24: True Flame Sect, destroyed

[Immortal Master Ma led the team and departed.]

[Looking at their departing figures, you couldn't help but sigh softly.]

[You knew that their journey was fraught with danger, and they would likely never return to Nameless Village.]

[To be honest, you didn't quite understand what a grand war between Soul Transformation and even Void Tempering Cultivators had to do with Qi Refining Cultivators.]

[A Soul Transformation Cultivator could effortlessly slaughter a whole crowd of Qi Refining Cultivators; could they really play any role in this battle?]

[You couldn't quite see the sense in it.]

[The seventy-second year.]

[Your cultivation speed became slower and slower. Even with the help of Heaven Rewards Diligence, it was difficult for you to make any progress.]

[But you did not give up, continuing to Cultivate day after day, year after year.]

[The seventy-sixth year. As expected, Immortal Master Ma and his Disciples who went to the front lines had all fallen.]

[The Hunyuan Martial Hall declined because of this.]

[Although you felt a slight sadness in your heart, you quickly adjusted your state of mind.]

[The eightieth year.]

[By this time, you were already a hundred years old. With your cultivation progressing slowly, you decided to go out for a stroll to gather information on the battle situation between the Dynasty Alliance and the Boundless Immortal Dynasty.]

[You left the Spiritual Vein at the mayor's house, but just as you stepped out, you encountered a group of people wearing mourning clothes.]

[The leader of the group was surprised to see you and exclaimed, "You... you are Immortal Su?! I didn't expect you to still look so young after all these years."]

[You nodded.]

[Looking at this group of people dressed in mourning clothes, you already had a general idea of what had happened.]

[The mayor was dead.]

[Being only in the Body Tempering Realm, he was essentially just a Mortal. To have lived to this age was already considered fortunate.]

[After cupping your hands slightly in respect toward the mayor's memory, you went to a nearby city to inquire about the state of the war.]

[After asking around, you learned that the war, far from subsiding, had actually intensified.]

[The Dynasty Alliance and the Boundless Immortal Dynasty were in a stalemate, and many Sects and forces from other Cultivation Worlds had joined the fray.]

[Under their multi-sided power struggles, it was ultimately the low-level Cultivators who suffered.]

[The lives of the low-level Cultivators became even more miserable.]

[But just at this moment, two forces emerged to lead the masses in resisting the Dynasty Alliance.]

[One was the Falling Cloud Sect, and the other was the Kelei Academy.]

[Both of these forces were extremely powerful.]

[First was the Falling Cloud Sect. Its Old Ancestor, Yun Huzi, who had been severely injured, somehow managed to fully recover from his wounds. Moreover, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, stepping directly into the Peak of Fifth-Order Body Refining.]

[That would have been one thing. After all, he was only a Fifth-Order Body Refining Cultivator, and someone of this level was simply not enough to catch the eye of the Dynasty Alliance.]

[Yet, just as the Dynasty Alliance was preparing to eradicate him, a young Cultivator emerged from the Falling Cloud Sect. With just a single move, he killed a Void Tempering Cultivator of the Great Abyss Dynasty.]

[Such a level of cultivation was undoubtedly at the Undergoing Tribulation stage.]

[The Dynasty Alliance began trying to win him over, but that mysterious Undergoing Tribulation powerhouse turned a deaf ear, insisting that the Dynasty Alliance stop plundering the resources of low-level Cultivators.]

[The Dynasty Alliance naturally refused, and a war between the two sides was triggered instantly.]

[The outcome of the war remained unknown.]

[However, since then, the Dynasty Alliance stopped levying resources within the Falling Cloud Sect's sphere of influence.]

[As for Kelei Academy, it was a force spread across the Eastern Continent Cultivation World, with its Disciples all over the Cultivation World.]

[Many emperors of dynasties and masters of Sects had studied at Kelei Academy.]

[Furthermore, its own strength was extremely formidable. Even just a branch academy in the Great Wu Dynasty was guarded by a Soul Transformation Cultivator.]

[As for the main academy, it boasted several Undergoing Tribulation powerhouses.]

[Moreover, Kelei Academy was extremely clever.]

[In its fight against the Dynasty Alliance, it also brought in the Proud Heaven Sect, which was known as the number one Sect in the Eastern Continent Cultivation World.]

[With their combined forces, the strength of their top-tier Cultivators was not much inferior to that of the Dynasty Alliance.]

[After gaining an understanding of the current situation, you returned to Nameless Town.]

[Although the Spiritual Vein here was low-grade and there were few cultivation resources, it had the advantage of being safe.]

[You planned to continue your cultivation here.]

[But to your surprise, just as you were about to enter closed-door cultivation once again, the True Flame Sect came knocking on your door.]

[They had somehow obtained information about you from somewhere and insisted that you lead another 100 Cultivators from Nameless Town to the front lines.]

[Knowing full well how dangerous the front lines were, you pretended to agree but secretly left Nameless Village.]

[You found a piece of uninhabited wasteland to Cultivate.]

[Although there wasn't even a Spiritual Vein here, it had the advantage of being absolutely safe.]

[No one would be foolish enough to come to such a place to hunt for Cultivators.]

[The eighty-sixth year. Your cultivation made no progress at all, but your Body Refining Realm showed some signs of a Breakthrough.]

[The eighty-ninth year. Your Body Refining Realm broke through to the Third-Order Late Stage.]

[The ninety-eighth year. Although there were no Spiritual Veins, Spirit Stones, or Spirit Medicines here, with the help of Heaven Rewards Diligence, you still achieved a Breakthrough.]

[You reached the eighth layer of the Purple Mansion.]

[The speed of cultivation here was simply too slow. After hesitating for a moment, you decided to return to Nameless Town to continue your cultivation.]

[After all, eighteen years had passed since the True Flame Sect tried to conscript you, and the heat of the moment had already blown over.]

[But to your surprise, when you returned to Nameless Town, you were shocked by the scene before your eyes.]

[Mountains of corpses and seas of blood, ruined walls and debris.]

[Everywhere was filled with the stench of decay.]

[Nameless Town had been wiped out.]

[Although the blood on the ground had long since dried, you could still feel the despair of those residents before their deaths.]

[After searching for various clues, you discovered that these residents might have died because of you.]

[You had thought that your departure would keep Nameless Town safe, but you were wrong.]

[Your escape angered the True Flame Sect. They slaughtered Nameless Town completely and drove all the remaining Cultivators to the front lines.]

[You originally wanted to sit in meditation and Cultivate, convincing yourself to wait until you were strong enough before avenging these villagers.]

[But you couldn't enter a state of meditation for a long time.]

[You knew that if things went on like this, you would sooner or later birth a Heart Demon.]

[You left Nameless Town.]

[After inquiring in various places, you found the True Flame Sect.]

[The True Flame Sect was the closest Sect to Nameless Town. Although not particularly powerful, it still had Golden Core Cultivators guarding it.]

[However, those Golden Core Cultivators had already rushed to the front lines, leaving only some Purple Mansion Realm Cultivators to guard the Sect.]

[The strongest among them was only at the seventh layer of the Purple Mansion, making them absolutely no match for you.]

[After making ample preparations, you set foot onto the True Flame Sect.]

["True Flame Sect..."]

[You whispered softly.]

[Then, you summoned the Purple Flame Lion and charged directly into the True Flame Sect.]

[Before the gate-guarding Disciples could even react, they became meals in the mouth of the Purple Flame Lion.]

[They only had Qi Refining cultivation; how could they possibly be a match for the Purple Flame Lion, a third-order Yao Beast?]