First Destroy Zhishen Valley, Then Eliminate Daojian Sect

The Tianlan Spirit Sect was a Qi cultivation sect, founded on the cultivation method known as the Tianlan Heart Scripture. Their "Azure Cloud Sword Technique" held some renown in Xuanqin.

Legend has it that the sect once had a brilliant disciple who cultivated the Tianlan Heart Scripture to the Yuan Ying realm, and during that period created the Azure Cloud Sword Technique. This legend was widely circulated within the Tianlan Spirit Sect and remains a source of pride for its members to this day.

The sect was located in northern Xuanqin, close to North Chu, and maintained intimate connections with North Chu's cultivation world.

As a Qi cultivation sect, the Tianlan Spirit Sect possessed considerable pill-refining capabilities. Generally speaking, they could be self-sufficient in terms of the pills they refined.

However, when it came to crucial pills like the Foundation Establishing Pill for building foundation or the Break Barrier Pill for core formation, which tested one's pill-refining expertise, they weren't very proficient and didn't dare to refine them themselves. Instead, they had to purchase these from larger pill-refining sects.

In the Land of Immortal Legacy, the largest pill-refining sect was naturally the Zhican Valley.

By chance, the Tianlan Spirit Sect established connections with Zhican Valley, securing a stable supply channel for Foundation Establishing Pills and Break Barrier Pills.

Being a pill-refining sect themselves, their frequent interactions with Zhican Valley allowed them to learn much about pill refinement.

Thus, Zhican Valley became not only a source for important pills but also something of a superior sect to the Tianlan Spirit Sect.

Currently, many disciples in Zhican Valley had been promoted from the Tianlan Spirit Sect.

After receiving Zhican Valley's request for help, the sect leader of the Tianlan Spirit Sect, after careful consideration, decided to send an elder with several disciples to show their loyalty to Zhican Valley.

Zhang Zong, an inner elder of the Tianlan Spirit Sect, was widely disliked within the sect due to his gloomy personality and preference for using living beings in pill refinement. Thus, the sect leader ordered him to lead ten Foundation Establishment disciples and two Golden Core disciples, thirteen people in total, to assist Zhican Valley.

Zhang Zong was reluctant to leave as it would waste his pill-refining time, but considering it was Zhican Valley, a holy land of pill refinement, he decided to go and see.

They received the message on the seventeenth, Zhang Zong departed at dawn on the eighteenth, and by dusk on the nineteenth, they barely managed to reach the outskirts of the Hengduan Mountains.

Their slow progress was due to two factors: first, the sect leader hadn't provided them with a flying vessel like a cloud ship, and second, the Foundation Establishment disciples weren't core members of the Tianlan Spirit Sect. Though they were at middle and late stages, their cultivation was merely superficial.

Zhang Zong possessed the basic qualities of an alchemist, with meticulous attention to detail.

Although Zhican Valley was on the outskirts of the Hengduan Mountains, given the mountain range's vastness, they probably couldn't reach Zhican Valley immediately.

And how dangerous would it be to enter the primordial forest at night?

Therefore, Zhang Zong decided to rest for the night outside the Hengduan Mountains and enter the forest at daybreak.

"Get down!" he ordered. "We'll camp here tonight and head to Zhican Valley tomorrow morning."

"Elder Zhang, Zhican Valley is just on the outskirts of the Hengduan Mountains. Why don't we push on through the night to reach it?" one of the Golden Core disciples questioned.

"When I say rest, we rest!" Zhang Zong snapped, unwilling to explain. "Are you questioning my decision?"

Considering the terrifying rumors about Zhang Zong within the sect, the disciple glanced at him and dared not say more, though he harbored resentment in his heart.

The group of thirteen cultivators didn't need much consideration; they simply found a large tree for shelter. They sat cross-legged around the tree to meditate and recover their spiritual energy while taking a brief rest.

Time passed slowly, and soon it was deep night. Many of the meditating disciples had fallen into deep cultivation states.

In the ethereal night, silence bred terror.

At one moment, Zhang Zong suddenly opened his eyes on the boulder by the large tree, while a talisman silently slipped from his sleeve into his palm.

He looked into the darkness ahead and saw a figure standing there with a sword on their back, facing away from him.

The night was too dark to discern whether it was a man or woman; he could only vaguely see the figure's hair floating in the night wind.

Being a Golden Core cultivator, he calmly stood up from the boulder and cautiously asked, "Who are you? Why are you playing tricks here?!"

He didn't know when this person had appeared; his spiritual sense could only detect the cold wind, unable to sense the actual person.

Their strength far exceeded his.

The sword-carrying figure remained silent, with only a gentle breeze blowing from that direction. But this breeze seemed to come from an ice layer, bone-chillingly cold.

Perhaps it was the netherworld wind from the underworld.

Zhang Zong quietly took out his natal magical treasure and held it behind his back.

"You come here without reason and remain silent. What exactly do you want?" he spoke again, adding a warning, "If you don't speak, I'll have to take action."

The warning before attacking wasn't due to Zhang Zong's gentlemanly nature, but because he knew the opponent's strength exceeded his, and he dared not act rashly.

He was stalling for time, waiting for the disciples behind the tree to wake up, especially the two Golden Core disciples. Only by attacking together might they have a chance.

The sword-carrying figure remained silent.

However, at some point, Zhang Zong suddenly realized he could see the figure clearly - black clothes, long hair, slender shoulders, it was a woman's silhouette!

Something was wrong...

Not good!

Zhang Zong was startled - it wasn't that his vision had improved, but that the sword-carrying figure had drawn closer!

The figure had been continuously approaching him, but because they were facing away and moving so slowly without any obvious movement, he hadn't noticed.

"Take this!" Without further words, he activated the talisman in his palm, sending a palm lightning bolt striking the figure.

The figure neither dodged nor blocked, taking the palm lightning head-on.

"What?" Zhang Zong was shocked. There was no reaction after being hit by the palm lightning. "What kind of monster is this?"

He had no time to think further, as the monster's speed suddenly increased after being struck by his palm lightning.

"Wake up!" he quickly turned to shout at the disciples.

But when he glanced back, he saw none of the disciples stirring. In an instant, he realized these fools were trying to use this mysteriously appearing monster to kill him.

No one in the Tianlan Spirit Sect was close to him.

"Fools!!" he roared, turning back and biting his tongue to spray heart blood onto his natal magical treasure, fully activating it.

In the darkness, his magical treasure cut through the air with a "po" sound, heading toward the figure.

Just as his treasure was about to hit the figure, Zhang Zong's vision blurred, and the approaching figure vanished.

"Hmm?" he was stunned, his first thought being, "Could it have been an illusion?"

But before this thought could be replaced by others, he heard the sound of a sword being drawn.

The sound was so crisp...

"Chi-ying~"

Like the final moan of a young maiden dying in his pill furnace.

While the sound still echoed in his ears, he felt something pass through his body.

He looked down, and in the darkness, he clearly saw blood seeping from his body.

Making a "zi zi..." sound.

But he felt no pain.

"I heard someone say that if a sword is fast enough, the blood spurting from the wound sounds like the wind, very pleasant to hear."

In the darkness, suddenly a man's voice came with the wind.

Zhang Zong looked up and saw four people walking towards him, stepping on the tips of the dense wild grass.

The speaker was a relatively delicate-looking man walking in the middle. "Master, who said this?" a woman beside him asked.

"Wong Kar-wai said it," he replied.

"Who is Wong Kar-wai? Is he a sword cultivator with a high realm?" she inquired further.

"He doesn't know swordsmanship."

"Then how does he know blood sounds like wind and is pleasant to hear?"

"Doesn't it?" the man asked in return.

"No," the woman shook her head, "I've never seen it."

"Perhaps your sword isn't fast enough," the man said.

"Senior Brother Lu, have you seen it?" the woman asked.

Another tall and straight man shook his head, saying, "I haven't seen it either."

"What about Senior Brother Liu?"

The man suddenly slapped the woman's head and scolded, "How many times have I told you not to call names directly! Don't call names directly! We are East Evil, West Poison, South Emperor, North Beggar, and Central Divine - can't you remember that?!"

The woman rubbed her head innocently and said, "I just forgot..."

"Remember, you are the East Evil Sword Immortal!"

As they spoke, they walked up to Zhang Zong. Zhang Zong could see clearly now - there were three men and one woman.

"Do you know why your disciples haven't come to help you?" asked the refined-looking man in the middle with a smile. His smile was so warm, like a spring breeze.

Zhang Zong had thought they wanted to eliminate him using enemy hands, but now he realized - they had died before him.

He nodded.

For some reason, he suddenly felt relieved - he hadn't been abandoned... they were just dead.

Then he split apart. His body was divided evenly in half, the wound neat and clean. The Central Divine Sword Immortal's sword was clearly fast enough.

In his final moments before life slipped away, he heard the warmly smiling man say softly:

"Remember, I am the West Poison Sword Immortal of the Boundless Sword Sect. The one who killed you is the Central Divine Sword Immortal of the Boundless Sword Sect. We repay all grudges and grievances - the Boundless Sword Sect never kills wrongly. We will kill all cultivators who dare to help Zhican Valley..."

Zhang Zong remembered clearly, and would never forget even in death.

When the cultivators from Zhican Valley found this place, several days had already passed.

They discovered the elder of the Tianlan Spirit Sect had been cleanly split in half by sharp sword energy. Under a large tree, they found twelve disciples of the Tianlan Spirit Sect, all with sword energy pierced through their chests and dantian. Their dantian seas were destroyed - they had all died unnatural deaths while meditating.

On the front of that large tree, they saw words written in blood with a sword: "Death to all who dare aid Zhican Valley!"

On the back of the tree: "First eliminate Zhican Valley, then destroy the Dao Sword Sect!"

"Boundless Sword Sect!" someone shouted in rage, striking through the tree with a palm strike.

As soon as he cursed, an extremely unpleasant sound responded from the huge rock: "Boundless Sword Sect, Boundless Sword Sect! Sword Immortal, West Poison! Boundless Sword Sect..."

Ghost wails! The people from Zhican Valley were instantly overjoyed - soul fragments still remained.

They hurried over and cast spells to collect the lingering souls.

"Who killed you all?" someone urgently asked.

"Boundless Sword Sect... Boundless Sword Sect..." the remnant soul murmured, "West Poison, South Emperor, Sword Immortal... Boundless Sword Sect... kill all of Zhican Valley..."

"Was it really the Boundless Sword Sect?" A Zhican Valley cultivator who knew their internal affairs asked skeptically with furrowed brows, "Which members of the Boundless Sword Sect?"

"South Emperor, Central Divine, Central Divine, Sword Immortal, Sword Immortal... Boundless Sword Sect... kill all of Zhican Valley..." Then the remnant soul could only repeat this one phrase.

"Can the remnant soul be restored?" someone asked.

Someone answered: "No, too much time has passed. It should have dispersed long ago - it only remained due to resentment and Golden Core cultivation level..."

"Why did the Boundless Sword Sect go back on their word?" someone asked in confusion.