The long night hung overhead, and Blazing Flame Valley lay utterly still.
Chi Xiao sat alone atop a sheer cliff, gazing at the night sky.
"Master!" A middle-aged man landed behind Chi Xiao and saluted. "Another disciple has fled."
Chi Xiao's expression did not change. He merely asked flatly, "How many?"
"Eighteen. The highest cultivation among them was the First Rank Realm."
Chi Xiao nodded lightly.
When the tree fell, the monkeys scattered. He understood that principle.
When Great Grandfather was alive, Blazing Flame Valley had indeed enjoyed a moment of glory. Though it had never entered the ranks of the top forces of the "Three Mountains, Five Lakes, One Immortal Dynasty," it had still been among the best of the second-tier forces. In particular, its fire-cultivation art, the Three Transformations of Heavenly Fire, had stood apart from the rest, drawing countless disciples for a time.
But as time passed, Blazing Flame Valley gradually declined. By now, the entire valley did not even have a single Golden Immortal to hold down the fort. Even he, its Valley Master, had barely reached the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Why?
Of course he knew the reason in his heart.
Was it not because Old Ancestor Chi Xia's Creation Origin had countless ties to the Western Pure Land? Jade Purity Realm neither wished to offend Purple Cloud Palace nor the Western Pure Land. Thus, the ones who suffered could only be Blazing Flame Valley.
But this matter was not something outsiders could be told.
Now, Daiyu Mountain had attacked Blazing Flame Valley. Although they had been rescued once before and spared annihilation, the surviving disciples were still filled with pessimism about the future.
That was Daiyu Mountain!
Thus, Blazing Flame Valley had fallen into an extremely helpless situation.
The announcement seeking disciples after reopening the