Heavenly Spirit Commandery.
Unlike frontier strongholds such as Rockhold Commandery, this place housed vast numbers of mortals, with bustling cities everywhere.
Although armies of the Demonic Path attacked here as well, the Spirit Devouring Cult was nowhere near as large as the Myriad Venom Dynasty, so attacks came only occasionally.
Thus, Heavenly Spirit Commandery's crisis lay not outside, but within.
The governor of Heavenly Spirit Commandery was named Lan Yue, a cultivator at the nascent soul middle stage.
Inside the governor's residence.
"Mother, more than a thousand households in Yellow Ox Village were slaughtered to the last person. It was the Spirit Devouring Cult's doing.
"They fed mortals special gu worms, pushing their cultivation to the qi refining first layer, then made them slaughter one another to cultivate foundation establishment realm gu worms before killing them.
"Using mortals as sacrifices in this competition of slaughter is utterly despicable!"
After reading the intelligence in the jade slip, a young girl cursed in righteous indignation.
On a meditation cushion behind the official desk, a blue-robed female cultivator sighed.
Far, far too many reports like this had piled up on her desk.
"The whole world has been thrown into chaos. Countless Trial Takers have poured in from outside, while our native cultivators have finally glimpsed the world beyond nascent soul. Each is more deranged than the last.
"Our strength is limited. All we can do is protect this little patch of land we call our own. Hopefully, we can hold out a little longer."
A profound sense of helplessness welled up in the girl as well.
Even her mother, who was in the nascent soul realm, said as much. What could she do when she was only in the foundation establishment realm?
She cherished the ideal of vanquishing demons and defending the righteous