The Altar Master's expression was solemn.
Eventually, he sighed and shook his head, saying, "The three great sects have dominated the cultivation resources of Zhao Country for over a thousand years, and they possess the authentic teachings of their lineage."
"I believe that boy didn't kill the Green Python King solely by relying on his own strength. It's likely that the three great sects granted them powerful treasures specifically for this attack on our Demon Sect outpost. Otherwise, there's no way a mere first-layer Foundation Establishment disciple could have killed our Green Python King!"
Upon hearing this, the members of the Demon Sect all looked gloomy.
However, the Altar Master continued, "But there's no need for everyone to lose heart!"
"The Holy Lord has been planning for over a thousand years to lead us back to glory!"
"For a millennium, the Holy Lord's strategy has caused those self-proclaimed righteous sects—the seven great orthodox sects—to fracture into three great sects and four major sects, and now they are even on the brink of war with each other!"
"As long as we hold on, once the Holy Lord's grand plan succeeds, and the seven great orthodox sects go to war, our Holy Sect will be able to reap the benefits!"
"Right now, we outnumber them! They only have twelve people."
"Do you really think we have any reason to fear just twelve people with all our numbers?!"
The Altar Master's tone was full of encouragement!
At the same time, traces of demonic energy followed his words, spreading among the crowd.
Under the influence of the demonic energy, the Demon Sect members began to shout passionately, "We're not afraid! We're not afraid! We fear nothing!"
"Hahaha! Excellent!"
The Altar Master laughed heartily and said, "However, to minimize unnecessary casualties, we will use strategy in this battle, not brute force!"
"Everyone, listen carefully to the ambush plan!"
…
Half an hour later.
"Cough, cough!"
"What is that awful smell?"
The twelve members of Lin Li's group had been advancing cautiously through the forest for several miles.
At this moment, a disciple from Tianjue Mountain covered his nose, frowning as he complained.
Lin Li, too, felt nauseous.
A foul stench filled the air, like the combination of rotting corpses, animal excrement, and decaying vegetation. It was so strong that everyone felt deeply uncomfortable!
"Shh~"
The captain of Tianjue Mountain raised his right index finger to his lips and whispered, "Don't make a sound!"
At the same time, he pointed ahead with his left hand and spoke quietly, "We've reached the outskirts of the Demon Sect outpost. Be careful not to alert the enemy."
Ahead of them stood a massive wooden barricade, over ten meters tall!
The barricade was covered in moss, and the ground beneath it was damp and black with mud.
Centipedes, cockroaches, and various other insects crawled around the base of the barricade.
You could see centipedes hunting cockroaches, while toads ambushed centipedes—scenes like this were happening continuously around the barricade.
Beyond the barricade, about thirty meters away, stood a lookout tower that rose over twenty or thirty meters into the air.
On the tower, disciples dressed in blue-green or black robes scanned the surroundings.
At that moment, the group remained hidden in the shadows of the forest, so the disciples on the lookout tower did not notice them.
The nauseating stench came from a combination of the moss on the barricade, the ground's swarming insects, rotting human skulls, and further within, the animal excrement from the caged demonic beasts on the second floor of the wooden building...
Perhaps the Demon Sect disciples had grown accustomed to the smell, but for Lin Li and the others, the stench was unbearable, making them feel sick to their stomachs. The sheer foulness, worse than the worst latrine, was enough to impair their combat effectiveness—it would be hard to fight when every breath brought in this repulsive stench, akin to a toxic miasma!
"What do we do now?"
A disciple from Zhengmiao Sect asked his captain curiously.
The Zhengmiao Sect captain shook his head without answering and looked toward the other two captains.
At that moment, Wei Heng, the captain of the Xuantian Sect Sword Faction, spoke up: "Our main objective in this ambush on the Demon Sect outpost isn't to kill their disciples."
"Exactly."
The Tianjue Mountain captain nodded in agreement, "We are too few, and they are too many. If we waste our spiritual energy on unnecessary fights like that Xuantian Sect fool, we may complete the mission, but we won't survive to escape from this Demon Sect outpost!"
"Indeed."
The captain of Zhengmiao Sect added, "Therefore, our priority is to find a way to destroy the Blood Altar inside this Demon Sect outpost!"
Unlike the disciples of the seven great orthodox sects, who mostly gathered within their sects' mountain gates, the Demon Sect's disciples were scattered across all of Zhao Country, and even in some foreign lands.
Moreover, they had many outposts throughout Zhao Country!
The purpose of these outposts was to provide the Demon Sect disciples with a place to hide whenever they were being hunted by the imperial court or the seven great sects.
Due to the secretive locations and strong forces within these outposts, Demon Sect outposts were generally safe unless a powerful Golden Core cultivator accidentally discovered them.
However, after the Cultivation World War had begun, a great secret of the Demon Sect outposts had been uncovered, thanks to the chance discovery of a Nascent Soul ancestor from Tianjue Mountain!
It turned out that the many Demon Sect outposts were not just hiding places for their disciples.
Even more crucially, every Demon Sect outpost contained a Blood Altar!
There were forty-nine Demon Sect outposts within Zhao Country!
This meant that there were also forty-nine Blood Altars!
These forty-nine Blood Altars were arranged in accordance with a mysterious formation.
Currently, the seven great sects suppressed the spiritual veins of Zhao Country, rendering the Blood Altars ineffective.
However, as the Cultivation World War progressed, the suppression of the spiritual veins by the seven great sects would weaken, and the Demon Sect would then conspire with other evil cultivators to wreak havoc on the world.
At that time, as the seven great sects fought each other, and demonic and evil forces spread chaos across the world, Zhao Country would fall into ruin!
All the living beings that perished in Zhao Country would have their flesh and souls drawn to the nearest Blood Altar...
Once the Blood Altars absorbed enough flesh and souls...
The forty-nine Blood Altars would link together as one!
At that time, all of Zhao Country would become a living hell!
Every living creature below the Foundation Establishment realm would be sacrificed!
And then, the Holy Lord of the Demon Sect—who had already reached the Out-of-Body stage, a level where his Nascent Soul could leave his body and roam the heavens two thousand years ago—would devour all the souls in Zhao Country!
When that happened, the Holy Lord, at the peak of the Out-of-Body stage, would...
Break through to the legendary Divine Transformation realm, with a lifespan of ten thousand years!
Divine Transformation Realm!
That was a realm of ancient legends!
Achieving Divine Transformation would grant one the hope of glimpsing the immortal gate!
Upon reaching the peak of Divine Transformation, one could even trigger a heavenly tribulation!
If one survived the ninefold tribulation, they could ascend to the Immortal Realm and become a true immortal!
However, reaching the Divine Transformation or Tribulation stages was an unattainable height for the current cultivators—even the Out-of-Body and Nascent Soul realms were nearly unimaginable.
Among the seven great orthodox sects, there was only one known Nascent Soul ancestor.
A thousand years ago, the seven great sects had united to defeat the Holy Sect, which had been the name of the Demon Sect back then. Their founders had perished in the battle against the Out-of-Body stage Holy Lord…
"The Holy Lord of the Demon Sect was sealed by the founders of the seven great sects, but he remains alive. Using his demonic power, he has manipulated people's hearts over the past thousand years, and now has countless followers."
Wei Heng, the captain of the Xuantian Sect Sword Faction, said, "If the Blood Altars succeed, and the Holy Lord breaks free of his seal, or even breaks through to the Divine Transformation realm, Zhao Country will be plunged into eternal darkness!"
"This time, we must not fail in our sect's mission to destroy the Blood Altar within this Demon Sect outpost!"
Lin Li, however, was not overly concerned about these matters.
He thought to himself: I wonder how many enemies and demonic beasts I will face when we enter the Demon Sect outpost later… and how much more powerful I can become?