Traveling day and night, Lin Wuxi finally reached Xiao Xi Village on the seventh day. Xiao Xi Village, true to its name meaning “Little Creek Village,” was filled with babbling streams. It served as a base for cultivators investigating the demonic cultivators. However, Lin Wuxi had no time to admire the scenery. The tense atmosphere in the village told her the situation was even more serious than she had anticipated.
When Lin Wuxi landed, a disciple from her sect was there to meet her. He led her towards the village, explaining gravely, “The demonic cultivators first appeared about three months ago. Their numbers have been increasing ever since. We don’t yet know their objective, but based on what we’ve gathered, the situation doesn’t look good.”
“An area of three thousand li around here is their gathering point. So far, they haven’t made any major moves. Your primary task is to protect the lives of the local residents as much as possible. Secondly, you need to investigate why they’ve gathered here. Understood?”
“Understood.”
Demonic cultivators progressed very quickly in their early stages, and they mastered many vicious techniques. If they fought desperately, immortal cultivators would also suffer heavy casualties. Therefore, even if they were currently weaker, with such a large number of demonic cultivators gathered, the cultivation world could not easily deal with them. Before their purpose was understood, the cultivation world naturally wouldn’t dare to act rashly. The current priority was to sneak into the area where demonic cultivators were gathered and find out their objective.
Lin Wuxi’s mission was also this. She received a registration token used for tracking cultivators’ locations. Lin Wuxi concealed her entire aura and headed towards the place in the north where the demonic cultivators were gathering.
Back in Stream Village, Lin Wuxi could already sense the vast demonic energy from the north. As she flew this way, the demonic energy not only grew denser, but even the trees and grass by the roadside gradually lost their vitality. By the time she got closer to the demonic cultivators’ gathering point, all the surrounding vegetation had withered. There was no sign of life for miles around.
Lin Wuxi put away her flying sword and descended from the sky. This place was already very close to where the demonic cultivators were gathered. Even with her aura hidden, Lin Wuxi couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t be discovered. After thinking for a moment, Lin Wuxi applied an aura-concealing talisman and a demon-simulating talisman to herself to hide her own immortal energy and mimic demonic energy. Although Lin Wuxi’s strength was low, few people knew talisman arts these days. As long as she didn’t encounter a Nascent Soul stage expert, no one would suspect her just by seeing the demonic energy around her.
Changing into the demonic cultivator attire she had bought in Stream Village, Lin Wuxi’s demeanor immediately changed. Her elegant face became resolute and calm. Her obsidian-like, deep eyes were unreadable. Her back was straight, and she moved with unhurried composure. She truly looked just like a mysterious female demonic cultivator.
She stepped forward. Even though she was about to enter a gathering place of demonic cultivators teeming with experts, Lin Wuxi felt no fear. If she didn’t have such mental fortitude and courage, Lin Wuxi wouldn’t have survived until now.
After walking a short distance, she could already see scattered demonic cultivators around. Demonic cultivators generally preferred to act alone and wouldn’t casually strike up conversations with strangers. This actually made Lin Wuxi relax a bit. However, it also made it much harder for Lin Wuxi to gather information.
The demonic cultivators’ gathering place was also a village, named Yudai Village. Apart from an enormous jade stone platform in the center of the village, it wasn’t much different from other villages.
Most demonic cultivators in the village, like Lin Wuxi, were dressed in black and veiled, moving about alone. They didn’t show any unusual interest in the vast jade platform. Lin Wuxi had no choice but to pretend to walk towards it casually, but she was stopped halfway.
“Venerable one, please follow me to register.”
Nodding slightly, Lin Wuxi had read in ancient texts that demonic cultivators, like immortal cultivators, would also register their names before undertaking extremely dangerous and important activities. However, this was done to count the casualties after the event.
Although she knew this matter wouldn’t be simple, for it to be so serious as to require registration—something that might only happen once every few hundred years—still exceeded Lin Wuxi’s expectations.
But fortunately, this registration didn’t require true energy. Otherwise, if Lin Wuxi used her immortal energy, she would be discovered immediately. Not only would this mission fail, but it would also be unknown if she could even get out alive.
Recalling the method recorded in the ancient texts, Lin Wuxi finally completed the registration smoothly and received a rogue cultivator token to identify herself. Lin Wuxi once again marveled at how lax demonic cultivator organizations were. If the registration had required her to provide a token to prove her identity, Lin Wuxi wouldn’t have been able to find one.
Walking towards the jade stone platform in the center of the village, no one stopped her this time. But Lin Wuxi secretly investigated it for a long time. It was just very ordinary jade stone material. Although the materials used were extremely expensive, this wasn’t particularly surprising from the perspective of the lavish Wan Hen Sect. There was nothing else special around. If Lin Wuxi’s guess was correct, the reason for the demonic cultivators gathering here this time should be related to that jade platform.
But since she couldn’t find any clues now, Lin Wuxi didn’t intend to dwell on it. Instead, she walked towards a nearby inn. She got a superior room and settled in. Now, she was waiting.
Demonic cultivators continued to flock to Yudai Village. It wasn’t until the third day that the numbers gradually decreased. From the atmosphere in the entire village, Lin Wuxi knew that what she was waiting for was about to happen.
When night fell, the demonic cultivators scattered throughout Yudai Village gathered towards the jade platform. Lin Wuxi also followed the crowd and stood around the jade platform. Before long, demonic cultivators completely wrapped in black robes walked onto the jade platform. Lin Wuxi keenly noticed that all the black-robed figures who went onto the platform had a strange mark. This was a unique mark of demonic cultivator elders!
The ranks among demonic cultivators were not clearly defined. In their extremely loose organizations, the only managers were elders who rarely showed themselves. The number of elders was unknown, their identities unknown. They would only appear at extremely important times. And each time they appeared, they almost always stirred up a bloody storm in the cultivation world.
The communication talisman she had prepared in her hand twitched slightly. It turned into a small, bright yellow butterfly and flew into the night sky. Although this talisman wasn’t fast, its advantage was its secrecy. Under the gazes of so many demonic cultivators with unfathomable strength, Lin Wuxi hadn’t intended to make any moves. But this matter was too important, and Lin Wuxi couldn’t ignore it.
The moment the talisman paper flew out, Lin Wuxi immediately felt an extremely powerful divine sense sweep over every corner of the area. Her heart skipped a beat; she really wasn’t sure if she would be discovered.
Fortunately, the divine sense vanished in an instant. The elders on the jade platform continued to walk onto it as if nothing had happened. They spread out around the center of the platform, all facing inwards. They picked up the magic artifacts in their hands and began to chant in low voices.
Lin Wuxi couldn’t understand what they were chanting. She could only watch as the jade platform in the darkness emitted a faint glow. It was extremely eye-catching in the dark night sky.
Other black-robed figures continuously transported spirit stones to the jade platform. Top-grade spirit stones were sent in basket after basket as if they were free. But they were consumed at a visible rate in the hands of the elders. The massive consumption of spiritual energy made the surrounding spiritual energy concentration even surpass that of Wan Hen Sect’s Heavenly Master Peak. Yet, no one would sit here to cultivate. If they couldn’t maintain a calm mind, demonic cultivators, who feared inner demons the most, would only face death.
The ceremony went on for a long time. Beads of sweat had appeared on the elders’ foreheads. The night had reached its darkest and deepest point. But the jade platform only emitted a brighter light; there were no other changes.
Silence. There was no sound in the entire Yudai Village except for the chanting of the elders on the platform. Even the most irritable and short-tempered demonic cultivators restrained their sharp edges at this moment. Suppressing all their desires, they stared longingly at the jade platform in the darkness.
What made them so fanatical? If it were just ordinary rare treasures or spirit medicines, these demonic cultivators would never be this calm. The atmosphere should have been tense enough for swords to be drawn. But what was the reason for their current gazes, filled with both longing and fear?
“Now, offer your blood essence! Success or failure depends on this!” The elders’ authoritative voices spread throughout Yudai Village. The surrounding demonic cultivators all drew a bit of heart’s blood from their meridians. Thousands of streaks of bloody light flew from all over Yudai Village towards the jade platform.
Lin Wuxi thought for a moment and, not wanting to stand out, also quietly drew a trace of fresh blood from her fingertip. It flew towards the jade platform, wrapped in a faint light. As the jade platform received the blood of numerous demonic cultivators, its pale green jade color gradually turned blood red. As it absorbed more and more blood, the light emitted by the platform also changed from green to a dark red.
Finally, the elders around the jade platform also offered their own blood essence. They quickly formed profound and obscure demonic sect hand seals. In the first ray of morning sunlight, the jade stone platform opened a dark stone gate. The previously quiet demonic cultivators couldn’t help but stir restlessly. Several teams of black-clothed demonic cultivators who had been waiting nearby immediately jumped into the stone gate upon seeing this. Just as the stone gate was about to close, one of the elders on the jade platform glanced quickly at Lin Wuxi. With a casual wave of his hand, Lin Wuxi found herself involuntarily flying towards the stone gate on the jade platform.
Lin Wuxi was aghast, knowing she had been exposed. She wanted to break free, but at her Enlightenment stage, she was completely powerless against these demonic cultivators who were at least at the Nascent Soul stage. She could only watch helplessly as she was sucked into the stone gate of the jade platform.
Meanwhile, Yu Huang, who had been dejected by Lin Wuxi’s sudden disappearance, felt a sudden jolt in her heart. She could no longer care about the task assigned by the Sect Master. She threw down the medicine basket in her hand and rode her sword towards Heavenly Master Peak.
“Senior Sister, wait…” Li Yu, who wanted to stop her, was swiftly bypassed by the anxious Yu Huang. The unease in Yu Huang’s heart grew heavier and heavier. She could no longer care about sect punishments or the Sect Master’s instructions. Right now, she only wanted to know where Lin Wuxi was. It definitely wasn’t as simple as the Sect Master said—just carrying out an ordinary mission.
The short distance was covered in an instant under Yu Huang’s full speed. She couldn’t care about anything else. Under the gazes of many Wan Hen Sect disciples, Yu Huang rushed straight into the Heavenly Hall where the Sect Master resided.
“Master, please tell your disciple, where exactly did Junior Sister Wuxi go?” Even as she bowed, she couldn’t hide the anxiety in her voice.
Seeing Yu Huang’s rare flustered appearance, Sect Master Song Qingde frowned. “What happened? Aren’t you supposed to be undergoing penal labor at Yan Mountain? What are you doing here?”
“Disciple knows her fault and is willing to accept punishment. But please, Master, tell your disciple where Junior Sister Wuxi went!”
“Lin Wuxi? Didn’t I tell you? She just went to carry out a sect mission. Why be so anxious? Besides, that Lin Wuxi has deep-seated inner demons. It’s still unknown whether she’s friend or foe…”
“I implore Master to tell disciple where Junior Sister went to carry out her mission!”
“Insolent!”
“Master, disciple knows she is wrong. After this matter is resolved, disciple will definitely return to accept punishment. But I implore Master, please let disciple be willful this once.”
Looking at Yu Huang, who had completely lost her usual calm demeanor, the Sect Master’s eyes were filled with pity. But in the end, he just flicked his sleeve and coldly uttered three words: ” Xiao Xi Village.”
“Thank you, Master.” Hearing the answer she wanted, Yu Huang was overjoyed. After bowing, she immediately activated her Qingluan sword and flew north at full speed.
But the Sect Master in the main hall turned his back. After a long while, he crushed the small messenger sword Lin Wuxi had used for communication between his fingertips until it was powder.
