After the Downfall

Mornings in Xuanjing City were usually awakened by the cries of vendors echoing from every street and alley.

But today, a completely different kind of clamor swept through the entire city—not the hawking of spiritual materials or elixirs, but a sound of nearly terrified, suppressed discussion.

"Extra! Extra! Breaking news! The Azure Cloud Sect has been wiped out!"

"W-wiped out! The Azure Cloud Sect!"

"The sect masters of the Upper Three Sects all died in battle, and three great Mahayana experts were beheaded!"

A peddler wearing a rough tunic and trousers, carrying a stack of brand-new broadsheets, shouted himself hoarse as he weaved through the crowd.

The broadsheet in his hand featured a headline printed in thick black ink that was shocking to the eye:

"A Titan of the Donghua Divine Continent Collapses Overnight! Three Great Mahayana Experts of the Azure Cloud Sect Perish! Centennial Celebration Turns into a Slaughterhouse!"

Beside the text was a slightly scribbled illustration depicting the broken Azure Cloud Mountain Range and black energy soaring into the sky.

This shout was like pouring a ladle of cold water into hot oil, instantly detonating the entire Xuanjing City.

"What?! What did you say? The Azure Cloud Sect is destroyed?"

"Are you crazy?! That's the Azure Cloud Sect, the number one sect in our Donghua Divine Continent!"

"Nonsense! I am a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect!"

Hearing the peddler's shouts, the eyes of some cultivators were filled with disbelief and horror.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The Azure Cloud Sect has three Mahayana Patriarchs keeping watch! How could it be destroyed just like that?"

Many cultivators stopped the peddler.

"Give me a paper!"

"Read it! Read it! It's written clearly right here! Qingyunzi, Ling Qing, and Xuan Sha—all three Patriarchs are dead! Not even their divine souls remained! Also, the sect masters and elders of the Scarlet Cloud Sect, the One Origin Sect, and a dozen others all died at the Azure Cloud Sect's celebration!"

Seeing more and more people gathering around, the peddler simply unfolded a broadsheet and shouted while pointing at the text.

The crowd instantly exploded. Countless cultivators surged forward, fighting to buy the report. For a moment, cries of "Ten low-grade spirit stones a copy!" rose and fell, but even the high price couldn't stop the crowd's fanaticism.

"My god... Qingyunzi was a Mahayana realm old monster! How could he..."

"And Elder Ling Qing, his wood-element Daoist magic was perfection, and he was extremely good at defense... how could he have fallen too?"

"It says here it was done by a mysterious mighty figure named Ye Chuan and the remnant of the Yuxu Sect, Bai Qianshuang!"

"The Yuxu Sect! Weren't they wiped out by the Azure Cloud Sect? How is someone still alive?"

"It's said that mysterious mighty figure used a Ten Thousand Soul Banner to swallow the entire Azure Cloud Sect."

"E-evil cultivator..."

...

Meanwhile, many cultivators headed toward the Azure Cloud Mountain Range.

Among them were curious rogue cultivators, disciples of sects that had grudges against the Azure Cloud Sect, and a few elders from neutral forces.

Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes if that colossal sect had truly become a pile of ruins as the report claimed.

Arriving at the foot of the Azure Cloud Mountain Range, everyone was shocked speechless by the scene before them.

The main peak, once shrouded in clouds and mist and dense with spiritual energy, was now broken in half. The mountain body was covered in pitch-black cracks, and the air was filled with the thick smell of blood and scorching.

The archway at the foot of the mountain had long collapsed. Amidst the shattered wood and stone piles, scattered skeletons of Azure Cloud Sect disciples could still be seen.

"Is... is this really the Azure Cloud Sect?" A young rogue cultivator's voice trembled, his eyes full of disbelief.

He had come to the Azure Cloud Sect three years ago to seek medical help. At that time, the sect was majestic and imposing, and the disciples were all arrogant and overbearing. Now, only broken walls and ruins remained, like a purgatory on earth.

The crowd walked up along the broken mountain path. The deeper they went, the more miserable the scene became.

The jade bricks on the plaza were all shattered. The coiled dragon pillars had fallen to the ground, the reliefs on them hacked beyond recognition.

The Azure Cloud Sword at the top of the sacrificial altar was long gone, leaving only a pitch-black sword pit that still retained the aura of chaotic power.

The tragic state of the scene made everyone present frown.

"Look over there!"

A cultivator suddenly pointed to the depths of the main peak, where a palace hall lay half-buried in rubble.

The crowd walked over quickly and pushed open the collapsed palace doors. A nauseating, sweet, and metallic stench pounced on their faces.

The scene inside the hall made everyone gasp.

Dozens of huge bronze cauldrons were placed on the ground. The cauldrons contained a residue of dark red liquid, and the edges were stuck with bits of torn clothing and bones.

The stone walls beside the cauldrons were carved with dense runes. Upon careful examination, it turned out to be the long-banned Soul-Devouring Spirit-Refining Technique!

"This... they were refining cultivator souls into spiritual liquid!" A white-haired elder's expression changed drastically as he pointed at the residue in the cauldron.

"These dark red liquids are spiritual fluids refined from the essence blood and divine souls of cultivators! The Azure Cloud Sect... they were actually doing this kind of dirty business!"

The crowd was in an uproar and gathered around to check.

On the ground beside the bronze cauldrons lay countless cultivator identity tokens. The largest number bore the words "Yuxu Sect," clearly left behind during the massacre of that sect.

"No wonder the Azure Cloud Sect could rise above so many other sects. It turns out they relied on such evil methods!"

The cultivators found it hard to believe.

"They kept claiming the Yuxu Sect was a demonic sect, yet they themselves were doing things even filthier than a demonic sect!"

"Slaughtering the Yuxu Sect wasn't just for their spirit veins and cultivation techniques; it was to seize the divine souls of the Yuxu Sect disciples to refine this evil liquid!" another cultivator added, his eyes full of disdain.

"No wonder the Azure Cloud Sect always wiped out small sects and claimed they were demonic sects. It turns out..."

"Wait, the Azure Cloud Sect even used their own disciples to refine spiritual liquid?" Another cultivator noticed a Azure Cloud Sect disciple's token with the name Zi Ning'er on it.

"This seems to be a Direct Disciple?"

In the crowd, a few surviving outer sect disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect slumped to the ground, looking at the scene before them, seemingly unable to believe it.

This...

They had always thought their sect was a model of the righteous path, but they never expected such a dirty secret to be hidden behind it.

"So... the Azure Cloud Sect was actually such a heretical and demonic sect..."

"How could this be..."

"Urgh..."

The news quickly spread back to Xuanjing City, shaking the entire Donghua Divine Continent.

Cultivators who originally had complaints about Ye Chuan's act of exterminating the sect now fell silent. Compared to the Azure Cloud Sect's atrocity of refining cultivators, Ye Chuan's revenge had instead become an act of enforcing justice on behalf of Heaven.

The broadsheets in Xuanjing City were updated again. The front-page headline changed to "Secret Demonic Hall Discovered in Azure Cloud Sect Ruins, Soul-Devouring Spirit-Refining Technique Exposed to the World."

The article described the scene in the hall in detail, accompanied by illustrations of the bronze cauldrons and runes. For a time, curses against the Azure Cloud Sect covered the earth, while the names of Ye Chuan and Bai Qianshuang changed from evil cultivators to righteous people clearing away sin.

The news of the Azure Cloud Sect's destruction also reached the ears of certain people.

Inside a certain palace hall, a figure was sitting in a seat, with a newspaper placed before her.

"Yuxu Sect, Bai Qianshuang...?" The figure saw the content on the publication and slowly lifted her face.

That stunningly beautiful face was actually identical to Bai Qianshuang's!

"..."

"Master..."