"My sect will bear the full responsibility for the losses in this battle. We must also announce this matter to the world, so they understand that the Demon Clan has not been eradicated. They must not forget the pain once the scar has healed and must always maintain a strong heart for diligent cultivation! Only when one is strong can one slay any demon or monster that comes!" Wei Zhongran interjected. He directly addressed the matter of compensation but also made the Malevolent Spirit Sect's stance clear.
This matter should not be thought of as being caused by the Malevolent Spirit Sect. As long as the Demon Clan existed, they would take any opportunity to make a comeback at any time.
"Amitabha. Regarding the losses this time, although the opponent used the opportunity of the two fellow Daoists' Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony to set up an ambush, the traitors this time were mainly South Sea cultivators. This humble monk believes that the compensation for all the sects must be fully provided by the Supreme Mystery Teachings. I believe the Ten-Pace Courtyard will have no objections to this!" A hint of ruthlessness flashed deep in Arhat Yiye's eyes. This time, four of his Buddhas had died, and several others were seriously injured. His heart ached terribly. He was very dissatisfied with the Supreme Mystery Teachings' actions after the decisive battle at the Devil's Cliff, where they had not dealt a ruthless blow to the suspected individuals in order to preserve their strength.
Even if they guessed that this matter was led by Hang Lin alone, and that the Supreme Mystery Teachings would not have come to support Hang Lin otherwise, how could this matter be let go? They had to make the Supreme Mystery Teachings pay a heavy price while also providing evidence of their innocence.
Moreover, after Yuyuan from the Ten-Pace Courtyard had regained consciousness and learned of the battle's outcome, she had only said one thing: "Regarding the aftermath of this matter, there is no need to wait for people from my sect to arrive!" Her attitude was already very clear. Although Arhat Yiye and Mo Qing had not discussed it, they both tacitly knew what the other was thinking. They would not wait for the Supreme Mystery Teachings to arrive before deciding on the outcome.
However, Wei Zhongran still had to say some things first to show the Malevolent Spirit Sect's sincerity.
"Although the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony will not be held, Fellow Daoist Yuyuan needs to be escorted back. Therefore, we still need to summon the Ten-Pace Courtyard and the Supreme Mystery Teachings. Especially the Supreme Mystery Teachings. This time, sixty to seventy percent of the traitors came from the South Sea. They must conduct another large-scale purge. Anyone even slightly suspicious must not be tolerated. They must be eradicated by the roots, leaving none behind!" Mo Qing spoke again. Although his words were calm, anyone could hear the bloody storm within them.
A gloominess flashed across Arhat Yiye's eyes.
"If they are reluctant to act, our three sects will do it for them. This humble monk can personally ferry them to the Western Paradise and rid them of the three thousand worldly vexations!"
Li Yan and Li Yuyin remained silent on this decision. For such major sect decisions, Mo Qing had the most experience. Even Wei Zhongran rarely spoke.
Half an hour later, the five of them had finished their discussion. From beginning to end, Li Yan had only listened silently, while Li Yuyin, having once been in charge of a peak, occasionally gave suggestions that were spot-on.
After the matter was settled, everyone dispersed. The next step was to wait for the Supreme Mystery Teachings and the Ten-Pace Courtyard to send Nascent Soul cultivators over again. Gu Jiuqi had left a message saying not to worry about the First Sir appearing. He and the other Spirit Transformation cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent would handle the matter.
From this last sentence, the few of them inferred that there were indeed other Spirit Transformation cultivators left on the Desolate Moon Continent. They just didn't know who they were, but they might have already converged with Gu Jiuqi. This news undoubtedly made Mo Qing and the others overjoyed. The Desolate Moon Continent indeed had supreme experts guarding it in secret. In that case, the First Sir's actions this time were undoubtedly asking for trouble.
The others also saw that Gu Jiuqi was truly enraged this time and was determined not to rest until he found his opponent.
With Gu Jiuqi's guarantee, the other four, except for Li Yan, were no longer worried that the First Sir would attack again. Subsequently, Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye went to Yuyuan's residence and had a simple exchange with the weakened Yuyuan. Mo Qing then immediately released the news, stating: "The Demon Clan and foreign cultivators presumptuously attempted to severely injure the cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent during the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony. After their plot was exposed, their army was almost completely annihilated, with not one in ten remaining! However, our cultivators, disregarding their own lives, slew the enemy on the spot but also suffered losses…"
This message also mentioned the fall of a large number of their own cultivators. The sects of these fallen cultivators would receive the personal protection of the Four Great Sects to prevent them from being annexed by others after losing their experts. Furthermore, for the next thousand years, cultivation resources would be allocated to these sects.
After the news was released, it set off a monstrous wave in the cultivation world, which had been peaceful for a long time. In the following days, the Malevolent Spirit Sect became a busy place. Many sects sent people again to inquire about the details of the incident and sent more people to escort their disciples home. Although they had the guarantee of the Four Great Sects, they were still afraid of another accident. Only after personally coming to the Malevolent Spirit Sect to inquire about the real situation could they truly feel at ease.
At this time, Li Yan and Li Yuyin had already returned to their own peaks. Li Yuyin's injuries had not yet healed, and this battle had left her extremely frustrated. During the great battle, she had been unable to use many of her techniques. Furthermore, having just successfully formed her Nascent Soul, she had almost perished. Upon her return, she immediately announced that she was going into seclusion. It seemed that as long as there were no major life-or-death crises in the sect, she would not be appearing again for a short time.
Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing were even busier. For a time, the affairs of Lesser Bamboo Peak were handed over to Li Yan and Li Wuyi.
Although the actual fighting in this battle lasted less than a hundred breaths, its intensity was no less than that of the great decisive battle at the Devil's Cliff. On Lesser Bamboo Peak, apart from Yun Chunqu who was out training and had not returned, only Li Wuyi had suffered minor injuries. The other Golden Core cultivators were all seriously injured.
Even though Li Yan only returned from Lord Lao Peak a day later, when he immediately went to find his First Senior Brother and saw Li Wuyi, who was still surging with killing intent, Li Yan was also taken aback. The killing intent on Li Wuyi made him seem like a completely different person. Li Yan almost thought that his First Senior Brother had suffered a cultivation deviation. He quickly scanned him carefully with his Divine Sense. Seeing that although the magical power in Li Wuyi's body was circulating rapidly, it was generally stable, and his divine soul was also stable, he finally relaxed.
After exchanging a few words, Li Yan learned that his First Senior Brother had been truly angered this time because his Second Senior Brother, Miao Wangqing, and Qian Ji had almost perished. Especially when his young son saw the blood-covered and unconscious Miao Wangqing and burst into tears, looking helpless, Li Wuyi's face became even more unsightly. As the master of a peak, his Dao companion had almost perished in front of him. If not for Li Changting's quick hands, Miao Wangqing's soul would have been scattered by now.
Every time he thought about it, a wave of fear came over him, and he could no longer control the killing intent in his heart. That day, when Li Wuyi saw the people of Lesser Bamboo Peak being seriously injured and falling unconscious one after another, he lost all his usual scholarly elegance. He alone killed four enemy Golden Core cultivators, including a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator.
He himself, due to excessive consumption of magical power, had no further achievements in the subsequent pursuit. For Li Wuyi, this was not enough to quell the anger in his chest. But now that the enemy had hidden their tracks, and even Gu Jiuqi could not find them, let alone him, he could only temporarily stop the pursuit after receiving Wei Zhongran's voice transmission and return to Lesser Bamboo Peak first.
Lesser Bamboo Peak was already sparsely populated. After this battle, he was the only Golden Core left to hold the fort. Fortunately, there was also the recovered Zi Kun to assist. This battle also confirmed the status of Zi Kun and Qian Ji in the hearts of everyone on Lesser Bamboo Peak, earning them heartfelt recognition. Even after Li Yan ascended with the two demons in the future, these two demons became a generation of "Martial Uncles" of Lesser Bamboo Peak, and later "Martial Grand-uncles"... not just some spirit beasts.
Li Yan checked the bodies of Li Wuyi and Zi Kun one by one before finally breathing a sigh of relief. He had brought back many pills from Mo Qing's side, all of which were top-grade pills specially given by the sect.
After his Second Senior Brother and Qian Ji took the pills, they would probably recover in about five to ten years. Their divine souls and Golden Cores/beast cores were not seriously injured. But Fourth Senior Sister Miao Wangqing's situation was much more serious. The cracks on her Golden Core were shocking to behold, much more severe than the injury to Qian Ji's beast core, and it looked as if it could shatter at any time.
With Wei Zhongran absent, Li Yan personally took action to stabilize his Fourth Senior Sister's Golden Core. After five days, the cracks on Miao Wangqing's Golden Core finally stopped spreading. The pills, under Li Yan's powerful Divine Sense, were evenly activated, and Miao Wangqing's Golden Core began to slowly heal. Li Wuyi, who had been waiting outside the room, finally let out a long sigh of relief after receiving the news.
Miao Wangqing was just lucky to have Li Changting protecting her. Otherwise, any of the nine fallen Golden Core cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect were stronger than her in combat.
But for the core disciples of the sect like Baili Yuan, who survived, their own strength was truly formidable. They were basically injured only after killing opponents of a higher realm or being besieged by several people. The core disciples already practiced special cultivation methods, and their magical power was top-notch among their peers. Their ability to take a beating was also ridiculously high. They basically all had the strength to contend with Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators. This was also the main reason why so many disciples scrambled to become core or elite disciples. Not only were their cultivation methods outstanding, but their life-saving means were also several times stronger than others, or even more.
So, in this battle, not only was Li Wuyi's performance amazing, but Baili Yuan, Du Sanjiang, and Chu Weili also showed their true strength that surpassed their peers.
Li Yan didn't see Baili Yuan and the others. Their status was now at least that of a peak elder. After such a great battle, the affairs of their peaks must be extremely tedious. Even Li Changting had no time to come to Lesser Bamboo Peak.
In terms of the overall combat power of the five peaks of the Malelevent Spirit Sect in this battle, the Golden Core cultivators of Bu Li Peak and Four Symbols Peak were the most formidable. In such a chaotic battle, the swarms of bizarre Gu-insects, as well as puppets and formations, were the most practical, often trapping several enemies at once.
But precisely because of this, the cultivators of Bu Li Peak and Four Symbols Peak also became the main targets of the enemy, which resulted in the two peaks losing a total of seven Golden Core elders. More than half of the enemy's dead Golden Core cultivators died at the hands of the cultivators from these two peaks. How could this not make them a thorn in their side?
Spirit Insect Peak lost one Golden Core cultivator. Although some of their spirit beasts were also good at group attacks, in the shadow of the swarming Gu-insects, they seemed less vicious.
The poisons of Lord Lao Peak could not be used recklessly in such a dense and chaotic battle. These things were very good for ambushing large groups of enemies. But in a chaotic battle where friend and foe were intertwined like a tide, they were not discerning. They would truly sweep away a large area. The disciples of Lord Lao Peak seemed a bit hesitant, which greatly weakened their combat power.
After helping Miao Wangqing stabilize her Golden Core, Li Yan went to Four Symbols Peak. He found her and Sun Guoshu in Bai Rou's cave residence. The two seemed to know that Li Yan was coming and had been waiting here. Tang Yuniang had long been sent back to the Woodstream Sect by Bai Rou, who had also given her a Ten-Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Talisman, telling her to activate the sect's grand formation upon her return. If anything happened, she was to notify her immediately. Being in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, she could get reinforcements to fight much faster. Besides, she had other matters on her mind and didn't want to go back immediately.
When Li Yan saw the two of them again, although his Divine Sense had already swept over them and confirmed that they were fine, he still asked, "Are you both alright?"
"Young Master, how could we be alright? If not for Senior Sister Bai protecting me, I'm afraid I would have 'ascended' ahead of schedule a few days ago!" Sun Guoshu stood up, first bowed to Li Yan, then pointed with a wry smile to several bandaged places on his body, which still exuded a strong smell of medicinal pills and blood.
His combat power was at best average among the Golden Core cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. But fortunately, he came from a rogue cultivator background and had participated in the great war with the Demon Clan. His combat experience was quite rich. Sun Guoshu had a set of life-saving skills. But even so, this battle, which was the most intense from the start, had left him with deep, bone-deep memories and scars.
Fortunately, he had been with Bai Rou and a few other Four Symbols Peak elders from the beginning. Seeing the situation, Bai Rou had sent five puppets to protect him, allowing him to use the power of the five puppets to fight evasively with the enemy, which was how he had managed to save his life.
Li Yan nodded. In the great battle at that time, he had no time to spare for others. Otherwise, his Second Senior Brother and the others would not have been in such a state. But he had seen the scene of Bai Rou commanding a large number of puppets during the battle. That scene had shocked even Li Yan, one person controlling so many puppets to fight the enemy. His senior sister's combat power was now so fierce, which was a special surprise and accident for Li Yan.