Two breaths later, Huang Xiaolong reached the village’s entrance.
It seems there were several defensive and attack formations laid out around the village’s perimeter.
Those formations might be able to keep out those God Realm and low-level Highgod Realm Yin Ghosts, but in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes they were nonexistent.
As he did not conceal his presence when descending at the village entrance, Huang Xiaolong’s arrival immediately alerted the villagers inside. Several figures flew out from various directions, blocking his entry.
“Who are you? What is your purpose coming to our Ghost Curb Village?” Several people bellowed at Huang Xiaolong, extremely wary. Judging from their expressions, they were ready to pounce on him if he dared to make any uninvited moves.
Huang Xiaolong wasn’t upset by their reactions.
These people in front of him were wearing clothes made from some unknown beast’s skin, inscribed with profound symbols that actually formed a kind of defensive formation.
‘The weaker ones have cultivations of First Order and Second Order Highgod Realm on average.’ Huang Xiaolong thought as his gaze swept over them.
“I’ve just entered the Path to Hell from outside, passing by this place by coincidence, so I approach hoping to inquire some information about the Ghost Refining Sect.” Huang Xiaolong was frank from the upfront.
“The Ghost Refining Sect!” The moment these villagers heard the Ghost Refining Sect’s name, their faces became several shades whiter due to extreme fear, their pupils constricting.
“I see, a newly arrived guest from outside, but we don’t know anything about the Ghost Refining Sect. You’d better hurry and leave.” One of the villagers, a middle-aged man, advised.
Hearing that Huang Xiaolong was someone who came from outside the Path to Hell, these villagers were clearly relieved, their tension and wariness slightly reduced. However, the mention of the Ghost Refining Sect brought another kind of fear in them, strongly refusing to talk to Huang Xiaolong about it.
Huang Xiaolong did not leave immediately as requested. Instead, he took out ten top divine grade spirit stones, letting them float in the air, saying, “Answer me one question and I will give you one top divine grade spirit stone.” He enticed.
“Top divine grade spirit stone!” Staring fixedly at the ten top divine grade spirit stones floating in front of Huang Xiaolong, the villagers’ eyes turned feverish.
“What do you want to know?” A few minutes passed in hesitation before the same middle-aged villager finally spoke.
“I want to know where the Ghost Refining Sect is.” Huang Xiaolong asked, it was crucial to know the location or at least the general direction of the Ghost Refining Sect.
The middle-aged villager shook his head, “This we don’t know. Not only us, among the other villages or sects here in the Path to Hell, no one does.” He took a quick glance at the ten top divine grade spirit stones in front of Huang Xiaolong, “But, there’s a person that might know.”
Huang Xiaolong inwardly brightened, “Who?”
The middle-aged villager replied, “The Infernal Ghost Messenger.”
“The Infernal Ghost Messenger?” Huang Xiaolong looked bemused by the term.
Watching Huang Xiaolong’s expression, the middle-aged villager explained, “The Infernal Ghost Messenger is, in fact, a cultivator of the Ghost Refining Sect. After a period of time, the Ghost Refining Sect will send out Infernal Ghost Messengers to the villagers and sects in the Path to Hell to collect top-grade Infernal Yin Soul Stones. However, these Infernal Ghost Messengers are very strong, the word is, every Infernal Ghost Messenger has the strength of a peak late-Tenth Order Highgod Real master.”
Peak late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm! Huang Xiaolong was a little amazed.
Just the Ghost Refining Sect’s Infernal Ghost Messengers possessed such level of strength?!
“When are these Infernal Ghost Messengers coming out next?” Huang Xiaolong asked.
The middle-aged villager glanced at the floating top grade divine spirit stones, not answering Huang Xiaolong.
Seeing this, Huang Xiaolong flicked two spirit stones toward him.
Holding the two top divine grade spirit stones in his hands, the middle-aged villager’s face split into a wide grin and went on to answer Huang Xiaolong’s previous question, “We cannot say for sure when those Infernal Ghost Messengers will come out next time, for the times the messenger is sent out varies. The shortest gap in between was ten years, sometimes it was twenty years, even thirty. Last time the Infernal Ghost Messengers came out was eight years ago. I’m familiar with an Elder of the Golden God Shrine, that is how I came to know this. Whereas, of the other villages’ people, not many will know these things.”
A faint frown appeared between Huang Xiaolong’s brows.
‘Eight years ago? That is to say, the next time those Infernal Ghost Messengers come out will be at least two years later?’ But there were only several months left until the agreed fight he had with the Ghost Refining Sect young lord, he couldn’t afford to wait another two years.
Huang Xiaolong subsequently asked the middle-aged villager more questions related to the Ghost Refining Sect and other things, which the middle-aged villager answered what he knew, but there were few questions he didn’t know the answer to.
Over an hour later, Huang Xiaolong left the village.
Although the middle-aged villager did not have a lot of information related to the Ghost Refining Sect, his answers were enough to provide Huang Xiaolong a general understanding of the Path to Hell.
Even though there weren’t many sects established in the Path to Hell, counting the small and medium range forces, there were more than three thousand. Amongst them, over a hundred were first rank forces.
There was only one super force here. It stood at the top of the hierarchy, the monarch of Path to Hell, the Ghost Refining Sect!
In truth, there were actually six super forces in this place. Several tens of millennia ago, the Ghost Refining Sect subjugated the other five super forces, integrating them into their own sect! It was unknown how they accomplished that.
Thinking of this, Huang Xiaolong’s expression grew pensive. The Ghost Refining Sect’s overall strength was far more formidable than he had imagined.
Imagine, how powerful five super forces that stood at the same height as the Fortune Gate or Wangu Clan, were combined! Not to mention that the Ghost Refining Sect was already a super force itself to begin with! They now possessed the unified strength of six super forces!
Huang Xiaolong guessed that those Infernal Ghost Messengers’ status inside the Ghost Refining Sect was probably quite high, most likely only taking orders directly from the Sect Master.
Another point was, the Ghost Refining Sect may have a great number of Highgod Realm masters, but not many of them were peak late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm.
Huang Xiaolong believed that, with his current strength, he would be able to defeat the Ghost Refining Sect young lord if they battled again. What he was worried about right now was the current Sect Master.
Some time back, when he was at the Sacred Fortune Mountain visiting Li Lu, he had asked the Fortune Gate Ancestor about the Ghost Refining Sect’s power. The Fortune Gate Ancestor told him that the Wangu Clan Ancestor had ventured inside the Path to Hell several thousand years ago, where he came across the Ghost Refining Sect Master. They battled, and the Wangu Clan Ancestor lost miserably. It was a fortunate matter that the Wangu Clan Ancestor was wearing their Wangu Clan’s heritage divine armor and cultivated an ancient escaping art, escaping death by a hair’s breadth.
Otherwise, he would forever remain in the Path to Hell.
This incident sent waves of shock through the world.
After all, the Wangu Clan Ancestor was hailed as the strongest person in numerous galaxies, a person of that standing barely escaped from the Ghost Refining Sect Master’s hand?
At one time, mentioning the Ghost Refining Sect Master, the Wangu Clan Ancestor said this: “Not a Heavenly God yet more powerful than a Heavenly God!”
Not a Heavenly God yet more powerful than a Heavenly God!
Meaning to say, although the Ghost Refining Sect Master was still in the Highgod Realm, his true strength had exceeded the average First Order Heavenly God masters!
...
Half a month later.
Huang Xiaolong appeared in front of a ruined city.
More likely than not, this ruined city was the remnant of an exterminated sect.
In this half a month, Huang Xiaolong had been searching tirelessly for the Ghost Refining Sect’s location, but to no avail. He did come across some disciples from small and medium forces with deplorable knowledge about the Ghost Refining Sect.
Shortly after Huang Xiaolong appeared in front of this ruined city, there was someone fleeing out from it at rapid speed. Chasing right behind him were several fierce beasts with their jaws wide open, snapping with their sharp teeth.
While chasing their prey, these several fierce beasts breathed out black ghost qi from their mouths, with hints of poisonous green qi amongst it.
As that figure spotted Huang Xiaolong, excitement spread over his face as he accelerated in Huang Xiaolong’s direction.