Chapter 75: Fleeing for Life

At the headquarters of the Immortal Sect, within an ancient bronze cauldron, wisps of lush white vapor drifted about, containing the consciousnesses of the rogue demonic cultivators.

The Celestial Eye blinked open, casting a light screen that shimmered with the current rankings.

The Cult Leader and his Deputy stood watching the outstanding performances of those at the very top.

“Look at this one from Kunlun City, he is quite good; chanting the Rebirth Mantra before taking a life adds a rather nice sense of ritual.”

“I heard he was formerly a monk at a temple, advocating that one attains Buddhahood through slaughter, and he killed quite a few people in secret. When the abbot found out and ordered him beaten to death, he saw the plot was exposed, smashed the Buddhist statue, and fled ahead of time. He came to our Immortal Sect wanting to see if the Immortal supported his ideology.”

“That little fellow from Quhe County has some interesting ideas too—causing family members to turn on one another, controlling a child to kill his father, controlling a grandson to kill his grandfather, and refining them into puppets after death.”

“Oh, now this one is amusing, destroying a load-bearing wall so the building collapsed, crushing quite a few people to death.”

The two men enthusiastically evaluated the top-ranking cultivators; those able to place at the front were all ruthless and cruel individuals, possessing a very high probability of rising to the upper echelons once they grew.

“Where are the three little fellows who performed so excellently in the first two trials?”

The two scrolled through the light screen for a long time before finally locating Lu Yang and his companions, only to find them discussing whether or not to visit a brothel.

The Deputy Cult Leader was thoroughly dissatisfied with their ranking: “To be so far behind, could they be undercover agents of the righteous path who don't know how to do evil?”

Shaking his head with seasoned experience, the Cult Leader replied: “One mustn't look at it that way. In my view, this one named Lu Yang is a man of grand ideas; he must have a plan to shock the world with a single brilliant stroke. One must understand that doing evil need not be a matter of rushing day and night; long-term planning is the supreme choice.”

Seeing no movement from Lu Yang, the two swiped the light screen back to the very top to see what grand evil the first-place cultivator had committed.

“First place goes to a poison master who poisoned a well, wiping out an entire street with a single stroke. He also poisoned some oxen, driving them mad to rampage through the streets and trample many to death. Excellent, truly excellent, that is exactly how poison should be used.”

“What strange method is this? Buying up a vast swath of commercial shops and then firing all the shop assistants.”

“The one below him is similar; after taking over the shops, he makes the assistants work overtime without giving them any wages? Does this even count as doing evil?”

The Deputy Cult Leader felt as though he were falling behind the times.

Suddenly, a violently powerful divine soul descended from the heavens, breaking through the various grand formations laid out by the headquarters, rushing straight toward the ancient bronze cauldron that wafted with chaotic aura!

As if unable to withstand such a brutal impact, a tiny crack appeared upon the surface of the ancient bronze cauldron!

“Not good, my cauldron!” the Cult Leader cried out in alarm.

The ancient bronze cauldron was named the Mountain and River Cauldron, capable of containing all things; it was his natal magic treasure refined through half a lifetime of painstaking effort, only a hair’s breadth away from becoming an immortal treasure!

“It is a divine soul descending, an almighty figure of the righteous path has discovered this place!” The Cult Leader was filled with disbelief; what on earth had happened that they were discovered by a righteous path powerhouse in the blink of an eye?!

“This aura... is it Yun Zhi of the Seeking Dao Sect?!” Feeling the familiar aura, the Cult Leader recalled certain terrifying events of the past, and a chill ran down his spine.

The Deputy Cult Leader bared a fierce expression, drawing his weapon in preparation to slay the intruder: “Yun Zhi? She is merely a single disciple of the Seeking Dao Sect, just one person after all. If we call upon everyone and swarm her together, could we really fail to take her down?”

Yun Zhi rarely took action, and her reputation was not prominent in the Central Continent; a single sect master, eight elders, and even Dai Bufan possessed far greater fame than she did.

Yet a lack of prominence did not mean a lack of strength; every single person who had ever witnessed her take action felt their very understanding of cultivation overturned!

It just so happened that the Cult Leader had witnessed a scene of Yun Zhi taking action—plucking stars and seizing the moon, reversing yin and yang, suppressing powerful enemies with a casual wave of her hand, making him truly feel that his three thousand years of cultivation had been utterly wasted on a dog.

The Cult Leader kicked the Deputy Cult Leader over; was this a time to risk one's life? “You have never seen her take action, so you do not know her terror. Listen to me, run immediately, for if you run too late, not even the Immortal can save you!”

That he could become the Cult Leader of the Immortal Sect was not merely because he was the most devout follower of the Immortal or possessed the highest cultivation, but more importantly, because he was sufficiently cautious, knowing when to risk his life, when to flee for his life, and when to resign himself to fate.

Going head-to-head with Yun Zhi was not called risking one's life; that was called resigning oneself to fate!

The Cult Leader struck one ancient and profound seal after another into the Mountain and River Cauldron to prevent Yun Zhi from breaking out.

The Deputy Cult Leader had never seen the Cult Leader lose his composure to such a degree; he too realized the gravity of the situation, sending voice transmissions to all high-ranking members to issue a strict command to flee immediately to the backup headquarters.

The Immortal Sect had formulated detailed contingency plans and escape routes for situations involving sudden attacks by the righteous path, and they had conducted numerous drills; the upper echelons were thoroughly familiar with this routine.

In the blink of an eye, the high-ranking members of the Immortal Sect fled so quickly that not even their shadows remained.

The Cult Leader manifested the grand divine ability of three heads and six arms; two hands cast seals to continue reinforcing the restriction on the Mountain and River Cauldron, while four hands allowed the consciousnesses of the others within the cauldron to return to their rightful places.

The cracks upon the Mountain and River Cauldron grew more numerous, the speed of sealing unable to keep pace with the appearance of the fractures.

Seeing that everyone had successfully escaped, the Cult Leader breathed a sigh of relief, severed his connection to the Mountain and River Cauldron, and spat out a mouthful of essence blood—this was the backlash from his natal magic treasure.

His aura plummeted rapidly, his face turning as white as paper.

The Cult Leader could care less about any of this; he turned and fled!

Boom—

The Mountain and River Cauldron shattered completely, the explosion causing the entire headquarters to shake as if the earth were moving and the mountains were swaying.

Yun Zhi stepped out from the ruined Mountain and River Cauldron, expressionless, resembling a Valkyrie of ancient legend, holy and inviolable!

She bent her body, her fingertips brushing against the essence blood left behind by the Cult Leader, performing a quick divination as a cold glint flashed through her eyes.

“In that direction.”

A blazing white light condensed within her hand, like a brilliant heavenly thunderbolt destined to eradicate all evil.

With a sharp whistle, the white thunderbolt flew toward the Cult Leader; the Cult Leader had not expected that he could still be discovered by Yun Zhi even under these circumstances, and though he wished to evade, it was too late, a blossom of blood erupting from his shoulder.

“The Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin!” The Cult Leader possessed no shortage of life-saving maneuvers.

By the time Yun Zhi caught up, only a discarded remnant of the Cult Leader's physical form remained.

Stumbling back into the backup headquarters, the Cult Leader stuffed life-prolonging medicinal pills into his mouth as if they cost nothing; having forcibly severed his connection to the Mountain and River Cauldron and executed the secret technique of the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin, he would not be able to recover without several centuries of quiet cultivation after these two successive blows.

All of that was manageable, but the most important loss was the Mountain and River Cauldron!

That was a treasure cauldron refined by pooling the strength of the entire sect, the natural treasures consumed rivaling ten years of tax revenue from the Great Xia Dynasty!

Such a supreme treasure had fallen into the hands of the Seeking Dao Sect just like that!

“How do you feel?” the Deputy Cult Leader asked with concern; having witnessed Yun Zhi's attack just now, he was filled with lingering fear, knowing that had it been him, he would have been thoroughly finished long ago, and it was only because of the Cult Leader's great capability that he remained alive.

“I won't die,” the Cult Leader said, also harboring lingering dread. “Fortunately, we had a contingency plan and prepared a hiding place in advance that isolates karmic cause and effect so Yun Zhi cannot find us; otherwise, the Four Great Demonic Sects would have to be renamed the Three Great Demonic Sects.”

“With the Mountain and River Cauldron shattered, let the third trial end right here. Let us see who is currently in first place.”

The Celestial Eye projected a light screen, upon which a single name was starkly written.

First Place: Lu Yang.

“Eh?”