“Who goes there!?”
“Seeking death, are you!?”
“Who dares intrude upon our domain!”
Several grim shouts echoed from the valley. Then six figures shot into the sky. With a wave of their hands, waves of divine soul storms swept across the airspace above the valley. Carrying the spiritual mist that protected the valley, they formed shockwaves, attempting to disperse the curtain of flames.
Yet how could a phoenix curtain formed from phoenix divine fire be broken by a few old monks with only several centuries of cultivation?
The divine soul storms raged, but upon meeting the phoenix curtain, they were like ants trying to shake a tree. The flames enveloped them, and the storms dissipated into nothing, without even rebounding, as if they had never existed.
“Not good!”
“What manner of flame is this?”
“Who is our foe?”
The old monks cried out in alarm. Seeing the phoenix curtain enveloping all directions, with the flames gradually closing in towards the centre, their faces paled. They could not understand how their sect had provoked such a mighty being.
“Phoenix divine fire! Palace Master of Phoenix Palace!”
A figure soared upwards, revealing a middle-aged monk.
Though called middle-aged, his skin was smooth and his features refined. By appearance alone, he could pass for a youth. Only his eyes, deep and weathered, holding wisdom and experience, gave him the look of middle age.
It was none other than Monk Caodeng.
“May I ask which of my disciples has offended those under Phoenix Mountain, drawing the Palace Master herself here in person? I beg the Palace Master to speak plainly and not resort to great violence!”
“Heh heh.” Si Lingxi gave a cold laugh, revealing her form. She looked at Monk Caodeng, one eyebrow arched. “Caodeng, you have fallen to the demonic path.”
At some unknown time, Monk Caodeng had come into contact with the Heartless True Desire Demon Ancestor or one of his disciples. Stirred by desire and attachment, in pursuit of further advancement, he had fused his own learnings and willingly embraced the demonic.
From then on, Monk Caodeng had only two paths ahead. One was to sink ever deeper into demonhood, eventually becoming a demon himself, his cultivation turned into nourishment for his demonic nature. The other was to temper his body with the demonic, finally emerging free of it, his cultivation greatly advanced.
Si Lingxi, however, held little hope that Monk Caodeng could achieve the second path.
And since he had dealings with the Heartless True Desire Demon Ancestor, he naturally fell within Si Lingxi’s scope for elimination.
“Hm?” A glint flashed in Monk Caodeng’s eyes. He looked at Si Lingxi and said gravely, “The Palace Master dwells in seclusion on Phoenix Mountain, observing the world’s storms without ever stirring heart or mind. Why emerge from the mountain for my sake?”
“Not for you. You overestimate yourself.” Si Lingxi said coolly. “Merely because that old demon Heartless True Desire schemed against this palace, so this palace intends to eradicate every last cultivator who practises his Heartless True Desire demonic qi.”
Monk Caodeng: ???
Si Lingxi offered this brief explanation only because she regarded Monk Caodeng as a heroic figure of his generation, surpassing his master, having carried forward the Valley of Bewilderment to greater heights. It would be somewhat unjust for him to die a bewildered ghost.
With those words, Si Lingxi neither moved her eyes nor lifted a hand. With only a thought, seas of fire erupted within the already-formed phoenix curtain, sweeping down towards the Valley of Bewilderment below.
First to bear the brunt were Monk Caodeng and the six old monks behind him.
The seven monks stared in stunned horror. Then, as the fire seas descended, the eyes of three old monks suddenly turned pitch black. Strands of mental aberrant force laced with demonic qi transformed into arrows of spirit, shooting outwards.
“Senior Brother Caoyi!?”
“Junior Brother Caoling!?”
“Valley Master!” One old monk turned to Monk Caodeng. “You truly have fallen to the demonic path? You have submitted to the Heartless True Desire Demon Ancestor?”
Clearly, though Monk Caodeng had embraced the demonic, not everyone in the Valley of Bewilderment had followed him into it.
“Palace Master Si!” One monk hastily broke away from his position and flew towards Si Lingxi and Lu Zheng. “The Valley Master has fallen to the demonic. I implore Palace Master Si to act righteously and slay the demon. From this day, Cao Ning shall follow Phoenix Mountain’s lead in all things!”
Si Lingxi nodded. Then, with a gentle wave of her hand, a strand of flame transformed into a fire phoenix. It swooped down and enveloped the monk called Cao Ning in flames.
“Ah!!!”
Cao Ning let out only a single scream before turning to flying ash, his body and dao vanishing.
A heterodox sect like the Valley of Bewilderment held no place in Si Lingxi’s eyes. She had spared them only because they had never provoked Phoenix Mountain. Once they did, annihilating them was a matter of turning her palm.
This single act alone terrified the remaining two monks into trembling. As for Monk Caodeng and the other three old monks, though they had embraced the demonic and cultivated demonic arts, they had not yet reached the stage of forming demonic bodies or fully becoming demons. Seeing Si Lingxi’s might, their hearts quaked.
“Valley Master?” The three old monks looked to Monk Caodeng.
“I…”
Monk Caodeng had uttered only one word when, amid the boundless sea of fire, nine fire phoenixes took shape. Each burned with roaring phoenix divine fire, like divine birds from heaven, breathtakingly beautiful, captivating the heart with a single glance.
In the next instant, the fire phoenixes swooped down upon Caodeng and the others.
The other old monks, whose cultivation topped out at little more than a thousand years, were reduced to ash and dust in the blink of an eye by the phoenix divine fire, leaving not even bones.
Only Monk Caodeng, truly surpassing his master, with profound cultivation and having advanced further after willingly embracing the demonic, managed to withstand the phoenix divine fire for three breaths. He cried out in pleading, “Palace Master, see clearly! This monk merely used the demon mutually, stirring desire and embracing the demonic only for cultivation. I never intended to oppose or scheme against the Palace Master!”
“What has that to do with me?” Si Lingxi said indifferently.
Boom!
In the next moment, a mental storm erupted around Monk Caodeng, driving the surrounding phoenix divine fire several zhang away.
Yet by now, the phoenix divine fire had already invaded his body. His skin reddened and blackened. Strands of demonic qi emanated from within, carrying a strange fragrance that stirred waves of aberrant soul force.
Those strands of aberrant soul force carried moans and gasps, igniting flickers of desire and heart-fire.
The strange fragrance wafting forth drew forth stray thoughts and disordered mind, raising waves of restless impulse.
Then…
Another fire phoenix swooped down upon him!
The aberrant soul force scattered like smoke. The strange fragrance turned to green vapour. Even Monk Caodeng himself was thoroughly engulfed by this fire phoenix and plunged into the sea of fire below. He struggled for only three breaths before the fire breached his protective true qi, attacking from within and without. His entire body ignited in roaring flames.
“I regret it all!!!”
With a final wail, Monk Caodeng’s divine soul sea of consciousness and dantian sea of qi were incinerated by the flames. His body instantly turned to flying ash.
A grandmaster of his generation perished, body and dao extinguished.
Thus, every expert in the Valley of Bewilderment with more than five centuries of cultivation was wiped out in one fell swoop by Si Lingxi. As for any who might be elsewhere, she paid them no mind.
With a wave of her hand, the phoenix divine fire swept through the Valley of Bewilderment once more. Everything was burned to nothing. Especially Monk Caodeng’s residence, which the flames ploughed through, scraping the ground three chi deep.
“There is no trace of the Heartless True Desire Demon Ancestor.” Si Lingxi shook her head. “Let us go next to the Flower Interval Colourful Cloud Sect.”
