Yi Xiao nodded solemnly. “Such mindless slaughter is indeed rare, especially after you have slain many of the world’s fiendish demons. The other fiendish demons have been in hiding and some of them have even hidden among humans. This matter might be the work of a particular great fiendish demon who is approaching the end of its life. It seeks to break through at all costs.”
“Yea.” Qin Yun nodded.
He had indeed sent the fiendish demons of the world scurrying in fear because of his deeds. But if it was a result of an ending lifespan, those that were about to die naturally didn’t care about the threat of Qin Yun.
“I’ll make a trip later to investigate.” Qin Yun could not repress the pangs of fury and sadness in him. How many families did nearly eighty thousand humans make? And all of them wiped out, just like that! To Qin Yun, those eighty thousand people were not a statistic. They were all living, breathing humans. Qin Yun had personally witnessed many demons wreaking havoc.
Therefore, he hated all of this.
Despite knowing that he would incur hate from the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons, he continued killing all the fiendish demons in the world. Every single one he discovered was killed! He made sure to make the fiendish demons in the world reel in fear.
If he were only capable of living for five centuries, he was going to spend them shocking and awing the fiendish demons!
“Brother Yun,” said Yi Xiao immediately. “The imperial government and Inspector Heavenly Alliance have failed to discover the murderer’s identity. You probably won’t be able to find anything either. They have techniques meant for tracking and divining but they have not succeeded.”
“I’ll take a look first,” said Qin Yun.
…
An hour later.
Qin Yun arrived in the clouds above a village. There were people from the imperial government there clearing up the mess, with many corpses being cremated.
“Indeed, they have been sucked dry of their flesh and blood.” Qin Yun stood in the clouds as he overlooked the village. He looked at the bodies of all ages and sizes that were only skin and bones. His heart winced for them as his killing intent grew.
“These corpses do not have any external injuries but are all tainted by an evil aura. Clearly, they were not killed in close combat. Instead, they had their flesh and blood sucked from a great distance away.” Qin Yun frowned. “It appears to the work of a very powerful fiendish demon. I estimate the demon to be at least the Connate True Core realm, or even at the Connate Golden Core realm.”
Qin Yun flipped his hand and took out his Inspect Heavenly Token.
Buzz.
A phantom appeared in the clouds. It was none other than Hong Lingtong.
“Brother Qin Yun,” greeted Hong Lingtong with a smile.
“Brother Hong, you seem to spend all your time cultivating at home. You seldom interact with the world’s cultivators. That’s not very nice. You should come out more often. In cultivation, isolated cultivating is important but so is traveling to gain experience,” said Qin Yun. He felt mixed emotions. If he counted the dream of a hundred years, he had not seen his good friend for more than a hundred years. He found him a little unfamiliar.
Qin Yun’s impression of Hong Lingtong was that he was a man who would frequently risk his life to adventure for treasures and opportunities early on.
But ever since he reached the Connate Golden Core realm, Hong Lingtong almost never left his residence. There was no talk about who he interacted with during the few times he left his residence! In the entire world, Hong Lingtong was considered a very unique and independent Connate Golden Core cultivator! He did everything alone.
“Haha, yes. I should come out more often. In fact, I do have such plans in the near future.” Hong Lingtong nodded. With the appearance of a new catastrophe, he obviously had to investigate it carefully.
“By the way, Brother Hong, there is something I need your help with. Quickly come to the Lu Prefecture’s White Dawn Lake,” said Qin Yun.
“White Dawn Lake? Are you investigating that fiendish demon’s massacre?” Hong Lingtong knew the moment he heard that.
“Yea.” Qin Yun nodded.
“Alright, I’ll be there in a little while.” Hong Lingtong nodded.
After some time, Hong Lingtong arrived and met up with Qin Yun.
“Why don’t these fiendish demons learn from the Skydemon Palace or the Four Seas’ Dragon race, living peacefully with us humans? Why do they have to be enticed by Other Realm Fiendcelestials and sacrifice the lives of us humans?” Qin Yun stood in the clouds as he overlooked the area. He felt sorrowful and helpless. He was after all only one man. He could reduce the harm fiendish demons brought to the world but he could not completely eradicate it.
“How much can their strength increase by cultivating arduously?” remarked Hong Lingtong. “Stuck in the Connate False Core realm, possibly never to break through their entire lives. And by simply killing a few humans and sacrificing them to the Other Realm Fiendcelestials, an easy breakthrough can be made. Their strength will increase tremendously! They can crush their past foes beneath their feet and most importantly, their lifespans will greatly increase. These fiendish demons naturally flock to the Other Realm Fiendcelestials when promised such things.”
Qin Yun nodded.
There was no other way about it.
“I have previously probed the village below us. All I can determine is that the murderer is at the Connate True Core realm. At the very least I can’t manage to figure out anything else.” Qin Yun looked at Hong Lingtong. “Aren’t you skilled at divining the past and future? Take a look and see what happened to this village and who the murderer is.”
“Brother Qin Yun.” Hong Lingtong shook his head helplessly. “I have already attempted to divine this important matter earlier. However, the murderer has a strange treasure on him that allows him to hide from the Heavens. In short, I can’t identify him at all.”
Yes.
Hong Lingtong had attempted but found nothing. And he was the only one who could figure out that Qin Yun was the murderer of Jadeface and Black Dragon!
However, he was unable to identify the murderer who had slaughtered the humans and sucked out their flesh and blood. This left Hong Lingtong rather astonished because he knew that his divining powers had nearly reached their peak. They were definitely sufficient to be considered best in the world. Yet, he failed to discover anything. That meant that the other party was very good at hiding from the Heavens.
“If you can’t figure it out, I wonder if the imperial government or the Daoist sacred lands are capable of doing so.” Qin Yun frowned. The imperial government and Daoist sacred lands had even more methods available to them. If they put in the time, it was possible for them to make some progress.
“It will be difficult unless there is a new clue.” Hong Lingtong shook his head. “Brother Qin Yun, let’s go to the other places to take a look. We might be able to find some clues there.”
“Good idea.”
Qin Yun nodded.
The duo rapidly flew away to investigate the other areas that had experienced a massacre.
Qin Yun and Hong Lingtong flew to a spot above a huge village at the foot of a mountain. They were looking for even the most minute clues. With Qin Yun’s strength, he could use his Dao domain to probe the entire village thoroughly.
…
And at that moment, about four hundred kilometers away from them.
There was a cave in the middle of a nameless mountain peak. Sitting cross-legged inside it was the purple-robed He Qian. He was none other than the serial murderer.
He Qian chuckled as he looked west. His eyes could easily see four hundred kilometers away. He could even see the pores on Qin Yun and Hong Lingtong’s faces.
“Qin Yun? Haha, that Nine Mountain Island Lord made the decision to finally abandon his mountain body because of him. It gave me the chance to descend into this world.” He Qian’s eyes suddenly lit up. “That Hong Lingtong can be ignored. The treasure halo on him is only ordinary. But that Qin Yun… The treasure halo on him is dazzling! It’s so bright that I’m nearly blinded.”
He Qian was somewhat excited.
He was naturally able to observe treasure halos with his strength.
Qin Yun had received a bountiful harvest from the Ancient Skydragon Palace and his near dismantling of the Yellow Wyrm Grotto-heaven. Furthermore, he had killed Jadeface and Black Dragon, taking all the treasures they had gathered over their long lives. All of this added up gave Qin Yun treasures that even a typical second Firmament Essence Soul realm expert could not match.
“I really never expected a mortal sword immortal to have that many treasures.”
He Qian was somewhat excited. “He must have received a great opportunity for him to have so many treasures. Haha, it looks like my luck is pretty good! All I did was spy from a distance to see who went to those villages and from that, I have found Qin Yun who has so many treasures.”
“Once I gather enough flesh and blood, I can construct the World Altar.”
“I descended into this world through direct possession. I did not bring any treasures. Constructing the World Altar requires large amounts of materials and treasures. It’s up to me alone to amass many amazing treasures.”
“It’s too difficult to obtain treasures by killing Essence Soul realm experts. I would have to kill several of them to have any hopes of amassing the required amount. Besides, Human Emperor and Ancestral Master Zhang might rush over to provide reinforcements at any moment.” He Qian knew this point. He knew that the complexity of the world he was in ran deep. “I was planning on seeking out the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons and cooperating with one of its lineages. I could get them to provide me with treasures, but in that case the credit upon success would be split.”
“And if the World Altar is constructed by me alone, all the credit will be mine.”
“Qin Yun?”
“With my strength, wouldn’t killing Qin Yun be as simple as squashing a bug?” The corners of He Qian’s mouth curled up. Although he maintained his strength at the Connate Golden Core, he was an Other Realm Fiendcelestial that had cultivated for ages! He still remained at a very high level.
“There’s no rush. In a few more days, I’ll have gathered all the flesh and blood power I need. I will then kill Qin Yun and take his treasures. I’ll leave the treasures with him for now.” He Qian was in a very good mood. To him, gathering the treasures needed for the World Altar was much harder than gathering the required flesh and blood. There were countless people in the world’s nineteen prefectures. It was rather simple to drain as many as he needed.
…
After a round of investigations, Qin Yun and Hong Lingtong similarly failed to discover the murderer’s identity. All they could do was return to Grand Dominance helplessly.
“Brother Yun.” Yi Xiao quickly came to greet him when she saw Qin Yun land. “How was it?”
Qin Yun shook his head.
“I failed to find out anything. Xiaoxiao, I plan on setting off early tomorrow morning,” said Qin Yun. “I’m going to rid the world of those Paramount realm fiendish demons.”
“Are you going to take action already?” Yi Xiao long knew of Qin Yun’s plans.
“Yes. I might have slain fiendish demons years ago, causing many great fiendish demons to hide in the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons’ nest but there are still some Paramount realm fiendish demons that have shown no fear towards me,” said Qin Yun. “I was unable to do anything about them at the time.”
There were still Paramount realm fiendish demons that occupied an area and declared themselves kings.
There were two located on land! Three from the Water race!
“I have succeeded in stepping into the Dao. That means it’s time to deal with them,” said Qin Yun.