Just as Zhou Yong stepped out of the Demon Beast Forest, a sharp crack rang out. The Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's Demon Blade severed his left arm at the shoulder. At the same time, the tremendous force sent Zhou Yong flying dozens of li before blasting him into a mountain. The thunderous impact echoed across fifty li, leaving an enormous crater in the mountainside.
After the impact drove Zhou Yong into the mountain, his bones were shattered from head to toe. Not one part of his body remained unscathed; he was all but falling apart. Once the tremors subsided, he used his last trace of spiritual power to retrieve a few pills for healing and replenishing spiritual power and put them into his mouth. Before he could absorb them, he passed out.
The Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage watched Zhou Yong leave the Demon Beast Forest and get blasted into the mountain, uncertain whether he was alive or dead. By then, Zhou Yong had lost consciousness from his grievous injuries, and his pulse and heartbeat were extremely faint. Combined with the explosion and fluctuations of spiritual power from the impact, this prevented the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's divine sense from detecting his feeble aura. He assumed Zhou Yong was dead.
In ancient times, the Demon Race, Devil Race, and Human Race of the Cultivation World had made an agreement: Demon Sages of the Demon Race and Devil Race were not to leave the Demon Beast Forest and enter the human heartlands without good cause, while human cultivators at the Mahayana Realm or above were not to venture into the depths of the Demon Beast Forest without good cause. Anyone who violated the agreement would be attacked from all sides. Thus, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage did not check on Zhou Yong again and returned to the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe's encampment with Flame Tiger. For the time being, Zhou Yong's life had been spared.
Inside the Righteous Qi Sect, the elders who had escaped back immediately reported how the sect master had fallen into danger to his wife, Yun Yao. When Yun Yao heard that Zhou Yong had encountered such a powerful enemy, fright left her unable to stand steadily, and for a moment, her mind was thrown into chaos. What should I do? My husband has the highest cultivation in the Righteous Qi Sect. The other elders aren't even as strong as he is. How can they rescue him? She still did not know that her daughter had fallen into Misty Canyon, her fate unknown. Had she known, she might have been frightened to death.
Just as she was at a loss, she suddenly thought of her husband's senior brother. That's right! I must find his senior brother at once. His cultivation must be higher than my husband's. Li Dalong had always kept a low profile, and Zhou Yong seldom spoke to Yun Yao about him. He had never told her how high his senior brother's cultivation was. In truth, he did not know himself.
Once she thought of asking his senior brother, Li Dalong, for help, Yun Yao immediately flew toward the Forbidden Grounds of the Rear Mountain. At this point, she could no longer concern herself with the sect's prohibition. Meanwhile, everyone in the Righteous Qi Sect had learned from the returning elders that the sect master had fallen into danger while covering their retreat. Their passions surged, and they all clamored to rescue him.
Seeing the chaotic scene, Tang Mingxuan, the master of the Pill Hall, stepped forward and brought the disciples and elders under control. He waited for the sect master's wife to make arrangements and sent people to find the sect master's son, Zhou Tianlong.
Inside the Forbidden Grounds of the Rear Mountain, Li Dalong and Zhou Tianlong were cultivating within the Spirit-Gathering Array. Just then, Yun Yao arrived outside the Forbidden Grounds and cried urgently through her divine sense, "Senior Brother, help!"
"Senior Brother, come out quickly! Something has happened to A Yong!"
Upon hearing Yun Yao's divine sense transmission, Li Dalong immediately stopped cultivating and switched off the Spirit-Gathering Array with a casual motion. In a flash, he appeared before her.
"What happened? What happened to Junior Brother?" Li Dalong asked in bewilderment, looking at Yun Yao's tear-streaked face, like pear blossoms drenched in rain.
"Senior Brother, A Yong went out with several elders on sect business and encountered a powerful enemy. To cover the elders' retreat to the sect, he stayed behind alone. He still hasn't returned."
"Senior Brother, please save A Yong!"
"Senior Brother, only you can save him now. Please, I beg you, save him!"
Yun Yao spoke through her tears. After finishing, she made to kneel.
Li Dalong released a strand of spiritual power to stop Yun Yao from kneeling. "Don't panic yet. Tell me what happened first."
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
"I only learned about it just now, from the elders who returned. A Yong went out with several elders on sect business, then stayed behind alone to protect them."
"All right, I understand the general situation. Let's find those elders and ask where they last parted ways with Junior Brother. We can decide what to do then."
"Yes, Senior Brother. I'll take you to the elders. They're all in the Righteous Qi Hall now. Let's go there," Yun Yao hurriedly told Li Dalong.
Once Li Dalong learned that the elders were in the Righteous Qi Hall, he enveloped Yun Yao in spiritual power and teleported straight there.
Inside the Righteous Qi Hall, all the elders currently at the sect had gathered and were discussing how to rescue the sect master. Some advocated seeking outside help, while others wanted the entire sect to pour out in full force to save him. Still others proposed having Zhou Tianlong take over as sect master first, then seeking outside help.
As their argument raged on, a young man suddenly appeared in the hall, with the sect master's wife standing beside him. By now, Yun Yao had calmed down, and her complexion looked much better. She pointed to the elders who had escaped and told Li Dalong, "Senior Brother, these are the elders who went out with A Yong."
"This is A Yong's senior brother. Tell him what happened," Yun Yao said to the elders.
Their attention had been scattered at first, but when they heard the sect master's wife introduce him as the sect master's senior brother, they took a closer look. "Huh? Isn't he the cripple imprisoned on the Back Mountain? How did he get out?"
"Wasn't Li Dalong's cultivation destroyed? How has he regained it?"
Li Dalong ignored the elders' astonishment and chatter. He released the slightest hint of his aura, and the hall instantly fell as silent as a flock of crows struck dumb. With his current Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivation, even a trace of his aura could rob every elder of the will to resist. Besides, the strongest among them was only at the middle stage of Spirit Transformation.
"Tell me exactly what happened. Start from the beginning," Li Dalong said to those elders.
"A few days ago, the sect master's daughter, Miss Zhou Xue, went to the Demon Beast Forest with several disciples to gain experience. They encountered Yan Zhan, the young master of the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe, who harassed them and hunted them down. To protect the disciples, Miss Zhou Xue drew the pursuers away alone, then fell into the perilous Misty Canyon."
"What? Xue’er is missing too? How am I supposed to go on living? My Xue’er!" When Yun Yao heard that everything had begun with Xue’er being hunted down and disappearing, and that her husband had met with disaster while trying to rescue her, she burst into furious sobs.
"Keep talking! Time is of the essence," Li Dalong ordered the elders, paying no attention to Yun Yao.
"Of the disciples who went out to gain experience, only two escaped back in the end. After receiving their report, the sect master personally took us elders out to rescue her."
"At first, we couldn't find Miss Zhou Xue in the Demon Beast Forest. Later, we happened to capture Yan Zhan, the young master of the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe. Only then did we learn that Miss Zhou Xue had been driven into a corner and jumped into Misty Canyon herself."
"Just as the sect master was about to go down to look for her, the Flame Emperor Demon Sage, chief of the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe, arrived. To protect us, the sect master fought the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage alone."
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