Rage

Jiang Li truly wanted to laugh. Since when had he ever cultivated the Demonic Path? The Demonic Path was a prime target of the Human Emperor Palace's suppression. Whoever dared cultivate it had to be prepared to stand against the entire cultivation world.

There were countless paths to immortality, dozens in all: the Body Refinement Path that tempered the flesh, the Gu Path that raised gu within one's body, the Qi Refining Path that refined qi into essence, the Rune Path of heaven-and-earth talisman arrays, and so on. Yet there was one path alone that the cultivation world forbade.

That was the Demonic Path, where one person ascended.

The Demonic Path preached utter lawlessness and unscrupulous means, using all living beings to nourish one person. It did not matter how many died, so long as one could survive and grow stronger.

When the path of ascension still existed, the Nine Provinces Continent had not been overly hostile toward the Demonic Path. After all, even at the end of Demonic Path cultivation, one merely ascended, which remained within what the Nine Provinces Continent could bear. But after ascension was severed, practitioners of the Demonic Path began plotting to blood-sacrifice the Nine Provinces, using its countless living beings to nurture an immortal. Perhaps then they could ascend. They had even created tragedies in which not a single survivor remained from an entire Imperial Dynasty.

Because of this, cultivators across the Nine Provinces Continent came to an unwritten rule: all who cultivated the Demonic Path could be executed by anyone.

"Aren't you surprised?"

"With no evidence, why would I be surprised?"

"Of course there is evidence. Haven't you heard a legend, though no one knows whether it is true? Before Human Emperor Jiang became the Human Emperor, he disregarded the consequences and fought an Extraterrestrial Demon, causing everyone in an entire city to perish, leaving no survivors. And the number of infants the Jiang Family has stolen has long exceeded a hundred. What could the Jiang Family possibly want with so many infants? They must be blood-sacrificing them, using like to replenish like and helping someone shatter their core and form a Nascent Soul. That is an utterly Demonic Path method. Could Human Emperor Jiang not know about this?"

"With Human Emperor Jiang's methods, helping someone achieve the Nascent Soul Realm would be as easy as turning over his hand. Yet he does not stop the Jiang Family from using Demonic Path methods. That proves he is not merely indulging the Jiang Family—he is likely a Demonic Path practitioner himself. Only those of the Demonic Path would ignore other means of achieving the Nascent Soul Realm and allow their own Lineage to use such extreme Demonic Path methods!"

"Senior Zhang, if my deduction is true, and the current Human Emperor is a Demonic Path practitioner, then the Nine Provinces Continent will face a vast calamity! I beg Senior Zhang to inform your sect master of this matter!"

Having said this, Yuan Wu Xing was about to kneel and implore Jiang Li, only to discover that it was as though a pair of giant hands were holding him up. No matter what he did, he could not kneel.

"Senior Zhang..."

Yuan Wu Xing wanted to say more, but then he saw Jiang Li's face darken as he rose and walked out of the house.

Jiang Li's aura was terrifying, as if he stood on the very brink of fury. Yuan Wu Xing swallowed and said nothing more.

No matter how Yuan Wu Xing spoke ill of the Human Emperor—claiming Human Emperor Jiang secretly aided the Jiang Family or secretly cultivated the Demonic Path—Jiang Li would merely smile faintly and pay it no mind, treating it as a bit of amusement. He knew he had never done those things.

But Yuan Wu Xing's guess that the Jiang Family was blood-sacrificing infants was different, because Jiang Li knew it was highly likely to be true! Otherwise, it was difficult to explain why the Jiang Family needed so many infants. The Human Emperor Palace was the foremost force opposing Demonic Path cultivation on the Nine Provinces Continent, yet the Jiang Family was very likely cultivating the Demonic Path in his name!

Jiang Li's fury was unbearable. Centered on himself, his Divine Sense spread hundreds of li outward. The circumstances of several cities, including Green City, were all laid bare before him, yet he found nothing.

Finding nothing was itself the problem.

He found no traces of infants being blood-sacrificed, but neither did he find the missing infants.

Jiang Li also focused his Divine Sense on the Jiang Family estate. The Jiang Family was still worshipping its ancestors as he had seen before, without the slightest change. There were no basements, secret passages, or anything of the sort.

If that was the case, then either everything Yuan Wu Xing had said was wrong, or someone had hidden the infants in another space.

There were two ways to use space on the Nine Provinces Continent. One used a Storage Ring as its vessel, allowing one to enter the space through the Storage Ring at any time, but such spaces could not contain living creatures. The other was to find a Space Node. Such a Space Node could not be moved, but it could contain living creatures. Secret Realms used this method.

The locations of Space Nodes were extremely well concealed. Unless one entered or exited the space, it was impossible to discover them from outside.

"Do you have any solid evidence for what you said? For example, an Image Retention Orb recording a conversation between the Jiang Family head and the city lord?"

When Yuan Wu Xing saw Jiang Li enter the room again, his expression had returned to its previous calmness, entirely unlike the gloominess he had displayed when he had just walked out.

"No. Using an Image Retention Orb then would have caused Mana fluctuations, which could not have been concealed from a Nascent Soul Realm city lord. As for other evidence... no."

Yuan Wu Xing was somewhat dejected as he said this, but he immediately added, "The frequency of the Jiang Family's ancestor worship is close to the frequency of infant disappearances. I suspect the Jiang Family is only pretending to worship its ancestors, while in truth blood-sacrificing infants. But the Jiang Family's defenses are far too tight during their ancestor worship. I tried for years, yet could never get in."

"The Jiang Family is worshipping its ancestors right now. Senior, you can try..."

Jiang Li shook his head. "I have already been to the Jiang Family. There was nothing unusual... hm?"

The corner of Jiang Li's mouth lifted slightly. He seemed pleased to have found a clue, yet also seemed to be sneering.

"Speak of it, and there it is."

Jiang Li had not withdrawn his Divine Sense. It had remained enveloped over an area of a hundred li.

Beneath a large tree outside Green City, space twisted, and a Linen-robed Elder stepped out.

The Linen-robed Elder cautiously surveyed his surroundings. After confirming that no one was there, he rose and flew toward the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall.

Jiang Li did not follow the Linen-robed Elder to the Jiang Family. Instead, he pulled Yuan Wu Xing to that Space Node outside Green City.

With a light tap, layer upon layer of ripples spread through space, eventually forming a stable spatial gate.

This space was very small, only the size of a cave. The moment they entered, a pungent stench of blood rushed at them, making Yuan Wu Xing cough.

After Yuan Wu Xing gradually adjusted to the smell of blood, the sight before him left him stunned.

Several hundred skeletons, each no longer than a forearm, were piled along both sides of the cave as though someone had casually tossed them aside. Their skulls had separated from their spines; arm and leg bones lay apart from their torso bones, all in utter disarray.

At the end of the path stood an Altar stained red with blood. More than a dozen intact infant corpses lay atop it. Threads of blood aura spread from the skeletons into the air, while their flesh vanished at a visible rate, adding another layer of thickness to the nauseating stench of blood. Before long, white bones could be seen at their fingertips.

Yuan Wu Xing could not bear it. Staggering to the wall, he leaned against it and began dry-heaving again. But he failed to brace himself properly; his hand slipped, and he fell into the pile of bones.

He had no strength to rise. Lying amid the bones, he vomited and wept at the same time. "Beasts! Those beasts from the Jiang Family! How could they bring themselves to do it? Don't they have children of their own?!"

Jiang Li said nothing, but his expression was chillingly cold.

Jiang Li had not followed the Linen-robed Elder because he knew the man could not escape. He had come here to see whether there was still a chance to save even a few people.

Now it seemed that not a single one could be saved.

The upright and peaceful Rebirth Mantra echoed through the tiny space. What had initially been a low, rapid chant whose words could not be heard gradually became loud and clear.

The final few syllables shook the space until it began to tremble. Pebbles fell from above, as though the place might collapse at any moment.

"Senior Zhang..."

Yuan Wu Xing stared at the enraged Jiang Li, dumbfounded.

To make space tremble on the verge of shattering with sound alone was clearly not something a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator could do.

Jiang Li turned to look at the middle-aged man with reddened eyes. Baring his gleaming white teeth, he smiled. "Let's go pay the Jiang Family a visit."