"Was someone setting up an altar to perform a ritual?"
When Zhou Wuji saw that mass of dark, obscure yet stable presence, his first reaction was that someone was performing a ritual.
Demon Beasts had murky, intense presences, ghosts had icy, vicious presences, and sinister entities had deep, unfathomable presences.
Only a human should have been capable of producing a presence so stable yet so well concealed.
Had his Six Yang Dharma Eye not reached proficiency, he would have had almost no chance of seeing this concealed presence.
When Wuzheng set up an altar and performed a ritual, he followed an open and upright path. His presence was powerful, carrying a majestic might that drove all evil away.
Both Buddhist and Daoist schools followed this approach.
The person performing a ritual on Red Leaf Ridge was clearly a member of a devil sect.
Zhou Wuji immediately thought of Fang Dashan, whom he had killed, and of the Yin Yang Dao.
Although the Yin Yang Dao was a heretical branch of the Outer Dao, its approach closely resembled that of the Daoist schools. Only the deities they worshipped were different, while their doctrines were worlds apart.
The distance was too great to see clearly. Zhou Wuji glanced at the many fates in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment and decided to take out three fates weighing close to two taels to upgrade his Six Yang Dharma Eye.
This low-level Law Technique was simply too useful at night.
Violet light descended, and in a daze, Zhou Wuji spent many more years cultivating within the book.
Only two or three breaths passed in reality before his Six Yang Dharma Eye leaped from proficiency to the transformation realm.
Seeing this, Zhou Wuji invested another two-tael fate, raising his Six Yang Dharma Eye to perfection.
At this point, Zhou Wuji thoroughly understood every profound principle of the Six Yang Dharma Eye and could wield this Law Technique seamlessly, entirely at will.
His left hand shifted through three hand seals as he silently recited the incantation, blessing himself anew with the Six Yang Dharma Eye in an instant.
The world before his eyes became a riot of colors. Zhou Wuji could see where the drifting strands of presence originated, where they went, and the properties contained within them.
That deep, obscure mass of presence also revealed its true appearance beneath the Six Yang Dharma Eye.
A stable human shape formed from black and white Qi was unleashing masses of emerald light. Like nets and curtains, this light completely concealed the figure.
That figure had to be someone from the Yin Yang Dao. The Yin-Yang True Qi they cultivated brought together opposing yin and yang, making it very easy to identify by its Qi.
Those masses of green light were probably some sort of Law Artifact.
Zhou Wuji estimated that they were roughly one or two li apart.
At such a distance, his perfected Six Yang Dharma Eye allowed him to distinguish presences and spirituality, and thus make accurate judgments.
Ultimately, it came down to how marvelous the perfected Six Yang Dharma Eye was.
This Law Technique was not of a high rank, but it was not that easy to cultivate either.
Nor would many people devote their efforts to painstakingly cultivating it. After all, it was only a support-type Law Technique.
Still less would anyone spend a lifetime painstakingly cultivating this Law Technique to perfection.
Zhou Wuji had not upgraded his Six Yang Dharma Eye before because he felt proficiency was already sufficient.
He had never expected the perfected Six Yang Dharma Eye to be so useful.
Looking over his various Law Techniques, he saw that only the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation remained at proficiency.
Zhou Wuji had always felt this thing was of little use. With his major-attainment Swordsmanship and the Seven Star Sword in hand, he could naturally unite his mind with his sword, which was enough to resist incursions from external devils.
However, from afar, he could see that the other party possessed a formidable Law Artifact. It was probably a Yin-Yang Banner specifically used to command numerous resentful spirits and Vengeful Ghosts.
Such resentful spirits and Vengeful Ghosts targeted people's minds and consciousness, so the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation would be useful.
For the coming battle, Zhou Wuji felt he should improve his Law Techniques as much as possible. Even if it proved useless, he would only lose a few strands of Origin Profound Spirit.
With that thought, Zhou Wuji invested three strands of Origin Profound Spirit, raising the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation to major attainment.
Raising it further to perfection would be too difficult, requiring a fate weighing more than two taels.
Zhou Wuji felt this was enough and only then blessed himself with the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation.
Through his Six Yang Dharma Eye, he saw the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation become a faint halo that merged into his body, forming a complete barrier of Law Power that enveloped his body and mind.
At the same time, the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation also put the flows of Qi inside and outside his body in order.
It felt like drinking a glass of ice-cold, vigorously fizzy cola on a hot day. His whole being instantly felt refreshed and unimpeded.
With his profound understanding of these Law Techniques, Zhou Wuji naturally knew how long the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation and Six Yang Dharma Eye would last, how much Law Power they would consume, and what other variations they could produce.
Only after making his preparations did Zhou Wuji head toward Red Leaf Ridge.
Bees would not leave their hive at night unless attacked. Golden-Ringed Poison Bees were no different.
Precisely because of this trait of the Golden-Ringed Poison Bees, a nighttime sneak attack with the Five Yin Pouch would be enough to carry off an entire hive of poison bees.
The Five Yin Pouch could not hold living beings because it was itself formed from a Yin Spirit, and its presence clashed with that of living creatures. It was not actually incapable of taking them in.
Zhou Wuji knew this trait of the Golden-Ringed Poison Bees and had calculated that the Five Yin Pouch was their perfect counter. Only then had he gone to trouble a few monsters first.
Now, however, he would have to deal with the fiends of the Yin Yang Dao first.
The lowliest followers of the Yin Yang Dao were pitiable and wretched, but every single cultivator who held a position in the Yin Yang Dao deserved to die.
This was formally written into imperial law: devil sects such as the Yin Yang Dao, Myriad Devils Sect, Heavenly Ghost Sect, and Corpse God Sect falsely invoked gods and ghosts, incited and deluded the ignorant populace, undermined the moral order, and offered illicit sacrifices to demons. All followers of devil sects were to be beheaded according to law, without pardon even under an amnesty.
As long as someone was proven to be a follower of a devil sect, they would be beheaded, whether they held a position or not.
When the imperial court first established these harsh laws, they had indeed dealt the devil sects a severe blow.
But now demons ran rampant, while powerful local clans preyed upon the countryside at will. To survive, the common people at the bottom could only desperately band together, creating fertile soil for devil sects to spread.
Whatever their reasons, once followers entered a devil sect, they would be enslaved by it, and the price they paid was often even greater.
Yet there were always people who wanted to take a gamble, always people who wanted to try a different way of living.
Having traveled far and wide with his master, Zhou Wuji knew something of these circumstances.
Ordinary followers could only be called ignorant and unenlightened, but every last member of the Yin Yang Dao was rotten.
Devil sects were called devil sects for a reason. Their various rites were all exceedingly bloody and bizarre.
Once someone entered a devil sect, they either became a bad person, became a corpse, or became bad and then died. There was no fourth path.
He had casually killed those two Yin Yang Dao martial artists not only because he had seen them kill people, but because he knew he could kill every one of their kind he encountered without ever killing the wrong person.
That band of Yin Yang Dao devils on Lingming Peak certainly had close ties to this group on Red Leaf Ridge.
Observing their Qi from afar with his Six Yang Dharma Eye, Zhou Wuji judged by feel that the devil presiding over the altar was only seventh rank.
The Cloud Dragon Lower Court received imperial support and instruction from its parent court with its thousand-year heritage, and also had deep roots among the populace. Only this allowed it to train so many Daoist priests who had undergone Seventh-Rank Register Reception.
For a devil sect like the Yin Yang Dao that could not show itself in the light, nurturing a seventh-rank expert was no easy task.
Fortunately, the Yin Yang Dao primarily cultivated Daoist arts. Its members excelled at Law Techniques and Divine Abilities and would not be very strong in martial arts.
Zhou Wuji was fairly confident of this. If the Yin Yang Dao's Devil Cultivators possessed the strength of Seventh-Rank Martial Artists, they would have slaughtered their way through Siming County long ago. Why would they remain so restrained?
Only his master could be both a seventh-rank Daoist priest and a Seventh-Rank Martial Artist. His master did not step forward because possessing a divine artifact imposed all manner of restrictions on him.
Besides, if the other party truly possessed the strength of a Seventh-Rank Martial Artist, his Qi and Blood would blaze like a lamp. A single glance through the Six Yang Dharma Eye would reveal it.
Locking onto the other party's position, Zhou Wuji carefully threaded through the mountain woods, rapidly approaching.
When he was a few dozen paces away, Zhou Wuji saw the Yin Yang Dao group.
The leading Devil Cultivator wore a Black and White Lotus Mask and a black-and-white Yin-Yang Dharma Robe, his hair hanging loose. His appearance alone carried an air of madness and sinister strangeness.
Most striking was a long banner planted atop the altar, black on one side and white on the other. It was probably the Yin Yang Dao's famous Law Artifact, the Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner...
Beside the altar stood a rather seductively beautiful woman, also dressed in a black-and-white dharma robe. The presence she gave off was far inferior, probably barely at the Qi Consumption level. There was also an attendant wearing a long black-and-white robe.
Everyone else wore coarse short garments and straw sandals. Their skin was dark and rough; one look revealed them to be common laborers accustomed to working year-round.
There were more than twenty of them, however, holding long wooden poles with pouches sewn from coarse cloth tied to one end. These appeared to be tools for catching Golden-Ringed Poison Bees.
Some coarse earthenware jars also stood nearby, all sealed with wax. Did they contain honey?
The other party had rather too many people. Zhou Wuji was not afraid, but he did not want to fight these lowly followers.
Once fighting broke out, there would be no holding back. He was flesh and blood, after all, and a spear thrust could kill him too.
Zhou Wuji decided to wait and see whether a suitable opportunity to strike arose.
Standing on the altar piled from earth and stones, Fang Jing had no idea someone was watching from nearby.
He was looking into the depths of the woods, where he had sent two followers.
Before long, frightened cries rang out from within, and the two followers came running toward them with torches in hand.
Behind the two followers, a swarm of Golden-Ringed Poison Bees surged toward them like masses of black mist.
The buzzing of the Golden-Ringed Poison Bees was piercing. The surrounding followers all hunched over with their necks drawn in, looking extraordinarily tense.
Fang Jing, however, paid it no mind. Gripping the Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner beside him, he shook it, releasing the various Vengeful Ghosts and Sha Ghosts hidden within. They became gusts of Yin Wind that lunged straight at the Golden-Ringed Poison Bees.
Hidden nearby, Zhou Wuji's eyes immediately lit up. Now was the perfect opportunity to strike!
The wisdom and experience of his previous life told him that all was fair in war. Victory was the only objective; the means never mattered...