Chapter 464
464: Demonic Realm Curse
When the ice flame met the mutated flowers, it was like oil poured on fire—in an instant, those few mutated flowers were burned completely clean. In contrast to the flowers, though the ice flame's power was strong, the energy control was extremely precise. Therefore, the other plants weren't greatly affected, merely acquiring a touch of frost on their petals or leaves.
With the sun shining brightly now, these flowers would all survive after just a brief moment in the sunlight.
This result was unexpected to Sect Leader Qingxiao, both in terms of the ice flame's destructive power against the mutated flowers and Yun Qingyue's control. Peak Master Qingyuan, arriving belatedly, happened to witness this scene and couldn't help but reveal an expression of amazement.
"Impressive," Peak Master Qingyuan praised, then immediately extended his divine sense into the ground to examine the condition of the mutated flowers' roots.
A Fusion stage powerhouse's divine sense is extremely powerful, able to completely reveal underground conditions. Therefore, Peak Master Qingyuan quickly discovered that the ice flame had burned not only the plants above ground but also hadn't spared even the slightest bit of the roots below.
This was truly a joyous discovery. Peak Master Qingyuan immediately reported the results to Sect Leader Qingxiao, and both men looked at Yun Qingyue with expectant gazes. Sect Leader Qingxiao even generously promised that once this matter was resolved, there would certainly be substantial rewards.
Watching their delighted and excited expressions, Yun Qingyue's fingertips, which had released the ice flame, pinched together slightly—at the moment of releasing the ice flame, she had actually already anticipated this result. Because at that time, she once again felt the ice flame's uncontrollability, just like when she had burned Huiqian before, and simply couldn't control the ice flame's incineration of the demonic patterns.
Fortunately, the previous time had been a desperate attempt to save a life, but she hadn't succeeded. This time was different—her original purpose was to eliminate these mutated flowers, and though the effect was somewhat uncontrollable, it had indeed achieved the goal.
Due to this alignment of purpose, after her fingertips moved slightly, Yun Qingyue didn't say anything more.
……
With the experiment yielding results, the three didn't delay, immediately beginning to clean up the interior of Xuanqing Sect, starting from this small spirit peak. After clearing each area, Peak Master Qingyuan would take out a formation disk to temporarily protect that place.
One area, two areas, three areas...
In just half a day, Yun Qingyue's ice flame had burned through countless places. Simultaneously, Peak Master Qingyuan had deployed numerous formation disks. Eventually, even Sect Leader Qingxiao couldn't help but ask: "Brother, exactly how many formation disks have you crafted?"
Peak Master Qingyuan waved his hand dismissively: "I made them casually while teaching my disciples. Over time, they've accumulated to this many."
For cultivators with lengthy lifespans, the phrase "accumulating over time" was truly terrifying, leaving nothing more to say.
After this small interlude, the group continued their diligent work. They weren't cleaning areas without selection, naturally starting from important and populated places. The distribution of mutated flowers also seemed quite regular—the more people in an area, the more numerous the mutated flowers. In the outer sect spirit peaks, where the population was highest, these mutated flowers were almost everywhere, approaching disaster levels.
Some in the outer sect had naturally noticed this, but the competition among outer sect disciples was intense, even more so than in the inner sect. Everyone was busy cultivating and improving, everyone wanted to enter the inner sect—with minds busy and restless, who would pay attention to a few wildflowers by the path?
Yun Qingyue spent considerable time burning away the mutated flowers on the outer sect spirit peaks. But with these outer sect disciples having stayed alongside so many mutated flowers for so long, who knew if they had been infected with demonic patterns, and when they might break out? Therefore, even after clearing the mutated flowers, the outer sect spirit peaks were temporarily sealed, waiting until the lightning pools freed up some space to bring people over for a stay.
Compared to the chaos of the outer sect spirit peaks, many peaks in the inner sect remained empty. These vacant peaks were temporarily left unattended, with priority still given to populated or important areas.
As they continued clearing, the group arrived near Divine Lord Zhiming's Peak.
Yun Qingyue hesitated as she looked at the quiet Divine Lord Zhiming's Peak. There weren't many people here, but it was Divine Lord Zhiming's territory. It wasn't appropriate for them to rashly enter Divine Lord Zhiming's territory to set fires, but ignoring it seemed even less appropriate.
Peak Master Qingyuan shared this concern, asking with some hesitation: "Elder Brother Qingxiao, should we go to Divine Lord Zhiming's Peak?"
In recent years, Divine Lord Zhiming had spent eight or nine out of ten parts of his time sleeping. Firstly, he was naturally lazy and loved sleeping; secondly, he found suppressing his cultivation level arduous, so he simply chose to pass time by sleeping—in fact, since meeting the white tiger, Divine Lord Zhiming could have already completed his mission and withdrawn, but because the white tiger was initially too weak due to innate deficiencies, he decided to stay for about a hundred more years. Yet before a hundred years had passed, the cultivation world had clearly experienced turbulence again, making him reluctant to ascend and leave.
Everyone in Xuanqing Sect knew that Divine Lord Zhiming, though appearing uninvolved, actually valued relationships deeply. Since he had repeatedly delayed his departure for Xuanqing Sect, the sect naturally treated him with as much respect as possible.
Hearing the question, Sect Leader Qingxiao nodded resolutely: "Of course we must go." He then added: "I'll first send a message to Divine Lord."
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A message personally sent by Sect Leader Qingxiao naturally alarmed Divine Lord Zhiming.
When Divine Lord Zhiming, dressed in black attire, appeared on his peak, his eyes were still half-open, revealing sleepiness. Only upon seeing Sect Leader Qingxiao personally did he blink and become alert: "Tell me, what has happened..."
Before his words finished, his gaze had already fallen on Yun Qingyue behind the Sect Leader, showing a hint of confusion.
Though Divine Lord Zhiming loved sleeping, his memory clearly had no issues: "Hmm? Aren't you the disciple who brought back the tiger cub back then? How..." How did you change your bloodline without warning and stop being human?!
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue stepped forward and bowed: "Disciple Yun Qingyue greets Divine Lord."
Divine Lord Zhiming circled Yun Qingyue, examining her thoroughly. Issues that Golden Peng could detect, he naturally could see too, even more so. Thus, without waiting for others to explain, he had already guessed seven or eight parts of the story, clicking his tongue and saying: "You were quite willing to sacrifice. But it's fortunate that you were."
He was speaking of how Yun Qingyue had been willing to give up her pure phoenix bloodline, and fortunately she had been willing, otherwise under the Heavenly Dao, she would have long perished.
Yun Qingyue's expression relaxed, showing magnanimity: "Fortune and misfortune are intertwined. I've already received all the benefits."
Divine Lord Zhiming nodded, his eyes showing some appreciation. He casually tossed out a jade box, saying: "Keep it as a plaything. Consider it a meeting gift." He then turned his gaze to Sect Leader Qingxiao: "Tell me, what else is there?"
Yun Qingyue caught the jade box but didn't open it to look, directly putting it away—Divine Lord Zhiming had always been generous. When he gave the little tiger a meeting gift before, it was Azure Essence Spirit Marrow. Whatever he gave now certainly wouldn't be inferior.
Sect Leader Qingxiao didn't dwell on the matter of the gift and promptly explained the entire situation to Divine Lord Zhiming. As Divine Lord Zhiming listened, his brows furrowed slightly, and he turned to look at his peak... Before Sect Leader Qingxiao could identify the mutated flowers for him, he had already spotted them himself. Then, with a seemingly casual wave of his hand, all the mutated flowers firmly rooted on his peak were completely uprooted.
The light blue mutated flowers were gathered into a cluster, initially maintaining their vibrant appearance. But with a thought from Divine Lord Zhiming, the original vat-sized flower cluster instantly shrank to the size of a ball, not even a tenth of its original size.
If one were to look closely at this moment, one would discover that the previously fresh flowers had become dry grass, without even a trace of moisture left.
Naturally, at the moment the mutated flowers were destroyed, thin demonic energy emerged from them. But before it could dissipate even slightly, it was casually summoned by Divine Lord Zhiming's gesture and confined in his palm.
All this happened in an instant. Though the process wasn't as simple and direct as Yun Qingyue's fire burning, in terms of speed, Divine Lord Zhiming was still superior. By the time Sect Leader Qingxiao and the others reacted, Divine Lord Zhiming had already personally resolved the small trouble on his territory and was now carefully examining the troublesome residue he held.
Since the matter had been resolved, Sect Leader Qingxiao and the others naturally had nothing more to say and didn't disturb Divine Lord Zhiming as he examined the situation.
Sure enough, after a few breaths, Divine Lord Zhiming spoke: "This isn't ordinary demonic energy. This is a type of curse from the demonic realm, feeding on greed, anger, and delusion, destroying a person from the inside out."
Upon hearing this, Sect Leader Qingxiao's heart sank. He first asked: "Isn't that the same as heart demons?"
After receiving Divine Lord Zhiming's nod of confirmation, his expression changed several times. Although most of those infected were outer sect disciples or ordinary inner sect disciples, these disciples were still the future foundation of Xuanqing Sect. To say that all infected people would be completely ruined was unacceptable to Sect Leader Qingxiao. So he asked again: "It's just a curse, is there really no way to save them?"
Divine Lord Zhiming casually extinguished the bit of demonic energy in his palm. His expression wasn't as grim as Sect Leader Qingxiao's, but he didn't answer this question—the human heart is the most difficult to fathom; once changed, how could it be easily restored?
Sect Leader Qingxiao obviously knew this too, but asked out of unwillingness to give up. His mood immediately sank. However, as the leader of a sect, no matter how pained he felt inside, he quickly composed himself and grasped the key point: "May I ask Divine Lord, is this demonic realm curse something only demon race members can cast, or can anyone learn and use it?"
The events of the demonic realm were tens of thousands of years ago, before Divine Lord Zhiming's birth. However, as a legitimately born divine beast, he had received many inherited memories at birth, so his knowledge was far broader than most.
Now Divine Lord Zhiming provided an answer: "Previously, it required members of the demon race to use. But I've never seen these mutated flowers before, and I don't know if there have been changes over these tens of thousands of years—everything remains uncertain."
Sect Leader Qingxiao nodded upon hearing this, though deep in his heart, he developed some inclination toward the appearance of the demon race.
He suddenly sighed, vaguely feeling that a conspiracy was enveloping the entire cultivation world, causing a sense of pressure even to someone of his status. So he said to Divine Lord Zhiming: "These are troubled times, and the sect has been experiencing frequent incidents. I request that Divine Lord keep a closer watch recently." In simple terms, please stop sleeping so much!