Chapter 1375: Cleaning House
Wherever Ping Tu pointed, in almost an instant, the demonic beasts of that entire clan would die swiftly.
Old and young alike, even the mid and high-rank demonic cultivators in their sealed cultivation chambers, found that the restrictions they had set up were like a thin mist, offering no protection whatsoever.
And all the demonic beasts had no idea what was happening. They watched in horror as the person next to them, who had been talking and laughing just a moment ago, exploded into a cloud of blood mist in the next—and then it was their turn.
It was an inexplicable and terrifying force from the very space around them, a force that could ignore all defenses and restrictions. Soon, one clan after another within the Secret Realm was completely wiped from existence.
They didn’t even have time to let out too many screams of terror before their Golden Cores and Nascent Souls were destroyed, their souls utterly annihilated.
True Lord Qianchong did not stop at a simple slaughter. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes.
He waved his large sleeve again, and countless black shadows rained down like dense rain, flying from all directions towards the widest prairie in the Secret Realm.
All the demonic beasts, regardless of their cultivation level, from beasts that had not yet gained spiritual intelligence to fifth-rank demonic cultivators, were all lifted into the air against their will in a state of utter terror and flew towards the prairie.
They were then suppressed by a pressure that plunged them into despair, forced to prostrate on the ground. The terrifying force felt as if it would smash them into the eighteen levels of hell in an instant.
Even the fifth-rank old wolf was swept over while he was in seclusion. At first, he was shocked and enraged. His own formation restrictions had not even given a hint of a warning. Who had invaded?
In his initial shock and anger, he had wanted to activate his cultivation method to kill the enemy who had suddenly provoked him, but in the next moment, he became a trembling ant.
Because he had tried to use his magical power to defend himself, his defenses were wide open, and so the backlash he received was the greatest.
In a mere instant, more than half of the bones in his body were shattered. He let out a horrified scream and quickly dispersed his magical power. The extreme fear that instantly filled his heart made him forget the pain.
He didn’t know what kind of power he had encountered. Even the most powerful Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation he had ever faced was nothing but a hopping fledgling in front of it.
Then, True Lord Qianchong’s majestic voice echoed throughout the entire Secret Realm.
“When the master’s away, even the dogs think they can rule the heavens. Let’s see what you’re made of!”
As he spoke, he gave the demonic beasts below no chance to explain. In one region after another, sky-high plumes of blood mist erupted, accompanied by heart-wrenching, heaven-and-earth-shaking screams.
The demonic beasts that died on the prairie were those Ping Tu had pointed out as having participated in the rebellion, attempting to seize the Secret Realm—the ones that hadn’t been killed in the first wave…
For True Lord Qianchong, this kind of slaughter was a matter of a wave of his hand, but he let the bloody massacre continue for a full incense stick’s time.
On the prairie, brilliant “fireworks” of blood bloomed one after another, like the grand festivals of the mortal world, only more eerie and cold.
He did this deliberately, intentionally slowing down the killing speed. This one-sided slaughter, witnessed by all the demonic beasts, maximized the deterrent effect.
At this moment, the demonic beasts with inherited memories finally recalled the ancient legends from long, long ago. This place was once the domain of a Daoist master.
Their ancestors used to boastfully describe:
“Through generations of continuous resistance, they finally overturned their masters and became the rulers…”
Many powerful demonic beast clans often took pride in this. They constantly proclaimed that the current “prosperity” of this Secret Realm was a kingdom they had fought for and won.
When the fifth-rank old wolf heard True Lord Qianchong’s words, he immediately remembered the jade slips left by his ancestors and was scared out of his wits.
Fortunately, his clan had been very weak in the beginning and had lacked the ability to oppose Ping Tu, which was why he was still alive…
“You have two choices. One, your entire clans will be exterminated, not a single one left.”
“Two, you will all be branded with a slave seal and serve as slaves here for all eternity, cultivating spirit plants and herbs. From now on, you will sever all contact with the outside world…”
True Lord Qianch-ong had originally intended to kill all the demonic beasts here, but on second thought, he decided to give them a way out.
This wasn’t because he was soft-hearted, but because more than seventy percent of the beast species here were already extinct in the current Mortal Realm. Each of them could be considered a rare type of demonic beast.
He wanted to preserve this Secret Realm because the two disciples of their Five Immortal Sects that they knew of both came from the Mortal Realm, and they might need to find successors in the lower realm in the future.
This Secret Realm could serve as a foothold for Pei Buchong and the others. Therefore, the Secret Realm could not be left to become desolate; it still needed to be managed.
If they were to move another group of humans or demonic beasts in, it wouldn’t necessarily be better than these demonic beasts whose ancestors had lived here for generations.
Moreover, these demonic beasts also had their own inheritances. They knew their own past here and the rules of this place. When it came to doing things, they would know their place better.
With this in mind, he ultimately did not make the rules too rigid and gave these demonic beasts some hope. He then offered a few more potential glimmers of hope.
This was to give the demonic beasts something to look forward to, to make them feel that they were not without a future. This was the way to rule “people.”
For example, the fifth-rank old wolf. If he served diligently, he could still be brought out of the Secret Realm and allowed to ascend to the Immortal Spirit Realm…
After he finished speaking, he stared coldly at the beings below. As far as his eyes could see, there was an endless expanse of prostrated demonic beasts.
The demonic beasts below sensed the terrifying auras of the figures in the sky and were already scared out of their wits. They had no idea where so many powerful experts had come from.
They felt that a single glance from the figures above would be enough to kill them in the next moment.
Adding to that, the thick, nauseating smell of blood from the surroundings was constantly filling their lungs, “choking” them until their livers and gallbladders felt like they would burst.
How could these demonic beasts dare to resist? They were all willing to be branded with the slave seal.
Although the fifth-rank old wolf was also branded with a slave seal, when he realized that the other party had not killed him immediately and heard True Lord Qianchong’s conditions, a strange sense of hope rose in his heart. After breaking through to the fifth rank back then, he had been left with severe injuries and had been in seclusion ever since, not daring to ascend.
But after witnessing True Lord Qianchong’s terrifying methods, which seemed to come straight out of legends, he felt that if he could follow and serve such a heaven-defying Almighty, he might not have to die from the decay of old age. He might even have a chance to break through again…
After True Lord Qianchong dealt with the affairs within the Secret Realm with thunderous efficiency, he let all the demonic beasts disperse. They truly scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.
In a flash, the entire prairie became like a desolate land. Below, even the ants and small insects in the grass had all burrowed deep into the earth.
Apart from the sound of the wind, it was a scene of “utter silence”!
“I have only temporarily sealed the passage to this Secret Realm. But these so-called Four Great Sects are audacious, daring to steal the resources here. I am wondering whether I should annihilate them or just punish them?”
True Lord Qianchong looked up at Dong Fuyi.
They had only been on the Desolate Moon Continent for less than half a day and had only had time to deal with the matters of the Secret Realm.
Before coming to the Desolate Moon Continent, the three of them had also gone to the Forsaken Continent to retrieve True Lord Qianchong’s sliver of divine will. Through that sliver of will, they had also learned about Li Yan and Zhao Min’s past on the Forsaken Continent.
At that time, when Pei Buchong learned that this junior brother he had never met had actually crossed paths with him through time in that restricted area under the sea, he had even joked.
“Is this what the secular world calls a chance encounter in this life being the result of five hundred glances in a past life? It would have been better if he were a junior sister! Master, can’t you recruit some female disciples…”
Afterward, the three of them crossed the void and arrived in the Secret Realm. They had yet to search for Li Yan after dealing with the demonic beast matter.
Now that he knew the Malevolent Spirit Sect had also participated in plundering the Secret Realm’s resources, True Lord Qianchong found it inappropriate to act directly, so he asked Dong Fuyi. Dong Fuyi, however, just chuckled.
“Let’s go find my disciple first. We’ll see what he has to say!”
He had waited for so long and was finally going to find Li Yan. His heart was already filled with joy.
Earlier, he had learned from Ping Tu that Li Yan had returned from the Forsaken Continent, but Ping Tu said that Li Yan might have gone to the Wind God Continent again and hadn’t been here in all these years.
This immediately made him a little surprised and nervous. But Ping Tu said he wasn’t sure, because he couldn’t leave the Secret Realm and couldn’t find out the specific situation.
And it was normal for a cultivator to go into seclusion for decades or even a century. Li Yan not coming to the Secret Realm during this period didn’t necessarily mean anything.
Ping Tu also said that Li Yan had once mentioned he would be gone for about a few decades. Calculating the time now, Dong Fuyi still felt that it was highly likely he would be able to see his disciple this time.
However, after Dong Fuyi and the others emerged from the Secret Realm and spread their Divine Senses throughout the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they still could not find Li Yan’s aura.
This disappointed Dong Fuyi. It seemed Li Yan had really gone to the Wind God Continent. But he still held out hope that Li Yan had gone to some other place on the Desolate Moon Continent.
But in that case, they would have to expend some effort to find him. However, True Lord Qianchong had detected Zhao Min’s aura. He suggested they could ask her directly.
Zhao Min knew him, so she wouldn’t be wary of him, and it would save them a fruitless journey.
When True Lord Qianchong appeared in the courtyard where Zhao Min was, Dong Fuyi stood quietly in the air with the other two, their Divine Senses constantly scanning the area below.
But the final result stunned them all. Dong Fuyi’s aura surged uncontrollably. Li Yan had been forced into the Chaotic Flow Space by a Spirit Transformation cultivator and had since disappeared.
He had finally managed to return to the Desolate Moon Continent, only to find that his foolish disciple had dragged a Spirit Transformation cultivator into “mutual destruction.”
Dong Fuyi naturally knew what art Li Yan had used. It must have been “Quaking Cosmos.” At the Late-stage Nascent Soul Realm, it was extremely difficult to control the direction of that art’s teleportation.
This meant that Li Yan’s teleportation was random, and the place he had chosen was the extremely dangerous Chaotic Flow Space.
Dong Fuyi couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache. He also had a newfound respect for this disciple whom he had always considered inferior to Pei Buchong.
Li Yan had only been cultivating for about a hundred years, yet in a place with such barren cultivation resources as the lower realm, he had forcefully fought his way to the Late-stage Nascent Soul Realm and was just as fierce.
Li Yan’s background couldn’t compare to Pei Buchong’s. From the moment he entered the sect, Pei Buchong had True Lord Qianchong’s personal guidance and a large amount of cultivation resources that were rare in the lower realm.
“Kid, I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re the type with a kind face but a treacherous heart. You’ll definitely be fine! Now that there are no other matters holding me back, I’ll do everything in my power to find you!”
Dong Fuyi thought to himself. He felt he had wronged Li Yan. All these years, Li Yan had been like a feral child, left to fend for himself in the wild.
It seemed that apart from teaching him the cultivation method, he hadn’t even given him a single Foundation Establishment Pill. Li Yan had even found the materials for refining his magical treasures himself, with Ping Tu’s guidance.
But Dong Fuyi did not regret his decision to go to the North Ice Continent after leaving the red lightning region. If not for that, Qianchong and Pei Buchong might have both perished.