The so-called council hall belonging to Cui Pinyuan was merely a somewhat spacious room that kept the rain out, with only a few tables and chairs inside.
Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui, who had come from Heavenly Shield City, had not dispersed after Ruan Meizhen left. They were still discussing how to resist the demon spirits' invasion with Cui Pinyuan.
"If they're only first- or second-rank demon spirits, there's nothing to fear. The question is whether there are any Third-Rank Demon Spirits."
The tall, powerfully built Qin Hui spoke in a deep voice.
He had not sat down, but remained standing like a mountain, like a wall erected inside the hall.
Over the past few years, he and Shen Yanrong had led the City Guard Army in maintaining order in Heavenly Shield City. They had also dealt with Low-Rank Demon Spirits that occasionally slipped through the "world membrane" on multiple occasions.
His Primordial Spirit Realm cultivation allowed him to see the demon spirits' movements clearly. With his advantage in cultivation realm, destroying first- and second-rank demon spirits was not difficult.
As for third-rank demon spirits, he had yet to encounter one.
"Senior Teng ordered the sect's disciples to gather in Tamu Town, yet cannot spare himself to come here. Something must have gone wrong at the 'world membrane.'"
"Qin Hui, prepare to face third-rank demon spirits."
Shen Yanrong was slender, her eyes seemingly wreathed in a faint, cold mist that gave her a distant, unapproachable air.
Frowning, she continued, "We'll hold out for a while. Once Senior Teng finishes handling matters within the 'world membrane' and arrives, Tamu Town's crisis will unravel like bamboo beneath a blade."
There were spirit mines around Heavenly Shield City. Apart from the tribute paid to the Demon Kingdom, a portion of the spirit stones produced each year also had to go to the Crippled Demon Sect.
The Crippled Demon Sect likewise had first pick of Heavenly Shield City's children with cultivation talent. Those it selected were taken to the sect and became its Named Disciples.
Beyond that, Heavenly Shield City also had to offer the Crippled Demon Sect a share of its various metals, plants, and grains related to cultivation.
Although Heavenly Shield City—or rather, the entire Demon Kingdom—nominally possessed autonomy, it actually existed to serve those Demon Dao Great Sects.
The Demon Dao Great Sects were pure war machines, while the various demon kingdoms handled logistics and supplied an endless stream of personnel, serving as their solid backing.
For that reason, whenever demon spirit contamination occurred, the disciples of the Demon Sects were duty-bound to act.
Over thousands of years, countless demonic cultivators had died resisting the alien beings of the Unordered Zone. Everything they did was to ensure the Lingyao Realm was not completely contaminated.
Although Demon Dao Great Sects such as the Primal Demon Temple, the Crippled Demon Sect, and the Ghost-Controlling Sect took the vast majority of the Demon Kingdom's cultivation resources, they did not resent it.
After all, their own eventual destination was to join one of those Demon Dao Great Sects and become part of it.
The reason they currently remained in Heavenly Shield City as the two leaders of the City Guard Army was that their families understood how bloody and brutal life was for the lowest-ranking disciples of the Demon Dao Great Sects.
None of the Demon Dao Great Sects nurtured their lowest-ranking disciples. They screened them.
They provided Demonic Cultivation Arts and distributed spirit stones, requiring no additional labor. The disciples needed only to focus on cultivating those arts and fight their way out of the brutal competition.
The Demon Dao Great Sects were not nurturing talent. They were selecting powerful monsters.
Then they made those monsters continue fighting, forging exceptional beings capable of confronting the alien beings of the Unordered Zone head-on.
This was also the road every cultivator at the pinnacle of the demonic path had to walk.
Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui came from great lineages in the Beichen Demon Kingdom. They had not yet entered a Demon Dao Great Sect to cultivate purely because their families hoped they could avoid the most brutal struggles among the lowest ranks as much as possible.
But their destination was already decided. One day in the near future, they would inevitably join a great sect and still have to fight the lunatics and madmen of their own realm.
"Oh, Miss Ruan, why have you...?"
Seeing Ruan Meizhen return, Cui Pinyuan rose in surprise, then immediately noticed Chen Jian.
"This is Chen Jian of the Ghost-Controlling Sect, a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator. He's here to help us resist the demon spirits."
Ruan Meizhen revealed Chen Jian's identity straightaway, leaving him no room to hide, then said, "My junior brother Zhao Changfeng has discovered something, and it concerns Tamu Town's very survival!"
She gave a concise account of what had happened.
The four powerful Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators reacted with differing expressions.
"You're saying that junior brother of yours originally came from the Lingxiao Sect?"
"After the Lingxiao Sect was wiped out, he revealed the whereabouts of the 'Soul-Pacifying Bead' on Senior Teng's Demon Mountain, then killed his junior brothers and sisters before Senior Teng accepted him as a disciple?"
Cui Pinyuan wore a strange expression.
Shen Yanrong's delicate, oval face filled with the same contempt Ruan Meizhen had initially shown. "You actually believe someone like that?" she said coldly. "I think he's simply afraid his master and his master's wife will come after him for revenge, so he's deliberately splashing filth on them and slandering them. He's a despicable scoundrel through and through!"
Qin Hui frowned and sighed. "I never imagined a so-called righteous disciple could sink so low."
Chen Jian remained silent.
Inside the stone house with its windows tightly shut.
Zhao Changfeng had refined one "Iron-Armored Sand Worm."
His sea of spiritual qi had filled considerably. Strangely, a fair amount of deep-red qi and blood had also accumulated in the qi-blood sea within his middle dantian.
I should have started cultivating Demonic Cultivation Arts long ago. Thank you, Senior Sister Ruan, for making such a good decision for me!
Under normal circumstances, he should first have filled the sea of spiritual qi in his lower dantian. Only once spiritual power covered that sea would he draw his own qi and blood into his qi-blood sea.
The "Essence-Devouring Demon Art" had given him a shortcut.
First-rank spirit beasts already contained extraordinary qi and blood. Through the gathering and refinement of the "Essence-Devouring Demon Art," the power in the spirit beast's blood flowed into the sea of spiritual qi in his lower dantian.
Meanwhile, the qi and blood contained in the spirit beast's flesh, bones, and sinews were absorbed as well, becoming a source of qi and blood for his middle dantian.
If I'd entered the Yuanqi Stage earlier, I could have refined even the power in the flesh, bones, and sinews of those first-rank spirit beasts Ruan Meizhen captured and my senior brothers gave me into my middle dantian.
"What a waste!"
Zhao Changfeng sighed.
Drained completely dry, the "Iron-Armored Sand Worm" now looked as though it had been left to dry in the wind for years. Only its iron-armored hide remained, while the organs and flesh inside had turned to residue.
Deep within the qi-blood sea in Zhao Changfeng's middle dantian, a small pool had formed. Its deep-red qi and blood seemed to await his command.
"No rush. Next one."
He was about to press on and refine another spirit beast in one sustained effort when Ruan Meizhen returned with an unhappy expression.
"You betrayed your sect and murdered your junior brothers and sisters. Everyone despises you, so no one believes what you said."
Ruan Meizhen was frustrated too.
She had exhausted herself trying to persuade them, but Zhao Changfeng's record was so stained and his deeds so contemptible that no one would believe her.
Zhao Changfeng's gaze chilled. "I only revealed it for the sake of Tamu Town's survival! Do they really think I'm acting entirely out of selfish motives?"
Ruan Meizhen gave him a sidelong look without speaking, her meaning clear: What else?
"I do have some selfish motives, but that's not all!"
Zhao Changfeng lowered his head slightly and continued with a little less conviction, "Those two must have another scheme. I'm definitely not their real target! Every extra day they remain in Tamu Town-no, every extra hour-puts the town in greater danger!"
Ruan Meizhen could do nothing either. She was preparing to sit cross-legged on the bed again and restore her strength with venom. "I tried, anyway. If they won't believe me, there's nothing I can do."
Even she only half believed Zhao Changfeng's claim, so she did not intend to make another effort.
Creak!
Someone suddenly pushed the wooden door gently open.
Chen Jian stepped inside uninvited, then closed the door behind him. "Let's discuss business," he said flatly.
At the sight of him entering, both Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen had already readied themselves for battle, as though facing a formidable enemy.
"What business?"
Remaining on guard, Ruan Meizhen said with some unease, "This is Tamu Town. You're a Formal Disciple of the Ghost-Controlling Sect, Chen Jian. Would you dare kill us here?!"
Zhao Changfeng had just glared at Ruan Meizhen, but hearing that, he realized she had not brought Chen Jian here.
"You two are coming with me. We're going to see that couple."
Chen Jian had an icy demeanor, but had always acted with extreme caution. Now, abandoning his previous timid approach, he declared decisively, "Right now."
Zhao Changfeng froze. "You believe me?"
Expressionless, Chen Jian answered in his usual indifferent tone, "Whether it's true or false, we'll know once we test it."
Light flickered repeatedly in Ruan Meizhen's beautiful eyes. Quickly regaining her composure, she asked, "Just what cultivation realm are you in? You're not bringing Cui Pinyuan and the other two? How do you dare?"
Song Zejun and his wife were in the Three Calamities Realm!
"If what young Zhao said is true, and those two are plotting something in Tamu Town, planning to coordinate with the demon spirits from within... they must be extremely weak right now."
Chen Jian curled his lip. "Two powerful Three Calamities Realm cultivators, even at the early stage, could slaughter everyone in Tamu Town if they were at full strength! Why would they need to scheme?"
At those words, Zhao Changfeng silently nodded.
"Once I attack, if even a trace of demon spirit aura leaks from them, would Cui Pinyuan and the others dare not come?"
Chen Jian continued.
Zhao Changfeng nodded again.
"If they aren't involved with the demon spirits, then as a member of the Ghost-Controlling Sect, hunting down members of the righteous Lingxiao Sect is still a matter of duty."
Having stated his righteous grounds, Chen Jian said, "I don't know either of them, and I don't know where they're hiding. You two are coming with me."
This time, Zhao Changfeng did not nod. "I can just tell you where they are," he said bitterly. "There's no need for me to go with you."
Ruan Meizhen also recognized Chen Jian's sinister intentions. He likely wanted to kill with a borrowed blade, using Song Zejun and his wife during the battle to dispose of the two people who had exposed his Ghost-Controlling Sect identity.
"Our cultivation realms are low. I'm afraid we wouldn't be much help, so..."
Ruan Meizhen tried to evade him too.
"I'm willing to take the risk, and you two dare refuse to go?!"
A trace of anger finally appeared in Chen Jian's eyes. He would never allow himself to do the work while others hid in the shadows. "If you two won't go, then let everyone in Tamu Town die. Even if they're all wiped out, I, Chen Jian, will still have a chance of surviving the demon spirit tide!"
Cui Pinyuan and the others refused to believe the claim or test it because they thought Zhao Changfeng was trying to kill with a borrowed blade.
Chen Jian, who had always avoided trouble, had come to act because if Zhao Changfeng's words were true, failing to deal with Song Zejun and his wife as soon as possible would lead to a heaven-shaking catastrophe later.
Chen Jian could clearly weigh the stakes between the two choices. When decisiveness was required, he would be decisive.
Zhao Changfeng drew a deep breath. "Fine. I'll go with you!"