Before the vermilion gates of the Hall of Law Enforcement, the morning mist had not yet completely dispersed.
Mo Xuan had already been waiting there for a long time, simply waiting for Ling Rong to be escorted over to receive his punishment.
The other elders of the immortal sect were also waiting at the entrance of the Hall of Law Enforcement.
This continued until the hour of Chen.
“It is already almost three quarters past the hour of Chen, why is the Sect Master still nowhere to be seen,” Ciyan, the alchemy cultivation elder, stroked his snow-white beard, gradually growing somewhat impatient, “Could the bone-extracting order personally issued by the Sect Master actually be treated as child’s play?”
Before his words could fully land, Qingliu, the talisman cultivation elder, had already thrown out three warning talismans. The talismans transformed into swimming dragons circling in the air, reflecting the cinnabar mark between her brows to look increasingly beautiful, “Could it be that the Sect Master’s heart has softened, and he changed his mind at the last moment?”
“Absolutely impossible,” Chenxu, the dharma cultivation elder, said, “The Sect Master has always acted decisively. Since he has already made up his mind, there is absolutely no room for reversal. Mo Xuan, since you are the first disciple, you should go to the Demon Locking Tower to find out the truth.”
Mo Xuan lowered his eyes and bowed. As his wide sleeves swept across the stone steps, he suddenly saw a figure rushing furiously from the mountain stream.
A disciple came stumbling and rushing to the front, the disciple token at his waist clattering loudly along with his heavy panting, “Something terrible has happened, the Demon Sect Master, he, he has demonized and run amok,”
“How is that possible,” Chenxu was greatly shocked, “The Demon Locking Tower suppresses nine ancient seals, how could he possibly.”
“It is absolutely true,” the disciple wiped the bloodstains from his face, a crying tone escaping his throat, “The Sect Master is currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Demon Sect Master inside the Demon Locking Tower, but that demon’s dark power has violently surged, and the Sect Master is actually being suppressed, retreating step by step,”
The disciple’s voice was filled with absolute terror, “The seals on the tower body have already shown cracks. If we do not provide timely reinforcement, once the Demon Sect Master breaks through the restrictions, then-”
Before his words could finish, a rumbling sound like a collapsing mountain and splitting earth suddenly echoed from afar.
The clouds were dyed a bizarre purple-black color, and countless talismans shot into the sky from the tower, twisting into hideous ghostly faces in the air.
In a brief moment, Qingliu’s warning talismans suddenly exploded into fine dust.
Her face changed drastically, “Not good,”
A gleam flashed through Mo Xuan’s eyes.
If that vile creature Ling Rong dared to harm Master.
He would absolutely leave him without a corpse or bones.
Carrying a heart full of rage, he turned around intending to leave, but he was stopped by Ciyan, “Hold on, this journey holds unpredictable fortunes and misfortunes, we must-”
“This disciple came here upon receiving orders, so I naturally ought to see the outcome with my own eyes,” Mo Xuan interrupted Ciyan’s words, his unsheathed sword bringing along a biting sword aura, “If Master suffers a loss, how can our immortal sect face the world?”
Before his words could fully land, he had already transformed into a streak of flowing light, shooting toward the direction of the Demon Locking Tower.
Ciyan looked at the silhouette of Mo Xuan disappearing, his weathered fingers gripping the edge of the medicine cauldron fiercely, the gold-plated patterns leaving deep marks in his palm, “Absurd, how can a single person contend against the Demon Sect Master,”
His wrist flipped, and twelve jade-colored pills shot into the sky, exploding into a brilliant medicine cloud in the air, “Pass the order to the alchemy room, instantly refine Demon-Absolving Pills,”
Chenxu’s dharma staff thumped heavily onto the ground, the earth cracking into web-like patterns of spiritual energy, “Activate the Mountain-Protecting Grand Array, disciples of all peaks listen to orders, hold your natal magical artifacts and form the Three Talents Array around the outer perimeter of the Demon Locking Tower,”
At the exact same time, the illusory shadow of a dharma idol emerged behind him, and nine golden light runes crawled and spread along the mountain wall, like a waking giant dragon.
A bead of blood from Qingliu’s fingertip dripped onto the shattered talismans, instantly igniting a bizarre green flame, “Talisman Hall listen to orders, prepare one hundred Demon-Suppressing Talismans, they must be delivered to the Demon Locking Tower within a quarter of an hour,”
The tips of her toes lightly tapped the ground, and her entire being transformed into a red light flitting toward the Talisman Pavilion, the cinnabar mole in her hair becoming increasingly demonic.
In an instant, thousands of disciples holding magical artifacts quickly assembled.
“Quick, be faster,” the disciple responsible for passing orders rode a celestial crane flitting across the various peaks, “The Demon Sect Master is about to break through the seal, the Sect Master is in critical danger,”
Following his shouts, even more streaks of flowing light shot into the sky, rushing quickly toward the direction of the Demon Locking Tower.
Inside the Demon Locking Tower, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Wen Pinglan’s chest heaved violently as he gasped for breath in huge gulps, bean-sized cold sweat constantly sliding down from his forehead, soaking his temples.
He had never expected by any means that Ling Rong, who had always been respectful and submissive toward him, would suddenly rise up and launch a violent attack at this very instant, and the demonic power that erupted was powerful beyond imagination.
Even though his body possessed all the spiritual energy that previously belonged to Ling Rong, under this violent strike, he actually appeared so utterly vulnerable.
“Madman, an incorrigible madman,” Wen Pinglan cursed furiously, the taste of blood surging up his throat almost choking his breath.
Hearing this word “madman”, Ling Rong suddenly smiled.
He slowly raised his fingertips, and a thick wisp of demonic energy, like a living creature, crawled and wound up along his fingertips, gradually condensing into a dripping, sharp blade in the air.
Following that, his gaze locked tightly onto Wen Pinglan, and he said word by word, “Master, my becoming this crazed and demonic today is entirely thanks to you. It was you, who time and time again, personally tore my hopes apart heartlessly, completely ruining my persistence until nothing was left.”
“I ask myself honestly, what on earth did I do wrong, exactly what kind of unpardonable sin did I commit, for you to treat me this way,”
The moment the words fell, the blade formed from demonic energy shot out like lightning, its speed so fast that it was almost impossible to capture with the naked eye.
Wen Pinglan’s face changed drastically, knowing deeply that the power of this strike must not be underestimated.
He did not have time to think further, waving his sleeve fiercely, and three runes emitting golden light shot out like shooting stars, interweaving into a golden barrier in the air, barely managing to block that menacing demonic energy blade.
Spiritual energy and demonic energy collided intensely, erupting into a deafening roar, and the aftermath produced by the collision was like a surging wave, expanding frantically to the surroundings.
Wen Pinglan’s figure swayed from the impact of this powerful aftermath, a sweet, metallic taste instantly surging up his throat, and a mouthful of fresh blood almost sprayed out.
But he forced himself to endure it, sneering, “Vile creature, the sins you have committed are too numerous to record, stealing and learning forbidden arts, causing yourself to fall into madness, this is the first sin, slaughtering the Human Emperor, wantonly harming mortals, this is the second sin, betraying your master and destroying the orthodox path, showing no respect for your elders, this is the third sin,”
“With all these kinds of sins accumulating together, you simply deserve a myriad of deaths, my letting you suffer that bone-extracting punishment is already the greatest mercy toward you,”
Hearing this, Ling Rong suddenly tore open his lapel with one hand, his fingertips quickly forming a hand seal, and the faint light shrouding his chest instantly vanished.
That layer of illusion technique which had been maintained for a hundred years was personally stripped away by him.
A hideous scar was exposed without any reservation before Wen Pinglan’s eyes, the wound presenting a bizarre spiral shape, looking as if it had been brutally gouged out by some kind of sharp weapon, and though it had healed by now, it still showed a purplish-blue scar tissue.
“The bone-extracting punishment you want.” Ling Rong laughed until his whole body trembled, his fingertip poking fiercely against that scar, “I already did it to myself a hundred years ago,”
“What,” the moment Wen Pinglan’s vision brushed against that hideous scar, his entire being instantly froze.
His heart gave a fierce, uncontrollable shudder.
An absurd yet terrifying guess emerged at the bottom of his heart: Could it be, Ling Rong’s immortal bone had already ceased to exist as early as a hundred years ago?
How could this be possible.
The immortal bone, that was the foundation for a cultivator to step onto the path of transcendence, the core location for condensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and forging a transcendent body, how could it be something easily lost?
Ling Rong’s immortal bone, how could, how could it be gone a hundred years ago?
And where exactly did that vanished immortal bone go?
Countless questions wound around Wen Pinglan’s heart like a tangled mess.
The more he tried to cut it, the more tangled it became, the more he tried to organize it, the messier it grew.
“Make your words clear,” Wen Pinglan’s voice carried a trembling that even he himself did not perceive.