Chapter 460: Divine Weapon · Evil Moon Domain?

At the bottom of Cloud Sea Cliff, inside a small cave.

Piercing screams of agony echoed within, lingering for a long time without dispersing.

"Enough, stop screaming!" Lu Ran retracted the black fire that was scorching the soul.

"Mmm-mm-uh." The man was terrified beyond measure, daring not to scream again, yet emitting strange sounds because the pain had not yet subsided.

Lu Ran leaned against the cave entrance and asked, "What faction do you belong to?"

In Lu Ran's eyes, for four Named River Estuary Realm disciples of the Yanqingyi Sect to sneak in from this side of the sea, there must naturally be some organization and premeditation behind it.

"Sea Folk Gang! My lord! We are of the Sea Folk Gang!" the man hurriedly shouted.

His demeanor suggested he feared that answering slowly would subject him to more torture.

"Sea Folk Gang?" Lu Ran was quite surprised.

He actually knew of this organization!

The Xun Luo couple had once said that there were two factions here previously; later, struggling for power and profit, they merged into one and sailed out to sea together to seek an Xiandao.

After the two factions merged, their name became the Sea Folk Gang!

"Yes, the Sea Folk Gang! The Sea Folk Gang..." the man said in a flustered, stammering rush.

"Did you find the Xiandao?" Lu Ran's brows furrowed slightly.

The man was clearly stunned for a moment: "My lord, y-you know about us?"

Lu Ran's face darkened: "Am I chatting with you?"

The man was startled and hurriedly said, "We found it! There are many islands in the sea; on some of those islands, there is a great deal of Saint Spirit Qi!"

Lu Ran nodded gently: "So your Sea Folk Gang scraped all the Saint Spirit Qi clean and planned to return?"

He believed these four might be an advance party.

If that were the case, Cloud Sea Cliff must be even more vigilant; there would likely be a tough battle to fight later!

However, contrary to his expectation, the man tearfully complained, "The few of us escaped; ever since we found the Xiandao, we have been surrounded."

"Oh?"

"The sea is too perilous; the Black Carp, the Fisherman Old Man, the Furious Sea Flame Serpent, and especially the Merfolk clan—they spend every day taking pleasure in tormenting us!"

Lu Ran let out a cold snort.

Merfolk are what humans call mermen.

The forms of the demonic Merfolk clan are all male, with human upper bodies and fish tails; each possesses a noble temperament, elegant and charming.

Like other demonic races such as the Puppet Shadow and the Rouge Paper Man, the more outstanding their appearance, the more cruel their methods of tormenting people.

Furthermore, the Merfolk clan are the sworn enemies of the Yanqingyi Sect!

If the Merfolk do not kill you, then who would they kill?

Actually, by rights, the demons of the Saint Lingshan Realm should prioritize collecting Saint Spirit Qi above all else.

Therefore, this matter of being "sworn enemies" is not necessarily the root cause of the conflict.

Most likely, this group of Yanqing disciples who sailed far out to sea killed their way into the Merfolk clan's territory, infringing upon the other party's fundamental interests.

The man continued to pour out his bitterness: "We were trapped on an island, surrounded entirely by Merfolk; every day we had to endure the sonic devastation of the Merfolk clan."

"We also hid here and there, terrified that the Furious Sea Flame Serpents flying overhead would discover us."

Lu Ran interrupted: "And then you managed to escape?"

The man hurriedly said, "Internal divisions arose among us—"

As the captive recounted, Lu Ran grasped the general situation.

Facing the predicament of being surrounded, the Sea Folk Gang split internally into two factions.

One faction wanted to wait for a stormy night, escape the Xiandao through the air, continue searching for the next Xiandao, and continue collecting Saint Spirit Qi for Lord God.

Only in this way could they possibly win Lord God's favor!

Only in this way might God show great mercy and allow the believers to return to the human world!

This group constituted the majority.

The other, smaller faction wanted to return to their original base.

Although returning meant abandoning hope, compared to the dangerous sea, the smaller group did not wish to perish here and no longer wanted to seek another Xiandao.

Ultimately, a violent conflict erupted within the Sea Folk Gang.

The fanatical believers would not tolerate the existence of disloyal Yanqing disciples!

God's decree is supreme; how could believers covet life and fear death, betraying the faith in their hearts for personal gain?

There were also many who had had enough of the Saint Lingshan Realm and wanted to go home, who would not allow anyone to shake the army's morale!

Thus, fellow disciples turned their blades against one another.

Fortunately, the Pai De Shen Fa of the Yanqingyi Sect all manifest in water form.

Yet the Yanqingyi Sect itself does not utilize water-attribute Xing De Ji Fa...

It was somewhat like the saying, "We were all taught by the same master, so we cannot break each other's moves."

Only because of this did the smaller group manage to escape the Xiandao.

First they fought against their compatriots, then some were killed by demons, and a few more got separated along the way; in the end, the group that escaped to this side of Cloud Sea Cliff was a four-person squad.

"Heh." Lu Ran was so angry he laughed.

Pitiful?

Pitiful my ass!

Lu Ran said fiercely, "You've become this miserable! Instead of thinking about how to recuperate, the moment you see someone advancing in cultivation, the first thought in your heads is still to harm others?"

"I'm sorry, my lord, I'm sorry; we were blind, we were..." The man was panic-stricken, constantly begging for mercy.

Lu Ran forcefully interrupted: "Cut the nonsense! I'm just asking you, what exactly were you thinking?"

The man stammered, then suddenly changed tack: "W-we didn't mean to harm anyone, we a-a-a-ah!"

Before he could finish, faint ghostly flames ignited in Lu Ran's palm.

Screams of agony filled the air, intermingled with weeping and pleas for mercy.

Lu Ran let the flames burn for a full ten seconds before extinguishing them.

"We've been gone too long!" the man cried out loudly, daring not tell a single lie anymore. "When we returned, we found a new power had emerged here; we saw someone undergoing advancement!"

Lu Ran looked coldly at the man: "And then?"

"We wanted to secretly investigate, to see if this power was established by followers of Yan Qing. If it was, we planned to try joining them; if not..."

"Then what?"

"Then w-we would disrupt this person's advancement and strike first to gain the upper hand... My lord! My lord, I was wrong, I've told you everything, please spare me!"

Lu Ran's face was gloomy: "This place is far, far away from your den."

Cloud Sea Cliff was undeniably located right by the seaside.

The Sea Folk Gang's base, however, was hidden deep within old forests and mountains.

The man's expression was bitter; he spoke with a trembling voice: "Sooner or later we would have met. In three to five months, or ten years at most, we would eventually... eventually have met..."

Lu Ran closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

The atmosphere and rules of Spirit Holy Mountain were not formed in just a day or two.

Thinking about it now, the undertaking the Wu Seng young lady wished to pursue would likely be fraught with hardships all the way.

The man dared not make a sound, his heart filled with endless regret.

Who could have predicted that their side would encounter such a terrifying god of death?

If only we had known this earlier, we would have followed the main force to seek the Xiandao instead!

Perhaps, if we had gathered enough Spirit Holy Qi, Lord God would have shown mercy...

Lu Ran suddenly asked: "Just the four of you?"

"More than ten of us escaped; the rest got separated and were likely killed by evil spirits. Only the four of us made landfall together."

"Hmm, you just said there are many Immortal Islands out at sea?"

"Yes. The first two islands we landed on had no Spirit Holy Qi; it might have been collected by the Fisherman or the Sin Mirror Demons..."

Lu Ran's spirit lifted, his voice growing slightly louder: "What did you say? Sin Mirror Demons?"

"A-ah!" the man replied tremulously, unsure why the young man reacted so strongly, and hurriedly answered, "There is a tribe of Sin Mirror Demons on the island!"

Lu Ran was both shocked and delighted: "You saw them?"

"My lord, I saw it with my own eyes: a mirror hung high in the sky, and a Sin Mirror Demon leaned out its upper body, stretching out a hand to catch the Spirit Holy Qi descending from heaven!" the man stated with absolute certainty.

"Gulp." Lu Ran's Adam's apple bobbed.

No wonder people did not know where the base of the Sin Mirror Demon tribe was located.

So it was on an island?

Indeed, although this tribe consists of land-dwelling creatures, they possess a teleportation technique, allowing them to shuttle freely between islands.

The only question was whether the Sin Mirror Demon this captive saw was merely an individual.

Lu Ran immediately asked, but the other party's response was very vague.

According to the captive, he had indeed seen the figure of a Sin Mirror Demon, which should have been on another distant island.

As for whether there was one Sin Mirror Demon, a group of them, or even an evil nest situated on the island, he did not know.

At that time, he and the members of the Sea Folk Gang had been trapped together on an Xiandao.

With no path to heaven and no gate to earth, they had hoped to wait for a stormy night, using the heavy rain to fly off the island.

"In two days, I will interrogate you again," Lu Ran said. "By then, you must tell me everything you saw and heard while out at sea."

"My lord! My lord, I can tell you everything right now, please don't—"

"Shut up." Lu Ran directly summoned the ancient bronze mirror.

The subsequent matters would have to wait until Xun Xun Yifei successfully completed his advancement before being interrogated in detail.

As the full-length mirror took shape, Lu Ran stepped into it, arriving at the area west of Cloud Sea Cliff where Deng Deng Yuxiang was stationed.

"Sect Master?"

"It's me." Lu Ran responded immediately, secretly sighing at her formidable strength.

Amidst such violent wind and rain, she had still detected the fluctuation of divine power.

"Come, take custody of the captive for now; once Cloud Sea Cliff stabilizes, we two will interrogate him together." Lu Ran quickly approached Deng Deng Yuxiang.

"Yes." Deng Deng Yuxiang reached out her hand, then suddenly frowned slightly. "Hmm?"

Lu Ran also sensed something; did the energy on the cliff seem to have become denser?

"Continue your watch." Lu Ran handed over the captive and opened another full-length mirror.

Stepping through, Lu Ran stood suspended in mid-air between the sea and sky, several kilometers away from Cloud Sea Cliff.

As the saying goes, those within the situation are often blind to it!

Once Lu Ran left the Cloud Sea Cliff area, he witnessed a magnificent sight!

Thick mist churned between heaven and earth, surging madly toward Cloud Sea Cliff.

This was naturally the white mist bestowed by the Heavens during Xun Xun Yifei's advancement.

Lu Ran observed carefully and, as expected, saw celestial phenomena of an even higher specification!

Within the mist, large amounts of fog were rotating in an orderly fashion, transforming into massive fog tornadoes connecting the sky with the sea cliff.

Was this the celestial phenomenon triggered by the advancement of a divine weapon?

Lu Ran opened his mouth slightly, his heart growing increasingly excited.

He wanted to ask Yan Yan Shuangzi, but feared disturbing her.

Ink-Stained Blade, Nether Cold Edge, Cold Moon Saber, Evil Moon Crescent Blade.

This divine weapon changed names several times and passed through many hands, drifting within the Mountain Realm for over a decade.

Until two months ago, it finally met someone who, after its original master, was recognized by the weapon itself as the one to whom it willingly pledged its eternal service.

And now, Yan Yan Shuangzi, wielding her Evil Moon Crescent Blade, was about to activate the Divine Weapon Domain!

"Boom—rumble—!!"

The sudden noise shook heaven and earth!

"Hiss—" Lu Ran's face turned deathly pale as he gasped sharply.

That was not the sound of thunder.

It was a sound unique to the Holy Lingshan Realm, a terrifying noise coming from above the dark clouds!

Lu Ran gritted his teeth, clamped his hands tightly over his ears, and glared furiously at the firmament.

You bunch of bastards!

Sooner or later, my Evil Shadow's Evil Moon Crescent Blade will chop you all to pieces!

Asking for some monthly votes.

Thanks to Re_Frost, Walking Alone Through the River of Time, and You Er Xi Pu, several bosses, for your tips! Thanks for the support, bosses, you're generous!

(<3) Heart fingers.

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If there is actual Chinese text content that should have appeared in these lines, please provide it and I will translate it immediately.

(End of Chapter)