Yan Dehao: “…”
‘You’ve reduced the Sky Demon Cult to their current miserable state, and you’re still not sparing them?’
For some reason, Yan Dehao suddenly felt sympathy for the Sky Demon Cultists.
Perhaps even now, the data about Jiang He in the Sky Demon Cult’s files still maintained that he was a rank-seven martial artist…
How did the Sky Demon Cult and Jiang He come to share such a grudge?
None of the Sky Demon Cultists leaders did not want Jiang He dead, just as Jiang He was bent on wiping out the cult. If such mutual loving continued, the Sky Demon Cult would be a goner sooner or later.
After a long silence, Yan Dehao then said, “From my perspective, Mister Jiang, the Sky Demon Cult is no more than a mob of people with shared interest, and even their cardinals are pieces of trash who would give up on their humanity over personal desires. On the other hand, their Saint is different—that person must not be underestimated!”
“Oh?”
Jiang He immediately became interested—he was very curious about the cult leader.
That person counted as a genius. Leaving aside his ability or his motive for founding the Sky Demon Cult, his personal ability was frightening enough… after all, many Sky Demon Cults would be mumbling slogans like ‘the Saint will revive me from the River of Time’ or ‘for the Holy Faith’.
Yan Dehao shook his head and laughed bitterly. “He is too mysterious, and he is shrouded in dark air with the few times I saw him. I’ve never seen his face, just as the cult did not know whether he is man, woman, or even human.”
“Inhuman?”
Jiang He was rather puzzled.
Yan Dehao therefore explained, “The Sky Demons back the Sky Demon Cult, so every cultist with great accomplishments would be permitted to study the Sky Demon Arcanum and cultivate it, even gradually alter their aura and physical constitution. They would be baptized at the Holy Lake once their cultivation reached certain heights, after of which they are no longer humans.”
“Almost every cultist seeks to be baptized at the Holy Lake, after which their lifespan and strength would improve greatly, but the most important part was the change of their living form to resemble the Sky Demons. Since the cultists think of the Sky Demons as their Holy Ones, even the average cultist would improve greatly in status after being baptized at the Holy Lake.”
“For example, Wu Dong and Annette, the cardinals you killed before have been altered in many aspects, and would not count as real humans.”
“Is that so?
“Really?”
Jiang He recalled the two cardinals he killed, shook his head and said, “I killed them too quickly to notice their appearance… oh, what about the Holy Children? I didn’t kill that many of them, or talk to them before I did, so I don’t know them all that well.”
Yan Dehao: “…”
He looked up at Jiang He in surprise.
‘Isn’t your wording a little… wrong?
‘What do you mean, you did not kill that many Holy Children? The Sky Demon Cult only groomed nine of them, one of whom died 2 months ago overseas, and then there was you, who killed the Flowing Cloud Holy Child a while ago, as well as three more today…
‘And that is ‘not many’?’
Yan Dehao was retorting wildly inside.
Nonetheless, he then explained, “The selection of the holy children is very special. It’s said that one thousand average youths born under the right stars would be thrown into the Holy Lake, and the last nine who survived would be chosen as Holy Children and be groomed by their cult.”
“That said, the Holy Children could cultivate the Sky Demon Arcanum… of course, it is called the Sky Sage Arcanum within the Sky Demon Cult.”
A thousand youths… and nine-hundred and ninety-one of them were killed?
Killing intent flashed in Jiang He’s eyes then—the Sky Demon Cult deserves death even more now.
“Last question. Where is the headquarters of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Yan Dehao shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
Jiang He frowned in confusion. “You’ve been with the Sky Demon Cult for years, but you’ve never been to their headquarters?”
“I’ve been there all along over the last few years.”
“Not many Sky Demon Cultists know where it actually was, but it actually is located in a great canyon surrounded by mountains. Those mountains are in turn surrounded by toxic miasma all year long, and there is no way to approximate the location of their headquarters with the surrounding environment.”
“That toxic miasma is extremely frightening. Not even rank-nines last long in there.”
“Oh?”
Jiang He appeared thoughtful and smiled. “There aren’t that many canyons in the country, are there? Just search them all—that’s not difficult for elites, is it? And doesn’t it become more obvious, since you said that there is toxic miasma surrounding it?”
“Minister Wang would have searched for it already.”
Yan Dehao smiled begrudgingly. “I suspect that the toxic miasma did not form from natural means, but that the Saint had created it artificially to hide the headquarters from prying eyes. Moreover, there must be something keeping the toxic miasma outside the canyon, which is evident because none of the mist wafted inside the canyon even after all these years.”
“You can’t see your surroundings after entering the canyon?”
Jiang He asked.
One could get a general location from a landscape.
“Indeterminable.”
Yan Dehao said with a straight face. “We use a special passage to enter the canyon, which is a little similar to the entrance to the heritage site just now. We enter or leave the canyon instantly by pouring our auras into our token plates at several selected locations.
Jiang He appeared taken aback at that, and only came to his senses after half a beat.
“An array?” He slowly said solemnly, “Or something similar to spatial portals?”
“Eh?”
Yan Dehao appeared rather puzzled.
Array? Spatial portals?
What the heck were those?
Jiang He waved him off, saying, “You haven’t read novels about immortals or high fantasy, so it would be normal for you not to know about arrays… If my guess is right, the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is protected by a massive array which projects the toxic miasma. As for Minister Wang’s searches… it makes sense that he couldn’t find it if the arrays produced an imaginary space that blocks observation.”
Yan Dehao appeared confused.
Though the Era of Qi Refinists had indeed existed, no one had discovered historical immortal arts as of yet, which was why it was reasonable that martial artists had not heard about those.
A thought crossed Jiang He’s mind then.
After guessing the possibility of an array, many more possibilities now seemed probable. Therefore, he asked, “Grandmaster Yan, is the distance between the different entry points from which you teleport to and from the Sky Demon Cult headquarters not really that far?”
Yan Dehao’s eyes lit up after thinking about it, and said, “It really wasn’t that far. Although those locations were different, they are no more than 50 kilometers from each other.”
“That sounds about right.”
Jiang He laughed. “It seems that the array has limited capacity for teleportation, and if my guess is right, the Sky Demon Cult headquarters would be 50 kilometers from the location you teleported.”
“No way!”
Yan Dehao exclaimed. “I’ve teleported from barren plains with no mountains nearby, whereas the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is surrounded by mountains!”
“What if those mountains are mirages conjured by the array?”
Jiang He chuckled, but soon scowled.
“Although the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is protected by an array that sounds quite awesome… could the Saint of the Sky Demon Cult be a cultivator?”
That was very likely!
And even if he was not a cultivator, he is still a traitor who sided with the Sky Demons and might even be one of them himself. Who knows what special moves he cultivated?
“I’m a martial-arts newbie and novice in immortal arts…”
“Fine, now that I’ve reached divine-tier in martial arts and had cultivated to Golden Pellet, I more or less count as a proper martial artist and a cultivator, but could I win if I’m up against that enigmatic leader of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Arrays…
Arrays…
Either way, he gained much inspiration from it.
Jiang He’s eyes slowly lit up.
Is there a cultivator who could not cast arrays?
As a sword cultivator, was sword arrays not necessary?
“Perhaps I could farm in peace for a few days after I get home, improve my abilities and plant a sword array or something before I go looking for the Sky Demon Cult?”
“Damn it!”
“Why hasn’t Cheng Dongfeng arrived with Dumbo and Trumbo yet?”
“I would have flown back to get them if I knew!”
***
Cheng Dongfeng, Duan Tianhe, and the others only arrived at the edge of Mount Dadong when the sun was rising.
Both Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng were wearing combat suits and carrying alloy weapons with somber looks, and leading over twenty Martial Arts Department personnel.
“Let’s climb the mountain together and be wary,” Duan Tianhe warned. “Moun Dadong is filled with dangers even without Ferals. Do not let down your guard!”
Dumbo, however, snorted. “Guard, my foot. Mount Dadong is the safest place in the world now that my master is on it. Can’t you two fools even understand that?”
Both Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng did a double take.
That… kind of made sense.
With Jiang He’s personality, anyone would be convinced if it was claimed that he had slain every Feral on Mount Dadong.
Cheng Dongfeng inwardly agreed but retorted for the sake of appearance, flatly saying, “You understand not a god damn thing, dog.”
He and Dumbo had really been quarreling all the way here.
“Bow-wow-wow!!!”
Dumbo barked violently then, abruptly drawing its sword and brandishing it with its paw, before carving a rift beneath Cheng Dongfeng with Sword Qi in a single swing as it bellowed, “You donkey, who are you belittling?”
“Come, come, fight me if you are as good as you say… don’t hold me back, Trumbo, don’t you hold me back! I’m teaching this donkey how to act like a proper person today!”
What the hell!
Duan Tianhe rubbed his eyes.
‘What the heck am I seeing?
‘A dog is actually releasing Sword Qi?’
On the other hand, Cheng Dongfeng was blue with shock.
‘Was I hearing things?
‘A dog is barking and telling me how to act like a proper person?!’
Yan Dehao: “…”
‘You’ve reduced the Sky Demon Cult to their current miserable state, and you’re still not sparing them?’
For some reason, Yan Dehao suddenly felt sympathy for the Sky Demon Cultists.
Perhaps even now, the data about Jiang He in the Sky Demon Cult’s files still maintained that he was a rank-seven martial artist…
How did the Sky Demon Cult and Jiang He come to share such a grudge?
None of the Sky Demon Cultists leaders did not want Jiang He dead, just as Jiang He was bent on wiping out the cult. If such mutual loving continued, the Sky Demon Cult would be a goner sooner or later.
After a long silence, Yan Dehao then said, “From my perspective, Mister Jiang, the Sky Demon Cult is no more than a mob of people with shared interest, and even their cardinals are pieces of trash who would give up on their humanity over personal desires. On the other hand, their Saint is different—that person must not be underestimated!”
“Oh?”
Jiang He immediately became interested—he was very curious about the cult leader.
That person counted as a genius. Leaving aside his ability or his motive for founding the Sky Demon Cult, his personal ability was frightening enough… after all, many Sky Demon Cults would be mumbling slogans like ‘the Saint will revive me from the River of Time’ or ‘for the Holy Faith’.
Yan Dehao shook his head and laughed bitterly. “He is too mysterious, and he is shrouded in dark air with the few times I saw him. I’ve never seen his face, just as the cult did not know whether he is man, woman, or even human.”
“Inhuman?”
Jiang He was rather puzzled.
Yan Dehao therefore explained, “The Sky Demons back the Sky Demon Cult, so every cultist with great accomplishments would be permitted to study the Sky Demon Arcanum and cultivate it, even gradually alter their aura and physical constitution. They would be baptized at the Holy Lake once their cultivation reached certain heights, after of which they are no longer humans.”
“Almost every cultist seeks to be baptized at the Holy Lake, after which their lifespan and strength would improve greatly, but the most important part was the change of their living form to resemble the Sky Demons. Since the cultists think of the Sky Demons as their Holy Ones, even the average cultist would improve greatly in status after being baptized at the Holy Lake.”
“For example, Wu Dong and Annette, the cardinals you killed before have been altered in many aspects, and would not count as real humans.”
“Is that so?
“Really?”
Jiang He recalled the two cardinals he killed, shook his head and said, “I killed them too quickly to notice their appearance… oh, what about the Holy Children? I didn’t kill that many of them, or talk to them before I did, so I don’t know them all that well.”
Yan Dehao: “…”
He looked up at Jiang He in surprise.
‘Isn’t your wording a little… wrong?
‘What do you mean, you did not kill that many Holy Children? The Sky Demon Cult only groomed nine of them, one of whom died 2 months ago overseas, and then there was you, who killed the Flowing Cloud Holy Child a while ago, as well as three more today…
‘And that is ‘not many’?’
Yan Dehao was retorting wildly inside.
Nonetheless, he then explained, “The selection of the holy children is very special. It’s said that one thousand average youths born under the right stars would be thrown into the Holy Lake, and the last nine who survived would be chosen as Holy Children and be groomed by their cult.”
“That said, the Holy Children could cultivate the Sky Demon Arcanum… of course, it is called the Sky Sage Arcanum within the Sky Demon Cult.”
A thousand youths… and nine-hundred and ninety-one of them were killed?
Killing intent flashed in Jiang He’s eyes then—the Sky Demon Cult deserves death even more now.
“Last question. Where is the headquarters of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Yan Dehao shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
Jiang He frowned in confusion. “You’ve been with the Sky Demon Cult for years, but you’ve never been to their headquarters?”
“I’ve been there all along over the last few years.”
“Not many Sky Demon Cultists know where it actually was, but it actually is located in a great canyon surrounded by mountains. Those mountains are in turn surrounded by toxic miasma all year long, and there is no way to approximate the location of their headquarters with the surrounding environment.”
“That toxic miasma is extremely frightening. Not even rank-nines last long in there.”
“Oh?”
Jiang He appeared thoughtful and smiled. “There aren’t that many canyons in the country, are there? Just search them all—that’s not difficult for elites, is it? And doesn’t it become more obvious, since you said that there is toxic miasma surrounding it?”
“Minister Wang would have searched for it already.”
Yan Dehao smiled begrudgingly. “I suspect that the toxic miasma did not form from natural means, but that the Saint had created it artificially to hide the headquarters from prying eyes. Moreover, there must be something keeping the toxic miasma outside the canyon, which is evident because none of the mist wafted inside the canyon even after all these years.”
“You can’t see your surroundings after entering the canyon?”
Jiang He asked.
One could get a general location from a landscape.
“Indeterminable.”
Yan Dehao said with a straight face. “We use a special passage to enter the canyon, which is a little similar to the entrance to the heritage site just now. We enter or leave the canyon instantly by pouring our auras into our token plates at several selected locations.
Jiang He appeared taken aback at that, and only came to his senses after half a beat.
“An array?” He slowly said solemnly, “Or something similar to spatial portals?”
“Eh?”
Yan Dehao appeared rather puzzled.
Array? Spatial portals?
What the heck were those?
Jiang He waved him off, saying, “You haven’t read novels about immortals or high fantasy, so it would be normal for you not to know about arrays… If my guess is right, the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is protected by a massive array which projects the toxic miasma. As for Minister Wang’s searches… it makes sense that he couldn’t find it if the arrays produced an imaginary space that blocks observation.”
Yan Dehao appeared confused.
Though the Era of Qi Refinists had indeed existed, no one had discovered historical immortal arts as of yet, which was why it was reasonable that martial artists had not heard about those.
A thought crossed Jiang He’s mind then.
After guessing the possibility of an array, many more possibilities now seemed probable. Therefore, he asked, “Grandmaster Yan, is the distance between the different entry points from which you teleport to and from the Sky Demon Cult headquarters not really that far?”
Yan Dehao’s eyes lit up after thinking about it, and said, “It really wasn’t that far. Although those locations were different, they are no more than 50 kilometers from each other.”
“That sounds about right.”
Jiang He laughed. “It seems that the array has limited capacity for teleportation, and if my guess is right, the Sky Demon Cult headquarters would be 50 kilometers from the location you teleported.”
“No way!”
Yan Dehao exclaimed. “I’ve teleported from barren plains with no mountains nearby, whereas the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is surrounded by mountains!”
“What if those mountains are mirages conjured by the array?”
Jiang He chuckled, but soon scowled.
“Although the Sky Demon Cult headquarters is protected by an array that sounds quite awesome… could the Saint of the Sky Demon Cult be a cultivator?”
That was very likely!
And even if he was not a cultivator, he is still a traitor who sided with the Sky Demons and might even be one of them himself. Who knows what special moves he cultivated?
“I’m a martial-arts newbie and novice in immortal arts…”
“Fine, now that I’ve reached divine-tier in martial arts and had cultivated to Golden Pellet, I more or less count as a proper martial artist and a cultivator, but could I win if I’m up against that enigmatic leader of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Arrays…
Arrays…
Either way, he gained much inspiration from it.
Jiang He’s eyes slowly lit up.
Is there a cultivator who could not cast arrays?
As a sword cultivator, was sword arrays not necessary?
“Perhaps I could farm in peace for a few days after I get home, improve my abilities and plant a sword array or something before I go looking for the Sky Demon Cult?”
“Damn it!”
“Why hasn’t Cheng Dongfeng arrived with Dumbo and Trumbo yet?”
“I would have flown back to get them if I knew!”
***
Cheng Dongfeng, Duan Tianhe, and the others only arrived at the edge of Mount Dadong when the sun was rising.
Both Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng were wearing combat suits and carrying alloy weapons with somber looks, and leading over twenty Martial Arts Department personnel.
“Let’s climb the mountain together and be wary,” Duan Tianhe warned. “Moun Dadong is filled with dangers even without Ferals. Do not let down your guard!”
Dumbo, however, snorted. “Guard, my foot. Mount Dadong is the safest place in the world now that my master is on it. Can’t you two fools even understand that?”
Both Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng did a double take.
That… kind of made sense.
With Jiang He’s personality, anyone would be convinced if it was claimed that he had slain every Feral on Mount Dadong.
Cheng Dongfeng inwardly agreed but retorted for the sake of appearance, flatly saying, “You understand not a god damn thing, dog.”
He and Dumbo had really been quarreling all the way here.
“Bow-wow-wow!!!”
Dumbo barked violently then, abruptly drawing its sword and brandishing it with its paw, before carving a rift beneath Cheng Dongfeng with Sword Qi in a single swing as it bellowed, “You donkey, who are you belittling?”
“Come, come, fight me if you are as good as you say… don’t hold me back, Trumbo, don’t you hold me back! I’m teaching this donkey how to act like a proper person today!”
What the hell!
Duan Tianhe rubbed his eyes.
‘What the heck am I seeing?
‘A dog is actually releasing Sword Qi?’
On the other hand, Cheng Dongfeng was blue with shock.
‘Was I hearing things?
‘A dog is barking and telling me how to act like a proper person?!’
