Chapter 60

Although Song Qingming had not met Gao Yuyao many times, the memory of cultivators far exceeded that of ordinary mortals. He could not possibly forget the appearance of someone he had seen several years ago so quickly. As soon as he saw Gao Yuyao beside Lu Yunfei, Song Qingming recognized her immediately.

Seeing Song Qingming here, Gao Yuyao was also very surprised. Seeing Song Qingming's gaze fixed on her, as if he had already recognized her, Gao Yuyao suddenly turned her eyes away and did not respond to his gaze.

Seeing that Gao Yuyao did not want to reveal that she knew him in front of everyone, Song Qingming felt a bit puzzled, but he was not surprised.

When Gao Yuyao had traded elixirs with him back then, she had specifically instructed Song Qingming not to let others know about the matters between them.

Seeing Gao Yuyao act this way, Song Qingming also quickly shifted his gaze to avoid having the cultivators beside him notice the abnormality in his eyes.

After the group gathered, under the command of the red-clad woman from the Carefree Sect, they first gathered the more seriously injured cultivators together. The old man Shi Mofeng was quite lucky; despite taking a direct hit from Yang Wuqi, he was still alive and tenacious, even though he was not lightly injured.

Gao Yuyao also quickly distributed some healing elixirs to everyone. Afterward, the cultivators who could still move, under the command of the woman in red, worked together to destroy the altar in the mountains.

Building such a massive altar required a great deal of materials and resources. Yang Wuqi and his group of demonic cultivators must have spent a lot of time and manpower transporting these resources into these deep mountains.

Today they had completely destroyed this altar, so this group of demonic cultivators would certainly be unable to perform such blood sacrifices for a short time. This could be considered a major blow to these cunning demonic cultivators.

Not long after the altar was destroyed, a green light appeared on the horizon, approaching from afar and transforming into a flying boat. Liu Xingfeng, who had just gone to pursue Yang Wuqi, returned with a solemn expression.

Seeing that her Master's complexion seemed poor, Gao Yuyao hurriedly stepped forward and asked with concern, "Master, are you alright?"

Liu Xingfeng waved her hand and said, "Do not worry, I have only lost a little vital energy; it is nothing serious. I will be fine after resting for a period of time. It is just a pity that I could not kill this demon and let him escape again."

After comforting the flustered Gao Yuyao, Liu Xingfeng continued with a deep expression:

"I did not expect this demon to have been lurking here for several years and to have refined a demonic blade. Because I was careless, I almost suffered a great loss just now. Fortunately, he has not yet fully refined this demonic blade. After returning this time, I must immediately report to the sect and send more people to search for Yang Wuqi's tracks. Otherwise, if his demonic blade reaches completion in the future, I may not be his match."

"Master, rest assured. We have already completely destroyed the altar that the old demon Yang used for the blood sacrifice. Presumably, he will not be able to find a suitable place to refine the demonic blade for several years."

The woman in red pointed to the huge altar, which had been completely reduced to ruins a hundred feet behind her, and said to Liu Xingfeng with a smile.

Liu Xingfeng looked at the completely destroyed altar in the distance, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Ziyan, take them to search the vicinity again. Find where the old demon Yang's cave dwelling is hidden. You must clean this place up thoroughly."

"Understood, Master."

Xu Ziyan and Gao Yuyao nodded respectively and began to arrange for those who could still move to search around the altar. Soon, they found the cave dwelling where the demonic cultivators had lived four or five miles behind the altar.

Xu Ziyan was Liu Xingfeng's eldest disciple and had always been rigorous in her work. Although she was not Liu Xingfeng's favorite disciple, she had been with her Master the longest, and Liu Xingfeng had always trusted her deeply. Many matters that were inconvenient for her to handle personally were left to her eldest disciple, Xu Ziyan.

The demonic cultivators in the cave had long since fled in a hurry. Xu Ziyan and Gao Yuyao led the group into the cave dwelling, where they only found some low-grade magic tools used by the demonic cultivators, daily necessities, and some remaining materials for building the altar hidden in the cave.

The magic tools used by demonic cultivators had long been tainted by demonic energy. If ordinary cultivators rashly refined them, the high-level demonic cultivators who had crafted the tools might use the demonic energy to parasitize the cultivator's primordial spirit. Over time, the cultivator who refined the magic tool would be slowly controlled and possessed by the demonic cultivator from afar.

Xu Ziyan arranged for people to collect the demonic magic tools found in the cave, along with other supplies and materials, to be brought back to the camp and then thoroughly destroyed, so as to prevent greedy cultivators from refining and using these things in the future and being controlled by the demonic cultivators.

After working for half a day, the group finally transported everything from the demonic cultivators' cave back to the camp, including the few loose cultivators whom Song Qingming and the others had rescued.

Truth be told, Hu Daozhen and his companions were truly fated not to die. If they hadn't happened to encounter Lu Yunfei leading everyone in a surprise attack on the altar after being captured by the demonic cultivators and brought into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, they would likely have become wandering souls within Yang Wuqi's demonic blade after today.

After being rescued by Song Qingming and his companion, they had stayed by Song Qingming's side. When they saw the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator Yang Wuqi appear, they had wanted to flee immediately, but because their cultivation was too low, they were entangled by the demonic cultivators who arrived later, just like Song Qingming and the others.

Because of this, they happened to be the furthest away from the location where Yang Wuqi activated the Soul-Disrupting Bell, luckily avoiding the attack of this soul-targeting magic treasure. They only suffered minor injuries and successfully held out until Liu Xingfeng arrived. Except for one person who accidentally injured their internal meridians while fighting a demonic cultivator, everyone else successfully survived to the end.

Conversely, among Lu Yunfei and his group, although their cultivation and magic power were higher, their luck was far from as good as Hu Daozhen and the others.

Wei Tong and others, eager to perform meritorious service, went to pursue the fleeing demonic cultivators but unfortunately ran head-on into the powerful Foundation Establishment demon Yang Wuqi. Two of the five lost their lives on the spot, including the old ghost Feng, whom Song Qingming had only recently become acquainted with.

Later, when everyone was fleeing for their lives, those with higher cultivation like Lu Yunfei and Shi Mofeng ran in front because of their superior magic power and techniques. Instead, they quickly attracted the attention of the old demon Yang. Unluckily, they were the primary targets of powerful demonic cultivators like Yang Wuqi and Gu Liangshan, and in the end, they also suffered heavy casualties.

Lu Yunfei and Shi Mofeng were both seriously injured. Although they luckily saved their lives, they were temporarily unable to even use their own magic power due to the severity of their injuries and would need at least three to five years of recuperation to fully recover.

Three other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators also lost their lives because they charged too fast and were attacked at close range by the Soul-Disrupting Bell in Yang Wuqi's hand, which threw their minds into chaos and rendered their magic power and techniques useless; they died unluckily at the hands of Gu Liangshan and other demonic cultivators.

Once these Qi Refining cultivators encountered a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator with deep magic power like Yang Wuqi, whether they could survive depended entirely on their own luck.

After transporting the supplies from the demonic cultivators' cave back to the camp, under the personal supervision of Liu Xingfeng, Chen Ziyang and several other Carefree Sect cultivators began to destroy these items after preparing. Song Qingming and the others returned to their respective tents to tend to their injuries.

(End of chapter)