The Witch and the Fairy

"Those who should have come didn't, but plenty who shouldn't have are here."

The Foundation Establishment Realm woman's face was also wrapped in a layer of black gauze, making it impossible to see her features clearly, but with that seductive voice alone, it was enough to stir hearts and ensnare souls, causing the male cultivators present to momentarily forget about fleeing.

"Wanting to kill and steal treasures yet using such a sanctimonious excuse—This Seat despises you so-called righteous cultivators the most." After the black-gauze woman spoke, she stepped through the air again, a square object flying from her hand as she softly commanded:

"Kill them all. Don't let them ruin This Seat's plans."

Immediately, all the Earth Ghost Sect disciples sprang into motion, raising their iron hooks and charging at that group of cultivators.

Chen Fan frowned slightly. The square object the black-gauze woman had thrown was a Formation Disk, capable of deploying a formation anywhere, completely sealing off this space—outsiders couldn't enter, and those inside couldn't leave. Chen Fan himself was now trapped within it.

These cultivators, having witnessed a Foundation Establishment Realm expert, had long lost any will to fight. Even when they saw the Earth Ghost Sect disciples, who were lower in realm, charging at them, they turned and fled. The only one they feared was that Foundation Establishment Realm woman in black gauze.

"The Earth Ghost Sect has no such expert. Who is she?" someone shouted while running.

"She must be some demoness. She nearly stole my soul just now," a male cultivator said, still shaken.

"Hmph, you were just blinded by lust," the female cultivator beside him sneered.

Soon, they ran toward Chen Fan's hiding spot. Seeing this, Chen Fan had no choice but to go the opposite way, slipping into the grass nearby. He needed to find the formation's eye to have any chance of breaking out.

"Boom!"

A dull thud rang out as a cultivator running at the front slammed into a light barrier, sent flying backward.

"What's going on? This light barrier..."

"We're trapped. It's that demoness's formation."

Everyone's face turned pale. None of them could break this formation. The black-gauze woman had imprisoned them, making them fish in a barrel.

Some began to tremble. Though they had accepted the possibility of death when entering Demon King Valley, they hadn't expected it to come so soon—encountering a Foundation Establishment Realm expert on the outskirts.

"Senior, spare me..." One cultivator had just knelt to beg for mercy when an Earth Ghost Sect disciple's iron hook smashed into his head, blood spraying as he died on the spot.

Chen Fan watched coldly. This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. If you first gave in to greed and tried to kill for treasure, you had to be ready to be killed in return.

"I am a disciple of the Mountain Moving Sect. You cannot besiege us like this," a man in a Daoist robe declared solemnly, drawing the long sword at his waist and pointing it at the Earth Ghost Sect disciples.

"Mountain Moving Sect?" The black-gauze woman sneered dismissively, waving her hand. A Talisman manifested, transforming into a fire dragon that shot toward the Daoist-robed man.

The man's expression shifted drastically as he retreated swiftly. The cultivators around him also scattered, afraid of being caught in the blast.

A Talisman unleashed by a Foundation Establishment expert carried True Qi that ordinary Qi Refining Realm cultivators couldn't match. The Daoist-robed man dodged sharply to the right, but the fire dragon was faster, twisting abruptly and swiping a claw at him.

"Ah..."

The man only had time for a single scream before being engulfed by the fire dragon, annihilated on the spot, turning to ash along with the Talisman, scattering to the ground and drifting away with the wind.

In an instant, a Qi Refining Layer 6 cultivator had fallen. The methods of a Foundation Establishment Realm expert made everyone's scalps crawl.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed. Everyone felt the formation's light barrier shake violently and looked up to find the source.

Chen Fan frowned as well. He hadn't found the formation's eye yet, and a tremor of this magnitude clearly meant someone was attacking from outside.

The black-gauze woman looked up at the sky and suddenly smiled, saying softly, "Those who should have come have arrived, and a big one at that." Her words were followed by a bell-like chuckle.

Everyone turned to look. In the sky, a woman in white rode a flying sword, holding a jade mirror in one hand while forming hand seals with the other, striking the formation.

"A celestial maiden." The cultivators were stunned again, staring wide-eyed at the woman in white in the air.

Even through the formation, they could clearly see her exquisite beauty—a peerless, city-toppling face, an ethereal aura, and a flowing white gauze robe, like a goddess descending from the immortal realm.

"Senior Sister, this formation isn't something you can break. Save your True Qi," the black-gauze woman said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she addressed the woman in white.

"Junior Sister, this is the ancestral tomb of our Immortal Sect. How dare you do this? If you alert the Sect Master, you'll have nowhere to run," the woman in white replied, ceasing to waste True Qi when she saw she couldn't break the formation.

"I am no longer a member of the Immortal Sect. Using the Sect Master to pressure me is useless," the black-gauze woman said, shaking her head, unmoved.

But the cultivators below were utterly shocked.

"The Immortal Sect. They're from the Immortal Sect," a middle-aged cultivator said in astonishment.

"No wonder. This is the sect rumored to be connected to the Immortal Palace."

"The Immortal Palace? You mean the one that built the Heavenly Court?"

"Exactly. It's said that only this sect's people can contact the Immortal Palace, but the Immortal Sect has always lived in seclusion atop high peaks, hard for ordinary people to find. I never thought we'd see two disciples at once today."

"That's not right. How did someone from the Immortal Sect end up mixed up with the Earth Ghost Sect?" someone asked in confusion.

"Idiot. Didn't you just hear the demoness say she's no longer part of the Immortal Sect? Looks like she went astray and got expelled," a middle-aged cultivator said.

No sooner had he spoken than a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. A Talisman shot out, suddenly erupting into a stream of light that formed a sword, plummeting straight toward the middle-aged cultivator like a meteor.

With a "shing," the sword pierced through him before he could react. He spat blood and collapsed dead on the spot.

"Gossip," the black-gauze woman said, her eyes icy cold as she swept her gaze over the crowd. "Say one more word, and I'll slaughter you all."

The cultivators fell silent, standing still. No one tried to break the formation again. If even the powerful woman in white couldn't do it, what hope did they, mere Qi Refining Realm cultivators, have?

Only one figure remained hidden in the grass, frowning as he searched for the formation's eye.

"It should be around here..." Chen Fan muttered to himself, then suddenly his pupils contracted as he locked onto a corner. A faint smile touched his lips. "Found it."

At that moment, the white-robed woman standing midair on her flying sword spoke again: "Junior sister, do not persist in your mistakes. It is not too late to stop now."

But this time, the black-veiled woman paid her no heed. Instead, she turned to a Heaven Ghost Sect disciple and asked, "Have you dug everything out?"

"Reporting to the Sect Master, everything has been unearthed. The disciples are now checking for any omissions," the disciple replied with a reverent expression.

"Very well."

Only then did the gathered cultivators realize that the Earth Ghost Sect had changed hands, now occupied by this demoness, and even its disciples had been taken under her command, utterly loyal.

A Foundation Establishment Realm Sect Master—the mere thought of it made their scalps tingle!

The strongest cultivators from the nearby Mountain Moving Sect and Heavy Sword Peak were merely at Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Could it be that the Earth Ghost Sect was about to leap from a minor demonic sect to one on par with Heavy Sword Peak?

"Don't forget there's still the Heaven Ghost Sect. Their Sect Master recently broke through to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, yet they still keep a low profile. I doubt the Earth Ghost Sect will rise too quickly," someone whispered.

But the cultivator beside him yanked hard at his robes and warned in a low voice, "Shut up. Careful, trouble comes from the mouth."

Hearing this, the man immediately glanced at the middle-aged cultivator whose heart had been pierced through by a sword, a look of lingering fear on his face.

Not far away, Chen Fan took in every word. He had destroyed half of the formation's eye and was now silently creeping toward the cave entrance. With his concealment technique, sneaking into the cave was no great difficulty. He wanted to see if that precious sword was somehow connected to his own.

The black-veiled woman remained standing in place. She looked at the white-robed woman and said, "Senior sister, this accomplishes nothing for you. Why not leave the Immortal Sect and join my Earth Ghost Sect? I'll share a Marrow Cleansing Pill with you, and together we'll achieve the Golden Core Realm."

"Marrow Cleansing Pill." The moment he slipped into the cave, Chen Fan's heart jolted. Could it be that this demoness had gone to the trouble of setting up a formation just to dig up the Marrow Cleansing Pill buried here?

He pressed himself against the wall, completely concealing his aura, and darted deeper into the cave.

Inside, many Earth Ghost Sect disciples were digging around everywhere. The place was a mess—bookshelves and medicine racks lay scattered on the ground, buried in dirt, though most had already been unearthed by the disciples.

Chen Fan's gaze fell on a wooden table in the corner. On it lay several freshly dug Demon Cores and a sealed medicine bottle. But one other object made his eyes widen.

Is that my sword?

The blade gleamed with a silvery-white light, and the hilt had a groove—exactly where he had once placed the Mysterious Jade Bead.

But now that Mysterious Jade Bead was gone, and the entire sword felt unfamiliar.

"This isn't my original sword," Chen Fan muttered, his pupils contracting as he stared at the blade.

"Someone has copied the shape of my sword and forged a replica, but both the materials and the forging method are worlds apart."

"The owner of this tomb was an ancestor of the Immortal Sect. That means either this person or the Immortal Sect once saw my sword, or perhaps the sword itself is within their sect."

With that thought, Chen Fan's eyes turned cold. His entire form melted into a shadow, sliding along the cave wall toward the corner table. With astonishing speed, he swept the sword and the medicine bottle into his possession.

"Who's there?" A burly man at Qi Refining Eighth Layer sensed the disturbance and barked out.

The disciples digging nearby looked up sharply, their eyes locking onto the burly man.

Chen Fan moved with incredible speed, already retreating toward the exit with his loot.

The burly man squinted, pointing at Chen Fan's figure as he roared, "Trap this man! Block the exit!"

The disciples near the entrance reacted swiftly, raising their iron hooks and using their bodies to seal off the way out.

Outside the cave, the black-veiled woman heard the commotion from within. She glanced at the white-robed woman in the sky, a smirk curling at the corner of her lips as she murmured to herself, "Walking right into the trap so easily, are we?"