Chapter 1547: The Great Upheaval Begins

Wu Chang still had a chance to eliminate Kunlin Shu now, because Kunlin Shu's cultivation was still shallow.

So long as Wu Chang could find him, Kunlin Shu's present strength was not enough to support a head-on battle against him.

Once they met, Kunlin Shu would not be able to escape. His cultivation could not sustain a prolonged contest with Wu Chang, and a mere illusion technique did not mean he possessed the speed to flee from him.

Hei Shi had not been one of the combatants and did not quite understand. He tried asking, "From what this subordinate observed earlier, and judging by the two corpses being split apart by some sharp weapon, I thought those two old ghosts were killed by Yuan Gang. Was that not the case? Was it Kunlin Shu instead?"

Wu Chang did give him an explanation. "Those two old ghosts were killed by Yuan Gang. But he's taken the path of tempering the body through martial arts. He has no spiritual cultivation at all. He can't even fly and needs others to help carry him whenever he fights. Nothing but half-baked trash!"

Hei Shi could hardly imagine someone with no spiritual cultivation killing Lan Daolin and Du Wuxu. He ventured, "Could he be deliberately concealing his true strength?"

Wu Chang gave him a cold sidelong glance and could no longer be bothered to explain.

Whether Yuan Gang possessed hidden strength or spiritual power was something Wu Chang had sensed perfectly clearly inside the Boundless Demon Domain. There was nothing hidden at all.

And even setting that aside, Yuan Gang could not break the Boundless Demon Domain. So long as Wu Chang trapped him inside it, would Yuan Gang not be his to torment however he pleased? Yuan Gang was no concern.

To Wu Chang, the only true future threat was Kunlin Shu.

Seeing that he no longer wished to explain, Hei Shi knew there had to be a reason and did not dare press his luck. Instead he reminded him, "Sacred Venerable, from what this subordinate observed, the man who handled communication between their side and ours may actually be the true core figure among them. I had the feeling everyone was following his orders."

Wu Chang swept his gaze over the corpses on the ground and said slowly, "The two old ghosts are dead. Those people have no further value to me. Notify the men around Nanzhou Prefectural Capital. The moment they discover those people have returned, report it immediately. I'll go personally and finish them."

Xi Haitang, Wen Hua, and the rest were all clearly identified targets. There would be no delay. In a single day, Wu Chang could make a circuit of the various locations and sweep every one of them clean.

Once these skulking ghosts were cleared away, the other Eight Saints would all be gone as well.

Wu Chang's age had arrived.

"Yes!" Hei Shi cupped his hands and accepted the order. He hesitated inwardly over whether to report the matter of the Heaven-Swallowing Ring, then decided against it.

Above them, the dark clouds had lost the spiritual power sustaining them and vanished, while what remained had been burned away by the flames. The fire-clouds likewise exhausted themselves once their energy was gone.

Every man-made phenomenon in the sky dispersed like smoke, revealing the blazing sun once more.

...

The group that had urgently fled Qiyun Sect had gone far enough by now that their tracks should no longer be discovered.

Having personally taken part in killing Lan Daolin and Du Wuxu and then escaped successfully, the others were exhilarated by how the whole affair had proved dangerous without turning disastrous.

Kunlin Shu, finally able to relax, nevertheless said worriedly, "Master Dao, I exposed a secret art of the Heavenly Fire Sect. I'm afraid the sect may be in danger."

Niu Youdao looked back at him. He knew Kunlin Shu had only just emerged from the Sacred Realm, gone into hiding, and then come directly to take part in this operation. He had no idea what had happened beneath Heaven in the meantime. Niu Youdao reassured him, "You're thinking too much. The State of Qi has already fallen. Jin annexed it. The Heavenly Fire Sect surrendered and now serves Jin. Wu Chang still needs them to help him conquer the realm..."

"What?" Kunlin Shu was shocked. "The Heavenly Fire Sect surrendered?"

Niu Youdao said, "You'll learn the details later. Wu Chang has no attention to spare for the Heavenly Fire Sect right now. Even if he wanted to deal with them, first he'd have to see whether he survives what's coming. Let him get through this calamity before worrying about anything else."

Yuan Cong and the others were puzzled. From the sound of it, Niu Youdao intended to make another move against Wu Chang.

But killing Wu Chang was easier said than done. How could Wu Chang possibly let himself be struck by Yuan Gang's saber again? Even when all Nine Saints had existed, they had struggled to deal with him together. Could this handful of people really manage it?

They had succeeded in killing Lan Daolin and Du Wuxu only because Wu Chang had helped them. Without him, there would never have been any chance for those two successive strikes to succeed.

Never mind that they could not defeat Wu Chang by joining forces. Even if they had a chance to win, Wu Chang would never sit still and wait for death. With his strength, even all of them together could not stop him from fleeing.

Could Niu Youdao mean to rely on her?

One after another, their gazes drifted toward Yin'er, who was letting herself be pulled along through the air while continuing to eat with perfect peace of mind. They could only marvel at the girl's heart. People had died before her and corpses had dropped right in front of her, yet none of it had affected her appetite.

Yun Ji had a better sense of the truth and could tell these people were thinking too much. Rely on Yin'er? If the Holy Rakshasa truly emerged, no one could say whether she would attack Wu Chang or help Wu Chang attack them instead. At that point, she might frighten everyone into complete chaos.

Yin'er was useful mainly for intimidating Wu Chang, who could not determine the truth and therefore had to remain wary. Yun Ji herself would never dare make reckless use of her.

She knew that unless there was absolutely no alternative, Niu Youdao would never dare let Yin'er demonize and reveal the Holy Rakshasa's true form. This glutton was a double-edged sword, far too dangerous.

...

At Demon Ridge, inside the Demon Palace, Feng Guan'er carried a locked box to Nantian Wufang, who was seated behind his desk. She placed it before him, then stepped back twice.

Nantian Wufang looked up at her, puzzled. "What is the meaning of this?"

Feng Guan'er said, "Mister Zhao gave this to me before he entered seclusion. He told me to deliver it to the Left Envoy at this exact date and hour."

Nantian Wufang frowned suspiciously. "What's inside?"

Feng Guan'er shook her head. "I don't know. Mister Zhao said the Left Envoy would understand after opening it."

Nantian Wufang briefly examined the box, then used his power to open the lock. There was only a single letter inside.

He picked it up and read it. His expression began changing violently, and by the time he finished the entire letter, his face was exceedingly ugly. In a flash he vanished, leaving Feng Guan'er behind without another word.

Feng Guan'er turned after him in astonishment, with no idea what had happened.

Nantian Wufang hurried to the rear mountain and reached the place where Zhao Xiongge was supposedly in seclusion. He shoved open the stone door and shouted, "Zhao Xiongge! Zhao Xiongge! Get the hell out here!"

No one answered.

There was not a trace of anyone inside the cave residence.

Nantian Wufang raised the letter in his hand and glanced over it again, his face turning livid. So the letter was telling the truth. Zhao Xiongge had never entered seclusion at all. He was already gone.

"Dog bastard! You went behind my back and stirred up something this huge, you ungrateful ingrate. You even kept me in the dark without so much as a warning!" Nantian Wufang spat out the curse.

But he did not dare delay. The matter described in the letter was urgent.

After he returned to the Demon Palace and made the necessary preparations, chaos erupted inside the Demonic Sect. Its own people began killing one another.

That description might have been somewhat severe, but from the outside it truly did look like internal slaughter. Nantian Wufang was leading the entire Demonic Sect in a purge of spies within its ranks while simultaneously killing the personnel Tianmo Sacred Land had stationed there.

This was open rebellion.

Whether every spy could be eliminated, Nantian Wufang himself did not know. Certainly they could not all be cleared out. The Demonic Sect was Wu Chang's private preserve and Misty Pavilion had never been allowed to interfere there, so unlike the various sects during the earlier purge, they had no full roster of infiltrators to work from. The eyes and ears planted inside the Demonic Sect were known only to Tianmo Sacred Land, not controlled through Misty Pavilion.

But every spy they had already identified was killed without exception. Not one was spared.

Once the Demon Palace fell into chaos, all of Demon Ridge, this marketplace of the cultivation world, descended into chaos with it.

After the upheaval, Nantian Wufang stood atop the Demon Palace looking into the distance, emotion written across his face.

After enduring all these years, he was finally free.

Next, the Demonic Sect would have to break apart into small groups and go into hiding. They had to withdraw quickly, or Wu Chang might come to kill them personally.

Nantian Wufang himself had to hurry to the rendezvous point and wait for Zhao Xiongge to send someone to receive him.

He was free now, but what came afterward filled him with unease.

Was he about to see that person?

How was he supposed to face her?

He did not dare face her...

...

In Nanzhou Prefectural Capital, Yuan Fang, dressed in monk's robes and looking like a wrathful guardian deity, kicked open the gate of a courtyard. It was as though he had sounded the signal to attack.

Behind him, a group of cultivators from Liuxian Sect, Lingxiu Mountain, and Fuyun Sect rushed inside. Several people sprang from the courtyard, only to be intercepted immediately by men already lying in ambush around it.

One man was knocked to the ground. Yuan Fang rushed forward with a ring-pommel saber in hand and cut him down.

Throughout Nanzhou Prefectural Capital, in every direction around Maolu Villa, scenes like this were unfolding almost simultaneously.

Yuan Fang was directing a sweeping purge of the guide posts and eyes Wu Chang had planted around Maolu Villa.

This time Duan Hu, Wu Sanliang, and the others from Maolu Villa each led separate teams to assist.

Another eight groups of cultivators rushed to different locations outside the city to hunt down the people who ordinarily intercepted Maolu Villa's confidential correspondence.

The operation did not catch everyone. A few slipped through the net. Once it was over, Yuan Fang wasted no time. He gathered a group of monks, disguised them, and fled.

Lan Ruoting was already gone, as were Feng Ruonan and her son, and no one knew when they had left or where they had gone. A number of other important figures in the city had likewise been urgently transferred away after Lan Ruoting distributed confidential orders at the appointed time.

...

"Sect Leader, are you joking?"

Inside the council hall of Myriad Beasts Sect, one elder asked in shock after hearing Xi Haitang's terrifying announcement.

Xi Haitang did not waste words. He strode out of the hall. Once the elders had followed him outside, he shot straight into the sky and soared into the clouds, openly displaying the cultivation of the Nascent Soul Realm.

When he descended again and slowly landed before them, everyone was silent.

Expressionless, Xi Haitang said, "Everyone, so long as the Nine Saints stand, Myriad Beasts Sect will forever live like pigs and dogs. Everything I've done has been for Myriad Beasts Sect. Now I've already been exposed. If circumstances had not forced my hand, I would never have revealed this. Everyone, we no longer have a choice!"

Before long, large numbers of Myriad Beasts Sect cultivators mobilized and began slaughtering the Misty Pavilion personnel stationed there.

After the operation, Myriad Beasts Sect hurriedly broke apart and scattered into hiding.

At almost the same time, Ling Sect and Tianxing Sect launched similar purges against Misty Pavilion personnel. Both sects dispersed into hiding afterward.

At Zijin Cave, Sect Leader Gong Lince likewise ordered the entire sect to scatter and hide.

...

At Medicine Valley beside the sea, Ghost Doctor Hei Li and his two disciples, together with Yan Baoru and Guo Man, had already packed their belongings and were preparing to leave.

Just as they were about to set out across the waves, Ghost Doctor Hei Li could not help stopping and looking back over Medicine Valley. He gave a soft sigh. "I've spent most of my life here. Will I ever be able to return?"

Yan Baoru said, "While the green hills remain, there will still be firewood to burn. Sir, let's go. We've already been exposed. If we delay any longer and Wu Chang comes, none of us will escape."

The three master and disciples stared coldly at her. Guo Man wore the same look of disdain.

Yan Baoru glanced at Guo Man and felt the urge to grab the woman by the neck and strangle her.

The instructions had clearly been transmitted through Guo Man, yet somehow Yan Baoru was the one who had ended up playing the villain, while this woman was still putting on the expression of an innocent victim.

Hei Li sighed, flicked his sleeve, and led the group away across the waves.

[End of Chapter 1547]