Painted Skin Ghost smiled sweetly. "Blood Eye Protector, you flatter me."
"If not for the other Kunlun God Sect members stirring up turmoil throughout Yuan Province Prefecture and tying down the Prefect and those righteous sects, how could I alone have taken Black Stone City so easily?"
She paused and looked toward the Black Crystal atop the altar.
"The grand formation has been activated, but to fully pinpoint the Mask of Immortality fragment's location, we still need at least three days."
"If the outside world notices within these three days..."
"No need to worry." Blood Eye Protector sneered. "Black Stone City has already been completely sealed by the Nether Mist Barrier. Communication talismans cannot fly out, and neither can people."
"As for Yuan Province Prefecture's main city, other Protectors will naturally create even greater chaos. They will have no time to spare for this place."
"But..." Painted Skin Ghost hesitated. "A burly man infiltrated the city last night. The richness of his blood and qi far surpassed that of ordinary Spirit Condensation Realm Qi Refiners."
"Though he did not discover anything amiss, my instincts tell me that this man... is not someone to provoke."
"The Spirit Condensation Realm? Nothing but an ant." Blood Eye Protector dismissed it.
"If he dares return, he can serve as an additional sacrifice. The blood, qi, and soul of a Spirit Condensation Realm human are first-rate materials."
As he spoke, he pointed at the black vertical eye mark on his chest.
"Besides, the Venerable bestowed upon me a God Descent Imprint. If activated in a crisis, it can borrow thirty percent of the Venerable's power."
"The Venerable stands at the peak of the Profound Connection Realm, half a step into Dao Integration. With thirty percent of his power, even if the Prefect of Yuan Province Prefecture personally came, what could he do to me?"
Painted Skin Ghost relaxed upon hearing this, though a trace of reverence flashed through her eyes.
The Profound Connection Realm was the third rank of Qi Refiners.
Cultivators in this realm could already begin communing with heaven and earth and wielding divine abilities. Compared to the second-rank Spirit Condensation Realm, the difference was as vast as clouds and mud.
Unlike the Spirit Condensation Realm, which was divided into nine levels, the Profound Connection Realm had no such divisions.
The Profound Connection Realm was divided only into the early, middle, late, and peak stages.
Each minor stage apart meant a gap in strength of several times, or even tenfold.
Painted Skin Ghost and Blood Eye Protector were both only at the early Profound Connection Realm, while that Kunlun sect Venerable was already at its peak, a terrifying existence half a step into Dao Integration.
Not to mention a remote frontier like Yuan Province—even across the entire Limitless Dynasty, he would rank among the very top echelon of supreme figures.
"With the God Descent Imprint, there truly is nothing to fear."
Painted Skin Ghost nodded, then looked toward the altar again and mused.
"Our sect has pursued this Mask of Immortality fragment for more than a century, yet every clue has always pointed only to the hundred-li radius around Black Stone City..."
"Is an artifact left behind by the Yin Extremity True God truly so difficult to find?"
Blood Eye Protector's gaze burned. "Precisely because it is a divine artifact, it naturally possesses the power to twist space and conceal the secrets of heaven."
"But the Nine Nether Return to Ruins Grand Formation was born for this very purpose! With the blood and souls of twenty thousand living beings as sacrifice, it will surely blast through the divine object's power of self-concealment."
He pointed again at the ever-growing number of vacant-eyed sacrifices.
"When the three-day blood sacrifice is complete and the grand formation's power reaches its peak, that will be the moment the fragment reveals itself!"
The Limitless Dynasty's territory was vast. Yuan Province lay in the southwest, a land of many mountains and miasmas.
At that moment, a slender figure swept through the air without her feet touching the dust, leaving only a faint afterimage of green smoke between the official road and the wilderness.
A barely perceptible pale green glow enveloped her body. It was the sign of a high-grade Swift Travel Talisman being driven at full force.
This person was Wei Qing, Jade Face Guard Pacifier of the Demon Subduing Division headquarters in the Limitless Dynasty, holding the official rank of Principal Fourth Rank.
She had reached this position at merely thirty years of age. Though she had benefited from the patronage of her father,
Wei Changqing, the Principal Third Rank Commander of the Demon Subduing Division, it was even more due to her own extraordinary talent.
Her Qi Refining cultivation had reached the sixth level of the Spirit Condensation Realm. She had also condensed the Black Tortoise Dharma Idol, which combined offense and defense and stood as steady as a mountain. Among the younger generation at the Demon Subduing Division headquarters, she was considered one of the finest.
This time, she had traveled alone to Black Stone City, a frontier town under Yuan Province's jurisdiction, under a secret order from Gu Cangming, the Deputy Commander within the Division.
According to a glimpse of heavenly secrets that Lord Gu, renowned for his astrological prophecies, had pried into at the cost of his lifespan,
the Earth Vein beneath Black Stone City had recently shown unusual movements. Something supremely yin and filthy seemed about to break its seal and emerge, and the matter needed to be investigated without delay.
Yet across the Dynasty's Nine Provinces, aside from the relatively tranquil Central Province, demon and monster disturbances had suddenly surged in the other eight provinces, both in frequency and intensity far beyond previous years.
The Demon Subduing Division was run ragged, its elites already scattered across every perilous region. The headquarters truly could not spare any more experts in the late Spirit Condensation Realm,
which was why the mission had been entrusted to Wei Qing, whose strength and loyalty were both dependable.
Wei Qing harbored no complaints about this.
Exterminating demons and defending the righteous path was the Demon Subduing Division's duty.
Moreover, she had complete faith in Vice Commander Gu's prophetic arts. The moment she received the order, she had immediately set out.
With cultivation at the sixth level of the Spirit Condensation Realm, supplemented by a precious high-grade Swift Travel Talisman, her speed was naturally extraordinary.
Yet what Wei Qing saw along the way to Yuan Province made her brows knit tightly.
The several cities she passed through were almost all shrouded in bloody winds and rain.
The Demon Revealing Mirrors atop every city wall shone dimly, while traces of lesser demons running rampant could often be seen in the streets.
The common people lived in fear, and officials everywhere were rushed off their feet.
She was not made of stone.
Though her mission was urgent, whenever she encountered demons slaughtering mortals, she ultimately could not turn a blind eye.
In Green Mist City, her blade flashed once, cleaving a tusked wild Pig Demon more than a zhang tall in two as it charged the city wall.
Passing through Fallen Maple Town, a slight tremor of her Black Tortoise Dharma Idol's phantom crushed several savage demons that sprang out of an ancient well into powder.
When she passed White Stone Ferry, she shattered with a single palm strike a late first-rank dog demon that used illusions to harm people.
Judging from their auras, many of these demons were equivalent to mid-second-rank beings at the fourth or fifth level of the human Spirit Condensation Realm. They should not have been so easily subdued and slain.
Yet whenever Wei Qing fought them, she always felt something strange. Their Demon Power was unstable, their techniques crude, and their battle instincts far inferior to wild demons of the same rank.
It was more like... they had been forcibly cultivated and elevated by some power, possessing only the realm but none of the corresponding foundation.
"Something is wrong..."
The doubts in her heart grew ever deeper.
But the warning concerning Black Stone City hung over her head like a sword, allowing her no time to carefully investigate the source of these abnormalities.
Every time she cleared away a calamity, she did not even have time to accept the gratitude of the local officials
before driving her Swift Travel Talisman once more and transforming into a streak of light as she continued onward.
Thus, fighting as she traveled, by the afternoon of the second day after receiving her orders, she finally saw from afar the outline of Black Stone City's distinctive walls,
built from the locally produced jet-black stone.
Yet when Wei Qing truly saw the sight before her, her calm, waterlike eyes suddenly contracted,
and an unprecedented gravity surfaced on her once serene face!
Where were the city walls?
As far as the eye could see, the entire city seemed to have been wholly swallowed by an enormous, opaque shroud of black mist.
The black fog churned without end, faintly exuding an icy, deathly, ominous aura that made one's heart tremble.
Even the sunlight that fell upon it seemed to be devoured completely.
This was absolutely no ordinary demon mist!
Nor was it something she could resolve by herself!
Without the slightest hesitation, Wei Qing immediately took out the high-grade Myriad Miles Communication Talisman specially used by the Demon Subduing Division,
and directly contacted the Prefect, Yuan Province's highest administrative official.
The talisman's light flickered for a moment. Before she could speak, the Prefect of Yuan Province's heavy yet helpless voice came through.
"Guard Pacifier Wei, Vice Commander Gu has already informed me of the prophecy concerning Black Stone City."
"However, Yuan Province Prefecture's main city has also suffered repeated attacks from Great Demons in recent days, and the Earth Vein is shaking. I must remain at the center and mobilize the province-wide fortune formation for defense. I truly cannot spare myself."
"Black Stone City's situation is unclear. I ask Guard Pacifier Wei... to investigate first, or assemble personnel locally to ascertain the truth."
"I can grant all necessary authority and permissions."
With that, the communication ended.
Wei Qing's expression turned slightly cold, but she also knew that the Prefect's words were likely not false.
She drew a deep breath, suppressing the chill in her heart, then activated the Beacon Fire Token used internally by the Demon Subduing Division for emergency assembly.
The talisman light spread outward at a specific frequency, covering several hundred li around Black Stone City.
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