Chapter 118: Alone Before the Formation, Beheading the Enemy Horde

It must be known that although the He Mountain Sect possesses formidable prestige within Miaojiang, in the world of cultivation, it is merely a side-door sect with some reputation. Especially before the last kalpa, when the founding ancestor surnamed Feng and his nine disciples first established the foundation, even the fundamental scripture, the *He Mountain Scripture*, was incomplete. The entire sect consisted of only a few members, making it an unranked lineage even among the side-door and heterodox paths.

Fortunately, the ancestor surnamed Feng was relatively enlightened, or perhaps he wished to make the He Mountain Sect great and powerful. In any case, he established a rule: as long as one entered the He Mountain gates, even as a Registered Disciple, one could obtain one or two spells recorded in the *He Mountain Scripture* to practice. Although these were not arts of Longevity, they were far superior to the inheritances of miscellaneous rogue cultivators.

Aside from the *Seven Kill Primordial Spirit Method* and the fundamental Dao tomes involving the Dao Foundation and Dan Realm, the ancestor surnamed Feng did not hoard powerful spells like the *Skull Demon Method* or the *Six Paths Black Cable*, teaching them all. Such magnanimity was unmatched even by some profound sects. Although he eventually passed away without attaining the Primordial Spirit realm, he left behind a name and could be called a powerhouse of the side-door paths.

It was precisely because of this that the He Mountain Sect was able to develop into a major side-door sect over the course of a kalpa. Although its reputation was somewhat poor and its disciples were of mixed quality, it boasted twenty or thirty Golden Core True Persons and thousands of disciples, dominating the ten-thousand-mile territory of He Mountain.

Yet, cultivators are human. When the ancestor surnamed Feng and his nine disciples founded the He Mountain Sect, two were lost at the very beginning. Over the course of a kalpa, three more families' descendants failed to live up to expectations, causing their lineages to break. Thus, the nine main peaks of He Mountain are actually controlled by five families.

The Qianshan Feng Clan, the Copper Tuo Yao Clan, the Anhong Du Clan, the Dengyin Ma Clan, and the Helin Meng Clan.

Among them, the Feng and Yao clans are the strongest. The position of He Mountain Sect Leader is always held by someone surnamed Feng, and not only do half of the sect's Golden Core True Persons come from these two families, but the only two Superior Grade Qi Refining Methods in the sect, the *Thousand Mountains Pulse Traveling Method*, are basically only circulated within these five families, rarely leaking out. As for other disciples with aspirations for the Dao, if they truly perform great service, being bestowed some Lower or Middle Grade Qi Refining Methods is enough.

After all, He Mountain is only so big, and the Earth Sha Yin Veins are limited. The danger of forming a Golden Core can be borne by the masters of the five families; for outer-surname disciples, safely attaining a Lower Grade Dao Foundation and living two or three hundred years is sufficient.

There was once an elder surnamed Ma who often advised his disciples not to always think about the Golden Core Realm.

"Why rush to the Dan Realm? One only lives this one life, so be content and happy. Charging at the Dan Realm is a life-or-death gamble. The happiest time of my life was polishing my Dharma Power in the Dao Foundation Realm, not having to worry about sect affairs, unlike now, sigh..."

It was this same elder surnamed Ma who, after attaining the Golden Core, accidentally found an ancient exotic insect, the Gold-Melting Ant, in Miaojiang. When his lifespan reached its end, he vainly attempted to use the *Seven Kill Primordial Spirit Method* to merge his soul into it to extend his life and live another existence, but he lost his trail somehow. Even the Dengyin Ma Clan does not know his whereabouts, though some of his golden sayings circulate on He Mountain and are mentioned from time to time.

But the strange thing is that in these three hundred years, a True Person surnamed Jiao emerged in the He Mountain Sect. As an outsider, he advanced courageously, not only attaining the Golden Core but also accomplishing many great deeds. For instance, he worked with Longhu Mountain to open the Liangjiang Sea Market of the Liang Kingdom, and together with Longhu Mountain, he opened the Quanzhou Fiend Field, and furthermore established the territory of Xishan Prefecture, creating a substantial foundation for the He Mountain Sect outside of the He Mountain and Miaojiang regions.

The five great families within the He Mountain Sect never thought much of those outer-surname cultivators. One True Person Jiao was one thing, but who would have thought that an Outer Transmission disciple from Xishan Prefecture would actually cultivate the *Five Yin Demon Method*? With the help of the Quanzhou Fiend Field, wouldn't there be another True Person surnamed Lin within a hundred years?

Forget it; let the True Inheritor descendants of the families suffer the bitterness of Condensing Sha into a Dan. Charity begins at home; surely True Person Jiao can understand the sect's painstaking efforts.

Yao Daosheng had the support of his clan and truly seized this opportunity. Even he did not expect that one day he would be able to taste a 'Fiend Field' cultivated by a profound sect, with the Golden Core in sight, yet at the final step, his mood was ruined by a few lowly Outer Transmission disciples. They were truly courting death.

It seems this Lin Laohu is very unconvinced.

In normal times, he would have killed him with a wave of his hand, but this one surnamed Lin was provoking him head-on. If Yao Daosheng directly used his Dharma Power to suppress him, wouldn't it imply that his own True Inheritor foundation, vision, and methods were inferior to others?

Moreover, isn't the point of recruiting followers and a foundation to handle miscellaneous matters? If he had to personally act for such a small thing, where would his dignity as a superior be, and what would be the use of keeping them?

"But this one surnamed Lin doesn't look like a fool. His actions are no different from seeking death. Could it be he has some hidden backup plan?"

Once this thought arose, Yao Daosheng frowned slightly and became somewhat guarded. His side was strong and well-equipped; once he fought and killed these four ants, he was not afraid of forcing out the means of this one surnamed Lin.

This gray-robed cultivator was surnamed Yang, and his cultivation was about the same as that Fan Xian. Suddenly being called upon by Senior Brother Yao, he felt a tremor in his heart.

It must be known that although He Mountain Sect disciples usually rely on evil arts and Dharma Artifacts to be brave and fierce, they mostly bully the weak and pick on miscellaneous rogue cultivators or mortals. Unless there was immense wealth at stake or they were driven to a dead end, no one was willing to engage in a fight to the death.

That Fan fellow's good head was still lying on the ground; this persimmon was truly a bit hard. But Yao Daosheng had spoken, and he didn't have the guts to refuse. He gritted his teeth, stepped forward a few paces, and pulled from his bosom a Dharma mirror that looked like it was condensed from blood mist, its surface rolling incessantly.

"The Five Yin Black Sha this fellow practices is somewhat powerful, different from others in the sect. My protective True Qi might not be able to block it; I must be careful to keep my distance."

With this thought, the one surnamed Yang patted the Dharma bag at his waist and released two Skull Demons. One of the Skull Demons spewed thick black smoke from its five senses and seven orifices, cackling strangely as it killed toward Chen Ci, while the other guarded his side, wary of the Black Sha.

"Taiyin Blood God Mirror?"

Chen Ci summoned five strands of Black Sha to entangle with that Skull Demon, his mind fixed on that strange mirror resembling blood mist, keeping a careful watch.

This Taiyin Blood God Mirror is ranked only in the upper-middle tier in the *He Mountain Scripture*, but it has a great reputation. It is refined using the Essence Refining of women, and the methods are quite cruel. It is one of the few spells in the He Mountain Sect that can attack a cultivator's soul. If a cultivator is caught off guard and loses their mind while fighting, the outcome can be imagined.

But to Chen Ci's surprise, this fellow held the Taiyin Blood God Mirror but did not chant or cast spells. Instead, his own Five Yin Black Sha was hit head-on by the poisonous smoke spewed from the Skull Demon's mouth, and it immediately lost some control.

"Not good!"

Chen Ci's heart sank. This was a sign that his own spell and Dharma Artifact's Spirit Light had been tainted. As an Outer Transmission disciple of He Mountain, he had overlooked the signature method of He Mountain Sect disciples.

A cultivator's spells and Dharma Artifacts can move according to their will and attack enemies because their mind is attached to them, which is the so-called 'Spirit Light'. The He Mountain Sect's flesh-and-blood evil arts and filthy Qi are best at polluting Spirit Light. Once the Spirit Light is tainted, it is like a person's mind being clouded, and the spells and Dharma Artifacts easily lose control and are struck down.

This is one of the reasons for the He Mountain Sect cultivators' fierce reputation. If a Qi Refining cultivator loses their Dharma Artifact, it is like losing an arm; how can they still fight?

Fortunately, Chen Ci's Five Yin Evil Qi Bag had eleven layers of Prohibition and had refined eleven strands of Evil Qi. Although the Spirit Light of two strands of Five Yin Black Sha was tainted by accident, and some combat power was lost, the impact was temporarily small. If the Prohibition level had been lower, the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag would likely have lost all combat power in that one strike.

Chen Ci's mind stirred, carefully controlling the remaining three strands of Sha to avoid being hit by the Skull Demon's poisonous smoke. But in this moment of distraction, the cultivator surnamed Yang seized the opportunity. He chanted a spell, and the blood mist on the Taiyin Blood God Mirror in his hand rolled violently, as if dozens or hundreds of female ghostly shadows were struggling to emerge, screaming shrilly at Chen Ci.

"Hit!"

Seeing Chen Ci's eyes lose focus in an instant, his mind gone, and even the Black Sha fighting on the field beginning to stagnate, the cultivator surnamed Yang was overjoyed and commanded the two Skull Demons to devour him alive. But the next second, Chen Ci's eyes focused. The two Gold Sha, which had been slow just a moment ago, suddenly turned to slash. In the eyes of that fellow's terror, they circled his neck, and another good head was obtained.

It was just unexpected that this fellow seemed to be a tough guy; even with his head on the ground, he didn't make a sound, prioritizing being hard-headed.

Chen Ci felt a bit of emotion. When he saw the Taiyin Blood God Mirror, he had quietly pasted ten Refined Soul-Fixing Talismans inside the lining of his Dao robe, protecting his mind tightly. Life is like a play, and it all depends on acting.

However, although he won this battle quickly, he had two strands of Sha tainted, lost ten Soul-Fixing Talismans, and his Three Yin True Qi had been consumed by nearly a quarter; it was not very good.

"My path to survival lies first in the fact that this one surnamed Yao will not order those three Hundred Acupoint Cultivators to come down and kill me. After all, why use a... ptooey, ptooey."

Low cultivation also has its benefits. After all, using a superior horse to win against an inferior horse is a loss even if you win. In front of Lin Laohu, the one surnamed Yao probably cannot afford to lose face like that.

"Secondly, I must find a way to leave all the hard nuts to those three cheap fellow disciples!"

Chen Ci slowly exhaled the turbid air from his chest, killing intent filling his heart. Now, in a fight to the death before the formation, everything is spoken with strength. A win is a win, a loss is a loss; there is no need for too many schemes. The only useful method is to crush the soft persimmons on the opposite side, and then the remaining hard nuts will naturally be for others.

But there were still five people left, and he didn't know if he could hold on.

"Outer Transmission Chen Ci, asking for instruction again!"

Chen Ci spoke loudly, asking for battle once more.

"Trash!"

Yao Daosheng wanted to let his own capable general kill Chen Ci, but seeing the hint of sarcasm on Lin Qinhu's lips, a wicked fire rose in his heart. He looked at one person and ordered in a deep voice: "You go. You are only allowed to win, not to lose!"

He did not believe it. As fellow He Mountain Sect cultivators, could his own subordinate foundation really not defeat this Outer Transmission small cultivator under the one surnamed Lin without relying on cultivation suppression?

"Yes!"

The one who received the order and stepped out of the formation was a middle-aged Daoist with a handlebar mustache. His expression was solemn, but if there was anything special, it was that like Chen Ci, he had an exquisite Dharma bag hanging at his waist, only its color was more gloomy, and the Dharma patterns on it were more complex, like pairs of ghost hands gripping the entire bag tightly.

He was actually a fellow He Mountain disciple who also cultivated the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag.

"I must finish this quickly."

Chen Ci's True Qi cultivation was still slightly low, and in this situation, every strand of Three Yin True Qi in each acupoint was precious. If it dragged on for too long, others could grind him to death.

"This Senior Brother, please."

Chen Ci bowed slightly. The middle-aged Daoist with the handlebar mustache did not answer but gave a low shout. A profound black giant hand flew out from the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag at his waist, black smoke billowing as it grabbed toward Chen Ci. If it grabbed him, he would likely be smashed to pieces, and even his flesh and blood would be swallowed clean by that Evil Qi Bag.

"Five Yin Seizing Hand!"

This person's cultivation was only slightly higher than Chen Ci's, but the Prohibition level of his Five Yin Evil Qi Bag was much higher. At the very least, this profound black giant hand looked pure and condensed, with no small amount of power.

Chen Ci frowned slightly. Just looking at the momentum, he felt that the Five Yin Black Sha he had raised should not be an opponent, but having no other way, he could only use the Five Yin Evil Qi Method to resist and test him.

Sure enough, upon contact, a strand of Five Yin Black Evil was gripped by this seizing hand; in but a single breath, its Spirit Light was defiled, and this strand of Black Evil instantly burst apart, causing Chen Ci to let out a muffled groan.

"Damn, this Five Yin Seizing Hand is condensed from at least five strands of refined evil qi; its quality is far superior to ordinary Black Evil, and it even has the ability to defile Spirit Light. Ordinary Dharma Artifacts and spells, once gripped by this giant hand, would all fail—it's truly shameless!"

Only now did Chen Ci understand why the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag could rank so high in the *He Mountain Scripture*, far surpassing powerful poison techniques like the Five Poisons White Bone Sword and the Hundred Spirits Poison Dragon Sword; when it came to fighting, it was truly worthy of its reputation.

Although every Apprentice could learn a couple of aggressive spells from the *He Mountain Scripture*, if one lacked the guidance of a teacher regarding the profound mysteries within, no one would truly know how many tricks were hidden away.

It was just like the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag; the *He Mountain Scripture* only taught you how to refine the Dharma Artifact and upgrade the Prohibitions, but it didn't say a single word about how to change the nature of the Five Yin Black Evil or how to condense multiple strands of Black Evil together.

Fortunately, his own Adai was not entirely useless; the Five Yin Gold Evil also involved the changes of the Five Elements, and after smelting the Five Metal Essence Qi, its quality far exceeded that of ordinary Black Evil. Chen Ci pinched the Dharma seal and responded carefully; the five strands of Gold Evil seized the opportunity to slash the profound black giant hand to pieces, but its Spirit Light was ultimately defiled somewhat, and the feeling of it being as responsive as an arm felt slightly sluggish.

"Hmph!"

The middle-aged Daoist also let out a muffled groan, once again flying several strands of evil qi from his Five Yin Evil Qi Bag to re-condense into a profound black giant hand; this battle had unexpectedly turned into the war of attrition Chen Ci feared most.

The only good news was that this person seemed able to summon only one profound black evil qi giant hand; if they could simultaneously wield five or six Five Yin Seizing spells, even if Chen Ci were made of iron, he would likely be crushed in one go.

"Trouble."

Chen Ci's eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced at his own Five Yin Evil Qi Bag. "Adai, look at yourself, then look at the other one. The current situation depends on whether my Five Yin Gold Evil's Spirit Light is defiled first, or if the opponent's Five Yin Seizing Hand lacks follow-up power."

After three more rounds of this, Chen Ci's Five Yin Gold Evil was finally defiled of its Spirit Light by the Five Yin Seizing spell, with only one strand remaining that could barely be wielded, yet it was as slow as an old crone; the rest were all paralyzed in the bag, and if they could not be nourished and cleansed of the defiled qi by True Qi, they would likely not recover as before.

And the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag held by that middle-aged Daoist could no longer summon the Five Yin Seizing giant hand; it seemed he could only condense four Five Yin Seizing hands, and then he had nothing left to follow up with.

"Your skills are exhausted!"

The middle-aged Daoist lightly stroked the whiskers at his lips and smiled coldly: "I still have the Three Corpse White Bone Fork and the Bewitching Shape-Changing Method. You don't even have the sect's True Inheritor status for your Five Yin Evil Qi Bag, so you surely have no Protective Dharma Artifact that could catch my eye. Why struggle? If you stretch out your neck to be slaughtered, it's not impossible for me to leave you a whole corpse."

Chen Ci couldn't help but curl his lip, gripping the treasure at his waist.

The White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer.

Ah Sword, oh Ah Sword, Adai is a disappointment, so today, old master can only rely on you.

In the rear, seeing Chen Ci fall into a predicament, the expressions of the four were somewhat different.

Lin Qinhu's face seemed indifferent, as if it made little difference to him whether Chen Ci won or lost.

As for the other three, Guo Laodao had a cold sneer at the corner of his mouth, Geng Laodao was expressionless, while Dong Xiong felt somewhat regretful, turning his head to say: "This Junior Brother Chen is truly fighting hard, battling to the death without retreating. If he had just come back to rest and reorganize, he might not necessarily have been defeated and killed."

"Heh, this Junior Brother has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. If you want to talk about who among us should have died first, it should have been him; now, the one who dies last might actually be him."

Guo Laodao glanced at Dong Xiong and shook his head: "On the contrary, you might be the first to die."

"Old Ghost Guo, what do you mean by that?!"

Dong Xiong's face sank, quite displeased; although they had come here to risk their lives, hearing this still felt ominous.

"Heh, you'll know in a moment."

Guo Laodao was not annoyed; instead, he squinted his eyes and glanced at Lin Qinhu, as if thinking about something.

But suddenly, a 'Clang' sound rang out on the field. Everyone looked over; there had been two people on the field, but for some reason, only one figure remained. There were only the wreckage of a Dharma Artifact on the ground that looked like a flying fork, as well as some scattered chunks of flesh, which were slightly eyesores.

Chen Ci was somewhat surprised; although the Bone Great Strength Restriction on this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer was only fourfold and weighed over four hundred catties, its power at full strength was somewhat unexpected. This hammer... no, this sword strike was truly a case of one force overcoming ten techniques.

A bit brutal, but since this person didn't make a sound, they probably had no objections.

But having fought and killed three people in succession, his own True Qi was nearly half-depleted, and the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag had temporarily lost its ability to fight. Chen Ci squeezed the hammer handle in his hand, pondered for a moment, then stood firm on the field and raised his hand to politely say to Yao Daosheng's side:

"Outer Transmission Chen Ci, requesting instruction again!"

(End of chapter)