
Seeing that neither the Shocking Thunder Spirit General nor the Extreme Sword Spirit General object, and considering that there has never been a precedent of threats like sand monsters leaving the Deadly Sea of Sand, An Xiaoran, as the team leader, agrees to go to Tiger-Wolf Market with the flow. She leads everyone there.
An Xiaoran and her team are all disciples of the Taiyi Sect and hold important positions within the sect. The Taiyi Sect cultivators stationed at Tiger-Wolf Market immediately recognize them and warmly receive them. Even the Foundation Building stage cultivators responsible for maintaining the protective formation come out to greet them.
Tiger-Wolf Market is not large in size, but it is well-equipped with all the necessary buildings and facilities. There are two very good inns in the market specifically for accommodating cultivators.
An Xiaoran and her team choose to stay at an inn operated by the Taiyi Sect and are about to go there when a female disciple wearing the standard robe of the Qiaoshou Sect approaches them. This female disciple has only reached the Refining Qi stage of cultivation, but she behaves confidently and gracefully in front of a group of Foundation Building stage cultivators.
She first bows to everyone and then says that an elder from her sect would like to meet them. An Xiaoran and her team are extraordinary in terms of both their status and cultivation base. Especially the Shocking Thunder Spirit General and the Extreme Sword Spirit General, even the Qiaoshou Sect Sect Master Jin Qigu would show respect to them as juniors. The fact that someone from the Qiaoshou Sect wants them to come over instead of visiting them personally is surprising.
The Qiaoshou Sect is officially a member of the Hanhai Alliance and a loyal ally of the Taiyi Sect. However, in the eyes of some Taiyi Sect cultivators, the Qiaoshou Sect is considered a vassal. It is truly audacious for a mere vassal cultivator to act so arrogantly without knowing their place.
An Xiaoran is not as shallow as those cultivators and knows how highly Meng Zhang regards the Qiaoshou Sect. Ignoring the displeased expressions of her teammates, she leads the entire team to follow the Qiaoshou Sect female disciple.
The female disciple leads them to a shop opened by the Qiaoshou Sect. Behind the shop, there is a small door that leads to a delicate and compact courtyard. Just as everyone enters the courtyard, a burst of light flashes, and the entire courtyard is enveloped by a formation.
Everyone’s expression changes, and those with a hot temper are about to take action.
“Don’t be nervous, I mean no harm. I set up this formation just to isolate the inside from the outside, just in case.”With the sound of her voice, Jin Qiao’er walked over holding an ancient mirror. Most of the Taiyi Sect cultivators present knew Jin Qiao’er and were aware of her close relationship with Sect Master Meng Zhang. In the gossip among some Taiyi Sect disciples, there were even rumors of an intimate relationship between Meng Zhang and Jin Qiao’er.
Seeing Jin Qiao’er’s arrival, although everyone did not completely let their guard down, they no longer appeared as tense as before. Jin Qiao’er didn’t waste any time and went straight to the point. It turned out that she often ventured into the Deadly Sea of Sand for training. Within the Deadly Sea of Sand, there was a small demon cave where demonic cultivators would occasionally appear.
Before coming to the Deadly Sea of Sand, Jin LiDaoist Master had dealt with demonic cultivators and had always been very cautious of them. Worried that her disciples might be targeted by demonic cultivators, she gave Jin Qiao’er the mirror. As long as any demons appeared within a certain range, the mirror would automatically sound an alarm. Most demons in the demonic path, including the invisible Yin demons, would find it difficult to escape the mirror’s surveillance.
Jin Qiao’er, who frequently entered and exited the Deadly Sea of Sand, was also a regular customer at the Tiger-Wolf Market. She was originally resting in this property of the Qiaoshou Sect when the mirror suddenly sounded an alarm, indicating the presence of a demon. Jin Qiao’er was initially startled but carefully observed her surroundings and found nothing unusual. Then, following the guidance of the mirror, she discovered An Xiaoran and his group.
Jin Qiao’er, of course, recognized Meng Zhang’s second disciple and knew that they couldn’t possibly have any connection to demons. The most likely possibility was that a demon had infiltrated the team, or someone had accidentally been possessed by a demon. To avoid alerting the demon prematurely, she sent a disciple from the Qiaoshou Sect to lead An Xiaoran and his group here.
A formation had already been set up here, isolating the inside from the outside and sealing the space, effectively preventing the demons from escaping. Demons are a scourge and must be completely eliminated. They must not be given a chance to escape, or the consequences would be unimaginable.
After Jin Qiao’er finished speaking, she raised the mirror in her hand and gently shone it on the cultivators in An Xiaoran’s team, hoping to quickly force the demon out. Upon hearing Jin Qiao’er’s words, everyone had a bewildered expression. Even An Xiaoran himself seemed somewhat skeptical, not understanding how a demon could have infiltrated their team.
However, both Extreme Sword Spirit General and Shocking Thunder Spirit General, upon hearing Jin Qiao’er’s account, had their expressions drastically change. Extreme Sword Spirit General’s eyes shot out two sharp gazes like swords, scanning the surroundings. Including An Xiaoran, everyone in the team instinctively avoided the gaze of Extreme Sword Spirit General.
“Give me the bone blade,” Extreme Sword Spirit General said to An Xiaoran. Extreme Sword Spirit General’s tone was serious, and his expression was not pleasant. An Xiaoran didn’t know what had happened but still handed over the net bag containing the bone blade to Extreme Sword Spirit General. This fiery red net bag was also a magic tool specifically used to imprison captives.
Extreme Sword Spirit General untied the net bag, revealing the snow-white skull of the bone blade. “It’s like being pecked in the eye by a goose while hunting geese all day long. I was just lecturing that Shocking Thunder guy for being too careless. I didn’t expect that I, too, would be caught off guard and almost deceived by this thing,” Extreme Sword Spirit General said coldly.
After finishing this sentence, Extreme Sword Spirit General began to act on the bone blade. When Extreme Sword Spirit General took out the bone blade, Jin Qiao’er’s mirror underwent a change. “So the demon was hidden inside this skull and didn’t infiltrate your team,” Jin Qiao’er said as she looked at the mirror in her hand.
Shocking Thunder Spirit General’sexpression was quite awkward as he explained, “When we were in the Deadly Sea of Sand, because time was too rushed, we didn’t have time to interrogate the bone blade in detail. We planned to come back and obtain more information from the bone blade and learn more details. To avoid harming this guy’s soul, we didn’t rashly inspect his soul.”
“It’s truly unexpected that an invisible Yin demon was lurking in the soul of the bone blade,” Shocking Thunder Spirit General, who always prided himself on being an expert in combating demons, made consecutive mistakes this time and felt that he couldn’t save face.
“We’ve been sleeping for too long, and our minds have become numb, which is why we made such a low-level mistake,” self-mockingly said Extreme Sword Spirit General. With his abilities, as long as he was reminded, he would quickly discover the problem.
Extreme Sword Spirit General released sharp sword energy, which seemed to be embroidering as he carefully manipulated the sword energy into the skull.The entire body of Dao Gu has been lost in the previous battle, leaving only a hidden Soul within a skull. Fortunately, he is a ghost cultivator, which allows him to continue surviving in this state.
Dao Gu does not know when he was possessed by the demon creature. He witnessed in horror as the sword energy emitted by the Extreme Sword Spirit General pierced into his skull and penetrated into the hidden Soul.
The pain of the sword energy cutting through his Soul was excruciating, akin to being tortured. The unprecedented agony caused him to let out a scream of despair, begging for mercy.
The Extreme Sword Spirit General paid no attention and continued with his actions.
After a while, Dao Gu’s screams grew weaker, sounding as if he had lost all his strength.
A black smoke flew out from within the skull, about to escape, but a powerful sword energy swept across, shattering the smoke into pieces, leaving no trace behind.
“Alright, the demon creature has been dealt with.”
After confirming multiple times that there were no traces of the demon creature remaining, the Extreme Sword Spirit General spoke in a deep voice.
After going through all this, Dao Gu lost consciousness and fell into a coma.
Jin Qiao’er repeatedly checked with the mirror in her hand to ensure that the demon creature had been completely dealt with before releasing the Formation outside.
An Xiaoran then put Dao Gu back into the net bag and sincerely thanked Jin Qiao’er.
If the demon creature continued to hide within Dao Gu’s Soul and found an opportunity to erupt, it would have caused a lot of trouble.
Jin Qiao’er exchanged a few polite words and then started talking with An Xiaoran. She was clearly interested in the Extreme Sword Spirit General and the Shocking Thunder Spirit General.
She had heard before that the Guardian Spirit Generals of the Taiyi Sect were very powerful, and now that she had seen them, she realized that their reputation was well-deserved.
The Extreme Sword Spirit General and the others were probably grateful to Jin Qiao’er for her reminder, so they treated her with some courtesy.
After conversing for a while, they bid farewell and left.
After leaving the courtyard, An Xiaoran and his teammates were no longer in the mood to stay longer at the Tiger-Wolf Market due to the incident.
They informed the disciples of the Taiyi Sect stationed there and abandoned their plan to rest, immediately setting off to return to the Grand Lion Ridge.
They traveled without encountering any obstacles along the way and safely returned to the Grand Lion Ridge.
As long as they were within the Demon Wind Gobi, Meng Zhang mostly stayed at the Grand Lion Ridge.
An Xiaoran led the team directly to meet Meng Zhang.
As long as there were no major matters delaying him, Meng Zhang would always meet his three disciples in a timely manner.
An Xiaoran and the others came before Meng Zhang and wasted no time in explaining the whole incident.
After listening to An Xiaoran’s account, Meng Zhang indeed became interested.
He first checked everyone in the team again to ensure that no one had been tainted by the demon creature and that there were no hidden demons. Then, he began contemplating what An Xiaoran had told him.
The demonic cultivation of the Deadly Sea of Sand devouring ghost cultivators was indeed a major event.
Especially the name Ye Feifan, which brought back memories for Meng Zhang.
Back then, this guy had schemed against Meng Zhang but ended up falling into a trap set by Meng Zhang.
Later, Meng Zhang was in a hurry to leave the Deadly Sea of Sand and didn’t have time to pay attention to Ye Feifan’s fate.
After forming the core, it was even more impossible for Meng Zhang to enter the Deadly Sea of Sand.
This guy, Ye Feifan, was truly lucky. Not only did he escape from the trap, but he also joined the camp of demonic cultivation.
Meng Zhang actually took this ruthless old opponent somewhat seriously. If he fell into the demonic path, he might become another formidable old demon.
Meng Zhang had a premonition that he and Ye Feifan would meet again and become opponents once more.
As a diviner, Meng Zhang always had great faith in his premonitions.
He felt that he should pay close attention to the movements of the demonic cultivators within the Deadly Sea of Sand.
As a Gold Core Daoist Master, he couldn’t conveniently enter the Deadly Sea of Sand. Even the Foundation Building cultivators who entered the Deadly Sea of Sand would not have time to avoid the demonic cultivation, let alone actively provoke them.
Meng Zhang was also unwilling to let the disciples of the Taiyi Sect take such risks.
Entering the Deadly Sea of Sand for training was one thing, but actively investigating the demonic cultivation was another matter entirely.
The difficulty of the two was incomparable.
After thinking for a while, Meng Zhang believed that this matter should be entrusted to Daoist Master Jin Li.
Jin Li frequently entered and exited the Deadly Sea of Sand and was very familiar with the situation there. Monitoring the various changes in the Deadly Sea of Sand was originally her responsibility.
The demonic cultivation of the Little Demon Cave making a large-scale move and devouring the ghost cultivators of the Black Wind Grave should catch her attention.
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