The first man to speak was named Yang Wenshu, the Sect Master of the Jade Cloud Sect.
Though the Jade Cloud Sect was no match for the great sects within the territory of the Great Qi Dynasty, it was still one of the few sects with name recognition.
Under the rule of the Great Qi Dynasty, cultivators were more inclined to serve the imperial family, and the dynasty also limited the number of disciples sects were allowed to recruit each year.
As a result, most sects weren't particularly powerful.
The reason Jade Cloud Sect had any fame at all was because it was, at least on the surface, a proper orthodox sect, not some unorthodox or demonic path.
Roughly two years ago, while Lu Zhexuan was temporarily residing near the Jade Cloud Sect, she was lured into a formation trap and assaulted by the Old Devil of Northern Shuo.
She resisted with all her might and fled all the way to the Jade Cloud Sect, seeking their help.
But in truth, this incident had occurred with the Jade Cloud Sect's tacit approval.
Northern Shuo had bribed the sect. All the Jade Cloud Sect needed to do was send out a few disciples as a show of support, thus preserving both appearance and benefit.
At the time, Northern Shuo had only told Yang Wenshu that he had taken a liking to a female cultivator. He didn't mention she possessed the Physique of Celestial Allure.
But plans are never perfect. Among the disciples sent out, there happened to be one proficient in Qi Observation Techniques, who instantly identified Lu Zhexuan's unique constitution.
In a moment of greed, this disciple immediately reported back to Yang Wenshu.
Yang Wenshu understood at once what a Physique of Celestial Allure meant, and swiftly turned on his ally. He took the opportunity to kill the unsuspecting Old Devil of Northern Shuo.
But he underestimated Lu Zhexuan's wariness.
The moment she began speaking with them, she sensed something was off. By the time they killed the old devil, she had already vanished.
And she had prepared her escape route with meticulous care, it seemed she had been planning to go into seclusion around that time.
Thus, her escape had gone exceptionally smoothly.
Only recently had Yang Wenshu finally had someone divine her general whereabouts and then spotted her within this very city.
For months, he had waited like a predator at rest. And now, his moment had come.
As for the man beside Yang Wenshu, it was, naturally, that very disciple who had first identified the Physique of Celestial Allure... though now, he had been promoted to Outer Sect Elder.
Yang Wenshu narrowed his eyes as he watched Lu Zhexuan walk into the trading guild and sneered:
"Just Tower Ascension Third Level, and she dares walk so openly in public. Truly, Heaven is aiding me."
"With this Physique of Celestial Allure, in ten years, no, five, I will undoubtedly become a Grandmaster!"
Within the Great Qi Dynasty, any sect with a Grandmaster seated in residence would be considered a top-tier first-class sect.
The Jade Cloud Sect had languished in the second-rate category for hundreds of years.
Yang Wenshu himself had been stuck at the Peak of the Moon-Embracing Realm for over three hundred years. If things continued this way, as his lifespan passed the halfway point, the chances of breaking through would become slim to none.
This Physique of Celestial Allure... it was like a meat pie falling from the heavens, landing squarely on his head.
Naturally, he had to devour it whole! And only he was worthy of devouring it!
Yang Wenshu gazed off into the distance. In his mind's eye, he already pictured himself enjoying the cultivation benefits brought by the Physique of Celestial Allure. He licked his lips, then gave an order: "Go tell the trading guild-"
"To tell them what?" came a voice from behind.
Do I even need to explain what I'm about to say or do?
This Nie Tong, he used to be sharp and discerning. Yang Wenshu had even promoted him beyond normal procedures to elder.
And now he was acting like a fool?
Yang Wenshu's rage flared instantly. He turned his head sharply and barked:
"Idiot! Naturally, you are to tell the trading guild to lure her into one of the secret VIP auction rooms, then trap her there! I'll go in and cripple her cultivation!"
But the moment he turned, he saw Nie Tong, who had been standing behind him the whole time, raise an eyebrow and smile strangely.
That smile... was not the smile of the Nie Tong he knew.
To Yang Wenshu, Nie Tong had always been a petty opportunist, eyes fixed on personal gain.
But he was also someone who knew how to seize chances, and who would stop at nothing to climb the ladder.
Otherwise, back when their fellow disciples went to confront the Old Devil of Northern Shuo, he wouldn't have abandoned them to request a secret meeting with the sect master, risking expulsion just for his own benefit.
And of course, Yang Wenshu liked exactly this kind of person.
Smart. Easy to manipulate.
A person like this was always obsequious and eager to please.
And so, in Yang Wenshu's eyes, Nie Tong had always worn a bootlicking grin.
But now... the smile on Nie Tong's face was calm, detached, even transcendent. His gaze upon Yang Wenshu was like that of someone looking down from above.
Yang Wenshu loathed that kind of detached superiority the most!
His expression darkened, his eyes filled with venom, and he growled:
"You'd best explain what's going on right now. Otherwise... you should know full well what I'm capable of!"
Nie Tong laughed.
"You need only understand one thing-"
He said coldly, "After today, you, and your Jade Cloud Sect, will be nothing more than dust in history."
Yang Wenshu actually burst into laughter: "Hahahahaha... And who do you think you are? Just a Tower Ascension Realm cultivator!"
"If not for me promoting you beyond rank, you'd still be an outer disciple with nothing to your name! How dare you betray me!"
Before he finished speaking, he abruptly struck.
In an instant, he flickered behind Nie Tong and swung his sword directly at the back of his head!
In Yang Wenshu's view, there was only one possible reason for Nie Tong's bizarre behavior, he must have betrayed the Jade Cloud Sect and sold this information to another sect in exchange for wealth and status!
Which was hardly surprising, it was exactly the kind of thing small-minded men like him did all the time!
Yang Wenshu knew these people better than anyone. All they ever did was scurry for scraps and chase fleeting advantages. What higher goals could they possibly have?
But this time, Nie Tong had the audacity to set his sights on him, Yang Wenshu. He was clearly tired of living.
Zheng!
The sword sliced through the air in a brilliant silver arc, kicking up a rush of energy.
Yang Wenshu sneered.
Shhk!
Nie Tong's head was cleanly severed. Blood sprayed, almost without resistance.
Yang Wenshu's sword was supposed to continue its graceful arc through the curtain of blood and return to its sheath.
But in the next instant, he suddenly felt his sword stop, as if it had been caught by something unmovable.
It felt like...
Someone had caught it between two fingers.
The moment Yang Wenshu realized this, he froze. Then he looked up, and through the crimson veil of blood, he met a pair of eyes as cold and bright as winter stars.
Standing opposite him, across from Nie Tong's now-headless corpse, stood a figure he didn't know when had appeared.
Clad in white robes, one hand held behind his back, the other stretched forward, with two fingers gently pinching the blade of Yang Wenshu's sword.
Yang Wenshu's pupils contracted violently. A wave of cold surged up his spine, making all his hairs stand on end.
This man was not someone he could fight.
Yang Wenshu instinctively tried to pull his sword back, but it wouldn't budge.
The man in white had a faint white lotus blooming on his forehead. Between his two fingers, immense power surged. With a subtle twist, Yang Wenshu's sword warped and then snapped clean in two.
And not horizontally, but vertically, twisted like a rope.
This sword was no ordinary blade. It was the San Cai Sword, purchased at great expense from the Sword Furnace Pavilion, a far cry from some cheap scrap metal!
To break it like this required tremendous power, and exquisite technique.
Just from that one move, Yang Wenshu completely lost his nerve. Terror overwhelmed his face as he released his grip on the sword and attempted to flee immediately.
The moment he turned to run, he saw the white-robed man lift his eyelids slightly. Two fingers separated, and what was now no more than scrap iron dropped from his hand.
Then the white-robed man flicked his sleeve.
The broken sword and Nie Tong's corpse were swept away with a single motion.
Yes, swept away.
While Yang Wenshu's sword had been shattered, Nie Tong's body disintegrated, like a ragdoll whose seams had come undone and been thrown into water, scattering into pieces...
For a brief moment, Yang Wenshu wondered if he was dreaming.
Because Nie Tong's body... was melting into the air, like a soap bubble, vanishing into nothingness, as if he had never existed at all.
What kind of technique was this?!
Yang Wenshu didn't know. But the horror etched into his heart in that moment would surely remain with him for life... if he managed to stay alive.
All of this had happened in only a few breaths' time.
Yang Wenshu had already turned and fled.
Before the white-robed man, shards of metal and blood mist scattered instantly.
The shards clinked as they fell to the ground.
But the blood mist? It vanished before it even reached the ground.
In the end, it was as if Nie Tong had never existed at all.
And in truth...
He really didn't exist.
As the figure of Nie Tong dissipated into the air outside, within the Wujian Between, another identical Nie Tong appeared once more on the streets.
Or rather, he had returned.
Chen Kuang stood watching in the direction Yang Wenshu had fled, but made no move to pursue.
After hearing a little of Lu Zhexuan's experience from her own mouth, the first thing Chen Kuang focused on was the strangeness of the Jade Cloud Sect.
Though Lu Zhexuan had only claimed it was a hunch on her part...
Over the years, Chen Kuang had come to understand that the Jade Cloud Sect was already halfway to becoming a den of devils.
So, he began investigating personally. And sure enough, he uncovered many clues.
But knowing he couldn't make a public move too brazenly, Chen Kuang chose to boil the frog slowly.
While he continued investigating, he quietly eliminated every problematic Jade Cloud Sect member and replaced them with phantoms generated within the Wujian Between, who continued living inside the sect as if nothing had changed.
Since the phantoms were virtually indistinguishable from the originals, no one ever noticed the difference.
At the same time, through subtle guidance and careful screening, he had all the misled Jade Cloud Sect disciples quietly leave the sect.
And so he repeated the cycle: approach, observe, replace, screen...
He had been doing this for nearly half a year now.
Nie Tong was one such disciple who had been replaced.
Had Yang Wenshu not made his move, that phantom Nie Tong could have continued living out his illusory existence.
But unfortunately... he chose the worst possible path.
Yang Wenshu believed he had narrowly escaped death.
But in truth...
The real nightmare would only begin once he returned to the Jade Cloud Sect.
...
Chen Kuang did not immediately leave. He remained standing there, gazing toward the direction of the trading guild.
At this moment, Lu Zhexuan was inside, examining a marvelous Spiritual Treasure shaped like a scented sachet.
The sachet was called "Heart-Warding", capable of calming the mind and spirit, and enhancing the recovery of Spiritual Energy as well as the speed of cultivation. It remained effective even for cultivators of the middle third tier.
Among the "Star"-ranked Spiritual Treasures, this was one of the more excellent ones.
Unfortunately... middle third-tier cultivators rarely lacked Spiritual Energy, and the increase in cultivation speed it offered was marginal at best.
It was essentially a misaligned supply-and-demand situation.
This also meant the sachet's price wasn't particularly high, just within Lu Zhexuan's ability to afford.
Even so, she seriously bargained with the guild representative for quite a while.
She blushed a little at doing such a thing, but even when the other party hinted at mockery, she did not yield an inch.
A future master of a major sect, haggling over a few taels of silver...
Rather adorable, really.
Chen Kuang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth helplessly.
He watched Lu Zhexuan leave the guild, exit the city, and walk in the direction of her Daoist temple, then chose not to follow.
Halfway there, Lu Zhexuan changed direction and turned into a streak of flowing light, flying into the forest.
She landed near a large waterfall, beside a massive rock, where she saw a blue deer drinking water.
The Daoist nun stepped forward and gently patted the deer's head.
The deer twitched its ears but did not shy away.
She looked around and saw the back of an old Daoist lying horizontally atop the rock.
"Senior, did you call me here because you have an important matter?"
Lu Zhexuan asked.
She had met this old Daoist about five years ago.
At the time, his mount, the blue deer, had injured its hoof and refused to move, leaving the old man stranded.
Out of fellow feeling, Lu Zhexuan had helped him lead the deer to this very place. With fruit trees, rocks for shelter, and a cave beneath them, it was perfect for resting.
She had only turned toward this place today upon seeing the blue deer while passing by.
Who would've thought that, after five years, the old Daoist hadn't moved an inch?!
Lu Zhexuan was at a loss for words.
The old man supported his head with one hand, as if dozing, yawned, opened his eyes, and looked at her with a smile:
"There is indeed something I'd like to ask you to do. Little friend, would you be willing to escort me to the Mysterious Divine Path Sect?"
"As payment..."
"I'll recommend someone to you, someone who would definitely be willing to take you as a disciple. What do you think?"
Lu Zhexuan blinked, unconsciously tightening her grip on the sachet in her hand.
The old Daoist rolled onto his side, still smiling as he said:
"However, the Mysterious Divine Path Sect is bound by strict rules, and the Floating Glass Immortal Province is easy to enter but hard to leave. If you have any ties to the mortal world, best resolve them soon."
...
Yang Wenshu, terrified and disheveled, fled back toward his own sect.
Not long after, he saw the main gate of the Jade Cloud Sect, along with two gatekeeping disciples nodding off.
Sensing no pursuer behind him, Yang Wenshu finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
Landing at the gate, he strode up and smacked the two dozing disciples across the backs of their heads: "Pa! Pa!"
He shouted:
"Sleeping in broad daylight?! Such negligence!"
No one answered.
The two disciples didn't respond at all, they simply kept their heads tilted, unmoving.
Yang Wenshu's hand froze.
Looking closely at their slackened necks, he suddenly felt a chill deep in his bones.
He shoved one hard, and its head dropped off with a plop.
Then, the disciple's body began to disintegrate like a bubble...
Yang Wenshu's face turned ashen. He staggered back in shock.
Before his eyes, the two disciples dissolved into phantom mist, his entire body turning rigid in horror.
The next moment, Yang Wenshu bolted into the familiar compound of the Jade Cloud Sect like a madman.
Along the way, he passed many disciples and elders, outer sect, inner sect, even true disciples, but each one vanished like a popped bubble the moment he touched them.
"Where is everyone?! Where did everyone go?! Come out here, all of you!!!"
"Damn it! There's always a crowd here, where the hell is everyone now, huh?!"
"Who?! Who the hell cast this illusion?!"
"I won't fall for this! I won't!"
Yang Wenshu ran madly through the sect, screaming all the way from daybreak to dusk, and from dusk into the dead of night.
But not a single person responded to him.
Everyone, every single one, disappeared the moment he made contact.
A vast sect, once filled with ambition and promise, now held only Yang Wenshu, the last living soul.
His voice grew hoarse from shouting.
Finally, he collapsed onto the highest point of the Jade Cloud Sect in silence.
Until the seventh day at dawn, as the sun rose over the distant mountains, Yang Wenshu suddenly burst into laughter.
"Heh... Heheheh... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
And then, he leapt from the sect's highest peak.
Yang Wenshu did not die.
The world had merely gained a madman, wandering the ruins of the Jade Cloud Sect.