When reinforcements arrived, Si Haofeng's body had turned into a snowman, while Zhuge Longsu was nowhere to be found.

"Judging from the battlefield traces nearby, the one who fought against Grandmaster Zhuge should be a strong practitioner of the Blood Path Divine Realm. Such a powerful figure in the Blood Path could only have come from the Blood Demon Sect."

Cold Eunuch reached out and wiped over the still-wet blood on the ground, with a contemplative expression.

The fact that the blood had not frozen under such frigid conditions demonstrated the person's blood path proficiency. Not to mention the intense demonic Qi still lingering around.

"It should be Ling Xuedu of the Blood Demon Sect," Mo Guming said, "There's still Sword Qi remaining in the blood, along with a familiar scent."

"Hmm—"

He took a deep breath, as if inhaling a scent, "The tenth on the Famous Sword List, Blood Essence Dragon Shadow, Ling Xuedu's sword. I fought him once and remember this Sword Qi and this scent."

"However, with Ling Xuedu's skills, it shouldn't have been enough to prevent Zhuge Longsu from escaping. After all, he's the one wielding the Haqi River."

The Haqi River is the Confucian foundation crafted in imitation of the Dragon Vein. If Meng Shanhe is the will of the Haqi River, then Zhuge Longsu is similar to Qing Yu, an Emperor Martial Art cultivator, a generations-long wielder of the Haqi River.

In the Divine Capital, because Zhuge Longsu remotely invoked the power of the Haqi River, support was quickly dispatched.

But unfortunately, the support did not arrive in time, and Zhuge Longsu disappeared. Perhaps he was captured, or possibly escaped with serious injuries. He should still be alive, but he's missing.

"For Ling Xuedu alone to be unable to hold Zhuge Longsu, the only possibility is that another Divine Realm assisted." Mo Guming speculated, stroking his chin.

"It's someone from the Heart-devouring Demon Sect."

The Seven Extremes Elder flew in from afar, carrying a frost-covered corpse in his hand, "Si Haofeng's body was found. He was killed by someone extracting his heart in one move."

Through the thin frost, the gaping hole in Si Haofeng's chest was strikingly obvious, unavoidable to Cold Eunuch and Mo Guming's eyes.

"Extracting Si Haofeng's heart cleanly and neatly, it reminds me of someone disgusting." Mo Guming suddenly made a repulsed expression.

Heart-devouring Demon Sect is a completely demonic sect, and their martial arts fundamentally require heart consumption. Animal hearts are acceptable but human hearts are preferable.

As a demonic sect, naturally, the best is pursued, regardless of ethics or universal values. So, disciples of the Heart-devouring Demon Sect consume human hearts as a standard.

And to easily extract Si Haofeng's heart, it could only be the sect master Shi Xin. Because in the Heart-devouring Demon Sect, there is only one in the Divine Realm, which is Shi Xin.

As for others, em... before they reach the Divine Realm, their hearts would have been soused with wine for Shi Xin.

This sect cultivates mind and body by heart, and all power resides in the heart's Dantian. Eating others' hearts is hugely beneficial, while eating one's own is infinitely superior.

Generally, those reaching the True Pill Realm are effectively candidates on Shi Xin's menu. At the True Pill Realm Peak, if you don't escape, your heart won't have long left.

Heart-devouring Demon Sect is essentially its sect master's backup food supply and hardly counts as a legitimate sect. Thus, Yin Tianxia never considered recruiting this sect and even planned to kill any Heart-devouring Demon Sect members on sight.

"So now, even the demonic are involved," Cold Eunuch said sharply.

"If the Heart-devouring Demon Sect acts, then Heavenly Demon Palace might also move. As the old man knows, the Demon Lord placed a Withered Soul Demon Heart Curse on Shi Xin long ago, Shi Xin's life and death are controlled by the Demon Lord," the Seven Extremes Elder said.

"The Demon Lord, the Blood Demon Sect, the strongest..." Cold Eunuch's pupils narrowed abruptly, "This matter must be reported to His Majesty immediately."

The Heavenly Demon Palace and Blood Demon Sect represent two supreme powers, and this matter is absolutely not trivial.

"You go report to Emperor Zhou, while I and the Seven Extremes Elder search again for Zhuge Longsu's traces. From the traces at the scene, Zhuge Longsu might have successfully escaped the ambush. We should confirm it." Mo Guming said.

"Then I leave it to you two."

After speaking, Cold Eunuch urgently soared into the sky, heading towards the Divine Capital.

································

In the Taiji Palace of the Zhenwu Sect.

The Xuantian Jade Pendant floated, revealing the image of Lan Cang.

Lan Cang said, "Xuantian, nearly two-thirds of the people in the Shiyin Hall now serve me. Among them are six Undecomposed Bones, awaiting my command to rebel against the Demon Lord."

After months, Lan Cang finally prepared everything, just waiting for Qing Yu, this powerful outside support.

"I was once a person of the Taoist sect. If Xuantian can help free me from the Demon Lord's restriction, I can lead people to re-establish the Maoshan Taoist orthodoxy and rejoin the Taoist sect to serve you. Six Undecomposed Bones, plus myself, should be more than adequate as bargaining chips." Lan Cang continued.

Six Undecomposed Bones are six Divine Realm warriors, and with Lan Cang, the bargaining chips are indeed exceptionally rich.

However, these seven Divine Realm combat powers cannot become an advantage before breaking free from the Demon Lord's restriction. Under the Demon Lord's control, even with rebellious thoughts, Lan Cang and the others dare not disobey, at most releasing slight hints of leniency.

Qing Yu wanted to attack the Heavenly Demon Realm under these circumstances and seize the object of control restrictions from the Demon Lord, but the difficulty was truly not low.

Although Heavenly Demon Palace had only one strongest entity, the Divine Communication Realm alone numbered at least a dozen. Just one Shiyin Hall had no fewer than ten Undecomposed Bones.

Lan Cang recruited six, but several transformed into Undecomposed Bones by warriors of the Heavenly Demon Palace's own strength remained difficult to co-opt.

As for the other two halls, Yin Mei Hall was not good at combat and can be skipped over entirely, while the Respected Demon Hall was the gathering place of the Divine Communication Realm elders of Heavenly Demon Palace; one might call it the elder council of Heavenly Demon Palace, with warriors numbering a handful.

In total, the Divine Communication Realm's combat capacity comes to about sixteen or seventeen, nearly twenty.

Because of the abundance of Divine Communication Realm combat strength within Heavenly Demon Palace, Qing Yu consistently refrained from directly barging into the Heavenly Demon Realm to cause trouble.

Initially, Yin Tianxia and others launched a surprise attack, which allowed the Heavenly Demon Palace to emerge; now, with the Heavenly Demon Palace fortified heavily, an attack would definitely incur significant casualties.

"The stakes are not small, but the difficulty is high," Qing Yu said, "I learned from Northern Zhou that the Heart-devouring Demon Sect and Blood Demon Sect's Ling Xuedu have joined forces to attack Zhuge Longsu. Do you have any news on your side?"

"Joined forces with Blood Demon Sect to attack Zhuge Longsu?"

Lan Cang suddenly became serious, "I have never heard of this within Heavenly Demon Palace. In fact, due to Xue Ya and Yin Tianxia's joint surprise attack on the Heavenly Demon Realm, Heavenly Demon Palace emerged prematurely, and the Demon Lord harbors deep hatred towards Blood Demon Sect. Getting two severely antagonistic supreme demonic entities to collaborate is not easy."

"But in this world, there are only eternal interests, no eternal enemies. As long as there are enough benefits, the Demon Lord and Xue Ya might indeed join forces."

Qing Yu said this, shaking his head, "They are highly likely to have already joined forces, for sufficient benefits."

"You should first collect information about the Demon Lord and Blood Demon Sect; when the time comes, I will take action."

This statement is undoubtedly an indirect promise to assist Lan Cang. Being a clever person, Lan Cang naturally understood Qing Yu's meaning and assured, "I will certainly give it my all and uncover the connection between the Demon Lord and Blood Demon Sect."

Regarding whether he would continue to be at others' mercy in his lifetime, Lan Cang had no choice but to work hard. That feeling of one's life controlled by others, losing one's life at their whim, is truly detestable.

"I await good news."

Qing Yu waved to sever the connection.

"Heavenly Demon Palace, Blood Demon Sect, Demon Lord and Xue Ya, the two strongest entities have designs on Northern Zhou, and there's the Dao Sect..."

Qing Yu keenly sensed dense conspiracy in the air.

Although Demon Lord and Xue Ya are strongest entities, even they cannot quietly create such significant upheaval within the Dao Sect.

Whoever can infiltrate the cleared Dao Sect must be someone within the Dao Sect and have great prestige.

So who could it be? Who could be this person of great prestige within the Dao Sect?

Within the Four Great Taoist Sects, except Supreme Taoist Sect and True Martial Dao Sect Qing Yu belonged to, the remaining two sects, have closed their mountain, were extinct, their fate could truly be described as desolate.

The Dao Sect hermits may have lost some power, but they don't have enough capacity to secretly gather people to betray Qing Yu.

"So, it can only be the Dao Ancestor or Supreme Taoist." Qing Yu muttered to himself.

However, the Supreme Taoist is currently only waiting for his calamity to reach its peak, and the time for him to truly step onto the stage hasn't arrived, so he can be excluded.

Dao Ancestor...

It seems unbefitting of the Dao Ancestor to link the various Dao sects, for his elderly dignity to collude to plot against juniors, would indeed lose some stature.

Such actions might crumble the grand impression the junior Dao Sect members hold of the Dao Ancestor.

"But if it's not the Dao Ancestor, who else could it be?"

Qing Yu felt he might have overlooked something, but despite using the Great Wisdom Space to deduce, he still hadn't accounted for something unforeseen.

Logically, the Dao Sect should now hold no secrets against Qing Yu, so what could he have missed?

"Never mind, let's calmly observe changes."

With confidence in his heart, naturally, he would not panic. Closing off to heal injuries was a deliberately crafted illusion by Qing Yu, and he had anticipated the emerging scenario.

Despite the current twisted situation, it hasn't reached the point of being out of control. Even if Demon Lord and Xue Ya join forces, so what, Qing Yu is not incapable of suppressing the two.

Amidst his pupils, as if black holes were continuously spinning, absorbing myriad phenomena and objects, Qing Yu hovered and sat cross-legged, his body became the Demon Origin, constantly absorbing the exquisitely pure Primordial Demon Energy.

"Reverse Demon Origin is not merely a power-leaning Martial Arts skill. Demon Lord, Xue Ya, Heavenly Demon Inheritor and Blood Demon Inheritor, let me see how you react to this Demon-Origin technique..."

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