The five elders looked troubled.
Logically speaking, as long as a person existed, they would leave some sort of trace behind.
But Chen Qingqiu seemed to have vanished into thin air. No matter how they searched using their spiritual sense and spells, and even after asking the people of Yong'an Pavilion for help, they could not find even a single trace of her.
They even suspected that she was already dead somewhere.
But even if that were the case, her corpse should still be somewhere.
Gritting his teeth, Ye Linchong forced his head up against the heavy pressure and said with difficulty, “Please calm your anger, Pavilion Master! Chen Qingqiu has already fled the Beiyao Sect, and Feng Qing won't let her off either. It won't be too late to capture her later. Our top priority is to suppress Feng Qing and reclaim control of the Nine Saints Hall. Besides... she shares a deep history with Feng Qing. Perhaps Feng Qing knows her whereabouts. Once we capture Feng Qing, we won't have to worry about finding her.”
Before he could finish speaking, Ye Chongguang's expression darkened abruptly. A purple light flared in his eyes as he stood up, raising his hand to strike with a palm wind laden with violent spiritual energy.
“Fool!”
Ye Linchong had no time to dodge at all. Taking the blow full-on, he let out a muffled groan and was sent flying, crashing heavily against a cold palace pillar. A metallic sweetness welled up in his throat, and blood instantly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Ye Chongguang looked down at him, his voice laced with towering rage. “Without Chen Qingqiu's pure light spiritual root, how am I supposed to absorb the dark poison puppetry technique from Wen Tang? You short-sighted fool! You only see the Nine Saints Hall right in front of you. Don't you know that once the dark poison secret technique is in our hands, not to mention a single Beiyao Sect, the entire Tianshu Realm will be under the control of our Taiqing Pavilion?!”
Clutching his chest, Ye Linchong stumbled to his feet and hurriedly prostrated himself to beg for forgiveness. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, but he still forced himself to continue, “Forgive me, Pavilion Master, but the situation is critical. If we continue to bide our time, it is only a matter of time before Feng Qing and those people from the Beiyao Sect thoroughly master the secret techniques of the Nine Saints Hall!”
“Once her strength surges, it will be even harder for us to counter her. And... and there's also Black Cloud Mountain. After Wen Tang's love threads were extracted and she was refined, her strength has also been growing at a terrifying pace. If she is allowed to refine even more high-grade puppets, not to mention capturing her, we might not even be able to set foot in Black Cloud Mountain...”
At the mention of Black Cloud Mountain, a fierce hostility welled up in Ye Chongguang's eyes, mixed with a trace of undeniable irritation.
The secret technique given by that person allowed him to seize the dark poison puppetry technique from Wen Tang and enhance it a hundredfold.
However, the dark poison was extremely malevolent. Forcing an absorption would inevitably lead to a soul backlash, requiring a pure light spiritual root to purify and guide it before it could be safely absorbed for his own use.
He had searched the entire Tianshu Realm before barely finding Chen Qingqiu as the perfect candidate. He only needed to capture both of them and bring them to the Taiqing Pavilion to achieve his grand design.
The Wen family had already aligned with them, so securing Wen Tang should have been as easy as turning over his palm.
But he never expected that even though he had ordered Elder Huaisang to extract Wen Tang's love threads and refine her using the secret technique from that person, she would still manage to break free from the restrictions and regain her senses time and again.
Now, she had inexplicably escaped their control entirely, hiding in Black Cloud Mountain and using the secret techniques she learned to make her cultivation skyrocket. She had even captured Chang'an, turning herself into a major threat.
Not to mention Chen Qingqiu.
As the Saintess of the Beiyao Sect, her natural light spiritual root was pure and untainted. Her wedding date had already been set, and once she married into the Taiqing Pavilion, he would have been able to extract her spiritual root to aid in refining and inheriting the technique.
Who would have thought that on the eve of the wedding, someone would secretly help her escape, and she had remained missing ever since!
The dark purple mist inside the hall churned wildly in sync with his emotions. A biting chill cascaded down the palace steps, causing the elders' spines to stiffen as they instinctively held their breath.
Enduring the pain, Ye Linchong stepped forward, the blood at the corner of his mouth still wet. “Please calm your anger, Pavilion Master. Although we have not reclaimed the secret technique inheritance yet, the Beiyao Sect's foundation is shallow and is ultimately no match for our Taiqing Pavilion. In my opinion, we should take a two-pronged approach.”
“On one hand, we can deploy more undercover agents to search the entire realm for Chen Qingqiu. On the other hand, we should enter the Nine Saints Hall, at least to prevent Feng Qing from continuing to grow more arrogant and powerful.”
Ye Chongguang lowered his eyes and sat back down. His fingertips slowly tapped on the armrest of the main seat, his expression shifting unpredictably.
The hall was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. After a long while, he looked up, the hostility in his eyes fully retracting into a cold, hard edge. “Pass down my order. Mobilize three elite squads of the pavilion to set out immediately. I limit you to two days to conquer Black Cloud Mountain and capture Wen Tang alive.”
“As long as we have Wen Tang in our hands, the situation won't be completely out of control. The moment you capture her, send her to the Taiqing Pavilion's secret dungeon to be sealed. We can deal with Feng Qing and find Chen Qingqiu afterward!”
The elders below the steps bowed in unison. “We obey your command!”
-
Black Cloud Mountain was shrouded year-round in a thick, impenetrable dark mist. Within the mountain valleys, the stench of corpses and the malevolent energy of puppets intertwined. It was a perilous land occupied by evil cultivators and death soldiers, a place that cultivators of the Tianshu Realm had always avoided.
Now, with the addition of an emotionless Wen Tang who possessed the dark poison and could manipulate puppets, its danger had become even greater than before.
Under the cover of the deep night, three elite squads of Taiqing Pavilion cultivators quietly made their way to the foot of the mountain.
Each led by an elder, the hundred-plus cultivators concealed their spiritual light and spread out along the mountain terrain to form a siege.
Dozens of formation flags were driven into the mountain. A pale gold barrier slowly rose from all sides, and in less than half an incense burn, it firmly enclosed the entirety of Black Cloud Mountain, making it impossible for even a flying insect to escape.
Standing at the highest point of the mountainside, Ye Linchong looked down at the churning mist in the valley below with his hands behind his back. He instructed in a deep voice, “Wen Tang's puppetry secret technique is bizarre. Remember to advance in formation. If you encounter high-grade puppets, send a transmission immediately. Do not act rashly out of greed for merit.”
With that, he waved his hand. “Move out.”
The cultivators moved in formation, their spiritual light piercing through the dark mist as they advanced along the mountain path toward the heart of the mountain.
The terrain of Black Cloud Mountain was complex, and the evil cultivators and puppets would not be easy to deal with. Anticipating a fierce battle, Ye Linchong turned back to sit on an armchair, closing his eyes to regulate his breath and circulate his spiritual energy.
Yet, in less than fifteen minutes, a sword Qi tore through the air.
A leading Taiqing Pavilion cultivator landed nearby and stepped forward quickly to salute.
Ye Linchong snapped his eyes open, his brow furrowing as he asked in a cold voice, “What happened?”
The cultivator took a breath, a hint of joy in his voice. “Replying to the Second Elder, nothing happened! Our advance was completely unimpeded. The evil cultivators and puppets along the way offered almost no resistance. Right now, the entire Black Cloud Mountain has fallen into our hands, and the main hall is completely surrounded. We didn't see Wen Tang anywhere else, but there is a barrier around the main hall. We suspect she is inside. Would you like to head over personally?”
Ye Linchong was taken aback, his brow furrowing even tighter.
They had breached the mountain so easily?
This wasn't right.
When Wen Tang lost control previously, she had been able to kill Huai Sang and Family Head Wen all by herself without making a sound. Now that so much time had passed, her cultivation should have increased significantly. With so many dark poison puppets at her disposal, how could she be so easy to deal with?
Or could she also be suffering from the dark poison's backlash?
He frowned and asked, “Did you not encounter any puppets?”
The cultivator hesitated. “We did, but they were very few in number, and...”
Ye Linchong: “And what?”
The cultivator replied, “These puppets are like walking corpses. They don't attack us at all, and they don't even spare us a glance. It seems there is no one controlling them.
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