Demon's Aura

Noon.

Chen Baiqing sat at the table where they had been drinking last night, holding a book in her hands and reading it attentively.

She did not have to wait long.

Cui Hao was the first to push open the door. After greeting Chen Baiqing, he naturally took a seat on the chair beside her, then lazily stretched his back.

"Senior Sister... what book are you reading?"

Chen Baiqing smiled faintly and said:

"A hundred thousand words written by a certain someone."

Hearing this, Cui Hao felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His slightly groggy mind instantly cleared up. The hundred-thousand-word essay he had previously written criticizing the Eldest Senior Sister's poor leadership was already known to everyone in the sect.

However, the brand-new hundred thousand words were something he, Cui Hao, had agreed to write for the Eldest Senior Sister.

These hundred thousand words were written with the utmost flattery; Cui Hao had forced himself to write them while holding back his disgust.

He was determined to be so sycophantic that the Eldest Senior Sister would be too embarrassed to show it to anyone else.

That day, the Eldest Senior Sister had read just one page and did not turn to the second. She merely shot him a glance with a look that said, 'Only you could be this disgusting.'

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that the Eldest Senior Sister would actually show this to the Third Senior Sister.

If this thing spread, was the Eldest Senior Sister not afraid her own reputation would plummet?

Cui Hao opened his mouth to speak...

Seeing Cui Hao's expression, Chen Baiqing revealed a satisfied look, then gently placed the book in her hand onto the table.

Cui Hao's gaze naturally followed, only to see that the contents of the book were not his sycophantic hundred thousand words at all, but rather what appeared to be an extremely niche treatise explaining the Heavenly Dao.

He asked in a low voice, "Senior Sister, you knew?"

Chen Baiqing did not answer this. Instead, she picked up the book from the table and quietly resumed reading.

Seeing this, Cui Hao could only hold his tongue.

The Third Senior Sister's methods were indeed becoming more seasoned; keeping someone in suspense was the most agonizing thing of all.

They did not have to wait much longer.

The three room doors all slowly pushed open.

The three people standing at the doorways exchanged glances, automatically forgetting the events of last night.

Lu Lingyi walked over first, with the remaining two following in her footsteps.

"Sorry to have troubled the team leader yesterday," Lu Lingyi said, cupping her hands in thanks.

Chen Baiqing stored the book in her hand back into her spatial ring:

"It was no trouble. Last night, everyone must have heard quite a bit about my news and temperament from my junior brother. The few secrets I have were probably spilled clean by him."

Lu Lingyi looked slightly embarrassed.

Seeing this, Chen Baiqing continued:

"I am not angry. As an elder sister, I naturally have to own up to whatever my junior brother says. Although I do not know if my junior brother told you my purpose for coming here, you all should believe that among everyone present, I am the one who most desires for this experiential journey to end perfectly."

"Therefore, I only have one requirement."

"If I assign any tasks that are difficult for you to understand, please carry them out according to my requirements first. I will accept all questioning afterward."

Cui Hao quickly stood up and was the first to respond:

"Yes, team leader. No problem, team leader."

Seeing Cui Hao agree so quickly, even though Lu Lingyi knew he was acting as a plant, she could only voice her agreement as well.

Lin Chuan and Li Huazhu also cupped their hands and agreed.

Seeing that everyone had agreed, Chen Baiqing took out a command token from her spatial ring and handed it to Lu Lingyi:

"The mission arrived not long ago. You take a look first. The rest of you, prepare to set off for Beiju Luzhou. You can brief the others on the mission along the way."

Lu Lingyi looked slightly surprised. They had just met yesterday; how could the mission have arrived by noon today?

However, no matter how puzzled she was, she still had to reach out, take the command token, and send her divine sense into it.

The mission she received was exactly as expected.

It targeted a heretical cult connected to the Heavenly Demons. The objective was very straightforward: purge and exterminate.

Ever since Chu Xingchen's battle in Xiniu Hezhou and Bai Xuanling's daytime ascension, the entire immortal cultivation world had begun to exchange intelligence. Since then, the vast majority of sect trials and missions had been focused on hunting demons and purging heretics.

This was especially true for the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect.

Out of ten missions, at least eight were related to Heavenly Demons and heretical cults.

The important part of this command token was not the mission content, but the intelligence.

Intelligence was what determined the difficulty of this mission.

As Lu Lingyi scanned the contents, her heart grew somewhat heavy.

The intelligence for this mission actually indicated the possible presence of a Divine Transformation realm cultivator.

Although from the current perspective of the Central Continent, Beiju Luzhou was undeniably a barren land lacking in spiritual energy and opportunities.

Being able to cultivate a few Nascent Soul cultivators to serve as mainstays was already considered good.

Most of the Divine Transformation cultivators in Beiju Luzhou had fled there from the Central Continent.

And a heretical cult capable of organizing the participation of a Divine Transformation cultivator most likely had more than just one.

As the former number one immortal sect in the world, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's trial missions naturally did not consist of a group of heaven-blessed geniuses relying on their talent and cultivation to bully rogue Nascent Soul cultivators in the other four continents.

Lu Lingyi nodded, accepting Chen Baiqing's instructions, but she cast a worried glance at Cui Hao.

Even for a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, facing a Divine Transformation heretical cultivator... was an extremely risky endeavor.

Let alone Cui Hao, who was only at the Golden Core realm.

However, since Cui Hao was her direct junior brother... the team leader would presumably take extra care of him.

Beiju Luzhou.

The Xuanqing Heavenly Sect had teleportation arrays, but they could not teleport directly into the borders of Beiju Luzhou.

Nominally, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect had no affiliated forces in Beiju Luzhou. For their cultivators to swagger into the territory of Beiju Luzhou would easily attract attention, and not just from heretical cultivators. Moreover, trial missions inherently carried a sense of overcoming the strong with the weak.

Altering their appearances, changing their clothes, and sneaking in was the standard procedure.

Chen Baiqing had come to this continent with her master earlier to handle the matter of achieving godhood through incense offerings, and Zhou Ping was a native of Beiju Luzhou.

However, the place they visited back then was under the jurisdiction of the Taidao Sect, located within the borders of Beiju Luzhou adjacent to the Central Continent.

The territory of Beiju Luzhou was roughly divided among four of the Eighteen Immortal Sects. Based merely on their approximate strength on paper, it was partitioned into barren and prosperous regions.

Naturally, the closer a region was to the Central Continent, the better it was.

The Taidao Sect was naturally the leader among the immortal sects in Beiju Luzhou.

Chen Baiqing's mission location, however, was Yunmeng Marsh in the western part of Beiju Luzhou.

That territory nominally belonged to one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects, the Yunmeng Pavilion.

Chen Baiqing had done her research before setting out. The Yunmeng Pavilion, as one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects, originated in Yunmeng Marsh.

Therefore, as stated in the intelligence reports, the extremely reclusive Yunmeng Pavilion, which barely involved itself in external affairs, had withstood pressure from all sides to secure the territorial rights to Yunmeng Marsh.

Perhaps it contained the secret behind the Yunmeng Pavilion's rise to power.

A spirit horse, covered in mud, shook its head as it slowly trudged forward.

Cui Hao lifted his gaze, pulled back the carriage curtain behind him, and said:

"Senior Sister, just a bit further ahead, and we will arrive at Yunmeng Marsh."

Chen Baiqing looked straight ahead. Amidst a vast expanse of mist and clouds, only a few extremely treacherous mountain peaks pierced through, revealing their ferocious crags.

The boundless mist stretched and spread, looking as if it wanted to devour everything that entered this place.

Chen Baiqing's eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke in a calm tone:

"Such a heavy demonic aura."