Misunderstandings Abound

"Halt! You fiend, I'll fight you to the death!" Old Taoist Chen Kong was enveloped by the blood cloud. His vital essence and True Essence were steadily draining away; even exerting his full power, he could not stop it. His protective Flying Sword had long since been swallowed clean by the blood cloud, leaving not even dregs behind.

Before his eyes, the girl he had protected was swallowed by the blood cloud, leaving behind a stark white skeleton. The bones then scattered across the ground and turned into a heap of white powder. Old Taoist Chen Kong desperately circulated his power to resist the blood cloud's devouring, but it was merely a cup of water against a blazing cartload. In an instant, a third of his strength had been drained away, and the skin all over his body shriveled considerably.

Old Taoist Chen Kong felt a fury unlike anything he had ever known. Knowing he would likely not escape death today, he let out a furious roar and detonated all the True Essence within his body, intending to blast apart the blood cloud and perish together with Zhou Qing.

How powerful was the True Essence of a Transformation Stage expert? Once detonated, everything within a radius of ten li would be ground to dust. Yet the blood cloud transformed from the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber was viscous and tough, tightly wrapping around the True Essence Old Taoist Chen Kong had detonated.

Boom! A tremendous roar sounded from within the blood cloud. The cloud swelled to a size of three zhang, then abruptly contracted. The blood-red light filling the sky vanished without a trace, transforming into a thread of faint bloody radiance that flew into Zhou Qing's hand.

The sun shone down again, but the forest was utterly unrecognizable. The trees had vanished completely. The area within a dozen zhang looked as though it had been struck by a nuclear bomb—nothing grew there, the earth was scorched black, and not a shred of life could be seen. Old Taoist Chen Kong, who had been so imposing moments before, and that girl had not even left behind a single hair in this world.

The string of sudden changes had left Liao Xiaojin and the other two as dumbfounded as idiots, unable to tell whether it was real or false. Only when Zhou Qing spat out a mouthful of blood did Liao Xiaojin come back to his senses. Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Qing waved a hand. "That fellow's self-detonation injured my internal organs. The commotion just now was far too great. We must leave this place at once!" With that, he transformed into a faint streak of blood-red light and vanished. Liao Xiaojin gave a contemptuous snort, and the three of them concealed themselves before following Zhou Qing away.

Bang! A palm slammed down on the table. Several teacups atop it shattered one after another, and scalding tea splashed all over the floor.

"Ling Fei! Tell me, how exactly did you serve as leader of the Dragon Group? Four members have gone missing, and we still have no idea where they are. Their families are demanding their people from us, and Mao Shan is demanding people from us too. What do you expect me to do?" A middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit sat beside the table, his face full of fury as he berated him. Ling Fei stood some distance away, looking awkward and dejected, unable to say a word.

"Amitabha. Director Zhang, this matter cannot be blamed on Ling Fei either. Before his death, my junior brother Chen Kong sent me a divine message. At the scene, he encountered his junior nephew Ling Fei, and it was discovered that Junior Brother Chen Kong had come into contact with the four Dragon Group members before his death. I used the innate art of divination to calculate it. Alas! I fear those four members have met with more danger than good fortune." The speaker was a Yellow-Robed Old Daoist seated in a corner. This old Daoist was Chen Yi, the sect master of the Mount Ailao lineage.

No one in the cultivation world had ever known the depths of Daoist Chen Yi's abilities, because he had never fought anyone. He had not even participated in the Daoist-demonic war thirty years ago. At the time, Chen Yi, already the sect master, had merely sent his junior brother Old Taoist Chen Kong to lend aid. Yet Chen Yi's seniority was exceedingly rare in the present age; even the Daoist Sect's Four Grandmasters were likely a notch below him. Though Chen Kong was nominally Chen Yi's junior brother, Chen Yi had actually accepted him as a disciple on behalf of his master, and all of Chen Kong's Daoist arts had been taught by Chen Yi.

The Director Zhang mentioned by Chen Yi was the director of the State Security Bureau, a man with considerable authority. The State Security Bureau encompassed not only the Dragon Group and the supernatural ability group, but also several supervisory agencies within the secular world.

Director Zhang knew Daoist Chen Yi's standing in the cultivation world. Seeing Chen Yi speak, he no longer flew into a rage and instead asked respectfully, "Then what does the Daoist priest think?"

A trace of worry flashed across Old Taoist Chen Yi's face as he said solemnly, "Alas! I inspected the place where my junior brother met with disaster and found signs of battle. In particular, not a blade of grass has grown within a radius of ten zhang even now. Clearly, all life force there has been drained away. I fear... I fear it was the work of someone from the demonic path."

"The demonic path? How could that be? I know that Senior Chen Kong's cultivation had reached an unfathomable level. I heard from my master that he entered the Transformation Stage thirty years ago. By now, his Daoist arts must have reached an inconceivable realm. How could anyone from the demonic path be his match?" Ling Fei asked in astonishment.

"Daoist priest! Though I am not part of the cultivation world, I am still the Dragon Group's superior, so I know something about the demonic path. Since that battle thirty years ago, the demonic path has withered away. It seems they have no great experts left. Although they have shown some activity recently, they have never caused any serious disturbances. I have several reports here regarding the demonic path's current movements. There is not a single Transformation Stage expert among them. Surely they could not have been a match for Daoist Chen Kong?" Director Zhang was fairly well informed.

"That may be so, but it truly was a demonic-path technique, and it was unfathomably deep. It seemed the opponent had not even used his full strength. These are troubled times indeed! Ling Fei, you may need to go to Kunlun and ask your master to come down the mountain. Otherwise, it would be best not to act rashly for now." Old Taoist Chen Yi sighed.

"Ask my master to come down the mountain? Th-then was that demonic-path expert really that formidable?" Ling Fei was utterly shocked. Everyone knew that Gan Jizi of Kunlun stood first among the Five Grandmasters, publicly acknowledged as the foremost expert under heaven. He was at the late Spirit Transformation realm, only one step away from entering the Earth Immortal realm of Spirit Refining and Returning to Emptiness. Now Old Taoist Chen Yi was actually asking for him to take action. Did that not make it plain that the demonic-path expert was likely someone whose cultivation had reached the pinnacle of creation? The mere existence of such an unknown figure was enough to make people tremble in fear. And now he had even killed four Dragon Group members. What did that signify?

Director Zhang and Ling Fei both knew Old Taoist Chen Yi's status. He would not exaggerate, much less lie, and both their faces changed color at once. Little did they know that Old Taoist Chen Yi was about to drop another heavy hammer upon them.

"Thirty years ago, Daoyi Tianshi of Dragon Tiger Mountain came to see me. He said he suspected that person might not be dead."

"What? Not dead? Then wouldn't the world fall into chaos?" Director Zhang sprang to his feet, slamming the table and giving Ling Fei a tremendous fright. Ling Fei was all right, since he had no idea what this concerned, but Director Zhang knew exactly who the person Old Taoist Chen Yi spoke of was—the man who had once fought the Daoist Sect's Four Grandmasters alone.

"Who is this person?" Ling Fei asked, his face full of astonishment. Because the experts who had participated in the Daoist-demonic battle thirty years ago had deliberately kept it hidden, few people knew of it. Ling Fei had not even been born then, so how could he have known about it?

"Do not concern yourself with who it is. Tell your master, and he will understand. You—set off for Kunlun at once. Hand the Dragon Group's work over to Deputy Leader Xiang Hui. Since such a huge incident has occurred, you must give the families of those four members an explanation. Put the Dragon Group's work aside for now." With a single sentence, Director Zhang stripped Ling Fei of his position.