Hermit Cave.
Zhou Yi stood with his hands behind his back, his expression profound and unfathomable.
Pri Minister Turtle stood to one side, craning his neck nervously, as if hatching so mischievous plan.
He Dong and the others erged from the formation, their bodies covered in scorch marks, their breath weak, their mana almost completely drained.
"We pay our respects to Senior Tang."
"Mm."
Zhou Yi's gaze swept over them and he said, "On account of Real Person He's face, I will allow you to cultivate in the cave for the ti being. The four or five acres of spirit fields outside, I leave to you to plant. How much you harvest is entirely up to your ability."
"We thank Senior for your great kindness."
He Dong knew that there were no free benefits in the Cultivation World and bowed deeply, "If there is anything Senior requires, just command us, and we shall give it our all."
Zhou Yi nodded slightly, it was simple to speak with smart people.
"Firstly, you must diligently gather information about the outside world, this is also to ensure the safety of this dwelling. Secondly, this precious cauldron of mine needs to be infused with the essence of the Five tals, arrange for one person to cast spells and refine it daily."
"As you command."
He Dong let out a sigh of relief; the conditions were more lenient than he had expected. It seed that his ancestors' inheritance was indeed a real thing.
...
A month later.
He Dong, who had gone out to gather information, returned to the Hermit Cave.
"Senior Tang, the situation outside is quite tense; the demonic cultivators have begun to cause overt disruptions among the mortals."
He Dong reported, "The Royal Family of Qing Kingdom has enlisted a Taoist from who knows where, honoring him as the national teacher. They are collecting girls born on Yin years, Yin months, and Yin days claiming to refine a pill that reverses aging."
Zhou Yi frowned slightly, "Isn't the Qing Kingdom's Royal Family a family of cultivators?"
The Qing Kingdom's Royal Family had nearly a thousand years of heritage, much deeper than that of Chu State, and within its borders were two famous spiritual places, Bright Moon Gorge and Little Plum Peak, each guarded by Foundation Establishnt True People. Their overall strength was among the top twenty plus kingdoms in Cloud Continent.
"The secular influences of the He family are mainly in Jing Kingdom; it will take so ti to investigate the specifics."
He Dong sighed, "As far as I can guess, either the Imperial Clan's cultivators are all dead, or the Royal Family has fallen to the demonic path. The cultivators of Heavenly Demon Sect are far from what the mortals can contend with."
Zhou Yi nodded slightly, very likely so, then continued to ask.
"Any changes in Daze Marketplace?"
"The true person who guards the marketplace has been replaced with ten others. It's said that when they join forces, they can activate a formation that can withstand a Golden Elixir True Monarch. anwhile, the marketplace is recruiting Loose Cultivators to eradicate demons and protect the Tao.
Killing any demon or monster allows you to exchange their heads for rits, attracting quite a few Loose Cultivators."
He Dong took out a jade slip and presented it respectfully, "I've copied the exchange catalog for Senior Tang to see if there's anything you may need."
Zhou Yi's Divine Sense swept through it. The most prominent item in the catalog was the Foundation Establishnt Pill, followed by the Four Arts of Cultivation, superior pills, and so on - many of which were previously strictly guarded and forbidden to be spread by the Pill Cauldron Sect.
"It seems that the Pill Cauldron Sect is also starting to get anxious."
"After all, the secular world is the foundation of the sect. The Pill Cauldron Sect prides itself on being the orthodox path and cannot sit by and do nothing!"
He Dong spoke about various observations from the marketplace and the myriad pieces of information gathered from Loose Cultivators. The basic understanding was that the Pill Cauldron Sect and the Heavenly Demon Sect were maintaining restraint, showing no intention of escalating their fighting and slaughtering.
It's hard to fend off wolves when playing the pole's two ends; neither sect wished the conflict to escalate into a full-fledged battle between the orthodox and demonic paths!
"It would have been fine if it were just a past conflict, dissipating after a century or so. But now there's soone setting off bombs everywhere..."
Zhou Yi's gaze was deep, "There is bound to be a fight between the righteous and the demonic!"
He Dong of course didn't know what Zhou Yi was thinking. In his view, when two major sects clashed, low-level cultivators had no standing to choose sides. The only thing he could do was to take this opportunity to strengthen himself.
"I plan to eradicate demons and protect the Tao to accumulate rits and exchange them for Foundation Establishnt Pills. I ask for Senior Tang's permission."
"Go, then."
Zhou Yi did not stop him; whether He Dong's purpose in eradicating demons was for personal gain, he would ultimately save many mortals in the process.
Cloud Continent's mortal realm was suffering the most from Heavenly Demon Sect's invasion, not the Pill Cauldron Sect or the Loose Cultivators, but the ignorant common people who knew not from whence the disaster struck.
...
A year later.
The cultivators of the He family had entered the right track, attending to the spirit fields, and refining the Mountain and River Cauldron in addition to their daily cultivation.
Nearly half of the He family mbers from Jing Kingdom moved to Qing Kingdom. With the covert support of cultivators, they gained a foothold in several nearby cities, keeping an ear to the ground for news among the mortals.
This day.
Zhou Yi handed over the forbidden array plate to the Sea Turtle Chancellor, with instructions to activate the Great Sun Divine Fire Formation and annihilate the He family mbers should they act out of line.
"You have such petty sches; troubling them on normal days is one thing, but if you kill out of a personal vendetta, I'll flay you and make a soup!"
"Rest assured, Immortal, our family knows the severity of matters."
The Sea Turtle Chancellor nodded repeatedly, promising to avoid conflict with the cultivators of the He family.
Disguised as a middle-aged man, Zhou Yi controlled his flying light and left the hermit cave, heading straight for the Daze Marketplace.
...
A month later.
Hundred Flowers Valley.
The flowers blood like brocade, vying for beauty.
Zhou Yi's flying light descended among the flowers, looking at the mound and tombstone before him, he remained silent for a long ti.
"Yan Yuning, only now do I know your real na!"
"At age fifteen, you joined the Dan Ding Sect, beca a Foundation Establishnt True Inheritor at sixty, reigned over the Tianyang Abyss for more than sixty years, traveled to the Ji Continent to slay several demon heads. Such experiences are already like legends."
"Alas, your Solidifying Pill failed, and in your later years, you spent thirty years quietly growing flowers until your lifespan ended without fanfare."
Zhou Yi burned a piece of yellow paper and spilled a cup of Spiritual Wine, then turned and left.
Now, disguised as Sun Xing and having joined the Dan Ding Sect, he had obtained the incomplete True Dragon Nine Transformations and still needed to earn rit Points to exchange for two demon beasts at the Beast Garden.
...
External Affairs Hall.
The place was bustling with excitent.
Hundreds of Qi Refinent Realm disciples gathered together, forming teams in twos and threes, either receiving missions to eliminate demons or submitting the heads of evil cultivators.
In previous years, the task of eliminating demons mostly involved journeys far to the Ji Continent. Only Foundation Establishnt demon heads who dared to create chaos in the Cloud Continent would be fought. Qi Refinent Realm disciples could only do miscellaneous tasks within the sect, not earning enough rit Points even if they worked without food or drink for ten or twenty years.
Now, with the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples causing trouble in the mortal world and bringing along a large number of Loose Cultivator servants, the Qi Refinent disciples also had the chance to rapidly accumulate rit Points.
The Cloud Continent, stagnant for thousands of years, finally began to stir.
At noon.
Song Chu and three other disciples arrived at the External Affairs Hall with joyful faces, ready to submit the heads of evil cultivators.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait."
A voice called out, stopping Song Chu and the others as Zhou Yi approached with a smile, "Have the junior disciples returned from demon hunting?"
"Greetings to Uncle-Master."
Song Chu hurriedly bowed in greeting and said, "There were evil cultivators causing chaos in Great Qian Xuanzhou, slaughtering mortals to refine demonic pills; we joined forces and slew them."
"Xuanzhou, I've been there too, there's a place called Manchun Court there..."
Zhou Yi coughed twice, then changed the subject, "What was the cultivation level of that evil cultivator?"
Song Chu looked puzzled but wasn't afraid of losing credit to his peers with law enforcent disciples around. He answered, "Originally, he was at the third level of Qi Refinent. After sacrificing for the demonic pill, he broke through to the fourth level."
Zhou Yi said, "Then count it as the fourth level of Qi Refinent, submit forty rit Points. Uncle-Master here has two thousand Spirit Stones, would you like to sell?"
Upon hearing this, Song Chu was imdiately tempted. After discussing with his teammates, they agreed to the deal, but they were still sowhat worried.
"Uncle-Master, won't the Law Enforcent Hall investigate?"
"Where is it written in our rules that we cannot trade the heads of evil cultivators? What is not forbidden is permitted!"
Zhou Yi exchanged Spirit Stones with one hand and collected the heads with the other, submitted them to the External Affairs Hall, and his identity token accrued an additional forty rit Points.
He then continued observing at the doorway, approaching those who seed elated with success, while those who were downcast likely returned empty-handed, and there were even disciples who died at the hands of evil cultivators.
The disciples of the Dan Ding Sect had spells and magic artifacts far superior to those of the Loose Cultivators, but life and death combat wasn't about taking turns. Instead, it was filled with constant ambushes, poison, and both overt and covert attacks, without ever engaging in straightforward combat.
When Zhou Yi collected the heads of evil cultivators, the most common story was of evil cultivators sacrificing a multitude of mortal lives to lure righteous disciples into traps.
"When immortals fight, the mortals suffer!"
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