Chapter 214

"Huan-ge, could it be that the entire sect is left with only us a few people?"

Seeing Yan Mei, sensing the empty, desolate Purple Cloud Valley, couldn't help asking.

"It's unlikely we're the only ones left—Purple Cloud Valley is vast, with many hidden arrays; surely many are still hiding within them."

Ding Huan explained.

"Ding Huan, what should we do now?" After suddenly falling still, Liu Yinzhu lost her direction.

Previously, she had worked tirelessly for Purple Cloud Valley—serving the sect while cultivating her own cultivation.

Now that Purple Cloud Valley was gone, she didn't know what to do anymore.

"First, deal with these corpses and gather everything together." Ding Huan already had a plan in mind.

Ding Huan was the originator of the Great Dao; many things others didn't understand, he understood.

He vaguely felt that if he didn't establish a sect, if he didn't spread his cultivation methods and his Dao, his Great Dao seemed to lack something.

Right now he might not feel it, but what about the future?

It's very likely the foundation—his Dao must have roots in the boundless universe, and that requires a lineage of transmission.

Because any Great Dao existing within the boundless universe must have roots and transmission.

Losing the transmission of the Dao is like losing its foundation—like water without a source, a tree without roots.

He wasn't supposed to be thinking about this yet, but such a golden opportunity lay before him—if he didn't act, it would be like heaven offering something and him refusing it.

Isn't it said, "Heaven offers, refuse it, and you'll suffer the consequences"?

If so, why wait until later?

Among the piles of corpses, nine Purple Cloud Valley cultivators were barely still alive.

One Foundation Establishment cultivator had lighter injuries—he had been stunned into unconsciousness by Hao Wudao's assault on his soul sea, sheer luck.

Real luck, because the battlefield scavengers hadn't arrived yet. When they did, he'd be dead too.

Two Qi Condensation cultivators, after Liu Yinzhu's treatment, could now move freely.

The rest were either severely wounded in their internal organs, or had lost arms or legs; one even had his soul sea shattered.

Even if saved, they could never cultivate again.

"Senior Liu?"

The rescued Foundation Establishment cultivator saw Liu Yinzhu, then glanced at the corpses littering the ground, his face filled with confusion and horror.

"You must be Qin Qingshan—I knew you when you established your Foundation." Liu Yinzhu recognized the Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Disciple is indeed Qin Qingshan." The Foundation Establishment cultivator bowed deeply.

"And you two?" Liu Yinzhu turned to the other two rescued Qi Condensation disciples, one of whom had lost an arm.

"Disciples Shen Jiankai and Chen Ding pay homage to Senior Liu—thank you, Senior, for saving our lives." The two Qi Condensation disciples hurried forward to bow.

Including Qin Qingshan, none of them yet understood what had happened.

"Senior Liu, our Purple Cloud Valley..."

Qin Qingshan swept his spiritual sense—except for these few before him, all were corpses; he grew terrified.

Liu Yinzhu sighed:

"Purple Cloud Valley is gone. The Sect Master died in battle. All disciples, except us few, perished in combat."

Ding Huan knew not all had died—among other things, Dong Lishang had escaped, and he wasn't alone.

Beyond these traitors, he hadn't seen Liu Yinzhu's disciple Mo Huaping or Guan Cai—clearly, Liu Yinzhu had already ordered her disciples and Guan Cai to flee.

"Then what do we do?" Qin Qingshan said, trembling with fear.

Liu Yinzhu said:

"Whether it's your lives or mine, all were saved by Ding Huan. Purple Cloud Valley is gone—Ding Huan is in charge here. Whatever we do next, we follow Ding Huan."

Qin Qingshan and the other two finally realized—the one in charge here was no longer Senior Liu, but Ding Huan.

They had all heard of Ding Huan's conflicts with Dong Lishang and Gong Hua.

They'd also heard the former Sect Master intended to make Ding Huan the Shao Sect, but Ding Huan refused, eventually accepting only the title of Guest Elder.

Now that the Sect Master was dead, Purple Cloud Valley would surely be under Ding Huan's control.

Qin Qingshan, Shen Jiankai, and Chen Ding quickly bowed to Ding Huan, thanking him for saving their lives—in their hearts, they already accepted Ding Huan as Purple Cloud Valley's future Sect Master.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Qin Qingshan understood the importance of early alignment—especially now, with only one faction left:

"Senior Ding, if you rebuild Purple Cloud Valley, I, Qin Qingshan, will surely give my life to aid you."

Ding Huan waved his hand:

"We'll talk about that later. Qin Qingshan, take Shen Jiankai and Chen Ding and bring the other injured to the sect's healing quarters, then return here to help with the corpses."

"Yes." Qin Qingshan and the other two answered sharply—Ding Huan was the future Sect Master of Purple Cloud Valley; how could they dare be careless?

With three more people, their work progressed faster.

Soon, all storage devices were sorted and handed over to Ding Huan for safekeeping.

Ding Huan, thinking he might one day rebuild the sect here, didn't refuse—he took everything into his Star House.

As for the various artifacts, Qin Qingshan organized them all and stored them in the armory.

After burning over ten thousand corpses, the oppressive aura of Purple Cloud Valley lessened somewhat.

"Sect Master, what should we do next?"

Qin Qingshan knew that although Purple Cloud Valley had been nearly annihilated, this might also be an opportunity.

Now that the sect had sealed its mountain gates, no one would likely attack again.

That gave them ample time to rest, recover, and strengthen themselves.

"Qin Qingshan, you and Seeing Yan Mei seal off the sect's Scripture Library, Armory, Training Chambers, Pill Hall, and Artifact Pavilion, then deliver the seals to Zhaoxia Peak."

"And Seeing Yan Mei, gather all Level Two and above alchemical materials from the Armory and bring them to me. Once done, everyone proceeds to Zhaoxia Peak to enter seclusion and cultivate."

Qin Qingshan, your task is heavier. Seeing Yan Mei, Shen Jiankai, and Chen Ding are all under your management.

There are still some disciples hiding inside Purple Mist Valley, but there's no need to go look for them. Once they come out, just gather them together."

Ding Huan had no intention of treating this place as his own territory right now.

Until that He Elder is taken out, his life is in danger here at any moment—let alone founding a sect.

After Qin Qingshan, Seeing Yan Mei, and Lao Liu had all left, Ding Huan finally asked:

"Sister Yinzhu, do you know roughly when that He Elder will come out of seclusion?"

Liu Yinzhu was jolted awake by Ding Huan's words; only now did she remember that such a big shot still existed in Purple Mist Valley.

She instinctively shivered. With He Elder here, she herself might be fine, but once He Elder came out of seclusion, Ding Huan would be the first one killed.

"He Elder has been in seclusion for fifty years now. In those fifty years he has never once come out. Every time, Elder Dong Lishang transmits resources over. Once a year, never missing a single time."

Hearing Liu Yinzhu's words, Ding Huan's eyes lit up:

"Do you know when the resources are transmitted, and how much is sent over?"

Liu Yinzhu said:

"How much is sent over—every year at year's end, He Elder sends out a jade slip, and Dong Lishang transmits whatever is listed in that jade slip."

Ding Huan was overjoyed:

"Sister Yinzhu, could I ask you for a favor? When year's end comes, you must receive the jade slip, and then transmit whatever it requires."

Liu Yinzhu immediately understood what was going on—Ding Huan wanted to quietly build up his strength without alerting He Elder.

But she sighed inwardly:

"Ding Huan's idea is good, but he probably still doesn't understand how big the gap between Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul is. Even a top-grade cultivator sometimes needs a hundred or two hundred years to cross that stage."

"Ding Huan, my suggestion is that this place really isn't a place for you to stay long."

Liu Yinzhu still didn't want Ding Huan to get himself killed, and couldn't help saying it out loud.

Ding Huan knew what Liu Yinzhu meant; he smiled and didn't answer.

He had no way out. If he let a good closed-door cultivation spot like Zhaoxia Peak slip by, how would he ever improve?

To get a good cultivation ground without taking any risk at all? Where in the world would such a good thing exist.

……

After returning to Zhaoxia Peak, Ding Huan immediately took out the rings and bracelets of Chang Qi, Hao Wudao, Gong Hua, and the others.

Chang Qi's ring was handed to him by Liu Yinzhu—he was the sect master of Jiuyinmen. Naturally, Ding Huan had to inspect the contents of his ring.

Hao Wudao was a Nascent Soul elder of Jiuyinmen, and Ding Huan was also very much looking forward to the contents of his ring.

Looking at the storage magic treasures laid out before him, Ding Huan figured he'd learned a lesson.

No matter the situation, even if you think victory is certain, you can't stake your entire fortune on it.

Chang Qi, as sect master of Jiuyinmen, staked his entire fortune on Purple Mist Valley—and as a result, there's barely any difference between him and being wiped out completely.

One can imagine that Jiuyinmen's only path from here on out is the same as Purple Mist Valley's—to seal off the mountain gate.

As a third-grade array master, Ding Huan only needed the time of one incense stick to unseal Chang Qi's ring.

His divine sense landed inside Chang Qi's ring, and Ding Huan couldn't help sighing with emotion.

A sect master's good stuff really is plentiful—high-grade spirit stones alone number at least ten million. There are also two spirit veins, one of which is rich in spiritual energy; it absolutely isn't a low-grade spirit vein.

As for low-grade and mid-grade spirit stones, Ding Huan didn't bother counting them—they were piled up like little mountains, probably even more.

Besides spirit stones, there were all kinds of pills, spirit herbs, cultivation arts, materials…

No wonder that Dong Lishang was so eager to become sect master. Once you become sect master, you really do get a pile of good stuff.

Gong Hua's storage bracelet held ordinary things—only about a hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, the rest mid- and low-grade, plus a few spirit artifacts Ding Huan didn't care for.

As for the restrictions on Hao Wudao's ring, it was a bit more troublesome.

Ding Huan spent half a day before he finally opened Hao Wudao's ring.

Compared to Hao Wudao's cultivation, the contents of his ring weren't that many—high-grade spirit stones were only around a few million.

Mid- and low-grade spirit stones were almost none.

But all the pills, materials, and so on were top-grade stuff.

The best magic treasure was a disguise-type spirit artifact.

Ding Huan had already gotten about ten of these disguise-type spirit artifacts from the storage magic treasures of Chang Qi, Gong Hua, and earlier people like Can Ping.

Only this one spirit artifact made Ding Huan feel it was decent.

What surprised Ding Huan was that he also found a grayish-brown box in Hao Wudao's ring, wrapped in restrictions.

Ding Huan did some divination, then gave up on the idea of removing the restrictions.

He couldn't divine anything about this box. Once he opened it, the picture of his future might not be a complete blank, but it didn't seem like a good one.

(Today's update ends here. Goodnight, friends!)