Chapter 559: Chapter 386: Subtle Balance

Although the Black Ghost Cave and Dragon Demon Palace had yet to make a move, he still needed to be on guard.

’I still need over twenty million Talent Points to upgrade my Combat Talent... If I wipe out two or three Demon Foundation Establishment Influences, I can upgrade it by the beginning of next month.’

Fang Yun had considered taking action this month but hadn’t fully committed to the idea.

Relying on the normal accumulation of Talent Points from daily life, it would take about two years for his Combat Talent to upgrade from seven to eight stars.

Time flew by.

「A little over two weeks later.」

After contacting Lin Ke of the Purple Mist Sect, Fang Yun decided to take action.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner, spoken of among the Demons, would be making another move.

Fang Yun’s previous hesitation was mainly due to the Demon Nascent Soul Influence, the Black Dragon Hall.

The Black Dragon Hall believed the mysterious Spirit Refiner was a Cultivator from the Purple Mist Sect. Their actions against the Purple Mist Sect after the Celestial Demon Sect was annihilated also suggested this.

After his conversation with Lin Ke, Fang Yun learned something.

Thanks to the Purple Mist Sect’s influence over the past ten thousand years, the Nascent Soul Influences in the Qionglin Domain existed in a delicate balance. Even the Evil Dao Nascent Soul Influences were unwilling to break it, unless one of them grew so powerful that the balance became meaningless.

That was why the Black Dragon Hall’s actions against the Purple Mist Sect were all minor skirmishes. They found it difficult to make any major moves.

Furthermore, the Black Dragon Hall still had no direct evidence that the mysterious Spirit Refiner was a Cultivator from the Purple Mist Sect.

And it was evidence they would not find anytime soon.

Because the mysterious Spirit Refiner wasn’t a Cultivator from the Purple Mist Sect in the first place.

Based on the current information, Fang Yun could now surmise that if the mysterious Spirit Refiner appeared in this area again, the Black Dragon Hall might make a move.

At most, they would send a few of their more powerful Elders to investigate.

’If I acquire enough Talent Points for my Combat Talent this month, I can upgrade them all to eight stars by the beginning of next month, and my strength will see a dramatic improvement. After the upgrade, even before my Realm breaks through to the mid-stage of Core Formation, I can’t guarantee I’ll be the number one expert below the Nascent Soul Realm in the Qionglin Domain, but I should have no problem ranking in the top five among all Core Formation cultivators here.’

’As the Sect develops, the Evil Dao Nascent Soul Influences will eventually notice us... Besides, there’s already a Black Dragon Hall Elder serving as a Guardian at the Demon Spirit Sect.’

If the Sect wanted to continue to grow stronger, it would have to face even more problems.

Having decided to act, Fang Yun didn’t move out immediately.

The few days before the end of the month were the opportune time for his move.

...

...

The Hundred Beasts Sect, one of the Demon Spirit Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences.

Among the Demon Spirit Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences, the Hundred Beasts Sect’s overall strength ranked second.

By now, the Hundred Beasts Sect felt that their Sect’s overall strength was not much different from that of the Demon Spirit Sect’s top affiliate.

Today, the Foundation Establishment higher-ups of the Hundred Beasts Sect had gathered for a meeting.

It was a comprehensive meeting, covering many topics both inside and outside the Sect.

When they started talking about matters outside the Sect, they began to complain about the Demon Spirit Sect.

"To this day, I still don’t know what the Demon Spirit Sect’s Core Formation cultivators are thinking."

"Forget you, I don’t get it either. The Demon Spirit Sect was doing just fine. Why did they have to provoke the Celestial Cloud Sect for no reason? Things have been quiet for years, and now look. We have to deal with the Spirit Refiners in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm again."

"Sigh..." The Sect Leader of the Hundred Beasts Sect let out a sigh.

His thoughts were similar to those of the Sect’s Supreme Elders; he simply couldn’t understand why the Demon Spirit Sect had attacked the Celestial Cloud Sect.

They knew that the Demon Spirit Sect currently had only three Core Formation Demons. They also knew that in recent years, two of the Demon Spirit Sect’s Peak Foundation Establishment Elders had failed in their attempts to break through to the Core Formation Realm.

If those two Peak Foundation Establishment Elders had successfully broken through to Core Formation, increasing the Demon Spirit Sect’s count of such experts to five, then the Hundred Beasts Sect Leader could have understood their actions a little better.

But as it stood, he couldn’t understand it at all.

"Do you think the Demon Spirit Sect made a secret deal with the Black Ghost Cave? Is that why they took action against the Celestial Cloud Sect?"

"A deal with the Black Ghost Cave... That’s impossible, right? If they really made a deal, whether open or secret, the Black Ghost Cave should have made a move by now. But there’s been no movement from them at all."

"Exactly. Why would the Black Ghost Cave not make a move if there was a deal? The Demon Spirit Sect’s Core Formation cultivators can’t be that stupid. They’ve lived for several hundred years, after all."

Lacking crucial information, the Hundred Beasts Sect members couldn’t figure out the situation no matter how much they speculated.

In the end, their only conclusion was that the Demon Spirit Sect’s Core Formation cultivators must have lost their minds.

"Sigh. It’s us who suffer because of the Demon Spirit Sect’s inexplicable actions."

"We can’t underestimate the Foundation Establishment Influences affiliated with the Celestial Cloud Sect now. According to the latest news, two of their affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences already have more than ten Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiners each. That puts them among the top tier of Spirit Refiner Foundation Establishment Influences."

"And our Hundred Beasts Sect only has seven Foundation Establishment cultivators."

As they discussed the actions of the Celestial Cloud Sect and its affiliates, all their complaints were directed at the Demon Spirit Sect.

If the Demon Spirit Sect hadn’t acted, the Celestial Cloud Sect might have eventually made a move, but that likely would have been several decades in the future.

Just as the meeting was about to end,

the Sect Leader of the Hundred Beasts Sect suddenly felt an icy chill.

It was a warning of danger!

Then, he saw a flash of golden light, and the Sect’s Foundation Establishment higher-ups around him rapidly lost their auras.

Just as he was about to speak,

the last thing he ever saw was the world spinning around him.

A head dropped onto the table and rolled to the floor.

In the blink of an eye,

the seven Foundation Establishment Demons here had all lost their auras.

A figure clad in a black robe and wearing a mask appeared.

This person was, of course, Fang Yun.

The Hundred Beasts Sect’s Foundation Establishment Demons had all gathered in one place, which saved him the trouble of hunting them down.

Two were at Late-stage Foundation Establishment, two at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, and the rest were at Early-stage Foundation Establishment.

It was a bit of a pity that there were no Peak Foundation Establishment Demons here.

All seven Demons combined provided less than one million base Talent Points—only nine hundred and thirty thousand, to be precise.

If there had been a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon, the base Talent Points he acquired would have easily exceeded one million.

Plus, with his high talent bonus, even nine hundred and thirty thousand base Talent Points would ultimately yield a figure in the tens of millions.

Besides, there were still many Qi Refining Demons in the Hundred Beasts Sect left to kill.

Two vessel-clones appeared, one on his left and one on his right.

Fang Yun had them both put on Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

One pair of Half-Hidden Spirit Boots had Eight Spirit Patterns, while the other pair, which he had refined ten years ago, had only six.

He had refined the extra pair of Half-Hidden Spirit Boots precisely for operational efficiency, and they were coming in handy today.

As for even better Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, the main Spiritual Materials required were ones Fang Yun needed for himself.

He would later need them for the Sacrificial Refinement to upgrade his Lifebound Magical Treasure, the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

If he wanted to refine a better pair, with the Spiritual Materials he had accumulated, he could even craft Half-Hidden Spirit Boots at the level of a Magical Treasure with One Prohibition.

Currently, Fang Yun still lacked a sufficient amount of a Third Tier Spiritual Material called Cloud Concealing Silk to perform the Sacrificial Refinement on his Lifebound Magical Treasure, the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots. Once he collected enough Cloud Concealing Silk, he could upgrade them.

As for his other Lifebound Magical Treasure, the No-leak Shield, he was still missing two types of Spiritual Materials before he could perform its Sacrificial Refinement and upgrade it.

Within the Hundred Beasts Sect,

the two vessel-clones concealed their auras and split up from Fang Yun to act separately.

It wasn’t long before Fang Yun regrouped with his two vessel-clones, the Hundred Beasts Sect having been silently annihilated.

Before wiping out the Hundred Beasts Sect, Fang Yun had already eliminated another of the Demon Spirit Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences.

He didn’t plan to return just yet.

His plan was to eliminate three of the Demon Spirit Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences.

He did a quick calculation. If he returned now, by the beginning of next month he might have enough to upgrade two of his Combat Talents, but one would be left un-upgraded.

He didn’t intend to eliminate any more than three of the Demon Spirit Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences.

There were several reasons for this.

The most important one was that he wanted to figure out what game the Demon Spirit Sect was playing.

This operation was clearly more of a warning.

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