Xiao Yi Xian Arrives in Wutan City

News that the Misty Cloud Sect's gates had suddenly been destroyed, its sect annihilated, and its disciples and elders slaughtered to the last spread throughout the Jia Ma Empire in an instant.

The Misty Cloud Sect, whose glory had blazed like the midday sun, had suddenly fallen in a single day. Not one of its more than ten thousand elders and disciples had survived, leaving the Jia Ma Empire's great families thunderstruck.

Before this, they had all believed the Misty Cloud Sect would soon reclaim the glory of its heyday.

They had offered up profits and pledged allegiance, hoping to earn merit by backing its rise and ascend to heaven along with it, chickens and dogs alike.

Along the way, they had also hoped to make a favorable impression on Chen Yang and befriend this mysterious powerhouse. If their families ever faced serious trouble, they could borrow his influence and reputation to weather the crisis.

Now reality had told them that the Misty Cloud Sect, which had been flourishing in every respect, had vanished from the map in less than a day.

Not only was Chen Yang's whereabouts unknown, but not a single one of the sect's ten thousand members had been left alive.

Suddenly, these families could not help worrying about their previous pledges of allegiance to the Misty Cloud Sect.

Would whoever had destroyed the Misty Cloud Sect suppress them because of it?

No, we have to cut our losses immediately and strangle this disaster before it can take shape.

In an instant, the great families of Jia Ma Holy City issued public declarations, announcing that since the Misty Cloud Sect no longer existed, their previously agreed partnerships with it were null and void.

They also reclaimed every bit of profit they had conceded.

At the same time, they secretly nibbled away at the Misty Cloud Sect's various businesses to strengthen their own families.

The backstabbing by Jia Ma Holy City's great families chilled the hearts of the Misty Cloud Sect disciples and elders who had survived by being away on missions.

When a wall fell, everyone gave it another shove.

After the Misty Cloud Sect's sudden destruction, such news was nothing less than frost heaped upon snow, oil poured upon fire.

With no other choice, they could only abandon their identities as Misty Cloud Sect disciples and elders to survive, joining the great families or becoming independent cultivators.

Some disciples and elders held deep affection for the Misty Cloud Sect. Even with the sect destroyed, its thousand-year foundation ruined, and themselves plunged into countless dangers and hardships, they still wanted to rebuild it.

To rebuild the Misty Cloud Sect, they cultivated with their lives on the line and threw themselves into mercenary groups, venturing deep into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to hunt magical beasts. They sold beast cores and other materials, raising funds as quickly as possible so they could rebuild the sect.

While gathering funds to rebuild the Misty Cloud Sect, they also secretly sought out other like-minded disciples and elders, as well as powerful independent cultivators, to expand their ranks.

Yet the people managing the great families were all as shrewd as monkeys. How could they possibly stand by and let the Misty Cloud Sect's remnants rebuild it right under their noses?

Once the disciples and elders determined to rebuild the Misty Cloud Sect had found several like-minded friends, those families made their move in secret.

On one hand, they struck with the speed of thunder before anyone could cover their ears, killing the disciples and elders who stubbornly insisted on rebuilding the Misty Cloud Sect. On the other, they offered lavish sums to recruit the sect elders whose intentions remained unclear.

This combination of blows instantly knocked the Misty Cloud Sect's painstakingly achieved progress back to square one.

Seeing this, the disciples and elders bent on rebuilding the Misty Cloud Sect were dumbfounded, but more than anything, they burned with fury.

They had gone too far!

If you're so afraid of our Misty Cloud Sect, you'd better pray we never succeed in rebuilding it.

Otherwise, we'll make you pay.

After this ordeal, the elders and disciples determined to rebuild the Misty Cloud Sect understood that no matter how much they struggled, they would hardly be able to stir up another ripple.

Unless they could find the former sect master, Yun Yun, or the missing Chen Yang, and have either of them take charge, there would be no hope of rebuilding the Misty Cloud Sect. Otherwise, its name would be buried in the endless river of history as time flowed on.

Yet the former sect master, Yun Yun, Chen Yang, and even the current Misty Cloud Sect Master, Nalan Yanran, were all equally unaccounted for.

Finding any one of those three would be extremely difficult.

According to the clues they currently had, the former sect master, Yun Yun, might have been taken captive and was no longer in the Jia Ma Empire at all.

If the former sect master had been captured, then Chen Yang had most likely left the Jia Ma Empire as well to rescue his wife.

Their only remaining option was the current sect master, Nalan Yanran.

But they all understood that without the former sect master, Yun Yun, and Chen Yang, Nalan Yanran, a current sect master whose cultivation was only at the Dou Zhe level, had neither the influence to rally others nor the strength to deter them.

No matter how outstanding her leadership skills were, the other disciples and elders would not accept her authority.

No one would willingly obey someone weaker than themselves.

Besides, Nalan Yanran belonged to the Nalan Family. Now that the Misty Cloud Sect had been destroyed, she might not be willing to wade into these muddy waters.

After all, this mess promised nothing but thankless toil. Even if she abandoned her position as the Misty Cloud Sect's Tenth-Generation Sect Master, she would still be the Nalan Family's young master.

After traveling day and night for nearly half a week, Xiao Yi Xian finally arrived outside Wutan City.

Standing outside Wutan City, she looked up at the stone plaque set above the city gates, her heart brimming with emotion.

Had I finally returned?

This time, I'm the first woman to come to his side.

"Xiao Yan, please don't blame me for being despicable.

"When it comes to love, I'm a woman without a shred of reason.

"For you, I can become the very person I despise!"

Xiao Yi Xian murmured to herself. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward resolutely and entered Wutan City.

The instant she entered Wutan City, her heartbeat inexplicably quickened. She did not know why, but it pounded so hard that it felt as though it would burst out of her chest.

Xiao Yi Xian touched her chest and forced herself to steady her breathing.

"Pull yourself together, Xiao Yi Xian. Don't lose your composure. Xiao Yan doesn't like girls who aren't reserved." Except for those who've taken drugs.

Xiao Yi Xian silently added that last sentence afterward.

As one of the most terrifying constitutions on the Dou Qi Continent, the woeful poison body had allowed Xiao Yi Xian's cultivation to undergo another qualitative transformation in just a few short days through consuming large quantities of poison.

She had advanced from a Five-Star Dou Zhe to a Nine-Star Dou Zhe, only one step away from Dou Shi.

At the same time, with a seven-colored Poison Pill inside her body, Xiao Yi Xian had confidently resumed cultivating the techniques from her previous life—the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture and the Heavenly Nether Poison Canon.

After entering Wutan City, Xiao Yi Xian followed the route in her memories, heading straight toward the Xiao Clan.

Along the way, Xiao Yi Xian kept considering how she would gain entry to the Xiao Clan once she arrived, how she would approach Xiao Yan, and how she would persuade Sister Xun'er to share a man with her.

After thinking for ages, Xiao Yi Xian still could not come up with an answer.

Before she knew it, Xiao Yi Xian had reached the Xiao Clan's estate.

Gazing at the Xiao Clan's estate from a distance, Xiao Yi Xian finally decided to simply pay them a visit.

A visitor was a guest. As long as she did not make too much trouble, the Xiao Clan ought to treat her courteously.

With that thought, Xiao Yi Xian went straight to the Xiao Clan's door and knocked. She explained the purpose of her visit to those inside and was invited into the Xiao Clan's estate as a guest.