The Heavenly Demon Sect lay within a mountain range, with overlapping peaks and dense forests.
All that met the eye were mushroom-like treetops, and there was no sign of Ye Bufan and Lu Luo.
“He hadn’t gotten far. Even if he used a teleportation talisman, he would have left traces, so he must have hidden himself.”
Shangguan Qingyao’s pretty face darkened. To think that she, a heaven’s favored daughter at Foundation Establishment great completion, had actually lost track of a Foundation Establishment level one cultivation cauldron.
It was utterly humiliating.
She activated her spiritual sense and began searching every inch of the forests and mountains, not even sparing the insects’ nests.
Chu Zixue did the same, but after searching for a long time, she still found nothing.
That cultivation cauldron seemed to have vanished into thin air, without a trace!
“How is that possible? Could he have turned into a bird and flown away?”
Disbelief appeared in Chu Zixue’s eyes. What on earth had happened during the past half month?
“That person had obtained a secret art, similar to the legendary ‘Beast-Transformation Art,’ which could conceal one’s aura and change one’s appearance.”
Shangguan Qingyao thought of that black dog, but Beast-Transformation Art had long been lost; even if someone obtained it, it could not be cultivated successfully in just a few months. How could that guy possibly fool their spiritual sense?
“Beast-Transformation Art? I didn’t expect it. Not only did he become supreme-grade Foundation Establishment, but he also half-learned an escape art, killed the real Zhou Wangchen, and now he even mastered the legendary Beast-Transformation Art!”
Chu Zixue grew even more shocked. In such a short time, Ye Bufan’s changes had been earth-shattering.
Her stunning face gradually shifted from shock to delight, and with a boom, her jade hand condensed tens of thousands of Wind Blades, shredding the distant forest and sending a pack of beasts fleeing in panic.
“I must get him!”
Chu Zixue took out a voice transmission talisman, and a moment later a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators from Demonic Sword Peak rushed over.
“Find me an old man, even if you have to turn the whole ground over! Whoever finds him will be rewarded with two top-grade magical artifacts, plus a spot to enter the Demon-Sealing Ruins!”
Her face was seductive and enchanting, and it made the disciples stare blankly.
“Two supreme-grade magical artifacts? My heavens, how can an old man be worth that much?”
They were excited. Most Foundation Establishment cultivators might not be able to afford even one supreme-grade magical artifact after saving for most of their lives.
At an auction, it would start at ten thousand!
Not to mention the spot for the Demon-Sealing Ruins, which were the ruins of the Sealing Demon Sect from ancient times, jointly controlled by the righteous and demonic paths of Zhao Kingdom.
There were countless heavenly treasures there, not only Core Formation opportunities, but even rumors of a chance to form a Nascent Soul!
Under such heavy rewards, brave men always emerged. A swarm of Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators instantly turned into locusts, scattering in all directions, with all kinds of spells erupting as if they wished to scrape the ground bare.
Shangguan Qingyao’s influence was also enormous; in no time, another hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators joined the search force.
The originally quiet mountain range instantly exploded into chaos.
Chu Zixue and Shangguan Qingyao kept probing with their spiritual sense.
Under such disruption, even Beast-Transformation Art would be affected and thus exposed.
Once he was exposed, Ye Bufan would have to die under the siege of over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, no matter how heaven-defying he was!
“This time, breaking through to Core Formation will be a done deal!”
Chu Zixue was overjoyed.
She was not worried that the upper echelons would snatch him away; a supreme-grade foundation formed from a high-grade spiritual root was not something even she, the daughter of Master Demonic Sword, could bring harm to.
But a low-grade yang spiritual root directly limited his future development.
Let alone having a chance to form a Nascent Soul, he would be lucky to reach Core Formation.
While they were using their spiritual sense to investigate.
The two women both overlooked one place.
That was the direction of the Heavenly Demon Sect mountain gate.
Two ordinary-looking stones slowly rolled toward the mountain gate, and once they reached the area, they simply changed direction and kept rolling in the opposite direction from where the two women were searching.
They did not stop until they had rolled fifty li away.
The stone skin cracked open, light flowed across it, and two figures stepped out from within.
“Master, we got out!”
Lu Luo said in delight; she had been almost desperate earlier.
As it turned out, Master had blown up two puppets to disrupt the flow of heaven and earth’s energy.
Then he secretly took out the stone skin refined with Beast-Transformation Art, turned into two stones, and was openly swept away by the shockwave, landing far behind the two women.
When she looked at Master again, her eyes held nothing but admiration.
Whether it was his calmness in handling matters or his scheming calculations, they were completely beyond what those two heaven’s favored daughters could compare to.
“We still haven’t completely escaped the crisis. We’ve already alerted the Heavenly Demon Sect elders, and their spiritual sense range is too broad, no less than a hundred li.”
Ye Bufan remained cautious. He took out two rabbit hides, turned them into two little rabbits, and hurried off toward the distance.
They had run about a hundred li.
Ye Bufan broke free from Beast-Transformation Art and looked at the boundless familiar plains in the distance, letting out a long sigh of relief and feeling a surge of boundless heroism.
He had come out of the Heavenly Demon Sect alive!
From ancient times to the present, not a single Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining cultivator had ever escaped from the Heavenly Demon Sect.
“Master.”
Lu Luo stared blankly at Ye Bufan.
At this point, he no longer needed to maintain the old-man appearance. Dressed in a white robe with black hair draped over his shoulders and an unparalleled handsome appearance, he seemed like an immortal descended into the mortal world under the moonlight.
There were plenty of handsome male cultivators in the Heavenly Demon Sect.
For example, those saint candidates were all extraordinary in appearance.
But in front of Master, they fell far short, and that transcendent temperament crushed them in every way.
“It is said that the higher the aptitude of a yang spiritual root’s owner, the more handsome he becomes.”
Lu Luo had seen that in an ancient book.
As for Ye Bufan, he glanced back at the Heavenly Demon Sect and a trace of regret flashed in his eyes.
In fact, staying in the Heavenly Demon Sect would have been the most suitable for him, because there were many techniques and spells with large side effects, plenty of poisons, and even various magical artifacts with side effects.
However… it was dangerous too.
After a hundred years of cultivation, he had long seen the cruelty of the cultivation world.
There were many geniuses who cultivated in a high-profile manner, but in the end most of them died.
History served as a warning.
Ye Bufan only wanted to keep a low profile and build up steadily.
When his strength was sufficient, he would come back and settle accounts with Chu Zixue and Shangguan Qingyao.
“Mm, then I’ll wear an alias like Zhang San or Li Si, and I’ll be rock solid!”
Ye Bufan shook off the thought and said with a smile, “Let’s go!”
He strode forward, feeling lighter in both body and mind than ever before.
After walking some distance and arriving in front of a lake, just as he was about to cross it, Ye Bufan saw a small boat drifting on the water.
In the night.
A little girl in a white dress was lying on the edge of the boat, using her small hands to tease the fish in the lake water.
“Huh? Which family does this little girl belong to?”
Lu Luo was stunned. Seeing that the girl was as cute as a porcelain doll, she felt a wave of fondness rise in her heart.
“Go!”
Ye Bufan did not want to delay even for a second, so he grabbed Lu Luo and quickly retreated.
In the dead of night, in the dense old mountain forest, a little girl with a completely innocent face suddenly appeared.
That was even more terrifying than seeing a ghost in the middle of the night.
Ye Bufan only wanted to stay far away.
“Little brother, where are you going?”
The little girl in a white dress tilted her head and looked over, her big eyes full of curiosity.
“Senior, I am only passing by. If I have disturbed you, I hope you can forgive me.”
Ye Bufan cupped his hands and said politely.
Meanwhile, his body moved backward even faster.
He had just carefully probed with his spiritual sense, and when it got within less than ten zhang of the little girl in a white dress, it vanished without a trace like a clay ox entering the sea.
This was absolutely a great terror!
“Hee-hee, I’ve been waiting here for you so long. You can’t run away now.”
The little girl in a white dress smiled mischievously, took two steps forward, and seemed to cross time and space as she appeared in front of Ye Bufan.
“Everyone calls me the Old Ancestor of the Heavenly Demon Sect, but I don’t like that title, after all, I am not a big demon. From now on, you can call me Master!”
The little girl in a white dress blinked her peach-blossom eyes and said with a grin.