Chapter 413 - 411: Intelligence

Chapter 413: Chapter 411: Intelligence

Tang Yuncheng walked down the cracked streets, flanked by collapsed houses.

Scattered corpses lay on the ground.

They were all Disciples of the Corpse Refining Sect, and likely the elite ones at that.

Any one of them could have possessed strength on par with his own.

But now,

they all lay on the ground, utterly still.

This left Tang Yuncheng in a daze.

A quarter of an hour ago,

atop a small hill a few miles away, he had been a nervous wreck over that man’s "reckless" actions.

In his opinion,

charging headfirst into the enemy’s den all alone

was no different from seeking death.

Never mind the Elder floating in mid-air—a Soul Emergence Sixth Layer expert, obviously a powerhouse.

Even the nearly two hundred elite Corpse Refining Sect Disciples in Jinfeng Town would be a considerable problem!

As it turned out, however,

he had worried for nothing!

The world of genius Demons simply defies logic!

And as the most terrifying Demon of the younger generation in the Tian Nan Domain,

he defied logic more than anyone!

The moment they met,

the Soul Emergence Sixth Layer old man floating over Jinfeng Town was swatted to the ground with a single slap.

Then,

it was as if he did nothing at all.

Just a single look.

The Corpse Refining Sect Disciples, who had been scattering in every direction, suddenly began dropping from the sky like flies, crashing to their deaths.

This kind of power... it was enough to make his very soul tremble!

Because among the Corpse Refining Sect Disciples "killed with a glance" were cultivators who had reached the Soul Emergence Realm—a level he could only dream of reaching!

Even such mighty cultivators

were reaped by that man’s incredible methods!

This also drove one fact home for Tang Yuncheng:

that Senior Brother Shen’s strength had reached a realm he couldn’t even begin to fathom!

’To think I actually doubted him.’

’How could a mere mortal like me possibly comprehend a true genius Demon?’

A bitter smile involuntarily touched Tang Yuncheng’s lips.

It just went to show

how laughable his earlier hesitation had been!

’He’s a peerless prodigy. What right do I have to measure myself against him?’

’Just because you can’t do something, doesn’t mean he can’t either!’

At that moment,

Tang Yuncheng’s heart swelled with a complex mix of emotions.

He was also reminded of something.

As the greatest legend of the younger generation in the Tian Nan Domain, and even a top-tier peerless prodigy across all Thirty-Six Domains,

Senior Brother Shen Changchuan was only in his twenties.

Not yet thirty.

Not that different in age from himself.

There was a time,

in his daydreams, when Tang Yuncheng had imagined that if he’d had Shen Changchuan’s background and opportunities, he would have been just as strong.

Now, he saw

just how laughable that youthful, arrogant thought had been!

"Senior Brother Tang?"

Just as Tang Yuncheng was lost in his complex thoughts, a faint voice called out from behind him.

He turned, and his eyes lit up.

"Junior Zhuo, is that you?!"

In a corner of the plaza, more than thirty people sat on the ground, their hands and feet bound.

Among them, the disheveled young man who had just spoken was none other than an Outer Disciple of the Dragon Cloud Sect, who had come here to train with Tang Yuncheng under Senior Sister Wei!

Tang Yuncheng hurried over to untie him.

Soon,

he found several more of his fellow disciples in the crowd.

"Senior Brother Zhao, Junior Wu, you’re all okay! This is great!"

"Sigh, those damn Demon Dao thieves... We’re the only ones left. The others... Thank goodness Senior Brother Shen came to rescue us. Otherwise, I’m afraid none of us would have escaped death..."

"Yeah, it’s all thanks to Senior Brother Shen!"

...

Meanwhile,

in a corner,

the Corpse Refining Sect’s Elder Wu’s eyes rolled back, his head lolled to the side, and his whole body slumped to the ground, all signs of life gone.

At this moment,

Shen Changchuan stood nearby, slowly pulling his hand back.

As he reviewed the important information he had just gleaned from the man’s mind via Soul Search,

he fell into deep contemplation.

’So that’s what this is about... No wonder the Corpse Refining Sect came out in full force.’

Shen Changchuan murmured to himself.

It was not a novel tale; in fact, one might even call it cliché.

Three hundred years ago,

the Yuqing Immortal Sect’s annihilation of the Xiangshan Sect sent shockwaves through the surrounding domains,

even alarming the Nanyue Kingdom.

The Corpse Refining Sect’s Supreme Ancestor, who had already reached the Divine Travel Realm, tried to take advantage of the chaos,

but for reasons unknown, he simply vanished.

With the Corpse Refining Sect having lost the steadying hand of its Supreme Ancestor, long-suppressed conflicts began to surface.

The conflict was most pronounced between the faction of the Sect Leader and that of the Supreme Ancestor’s Direct Disciple.

The two factions were already as incompatible as fire and water. They had only managed to suppress their animosity because a Divine Travel Realm Ancestor presided over the sect.

But with the Supreme Ancestor’s death, that pressure vanished, and the fierce conflict between the two factions erupted at once!

The two sides came to blows.

Disciples within the Sect turned on one another, fighting and killing.

In the end,

the Sect Leader’s faction, which had made the first move, emerged victorious.

However,

although the Sect Leader’s faction was victorious,

the final, desperate counterattack from the Supreme Ancestor’s Direct Disciple’s faction still caused considerable losses to the Corpse Refining Sect.

Furthermore,

the leader of that faction—the head Direct Disciple of the Divine Travel Realm Supreme Ancestor from three hundred years prior—leveraged his intimate knowledge of the sect’s secrets. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he stole the Corpse Refining Sect’s ultimate treasure—a relic passed down for a thousand years—and vanished without a trace.

That ultimate treasure

was the very foundation of the Corpse Refining Sect’s legacy,

and it held the secrets for its Disciples to advance to the Divine Travel Realm!

With the loss of that artifact,

coupled with the crippling damage from the internal strife,

the Corpse Refining Sect fell into decline and was nearly wiped out in the ensuing turmoil.

Until a little over a hundred years ago,

the current Supreme Elder of the Corpse Refining Sect rose rapidly.

With his unparalleled talent, he broke through one realm after another to reach the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer Peak Realm, leading the Corpse Refining Sect back to its position as a first-class power in the Nanyue Kingdom.

Only then was the thousand-year-old Corpse Refining Sect able to rally.

Meanwhile,

in order to break through to the Divine Travel Realm,

that ambitious Supreme Elder began gathering information. He searched for any trace of the disciple who had fled with the ultimate treasure, hoping to reclaim the sect’s lost heirloom.

After spending decades and a vast amount of manpower and resources searching,

he actually managed to find some information,

and in the end, he even located the hiding place of the Corpse Refining Sect Disciple who had fled all those years ago.

Indeed,

it was right here in Golden Wind Valley!

Now, three hundred years have passed.

That disciple from back then had failed to break through to the Divine Travel Realm and had long since turned to dust.

But the ultimate treasure remained!

In recent years,

they had confirmed

that the ultimate treasure was inside the Secret Realm Ruins within Golden Wind Valley!