Taiyi Light-Splitting Talisman

The thing Li Muyang worried about most while living in Demon Sect territory was his safety.

On his way to the Demon Refining Sect, his predecessor had once seen a demonic cultivator kill someone in broad daylight.

The cultivator had simply taken a dislike to the innkeeper's face. He slaughtered the innkeeper's entire family of six, along with an innocent waiter, right there in the street. Their deaths were tragic beyond description.

When people from the City Lord's Manor arrived, they merely fined the indiscriminate killer a sum of silver.

This was a world where human lives were trampled underfoot and innocents were slaughtered without cause. It had left the original Li Muyang, a country boy from a small town, with deep psychological scars. It had also left Li Muyang, the transmigrator, feeling perpetually insecure.

Although the Demon Refining Sect was an evil, law-abiding sect, no matter how orderly it was, it was still an evil demonic sect.

Here, the lives of ordinary people could be reduced to a simple number.

And there were plenty of chaotic, evil, cruel, bloodthirsty demonic cultivators in the world. The price of murder was very low for these fiends; they might kill someone for fun just because they were in a bad mood.

To avoid being casually crushed like a bug in demonic territory, one needed powerful combat strength to protect oneself. Even a powerful background might not help—demonic territory was crawling with madmen who flouted the law.

Even the Demon Refining Sect's patriarch's own son could be killed by a demonic lunatic over a petty argument. That was no exaggeration; it had already happened.

Now, with the Endless Spirit Rice Jar sustaining him, Li Muyang didn't lack cultivation. What he lacked was something that could quickly raise his combat strength.

And three low-grade spirit talismans were undoubtedly the fastest trump card for boosting his strength.

Toss out a single low-grade spirit talisman, and it could instantly kill an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator.

With the right timing, it could even slay a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

This thing would boost his combat strength far more than an ordinary flying sword.

So Li Muyang chose the second reward without hesitation.

As soon as he claimed his reward, three pale-green spirit talismans appeared in his hand.

Purple talismanic incantations, written in wild, sweeping strokes, covered the pale-green paper. Their lines looked carved by a blade or scored by a sword, and seemed to radiate a faint, ominous sharpness.

[Taiyi Light-Splitting Talisman (low-grade spirit talisman)]

[In an instant, it conjures 68,000 illusory sword auras, among which are hidden 6,800 real sword auras. Can kill Foundation Establishment cultivators]

The system's description was brief, but it said it could kill Foundation Establishment cultivators...

Such absolute confidence in its wording suggested these three low-grade spirit talismans might be even more powerful than he'd imagined.

And 68,000 illusory sword auras... Even if they were only illusions, that sounded formidable.

Li Muyang curiously turned the three spirit talismans over in his hands, then carefully tucked them away against his body.

These three spirit talismans would be his strongest trump cards for now.

Though Li Muyang would much rather never have to use them.

After putting away the talismans, Li Muyang looked up at the sky.

Several streaks of light cut across the azure sky, heading toward Cloud City.

From the direction of Cloud City, two more streaks of light were flying toward the Demon Refining Sect.

Recently, the Demon Refining Sect's inner disciples had all been busy.

It was supposedly connected to the mysterious person who had been wantonly killing demonic cultivators in Cloud City.

To kill people with impunity in Cloud City, one of the Demon Refining Sect's main strongholds, crossed a line, even if the demonic cultivators who died weren't members of the Demon Sect.

Killing people in Demon Refining Sect territory was allowed, but the killer had to pay a fine.

This mysterious person had killed demonic cultivators and drained their corpses dry—that much might have been overlooked. But they had gone into hiding and clearly had no intention of paying the fine. They were openly scoffing at the Demon Refining Sect's rules.

It was also a provocation against the Demon Refining Sect.

So the sect had sent many inner disciples down the mountain and into the city to hunt for this mysterious person.

Even some elders' personal disciples had come down the mountain to join the hunt.

Cloud City was supposedly bustling these days, with inner disciples and even personal disciples everywhere.

The inner sect had apparently turned the affair into a temporary trial. Whoever unmasked the mysterious killer first would receive a reward from the sect.

But this had nothing to do with outer disciples like Li Muyang.

The mysterious person only killed demonic cultivators who had reached Foundation Establishment. All the victims had been Foundation Establishment cultivators—not particularly strong, but more than capable of crushing a bunch of outer-sect nobodies.

And the Demon Refining Sect's inner disciples were all Foundation Establishment cultivators too.

Even if outer disciples like Li Muyang wanted to join the excitement, their mere Qi Refining cultivation meant they weren't even qualified to enter the hunt.

So Li Muyang paid no attention to the commotion in Cloud City. He looked up at the sky and saw that dusk was already near.

Before long, his adopted younger sister, Li Yuechan, would come to feed him.

Li Muyang stood up, dusted off his backside, picked up the water dipper, and began casting the Cloud and Rain Art.

In his experience, by the time he finished watering the spiritual fields, the girl would be appearing at the far end of the mountain path.

...That was how it should have gone.

When a third of the water remained in Li Muyang's dipper and he still had some time left before finishing the irrigation, a commotion suddenly broke out on the usually deserted mountain path.

Then came the crowd's frantic shouts.

Hearing the noise, Li Muyang turned in confusion and saw a group of outer disciples rushing toward him with a stretcher.

The man running at the front was the panting, chubby Steward Wang.

"Li Muyang! Something terrible's happened! Your sister got hurt in the city!"

Steward Wang ran up, gasping for breath, his head covered in sweat.

Though he was a cultivator, a Qi Refining body wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person's.

The people behind Fatty Wang were all outer disciples too. Li Muyang knew them all—they had once lived near him.

After all, the outer disciples under each steward's care tended to live clustered together.

Among them was an acquaintance of Li Muyang's, Guan Xiaoshun.

At their shouts, Li Muyang froze for a moment, then looked toward the stretcher.

A pale arm hung limply from it. It was a girl's arm.

Putting that together with Fatty Wang's words...

Li Muyang immediately dropped the water dipper and hurried over.

"What happened?"

When he reached them, Steward Wang and Guan Xiaoshun quickly moved aside, revealing the girl lying on the stretcher.

Her weak, pale face was utterly bloodless. Her eyes, usually narrowed in a smile, were now feebly shut.

Her lips were pressed together slightly, and her breathing was ragged.

She was still wearing the little white dress she'd left in that morning, but now it was completely soaked in blood.

The crimson blood had dried and clotted on the fabric, making her look pitiful and helpless.

Seeing the badly wounded, bleeding girl before him, Li Muyang's pupils contracted sharply.

He fell silent for a second, then said, "Carry her into my room first."

He directed the outer disciples to carry the girl inside, then carefully lifted her onto the bed.

Then he turned to Fatty Wang. "Steward, could I trouble you to fetch Doctor Lin?"

"My little sister's injuries are serious. We may need Doctor Lin's help."