Rumors I

There is a place called Qin Mountain in Great Ling.

This place is covered in snow all year round. The mountains are vast and the grasslands are everywhere. The snow is like patches, here and there. Occasionally, you can see some Xiao Shui with faint steam rising from them.

That's an underground hot spring.

Snow, hot springs, steam, grasslands—these diverse landscapes come together to create the unique scenery of Qin Mountain.

At this time, on the vast Ping Yuan at the foot of Qin Mountain.

First Squad masked men dressed in white Supreme Ultimate robes from the Great Sect Alliance were digging and searching for something by an oval-shaped lake.

Several people were still standing by the lake. They were all imposing and stern-looking, clearly not ordinary people.

The leader, dressed in a purple robe and wearing a purple-gold lotus feather crown, was none other than Yue Dewen, the National Preceptor who should have been stationed in Great Capital.

Beside him were several top experts from the Great Sect Alliance.

Daoist Qing Yi and the Life Chain Ao Gu Du Ya were both by his side.

The three top-tier Spirit General were all intently focused on the small lake pit they were digging and searching for.

"Are you sure it's right here?" Daoist Qing Yi asked in a deep voice.

"We have verified this from multiple sources. The number of people who believe in the Spirit Flight Teaching has been reduced to the bare minimum, leaving only the military."

However, most of the military personnel only knew of the physical form of the Heavenly Earth Mother. While such individuals could ensure that the Gods and Buddhas did not fall into the Forgotten Abyss, they could not provide them with much power.

Yue Dewen answered calmly.

"Therefore, as long as we can find the foundation of the Ten Thousand Spirits Reincarnation Grand Formation, the most fundamental basis of the Spirit Flight Teaching Sect, we can completely dismantle most of its hidden effects, instead of being unable to find them anywhere like we are now."

"Even if we fight, we need to find the right people first." Daoist Qing Yi nodded, as if explaining to Life Chain Ao Gu Du Ya.

"How many array bases are there in total?" Ao Gu Du Ya asked in a deep voice.

"Five. Lao Yue and I secretly eliminated three before. Now there are two left. If this one can be found, then there will only be one left," Daoist Qing Yi replied.

The Spirit Flight Teaching is truly hiding its true nature.

They've been operating in Great Ling for over a hundred years; their methods of ambush and backup plans are practically everywhere, making them impossible to guard against.

"I don't understand. The Divine General has been completely suppressed, and his military strength has been weakened to the extreme. The Imperial Clan is also no threat. Our Great Sect Alliance is at its zenith. How can the Spirit Flight Teaching possibly resist?" Mo Gu Du Ya asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Yue Dewen suddenly looked up, gazing into the distance at the edge of the Ping Yuan.

Five figures were rapidly approaching from there, heading towards this location.

"Each array base has a fixed guard, be careful." Yue Dewen took a step forward and floated lightly forward to meet the five people head-on.

Daoist Qing Yi remained unmoved, protecting the surroundings. He merely observed the battle from a distance.

"If you'd like to go take a look, we can go together," he said softly.

Mo Gu Du Ya paused for a moment, then took a step and sped away, chasing after Yue Dewen.

Before long, the two quickly approached the five people.

Only then did they realize that each of the five people had silver eyes and wore a layer of semi-transparent, illusory white armor.

Their exposed facial skin was covered with wriggling Silver Patterns, and from a distance, one could not sense any human emotion in them.

"Be careful, these array base guards are extremely powerful!" Yue Dewen warned.

When he was still thirty meters away from the five people, he suddenly raised his hand, and a gust of wind shot out.

An invisible, enormous force field crashed down on the five people, causing them to slow down rapidly.

Ao Gu Du Ya surged ahead, speeding past Yue Dewen and striking one of them with a lightning-fast palm strike.

The other person reacted just as quickly and raised his hand to block.

When!!

Between the two, the ground exploded and cracked, and the strong wind turned into air currents that spread outwards.

The immense force sent the man flying backward, rolling a considerable distance across the grass. But soon, faint silver flames ignited on his body, allowing him to stop and stand up again.

Surprisingly, despite being far weaker than Mo Gu Du Ya, he had no injuries on his arms or body.

"What the hell is this?!" Mo Gu Du Ya's body swelled up, activating its Limit State, and it raised its arms.

Whoosh! Two jet-black chains shot out from the sleeves under his arms, firmly binding the two silver-eyed Strange Man.

He gave a low shout and used his strength to lift the two of them up, spinning them continuously in mid-air.

The rotation speed began to increase, becoming more and more rapid and faster.

Boom! Finally, with a loud bang, Mo Gu Du Ya slammed the two together in mid-air.

The chain contracts instantly a second before the collision, to prevent it from breaking due to the recoil.

But soon, the two tumbled to the ground in mid-air, got up again, and were still completely unharmed.

"No need to waste your energy," Yue Dewen said calmly. "These silver-eyed people are actually Spirit General who died completely before."

"The Spirit General who died before?! The Forgotten Ones?" Ao Gu Du Ya's eyes narrowed, as if he had thought of something.

"They have long since lost all their consciousness and flesh, leaving only shells, which are filled with a special substance called Spirit Rock. This substance is incredibly hard. I once suspected that the Spirit Thread originated from and were cut out of this substance."

Yue Dewen explained calmly.

"So, just stall them," Daoist Qing Yi continued. Clearly, the two of them had tried to deal with these silver-eyed people before, but it seemed they had failed.

Mo Gu Du Ya snorted coldly, refusing to believe it, and continued forward, engaging in fierce combat with the five people.

No matter how hard he struck the five men, from a distance it looked like he was hammering iron.

Although it could twist and deform the bodies of the five people, it couldn't kill them completely.

Even the Spirit Thread's devouring ability couldn't do anything to them.

"Found it!!" one of the masked men who had been digging suddenly shouted.

Yue Dewen's expression hardened, and he looked at the location of that person. He flashed and appeared directly by the lake as if he had teleported.

He looked down at the deep pit in front of him.

"National Preceptor! We've found the Dark Gold Wolf Pattern Stag Statue you mentioned!!"

The masked man digging carefully lifted a delicate golden statue, about the size of a human head, from the soil.

It was a special golden Stag with wolf-like markings on its body.

As the wolf-striped Stag was unearthed, the clouds directly above them began to gather and move.

Thunder rumbled, as if suppressing some kind of atmosphere.

Click.

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed across the sky.

To the ordinary people around, the golden wolf-striped Stag was just an ordinary sculpture.

But in the eyes of Yue Dewen and the other two, the statue was burning with raging golden flames.

The flames rose higher and higher, growing larger and larger, and soon transformed into a giant pillar of fire more than ten meters high.

The pillar of fire was entirely golden, with its surface spiraling and flowing like liquid magma.

Poof! A huge golden vertical pupil emerged from the middle of the pillar of fire, opened, and stared at Yue Dewen.

"All things have spirits, and all spirits originate from the heavens." A deep roar, audible only to those who possess Spirit Core, emanated from the pillar of fire.

"The Sentient Spirit Pillar has finally emerged." Daoist Qing Yi stepped forward and exchanged a glance with Yue Dewen.

He suddenly charged forward, his figure like a bolt of lightning, following a winding and mysterious trajectory, and swung out a palm towards the pillar of fire.

As he struck out with his palm, layers of black and white Taiji Diagram continuously appeared, expanded, and combined behind him.

The densely packed, palm-sized Taiji Diagram formed a giant White Lotus, which then bloomed in Blooming. A white halo of light flew out and landed on Daoist Qing Yi's back.

Just as Daoist Qing Yi was about to strike the Sentient Spirit Pillar with his palm.

Suddenly, a golden arm shot out from the center of the pillar of fire, grabbing at Qingyi head-on.

The arm shone with a dazzling golden light, and as soon as it moved, it shook the air, creating circles of transparent ripples.

Even before the golden arm got close, it exuded an extremely high and terrifying heat, rapidly approaching Daoist Qing Yi.

The Taiji Diagram lotus behind Qing Yi withered, faded, and disappeared rapidly under such terrifying high temperatures.

This change happened extremely quickly.

It was so fast that Daoist Qing Yi had no time to react. He was about to collide with the golden arm.

When!!

Yue Dewen's figure appeared beside him in an instant, grabbing the golden arm firmly with one hand.

Boom! A large amount of golden flames suddenly erupted from the palm of the golden arm, engulfing Daoist Qing Yi's entire body.

With a muffled groan, Daoist Qing Yi hurriedly withdrew, but it was too late.

His entire body was covered in golden flames, and his skin began to show faint charred black.

"Spirit Devouring Fire?!" His face was filled with horror. "It's Spirit Flight Heaven's unique divine flame!! Lao Yue, retreat quickly!!"

"Moon Seal".

Yue Dewen grasped the golden arm with one hand, and a cool, silvery crescent moon suddenly appeared behind him.

Countless beams of moonlight shone from the crescent moon, illuminating the area around the golden arm.

The moonlight completely enveloped it.

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion. The golden arm self-destructed.

Golden flames and White Moon exploded simultaneously, transforming into a vortex of golden and silvery energy that engulfed everything within a thousand meters.

Before long, the vortex rapidly contracted and slowly shrank, transforming into a Round Ball gold and silver that landed in Yue Dewen's right palm.

A quick pop.

The Round Ball shattered, exploded, and disappeared.

There was not a trace left.

Yue Dewen remained calm, withdrew his hand, and looked up at the Sentient Spirit Pillar.

"Now we can continue the destruction."

Seeing this, both Daoist Qing Yi and Mo Gu Du Ya felt a chill run down their spines.

Yue Dewen is stronger than before. *** Near Citong, the branch of the Great Sect Alliance — Jiu Tong Temple.

Laugh.

A blood-red shadow suddenly swept in from afar, landing lightly in front of the Daoist Temple's main gate and transforming into human form.

The newcomer wore a blood-red robe, had cascading black hair, a deathly pale face, and lips tinged with purple. It was Zhang Rongfang, who had just left Ci Tong Port.

Quack quack quack.

Crows hopped around on the walls of the Daoist Temple, making harsh and unpleasant cries.

Zhang Rongfang looked up, stepped forward, and gently pushed the door open.

Squeak.

The gate of the Daoist Temple was unlocked and was easily pushed open.

A faint smell of blood wafted out from inside the door.

"As expected." Zhang Rongfang's eyes turned cold as he stepped into the courtyard.

Jiu Tong Temple is a simple, large, square structure.

It looks like the Chinese character for "mouth".

One side is the main gate, and the other three sides are the temple, the residence, and the guest quarters, respectively.

But at this moment, the entire courtyard was empty, without a single person in sight.

Zhang Rongfang walked to the Incense Burner in the middle of the courtyard and reached out to stroke Incense Burner surface.

"There's a bloody smell and signs of a struggle." His fingers traced a shallow knife wound, feeling the cold, rough texture on his fingertips.

"Something has indeed happened," White Scale said in a deep voice. "It seems the Great Sect Alliance, like you, has also encountered resistance. No wonder they couldn't intervene to stop the White Ten Sect."

'Where did such a powerful dark force come from in this Great Ling?' Zhang Rongfang frowned, deep in thought.

He flashed into the temple.

The tall Wealth God Statue sits in the main seat with a smile on its face.

Numerous piercing wounds from short spears remained on both walls. The ground still carried a faint smell of blood, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place here.

'There are no survivors left.' Zhang Rongfang shook his head slightly, turned around, and transformed into a blood shadow once more, rushing out of the Daoist Temple. He headed back the way he came.