"If the sect master hadn't risked his life to hold off the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage, none of us could have made it back alive. Now we don't know whether he's alive or dead."
"All right, I understand. Mark the route you took in and the route you took back on this jade slip." With that, Li Dalong tossed a blank jade slip to one of the elders.
"Yes, I'll mark them right away." The elder quickly marked their routes into and out of the Demon Beast Forest on the jade slip, then handed it to Li Dalong.
Li Dalong took the jade slip and memorized its contents with a sweep of his divine sense. Then he said to Yun Yao, "Sister-in-law, I'll go rescue my junior brother now. Just wait here in the sect."
"And you elders, reassure the disciples and prepare the sect's defenses. Activate the sect's grand array immediately. No one is allowed in or out. Everything else can wait until I return."
"Understood!" the elders answered in unison. A moment ago, they had been dragons without a head; now that someone had taken the lead, their hearts immediately settled.
Li Dalong paid them no further attention. With a stir of his divine sense and a flash of his figure, he appeared at the entrance to the Demon Beast Forest. He began scanning with his divine sense, and with its current strength, he soon discovered traces of the battle between Zhou Yong and the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage dozens of miles away.
With a surge of spiritual power, Li Dalong appeared at the edge of the Demon Beast Forest and began searching carefully with his divine sense. Suddenly, he detected a faint trace of life in a mountain dozens of miles from the forest's edge. Judging by the traces of power lingering at the scene, it had clearly been blasted open by someone's attack.
He hurried over and found Zhou Yong barely clinging to life in an enormous crater blasted into the mountain. By then, Zhou Yong had already fallen unconscious.
Every bone and meridian in his body had been shattered, showing just how devastating an attack he had suffered. Fortunately, Zhou Yong had swallowed quite a few pills to heal his injuries and replenish his spiritual power before losing consciousness. Otherwise, he could never have held on this long.
Judging by Zhou Yong's current condition, there was little hope of him waking on his own if no one found and treated him. Once the healing and Spiritual Power-replenishing pills he had taken before passing out were exhausted, death would be his only path.
After examining Zhou Yong's body and dantian, Li Dalong finally breathed a sigh of relief. His life was safe for the moment.
But he also felt furious. When he had been weak, his second junior brother had been killed. Now that his cultivation stood at the absolute pinnacle of the Cultivation World, his only remaining junior brother, the third, had nearly been killed as well.
And his beloved niece had been forced into Misty Canyon, her fate unknown. It seemed he needed to bare his fangs and flex his muscles now and then, or anyone would dare trample on him.
Everything else could wait until he brought his junior brother back to the sect. This time, he would settle the score with the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe properly.
With that thought, Li Dalong took a Supreme-Grade Healing Pill from the System Space and used his spiritual power to send it into Zhou Yong's mouth. Then he guided the spiritual power remaining within Zhou Yong along the circulation route of the Vast Righteous Qi Formula.
As he worked, he repaired several breaks in Zhou Yong's meridians. With Li Dalong's spiritual power entering his body, the Supreme-Grade Healing Pill began to take effect, and Zhou Yong's own spiritual power began to recover under Li Dalong's guidance.
Once Li Dalong felt that Zhou Yong's injuries had stabilized somewhat, he wrapped him in spiritual power and lifted him up, all while continuing to circulate spiritual power through his body, accelerating its recovery and repairing his damaged internal organs.
With Li Dalong's current cultivation, dividing his attention among several tasks was child's play.
Supporting Zhou Yong with spiritual power, Li Dalong rode the qi back toward the Righteous Qi Sect. Soon, he returned to the Righteous Qi Hall.
Yun Yao and the elders were all waiting in the Righteous Qi Hall for news of Zhou Yong. Everyone grew excited when they saw Li Dalong return with him.
But seeing Zhou Yong covered in wounds, his clothes torn, and the shocking streaks of dried, purplish-black blood on his body, with his eyes tightly shut and no sign of consciousness, filled them all with grief.
At the sight of Zhou Yong so badly injured, Yun Yao burst into frantic tears. She immediately rushed over, seized his hand, and anxiously asked Li Dalong, "Senior brother, how did A Yong get hurt so badly? Is he going to be all right?"
"A Yong, what's happened to you? Wake up!"
"Sister-in-law, my junior brother is gravely injured, but fortunately, I reached him in time. I've already stabilized his condition."
"I also gave him a healing pill just now, so his life is safe. But when I examined his body, I found that he had used the sect's forbidden technique to forcibly raise his cultivation. On top of that, he was wounded by a powerful enemy. He still needs time to recuperate."
"Don't worry. In a moment, I'll set up a large Spirit-Gathering Array and assign several elders who practice the Vast Righteous Qi Formula to take turns guiding his spiritual power with their own. Once he recovers enough to circulate his spiritual power himself, he'll be out of danger," Li Dalong told Yun Yao gently.
"Thank you, senior brother! That's wonderful. Ah, A Yong suffered such a terrible calamity, but at least his life was saved. Yet we still don't know whether my poor Xue’er is alive or dead!" As she spoke, Yun Yao began weeping sorrowfully again.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law! Once I've made the arrangements for my junior brother, I'll go back to the Demon Beast Forest to look for Xue’er."
"And as for the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe, they forced Xue’er to jump into Misty Canyon and gravely wounded my junior brother. I'll go back and teach them a proper lesson." As he said this, the fury in Li Dalong's heart began surging again.
With that, Li Dalong began setting up a Spirit-Gathering Array inside the Righteous Qi Hall. He soon finished, placed Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones into it, and activated the array. He also handed Yun Yao a Storage Ring filled with Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones.
Throughout Zhou Yong's recovery, the Spirit-Gathering Array would run entirely on Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones. He then assigned several trustworthy elders who practiced the Vast Righteous Qi Formula to stand watch in the hall, ensuring that Zhou Yong received an uninterrupted supply of spiritual power.
After leaving a few instructions, he vanished from the Righteous Qi Hall once more and appeared inside the Demon Beast Forest in the blink of an eye.
He did not look for Zhou Xue first. Knowing that she had fallen into Misty Canyon, he understood that a moment's haste would make no difference. His first task was to kill that damned Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage who had gravely wounded his junior brother, making an example of him to warn the others.
He would also slaughter that wastrel grandson of his. Unless he killed until blood flowed in rivers, how could he vent Zhou Xue's anger?
Meanwhile, in the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe's territory deep within the Demon Beast Forest, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage felt unsettled. He kept feeling as though something momentous was about to happen, and a bad premonition weighed on his heart.
After turning it over in his mind, he summoned the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord, whom he had always trusted greatly. The Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord's strength was second only to his own, and his loyalty made him the right person for the task.
"Purple East, I have a task for you. Go find Yan Zhan immediately and take him to the Ten Thousand Demons Hall. Neither of you is to return without my orders. Stay there and cultivate. Yan Zhan must not leave until he reaches Heavenly Demon Lord."
Before you continue