The great hall fell silent.Everyone's heart sank—they all understood why Chen Qingmeng had chosen to enter seclusion.
Without the aid of a Foundation-Building Pill, any attempt to form a foundation was little more than gambling one's life. This time, there was a nine-in-ten chance Chen Qingmeng would never walk out alive.
After a long pause, Fifth Elder Chen Qingwan finally asked,
"You've only just returned, and already you've called an elders' council. Did something happen in Pingyang County?"
Chen Nianzhi came back to himself.There was no time for hesitation—rooting out the hidden demonic cultivator in Pingyang took priority over everything else.He quickly explained the entire incident from beginning to end.
Fourth Elder Chen Qingyuan, the most hot-tempered of them all, slammed his palm on the table.
"We can't sit idle! If we show no response, every clan and every demon in the land will think the Chen family weak and easy to bully!"
The Third Elder, long in charge of clan affairs, was calm and methodical.
"If we truly commit to it, no ordinary demonic cultivator can escape our search. But we're short on hands… desperately short."
He paused, then added,
"Still, some matters must wait. This takes precedence over all else.Any cultivator not in life-and-death seclusion must be called to assist."
Chen Nianzhi nodded.
"And in case a powerful demon hides among them, we three should go in person."
"Agreed," the Third Elder said. "You three will handle this. I'll remain here to guard the clan."
The council ended swiftly.The Chen family had made up its mind—no matter the cost, the hidden evil among the mortals of Pingyang County would be purged once and for all.
That very night, the Third Elder personally summoned every cultivator of the clan and issued a command that allowed no refusal.
Meanwhile, Chen Nianzhi sat alone in his residence, turning a small pouch over in his hands.It was the storage bag he had taken from the black-robed demonic cultivator he'd slain.For the past ten days he had spent every spare moment breaking its restrictive seal.At last, the remnant spiritual imprint of the old demon had been erased.
When he opened the pouch and looked inside, he found the man's belongings sparse:aside from two demonic treasures—the Seven-Soul Ghost Banner and the Black Shuttle—there was only a small green shield.
Both demonic treasures were vicious things, steeped in madness.Frequent use would corrode one's mind.Chen Nianzhi was not an overly scrupulous man, but unless faced with life and death, he dared not touch them.
The little green shield, however, was a proper upper-grade tier-one artifact.Named the Azure Spirit Shield, it could generate a light barrier strong enough to withstand the strikes of a late-stage Qi-Refining cultivator.It was this very shield that had allowed the black-robed demon to resist multiple attacks from the Green-Leaf Sword.Had Chen Nianzhi's Seventh Grand-Uncle not left behind a powerful Crimson-Flame Talisman, the fight might have ended very differently.
Upon claiming the shield, Chen Nianzhi immediately refined it, filling the gap in his defensive equipment.
The rest of the pouch held mostly odds and ends:two bottles of pills, thirty spirit stones, a half-torn map—and over four hundred blood crystals.
The two bottles of pills were demonic concoctions made from blood and malice; to take them was to invite inner corruption.Chen Nianzhi destroyed them on the spot.
The map was incomplete, seemingly depicting the ruins of some cultivator's cave-dwelling, but so fragmentary that nothing useful could be discerned.The thirty spirit stones equaled nearly a year's stipend—decent profit—but what chilled Chen Nianzhi's heart were the blood crystals.
Humanity, born as the most spiritual of all creatures beneath heaven, naturally accumulated traces of qi over a lifetime—even the common folk.Blood crystals were refined from that blood.It took the lifeblood of ten mortals to forge a single crystal.
For demonic cultivators, a single blood crystal held spiritual energy roughly equivalent to a low-grade spirit stone—but it was tainted with filth and murderous qi.Only demons could absorb it; righteous cultivators would never dare.
Four hundred crystals.That meant four thousand innocent people had been drained of every drop of blood to make them.
"These demonic cultivators…""Truly beasts without conscience!"
Chen Nianzhi's eyes blazed red. Even with the steadiness of two lifetimes, he could not suppress the fury boiling within.He had long heard tales of the demonic path—how they shunned labor, thrived on slaughter, and reveled in madness—but he had not imagined it could descend to such depravity.
They too were human once.Yet they forged weapons from their own kin's souls, and turned mortal blood into fuel for their ascent.Such cruelty could only be repaid in blood.
"All demons under heaven deserve death!"
The killing intent flashed in his eyes—then slowly faded.
"I'm still too weak," he murmured."For now, I must first protect the Chen clan—the home that raised me, the haven that still stands amidst the storm."
After a long silence, he destroyed the blood crystals and demonic relics one by one, then closed his eyes.
"I was born between heaven and earth, a speck of dust, a mayfly between dawn and dusk—struggling through the tides of fate, blind to the road ahead.""Only cultivation offers a sliver of hope to change destiny.""The path of cultivation… is long indeed."
The next morning, Chen Nianzhi set out with the Fourth and Fifth Elders, leading the Chen family's cultivators toward Pingyang County.Apart from those required to guard Qingyuan Mountain, nearly every available hand had been mobilized—from the senior Chang generation elders to the youngest Nian generation disciples who had barely reached early Qi-Refining.
Some came out of seclusion halfway through breakthroughs.Some abandoned their elemental refinement mid-process.Others cut short their leave or left their duties tending spiritual fields.
Even Elder Chen Changyan, age one hundred and twelve, who had long retired to teach the clan's younger generation, came forth to lend his strength.He was already nearing the one-hundred-and-twenty-year limit of the Qi-Refining stage—his blood weak, his body frail.
When Chen Nianzhi tried to persuade him to stay behind, the old man barked,
"You little brat! Think I won't scold you just because you're an elder now?""Don't forget—it was I who taught you cultivation from the start!""You think being an elder makes you too grand to need this old man?""Even if it comes to a battle of life and death, these old bones of mine haven't rotted yet!"
Chastised into silence, Chen Nianzhi could only smile wryly.He knew well—those who had survived a century of cultivation and countless fights were dangerous indeed.When such veterans struck, their brief bursts of strength could rival his own.
But it would be their final battle.Once they gave their all, whether they won or lost, the cost would be their very lives—drained by the exertion, blood and spirit spent beyond recovery.