Chapter 78: Exclusive Access to the World’s Resources
As the dark clouds rolled in, the state capital at dusk grew even dimmer, while the continuous flashes of lightning made Li Qingqiu appear exceptionally radiant.
Bolts of lightning struck one after another, yet none could shake Li Qingqiu’s stance, causing Daoist Wei to grow increasingly frantic.
Meanwhile, the disciples of the Clear Sky Sect became exhilarated, their reverence for their Sect Master reaching new heights.
Li Qingqiu halted his steps and looked up at Daoist Wei.
Their gazes met, and Daoist Wei’s movement as he waved the flag froze.
Suddenly!
Daoist Wei turned to flee, but just as he did, a silver needle shot toward him, piercing the back of his neck and rendering him immobile.
With his body frozen, Daoist Wei’s hands went limp.
The wooden sword and red flag in his hands fell to the ground, landing right before Li Qingqiu.
When the townsfolk saw the magic implements drop from the sorcerer’s hands, their fear completely vanished.
"The evil Daoist has been subdued？"
"The Clear Sky Sect truly has immortals！"
"If he weren’t an immortal, how could he have found us？ If he weren’t an immortal, why would he save us？"
"The Clear Sky Sect dwells deep within the Ancient Great Mountain Range — that’s a true land of immortals. Unlike this demonic Daoist, who brings calamity upon the world."
"From now on, I too will offer incense at Clear Sky Mountain！"
The townsfolk discussed excitedly.
Having lived through a month of nightmares, they hated Daoist Wei and the Demonic Cult to the bone.
Now, seeing Li Qingqiu subdue the demonic Daoist, how could they not be thrilled？
Li Qingqiu picked up the red flag from the ground, turned toward Xu Ning, and said with a smile, "Ning’er, take this for your Master."
As he spoke, he tossed the red flag to Xu Ning, who quickly caught it.
Li Qingqiu twisted his body and leapt beside Daoist Wei.
"You————are you human, or ghost？"
Daoist Wei asked in a trembling voice, his tone filled with fear.
Li Qingqiu sneered, "Didn’t you call yourself an immortal？ Whether I am human or ghost, how could you be afraid？"
Without waiting for Daoist Wei to speak further, Li Qingqiu directly cast the Soul Restraining Curse.
Lin Chuan hovered nearby.
Upon seeing him cast the Soul Restraining Curse, he became excited—he could hardly wait to devour Daoist Wei’s soul.
Although Lin Chuan had regained human consciousness, he was still a ghost.
Ghosts had their instincts, just as humans must eat.
Daoist Wei’s face instantly twisted in agony.
Despite his acupoints being struck, his body began to tremble violently.
His screams grew louder and louder, yet to the ears of the townsfolk, they were not terrifying—instead, they felt gratifying.
Many began clapping in joy.
Little Eight circled above, keeping watch for Li Qingqiu, ensuring no one would launch a sneak attack.
Xu Ning held the red flag tightly, sensing within it a peculiar spiritual energy—one similar to her own inner energy attribute.
Most importantly, she could feel a powerful suction force.
But the force wasn’t pulling her—it was drawing in lightning from the sky.
She pondered briefly, then waved the red flag forward.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning struck down, piercing through the stone pavement of the long street, scattering shards of rock.
The sudden thunderbolt made the nearby Clear Sky Sect disciples shudder all over, and more and more gazes fell upon her.
Even Xu Ning could summon lightning—clearly, the demonic Daoist had no true spells of his own; the power lay within the great flag.
Li Sifeng leaned over, grinning slyly.
"Junior niece, could you lend me that red flag to play with？"
Xu Ning shook her head.
"Sixth Martial Uncle, you can’t handle it. You’ll die."
Li Sifeng’s smile instantly froze.
Jiang Zhaoxia stared at the red flag in Xu Ning’s hand, lost in thought.
He had long noticed her inner energy was different from others—it naturally carried lightning.
Everyone cultivated the Primordial Unity Scripture.
Why was Xu Ning’s inner energy different？
Could it be related to her physique？
Jiang Zhaoxia increasingly felt that the Primordial Unity Scripture was unlike worldly martial arts.
Different people cultivating it displayed different results.
He looked toward Li Qingqiu atop the city gate and suddenly found his senior brother deeply mysterious.
Li Qingqiu had cast the Soul Restraining Curse several times before, and this time it went even more smoothly.
Daoist Wei was not a cultivator—merely a martial artist skilled in lightness techniques.
He had an elder brother who now lived in luxury in the imperial capital.
In their youth, the two had once stumbled into a cave, discovering a secret manual and magic tools.
Unfortunately, no matter how they tried to cultivate according to the manual, they could not succeed, and could only rely on the tools to deceive others.
Through Daoist Wei’s memories, Li Qingqiu saw the Emperor.
Indeed, the Emperor sought the Elixir of Immortality.
He had many sorcerers under his command—Daoist Wei and his brother were just two of them.
They were favored because they had presented the manual to the Emperor.
At first, the brothers thought the manual was fake—impossible to cultivate.
Unexpectedly, after the Emperor practiced it, he was overjoyed and greatly rewarded them.
This both surprised and bewildered them.
After cultivating the manual, the Emperor’s temperament changed drastically.
Anyone who faced him trembled in fear.
Li Qingqiu also gleaned all the information about the manual from Daoist Wei’s memories.
Purple Cloud Art!
It truly was a cultivation method!
However, the manual was incomplete—missing many key details.
The energy absorption technique was disjointed; to cultivate it rashly would invite deviation and madness.
Moreover, even if complete, the Purple Cloud Art was far inferior to his Supreme Purity Primordial Unity Scripture.
The Primordial Unity Scripture could encompass all spiritual root attributes—its breadth of cultivation far exceeded that of the Purple Cloud Art.
Yet the Purple Cloud Art did contain some heterodox techniques, such as absorbing another’s blood essence.
As Li Qingqiu delved deeper into Daoist Wei’s memories, the man’s screams faded.
His eyes rolled back, his body twitching slightly.
Night fell.
The Clear Sky Sect disciples and townsfolk gazed up at Li Qingqiu on the city gate, their expressions tinged with worry.
Why hadn’t he come down yet？
Could he have fallen under the sorcerer’s spell？
Jiang Zhaoxia hesitated about rushing up—fortunately, at that moment, Daoist Wei suddenly collapsed and rolled down from the city gate, crashing onto the street below.
Li Qingqiu turned and said, "Let’s go. Time to leave the city."
Hearing this, everyone sighed in relief and surged toward the gate.
As they passed Daoist Wei’s corpse, they couldn’t help but glance at it—his eyes were wide open in terror, as if he had witnessed something unspeakably dreadful.
Li Qingqiu looked up at the pitch-black capital.
This journey had yielded immense gains—not only had he destroyed the Demonic Cult’s plan in the city and removed the hidden threat to the Clear Sky Sect, but he had also obtained a magic implement and a cultivation manual.
Although the Purple Cloud Art was incomplete, its heterodox techniques were worth recording—perhaps someday, a disciple could complete it.
Most importantly, he had gained insight into the Emperor.
As long as there was no other cultivation force behind the Emperor, everything would be manageable.
The Great Li Dynasty’s land contained Immortal cultivators’ abodes, yet no cultivators were seen.
This was strange.
Perhaps, long ago, something had happened on this land—something worth investigating.
If the Great Li Dynasty truly had no other cultivation forces, it was an enormous blessing for the Clear Sky Sect.
This vast world contained countless worldly resources that mortals could not utilize—resources the Clear Sky Sect could now enjoy exclusively.
When everyone had exited the city gate, Li Qingqiu turned as well and vanished into the night.
Before the gate, Daoist Wei had already become a mangled heap.
The townsfolk vented their hatred upon his corpse—but by then, Daoist Wei no longer felt pain, for his soul had already been devoured by Lin Chuan.
The moon set and the sun rose.
Early the next morning, after sending off the townsfolk, the Clear Sky Sect—led by Li Qingqiu—reentered the city.
Through Lin Chuan’s help, they rescued many civilians and soldiers trapped in the underground palace.
However, the five children who had been imprisoned with Ji Ya could not find their parents.
During this time, Zhang Yuchun, Li Dongyue, and others continued recruiting disciples, choosing only those who caught their eye.
By noon, a large army entered the city, encountering the Clear Sky Sect group.
This army came from Eastern Tomb Province, under the order of the Provincial Inspector to eliminate the Demonic Cult and save the people.
Zhang Yuchun spoke with the commanding general, and with Martial Champion Li Yang revealing his identity, no misunderstanding or conflict occurred.
The generals grew deeply respectful toward the Clear Sky Sect and Li Qingqiu.
The Demonic Cult had already collapsed; next, the Eastern Tomb army would take over the city.
It was said that the army of Guzhou’s prefecture had surrendered outside the city.
The war ended within a single day after several generals defected mid-battle.
With everything seemingly settled, the Clear Sky Sect did not linger in the capital.
Li Qingqiu feared a Demonic Cult ambush, so he chose to retreat immediately.
After leaving the city, he rode Little Eight alone back to the Clear Sky Sect.
Little Eight’s flying speed was astonishing—within two hours, Li Qingqiu could already see Clear Sky Mountain.
He found Yang Jueding to confirm the sect’s safety, then prepared to have Little Eight carry him back to escort the returning disciples.
"By the way, what sort of secret art did your disciple Zhao Zhen cultivate？ He actually turned into a dragon."
Yang Jueding couldn’t help but ask.
Remembering Zhao Zhen’s dragon transformation, his expression was odd.
Li Qingqiu smiled.
"You want to learn？ Ask him yourself later."
With that, Li Qingqiu leapt high, and as the wind swept through the forest, Little Eight rose perfectly to catch him, spreading its wings and soaring into the distance, soon vanishing from sight.
Amidst the gale, Yang Jueding gazed toward Li Qingqiu’s departing figure, eyes full of admiration and awe.
"That boy’s getting more and more divine————"
By the time Li Qingqiu rejoined the main Clear Sky Sect contingent, dusk was already approaching.
——
Seeing Li Qingqiu return, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Without him, they had constantly feared a Demonic Cult ambush.
This expedition to the capital had left everyone awestruck by the Sect Master’s performance—his prestige had reached its peak.
During the flight, Li Qingqiu checked the Dao Lineage panel and found that most disciples’ loyalty had increased, which pleased him greatly.
After landing, Li Qingqiu and Zhang Yuchun walked at the front.
"During this operation, we recruited thirty-two disciples and collected nearly five thousand strings of coins today. The money was taken from the corpses of the Demonic Cult’s martial artists. According to our previous practice, we distributed part of it to the people—these five thousand strings are what remain. We also acquired three hundred weapons————"
Zhang Yuchun reported their gains with a broad smile.
He believed the greatest harvest of this mission was the Clear Sky Sect’s reputation.
They had saved martial artists from the Profound Heart Hall, the Chan Meditation Temple, and the White Emperor Manor, as well as countless civilians.
Even the Eastern Tomb army expressed their gratitude.
After this battle, the Clear Sky Sect’s fame would soar once again！