Chapter 426: Chapter 320: The Dust Settles
Outside the Celestial Cloud Sect.
A message arrived from the Celestial Demon Sect Leader.
Lu Yaoling, a late-stage Core Formation cultivator, received the message while continuously retreating, moving out of the white mist’s range.
After receiving the news, Lu Yaoling’s expression changed completely.
A message from the sect at a time like this was usually bad news, so he had already braced himself to some extent.
But he never expected the news to be this bad.
The Celestial Cloud Sect’s Core Formation Sword Cultivator, Miao Qinghong, had gone to the Celestial Demon Sect’s headquarters. She was now doing to them exactly what they were doing to her sect. Not only that, but the mysterious Spirit Refiner had also appeared in their territory and had already struck at one of their subordinate Foundation Establishment influences.
Neither piece of news was good.
In comparison, the news about the mysterious Spirit Refiner was even worse.
The mysterious Spirit Refiner was a major factor in his desire to annihilate the Celestial Cloud Sect.
After they breached the Celestial Cloud Sect, the mysterious Spirit Refiner was supposed to be their top-priority target, right after the sect’s Core Formation cultivators. Now, he was being told that the Spirit Refiner was making moves in their own territory.
Even if they could annihilate the Celestial Cloud Sect now, they wouldn’t be able to kill the mysterious Spirit Refiner.
Lu Yaoling felt that based on the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s actions so far, he wouldn’t be left without options even if the Celestial Cloud Sect was destroyed. It wasn’t impossible that he would run to the Purple Mist Sect, a Nascent Soul influence.
If the mysterious Spirit Refiner was bent on revenge, he might just stay in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory after reaching Core Formation and never leave.
At this thought, Lu Yaoling could barely keep his composure.
’Should I go back?’
That was the choice now before him.
Looking at the current situation, neither option seemed good.
If he chose to give up here and return to his sect, he would still have to pay the Demon Spirit Sect their due. He had offered a significant price to get Pang Feng to agree to this operation, and the payment for failure was still substantial.
Besides, even if he returned to the sect, there was no guarantee he could catch the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Sword Cultivator, Miao Qinghong. Catching the mysterious Spirit Refiner would be even more difficult.
At least Miao Qinghong was at their Celestial Demon Sect headquarters. After striking at their subordinate Foundation Establishment influence, there was no telling where the mysterious Spirit Refiner would go next.
If he chose to stay and continue the assault, their Celestial Demon Sect headquarters would suffer constant attacks from the Core Formation Sword Cultivator Miao Qinghong, and the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s activities in their territory would only increase.
The most crucial point was that if they stayed, it would be nearly impossible to take down the Celestial Cloud Sect in a short amount of time.
Their progress in breaking the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Grand Array was already intermittent. Shielded by the white mist, the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Core Formation cultivators would strike from time to time, severely hindering their efforts.
This group of Celestial Cloud Sect Core Formation cultivators wouldn’t fight to the death. The moment things looked bad, they would immediately retreat back inside the Grand Array.
This was the huge advantage of fighting on home ground.
Even without a late-stage Core Formation cultivator among them, the Celestial Cloud Sect was making things incredibly difficult. If the Celestial Cloud Sect had a late-stage Core Formation expert who launched occasional sneak attacks, it would be nearly impossible for them to break the Grand Array.
"Brother Lu, what’s wrong?"
Pang Feng had also retreated. Seeing Lu Yaoling standing there outside the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Grand Array with an ugly expression, he quickly asked what was going on.
"The Celestial Cloud Sect’s Miao Qinghong and that mysterious Spirit Refiner have both gone to our Celestial Demon Sect’s territory. Miao Qinghong is right at our headquarters," Lu Yaoling told Pang Feng.
"This..."
Hearing this, Pang Feng was at a loss for words for a moment.
He was thinking about how to respond.
This was definitely bad news for the Celestial Demon Sect, but it meant little to his Demon Spirit Sect.
After all, they had appeared in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, not the Demon Spirit Sect’s.
’Considering how hard the Celestial Cloud Sect is to breach, retreating now and collecting a handsome fee from the Celestial Demon Sect would be good enough.’
But he certainly couldn’t say that out loud. After all, the Celestial Demon Sect had paid a price to hire them.
"Brother Lu, I’ll continue breaking the array. Let me know when you’ve made a decision."
After some thought, Pang Feng decided to get back to work. This would show that hiring the Demon Spirit Sect was absolutely worth the price. If the Celestial Demon Sect had problems in the future and came to them again, they could reap even greater benefits.
Pang Feng entered the white mist, while Lu Yaoling remained standing there.
Finally, Lu Yaoling gritted his teeth and decided to continue the attack on the Celestial Cloud Sect for now. Perhaps the situation would take a favorable turn later.
Before resuming the assault on the array, he used two Sound Transmission Talismans: one Third Tier and one Second Tier.
One was for the Sect Leader. The other, the Second Tier one, was to directly inform an Elder of the Celestial Demon Sect who was operating alone that his mission was canceled. He was to come straight to the Celestial Cloud Sect and add his strength to their efforts to break the array.
...
「In the territory of the Celestial Demon Sect.」
Near the ancestral lands of the Wu Family, a family of Foundation Establishment Demons.
Fang Yun had arrived.
As he neared the Wu Family’s lands, Fang Yun once again put on his Half-Hidden Spirit Boots and activated their concealment effect to its fullest.
Approaching the Wu Family’s ancestral lands, Fang Yun was delighted.
’The Grand Array of the Wu Family’s ancestral lands isn’t active.’
’This works in my favor.’
Without much hesitation, he quickly slipped inside to find the location of the Foundation Establishment Demons.
Meanwhile, inside the Wu Family’s ancestral lands.
Two Foundation Establishment Demons were gathered together.
The Wu Family had only three Foundation Establishment cultivators. Ten years ago, there had been four, but after the most senior one passed away in meditation, only three remained. No new Foundation Establishment cultivators had emerged in the family in the past decade.
For the Celestial Demon Sect’s current operation, they had sent only one Foundation Establishment cultivator to participate—the strongest one the Wu Family currently had.
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