The main hall of Hanxiu Peak, once a sacred place for clan meetings and ancestral worship, was now filled with the wounded.
A preliminary count showed that over fifty Bai Clan Cultivators had perished, and more than thirty were missing, their fates unknown. Of the remaining clan members, most were injured. The Second Elder and several other Cultivators who had maintained the Array had fainted after being drained of their Magical Power by the Grand Array, their very foundations damaged. Even if they recovered from their injuries, it would be difficult for their Cultivation to ever advance again.
For the Bai Clan, which had only a little over two hundred members to begin with, this was a truly devastating blow.
As for the mortal clan members, the casualties numbered in the hundreds, too many to count accurately for the time being.
Chubby was one of the lucky ones. He had been running dazedly with the crowd when a rock, summoned by a Stone Fall Talisman, crushed his left leg just before he could duck into a storehouse. He was now lying on the ground with his leg bandaged, groaning softly. They had given him a Grain Avoidance Pill; as long as he didn't starve, he would be fine.
As one of the few disciples who had escaped unharmed, Bai Zichen was being ordered around nonstop.
One moment he was fetching Healing Elixirs, the next he was tending to the wounded. Stealing a moment to stretch his back, he noticed a group of young Cultivators walking up Hanxiu Peak. The Fourth Elder had already gone to greet them and was now in conversation.
'So they're disciples from the Qingfeng Sect. No wonder they look different. Their very aura is more distinguished than anyone from our clan.'
Bai Zichen asked around and learned their identities. The men were handsome, the women beautiful. Beyond their striking looks, their confident demeanor stood out like a crane among chickens on the devastated Hanxiu Peak, making them seem completely out of place.
However, the group's arrival did much to calm the nerves of the Bai Clan Cultivators. Although Master Ge Cang had annihilated all the visible Ghost Spirit Sect disciples, the survivors were like birds startled by the twang of a bowstring, terrified that a few enemies might still be lurking in the shadows.
The eight from the Qingfeng Sect all had Cultivation at the Mid-Stage Qi Refining or higher. According to them, the Sect had dispatched more than twenty such teams to provide support everywhere.
Six Foundation Establishment Stage seniors were also moving between locations, and with Master Ge Cang himself presiding over the center, not a single one of those Demon Pups from the Ghost Spirit Sect could hope to escape Black Mountain County.
Bai Zichen spent two days doing hard labor on Hanxiu Peak, which helped the Bai Clan Members grow familiar with this junior who had only recently joined the clan.
The Bai Clan had pitifully few Cultivation Seedlings left, so they took extra care of him, answering any questions he had.
Today, a Spirit Dove raised by the Qingfeng Sect delivered a message. The exploration and excavation of the Five Mountains True Man's Cave Mansion had mostly concluded. The Cultivators from the various clans were on their way back, so the Qingfeng Sect disciples were also preparing to return to their Sect.
Bai Zichen was instructed by the Fourth Elder to go to the foot of the mountain and fetch a few mortal chefs to prepare a banquet.
'The Immortal Path is a rugged road paved with countless white bones. That's absolutely right. My top priority right now is to cultivate diligently and strive for Foundation Establishment... Hmm, I should set a more realistic short-term goal. Let's say, Qi Refining Fourth Layer. With a Three Spiritual Roots Talent, reaching the Qi Refining Fourth Layer within ten years shouldn't be a problem!'
Without any Elixirs to accelerate Cultivation, relying solely on one's own efforts to refine Magical Power, a Three Spiritual Roots Cultivator would take an average of six years to reach the Qi Refining Third Layer.
Crucially, there is a small bottleneck between Early-Stage and Mid-Stage Qi Refining. A fast Cultivator might break through in a few months, while a slower one with lesser talent could be stuck for seven or eight years, even after cultivating their Magical Power to the peak of the Qi Refining Third Layer Realm.
Taking all this into consideration, Bai Zichen set a goal for himself: achieve it in eight years, ten at the latest.
'And Magic. I can't possibly know only the Wood God Skill. In a world where the strong devour the weak, without any means to protect myself, I'm afraid I'll never even get the chance to cultivate properly.'
Bai Zichen tapped his feet lightly and leaped down from a green rock. Hanxiu Peak had been mostly cleaned up and washed twice with the Clear Wind and Rain Techniques, leaving only a faint scent of blood. But upon closer inspection, the scars of battle were still visible: charred giant trees, a broken covered walkway, and ground pockmarked by the bombardment of Magic.
'I wonder how many other clans in the Black Mountain Range suffered the same fate as the Bai Clan. But if the attacks were all this intense, then apart from the so-called Top Five Families, the other Cultivation Families probably couldn't have put up a matching defense. Their ends must have been even more tragic.'
'Did a large number of Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators infiltrate the Black Mountain Range and pay such a heavy price just to slaughter a few Cultivation Families? Or do they have some secret scheme to deal a devastating blow to the Qingfeng Sect?'
Bai Zichen sighed. In any case, the Black Mountain Range would not be peaceful for a long time to come.
It was different from the past, where Cultivation Families would compete and fight over resources. With the Qingfeng Sect acting as the Steward overhead, there was an overall sense of order.
If things like murder for treasure or the annihilation of a clan were discovered, everyone would unite to attack the perpetrators and jointly issue a warrant for their arrest—at least on the surface. But with the Ghost Spirit Sect, an Overseas Dragon, now swimming into Black Mountain County, the waters were about to get muddy.
Once chaos erupted, the Loose Cultivators, who outnumbered the Clan Cultivators a hundred to one, would become difficult to control.
It was foreseeable that Tribulation Cultivators would begin to pop up endlessly throughout the Black Mountain Range.
'I wonder how Uncle is doing. The return letter didn't have any specific news. Anyway, once this is all over, I'll just hole up on Hanxiu Peak and not go anywhere... Huh!'
Bai Zichen's eye twitched. He kept walking, but he was certain he had just seen the corner of a black robe sticking out from behind the rockery.
The standard Daoist Robe of the Bai Clan was cyan; only the group of Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators from three days ago wore black.
'A dead Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator's body? Or one who's been hiding here undiscovered?'
Over the past two days, the Qingfeng Sect disciples had searched the vicinity and found two straggling Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators, easily killing them by swarming them. Could another one have slipped through the net?
Bai Zichen pretended to walk on without breaking his stride. After a few dozen paces, he suddenly veered off, cutting through the other side of the rock formation to head back to the peak. He planned to inform the Fourth Elder and let the Qingfeng Sect disciples handle the demon. He was just a newbie who had barely begun Qi Refining; he wasn't about to play the hero.
"Little pup, if I were you, I'd stand right there and not move. Otherwise, this lord is going to poke a few holes in you and rip out your guts for a midnight snack!"
Bai Zichen screeched to a halt as a Bone Finger plunged into the ground right in front of him with a SWISH. It felt as if a basin of ice-cold water had been dumped over his head.
He slid his hands into his sleeves and slowly turned around. The Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator had actually stood up. His face was paler than a ghost's, and there was a gaping hole straight through his chest, pierced by some unknown attack.
This Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator was also on edge. On the day of the battle, he had been at the very periphery and was only grazed by the aftershock of the Divine Thunder, but it had instantly vaporized a large chunk of his flesh. He had hidden in the rockery for several days, but his injuries showed no signs of improving, and he had been drifting in and out of consciousness.
The sound of footsteps had startled him awake. He had forced himself up and taken two quick steps, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw it was just a child.
'Kids are easy to bluff. I'll make him guide me off Hanxiu Peak first, or I'll be discovered sooner or later. Once we're at the foot of the mountain, I'll get rid of him and toss his body into a ravine. It shouldn't be found for a while, which will be enough time for me to escape dozens of miles.'
The severely injured Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator suppressed the weakness overwhelming his body. He felt he didn't even have the strength to activate another Bone Finger, but his tone was chilling and fearsome.
"Little pup, take five steps forward..."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A fireball shot out and exploded against the Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator's chest, sending him flying backward.
Immediately after, four more fireballs rose into the air. By the end of the successive bombardment, half of the man's body was gone, and his lower half was burned to charcoal.
Bai Zichen had used all five of his Fireball Talismans in one go, burning the Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivator—who was all bark and no bite—until he was beyond dead. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.
He had been gambling that his opponent was just bluffing and didn't actually have the confidence to take him down quietly. Otherwise, why bother with verbal threats? He could have just been captured directly.
As it turned out, Bai Zichen's gamble had paid off. He had sent the man on his way with five Fireball Talismans.