Chapter 1409: Shedding Involvement (Part One)

Everything on the grass below had vanished, even the fine streams of blood that had been squeezed out were gone, leaving not a single trace of blood. It was as if no one had ever been here.

Li Yan then curled his finger. Several rings, transforming into faint shadows, flew out from underground and landed directly in his hand.

With another thought, a yellow light cluster suddenly appeared in front of him. Within that light cluster, a small figure, just over two inches tall and looking exactly like the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator, was in a deep coma, its eyes tightly shut.

Li Yan reached out towards the void, and the yellow light cluster immediately flew over. His palm then covered the yellow light cluster, and his Magical Power instantly surged into the head of the small Nascent Soul…

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Yan, in the void, remained expressionless, his joy or anger unreadable. He squeezed his five fingers slightly.

“Bang!”

The Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s Nascent Soul, while in a coma, truly perished. Faintly, three Huns and seven Pos drifted out.

Li Yan did not annihilate her soul. Instead, with a flick of his sleeve, he cast the soul out of the “Earthen Patch,” sending it completely into the Way of Reincarnation.

He was not a vicious and evil person. The person was killed, and the information he needed was obtained. Of course, he would let those unconscious souls go to the underworld.

This time, Li Yan had once again obtained a lot of useful information from the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s memory. The other party, just as Chongyangzi had guessed, had been bought by Heart-Refining Valley, an enemy force.

In their plan this time, even the Nascent Soul disciples of Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor were unaware.

The mission of the three of them was to take the “Great Nothingness Tree” and then hand it over to Heart-Refining Valley.

Once Pure Yang Hall lost such a supreme treasure, the cultivators who would advance to the Void Refining Realm in the future would have no more shortcuts.

This would be a serious blow to Pure Yang Hall.

But their plan was not just this. In this operation, after they got the “Great Nothingness Tree,” they would also kill all the Nascent Soul cultivators who were not from Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor.

That is to say, the last eighteen surviving Nascent Soul cultivators, all the Nascent Soul cultivators from the subordinate sects, would still be all killed.

Then, the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator and the old woman surnamed He would transform into the appearances of Chen Xingshan and the big man from the Seven Tigers Alliance, respectively.

Later, under the “carelessness” of these two, they would appear in the area near Heart-Refining Valley, and at that time, some cultivators from other sects would unintentionally see them.

After all this was done, all the remaining participants in this scramble would disappear without a trace.

The Yuan-surnamed female cultivator and the old woman surnamed He would each bring a few trusted disciples and be sent to a top-secret place by Heart-Refining Valley, where they would be given abundant cultivation resources to cultivate in peace.

As for those trusted disciples, they would only know about the great changes in the sect after this matter. This was not a problem. The so-called trusted disciples were those who would obey their words.

And Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor would not immediately move their sects, but would still stay behind and “peacefully” obey the orders of Pure Yang Hall.

The purpose of their staying behind was to distract Pure Yang Hall’s attention, and at the same time, they would constantly release rumors in the dark, saying that the disappearance of all the cultivators this time might be related to the Blood Lantern Sect and the Seven Tigers Alliance.

In addition, with the death of another Chongyangzi, Heart-Refining Valley would then take out the “Great Nothingness Tree” to add fuel to the fire.

Even if Pure Yang Hall couldn’t immediately determine that there was a problem with these two sects, with so many people dying at once and the “Great Nothingness Tree” being stolen, it was definitely related to a traitor on their own side.

The days of the Blood Lantern Sect and the Seven Tigers Alliance would definitely not be easy in the future. Everything would become panicky, and even the cultivators within these two sects would have other thoughts.

As long as these things were superimposed, they would eventually erupt at a certain moment, and Heart-Refining Valley would immediately launch an attack at the right opportunity.

Among the subordinate sects of Pure Yang Hall, the Blood Lantern Sect and the Seven Tigers Alliance were already unstable. The others would definitely have to consider preserving their strength to protect themselves. How many people would truly contribute?

And at that time, Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor would suddenly launch a coordinated attack from within. Pure Yang Hall, caught off guard, would have a very high probability of being conquered.

And all of this stemmed from the fact that Pure Yang Hall itself was extremely strong. If Heart-Refining Valley wanted to annex the other party, they could only start by shaking its foundation.

And all of this had started a long time ago. In the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator’s memory, Li Yan had searched for other shocking news.

Not only did Heart-Refining Valley secretly send people to attack the fourth-rate and unranked sects under the jurisdiction of Pure Yang Hall, which seemed insignificant, but even Heavenly Mountain Garden and Spirit Subduing Manor, after receiving orders, would let some cultivators go to sabotage the promotion of fourth-rate sect cultivators, or directly assassinate them.

In fact, very few people valued the fourth-rate and unranked sects in many forces. Their entire sect was almost all low-level cultivators.

Although Pure Yang Hall would also care, they would not pay too much attention. Even if you moved your sect away, it was just a fourth-rate sect. Naturally, more small sects would be willing to attach themselves.

But Heart-Refining Valley was targeting these small sects. However, they acted extremely carefully and only occasionally used assassination methods. For the most part, they would set up a false front.

For example, when a certain Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was about to undergo his tribulation, they would secretly sabotage it.

The failure of a cultivator’s promotion was a huge matter for a fourth-rate sect. To put it mildly, which sect didn’t have cases of promotion failure? It was also very normal.

But the sect that encountered this kind of thing, when they slowly thought back on it afterwards, because the other party would deliberately leave many suspicious points, they would naturally become suspicious.

But for a while, they would not immediately move their sect away. This was undoubtedly planting a thorn in the side of Pure Yang Hall.

After seeing this information, Li Yan immediately thought of the Great Elder of the Donglin Family and what had happened to Shangguan Tianque.

They were all fiercely backstabbed just as they were about to change the fate of their sect.

As long as they reacted afterwards, they would slowly feel that someone was preventing them from becoming strong, and the first they would suspect would be the Blood Lantern Sect.

According to the current situation, they had already begun to guard against the Blood Lantern Sect, and had even developed hostility towards it. It was only because their strength was too weak that they would not immediately fall out.

This had already planted the seeds of disaster in the dark. The foundation of Pure Yang Hall had unknowingly become full of leaks everywhere.

“These people’s methods are truly insidious. Some things that seem trivial, they will devote themselves to deploying and waiting for. When I got the information from the Great Elder of the Donglin Family before, I also had suspicions about the Blood Lantern Sect. Moistening things silently…”

Li Yan stood in mid-air, his dark eyes constantly flickering.

After a while, Li Yan suddenly raised his hand, and Chongyangzi in a Daoist robe appeared in front of him again.

After calming his mind and concentrating his Qi, he once again placed his palm on Chongyangzi’s crown.

He wanted to remove some of Chongyangzi’s memories and then modify a little of the content. But even with the help of the laws and power here, and with the other party in a sealed state, Li Yan’s confidence was still not very high.

Once the other party recovered his cultivation, he didn’t know if he could find the abnormality in his memory.

However, here before, Li Yan had easily dealt with two Late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators with just a faint shadow with only Initial-stage Nascent Soul strength.

Especially that “Netherworld Demon Vine,” he was not like the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator who had been poisoned and needed to divert his Magical Power to resist. The other party was in a peak state, but was still easily taken down by him.

Therefore, Li Yan felt that using the rules and power here to move Chongyangzi’s Sea of Consciousness, and having a Void Refining cultivator modify the other party’s memory in the outside world, should have a similar effect…

On the mountaintop, several huge Snow Mosquitoes were lying on the ice and snow, sleeping soundly.

Because Qian Ji had been missing for a long time, within the Snow Mosquito clan, there were indeed clan members who wanted to lead the race, and even possess Qian Ji’s several royal consorts.

But in the end, those few Snow Mosquitoes were all mercilessly killed by Qian Ji’s several Dao Companions. Although they didn’t know what had happened, they still decided to guard this place for Qian Ji and wait for his return.

Suddenly, the few huge Snow Mosquitoes on the mountaintop opened their eyes. In the void in front of them, a faint shadow was rapidly solidifying.

The few Snow Mosquitoes were first startled, then after seeing the other party’s appearance clearly, they hurriedly flapped their wings and flew to the person’s front.

“Greetings, Master!”

“Master, I wonder about Qian Ji…”

They spoke respectfully. This master had not been here for many years, but this situation had happened more than once before.

Qian Ji had waited here for the other party’s appearance for decades as if it were a single day.

Li Yan looked at these five Snow Mosquitoes. The battle at the foot of the mountain before, because he had isolated everything there, these five Snow Mosquitoes had not sensed it.

Among the five Snow Mosquitoes, three had already reached the third rank, and one had even reached the Mid-stage third rank.

Li Yan nodded in satisfaction. Qian Ji’s Dao Companions had really guarded this place for him.

“Qian Ji is fine, but I can’t contact him and Zi Kun right now. Here are some pills for you. You need to cultivate hard and try to reach the fourth rank as soon as possible. Here are two more jade slips for you. One is a passage to the outside world. If you want to go out to cultivate, you can. The other is about what happened after I was separated from Qian Ji!”

As Li Yan spoke, he waved his hand, and immediately more than ten bottles of pills flew down. These few Snow Mosquitoes were deeply in love and sincere. Li Yan also felt that he should help them.

If the current Snow Mosquito clan had already changed to another king, and Qian Ji’s Dao Companions had also made new choices, then he would not care anymore. He would wait for the day he met Qian Ji and let him decide how to deal with his clan members.

On the mountaintop, after the five Snow Mosquitoes heard Li Yan’s words, their eyes were already filled with pleasant surprise. The pills were certainly good, but they were also missing their own king, and today they finally had news of their king…

On the first floor, at the corner of the staircase, Li Yan in the formation opened his eyes. The formation did not give any warning. He sensed it again and found that no Divine Sense was probing this way.

‘Those two don’t dare to expose their presence at all. They are just waiting for the flying boat to enter the “Great Nothingness Tree” area before they take the opportunity to escape…’ Li Yan thought to himself.

He had no dissatisfaction with Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui’s silence at this moment. When you couldn’t defeat the enemy, coming out was just sending yourself to your death.

Even if it were him, he would of course prioritize saving his own life.

And these two had also advised him. But Li Yan just didn’t want the Spirit Transformation cultivators to discover that something was wrong on the first floor. He wanted to keep the initiative in his own hands!

Li Yan quickly got up. With a wave of his hand, he had already collected all the formations and at the same time swept away most of the Fragmented Body poison, but left behind a type of potent poison that could threaten Spirit Transformation cultivators.

Then, Li Yan’s figure flashed, and he once again arrived on the second floor of the flying boat. He first carefully inspected each room, then came to the deck again…

Chongyangzi only felt waves of heart-piercing pain coming from his Hun and Po souls. This made him groan, and then his consciousness began to gather bit by bit!

At a certain moment, Chongyangzi’s eyelids twitched slightly. After another moment, he slowly opened his eyes.

Due to the constant assault of various heart-piercing pains, his Sea of Consciousness was still very turbulent, and he was still in a daze.

What entered his eyes was a blurry scene. It seemed that a figure was shaking in front of his eyes. Then, a weak voice kept ringing in his ears.

“Senior, Senior…”

Chongyangzi didn’t know where he was. In his chaotic consciousness, various chaotic scenes flashed alternately. For a moment, he didn’t know what had happened.

But as the voice continued to call, the scenery in front of Chongyangzi gradually became clear, and the figure in front of him also slowly solidified…

It was a short-haired youth covered in blood. The green robe on his body was soaked in blood, and the robe was also torn into a tattered robe.

When he saw the person in front of him clearly, Chongyangzi still did not react. His consciousness was groggy. His eyes were a little dazed as he began to turn his head subconsciously and look around!

He found that this place seemed to be the deck of a boat-like vessel. There was a row of houses in front of him, but several of the main doors were either dilapidated or askew. There were many fragments scattered at the doorway.

And on the deck he saw, there were many bloodstains scattered around. It seemed that there were two people lying in the distance. One was a headless corpse, and the other was also lying on its side on the ground, with bloodstains all over its body…

And he himself was half-lying and half-sitting, his two legs stretched straight out, his whole person leaning against the railing of the deck.

When he saw everything in front of him, many pieces of information and images suddenly surged into Chongyangzi’s mind like a tide.

He couldn’t help but raise his hands to hold his head, his face showing extreme pain, and he also let out a violent gasp.

After a full dozens of breaths, Chongyangzi’s chest heaved violently. Only then did he raise his head again, and his aura also surged like a tide at the same time.

He suddenly looked around again. This time, his eyes had already begun to become clear.

He saw the young man in front of him with a look of horror, retreating several steps, and staring at him with a look of fear.

With just a scan of his Divine Sense, he found that this was a Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. He seemed to have seen him once in his impression.

But at this moment, he couldn’t care about this person in front of him.

Instead, his Divine Sense scanned around, but he did not find the enemy he wanted to see.

In the next moment, he had already stood up. Although his face was still pale, a yellow light was already flashing on his body, forming a protective light shield.

Almost in an instant, his Divine Sense wanted to connect with his storage space, but he suddenly found that all the storage space magical treasures on his body were gone.

He suddenly thought of something. At this moment, it was not the time to think too much. With a flash of his body, he entered the middle room.

Then, in less than twenty breaths, he had already inspected all five rooms on the second floor.

When his figure appeared again, he was next to the person who had fallen to the ground.

That person was lying on his side. In Chongyangzi’s Divine Sense, that person was already breathless at this moment.

But Chongyangzi still immediately bent down, and his Magical Power immediately poured into the other party’s body. But in just one breath, he moved his palm away.

His squatting body blurred again, and when he appeared again, he was next to the headless corpse.

His Divine Sense once again swept towards the other party’s Dantian. There was a bloody hole there, and the Nascent Soul body inside seemed to have been pierced by something and had long since lost its vitality.

A scene immediately appeared in Chongyangzi’s mind. It was when he was being soul-searched by the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator. He was in so much pain that he was about to faint, but he was kept from fainting by the other party’s Magical Power.

Just as he was wishing for death but could not die, the door of the room was suddenly blasted open.

Then, he, on the verge of fainting, vaguely saw Chen Xingshan of the Blood Lantern Sect and the big man of the Seven Tigers Alliance rushing in together!

Chongyangzi vaguely remembered that it seemed that while he was being plotted against by the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator and the “Netherworld Demon Vine,” he seemed to have sent out a distress call.

But in this memory scene, there was no sign of the old woman surnamed He from “Spirit Subduing Manor.” He seemed to have sent her a distress call as well.

Then, he was directly swept into a dark space by the “Netherworld Demon Vine,” and then he completely fell into a coma…

His head was splitting now, which should be the result of being soul-searched at that time.

But what about the Yuan-surnamed female cultivator and that fifth-rank “Netherworld Demon Vine”? Why were they all gone? Even the old woman surnamed He was gone.