In the Heavenly South, within a buffer zone where the Ghost Spirit Sect's and the Righteous Path Alliance's territories intertwined, lay a stretch of barren mountains called Black Fiend Ridge. Yin energy gathered in its earth veins, nurturing three rich deposits of high-quality yin spirit stones.
These deposits were vital to ghost-path cultivators' cultivation and the forging of yin-attribute magical artifacts. They were among the Ghost Spirit Sect's essential resource lifelines, guarded year-round by substantial forces and protected by the Ninefold Nether Soul-Locking Great Formation.
Yet at that moment, the largest of the three mining sites-the "main vein"-was shrouded in murderous tension and panic. What hung high in the night sky was not a bright moon, but a dazzling curtain of sword light formed by Lu Yun's Ten-Thousand-Sword Token, covering nearly half the mine. Sword light rained down, striking precisely against the ghostly barrier hastily raised around the perimeter. Explosions rang out without pause as ghostly energy churned and scattered.
Inside the mine, several hundred low-ranking Ghost Spirit Sect disciples and dozens of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stewards had already descended into chaos. When had they ever witnessed an assault like this? The terrifying pressure of the Nascent Soul middle stage bore down like a mountain, making their divine souls tremble and obstructing the circulation of their spiritual power.
"What's going on? How did the righteous-path people get here?"
"Don't we have warning formations? Why didn't they react at all?"
"Send distress talismans! Activate the formation's core!"
Their panic, however, soon turned to despair. Several exceedingly well-concealed, swift-moving shadows had slipped like phantoms into the mine's core area before the sword light even appeared.
They were elite Shadow Sentinels of the Mystic Division. Personally led by Bamboo Viper, they had used secret treasures and superb concealment techniques to silently