232: Chapter 232 Disciples of the Demonic Sect

There was only one catch: he had to gather everyone before the matter in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley was resolved.

It had been nearly ten days since he overheard that it would be "finished in another month" while in the valley.

Furthermore, looking at the current situation, that progress was highly likely to be ahead of schedule.

If Zhao Shan's team couldn't arrive before those people finished, everything would be for naught.

“Zhao Shan, I want you to travel day and night. You must reach Luoxia City within half a month. Once there, enter the city separately as Loose Cultivators. We will discuss specific deployments then.”

After sending the transmission, Su Chengyuan placed the talisman back into his robes and began to think about his next steps.

Li Shi watched the changes in his expression from the side; from giving up to hesitating and then making up his mind, it took less than the time for a cup of tea.

“Mr. Su, have you changed your mind?”

“Yes.” Su Chengyuan nodded. “We aren't leaving.”

“Waiting for Zhao Shan?”

“Correct. He's bringing over a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators. We can try to take a shot at this.”

Li Shi opened his mouth, then closed it again.

What he wanted to ask was: even if you gather enough people, those Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivators from the five Golden Core level powers outside aren't pushovers. Why is an Early Foundation Establishment Stage like you joining the fray?

But he didn't dare ask it aloud. He had come out on this trip following the other man, and he would follow his lead in everything.

"Fine, then I'll go open the shop first. It can't stay empty forever; this place can serve as a stronghold for the chamber of commerce later." Li Shi stood up and walked out, but turned back at the door. "By the way, I'll go scout the movements of those five powers to see when they plan to set out."

"Mm, go ahead."

After Li Shi left, Su Chengyuan sat alone by the window. There were still Loose Cultivators on the street discussing the matter of Ten Thousand Snakes Valley, but he stopped listening.

What he wanted to know more now was the movements of the people inside the valley.

With such a huge commotion in the city, it was impossible for a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators hunkered down at the bottom of the valley to have no reaction at all.

They surely knew the situation in the city, but what would they do now?

Would they tighten their defenses and keep holding out, speed up their progress to finish and leave before the allied forces entered the valley, or simply take the initiative to leave the valley and strike first?

All three paths had their logic, and Su Chengyuan couldn't guess which they would take.

This was the biggest variable at the moment.

He pulled down the curtains; all that was left was to wait.

Wait for Zhao Shan to get into position, wait for the five powers to finish negotiating the rules, and wait for the people in the valley to make their next move before making further plans.

...

Ten Thousand Snakes Valley.

Deep at the bottom of the valley, inside a stone cave obscured by Red Iron bushes, fifteen Foundation Establishment Cultivators sat in a circle.

Though there were fifteen, only thirteen actually had their combat power intact.

The other two bore various degrees of injuries. One of them had a wound on his right shoulder that was still seeping spiritual fluid; it had been grazed by the Flying Sword of a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator during the last ambush on the Loose Cultivator allied forces.

It was their bad luck that their three-man squad was the first to encounter that group, causing the two Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators to suffer a minor setback.

The middle-aged Cultivator leading them sat cross-legged on the innermost stone platform, frowning as he toyed with a black medallion in his hand.

His name was Tao Qianfang, a Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivator and the leader of this team.

The middle-aged Cultivator Liu Feng, whom Su Chengyuan and the other had seen before, stood at the back of the cave with two other Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, respectfully refraining from interrupting.

"How did the news get out?" another Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivator, Zhong Tang, asked.

Tao Qianfang shook his head. "It's better that it got out. When those fifteen Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivators came last time, I had Junior Brother Zhao intentionally let five escape specifically so they would go back and report."

The young Cultivator with the shoulder injury was stunned for a moment. "Third Senior Brother, you let those five go on purpose?"

"Otherwise? If we killed them all, who would go out and recruit people for us?" Tao Qianfang said with a cold sneer.

The stone cave fell silent for a moment.

The middle-aged Cultivator Liu Feng asked, "Third Senior Brother, now that Golden Core level powers have come to Luoxia City, is it still a good thing?"

"A good thing."

Upon hearing this, everyone had different expressions.

Tao Qianfang raised his hand and pointed to the ground. Forty feet below the stone cave, through layers of volcanic rock, was the core of a Formation that had been completed fifty years ago.

The Formation was called the Ten Thousand Spirits Nurturing Origin Array. Its only purpose was to use the flesh and soul essence of living beings as nourishment to catalyze a Rank Three Exotic Fire Seed that had been sealed by volcanic magma deep underground for an unknown number of years.

This Formation was personally laid down by an Elder of the Sect. It covered a radius of ten miles. Just burying the Formation bases, carving the Array Inscriptionss, and connecting the Spiritual Vein nodes had taken three full years.

Once the Formation was complete, it shouldn't have needed anyone to guard it.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Nurturing Origin Array could operate on its own, slowly absorbing the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and the soul essence remnants dissipated after Yao Beasts died in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley, catalyzing the underground fire seed bit by bit.

According to the Elder's original calculations, they only needed to wait for several decades, and the Exotic Fire would naturally mature and emerge.

But things changed two years ago.

When the fire seed's catalysis entered the final stage, its consumption suddenly spiked, and the energy the Formation absorbed on its own was no longer enough to maintain its operation.

The spiritual power supply couldn't keep up with the consumption, and the Array Inscriptionss began to flicker intermittently. If it dragged on any longer, fifty years of planning might go to waste.

The Elder received the warning signal from the Formation, but he happened to be tied down by other matters within the Sect and couldn't come personally.

With no other choice, he issued this mission within the Sect, letting Core Disciples guard it for him, actively feeding the Formation with the flesh and soul essence of Yao Beasts every day to make up for the deficit in its autonomous operation.

Once the fire seed was fully mature, the Elder would naturally come to collect it.

The mission itself wasn't complicated. The Formation was already there; all they had to do was maintain the power supply and get some Yao Beast flesh every day to ensure the Formation didn't stop.

But no one wanted to squat in this hellhole for two years.

Ten Thousand Snakes Valley was sweltering, the toxic miasma was thick, and Fire Snakes were everywhere. It was a hundred miles from the nearest Luoxia City.

Although Foundation Establishment Cultivators didn't need to eat and their Dharma Robes didn't get dirty, being trapped in such a gutter all day—with snakes in front of them, snakes under their feet, and the sound of snakes hissing in their ears even when they closed their eyes to cultivate—was unbearable.

They were Demonic Sect Disciples, not old monks practicing asceticism in the deep mountains.

In the first year, they hunkered down honestly, and no one said a word.

By the second year, everyone was reaching their limit.

So a year ago, Tao Qianfang had an idea.

He had people intentionally create several spiritual power fluctuations on the outskirts of Ten Thousand Snakes Valley and arranged for a certain Junior Brother to go to the Loose Cultivator gatherings near Luoxia City in the guise of a Loose Cultivator.

He would intentionally or unintentionally mention things like "there seems to be a purple firelight over at Xuanhuo Ridge" or "the snake swarms in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley have shrunk a lot lately, it's very strange."

Once the news was thrown out, they just had to wait for the fish to bite.

The effect was slower than expected. In the first few months, a few dozen Qi Refining Loose Cultivators came in trickles; they were very timid, wandering around the valley entrance before running away, not even daring to go deep.

But it was a start nonetheless.

If Yao Beast flesh and soul essence could catalyze the Formation, then the flesh and soul essence of Cultivators naturally could as well—and their quality was higher, making the catalysis efficiency faster.

Where people came, there would be corpses. Where there were corpses, there was flesh and soul essence.

Tao Qianfang didn't need to personally kill every single one. Driven by the Formation, the Fire Snake swarms in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley became three times more ferocious than usual. If ten Qi Refining Cultivators entered, eight would be consumed by the Fire Snakes.

The remaining two who were lucky enough to reach the depths would then be cleaned up by his people.

In this past year or so, with the flesh and soul essence of nearly a hundred Cultivators poured in, the Formation's progress had jumped forward significantly.

"Based on the current speed," Tao Qianfang scanned the crowd, "it should be finished in about ten more days. It doesn't matter if the news spreads; what matters is that people come. The sooner we finish, the sooner we go back to report our success."

"But there are five Golden Core level powers outside, and fifteen Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivators..." a certain Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Junior Brother's voice was a bit weak.

Tao Qianfang glanced at him and flipped the black medallion between his fingers.

(The other chapter will be a bit later.)