"What should have come didn't, but plenty of those who shouldn't have came instead."
The woman at the Foundation Establishment Realm also wore a layer of black gauze over her face, concealing her features. Yet her honeyed, alluring voice alone was enough to stir the heart and ensnare the soul. For a moment, all the male cultivators present forgot to flee.
"If you want to kill people and seize their treasures, at least don't hide behind such a sanctimonious excuse. I can't stand so-called righteous cultivators like you." After speaking, the Black-Veiled Woman once again strode through the air. She tossed a square object from her hand, then said softly:
"Slaughter them all. Don't let them ruin my plans."
At once, all the Earth Ghost Sect disciples sprang into action, raising the iron hooks in their hands and charging at the cultivators.
Chen Fan frowned slightly. The square object the Black-Veiled Woman had thrown was a Formation Disk, capable of laying out a Magic Array on the spot and completely isolating the surrounding space. No one could enter from outside, and those within could not get out. Chen Fan himself had also been caught inside it.
Those cultivators who had witnessed a Foundation Establishment expert with their own eyes had already lost all will to fight. Even when Earth Ghost Sect disciples of lower cultivation came at them, they all turned and fled. The only one they feared was the Black-Veiled Woman at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
"The Earth Ghost Sect doesn't have an expert like this. Who is she?" someone cried as he ran.
"She must be some witch. She nearly stole my soul just now," a male cultivator said, still shaken.
"Hmph. More like you were blinded by lust," the female cultivator beside him sneered.
Before long, they were running toward Chen Fan's hiding place. Seeing this, Chen Fan had no choice but to go the opposite way, slipping into the nearby undergrowth. He needed to find the small array's eye before he could break out.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud rang out. A cultivator at the very front slammed into the light curtain and was sent flying backward.
"What's going on? This light curtain..."
"We're trapped. That witch set up this Magic Array."
Everyone's faces turned deathly pale. None of them could break the array. The Black-Veiled Woman had trapped them, turning them into turtles in a jar.
Some began to tremble. They had known death was a possibility when they entered Demon King Valley, but they hadn't expected it to come so soon. They had encountered a Foundation Establishment expert right at the outskirts.
"Senior, spare me..." A cultivator had just dropped to his knees to beg for mercy when an Earth Ghost Sect disciple smashed an iron hook into his head. Blood sprayed everywhere, and he died on the spot.
Chen Fan watched with a cold expression. This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. If you were greedy enough to kill someone and seize their treasures, you had to be prepared for them to kill you instead.
"I'm a disciple of the Mountain Moving Sect. You can't surround and kill us like this!" A man in a Taoist robe spoke sternly as he drew the long sword at his waist and pointed it at the Earth Ghost Sect disciples.
"The Mountain Moving Sect?" The Black-Veiled Woman gave a disdainful laugh. With a wave of her hand, a Talisman appeared and transformed into a fire dragon that shot toward the Taoist-robed man.
The man's expression changed dramatically as he retreated. The cultivators beside him scattered too, afraid of being caught in the attack.
The True Qi infused in a Talisman released by a Foundation Establishment expert was beyond anything an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator could match. The Taoist-robed man darted to the right, but the fire dragon was faster. It abruptly turned and swiped a claw at him.
"Ah..."
The Taoist-robed man managed only a single cry of pain before the fire dragon swallowed him whole. He vanished on the spot, reduced to ashes along with the Talisman. The ashes scattered across the ground and blew away on the wind.
It had all happened in an instant. A cultivator at Qi Refining Layer 6 had fallen just like that. The methods of a Foundation Establishment expert made everyone's scalp crawl.
"Boom!"
Just then, a tremendous crash rang out above them. The array's light curtain shuddered violently, and everyone looked up, searching for the cause.
Chen Fan frowned too. He hadn't found the array's eye, and a tremor of this magnitude clearly meant someone was attacking from outside.
The Black-Veiled Woman gazed into the sky and suddenly smiled. "Looks like the one I was waiting for has arrived—and brought someone important along, too." Her laughter rang out like a string of silver bells.
Everyone looked up. A woman in white was riding a sword through the air, a jade mirror in one hand and a hand seal in the other as she struck at the array.
"Celestial Maiden." The cultivators were once again struck dumb, staring up at the White-Robed Woman.
Though a Magic Array stood between them, they could still see her exquisite features: peerless beauty, an otherworldly bearing, and a flowing white robe that made her look like a celestial maiden descended from the immortal realm.
"Senior Sister, this array is beyond your ability to break. You should save your True Qi," the Black-Veiled Woman said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she addressed the woman in the air.
"Junior Sister, this is the tomb of our Immortal Sect's ancestors. How dare you do this? If you alarm the Sect Master, there'll be nowhere for you to run." Seeing that she couldn't break through the array, the White-Robed Woman stopped wasting her True Qi and spoke to the Black-Veiled Woman.
"I'm no longer a member of the Immortal Sect. Bringing up the Sect Master won't help you," the Black-Veiled Woman said, shaking her head without the slightest hesitation.
The cultivators below were utterly stunned.
"The Immortal Sect? They're actually from the Immortal Sect!" a middle-aged cultivator exclaimed.
"No wonder. It's said that sect is connected to the Immortal Palace."
"The Immortal Palace? You mean the Immortal Palace that forged the Heavenly Court?"
"Exactly. It's said that only people from this sect can communicate with the Immortal Palace. But the Immortal Sect has always lived in seclusion atop lofty mountains, and ordinary people can hardly find it. Who would've thought two of its successors would appear here today?"
"That's strange. Why would someone from the Immortal Sect join forces with the Earth Ghost Sect?" someone asked in confusion.
"Idiot. Didn't you hear the witch just now? She's no longer a member of the Immortal Sect. Seems she had a crooked heart and was expelled from the sect," a middle-aged cultivator said.
As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp whistle split the air. A Talisman shot out and erupted in a flash of light, transforming into a treasured sword that plunged toward the middle-aged cultivator like a falling star.
"Shing!" The middle-aged cultivator had only just reacted when the sword pierced straight through him. Blood poured from his mouth, and he collapsed dead on the spot.
"Too much talk." The Black-Veiled Woman's eyes were ice-cold as she surveyed the crowd. "Say another word, and I'll slaughter every last one of you."
The cultivators fell silent and stood frozen in place. No one tried to break through the array again. Even the White-Robed Woman was powerless against it; what could Qi Refining cultivators like them possibly do?
Only one figure remained hidden in the undergrowth, searching for the array's eye with a frown.
It should be somewhere around here... Chen Fan thought. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he looked toward a corner, and a faint smile touched his lips. "Found it."
Meanwhile, the White-Robed Woman, still riding her sword in the air, spoke again. "Junior Sister, don't keep making the same mistake. It's not too late to stop now."
This time, the Black-Veiled Woman didn't answer. Instead, she turned to an Earth Ghost Sect disciple and asked, "Have you dug everything out?"
"Reporting to the Sect Master, we've dug it all out. The disciples are checking for anything we might have missed," the disciple replied with an earnest expression.
"Good."
Only then did the cultivators understand. The Earth Ghost Sect had changed hands; the witch had taken it over, and even its disciples had been brought under her command, loyal to the death.
A Sect Master at the Foundation Establishment Realm—just thinking about it made their scalps tingle!
The strongest experts nearby, from the Mountain Moving Sect and Heavy Sword Peak, were only at Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Could the Earth Ghost Sect really rise from a minor demonic sect to stand alongside Heavy Sword Peak?
"Don't forget there's still the Heaven Ghost Sect. Their Sect Master entered Foundation Establishment Middle Stage not long ago, but they're still keeping a low profile. I doubt the Earth Ghost Sect will rise too quickly," someone whispered.
But the cultivator beside him tugged hard at his clothes and warned in a low voice, "Stop talking. You'll bring trouble down on yourself."
Only then did the man glance at the middle-aged cultivator who had been run through the heart by a sword, his face filled with fear.
Meanwhile, Chen Fan had heard everything nearby. He had only partly damaged the array's eye, and now he silently made his way toward the cave. With his concealment technique, sneaking inside wouldn't be difficult. He wanted to see whether that treasured sword really had anything to do with his own.
The Black-Veiled Woman continued standing where she was. Looking toward the White-Robed Woman, she said, "Senior Sister, you can't accomplish anything this way. Why not leave the Immortal Sect and join my Earth Ghost Sect? I'll give you a Marrow Cleansing Pill, and then we can both reach the Golden Core Realm."
"Marrow Cleansing Pill?" Chen Fan's heart jolted as he slipped into the cave. Could that witch have set up the array at such effort just to dig up the Marrow Cleansing Pill buried here?
He pressed himself against the wall, concealing his aura completely as he quickly slipped deeper into the cave.
There were many Earth Ghost Sect disciples inside, digging for something in all directions. The place was in disarray: numerous bookshelves and medicine racks lay scattered on the ground, buried beneath soil, though the disciples had unearthed most of them.
Chen Fan looked toward a wooden table in the corner. Several freshly unearthed Demon Cores sat on it, along with a sealed pill bottle. But there was another object that made his eyes widen.
Was that my sword?
The blade gleamed silver-white, and there was a groove in its hilt—the very place where he had once set the Mysterious Jade Bead.
But the Mysterious Jade Bead was gone now, and the entire sword felt unfamiliar.
"This isn't my original sword." Chen Fan stared at the treasured sword, his eyes narrowing.
"Someone made a copy modeled after my sword, but the materials and forging methods are worlds apart."
"The owner of this tomb was an ancestor of the Immortal Sect. That means this person—or the Immortal Sect—must have seen my sword before. Or perhaps the sword is somewhere within their sect."
At the thought, Chen Fan's gaze turned cold. His whole body became a shadow as he slid along the cave wall toward the corner where the wooden table stood. Moving at astonishing speed, he snatched up the sword and pill bottle.
"Who's there?" A burly man at Qi Refining Eighth Layer noticed the movement and shouted sharply.
The disciples digging nearby heard him and abruptly looked up at the Burly Man.
Chen Fan was already moving at incredible speed, carrying the items as he retreated toward the exit.
The Burly Man narrowed his eyes, pointed at Chen Fan, and shouted, "Capture him! Block the exit!"
Several disciples near the exit reacted quickly. They raised their iron hooks and used their bodies to block the way out.
The Black-Veiled Woman outside also heard the commotion from within the cave. She glanced at the White-Robed Woman in the air, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile, and murmured, "He walked right into the trap that easily?"
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