Ling Ziling stroked her Jade Radiance Sword, reminiscence showing in her eyes.
[Age 67: You successfully break through to Nascent Soul and venture out again to temper yourself, slaying two holy sons and one holy maiden of the demonic sects! A demonic sect elder hunts you down!] [Age 69: You accidentally enter the cave abode of a Void Profound rogue cultivator, obtain a Void Profound inheritance, and turn the tables to kill the demonic sect elder!] [Age 120: You break through to the Nascent Soul Late Stage. The Immortal Alliance issues a summons!] [Age 121: You become the sect master of the Azure Feather Dao Sect. The Dao Sect's cultivators at Spirit Transformation and above depart through the air, and the struggle between the righteous and demonic paths eases.] [Age 148: Through your tireless diligence, the Dao Sect grows stronger by the day, and your cultivation breaks through to the Nascent Soul Peak Stage. News arrives from the Immortal Alliance: every cultivator conscripted from the Southern Region has died in battle! You sit motionless on Azure Feather Peak for three days, entrust the sect's internal affairs to the grand elder, and enter seclusion to seek a breakthrough.]
"Father, senior brother, senior sister."
Ling Ziling's eyes reddened slightly, her heart twisting as though beneath a knife. At 148, all her loved ones had died.
[Age 158: You finally break through to Spirit Transformation. In the same year, the grand elder also breaks through to Spirit Transformation.] [Age 160: You finish consolidating your cultivation.]
Ling Ziling's gaze sharpened. Everything before this had already happened in her memories. From now on, everything was unknown.
[Age 161: The Immortal Alliance grants the Southern Region an opportunity to enter the Spirit Medicine Realm. Only Qi Refinement disciples can enter. The Southern Region's new generation of heaven's chosen gathers in the Spirit Medicine Realm to compete!] [Age 162: The Dao Sect's heaven's chosen shine brilliantly in the Spirit Medicine Realm, slaying countless demonic sect disciples. Unexpectedly, an unidentified force attacks them on their return journey, and only a handful of disciples escape with their lives! Strangely, the seventh elder dies to the Black Tiger Fist. You investigate but find nothing and can only let the matter drop. Conflict between the righteous and demonic paths intensifies.]
"The demonic sects!"
Killing intent surged in Ling Ziling's eyes. She did not even need to think to know this was the demonic sects' handiwork.
"One more year. Demonic sects, just you wait!"
[Age 165: At the Dao Sect's grand competition, two Foundation Establishment disciples (Ye Tian and Lin Wan'er) perform exceptionally well, and you take them as your disciples.] [Age 180: Friction between the righteous and demonic factions grows increasingly fierce. The disciples' training journeys are steeped in bloodshed.] [Age 230: Ye Tian slays the only son of a demonic sect's sect master, raising the curtain on a great war between the righteous and demonic paths.] [Age 235: You break through to the Spirit Transformation Middle Stage. The grand elder dies in battle, yet it is Azure Feather Swordsmanship that kills him. Your investigation yields no results.]
"There's a traitor in the Dao Sect!"
Ling Ziling narrowed her eyes. Both the seventh elder and the grand elder had died to the Dao Sect's cultivation methods. Clearly, there was a traitor within the Dao Sect, and their standing was not low.
[Age 260: The Blood Demon Sect's sect master breaks through to the Spirit Transformation Late Stage. The righteous faction suffers a crushing defeat, and the demonic sects storm Azure Feather Peak. You resist with your life on the line, but to no avail. The Dao Sect is destroyed. As you lie dying, you see a bolt of thunder racing over from the horizon. Then a streak of sword light shoots out from the lightning, slaying every demonic sect disciple in the Dao Sect! You recognize it as Azure Feather Swordsmanship!] [Age 260: You die. The Azure Feather Dao Sect is destroyed!]
Seeing the Dao Sect wiped out, Ling Ziling turned deathly pale.
To Ling Ziling, the Azure Feather Dao Sect mattered more than her own life. Her father's legacy was here, along with all her beautiful memories.
"The Dao Sect has only a hundred years of fortune left. No wonder it gains only a hundred fortune points each day. So the Dao Sect only has a hundred years of fortune."
Ling Ziling murmured, feeling utterly miserable, but the thought of her simulator soon rallied her spirits.
Looking at the simulator before her, her heart swelled with soaring ambition. A hundred years was enough for her to find a way out of this deadlock.
"There's something suspicious about the deaths of the seventh elder and the grand elder. That final streak of sword light used Azure Feather Swordsmanship. Could a powerful senior still be hidden within the sect? Or was it a senior who joined the Immortal Alliance?"
Ling Ziling's gaze grew deep.
"There are still twenty-nine days until the next simulation. During that time, I'll comb through the entire Dao Sect first and see whether any seniors are hidden here."
Ling Ziling turned to look toward the mountain behind the sect, her expression calm.
"What incredible cultivation speed!"
Ye Xuan opened his eyes. After a night of cultivation, he had already broken through to the Qi Refining Third Layer.
The cultivation speed brought by the Chaos Dao Scripture was unparalleled. Even though he still had a five elements defective spirit root, his cultivation speed already far surpassed those with supreme-grade spirit roots.
"Where should I check in today? A menial disciple can't enter the inner sect. Even most of the outer sect's peaks are off-limits without a mission. I already visited the outer sect's scripture pavilion yesterday. Where else can I go today?"
After turning it over in his mind, Ye Xuan discovered that, as a menial disciple, there really were not many places in the outer sect he could visit.
"I'll try my luck at the Mission Hall and see if I can take a mission that lets me enter one of the outer sect's peaks. If all else fails, I'll just check in at the Mission Hall."
Ye Xuan rose and headed outside. His cultivation had been low before, so he could only scramble for the simplest missions. Now that his cultivation was higher, he could take more missions.
Meanwhile, a flying sword descended outside Wang Liang's house.
"Wang Liang, come out!"
The newcomer was precisely the Senior Brother Xu whom Wang Liang had mentioned: Xu Li, an outer disciple.
The Spirit Stones should have been handed over yesterday. Xu Li had waited an entire day without Wang Liang showing up, which made him very angry.
Only a small portion of the Spirit Stones Wang Liang handed over ultimately ended up in his pocket. Most had to be passed on to Senior Brother Hu. He had heard that Senior Brother Hu was preparing to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill and achieve Foundation Establishment. After that, Senior Brother Hu would be an inner disciple.
If he failed to hand over enough Spirit Stones and caused Senior Brother Hu's purchase of the Foundation Establishment Pill to fall through, he would probably be left with more trouble than he could swallow.
Bang!
Xu Li kicked the door open and searched the room. He found neither any trace of Wang Liang nor any Spirit Stones, making his expression turn extremely ugly.
"He didn't run off with the Spirit Stones, did he?"
The Azure Feather Dao Sect's outer sect was enormous, and its menial disciples were as numerous as hairs on an ox. If Wang Liang was determined to hide, outer disciples like them would never be able to find him.
"Excuse me, are you Senior Brother Xu?"
Just then, a woman approached and asked Xu Li, hope in her eyes.
"That's right! Do you know where Wang Liang went?"
Xu Li looked at the newcomer and asked urgently.
"I'm Ma Mei, Brother Liang's dao companion. Although I don't know where Brother Liang went, I know someone who definitely does."
Hatred blazed in Ma Mei's eyes as she spoke through gritted teeth.
"Last month, when Brother Liang was collecting Spirit Stones, a menial disciple led the resistance, and Brother Liang taught him a lesson. The day before yesterday, Brother Liang said he would start with that menial disciple when collecting Spirit Stones this time."
"Yesterday, Brother Liang went out early in the morning to collect Spirit Stones, but he still hadn't returned by the afternoon. I asked around, and everyone said they hadn't seen him. I went to find that menial disciple, and he also said he hadn't seen Brother Liang, but I knew he was lying."
"He must have hated Brother Liang for injuring him and killed him after breaking through in cultivation!"
"Who is he?"
Xu Li had given Wang Liang pointers several times before and did not quite believe that a menial disciple could have killed him. But with no other leads, he could only seek any doctor in his desperation.
"Ye Xuan!"