91: foreign aid

"You're right."

Zhang Daobai nodded upon hearing this and then picked up Youying.

"Hmm?"

Youying lazily opened its eyes and stared blankly at Zhang Daobai.

"Why do you like sleeping so much?" Zhang Daobai couldn't help but complain at the sight.

"I am digesting food."

Youying's figure flickered, teleporting onto Zhang Daobai's shoulder as it explained.

Hearing this, Zhang Daobai couldn't help but remember that Youying indeed seemed to have swallowed many Yao Beasts during this period.

According to it, these Yao Beast corpses were stored within its internal space and could be digested at any time.

"Go kill someone and bring his corpse out. If there are any treasures, bring them back as well."

Zhang Daobai pointed toward the valley below and commanded Youying.

Youying looked down upon hearing the command and then said, "There are three people in that valley. Which one are you talking about?"

"Three?"

Zhang Daobai was stunned for a moment. He looked carefully into Soul-Severing Valley, but unfortunately, it was shrouded in blood mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

So, Zhang Daobai turned back and continued to ask, "What is the strength of those three? Are they together?"

Youying tilted its head, thought for a moment, and said, "One Purple Mansion Stage Late Stage and two Purple Mansion Stage Perfection. They are indeed staying together."

"Furthermore, their auras are filled with evil."

"Then it must be three evil Cultivators. Blood Infant Daoist must have invited two helpers, but I wonder who they are?"

Zhang Daobai thought back to the Purple Mansion Stage Perfection evil Cultivators on the demon slaying ranking list, but for a moment, he couldn't figure out who the other two were.

"Then kill all three of them and bring their corpses back," Zhang Daobai decided immediately.

Youying nodded and vanished directly without the slightest hesitation.

Meanwhile, inside Soul-Severing Valley.

Blood Infant Daoist, wearing blood-red leather clothing, sat opposite two old men.

In front of them lay a mirror that displayed the scene outside Soul-Severing Valley.

This mirror was called the Son-Mother Mirror. The Mother Mirror could see the scenes reflected by the Son Mirror within a range of one kilometer, serving as a unique type of monitoring device.

"It seems they don't plan on giving up."

Blood Infant Daoist looked at the stationed Loose Cultivators, knowing their intentions very clearly.

"Isn't this exactly the situation we wanted?" The old man on the left said with a sinister grin.

"We must run immediately after finishing this job, otherwise, a Golden Core Stage Cultivator will be coming next time," the old man on the right reminded in a heavy voice.

"Don't worry, I have already prepared three Minor Teleportation Talismans. When the time comes, we will each go our separate ways."

As Blood Infant Daoist spoke, he took out two Talismans from his storage ring and handed them to the two old men.

Seeing this, the two old men's expressions immediately brightened. they hurriedly and cautiously took the Minor Teleportation Talismans and placed them into their storage rings.

"It's settled then: I want their souls, you want their corpses, and as for their belongings, we split them equally. No objections, right?" Blood Infant Daoist confirmed one last time.

"No objections! We don't need souls anyway; they're useless to us even if we took them." The two old men hurriedly shook their heads.

"Very well..."

Blood Infant Daoist was about to continue arranging the next part of the plan.

But at that moment, a dark shadow quietly appeared behind the two old men. Without a single warning or a trace of spiritual power fluctuation, it appeared abruptly and eerily.

"Wat—"

Blood Infant Daoist's pupils constricted instantly. He hurriedly tried to open his mouth to warn the two, but he was still a step too late.

A black shadow flashed, and the expressions of the two old men instantly froze on their faces.

Blood Infant Daoist hurriedly took out his Minor Teleportation Talisman, wanting to escape immediately, but before he could activate the Talisman, his body lost all control.

After Youying retracted its claws, it glanced at the Minor Teleportation Talisman in Blood Infant Daoist's hand, a trace of disdain flashing in its eyes.

Then, it took the corpses of the three into its body and began to ransack the Immortal Cave.

Youying wasn't sure which items were precious, so it collected everything that contained Spiritual Qi.

Regardless of whether they were useful, it would collect them first and talk later.

After scouring the Immortal Cave clean, Youying vanished into the Void Realm and returned to the spirit boat.

"You're back?"

The moment Youying appeared, Zhang Daobai instinctively sensed it and turned to look.

'So fast?'

Lin Luoxue was startled and also turned to look.

Youying didn't answer. Instead, it opened its mouth and spat out three beheaded corpses.

Seeing this, Zhang Daobai used a shadow retention token to record the three corpses and then had Lin Luoxue put them away.

Afterward, Youying continued to spit out various items: corpse puppets made from infant corpses, jade pots carved from spiritual jade, blood-stained Pill Furnaces... Zhang Daobai picked out the useful items and put the useless ones into a Storage Pouch specifically for junk.

"Are we going to the next mission location now?" Lin Luoxue asked.

"No, we'll destroy that thing down there first," Zhang Daobai said in a heavy voice, looking down at Soul-Severing Valley.

"The Ten Thousand Infant Soul-Devouring Formation?"

Lin Luoxue seemed to understand something.

"Although those infant spirits no longer have the chance to be reincarnated, they shouldn't exist in such agony."

Zhang Daobai's conscience had made a rare appearance.

Listening to Zhang Daobai's words and looking at the twisted faces of the infant spirits in the Ten Thousand Infant Soul-Devouring Formation, Lin Luoxue nodded silently.

Then, Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue raised their spirit swords together, pointing them diagonally toward the sky.

"Golden Thunder Illuminates the World!" x2

In the next second, a massive amount of dark clouds gathered above Soul-Severing Valley, and golden lightning radiated a majestic power.

Outside Soul-Severing Valley, the stationed Loose Cultivators noticed the anomaly and stood up one after another to look at the sky.

"Who is attacking?"

"That is... Evil-Warding Golden Thunder!?"

"Judging by the situation, it should be a Purple Mansion Stage Perfection Cultivator attacking, but where is the person?"

Since Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue were on the spirit boat and concealed by the Spirit Concealing Mist, the people below did not discover them.

The dark clouds layered upon each other, and the Golden Thunder brilliantly illuminated the world!

After accumulating for a while, the sky full of Golden Thunder struck toward Soul-Severing Valley like thunder dragons.

Sensing the attack, the Ten Thousand Infant Soul-Devouring Formation inside Soul-Severing Valley immediately manifested. Over ten thousand hideous, blood-colored infant spirits appeared above the valley, rushing toward the falling thunder in the sky.

"Wah! Wah!"

The sounds of infants crying, like demonic music piercing the ears, echoed from Soul-Severing Valley.

The Loose Cultivators outside, who were waiting for an opportunity to act, all covered their ears and trembled with expressions of agony.

When the Golden Thunder collided with the blood infants, black smoke rose from the infants' bodies as they cried out in pain.

Before long, the infant spirits were annihilated into ashes by the Golden Thunder one by one.

At the moment they were annihilated, there was no pain on their faces, only a peaceful sense of liberation.

Since no one was controlling it, the infant spirits in the Ten Thousand Infant Soul-Devouring Formation could only rely on instinct, recklessly rushing toward the Golden Thunder.

As the infant spirits continuously decreased, the Loose Cultivators outside the valley soon returned to normal, looking at the battle above Soul-Severing Valley with lingering fear.

An hour later, as the last infant spirit was annihilated under the Golden Thunder, countless bolts of lightning fell into Soul-Severing Valley like rain.

In an instant, the Ten Thousand Infant Soul-Devouring Formation, having lost its infant spirits, was shattered by the Golden Thunder and completely dissipated.

"Alright, let's go."

Seeing this, Zhang Daobai lowered his spirit sword and walked back into the cabin.

Soon, the white clouds in the sky began to move rapidly, drifting toward the distance, though the Loose Cultivators below did not notice this scene.

After a while, seeing that there was no movement in Soul-Severing Valley for a long time, the Loose Cultivators outside tentatively approached the valley.

When they entered Soul-Severing Valley, they found that there was no one left.

Neither the person who released the Evil-Warding Golden Thunder nor their target, Blood Infant Daoist, was inside the valley. Even Blood Infant Daoist's Immortal Cave had been ransacked.

Seeing this, everyone's hearts were filled with doubt. Had Blood Infant Daoist been killed, or had he already escaped?

On the other side, after Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue recovered their spiritual power inside the spirit boat, they began to discuss their next plan.

The mission regarding the Green Wood Stream Zhang Family required direct extermination of the entire clan.

The number of people didn't matter; as long as White Moon was there, no matter how many Cultivators below the Purple Mansion Stage there were, they would all die.

However, the Zhang Family members did not all live together. They also had market towns, spiritual fields, fishing grounds, and so on outside.

Zhang Family members were also stationed in these places. Trying to wipe them all out at once was still somewhat difficult for just Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue.

If they dealt with the Zhang Family members outside first, they might startle the snake by beating the grass, causing the people in the Zhang Family ancestral land to become alert.

But if they dealt with the members in the Zhang Family ancestral land first, the members outside might escape after receiving the news.

"How about we deal with the Zhang Family members outside first?"

"If they sense something is wrong, they will likely hide in the ancestral land, which would make it easier for us to wipe them all out at once."

After hearing Zhang Daobai's concerns, Lin Luoxue made a suggestion.

"No, if we startle them in advance, they might secretly evacuate some people to preserve the sparks of the Family," Zhang Daobai thought for a moment and then shook his head in refusal.

Although the possibility was small, it still existed.

"Then split into two groups?" Lin Luoxue suggested after some thought.

Although the Zhang Family had eight Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators, they posed no threat to Youying.

If they split into two groups, they would only need to let Youying deal with the members in the Zhang Family ancestral land while they went to clear out the Zhang Family members outside.

This method was one of the best solutions, but Zhang Daobai was still somewhat unsatisfied.

Finally, after thinking some more, the two came up with a plan: first, leave markers on the Zhang Family members outside, then kill the members in the Zhang Family ancestral land, and finally use the markers to hunt the others down.

Although this method was a bit troublesome, it could root out some hidden Zhang Family members.

Because if those people outside were to flee, they would definitely unite with other clansmen and take their families with them. This would achieve a deeper level of cutting the grass and pulling out the roots.

After finalizing the plan, Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue carefully examined the detailed information on the Zhang Family.

The Green Wood Stream Zhang Family was originally just a Foundation Establishment Family, but over sixty years ago, the Zhang Family somehow obtained the Yin-Yang Spirit-Plundering Art, an evil method...

Relying on this evil technique, the Zhang Family grew rapidly, aggressively annexing several surrounding families and becoming the sole overlord of Green Wood Stream.

The people of the Zhang Family were clever; they knew that if the cultivation of an evil technique were exposed, it would bring about the calamity of clan extermination.

Therefore, the Zhang Family did not make a move against the nearby Cultivators, but instead specifically traveled to market towns and cities hundreds of miles away to abduct people.

Furthermore, they did not commit crimes in a fixed location, capturing people in the east one time and the west the next, focusing on random acts of crime.

If the Demon Slaying Alliance hadn't combined their efforts to thoroughly investigate evil Cultivators, the Zhang Family might not have been exposed.

According to the intelligence, the Zhang Family had over three hundred Cultivators with Spiritual Roots.

Of course, not all of them cultivated that evil technique; only clan members with an Aptitude of Medium Grade or higher were eligible to practice it.

In addition to these people, the Zhang Family also had over ten thousand Mortal clan members. These Mortals were settled in a small city not far from the Family's ancestral grounds.

According to the mission standards of the Demon Slaying Alliance, there was no need to execute all of these Mortals; only the three generations of blood relatives of the main lineage needed to be killed.

After all, there is a divide between immortals and Mortals. There was no need to implicate all the mundane Zhang Family members for the crimes committed by the Zhang Immortal Family.

Killing the three generations of blood relatives of the main lineage was sufficient to completely sever the Zhang Family's Legacy.

In truth, Zhang Daobai had also considered pulling up the grass by the roots and killing all the mundane Zhang clan members as well.

However, he thought that killing over ten thousand people at once would likely touch a sensitive nerve within the Demon Slaying Alliance.

If this were a normal time, it might have been overlooked, as no one would be willing to step forward and speak up for the clan members of an evil Cultivator Family.

But now, the various families and Sects had just suffered from evil Cultivators slaughtering cities and performing blood sacrifices, making them very sensitive to the mass slaughter of Mortals.

If Zhang Daobai really killed everyone, it would likely attract the attention of the Demon Slaying Alliance.

Therefore, Zhang Daobai ultimately decided to just follow the mission requirements and not cause unnecessary complications.

Green Wood Stream was named after a clear stream that ran through a vast forest of green wood.

There were originally three Foundation Establishment Families here, but after the Zhang Family was promoted to a Purple Mansion Family, the other two were wiped out by them.

Their ancestral lands were converted into patches of spiritual fields to increase the Zhang Family's income.

Besides the Zhang Family's ancestral grounds and the small city of the mundane Zhangs, Green Wood Stream also had a large-scale market town.

This market town was also run by the Zhang Family and could be considered somewhat prosperous.

As before, Zhang Daobai steered the spirit boat wrapped in Spirit Concealing Mist directly above the Qingmu City.

Qingmu City was divided into a residential area and a trading area. Beneath the market town was a second-rank Spiritual Vein that powered the Formations within.

Standing on the spirit boat, Zhang Daobai looked down at the market town below and quickly found the Zhang Family's station.

“Let's begin.”

Zhang Daobai waved his hand, and White Moon spat out a wisp of white mist.

This wisp of white mist was very thin and ordinary, causing people to subconsciously ignore it at a glance.

Soon, this wisp of white mist split into dozens of portions, each floating into the market town. Despite the light breeze blowing in the air, these white mists did not dissipate.

Guided by Zhang Daobai, these white mists were delivered by White Moon to the Zhang Family members within the market town.

Unprepared, they quickly inhaled the white mist into their bodies.

“Alright, let's go to the next place.”

Zhang Daobai smiled with satisfaction at the sight and then spoke to Lin Luoxue.

Hearing this, Lin Luoxue controlled the spirit boat and flew toward the Zhang Family's spiritual fields.

The Zhang Family's spiritual fields were of two types: those they cultivated themselves and those leased to Loose Cultivators.

Zhang Daobai did not favor one over the other, visiting both types of spiritual fields and marking all the stationed Zhang Family members.

It took an entire afternoon for Zhang Daobai to mark all the Zhang Family members stationed outside.

The only ones left were those within the Zhang Family's ancestral grounds.

Thinking of this, Zhang Daobai looked up at the sky, feeling somewhat expectant for the arrival of night.

Night fell, and the stars were sparse.

The Zhang Family's ancestral grounds were brightly lit, looking peaceful and serene, just like a warm home.

Who would have thought that beneath this tranquility lay a sickeningly ugly evil.

As the night deepened, the Zhang Family's ancestral grounds gradually quieted down. Most clan members began to rest or Cultivate, appearing quite normal.

But under Zhang Daobai's gaze from mid-air, many Zhang Family members walked out of their rooms and arrived before a rockery in the backyard.

The backyard where this rockery was located was strictly guarded, and one could only enter after repeated inspections.

Beneath the rockery, there was a secret door leading underground.

After the Zhang Family members arrived here, they all showed excited smiles and then impatiently walked inside.

“A Devil's Den.”

Zhang Daobai spat out these words with a cold gaze.

“When do we strike?”

Standing to the side, Lin Luoxue had naturally seen this scene as well and asked softly with a cold gaze.

“Now.”

Zhang Daobai said as he waved his hand to White Moon.

Seeing this, White Moon led its swarm and flew toward the Zhang Family's ancestral grounds below.

“There is an escape tunnel beneath the Zhang Family's grounds. Go and block it.”

After White Moon flew off, Zhang Daobai turned and ordered Lin Luoxue.

Lin Luoxue nodded and then flew downward.

Soon, after White Moon reached the perimeter of the Zhang Family's grounds with its swarm, they dispersed and surrounded the area.

In less than a moment, a large amount of white mist enveloped the Zhang Family's grounds from all sides.

Initially, the patrol teams on the outskirts of the Zhang Family's grounds didn't pay much attention when they saw it.

After all, in the Green Wood Stream area, there was plenty of moisture, so fog often formed. Everyone was used to it.

Soon, these white mists also enveloped the patrol teams.

In the next second, the patrol teams that were just walking normally all collapsed to the ground instantly, their corpses rapidly dissolving in the white mist.

The guards on the watchtowers didn't notice anything unusual because they couldn't see through the white mist.

After all, those patrol members had died instantly, without even letting out a scream.

The potent poisons White Moon had devoured numbered in the thousands, if not ten thousand. Combined with White Moon's current cultivation,

even a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator would be poisoned to death if they stayed in the white mist for too long.

At the same time, not long ago, the Ghost Face Spirit Devouring Vine seed Zhang Daobai had previously obtained had successfully grown and matured.

So, Zhang Daobai gave its Origin poison to White Moon to devour, giving White Moon's toxins two additional properties: one was to corrode spiritual power, and the other was to suppress spiritual power.

With these two properties, even using a spiritual power shield would not last for long.

Soon, the white mist swept over the watchtowers, like a terrifying giant beast, swallowing the Zhang Family's grounds bit by bit.

Under the white mist, Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators had no power to resist; they died instantly upon contact.

Most of the Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators had gone to the basement beneath the rockery, so when the white mist had poisoned two-thirds of the Zhang Family, not a single person had noticed anything wrong.

On the other side, after Lin Luoxue tunneled underground and found the escape tunnel, she controlled the soil and rocks to seal it off, and then returned to the surface.

By the time she emerged, more than half of the Zhang Family was already enveloped in white mist.

Soon, a Mist Concealing Worm flew onto her, attaching a layer of white light to her body.

This layer of white light allowed Lin Luoxue to ignore the white mist, avoiding accidental injury to a teammate.

Before long, the white mist spread to the vicinity of the backyard rockery. The outer guards stationed here were all Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators, so they died silently in an instant.

Beside the rockery, two old men were playing chess under the light. Upon hearing the faint sound of bodies hitting the ground, they immediately stopped their movements and looked around.

At the first sight of the white mist, neither of them felt anything was wrong.

But the second look instantly caused a strong sense of unease in their hearts.

Because it was too quiet!

The entire Zhang Family grounds were in a deathly silence; even the chirping of insects had disappeared.

“How is this possible!?”

One of the old men quickly spread his Divine Sense, wanting to explore what was happening outside.

As a result, he soon discovered that his Divine Sense actually could not penetrate the surrounding white mist.

“Ah!”

In the next second, the old man using his Divine Sense suddenly clutched his head and cried out in pain.

Because the Divine Sense he had just used to touch the white mist had actually been 'eaten' by the mist!

Seeing the state of the person beside him, the other old man quickly went to a nearby large tree and forcefully struck the huge bronze bell hanging from it.

“Dong! Dong! Dong...”

The bell rang nine times, a sign of clan extermination!

After the nine bell tolls subsided, the entire backyard was also completely enveloped by the white mist.

As soon as the two old men breathed, they felt a sharp pain from within their bodies, and their spiritual power was also suppressed by twenty percent.

Instantly, the two of them understood that this white mist was highly toxic!

So, the two of them quickly propped up spiritual power shields, wanting to isolate themselves from the white mist.

But as soon as the spiritual power shields were deployed, a sizzling sound came from the surface of the shields.

At the same time, the two of them felt that their spiritual power shields were being rapidly corroded.

Soon, the Zhang Family members in the basement rushed out after hearing the bell.

But as soon as they rushed out, they were swallowed by the white mist outside. The Foundation Establishment Stage Zhang Family members had no ability to resist and soon fell to the ground.

Although they didn't die immediately, they were close to it.

The white mist did not spread into the basement; after all, although Zhang Daobai was decisive in his killing, he was not someone who killed just anyone.

Before long, several Purple Mansion Stage Elders and the Clan Chief of the Zhang Family also rushed out from the basement.

When they saw the thick white mist outside, they all subconsciously spread their Divine Sense, wanting to see what was happening.

As a result, as soon as their Divine Sense was deployed, it was instantly swallowed by the surrounding white mist.

“Ah!”

The sharp pain of their Divine Sense being torn apart immediately caused several people to open their mouths and let out a scream.

And as soon as they opened their mouths, a large amount of white mist poured into their bodies, rapidly corroding their flesh, internal organs, and so on.