Beneath the demonic cultivator's bamboo hat, the exposed skin of his face was covered in dense, dark green scales. His features had twisted and deformed into something beastlike. There were no longer any eyes in his sockets, only a blood-red glow, like crimson lanterns hanging in the darkness.
Yet beneath that face, traces of a familiar appearance still remained.
It was none other than the head of the Bai family, Bai Liangbi.
"Patriarch Bai?"
Even though Chen Sanshi had prepared himself mentally, seeing this with his own eyes still left him somewhat unable to believe it, because the people Bai Liangbi had killed were all his own clansmen.
Of course, there was another possibility.
Just like what had happened back in Liangzhou, perhaps Bai Liangbi had been controlled through some special method and forced into his current state.
Boom!
The no-longer-human Bai Liangbi suddenly attacked. His body shot forward like a boulder hurled from a catapult, wrapped in blade-like baleful Gang winds as he slammed ahead.
He had already stepped into the Perfection Stage of the True Force Realm. With strength like this, he was nearly unstoppable.
"Bind!"
With a wave of his hand, Shangguan Siheng summoned wall after wall of hardened stone around him, trapping Bai Liangbi inside.
But they only held for a moment before exploding apart.
Rumble—
Bai Liangbi crashed into Shangguan Siheng's flying sword, forcing both of them back several steps. Yet that brief opening gave him the chance he needed. With a leap, he stepped on the Gang wind and vanished into the night.
Chen Sanshi gave chase on his flying sword, his hands constantly forming seals as he cast [Wind-Splitting Seal] one after another. His speed surged sharply, and he stayed tight on the demonic cultivator's heels.
When they reached a gorge near the outskirts of Dusk Valley, Bai Liangbi suddenly pulled out an array disc from his robes and activated it with mana.
In an instant, countless chains of golden light surged out from the mountain forest, like innumerable giant pythons lunging for prey, determined to tear the demonic cultivator to pieces.
Heavenly Fiend Breathing Method!
Bai Liangbi neither dodged nor retreated. All the landscape deities within his body awakened at once, converting boundless spiritual energy into surging True Force. He thrust both clawed hands forward, unleashing a tempest that shredded every chain of golden light into nothing.
But in that brief delay, Shangguan Siheng caught up. He first launched a sword toward the man's forehead. Then, taking advantage of the time bought by that strike, he drew a deep blue talisman from his Storage Bag and held it between two fingers. After chanting under his breath, he let out a thunderous cry.
"Suppress!!!"
The deep blue talisman suddenly expanded in midair, transforming into a gigantic treasure pagoda that towered into the sky, crashing down upon the ant-like demonic cultivator below.
A talisman treasure refined from the Exquisite Treasure Pagoda!
Rumble—
With a deafening explosion, Bai Liangbi fell straight from the sky and smashed heavily into the mountainside, triggering a landslide that split the earth and shook the mountains.
Chen Sanshi arrived right after him. He unleashed his Extreme Dao Divine Ability, and with every strike of the Xuan Yuan Sword in his hand, he carried the boundless extremity of all sword Dao in the world.
Together with Shangguan Siheng, he attacked from both sides.
After more than a dozen exchanges, Bai Liangbi finally fell into a disadvantage. Under a heavy blow, his body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing more than 300 meters away and leaving behind a crater like a fallen meteor.
"Patriarch Bai!"
Chen Sanshi advanced again with sword in hand. "Where exactly are you trying to go? Shouldn't you be explaining yourself first?"
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, be careful!"
Shangguan Siheng's voice rang out at his ear.
Within the cloud of dust, a point of lightning suddenly lit up, and at once an immense storm swept out from within.
In truth, even before the warning reached him, Chen Sanshi had already noticed something wrong through the [Qi Observation Technique] and retreated in advance.
Even so, the lightning storm still caught up to him.
Thick Earth Art!
Chen Sanshi condensed a shield, but it shattered into pieces in an instant. It could not even reflect the attack back. He felt an overwhelming suffocating pressure, lost his balance, and slammed heavily into the ground, toppling an ancient tree more than 3 meters thick that had stood for a thousand years.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit-Shaking Willow!
In Bai Liangbi's hand was a willow branch, tightly gripped. Tender new shoots grew from its surface, brimming with life, yet within those shoots was contained a raging storm of thunder.
"Suppress again!"
Shangguan Siheng controlled the talisman treasure and engaged him in another fierce clash of spell arts.
Not long afterward, the talisman treasure's radiance noticeably dimmed, clearly showing the enormous consumption it was enduring.
Across from him, Bai Liangbi also began to weaken, gradually unable to bear the backlash from forcibly wielding the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit-Shaking Willow.
"Enough!"
After another exchange, Bai Liangbi retreated sharply and let out a loud shout.
And just like that, both sides ceased fighting.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough—"
Bai Liangbi coughed several times. His body began to shrink, the scales on his skin rapidly receded, and his face returned to that of a normal man.
With a helpless tone, he said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, this is all a misunderstanding. Stop fighting."
"Oh?"
Looking at him, Chen Sanshi could tell that Bai Liangbi's mind was completely clear. He had not been controlled. Which meant...
He had deliberately killed Bai Xifeng and the other members of his own clan.
"They're over there!"
"Hurry!"
As the few of them spoke, movement sounded in the distance.
The commotion just now had been far too great. Everyone in Dusk Valley was rapidly gathering toward this place.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao!"
Bai Liangbi's murky pupils were bloodshot. "I ask that you help me keep this hidden for now. Otherwise, Dusk Valley will fall into chaos, and you and I will never have another chance to defeat those people!"
He paused, then added, "As long as Fellow Daoist Xiao agrees, I... I can tell you the truth of the matter—"
Chen Sanshi could see that he had difficulties he could not speak of openly, and as long as he stayed together with Shangguan Siheng, he was not afraid that the other man would suddenly turn violent and hurt someone.
After thinking it over again and again, he nodded in agreement. "Alright."
At the same time, the Bai family clansmen came rushing over in a dark mass.
"Big Brother!"
Bai Linxun hurried over. "How is it here?! Seventh Brother—Seventh Brother has been killed!"
"He got away again?!"
Bai Fourth looked around but saw no trace of the demonic cultivator, and immediately came to that conclusion.
"Yes."
Bai Liangbi pointed to the southeast and said with feigned anger, "Even with Fellow Daoist Xiao and me joining forces to stop him, we still couldn't keep him here."
"Seventh Brother was killed too—"
Bai Third's teeth ground loudly together. "Good, then let's all die together! Come with me and chase him down!!!"
As he spoke, he led his people straight toward the southeast.
The rest of the clansmen scattered in all directions, searching the surrounding area for traces.
As for the result, naturally, they found nothing.
Only several days later did Dusk Valley finally return to calm, though at the same time it had become lifeless and deathly still.
Boom—
Only the Demon-Smiting Grand Formation on Daze's main peak would, from time to time, fire a beam of light into the sky, letting out thunder-like roars that broke the silence of Dusk Valley.
Inside the patriarch's cave dwelling:
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, please, have a seat."
Bai Liangbi personally poured tea and water, then asked, "May I ask this friend of yours for his surname and given name, and what sect he cultivates with?"
"Zhuxian Sect, Shangguan Siheng."
Shangguan Siheng answered briefly.
"So you are from the Zhuxian Sect."
Bai Liangbi nodded.
"Patriarch Bai, can you speak plainly now?"
Chen Sanshi got straight to the point. "I already guessed from the pills you refined that you were cultivating a demonic art, but I never imagined that the people being used as cultivation furnaces would actually be your own father and your own brothers."
Bai Liangbi's arm trembled, and tea spilled across the tabletop with it.
After a long silence, he finally said word by word, "My father asked me to do it."
"Senior Bai asked for this himself?"
Chen Sanshi was half-convinced, half-skeptical. "Why?"
Bai Liangbi set down the teapot, lowered his head to look at the table, and sank into memory, slowly recounting the entire course of events.
"Several years ago, I went out to handle some matters and, by chance, captured a demonic cultivator. From him, I obtained a demonic cultivation method and a portion of dragon blood.
"This martial-path demonic cultivation method is called the Blood Refining Grand Art. After fusing with high-grade demon blood, it can alter one's body, and then use 'blood refining' to rapidly raise one's cultivation.
"As for this so-called 'blood refining,' it is exactly what you saw—it means draining living people into dried corpses. The closer the bloodline and the more similar the cultivation methods, the better the effect.
"I began cultivating this method a long time ago.
"But at that time, I merely disguised myself as a disciple of the Seven Kill Sect and went to ambush members of rival families or people from the Demon-Suppression Bureau. I did not, and never intended to, lay hands on my own people.
"Because the Bai family still had hope.
"As long as the Qingxu Sect agreed to take in the Bai family, we could move the entire clan away, leave Northern Yang Dao, and escape danger.
"What happened afterward, Fellow Daoist Xiao already knows. The Qingxu Sect had no intention of involving itself in this matter.
"On top of that, after Father returned from the Nine Nether Forbidden Land, he had only a single breath left hanging in him. It could truly be said that heaven would not answer his cries, and earth would not respond to his pleas.
"If, after Father passed away, the Bai family could not produce a True Force Realm Perfection martial artist, then we would die without a sound.
"So before Father died, he told me to use the Blood Refining Grand Art on him.
"As for Fifth Brother and Seventh Brother—"
At this point, Bai Liangbi's voice trembled slightly, but his tone was filled with resolve and anger. "They deserved to die!
"What Fellow Daoist Xiao does not know is this:
"Over the past several years, Fifth Brother and Seventh Brother colluded with people from the Demon-Suppression Bureau and repeatedly tried to steal the clan's inherited treasure and offer it to those people!
"This is the very foundation of my Bai family!"
"If the foundation is destroyed, then the Bai family will cease to exist. They were the ones who first betrayed our ancestors and defied the clan laws. As the family head, it is only right that I clean house!
"Using them to cultivate demonic arts instead counts as a form of atonement!
"At this point, I have already reached Great Perfection in the True Force Realm. The rest of the materials are also fully prepared. It will not be long before I break through into the Golden Body Realm!
"When that time comes, even Shouzhongzi will no longer be someone I need to fear!
"So during the days ahead, while I enter seclusion, I ask Fellow Daoist Xiao to help protect me. As long as I succeed in my breakthrough, on some future day I can also help you eliminate your enemies!"
After hearing the full sequence of events, Chen Sanshi gave a slight nod. He still felt that something about the matter was strange, but for the moment, he could not pinpoint exactly why.
"After circling around it all this time, in the end it still comes down to your clan's inherited treasure."
He asked, "Patriarch Bai, could you reveal at least a little of the truth? That way I can at least know what I am dealing with."
Bai Liangbi hesitated for a long time, then finally slapped the table. "Fine! At this point, there is nothing left to hide from Fellow Daoist Xiao!"
If he continued concealing the truth, he would never gain the other man's trust. And if danger came, the Bai family might even lose its very last ally.
"It's just..."
Bai Liangbi looked toward the man beside him. "Fellow Daoist Shangguan, my apologies, but I can only trust Fellow Daoist Xiao alone."
"Heh heh~"
Shangguan Siheng smiled. "No problem. I may be curious, but it is not as if I absolutely must know.
"There is only one other matter I would like to ask.
"Could Fellow Daoist Bai let me take a look at that Blood Refining Grand Art?"
"No problem."
Bai Liangbi nodded and tossed him a jade slip. "It is just that cultivating this art requires dragon blood of Tier 3 or above. Even if you learn it, you still would not be able to cultivate it."
"That is fine."
Shangguan Siheng took the jade slip and began to examine its contents with full concentration.
"Then please wait here for a while, Fellow Daoist Shangguan. We will return shortly. Fellow Daoist Xiao, please come with me."
Bai Liangbi left the cave dwelling and led the way ahead.
The two of them left the residential area of Dusk Valley and arrived within the Medicine Valley.
"Has Fellow Daoist Xiao's path of cultivation been a difficult one?"
As he walked, Bai Liangbi abruptly asked the question. Then, without even waiting for an answer, he continued speaking on his own. "The rise of the Bai family has really only happened over the last few decades.
"In the earliest days, my Bai family clansmen were nothing more than common rabble among mortals, peddlers and drudges who could barely fill their stomachs, let alone cultivate.
"Only later, when our old ancestor stumbled upon a copy of the Gale-Breaking Sword Technique by sheer chance, did we truly step onto the path of cultivation.
"But even then, we were only lowliest martial men. It took the efforts of 6 generations before we could finally support a single True Force martial artist, allowing him to join the Demon-Suppression Bureau and become one of its lackeys.
"For a family like ours, if nothing unexpected happened, then even after another 100 or 1,000 years of struggle, we would probably at most become a silver-plaque Demon-Suppression Guard.
"But who could have known that an overwhelming stroke of fortune would suddenly fall upon my grandfather, allowing the Bai family to rise and expand rapidly within 50 years. Only afterward did we come to Northern Yang Dao, occupy a spiritual vein, and establish ourselves firmly.
"That overwhelming stroke of fortune is hidden within the Medicine Valley."
"It seems," Chen Sanshi said slowly, "that your clan's inherited treasure is indeed even more precious than the Nine-Colored Divine Wood Spirit Liquid."
"Do you know why, whether it is the Demon-Suppression Bureau, the Li family, or the Seven Kill Sect, they all clearly covet this treasure, yet do not dare openly attack Dusk Valley head-on?
"It is because once this thing truly appears in the world, then forget those Golden Core sects—even Nascent Soul cultivators, and even the Heavenly Water Hongfu Dao, would come to seize it.
"And when that happens, no one would be able to keep it."
As he spoke, Bai Liangbi had already passed through the medicinal garden and entered an even denser forest. Brushing aside large swaths of spiritual herbs, he revealed the stone gate of an extremely well-hidden underground cave dwelling.
Rumble!
The stone gate opened, and there was no light inside the narrow passage.
"It is inside."
Bai Liangbi entered first.
Chen Sanshi rubbed his Storage Bag, while his Qi Observation Technique was pushed to its limit to deal with any sudden danger. Even though the chances of the Bai family head setting an ambush for him were small, he still had to remain on guard.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, I have a question for you.
"We immortality-seekers and Dao-seekers pursue nothing more than to live as long as heaven and earth. On the surface, we should be peaceful and help one another. So why is it, in reality, that we are always killing each other, with order in constant chaos?"
Bai Liangbi answered his own question. "Resources!
"The spiritual energy between heaven and earth is limited. The heavenly materials and earthly treasures that aid cultivation are even rarer. If one wishes to seek the Great Dao, one has no choice but to fight and seize them.
"And the thing I am about to show you can create an endless supply of heavenly materials and earthly treasures!
"Its name is Living Earth!"