The movements of the Armillary Sphere Star Palace were swift. As Lan Yifei set off with generous gifts towards the Dao Court's pivotal location, Core Elder Xie Changqing also departed soon after.
The lair of the Shadow Assassination Hall was somewhat distant, but fortunately, there were established star space teleportation arrays along the way. Xie Changqing hurried along and finally arrived at the Night Spirit Immortal Domain ten days later.
As the Shadow Assassination Hall's base that had been operated for countless years, the place had become a land of scenic beauty and majestic mountains. Gigantic landmasses were visible everywhere, with fertile lands nourished year-round by the earth's spiritual veins. Rare and exotic herbs, as well as treasures of heaven and earth, were abundant. The dense spiritual energy was so thick it turned into mist visible to the naked eye, filling every corner of the vast lands.
Within the core area of the Shadow Assassination Hall, groups of male and female cultivators dressed in feathered robes and splendid attire could often be seen leisurely strolling through forests and rivers, enjoying the scenery and engaging in chess and discussions. Even in the numerous cities and villages of the mortal realm, the countless mortals were healthy and rosy-cheeked, living and working in contentment, a testament to the ruling party's wise governance.
If one were not privy to the inside story, it would be hard to believe that such an orderly, peaceful, and prosperous immortal domain could actually be the nest of an assassin organization.
Outside the sect's grand formation, Xie Changqing was stopped by more than a dozen shadowy figures that appeared silently. After he revealed his identity and showed the tokens from the Sect Master and Lan Yifei, he was immediately welcomed into the inner hall reserved for distinguished guests and met the current helmsman of the Shadow Assassination Hall.
The hall master, Lan Cangye, had an appealing appearance, with handsome features and a noble bearing, dressed in a purple robe and jade belt, always wearing an amiable smile as if he were a noble from the secular world, not at all like the notorious leader of the assassin world, whose name made countless cultivators pale in fear and who had countless souls under his command.
After the routine pleasantries, Xie Changqing got straight to the point and presented a long list of gifts.
"This matter, I agree to it," Lan Cangye contemplated briefly before nodding in agreement. Having taken the position of hall master for thousands of years, he had seen countless commissions, and to him, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace was just another target, no different from other major contracts.
Taking people's money to dispel their disasters.
This was the Shadow Assassination Hall's simple and clear principle of operation.
"However, if Elder Xie could provide an image of the target or a personal belonging, it would make the task much smoother," Lan Cangye added. The Shadow Assassination Hall had a long history with countless mysterious and unpredictable methods. As long as they knew the target's name, image, or even a whiff of their scent, they could use this information to cast secret techniques to trace the source and lock onto the target's location.
Then, they would dispatch elite personnel to strike with lightning speed at the right moment, completing the task cleanly and quietly retreating.
Xie Changqing said, "As for their identity information, I have brought it with me, but it's difficult to obtain personal belongings at the moment, so I must trouble the hall master to take extra care."
With that, he handed over a jade slip.
Lan Cangye took it and briefly examined it. Inside the jade slip was a list, with Mu Yinghua's five personal disciples at the top, and Qing Muling undoubtedly ranked first. Moreover, the information about him was the scantiest, with only a magical image and the rest vague and indistinct.
In addition to that, many of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace's core elders, including Mu Yinghua herself, were on the list, though their priority was not as high as Qing Muling's.
"Something feels off, the background of this personal disciple… there's a big problem," Lan Cangye's expression grew more solemn. As a seasoned assassin who had spent his life in this trade and had killed countless formidable individuals, he could usually figure out the depth of a target just by knowing their name.
However, Qing Muling gave him an unusual feeling. After trying dozens of divination and deduction techniques, the feedback was a vast and vague expanse, with no useful information obtained.
Xie Changqing spoke frankly, "Indeed, our Sect Master has also tried more than once with little success. We can only confirm that all divination techniques related to destiny are ineffective against him, as if he doesn't exist in this world and space-time at all."
Lan Cangye chuckled, "Now that's interesting. According to the legends, only those named innate beings from ancient times or innate treasures could render all divination techniques useless. Could it be that he is an innate being?"
Xie Changqing laughed, "An innate being is impossible, but he indeed has some unusual aspects. Hence, our Sect Master's intention is to capture him alive if possible, to see if he can be turned to our use."
Lan Cangye gave him a look, "Regarding your request, we can certainly comply, but the compensation must be three times the going rate. After all, he has too many powerful protectors around him, and the forces we need to mobilize are not small. To complete the task on time, there might be significant losses."
Assassins value profit above all, and even though the two Dao Lineages are now related by marriage, the accounts still need to be settled clearly.
Xie Changqing frowned slightly, reluctantly agreeing, "Alright, then we'll wait for the good news from your side."
***
Above the Floating Lands in the void.
An area of more than ten miles was collapsed by a tremendous force, only to be re-opened by a piercing black light that shot through the sky. Blood clouds spread across the sky, and even more progeny of the Magic Clan rushed out furiously, viciously surrounding the beautiful young man within the formation.
Qing Muling wielded his sword like the wind, with hundreds of sword beams thin as ice leaves and condensed to the extreme, swiftly sweeping through and cutting in half the Magic Clan progeny that pounced towards him. Even with powerful magical artifacts for protection, they couldn't withstand the high-speed cutting of the sharp sword beams.
In an instant, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and groups of Magic Clan progeny let out piercing screams as their limbs and body parts fell from the sky like rain.
With his cultivation temporarily elevated to the Heart Demon realm, aided by powerful magical treasures and an almost inexhaustible supply of magical power, Qing Muling's combat lethality far surpassed that of ordinary peers of his rank. Against these low-to-mid-level Magic Clan progeny, it was a one-sided slaughter.
With a ferocious roar, a blood light as thick as a man burst from deep within the earth. Circling briefly in the air, it transformed into a terrifying giant snake with a voluptuous woman standing on its head, clad in blood-colored armor, her long spear wrapped in flickering runes, exuding a tangible killing intent as she charged at Qing Muling with great speed.
A tough opponent!
Qing Muling quickly came to a conclusion. The higher the rank of the Magic Clan, the more human-like they appeared. This woman was at the peak of the Destiny Realm, so her appearance and physique were very close to the perfect standard of a human female. However, the giant snake was equivalent to an Elemental Immortal, exceeding his current limit of strength.
Hum!
With a low hum, rings of azure light emerged, ensnaring the giant snake's body in the nick of time and exerting sudden force.
Under the terrifying pressure, the snake's aura was suppressed and quickly fell to the early stages of the Destiny Realm. Even the blood-armored female Magic Clan member was powerless to resist.
"Thank you, Senior Sister," Qing Muling smiled at Luo Huan beside him. Although he dealt with most of the enemies himself, whenever he encountered a strong Magic Clan member, his two senior sisters would help out, ensuring the safety of their junior brother.
The blood-armored woman clenched her teeth and coldly snorted, her long spear creating countless indistinguishable spear lights that attacked, and blood-red lightning orbs the size of bowls condensed out of thin air beside Qing Muling, then exploded in unison.
Qing Muling smiled slightly, the phantom of the Soul-Reaping Bell beside him flashed, blocking all attacks. The refined sword beams swept through, and with the woman's incredulous scream, both her body and the giant snake were shredded, exploding into a cloud of blood mist.
With the strongest one dealt with, there were no more significant characters among the remaining Magic Clan progeny. Under Qing Muling's relentless harvesting, they were almost wiped out, and the light patterns of chaos gently swept over, turning their flesh and remains into spiritual energy that returned to heaven and earth.
In the vast expanse of the void, strands of golden light of merit converged, endlessly coating the Harmony Spirit Seed and the phantom of the Blue Lotus leaf with a thick golden edge.
"It seems a bit of a pity."
Thinking of the appearance of that female Magic Clan member, Qing Muling felt a tinge of regret. Such an outstandingly beautiful member of another race could fetch a sky-high price at the top auctions of the big trading houses. Many powerful beings in the Great Void space liked to collect various exotic intelligent creatures as slaves.
"Feeling sorry?"
Qi Yalan raised her eyebrows slightly and asked with a playful smile, though her heart sneered. Daring to fancy women from outside? Not even sparing the Magic Clan progeny? It seemed that their junior brother's energy hadn't been drained dry; tonight's dual cultivation would need to be intensified.
"Of course not," Qing Muling's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly replied earnestly, "I just think these exotic creatures are valuable resources. If we could capture a batch and give them to the elders as materials for refining Dao soldiers and puppets, it should be feasible."
A sizable army of Dao soldiers and puppets was standard among all major powers. They were generally made from strong beings among exotic creatures, such as long-standing zombies and evil spirits, Asuras, and high-level monsters from the underground realms, refined into puppets after their souls were extracted.
Since the Magic Clan progeny were robust and resilient, they could certainly be captured in large numbers for use as materials, and they were of the highest quality.
"Oh, I see!" Qi Yalan's expression softened, "It's worth a try. However, you just focus on killing enemies and accumulating merit. Your Senior Sister Luo and I will take care of this."
Qing Muling breathed a sigh of relief, "Alright, shall we go deep into the earth to clear out their nests? Then we can look around the area. This floating land is too vast, and there should be many Magic Clan progeny lurking within."
"Okay, let's go together," Luo Huan said gently.
Junior Brother's divine abilities were unexpectedly effective in clearing and purifying the nests of the Magic Clan progeny, also allowing them to gain more heavenly merits. Thus, this task naturally fell to him, and his two senior sisters could also benefit greatly.
Two thousand zhang deep in the earth's rock layer, powerful beings with divine abilities had carved out a vast space, transformed into an environment perfect for the Magic Clan to thrive and reproduce. A city had been established there, and amidst the blood mist, various strange and exotic creatures could be seen everywhere.
Killing all living beings and then sweeping the area with the light patterns of chaos to erase all traces of the Magic Clan's existence, this was what it meant to thoroughly exterminate and purify.
***
Half an hour later, Qing Muling and his two senior sisters returned to the surface.
The desolate floating land beneath their feet was not far from Qi Yalan's Dao Court branch. It was relatively large, spanning tens of millions of miles with its own atmosphere, but because the surface environment was too harsh, it was uninhabited.
If Qing Muling was willing, with some time spent on large-scale transformation, it could become an important branch of the Dao Court.
"By the way, are the disciples of other Dao Lineages required to hand over most of the heavenly merits they earn from exterminating the Magic Clan to their sects?" Qing Muling asked thoughtfully. Merit was a special strategic resource, not easy to come by. Now that there was such an opportunity, the higher-ups of the major powers would certainly not sit idly by.
A vast amount of heavenly merit could be put to many uses, such as refining high-level immortal pills, postnatal spirit treasures, or reviving several Supreme Elders, which would have an immediate impact on the overall strength of the sect.
Luo Huan did not hide the truth, "It's necessary. After all, the higher-ups of the sects need this stuff too much. Even our Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace is no exception. The rule set by the Sect Master is that seventy percent of the heavenly merits obtained by all disciples must be turned over to the sect, converted into achievements and returned."
"Of course, you, Junior Brother, are different, so you don't need to fulfill such obligations. All the merits you earn can be managed by yourself."
In the eyes of the sect's higher-ups, the rapid advancement of Qing Muling's cultivation was more important than anything else. Naturally, they wouldn't think of fleecing him. On the contrary, they would create suitable conditions to allow him to collect merits more quickly.
Qing Muling nodded and then asked, "So, how much heavenly merit have all the disciples collected in a month? Can it revive several Supreme Elders?"
Qi Yalan shook her head, "I'm not too clear about other Dao Lineages, but all the merits of our Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace have been given to Xinyu Emperor. If this calamity of the Magic Clan continues for another ten or eight years, she might be able to recover completely, right?"
With Qing Muling's divine abilities, reviving those sleeping Supreme Elders was only a matter of time, but Xinyu Emperor's injuries were not so easy to heal and could only rely on the power of heavenly merit. Therefore, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace's arrangement was the best solution.
If Qing Muling already had the cultivation of the Destiny Realm, he might be able to heal the Emperor, and it wouldn't be so troublesome.
"It seems that before long, a certain amount of heavenly merit will be put up for auction by those big trading houses. Although the price will be extravagant, there should be no shortage of buyers," Qing Muling immediately thought of this. Now that Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace was not short of money, they could send people to wait for a chance to buy as much as possible.
Another inevitable situation would be many vicious cultivators banding together to rob other cultivators of the merits they had painstakingly collected from killing the Magic Clan. Even those Dao Lineage powers would do this in an organized and large-scale manner, weakening enemies and strengthening themselves.
"These matters will be handled by our Master and the others. Let's continue our work," Qi Yalan said, taking Qing Muling's hand and flying off into the sky with Luo Huan.
Proofreader & Editor:Peter Pan