Demonic Cultivators Have Their Merits Too

Demonic Sect Land, within the Panshan region.

Ling Tianwei sat cross-legged in midair, carefully immersing himself in contemplation.

Over the past few days, he had gathered all the ordinary people of Panshan City into the soul banner. Once they reached Lingxu Sacred Land, a place could be arranged for them to recuperate, sparing them from being exploited and tormented by these demonic cultivators.

Unfortunately, the merit he had been hoping for had yet to descend after so long.

While Ling Tianwei cultivated, on the other side, the disciples of Lingxu Sacred Land who had been stranded in the Demonic Sect Land also hurried here to gather after hearing news of him.

Fortunately, several of the disciples had cultivated at Lingxu Sacred Land for more than a decade and knew some of its markers. They had left traces along the way, allowing the disciples who arrived later to find Ling Tianwei. That was also why Ling Tianwei had chosen to wait here.

At this moment, Chang Liqing had traveled for several days before arriving near Panshan City from Blood Slaughter City. Only upon seeing the markers left along the way by Lingxu Sacred Land did Chang Liqing finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He immediately hurried toward where Ling Tianwei and the other Lingxu Sacred Land disciples were.

Yet the moment he arrived and saw over a dozen Lingxu Sacred Land disciples, Chang Liqing hurriedly retracted the aura of his demonic cultivation technique.

"You're all here too!"

Looking at several familiar faces in the group, Chang Liqing suppressed the awkwardness in his heart and asked.

"Senior Brother Chang, I didn't expect you to end up here too."

The Lingxu Sacred Land disciples greeted one another.

They were quite surprised to see that Chang Liqing had also survived in this Demonic Sect Land.

The situation in the Demonic Sect Land was exceedingly clear. To survive here without being hunted down by demonic cultivators, everyone was undoubtedly the same: they had cultivated a little demonic technique to conceal their own aura.

And Chang Liqing had an excellent reputation in both the Outer Sect and Inner Sect. They had not expected him to be much the same as everyone else.

That was why, whenever these Lingxu Sacred Land disciples met one another, they felt somewhat awkward and unwilling to speak.

"Senior Brother Chang, you too?"

A disciple familiar with Chang Liqing edged closer and asked in a low voice.

"Yes! Back when the sect assigned a mission, I encountered a group of demonic cultivators. Seeing how ruthless their methods were, I slaughtered them all. Who would have thought they carried such utterly evil cultivation techniques? In order to know oneself and know one's enemy, and to better deal with demonic cultivators in the future, I used them to temper myself."

At this, Chang Liqing gave a light cough. Naturally, he could not admit that he cultivated demonic arts to improve his cultivation. Though the risk of developing inner demons was a little higher, as long as one did not harm others, demonic arts were not impossible to cultivate. They were merely slower and more dangerous. If one could not even break through, what else could one think about?

"I never expected Senior Brother Chang to be so upright and pure as the wind and bright as the moon. We are truly ashamed of our inferiority."

"Yes, yes! Senior Brother Chang is truly of noble character and lofty integrity. We are far beneath you."

The people around him took the opportunity to praise him without end.

But to Chang Liqing's ears, he truly could not bear such praise. He even felt that these good senior brothers and juniors were mocking him.

Yet on further thought, weren't they all the same?

To avoid being discovered in the Demonic Sect Land, one either had to have cultivated demonic arts, possess absolute strength, or have peerless escape techniques.

Chang Liqing found the latter unlikely. They were all from the same Lingxu Sacred Land, neither much better nor worse than the other. He still knew perfectly well how his fellow disciples had been getting by.

Of course, one particular freak had to be excluded.

Thinking of this, Chang Liqing looked into the distance. He saw demonic flames shooting into the sky, along with the occasional shriek of ghosts.

It was obvious that the man was refining evil souls and Fierce Ghosts.

Chang Liqing very much wanted to step forward and tell Li Tianwei, Senior Brother, sometimes you need to be a little more subtle. We are righteous cultivators—these evil arts on us should be kept under wraps.

But Chang Liqing did not dare.

In the distance, Li Tianwei held the Evil Soul Banner—no, it was now called the Sacred Soul Banner—and refined the demonic cultivators' souls within it, while also preparing food for the ordinary people inside.

Although the Sacred Soul Banner could hold living people, they still had to be treated with the utmost care.

Soon, after refining the demonic cultivators' souls once, a thread of ominous aura similar to that of Li Tianwei's Golden Core emerged upon the soul banner in his hand. Beyond that, faint black-green, sinister radiance seemed to reveal itself.

Seeing the faint glow on the Sacred Soul Banner in his hand, Li Tianwei immediately felt that this must be the manifestation of merit. He was quite satisfied, especially since the demonic souls inside were obedient and knew how to operate on their own, unlike the Spirit Light Wheel.

"Looks like demonic cultivators do have a few redeeming qualities."

Li Tianwei could not help but sigh, then looked toward the Lingxu Sacred Land disciples behind him.

After counting them, he saw that everyone was present.

"Everyone's here. We can leave now. Back to Lingxu Sacred Land."

Li Tianwei's voice drifted over slowly.

The Lingxu Sacred Land disciples, who had been talking among themselves, nodded repeatedly.

As for whether everyone was truly here, they had no idea. After all, they had come to seek Li Tianwei's protection. Otherwise, if they continued muddling through in the Demonic Sect Land, death was certain.

But Li Tianwei could tell at a glance that these were the only Lingxu Sacred Land disciples left in the Demonic Sect Land.

He had saved everyone who could be saved. It was time for him to return to Lingxu Sacred Land and begin preparing to break through to the Golden Core Realm. It was also time to settle Hundred Intentions.

It was all the Evil Demon Order's fault—his Foundation Establishment Realm had advanced too quickly, leaving him no time at all for enlightenment. Otherwise, he would have comprehended dozens of Intentions by now. How hateful.

Li Tianwei put away the soul banner in his hand and summoned the Spirit Light Wheel.

Very quickly, the entire Spirit Light Wheel expanded at high speed, rising above everyone's heads.

As Li Tianwei landed atop the Spirit Light Wheel and placed the Sacred Soul Banner before it, Heaven and Earth Grudge Power surged skyward under his control.

The disciples of Lingxu Sacred Land could not help swallowing. They really wanted to say that Senior Brother Li's Demonic Arts had greatly advanced, but on second thought, it somehow did not sound quite right. They could only fall silent and follow the Spirit Light Wheel.

Li Tianwei formed a hand seal, and the Spirit Light Wheel turned into a streak of light that shot straight into the heavens.

Within Lingxu Sacred Land.

Because of what had happened to Liu Muyu earlier, a storm had been stirred up throughout Lingxu Sacred Land.

At Bai Muxu's vehement urging, the entire Lingxu Sacred Land was directly swept clean. Sure enough, the upper ranks of Lingxu Sacred Land really did uncover quite a few spies from other Sacred Lands, as well as moles from the demonic sects.

If they had not been certain that nothing had happened to Li Tianwei, Bai Muxu would probably have come knocking himself.

The higher-ups of Lingxu Sacred Land were not particularly surprised by this. After all, they too had planted spies and infiltrators in other Sacred Lands, even within the demonic sects.

But now that they had been uncovered, it would have been inexcusable not to make a fuss over the matter.

Yet the higher-ups of Lingxu Sacred Land all knew that those spies from the Sacred Lands and moles from the demonic sects were mere trifles.

The Evil Demons were the true calamity. For them to have done something like this beneath the eyes of the Sacred Land's many powerful experts meant that someone in its upper ranks had definitely fallen.

Evil Demons were everywhere. So long as one's mind wavered even slightly, there was a chance of being invaded.

Back when Evil Demons first appeared, all cultivators had regarded them as nothing more than inner demons. But once one reached Spirit Transformation and above, the situation became completely warped.

The Evil Demons that manifested in the world were merely weak existences. The powerful ones were watching cultivators above Spirit Transformation at every moment. Once a cultivator was struck, they could only choose to seal themselves away or fall into corruption.

Of course, only the highest-ranking cultivators of each Sacred Land knew these things.

This was also why Spirit Transformation cultivators could now appear freely, while cultivators of higher realms were rarely seen—they were all avoiding them.