Zhou Xuan stood up.
He paced beside the deduction disk, half of which had shattered. His mind raced.
The Extreme Bone Sect.
They had imitated Jade Dragon City's vow power system and established their own network for harvesting mortals. Their use of forbidden sacrificial methods had triggered a backlash, destroying the sect.
Every last member had died. All that remained in the ruins were packs of demonic beasts condensed through blood sacrifice, along with the territory Zhao Ji occupied ten thousand feet underground.
But where had the Extreme Bone Sect gotten its formation?
The Northern Lands were barren, their laws were different, and they had no ancient secret legacies. Why had such an ancient secret method fallen into their hands at precisely the critical moment?
The answer was already obvious.
"The Grand Hua Immortal Vein." Zhou Xuan stopped pacing.
Ye Changqing nodded.
"The Extreme Bone Sect was almost certainly the Grand Hua Immortal Vein's experimental field in the Northern Lands. They gave them formation blueprints and let them practice on mortals."
"If they succeeded, Grand Hua could simply pluck the fruit. If they botched it, the people dying wouldn't be their own."
"But the Extreme Bone Sect couldn't withstand the backlash and collapsed."
"Right. The formation collapsed midway through its operation. Great Hua saw that this path led nowhere, but couldn't bear to write off the sunk cost, so they sent Li Qingyun to salvage the wreckage and bring the formation diagram back for them to study."
Zhou Xuan closed his eyes for a moment.
"Then what will they do next?"
Ye Changqing raised his hand and traced a circle in the air with his index finger.
"Why did the Extreme Bone Sect fail? Mortal souls weren't pure enough to bear the load of laws when the formation reached its