Moonfall Gorge, on the bank of the Blood River in the Eastern Region.
Whoosh-whoosh--
In the uneven mountain gorges, human-operated blowers emitted bursts of dragon breath, delivering demonic energy to the giant alchemy furnace in the center that was suspended in the air by iron cables.
The sound was so loud that it could be heard clearly beyond the canyon.
In a tower on the top of a mountain outside the canyon, seven outer disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect sat around an iron pot hanging on a stove, stewing the bones of monsters they had just hunted in the forest.
Clink clink...
"Come on! Senior brother, I'll toast you a glass."
"You're too polite..."
There was a steady stream of glasses clinking.
"Come to think of it, have you seen the Young Master He who came to our place a few days ago?"
"What about him?"
"That bloody demonic aura is scary. I've been fasting for a year, and when he walked past me, I was so scared that I peed."
"Isn't that exaggerated? But I've heard that Young Master He led hundreds of disciples from the Heavenly Demon Sect and destroyed the Dark North Sect a few days ago. Is this true or false?"
"It's hard to say whether it's true or not, but Young Master He coming to our place is not a good thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Look, the Heavenly Demon Sect is short of manpower to stop the immortals from the northwest and south. The Great Elder sent Young Master He to our Moonfall Gorge at this time, which means that the immortals are preparing to attack us here."
Hearing this, one of them waved his hand and retorted, "No matter how on a roll the immortals are now, they can't attack the Moonfall Gorge. There are no spiritual veins here, no resources, and it is not an important pass. We only have a blood pill furnace... Why would the immortals want to attack the Moonfall Gorge?"
"Then, why did the Great Elder send Young Master He here?"
Everyone was silenced by this question.
At this time, a "ding ding" sound of iron bells came into the tower.
Because everyone was silent, the sound was clearly heard.
Ding ding ding...
Ding ding ding—
"Bells?"
One of them stood up and walked toward the window, following the source of the sound.
However, just after he stood up,
Swish—
A silver light flashed across his neck.
A disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect who had just called him "brother" suddenly had a sword in his hand. The remaining five people were stunned. They stared at the man in disbelief.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
"You kid... ah—!"
But the answer was the bloody sword blade.
Swish—
After a few sword flashes, only one of the seven Heavenly Demon Sect disciples who had gathered together to drink and eat meat was left standing.
"Heh..."
The man sneered at the corpses of his fellow disciples, then threw the sword aside as he walked to the window, pulled the bolt, and stepped back ten steps before cupping his hands.
The next moment, two men and two women, four people, flipped into the watchtower through the window.
Ye Anping glanced at the six decapitated disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect and then looked at the man who bowed to him and did not speak.
A Core Formation-stage demonic cultivator with a ghost mask who came in with Ye Anping and the other two took out a bag of spirit stones from his storage bag, took a step forward, and threw it into the hands of the demonic sect disciple, coldly saying, "It's the agreed reward."
"Thank you... I'll leave now."
The demonic sect disciple weighed the bag of spirit stones in his hand, nodded with a sly smile, and then turned around, ready to go down the stairs and leave the tower.
However, the moment he turned around, the Core Formation-stage demonic cultivator who was traveling with Ye Anping suddenly drew his sword and cut him in half from the center of his brow to his balls.
Swish—
Then, he stepped forward, picked up the bag of spirit stones that fell in the pool of blood, shook off the blood, and put it back into his storage bag.
Seeing this scene, Ye Anping didn't react much, but Gu Mingxin and Feng Yu Die behind him raised their eyebrows in surprise and frowned in confusion.
The masked man looked around, then turned and bowed to Ye Anping. "Mr. Ye, I can only send you here. Moonfall Gorge is not an important place, and the Heartbreak Palace has no spies here. What happens next is up to you."
Ye Anping returned the salute. "Well, thank you."
The masked man nodded. He walked straight to the window, jumped out, and in an instant, disappeared in the heavy snow outside without a trace.
After he left, Feng Yu Die looked at the corpses of the demonic cultivators in the room. "Young Master Ye, wasn't that one of theirs just now? He just killed him like that?"
Ye Anping smiled and brushed off the snow on Feng Yu Die's clothes, explaining, "This man was probably bribed by the Heartbreak Palace with spirit stones, and was completely untrustworthy. Instead of letting him take the money and leave, it was better to kill him directly to eliminate future troubles... After all, Mo Chi Ling has been hiding in fear for hundreds of years. If Yu Yan knew she was still alive, she would be hunted down and killed."
"...So cruel."
Ye Anping smiled and shrugged, waved his hand, and scattered a group of talismans to burn the seven demonic cultivators' corpses. Then, he walked to the stove, took out a chicken, and started to roast it.
After Gu Mingxin closed the window, she walked over. "So, Ye Anping~ Is it my turn now to pretend to be your wife and your furnace, to sneak in and cause trouble?"
?
Feng Yu Die was slightly stunned when she heard this. She immediately walked over, frowning. "Who's the furnace?!"
"Not you~"
Gu Mingxin grinned, looking forward to playing the role of 'wife'. She looked at Ye Anping's profile and blinked.
Seeing her like this, it was obvious that she had become addicted to sex. Ye Anping sighed, and before Feng Yu Die could argue, he interrupted. "No need. There are no big restrictions in Moonfall Gorge. We'll wait for my sister and the others to arrive, and we can just kill them from behind."
"Tsk..." Gu Mingxin pouted in boredom. "Are you afraid of me? That's why you don't want me to play your wife?~"
Ye Anping glanced at her but ignored her. He asked Feng Yu Die to sit next to him and handed her the chicken, asking her to roast it. "Sister Gu, He Qingjiao is your senior sister."
"I am not familiar with her. I have only met her once or twice... What? Are you afraid that I can't kill her?"
Gu Mingxin narrowed her eyes as she clamped Ye Anping's arm with her chest, smiling. "Whoever you want me to kill, I will kill. Besides... she is that bastard He Buqun's offspring... I want to exterminate the He family completely..."
Ye Anping looked at the murderous intent in Gu Mingxin's eyes, and he asked thoughtfully, "Really?"
"Hmm? Why not?"
Seeing Gu Mingxin so close to her Ye Anping, Feng Yu Die immediately followed suit and pulled Ye Anping toward her, causing him to look at her again.
Looking at Feng Yu Die's frowning face, Ye Anping shook his head, ignored them, and called, "Xue'e… Xiao Tian..."
Xue'e poked her head out from Gu Mingxin's forehead. "Ye Anping, tell me what to do..."
Before she finished speaking, Xiao Tian rushed out from Ye Anping's forehead and kicked Xue'e's nose, but Xue'e dodged quickly and retreated into Gu Mingxin's forehead, causing her to kick Gu Mingxin in the middle of the forehead.
Bang—
"..."
Gu Mingxin glared at her, feeling a little unhappy, but before Xiao Tian could react, Xue'e emerged from the back of Gu Mingxin's head and slapped her to the ground with a new sword technique.
"Hey!!"
Ye Anping looked at the two little ones, feeling defeated. He shook his head slightly before shouting, "Stop making trouble!!"
This time, Xue'e immediately stopped swinging the wooden sword at Xiao Tian, who was lying on the ground covering her head, and complained, "Ye Anping, she started it first!!"
Xiao Tian pouted aggrievedly. "It was you who dismantled my bed first..."
"You two sneak into Moonfall Gorge and draw a chart of the disciples inside. The more detailed the better."
"Oh..." "Okay."
… …
Deep into the Moonfall Gorge.
Frosty snowflakes floated on the surface of the cold spring in the dark surroundings, illuminated only by the light of the pill furnace hanging in the distance.
He Qingjiao closed her eyes and lay on the surface of the spring, letting the icy water full of demonic energy pierce her bones. Her face, however, was calm as if she was sleeping soundly.
Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps.
"Young Master He... Elder Yue has something to report to you."
A little maid without eyes walked to the edge of the cold spring, cupped her hands, and whispered.
After a while, He Qingjiao slowly opened her eyes and walked from the center of the cold spring to the shore. She took out a chest binding and flattened her two big and round moons. She changed into a man's robe and walked to the little maid with her sword on her back, ready to let her lead the way.
However, just as she took a step, she remembered that she had forgotten something.
She hurried back to the cold spring and used spiritual power to fish up a scroll with a cloth as the base.
He Qingjiao looked at the person on the scroll, and her eyes slowly drooped. Her cold expression melted by half, revealing 50% gentleness and 50% killing intent. Her eyes gradually became ferocious as she muttered, "Sister Gu, where are you now?"
The blind maid stopped and called out in confusion. "Young Master He?"
He Qingjiao quickly suppressed her female voice, nodded, and responded. "Hmm..."
Following the little maid who was leading her, she made her way up the trestle on the rock wall, and in a short while, she arrived in front of the door of a five-story pavilion.
He Qingjiao did not knock on the door to announce herself but simply pushed the door and entered. She glanced around and saw a Nascent Soul Elder from the Heavenly Demon Sect and a few Core Formation-stage disciples gathered around a map, seeming to discuss strategies to deal with the enemy.
The Heavenly Demon Sect had received news earlier that the Young Miss Xiao of the Black Star Sect had brought about seven hundred Heavenly Cloud Peak disciples and crossed the Blood River, heading straight for the Moonfall Gorge.
He Buqun wanted her to kill Young Miss Xiao and the "Liang Xiaoxue" who was traveling with her, so she rushed over.
When the Nascent Soul-stage Elder saw He Qingjiao enter the room, cold sweat immediately seeped out of his forehead, and he said, "Young Master He, have you rested well these days?"
"Why are you looking for me?"
"Uh..." Elder Yue hesitated for a moment before lifting his sleeve and pointing to a place on the map in front of him. "According to the news sent back by my disciple, six medium-sized immortal ships of the Black Star Sect have already passed through the Singing Mountain and are less than one thousand miles away from the Moonfall Gorge... Therefore, I would like to ask about your plan, Young Master He..."
"Plan? The task I received from the Great Elder is to kill the Young Lady of the Black Star Sect and Liang Xiaoxue who is traveling with her. The rest is not my business, it's yours."
Elder Yue took a deep breath and explained, "...Moonfall Gorge is a place used by the Heavenly Demon Sect to refine pills. There are only six to seven hundred Core Formation-stage disciples in the valley."
"Doesn't the Black Star Sect also have about seven hundred people?"
"But..."
"I'm killing that Young Miss Xiao and Liang Xiaoxue, can't you handle the other Black Star Sect disciples?" He Qingjiao looked up disdainfully, squinting. "Elder Yue, the Heavenly Demon Sect doesn't need useless people. In my opinion, you are no different from a rat."
Elder Yue did not get annoyed. He had heard of He Qingjiao's talent and that he had destroyed the entire Dark North Sect with only a few hundred people.
"Young Master He, when I heard that you would come, I thought you would bring disciples from the Heavenly Demon Inner Sect with you. I didn't expect you to come alone…"
"So?"
"Young Master He, not everyone is like you, able to get beyond their cultivation limits and kill immortals over their level."
When He Qingjiao heard this, she raised her eyebrows and smiled bitterly. "Hehe… yes, not everyone is like me and Sister Gu..."
"Gu..."
Everyone in the sect knew about Gu Mingxin's connection with the immortals. In the past, they addressed her as "Young Miss Gu" or "Senior Sister Gu", but now, everyone kept a distance from her and dared not call her by her sect title or even her name.
After all, when Gu Mingxin communicated with immortals, Patriarch Yu Yan was so angry that he purged the Heavenly Demon Sect again.
Anyone who called Gu Mingxin "Senior Sister" or "Young Miss" after her betrayal, was sent into the alchemy furnace to become nutrients for the new disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
He Qingjiao narrowed her eyes, smiling. "What about Gu?"
"This..." Elder Yue's face was covered with cold sweat. "Young Master He, please don't kill me. I dare not say anything more... Patriarch Yu Yan has already taught us a lesson before."
"He..."
He Qingjiao sneered, seeming to think that Elder Yue was quite boring, but only said, "Take your people out of the valley and face the Black Star Sect head-on."
"Ah?"
"Didn't you just ask me what I plan? This is what I mean..."
Elder Yue wiped the cold sweat from his head. "Young Master He, wouldn't it be better to wait? Maybe the sect will send more Elders or disciples..."
"The Elders and inner disciples of the sect have to stop the three-region immortals crossing the river from the north, south, and southwest, so they are busy. The Young Miss of the Black Star Sect only brought more than seven hundred people. I can handle them alone."
"But..."
"Since you asked me, but you're not doing what I said, why did you ask me?"
"..."
Elder Yue was speechless. He looked at his confidants on both sides who didn't dare to make a sound, hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and nodded. "Well, then we'll follow your arrangement, Young Master He. I will gather the disciples in the valley..."
"Heh, that's more like it..." He Qingjiao snorted coldly before turning around to leave.
The moment he stepped out of the bridge and closed the door, several Core Formation-stage disciples who had barely endured the pressure, felt their legs go soft, and they crouched down, holding onto the edge of the table.
"Elder Yue, that bloody aura is too scary..."
"Huh..." Elder Yue exhaled. "I've told you. During the battle, don't get too close to him. Stay as far away as you can. He doesn't distinguish between friend and foe... Anyone who gets in his way, even an old man, will be chopped in half by him..."
"Ah... okay."
"Well, ring the bell to gather the disciples."