Secret Records of the Leader of the Beichen Sword Sect

"Legend has it that long ago, before the Divine Sect emerged, there was a great Demon Lord who dominated the Western Regions. He built a Flying Palace, the Demon Venerable’s Treasure Hall, atop the Great Snow Mountain at the Kunlun Peak, collecting countless beauties and treasures. In the end, with great success in his Divine Skill, he achieved Feather Transformation and Ascended.

That Flying Palace vanished from the world, rarely visited by humans, so the concubines and servants nurtured there inherited his lifetime knowledge, learning countless Demon Skills and mystical arts. After a round of internal strife and competition behind closed doors, finally, five individuals received the True Inheritance of the Demon Path.

However, due to the heavy slaughter business of the Great Demon Venerable back then and numerous enemies, before the five acquired great skills, they feared others would come to seize their legacy. Thus, they submitted and sought refuge within the Buddhist Sect, gaining protection from local experts. Later, with accomplishment in their skills, they cultivated the Immortal Body and continued as protectors of the Buddhist tradition, self-identified as the Five Phases of Sky Walking Buddha Mother, established the Void Five Phases Sect in the Great Snow Mountain, passing down their Demon lineage.

As these Five Phases of Magic were indeed formidable, and the Sky Walking Buddha Mother was talented in social exchanges, mingling widely. She would not reject any from the Kunlun region, all sects and factions, both in the black and white paths, exchanging what was needed. Thus, over the years, the sect filled with experts, its strength unfathomable, with close ties to the Kunlun Demons, ranking foremost among the Thirteen Sects of Kunlun. They were even invited to join the Divine Sect to oppose our Mystic Sect.

And the flagship profound teaching of the Five Phases Sect is the Five Elements Sky Walking Scripture. It’s said that this skill comprises five dark magic classics - Color, Empty, Joy, Light, and Annihilation. As long as one masters any phase of the Divine Skill, they can achieve Divinity Transformation; mastering all five turns one into a Buddha. This person, dressed in black, should be a Sky-walking Monk of either the Empty or Annihilation phase. The Empty phase specializes in Void and Silence, focusing on soul captivating. The Annihilation phase specializes in breaking cycles, engaging in sacrificial rites of bones. Therefore, it’s often practiced as interrelated paths, dabbling in calamities and bloodshed.

Back in the day, there was a battle where our Emei sect broke their formation, defeating the Five Phases Sect and killing two hundred Demon Monks, making them silent for a time. Unthinkably, their disciples have now appeared in Dui State, perhaps heralding another disaster nearby, with who knows how many souls sacrificed."

Xun Lingrui, a typical bookworm top student who listens attentively in class and scores the highest on exams, narrates key points with clarity. While flying, she explains to Tie Dan the strategies against the Five Phases Sect taught in Emei’s lessons.

But Tie Dan really couldn’t muster much interest, thinking that the setting was too detailed for such disposable foes that couldn’t even survive a side glance. Do you want to write a side story?

However, for Xun Lingrui, it’s her first extended journey, especially with this kind of minor episode occurring the first night spent outdoors. Though she missed the action, she was exceptionally excited, talking nonstop for a few hours while flying. Seeing a distant town, Tie Dan impatiently said,

"Alright, alright, shut up, close your Qi, and keep a low profile."

At that moment, the two Daoist nuns landed, employing the Qi Closing Technique and the Eye Covering Technique to conceal their Cultivation, walking into the town.

This place is White Dragon City in Tianshui County of Dui Country. It’s said that there was a great drought, the earth suddenly cracked open one night, and torrents of rain poured down, and a river with water, birthing a white dragon, bringing with it wind and rain. Thus, the Immortal Palace established a county here, built a city, set fortresses, and blocked North and South rivers with five interconnected cities, acting as a bulwark against the east and west invasions, traditionally serving as a barrier in Longyou, protecting Central Pass, specifically to defend against incursions from the Divine Sect.

But now, the court of Dui Country has been taken over by the Divine Sect. To avoid letting local rebel armies leverage these natural barriers at strategic passes to sever the route between the Western Regions and the Central Plains for self-independence, all fortress gate cities once set by the Immortal Palace were dismantled, and a direct commercial road linking Dui State and Heavenly Mountain was expanded. Consequently, commercial routes between the Central Plains and the Western Regions are exceptionally busy, channels of Flying Boats and caravans flowing along the Great Dao, transporting goods and people, even more prosperous than under the governance of the Immortal Palace.

In fact, Chen Xiyi and Tang Xian’er’s destined place of trial is in the mountainous southwest of Kunzhou, originally best accessed by directly traversing Juelong Ridge, cutting across the Kunba Sichuan Basin in a straight line to Kunlun Mountain.

However, even a bookworm like Xun Lingrui knows that Kunzhou is currently the Divine Sect’s bridgehead in the Central Plains, a stronghold. Taking such a route is akin to walking straight past their faces, likely causing chaos, cutting through blockades with fights and struggles, perhaps embroiled in calamity before even seeing the shadow of Kunlun Mountain.

Therefore, the route they opted for this time is a detour, directly bypassing Juelong Ridge, heading west, and traversing the borderlands between Dui and Kun states to reach the Kunlun Mountains. Then trekking south along the eastern Kunlun mountain range, climbing over mountains, drilling into forests, using the rugged terrain to evade the Divine Sect’s calculations and tracking, avoiding the pursuits and blockades of demons.

But encountering a Divinity Transformation from the Five Phases Sect on the first night entering Dui State suggests that there may not be much peace on this path.

"Senior, look over there."

Promised to keep quiet, but as soon as they entered the city, Xun Lingrui couldn’t help herself.

Tie Dan sighed, following her gaze to see a group of people worshipping and chanting scriptures in a temple by the street. But judging from the scriptures and appearance, it didn’t seem like an outpost of the Divine Sect. Unclear what kind of rural lascivious cult was setting up altars in the city, but the Divine Sect didn’t intervene.

However, the situations in Dui State and Kunzhou differ distinctly. Even though the Divine Sect is powerful now and can directly establish altars and preach in Kunzhou, building a bridgehead by delivering resources from Kunlun, due to historical and geographical reasons, every time the Divine Sect attacks the Central Plains, or when the Immortal Palace launches an expedition to the Western Regions, troops are always first mobilized from Dui State, with the Western Expedition Army always standing at the forefront against the Divine Sect. The years of battles, it’s no exaggeration to call it a deep-seated enmity of blood and sea.