When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

A demonic cultivator falling into demonic deviation—this statement sounded somewhat strange, since according to the cultivation world's understanding, the demonic path was already demonic by nature. Yet Fei Yuan's expression was extremely solemn, making it impossible to doubt the truth and seriousness in her words.

Harmony Sect was a rather unique sect. Their uninhibited ways were intolerable to the righteous path, causing them to descend into the demonic path. But in reality, among the Four Major Demonic Sects, Harmony Sect was actually the most normal. They were neither combative nor bloodthirsty; behind closed doors, their consensual dual cultivation was no one else's business. Even their base in Linglong City kept its gates wide open, welcoming visitors from all directions.

However, anyone who underestimated them, thinking they were comparable to ordinary brothels in the mortal world, would suffer greatly. Harmony Sect cultivators were not only far from weak, but exceptionally powerful—otherwise, they couldn't have ranked among the Four Major Sects.

Beyond strength and cultivation, Harmony Sect possessed another advantage the other three sects couldn't match—Harmony Sect was filled with beautiful people, and how many in this world could resist being enchanted by such beauty? Countless individuals fell at the feet of Harmony Sect disciples, obeying their every word and fulfilling their every demand. Under their beauty trap, there was nothing they couldn't obtain!

With this natural advantage, Harmony Sect's intelligence network was naturally far more extensive than other sects—evident from their knowledge of Yun Qingyue's identity.

Neither Jiang Mo nor Yun Qingyue doubted Fei Yuan's words, but asked: "Now that Elder Fei Yuan has told us this, what exactly do you plan to do? Surely you know that righteous and demonic paths have never coexisted peacefully. If the righteous path intervenes, you'd end up turning against them instead."

Hearing this, Fei Yuan's gaze fell on Yun Qingyue: "Would Immortal Maiden Qingyue be willing to contact Sect Leader Zhu?"

When Yun Qingyue's identity was exposed at Mingzong Mountain, her mother-daughter relationship with Zhu Baiyi became known throughout the world. Harmony Sect had people present at the time, so they naturally couldn't be unaware. Over the following eighty years, Harmony Sect had deliberately investigated who Yun Qingyue's father might be, but their inquiries yielded no results and nearly alerted Zhu Baiyi, causing the relationship between the two sects to become rather delicate.

Yun Qingyue didn't refuse. She freed herself from Jiang Mo's embrace and landed on her shoulder: "If you want me to contact her, you must tell me the specific details."

Having started the conversation, Fei Yuan naturally had no intention of concealing anything further, and immediately began to explain: "The matter goes back over a hundred years. You both have been to the Canglán Secret Realm, but Nine Abyss Sect was actually the first to discover it. It's said the first person to enter the realm was the Nine Abyss Sect Leader, who led a group of people inside, but he was the only one to return.

"The Nine Abyss Sect Leader's changes began from that time. Originally, he focused solely on the pursuit of cultivation and ascension; Nine Abyss Sect was merely a force to help him gather cultivation resources. But after returning from Canglán Secret Realm, he completely changed his behavior and began vigorously expanding the sect's power. There's also another matter you likely remember clearly...that Chu Yang, who was Nine Abyss Sect's young master and the son of a Grand Achievement cultivator!"

Jiang Mo didn't immediately grasp the significance of this last statement, but Yun Qingyue, having grown up in the cultivation world, was shocked—Chu Yang was around their age, and those who participated in the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition were all under fifty years old. By this calculation, he truly was the son of a Grand Achievement cultivator. Yet there was a common understanding in the cultivation world: the higher one's cultivation, the more difficult it was to have offspring. Those beyond the Fusion stage were practically infertile.

So how did the Nine Abyss Sect Leader have a child? Had he experienced some miraculous encounter, or did Chu Yang have a different identity, not actually his biological son?

Regardless of which possibility was true, it seemed highly unusual.

Yun Qingyue's thoughts had wandered a bit, but since Chu Yang had already returned to dust, there was no need to dwell on this point. She nodded imperceptibly and asked: "Is that all?"

Fei Yuan, unperturbed by her calm demeanor, continued: "Beyond this, Nine Abyss Sect's activities in recent years have been highly suspicious. They appear to be striving to expand their influence. The Nine Abyss Sect Leader, to enhance the sect's strength, has been recruiting independent cultivators without restriction. To my knowledge, over the past eighty years, independent cultivators joining Nine Abyss Sect can be counted in the tens of thousands. Yet strangely, their increase in power hasn't been as terrifying as one might expect."

It's worth noting that when Nine Abyss Sect suddenly began indiscriminately recruiting people years ago, the other three sects had been secretly vigilant, fearing that Nine Abyss Sect might attack them after expanding their power—perhaps their goal was to unify the demonic path.

But later, after Nine Abyss Sect's commotion and as the three sects prepared to unite against them, they discovered that Nine Abyss Sect's power increase wasn't as frightening as anticipated—perhaps Nine Abyss Sect truly harbored ambitions to unify the demonic path, and the sect leader's background determined his value for power, but their growth in strength certainly didn't keep pace. Otherwise, they wouldn't still be locked in a difficult struggle with Crimson Blood Sect now that war had broken out.

The other two sects, unaware of the inside story, merely assumed that the independent cultivators Nine Abyss Sect recruited were all lower-level practitioners whose insufficient cultivation didn't significantly boost the sect's strength. However, the well-informed Harmony Sect knew that many high-level cultivators had also joined Nine Abyss Sect over these years.

More terrifyingly, once these high-level cultivators entered Nine Abyss Sect, they quickly disappeared without a trace, their fates unknown.

Fei Yuan didn't hide any of this from the two, sharing it all openly. Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue immediately recalled that when they had infiltrated Nine Abyss Sect, the identities they borrowed seemed to be from independent cultivators recruited from outside Nine Abyss Sect. Among those who went with Third Elder to explore the nameless temple, how many were disciples trained by Nine Abyss Sect, and how many were recruited independent cultivators?

Just as this thought arose, they heard Fei Yuan say: "Half a year ago, one of our sect's disciples coincidentally encountered an old acquaintance—originally an independent cultivator who later joined Nine Abyss Sect, unable to resist the benefits they promised. After joining, he was assigned sect missions, and those who went with him suffered heavy casualties... Nine Abyss Sect was using these independent cultivators as cannon fodder, and behind this practice lies a massive secret."

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Fei Yuan had explained the matter from the beginning, answering many questions for Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue, but by the end, they both had a clear understanding—Nine Abyss Sect's greatest secret was likely their deliberate effort to destroy the sealing formation and reopen the passage to the demonic realm!

Honestly, neither Jiang Mo nor Yun Qingyue could comprehend the Nine Abyss Sect Leader's reasoning. He had already reached the Grand Achievement stage; wouldn't proper cultivation for ascension be better?

Indeed, Fei Yuan had revealed Nine Abyss Sect's conspiracy, which genuinely threatened the entire cultivation world. Since she had been so forthright, Jiang Mo asked the question she most wanted answered: "What does the Nine Abyss Sect Leader hope to gain by doing this? Wouldn't proper ascension be preferable?"

Fei Yuan showed no particular emotion and, unlike Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue, didn't find the Nine Abyss Sect Leader's actions bewildering. She glanced at Jiang Mo and said: "As a divine beast blessed by heaven and earth, Jianbing may not understand the difficulty of ascension." Then, looking at Yun Qingyue, she continued: "Do you two know how many from our demonic path have attempted the ascension tribulation in the past thousand years, and how many succeeded?"

Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue exchanged glances upon hearing this. The former, having been here for less than a hundred years and constantly busy with cultivation, naturally knew nothing about this. The latter knew a bit more and, after some thought, said: "I'm not sure about the demonic path, but in the past thousand years, seven righteous path ancestors have undergone tribulation, three succeeded, with less than half actually ascending. I assume the demonic path is similar."

Hearing this, Fei Yuan laughed and shook her head: "Reaching the tribulation stage is already difficult for demonic path cultivators, but in these thousand years, not a single one has undergone tribulation, let alone ascended. Do you know why?"

Jiang Mo shook her head in confusion, while Yun Qingyue had some suspicions but didn't voice them, waiting for Fei Yuan's answer.

Fei Yuan didn't keep them in suspense, stating directly: "Because the ascension lightning tribulation is both a trial and a reckoning. Cultivators wishing to ascend to the upper realm must first resolve their karmic ties in this realm. Leaving aside other factors, demonic path techniques are mostly related to killing. The blood debts and karmic consequences that demonic cultivators accumulate are innumerable—how could these be easily resolved? Of ten who undergo tribulation, nine perish, and the remaining one may not necessarily succeed."

At this point, how could Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue not understand? The reason no demonic cultivators had undergone tribulation or ascended in nearly a thousand years wasn't because their cultivation wasn't sufficient or their realms weren't high enough, but because they were unwilling to undergo tribulation, knowing it was essentially a death sentence.

Regardless of the situation facing those old monsters who suppressed their cultivation, later generations naturally sought alternative paths—otherwise, what was the point of cultivation? To reach a higher level only to die faster? And even if they cultivated to the Tribulation Crossing stage, it was useless; to suppress their cultivation, they didn't even dare fight freely, let alone dominate the cultivation world.

In such bleak circumstances, ambitious individuals naturally refused to accept this fate, and powerful demonic cultivators had been constantly exploring alternatives over the years. The Nine Abyss Sect Leader was likely the most fanatical among them, because regardless of how others sought solutions, none would consider overthrowing the cultivation world and connecting with the demonic realm—demons and humans weren't even the same species, while demonic cultivators remained human.

Having guessed the Nine Abyss Sect Leader's goal and reasons, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue both felt he had gone mad. Completely bewildered, they asked Fei Yuan: "Demonic cultivators are still human. Do you think demons would coexist peacefully with you?"

Fei Yuan shook her head with a bitter smile: "How could that be possible? During the demonic realm invasion tens of thousands of years ago, they sought to exterminate demonic cultivators as well."

Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue exchanged another glance: confirmed—the Nine Abyss Sect Leader was truly insane!