Chapter 549 - 481: Waiting and Watching, an Invitation to the Trap

Chapter 549: Chapter 481: Waiting and Watching, an Invitation to the Trap

Sudden Disaster in the Ruins!

Qinghua of the Candle Python Cave!

Acting wantonly, killing for Cores to refine techniques!

When Su Ye and his group returned to Volcano State, the news they brought back landed like a bombshell, sending shockwaves throughout the region.

Meanwhile, relying on means like life tablets and Soul Lamps, detailed casualty figures were quickly compiled.

As for the results...

They could only be described as horrifying.

"What?"

"Long Rainbow Sword Jiang Wenyuan, a grand cultivator at Golden Core Perfection... He actually..."

"And Mr. Zhang... he’d just broken through in his Sword Dao cultivation not long ago. He was getting restless and volunteered for the mission... he was just about to make a name for himself. What a shame..."

"Mr. Qi, you died such a horrible death! I swear I’ll avenge you!"

"The Ancestor! The Ancestor has fallen!"

Nine of the fifteen Golden Core cultivators had fallen!

The tragic casualties stirred the cultivators of the three sects in Volcano State.

The number of deaths this time was not high—only nine people. However, as Golden Core cultivators, the status and standing of those who fell were anything but ordinary.

They were true disciples of the three sects, sect deacons, family ancestors, faction leaders...

In this world where the strong are revered, every Golden Core cultivator represented a large number of dependents, as well as countless divisions of power and conflicts of interest.

They were like towering, sky-reaching trees, with numerous vines clinging to them for survival.

Under the shelter of their shade, birds, snakes, and insects could live and thrive, forming a complete ecosystem.

Now, with many of these great trees crashing down, the impact on their dependents, and even on the entire forest, was anything but trivial.

Moreover, this wasn’t the first time Golden Core cultivators had fallen since the Volcano Grotto Heaven opened.

A previous exploration had also seen the fall of several Golden Core cultivators, and the resulting impact had already caused some chaos within the three sects.

However, not long after, the tragedy repeated itself.

It was even worse than the last time!

At least in the last exploration, no cultivator at Golden Core Perfection had fallen in the ruins!

But this time, Long Rainbow Sword Jiang Wenyuan—a grand cultivator of extremely high status, second only to the Nascent Soul Elders within the Jade Void Sword Sect—was dead, his Dao extinguished!

Furthermore, the cause of his death involved remnants of the Demon Palace!

All these factors combined to trigger a massive earthquake within the Jade Void Sword Sect.

The Sword Sect acted immediately, dispatching a Nascent Soul Elder to lead a team to thoroughly investigate the matter and exterminate the Demon Palace remnants!

At the same time, the Star Casting Hall did the same.

After all, the Star Casting Hall had also lost a considerable number of its Golden Core cultivators in the ruins.

Beyond that, because the matter concerned the Demon Palace remnants, the Star Casting Hall and the Jade Void Sword Sect—two factions normally as incompatible as fire and water—rarely found themselves in complete agreement.

Kill!

Every last remnant of the Demon Palace must be hunted down and executed.

The Star Casting Hall had a zero-tolerance policy on this.

Thus, the cultivators of the Candle Python Cave were out of luck.

Immediately after the incident, the Star Casting Hall seized control of them.

They showed no mercy, even to the Golden Core cultivators. Any who dared to resist were killed on the spot, no questions asked.

Unfortunately, this decisive action was still a step too late. The master of the Candle Python Cave, Chiyou, noticed something was amiss and managed to escape.

The Star Casting Hall suspected that Qinghua had somehow passed a message to him.

Afterward, reinforcements from both the Jade Void Sword Sect and the Star Casting Hall arrived. The two sides temporarily set aside their differences to cooperate in hunting down Qinghua and cleansing the land of Demon Palace remnants.

It had to be said, the elites of these Inner Sea sects were truly proficient.

Over the past eight hundred years, driven by the need to completely eradicate evil and pull it out by the roots, they had developed targeted Detection Skills for dealing with Demon Palace remnants.

This was supplemented by the art of divination.

With these methods, they quickly locked onto their targets’ location.

Unfortunately, even though they knew the targets’ location, they were temporarily helpless.

The reason was that Qinghua and Chiyou, the two suspected Demon Palace remnants, were hiding inside the Volcano Grotto Heaven.

This was a very thorny problem.

Chiyou was at Golden Core Perfection, and Qinghua was even fiercer—she had the feat of killing Jiang Wenyuan to her name!

Among all the Golden Core cultivators in the entire Yaoguang Sea Region, those with such a proud achievement could be counted on one hand.

Theoretically, when facing such enemies, the best option would be to directly dispatch a Nascent Soul True Monarch for a righteous display of the strong bullying the weak—a complete suppression by realm!

—’When dealing with heretics like these, who needs to talk about martial ethics!’

But the problem was, the restriction in Volcano State still existed, preventing Nascent Soul cultivators from setting foot inside.

The only way for the Jade Void Sword Sect and the Star Casting Hall to kill Qinghua and eliminate the Demon Palace remnants was to dispatch elite Golden Core cultivators deep into the Volcano Grotto Heaven.

Unfortunately, this method was not feasible either.

First, they lacked the strength. Qinghua and Chiyou possessed extreme combat power, enough to overwhelm other Golden Core cultivators. If the extermination failed and the exterminators were exterminated instead, wouldn’t they become a laughingstock?

Second, they were wary of the Grotto Heaven. The random teleportation within the ruins might not seem like much on its own.

However, when considered alongside Qinghua’s actions, a careful thought revealed a hint of ’coordination’!

Even without conclusive evidence, the cultivators still strongly suspected that a grotto-spirit existed within the Volcano Grotto Heaven, and that it harbored malice toward them!

It might even be collaborating with the Demon Palace remnants!

This possibility was quite terrifying. A malicious grotto-spirit joining forces with Demon Palace remnants?

If that were the case, sending Golden Core cultivators to clean them out would truly be like "throwing meat buns at a dog"—a one-way trip. No matter how many they sent, it wouldn’t be enough.

Third, the Jade Void Sword Sect and the Star Casting Hall were not, after all, on the same side. Temporarily setting aside their differences didn’t mean they had shaken hands and made peace.