Several months earlier.
In a secluded spot somewhere in the Vast Sea, a figure in black robes sat cross-legged, silently regulating his breathing with his eyes closed. His long hair was white, and a mask concealed his features.
But at the very moment Li Ping burned down the Tuluo People's Earthen City and exterminated all the Blood Shadows-
"Hm?" The man suddenly opened his eyes.
The instant he did, he reached out and caught a jade pendant in his hand.
After studying it for a while, he confirmed that ten of the Shuras he had been specially nurturing were indeed missing.
"What happened? Didn't I tell them to stay in the ruins instead of wandering around?" the white-haired cultivator murmured with a frown. "Besides, even if they really were killed, nothing should happen to the Shuras as long as they recovered the bodies and sacrificed them."
"This concerns His Majesty's advancement to spirit transformation. Nothing more can happen to the remaining Shuras. Fine, I'll harvest them early."
Having reached this conclusion, the white-haired cultivator rose to his feet and became a streak of escape light, flying toward the ruins where the Core Formation Cultivators of the Four Demonic Sects were stationed.
Before Yin Jiumu and Hua Wuji left for the Western Wasteland to deal with Li Ping, they had deliberately left their Life Tokens behind.
Thus, the moment they were killed, the Core Formation Cultivators guarding the ruins also learned of their deaths.
Nearly half their number had died all at once. The survivors were both alarmed and anxious. They could not understand it: Yin Jiumu and the others had merely gone to deal with a core formation middle-stage cultivator and ascertain the location of that Teleportation Formation.
With their strength, how could they all have died in an instant?