Even though Qin Mo had increased the Cloud Boat"s speed, it still took the party a few days to reach Zhengyang Sect.

Before they had pa.s.sed through the Sect"s gate, Qin Mo and the others got off the Cloud Boat. Just as they did, they spotted a group of people emerge from one of Zhengyang Sect"s buildings and rush straight towards them.

It was a few middle-aged folks, all wearing Zhengyang Sect"s earth-toned robes. They glanced over Qin Mo and the group, uncertainty in their eyes.

Leading the group, stood a large, tall middle-aged man. He appeared strong with firm muscles and tanned skin, emitting an aura of dependability. Just hearing him loudly say: "You lot are from Yueqing Sect?", attracted the attention of everyone present.

After Qin Mo"s group confirmed, the middle-aged brawny leader"s brow wrinkled slightly and his eyes fixed firmly onto them. Because of the largeness of his eyes, the moment they"d settled on them, the man suddenly gave off a sense of ruthlessness. "Your claims are unsubstantiated, what proof is there?"

Hearing this, the faces of the disciples of Yueqing Sect turned grim. What did he mean by doubting their ident.i.ties? But it would do no good to provoke those before them right now, so all they could do was swallow their dissatisfaction.

Qin Mo furrowed his brow and slowly spoke, "This senior, I don"t understand what you mean by this?"

"When I say show us your proof, I mean show us your proof. Doesn"t Yueqing Sect have this… this identification jade for its disciples? Why so troublesome!" The man was obviously not a patient one; seeing no movement from the other side after a while, he couldn"t help but become more violent.

"You…" before Qin Mo could finish what he was just about to say, he was interrupted by the man before him. The man roughly grabbed the cloth at Qin Mo"s waist, tightly grasping his qiankun bag, as though trying to find what he is looking for there.

Seeing the man"s actions, Qin Mo brought up his right hand, sending out a ball of purple energy at him. But with a wave of the man"s hand, the ball of energy dissipated into thin air.

Faced with such circ.u.mstances for the first time, Qin Mo was caught off guard, and his hands jerked up. Immediately, Biyou Jian appeared in his hand, its tip pointed forward at the man in front of him.

The man, seemingly angered by Qin Mo"s att.i.tude, released his hold and balled his hands into fists. His eyes lit up as if they were on fire and he shouted, "Kid, you hesitate to comply only to be forced onto worse, this elder is not one you should offend so lightly!" looking like he wanted to throw a fist his way.

The man"s hands were covered in a layer of red flames, placing intense pressure on Qin Mo. Qin Mo eyes couldn"t help but darken, this person"s cultivation level must have been at the core formation phase. Even with that mind, his hands still clenched around Biyou Jian.

"Stop, is my disciple so easily bullied? Are you not members of Yueqing Sect?" The strong man"s fist was inches away from hitting Qin Mo, when suddenly a loud roar billowed from an unknown direction, leaving the crowd in a state of shock. A figure appeared between Qin Mo and the strong man, blocking the fist.

"Sect Head!" Seeing him, Yueqing Sect"s disciples couldn"t help but gasp.

Jin Linfeng nodded towards the disciples and quickly looked over Qin Mo"s body, relaxing only after having found no injuries. He then turned to face the strong man with a vicious glare, speaking in a sarcastic tone, "I hadn"t expected that the head of Zhengyang Sect would enjoy bullying the juniors."

The ill-tempered man was the head of Zhengyang Sect, Kong Fan. Listening to Jin Linfeng"s words, his tanned face turned red. Just then he remembered something and looked back at Qin Mo"s group, speaking defensively, "He was unwilling to provide evidence of him being a member of Yueqing Sect. Moreover, he was the first to attack!" Confidence framed across his face as he finished.

"You… you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Hearing his reasoning, Jin Linfeng"s became even more enrage, he raised the longsword in his hand as if prepared to attack Kong Fan.

Cao Yong, the Zhengyang Sect elder that had been standing behind Kong Fan the whole time, now came forward, pulling the hostile Kong Fan back and blocking Jin Linfeng"s movement at the same time. An honest smile appeared on the elder"s face, "Sect leader Jin, please don"t misunderstand, our head is just too ill-tempered. So much has happened recently, he was put into a bad mood."

As he spoke, the elder"s expression became graver, "As of late, someone has been impersonating disciples from major sects and engaging my Zhengyang Sect. In the end, many Zhengyang Sect disciples were murdered, which is why we are confirming the ident.i.ties of all disciples entering Zhengyang Sect here! Furthermore…"

Pausing, the elder scanned through the group of disciples behind Jin Linfeng, "The invitation asking you to come to Zhengyang Sect was not sent by my sect. The disciples who"d come here to partic.i.p.ate in the test were all ambushed on the way, many sects lost a lot of disciples!"

"What? Was there such a thing?" Hearing the news, Jin Linfeng"s face changed. He seemed rough, and while he was usually crude, he was in actuality quite sharp at times. At first he had thought the invitation was a bit strange, but he had not expected such a sinister scheme.

"En, we did get ambushed during our journey." Qin Mo, who had been standing silently at the sidelines, also came forward. He nodded slightly to the disciple behind him, prompting them to bring out s.h.i.+ying"s body.

Seeing s.h.i.+ying, the face of Cao Yong, who"d just been speaking, suddenly s.h.i.+fted and his body trembled uncontrollably as he muttered, "I never thought this one could have been a spy."

After a moment, the man seemingly realized his blunder and a smile returned to his face. He spoke to Qin Mo, "I don"t know whether s.h.i.+zhi may discipline him for me, after all, he was my… corrupt disciple!"

Hearing this, Qin Mo only nodded his head but did not say anything.

Realizing Zhengyang Sect"s gate was not the best place to talk, Zhengyang Sect welcomed Jin Linfeng and Qin Mo"s group in.

It seemed as though all kinds of disciples, from big and small sects under the boundary of the blue sky alike, had come. Following Jin Linfeng"s arrival, he was invited to the main hall of Zhengyang Sect, and a discussion of the odd events ensued. In the meanwhile, Qin Mo and other disciples were led to a separate room.

Qin Mo sat on a soft cus.h.i.+on, carefully thinking over the contents of the original novel, but still couldn"t remember what had happened during this timeframe. However, the original Lin Zizheng seemed to have risen after his s.h.i.+xiong entered the foundation building phase, could this time around really be compared to the original?

Someone knocked on the wooden door lightly, and Qin Mo stopped his wild contemplations, got up and opened it. At the door stood an unfamiliar disciple, food in his hands. Looking at his stiff figure, he appeared to be from Zhengyang Sect.

Noticing Qin Mo, a smile rose on the disciple"s face, and he handed him the food, saying: "s.h.i.+xiong, here is tonight"s dinner!"

Qin Mo nodded, took the meal, and thanked the disciple as he turned back to the room.

Many people had gathered in the main hall of Zhengyang Sect, all of whom wore serious expressions.

"According to the captured traitor, Demonic cultivators had planted undercover spies in various sects since a while back. The attacks on the major sects were all perpetrated by the Demonic cultivators!" said the woman sitting beside Jin Linfeng, putting her jade cup down as she watched the crowd.

The woman looked to be in her twenties with a highly dignified bearing. She sat upright, looking ahead with a very stern expression, her eyes steadfast.

All those present did not dare look down on her for being a woman, for she was one of three major sects" leaders, Yunyin Sect"s Liu Yun. Listening to her at the moment, their faces revealed expressions of hesitance.

"Are the Demonic cultivators insane? They"ve always been weak, their strength is so far below that of the three major sects! How would they set up such a gathering and take out all the major sects at once?" spoke Kong Fan from above, he"d never been one for thinking much and, hearing Liu Yun"s statement, was quite skeptical.

Seeing that no one believed her, Liu Yun did not show any dissatisfaction. Instead she spoke, "A few days ago, we saved someone on the road."

Having said that, Liu Yun"s brow wrinkled slightly, and she took a sip of her tea before continuing, "The individual used to live in a village that was ma.s.sacred by Demonic cultivators."

Hearing this, everyone in the room couldn"t help but suck in a breath of cold air. Ma.s.sacring a village could only be done by Demonic cultivators who"d lost all reason.

"The person said, it was apparently because the villagers had found a precious type of spirit gra.s.s in their village. The Demonic cultivators, not wanting news of it to spread, could only silence them." As she spoke, Liu Yun paused and looked around the room, then resumed.

"Most importantly, is the entrance to Huangtian"s secret territory was right next to the village!" Liu Yun"s face was still serious, but by the end, her expression also bore a bit of bewilderment.

"You mean, the gra.s.s was found at the edge of Huangtian"s secret territory? That can"t be right, it"s not yet time for it to open!" At a loss, Jin Linfeng questioned. Suddenly, as though he"d just thought of something, his face suddenly changed and taking a deep breath, he said, "What you mean is, Huangtian"s secret territory has opened prematurely?"

Hearing this, the faces of those present also changed dramatically, oddly enough, revealing a bit of excitement.

Huangtian"s secret territory was the most mysterious hidden realm under the blue sky. It opened once every 50 years, and those who could enter were all cultivators below the core formation phase. Every cultivator that entered the secret realm would have great gains.

In all of history, there were cases of Huangtian"s secret territory had opened in advance. It was a once in a lifetime event, but whenever it did open early, there were countless good things inside, even Green Root gra.s.s which would help one breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage could be found everywhere.

Most of the people present were the leaders of various sects, many of whom were stuck creating completed golden cores and hearing the news, unconsciously showed expressions of joy.

If Huangtian"s secret territory had really opened early, everything that the Demonic cultivators had done made so much more sense.

Huangtian"s secret territory could only be entered by a hundred people anytime it opened. Although there were countless low-level disciples in the various sects, only a limited number of people could gain access to the area. At the same time, Huangtian"s secret territory was a place where danger lurked at every corner, an ordinary disciple entering inside would not even survive a single day.

As long as the Demonic cultivators did away with the elite disciples sent by other sects, they would be able to have more of their own disciples enter inside.

"Move! Go check the village!" A fire lit inside everyone"s hearts, they got up one after another to go prepare to investigate whether the news was true. However, before they could fully stand, they fell back into their chairs!

Scoping out the states of their □□, everyone was shocked. They had actually unknowingly eaten Spirit Scattering pills.

Spirit Scattering pills were a type of □□ under the boundary of the blue sky. Once dissolved in water and drunk by a cultivator, it would make the spiritual power in the cultivator"s body disappear for a day. Within that single day, they would be the same as an ordinary person.

Looking at the jade cups beside them, they immediately understood where the Spirit Scattering pills had been stowed. They"d all been under the impression that nothing could happen to them within Zhengyang"s main hall, little could they guess the Demonic cultivators would have another opportunity to take the advantage.

Kong Fan fiercely clenched his teeth. Eyes turning red, he roared angrily, "d.a.m.n it, I didn"t think there would still be traitors in Zhengyang Sect!"

To the side, Cao Yong"s face suddenly turned an unmatched white, and his lips trembled as he said, "By now, the disciples within the sect should have finished their dinner."

Hearing this, the entirety of the main hall immediately fell silent. This could only mean that everyone in Zhengyang Sect had very likely already consumed a Spirit Scattering pill.

Translator(s): Teo
Editor(s): Bean
Proofer(s): DarkSapphire, Bet