Chapter 454
454: Tearful Eyes
Jiang Mo's emotions were exceedingly complex at this moment.
From a distance, she had seen a mountain peak being sliced off, but she hadn't taken it to heart, still having the leisure to watch others fighting to the death. But flying closer, she discovered that the mountain was covered with a layer of light purple, looking strangely familiar... Oh, it turned out that the flattened peak was her Purple Cloud Peak, planted with purple cloud flowers. The sliced-off mountaintop had contained her pancake shop and the peach tree that she and Senior Sister had transplanted from Mount Mingxia.
Her mood for watching the spectacle gradually disappeared, and tears unknowingly filled her eyes—Jianbing rolled up her sleeves and charged forward. No one could stop her; she would thrash this bastard who dared destroy her home!
The enraged little tiger's strength was not to be underestimated. Despite her opponent demonstrating power far beyond her realm, she was beaten until she almost couldn't tell which way was north. If not for Peak Master Qingyuan and Yun Qingyue's timely intervention, the person would likely have perished on the spot.
However, even after being restrained, the little tiger remained furious, jumping up and down in rage: "What did my mountain ever do to you?! Why destroy my home for no reason?!"
Peak Master Qingyuan hadn't initially understood why Jianbing was so enraged, but now he understood—beasts have strong territorial instincts, especially tigers, as the saying goes, "one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers." Now, to slice off someone's mountain peak while they were away—wasn't that just like pulling hairs from a tiger's head? No wonder Jianbing was jumping with rage and beating people.
Of course, Qingyuan's thoughts were based only on his limited information. If he knew that Jianbing had found someone dear to her heart and had planned to bring her beloved back to her territory to stay, only to find her home demolished... well, it was hard to say who was more miserable.
Yun Qingyue stroked the tiger's head to comfort her: "It's alright, it won't be difficult to build another Jianbing Hall later."
But Jiang Mo wasn't comforted. She pursed her lips, feeling extremely aggrieved: "I finally came back and wanted to show you my Purple Cloud Peak, but now even the mountaintop has been sliced off, and our peach tree..." As she spoke, her eyes blinked, brimming with tears. Even in human form, one could almost see her ears drooping—she couldn't have looked more pitiful.
Yun Qingyue's heart softened. She pinched Jiang Mo's earlobe: "It's alright. At worst, we can fix up Purple Cloud Peak ourselves, build a small house on it, and it will be fine for us to live in casually."
Honestly, this wasn't difficult. With cultivation at the Fusion stage, they naturally had the ability to move mountains and fill seas. Moreover, they weren't even moving mountains and filling seas—just reshaping the sliced-off Purple Cloud Peak. For two Fusion stage powerhouses, it wasn't a challenging task. However, apart from the two of them, probably no one else would bother doing such a thing.
After Senior Sister's gentle coaxing, Jiang Mo's grievance finally subsided slightly.
This left the observing Peak Master Qingyuan deeply impressed. He hadn't expected young people nowadays to interact like this, though vaguely, he felt something subtly different about their relationship.
……
After comforting the little tiger who had painfully lost her property, it was time to return to the main issue.
Earlier, Jiang Mo's outburst had helped Peak Master Qingyuan subdue the rebellious sword cultivator elder. Now they finally had time to ask about the situation: "Uncle Master Qingyuan, what's happening? How did you end up fighting with Elder Yuan? And where are the other masters and elders? We just came from Lingyun Hall and didn't see Uncle Master Qingxiao. Are they held up by something?"
The sword cultivator elder's surname was Yuan. Also from Mount Mingxia, she had given Yun Qingyue pointers several times when she was younger.
Hearing this question, Qingyuan's brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed again. Some matters were naturally unsuitable to discuss with junior disciples, but Yun Qingyue was different. Not only had her cultivation advanced rapidly to the Fusion stage, but the news about the Buddha Sect and demon race had also been brought back by her, so there was nothing to conceal: "Seven days ago, the Buddha Sect sent a message that Mount Puhua was under attack. Your master led a group to provide assistance."
Mount Puhua was the mountain range where the Buddha Sect was located, and it wasn't just home to the Buddha Sect alone. Nearly eighty percent of the Buddhist cultivators in the cultivation world were gathered there. Usually, they formed their own faction, which outsiders found difficult to provoke. Unexpectedly, this time the entire Mount Puhua was under siege.
Yun Qingyue felt a vague sense of unease and asked further: "What about Uncle Master Qingxiao?"
A sect leader's position was of great importance, and they wouldn't easily leave the sect, even for major events like the Buddha Sect being surrounded... No, perhaps precisely because the Buddha Sect was surrounded, in such a crisis-filled moment, Sect Leader Qingxiao would be even less likely to leave Xuanqing Sect.
Sure enough, Qingyuan shook his head: "The Sect Leader is still in the sect, but..."
Seeing his hesitation, Yun Qingyue hastily asked: "But what?"
Qingyuan sighed and finally said: "The Sect Leader is presiding at the Enforcement Hall." After saying this, the subsequent explanation flowed more smoothly. He pointed at the captured Elder Yuan and said: "Elder Yuan's mind has been bewitched, causing her to act recklessly within the sect. But she isn't the first person to cause trouble. In fact, in just these few short days, dozens of elders and disciples in our Xuanqing Sect have fallen."
When Yun Qingyue and Jiang Mo had returned to Xuanqing Sect, everything had been peaceful and harmonious. Who would have thought that after spending just a short time in the lightning pool, such earth-shattering changes would have occurred outside?
Yun Qingyue unconsciously looked down at her feet, her gaze penetrating through layers of clouds, finally seeing the devastation beneath the cloud layer.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
The calamity that befell the Buddha Sect was significant, and with the news that Yun Qingyue and Jiang Mo had brought back earlier, Xuanqing Sect naturally couldn't take it lightly. So Sect Leader Qingxiao ordered the Great Achievement stage Peak Master Qingyu to lead a team, including Peak Masters Qingxu and Qinglan, along with various high-ranking elders and elite disciples, departing that same day to reinforce the Buddha Sect.
As for the internal defense of Xuanqing Sect after these people left, Sect Leader Qingxiao wasn't overly concerned. After all, the sect still had three Great Achievement stage Supreme Elders and the Tribulation Crossing stage Divine Lord Zhiming in residence, which seemed foolproof.
However, the development of events still exceeded Sect Leader Qingxiao's expectations...
The first incident occurred on the second day after Qingyu and the others left. With the Buddha Sect's precedent as a warning, Sect Leader Qingxiao issued a recall order to sect members who were traveling outside. Some who were far from the sect would take longer to return, but others who were nearby returned to the sect successively as soon as the Sect Leader's recall order was issued.
The first troublemaker was just an ordinary inner sect disciple. His cultivation had just reached the Golden Core stage, and he hadn't yet found a master. Originally, he had been out on a sect mission, but after receiving the recall order, he returned immediately.
This person was too ordinary—ordinary cultivation, ordinary talent, ordinary appearance and personality, and his acquaintances among fellow disciples were all ordinary people. So when he suddenly turned violent, with his cultivation mysteriously increasing, none of his fellow disciples could restrain him. By the time the elders arrived and finally subdued him, dozens of ordinary disciples had been killed or injured.
The cultivation world is fraught with dangers, and even in powerful large sects like Xuanqing Sect, many disciples die young or perish each year. However, such significant casualties within the sect were still rare and even alarmed the Sect Leader.
Later, that disciple was detained at the Enforcement Hall, under the supervision and interrogation of the Enforcement Hall.
But the matter didn't end there; rather, it was just the beginning—among those elders and disciples who returned to the sect, several more went mad and attacked people. They overwhelmed others as soon as they acted, so each disturbance resulted in many casualties. Within a short period, the sect became filled with anxiety, and people became especially wary of returning fellow disciples.
What was worse, this caution proved futile. Even though the sect isolated those returning members, those who had been staying within the sect also began to act up. Brothers who had been arm-in-arm one moment might stab you the next.
Trust between people is not easily built, but quick to destroy, especially when faced with such danger.
Peak Master Qingyuan sighed, his face showing the weight of experience: "You just came out of the lightning pool. You probably haven't seen many people on your way here, right? The sect is now unstable, disciples are suspicious of each other, elders are each on guard, and finally, everyone has retreated to their residences."
Residences weren't necessarily safe either, but at least they had a layer of barrier for defense, preventing sudden backstabs. Moreover, that barrier wasn't just for defending against external enemies but also for restraining oneself—after the Sect Leader and Enforcement Hall's examination, those who attacked fellow disciples were all somewhat mentally unclear. And this lack of clarity was like a plague—unstoppable, and no one knew when it might befall them.
Clearly, Elder Yuan was one such unfortunate soul. However, when she "fell ill," everyone had already retreated to their caves, so she didn't manage to kill anyone before being discovered by Qingyuan. Then she sliced off Purple Cloud Peak with one sword and received a beating from Jianbing.
……
How does one quickly breach a solid fortress? The answer, of course, is to strike from within!
After listening to Peak Master Qingyuan's account, Yun Qingyue and Jiang Mo intuited that the crisis facing Xuanqing Sect was no smaller than that of the besieged Buddha Sect. Especially with this strong sense of déjà vu, Yun Qingyue's gaze toward Elder Yuan became complex.
Jiang Mo immediately discerned Yun Qingyue's thoughts, so without waiting for Senior Sister to speak, she proactively approached the captive. Conveniently, Elder Yuan was a female cultivator, so without further ado, Jiang Mo thoroughly examined her from top to bottom, though she didn't find any traces of demonic patterns on her body. Then, in a flash of inspiration, Jiang Mo directly channeled spiritual energy and pointed at Elder Yuan's dantian.
For cultivators, the dantian is the vital area for storing spiritual energy, and a sudden attack is naturally very dangerous. Due to bodily instinct, the sealed spiritual energy in Elder Yuan's dantian began to stir, and finally, a black pattern slowly crept up her face.
The demonic pattern on Elder Yuan's face was trivial compared to Huiqian's earlier. The latter's face had been densely covered in patterns, even occupying the whites of his eyes, while Elder Yuan's patterns only covered half of her face.
Her eyes were still clearly black and white, but unfortunately, they showed no clarity, only overflowing with violent negative emotions.
Jiang Mo withdrew her hand upon seeing the demonic pattern, even stepping back two paces, as if afraid of accidentally being contaminated. She carefully examined Elder Yuan for a few moments, then her eyes darted as she suggested: "These demonic patterns don't look as severe as Huiqian's were. Perhaps there's still hope. Why don't we take her to the lightning pool for a soak? Maybe it will dispel the demonic energy and cure her?"