Stone Demon Sect.

Sect Headquarters.

Deep within the cavern, in addition to the five Foundation Establishment Demons of the Stone Demon Sect, there was a hairy-faced Demon at the Peak of Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

If Yang Yingjie were here, he would definitely recognize this hairy-faced Demon.

If it weren’t for the Upper-Grade Magical Artifact Fang Yun had refined for him, he likely would have fallen at the hands of this very Demon.

"...This is the support our Celestial Demon Sect can provide. Do you five seniors have anything else to add?" the hairy-faced Jiang Yangxia asked, having said his piece.

"No other issues." Shi Tianpo, the current Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect, shook his head, but after a moment’s thought, he added, "It would be better if the support were more substantial."

Compared to the support the Celestial Cloud Sect gave the Shen Family, the aid from the Celestial Demon Sect to their Stone Demon Sect was decidedly late.

"It’s already more than enough. You’re only dealing with the Shen Family. Your strength is far greater than theirs."

The Foundation Establishment Demons of the Stone Demon Sect couldn’t refute him; he was stating a fact. In terms of overall strength, they also believed their sect was much stronger than the Shen Family.

But that was assuming the Shen Family had no support from the Celestial Cloud Sect.

If it weren’t for the Celestial Cloud Sect’s support, they would have taken down the Shen Family long ago.

"We..."

Just as a Vice Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was about to speak, a small red orb of light suddenly appeared before Shi Tianpo, and the Vice Sect Leader immediately fell silent.

Shi Tianpo touched the small red orb of light.

"Sect Leader, what is it?"

"It’s a distress message from the Gu Family of Qingyao County," Shi Tianpo replied.

"Just a distress message?"

"Yes."

"It seems the Gu Family of Qingyao County is in deep trouble," a Stone Demon Sect Vice Sect Leader reasoned. "To only send a distress signal, with no other information, means the situation must be extremely critical."

Jiang Yangxia’s eyelids twitched. He had never heard of the Gu Family of Qingyao County. He never bothered to learn about minor powers that lacked a Foundation Establishment expert.

Such minor powers were best left for Foundation Establishment Influences like the Stone Demon Sect to manage.

"You go to Qingyao County and take a look," Shi Tianpo said, glancing at the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect.

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was defiant. "Why me?"

"Why so many questions? I told you to go, so go. If you still want to challenge me, we’ll talk after you get back."

It was a command from the Sect Leader.

Although the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was resentful, he still did as he was told.

He felt Shi Tianpo’s order was deeply flawed. Among their Stone Demon Sect’s five Foundation Establishment experts, he was not the fastest. In a situation like this, the one with the greatest speed should have been sent to provide aid.

...

Qingyao County.

The core territory of the Demon Gu Family.

Fang Yun was in the process of cleaning up.

He just had to finish off all the Demons in the Gu Family’s core territory.

After the Wind Tiger Killing Array ceased to function, Fang Yun took off his Half-Hidden Spirit Boots and swapped them for the Light Silk Boots to move more efficiently.

Having already dealt with the more powerful Demons of the Gu Family, the rest stood even less of a chance against him.

"Why has the Wind Tiger Killing Array stopped working?"

"They must have dealt with the Spirit Refiner."

"Hahaha, for a Spirit Refiner to dare trespass on our Gu Family’s territory—he was simply courting death!"

The Gu Family Demons, ignorant of the truth, had already begun to celebrate their victory.

They couldn’t imagine any other reason for the Grand Array to have stopped.

Those Demons closer to the very core of the Gu Family’s territory could sense that they had not been victorious. It seemed even their old patriarch was dead.

And just as they realized this, a pale yellow Long Sword flew past and ended their lives.

Fang Yun’s movements were so fast that not a single Gu Family Demon had time to shout for the others to flee.

Their ancestral home was no longer a safe place to be.

’That should be all of them.’

Fang Yun came to a stop beside the corpse of a Qi Refining Third Layer Gu Family Demon. The Demon-Seeking Disc in his hand was active, but for the moment, it detected no fluctuations of Demon Power.

The Demon-Seeking Disc was only an aid. The absence of Demon Power fluctuations didn’t mean there were no Demons left.

As long as a Demon wasn’t using Demon Power, the Demon-Seeking Disc wouldn’t react even if one was standing right in front of him.

The mopping up was complete. Next was to sweep the battlefield, clear away the Demon corpses, and check for any stragglers.

Sweeping the battlefield mainly consisted of collecting the Demons’ Storage Pouches and their heads, which were proof of his kills.

Bringing this proof back to the sect would yield a massive amount of Contribution Points.

At this moment, in the Storage Pouch he used to collect proof of his kills, there was only a single head belonging to Gu Feihu. To increase his killing efficiency, he hadn’t even bothered to collect the heads of Qi Refining Tenth Layer Demons.

While sweeping the battlefield, Fang Yun personally felt no malicious presence, yet he instantly entered a combat stance.

The moment he adopted a combat stance, he struck, casually dispatching a Qi Refining Fourth Layer straggler.

’This is a Sunset Tiger, the Demon Beast the Demon Gu Family uses for bloodline transplantation.’

Fang Yun made one final round and, in the core territory of the Demon Gu Family, found three penned-up Sunset Tigers.

When the Sunset Tigers saw him, they didn’t release the slightest bit of Demon Power, nor did they show any desire to attack him.

According to the information Fang Yun had, besides these Sunset Tigers, the Demon Gu Family had no other Demon Beasts for bloodline transplantation. Most Demon Qi Refining Clans, like the Gu Family, only had methods for transplanting a single type of Demon Beast bloodline.

’How many times can a bloodline be transplanted from a single Demon Beast? Or is the transplanted bloodline related to one’s Realm?’

As he recalled the Cultivation Miscellaneous Books he’d read, a few questions arose in Fang Yun’s mind. The books in the sect’s Library Pavilion rarely offered detailed explanations of other cultivation paths, usually just criticizing them.

Not giving it much more thought, Fang Yun quickly sent the three Sunset Tigers on their way and conveniently collected the materials from their bodies that could be used for Artifact Refining.

’Time to go!’

With a thought, Fang Yun swapped out his Light Spirit Shoes and put on the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

In his pursuit of efficiency, he hadn’t searched the Demon Gu Family’s core territory thoroughly.

The Gu Family’s distress signal had already been sent. This was clearly not a place to linger.

The final round he had just made was to look for any stragglers and, incidentally, to see if he could find the Demon Gu Family’s clan treasury.

Since he didn’t find it, he let it go.

For him, the biggest gain this time was undoubtedly the accumulated Combat Talent Points.

When the tally was done at the beginning of next month, the number of Talent Points he would receive would be substantial.

Beneath the moonlight.

Now concealed, Fang Yun swiftly departed the Demon Gu Family’s territory.

The route he took also led him away from the Stone Demon Sect.

This route to the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm would take more time, but it was much safer.

As time passed, the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect appeared in the sky above Qingyao County.

As he neared the core of the Gu Family’s territory, he didn’t sense the slightest disturbance. The scene before him confirmed his suspicions.

The Gu Family was wiped out!

His spiritual sense could not detect the aura of a single Demon.

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect landed on the ground and began to inspect the signs of battle.

’The Grey Lake Hua Family has a major feud with the Gu Family, but they wouldn’t dare pull something like this at a time like this. Nor do they have the capability. This can only be the work of Spirit Refiners... and from the Celestial Cloud Sect, at that!’

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect quickly came to a conclusion.

’The Shen Family’s Spirit Refiners are busy defending their own home, so they can be ruled out.’

Through careful examination, the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect gathered more information.

’At least eight Qi Refining Tenth Layer Spirit Refiners from the Celestial Cloud Sect must have attacked the Gu Family.’

Judging by the locations of the bloodstains, the people of the Gu Family showed no signs of fleeing. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to run, but that they didn’t have the chance.

The Spirit Refiners from the Celestial Cloud Sect had attacked from all sides, leaving them with nowhere to run.

’The Celestial Cloud Sect sent so many Spirit Refiners at the Peak of Qi Refining just to annihilate the Gu Family... Just how did the Gu Family offend the Celestial Cloud Sect?’

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was very curious.

Now that the Gu Family had been wiped out by the Celestial Cloud Sect, they were of no value to the Stone Demon Sect. Later, they could just prop up another Qi Refining Clan in Qingyao County.

As he investigated, the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect arrived at the Gu Family’s clan treasury.

’I didn’t expect this Gu Family to have hidden away so much.’

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was inwardly delighted. It was a good thing Shi Tianpo had sent him to "rescue" the Gu Family.

This could be considered payment for the journey.

Just as the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect was about to start gathering up the spoils, he saw a Gu Family Demon at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer inside the treasury who was not dead.

It looked like he was just drunk.

"Wake up."

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect shot a burst of Demon Power into the Gu Family Demon’s body.

Before long, the Gu Family Demon slowly woke up.

When the Gu Family Demon saw the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect, he was dazed for a moment, then he instantly sobered up.

"You are... the venerable former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect."

"That’s right," the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "How did your Gu Family offend the Celestial Cloud Sect?"

"The Celestial Cloud Sect... Did something happen? Also, why are you here? This is our Gu Family’s clan treasury."

"Answer my question first!"

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect’s eyes narrowed, putting immense pressure on the Gu Family Demon.

"Yes, yes... The Celestial Cloud Sect... Let me think... Right, Old Fifth killed an Inner Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect," the Gu Family Demon replied.

’Right now, Old Seventh should still be on his way to the Celestial Demon Sect to collect the reward.’

"It seems your Gu Family killed an Inner Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect who had a very powerful background," the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect deduced.

Based on the information he had, it was an easy conclusion to draw.

The Gu Family was annihilated by multiple Spirit Refiners at the Peak of Qi Refining from the Celestial Cloud Sect.

To be able to dispatch so many Inner Sect Disciples at the Peak of Qi Refining at once, the Celestial Cloud Sect Inner Sect Disciple that the Gu Family’s Old Fifth killed was likely related to a Supreme Elder of the Celestial Cloud Sect.

If it were just an Elder of the Celestial Cloud Sect, they would have at most sent someone to kill the Gu Family’s Old Fifth.

The more the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect thought about it, the more his analysis made sense.

"An Inner Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect with a powerful background," the Gu Family Demon murmured. Looking at the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect before him, he seemed to realize something. "Now our Gu Family has been... by the Celestial Cloud... You... you bas..."

The Gu Family Demon couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes.

He thought about how his Gu Family had been invaded by disciples of the Celestial Cloud Sect, how he had luckily survived, and how the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect had come to rescue them, but had arrived too late.

Originally, he was even thinking he could use the resources in the clan treasury to rebuild their Gu Family with Old Seventh.

However, he had barely spoken a few words when he saw the former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect’s hand had already grabbed his heart and pulled it out.

The former Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect sniffed the still-beating heart he had just removed.

"Your Gu Family’s treasury was looted clean by the Spirit Refiners from the Celestial Cloud Sect. Also, I really don’t like being called ’former Sect Leader’."