As for the rare treasures he had seized, Ling Xiao had no intention of using them himself. Instead, he planned to fuse them all into his Heavenly Astral Flying Swords.
His Heavenly Astral Flying Swords were currently only fine-grade treasures, which, at this stage, were clearly of too low a quality.
Upon returning to Green Valley, Ling Xiao noticed several corpses lying in front of the manor’s gate. He sneered inwardly; he had warned them not to trespass, yet some truly had a death wish.
With a casual wave of his hand, he turned the corpses to ash to prevent the spread of plague, then entered the manor to begin refining his flying swords.
Since he was waiting for the Moon Flower Sect’s experts to arrive, wasting time was pointless. He might as well use it to enhance his combat strength.
His main body focused on refining the flying swords, while his two sword-soul clones split tasks: one continued cultivating to improve his realm, and the other began practising martial techniques.
His *Cloud Dragon Divine Movement* and *Nine Demon Divine Art* had both reached their final forms. To achieve mastery, he only needed to refine them in battle, so no further practice was required.
The *Nine Demon Divine Art* was his only dragon-based martial technique, and its power was astonishing. He needed to train it urgently, or he’d lack techniques to use in his Primordial Golden Dragon form.
As for *Soul Dice* and *Shadow Clone Technique*, they could wait; priorities had to be set.
In fact, while he was wiping out Skeleton寨, Shangguan Lei had returned to the Moon Flower Sect and reported the discovery of a stronghold belonging to the Plague Demon King, one of the nine demon kings of the True Demon Empire, to the sect’s higher-ups.
Shangguan Lei concealed the fact that Ling Xiao had killed the Plague Demon King, claiming instead that the demon king had gone berserk during training and fled in a panic after being discovered.
The news was so shocking that revealing the truth might have been dismissed as inflating Ling Xiao’s achievements.
Perhaps because discovering the Plague Demon King’s lair was so earth-shattering, the sect’s leaders didn’t press further about the demon king’s escape.
After all, the True Demon Empire, thought to have vanished tens of thousands of years ago, was secretly resurging!
This news would undoubtedly shake the entire Tianlong Continent.
When the True Demon Empire once dominated the Tianlong Continent, the Moon Flower Sect had Heaven Cave Realm experts. Now, the once-mighty sect had fallen to an insignificant faction in the Mysterious Realm.
If even the Moon Flower Sect of old couldn’t resist the True Demon Empire, how could they now?
Should the empire rise again, no one might be able to stop its ferocious advance.
The Moon Flower Sect, along with the other eleven sects, would be crushed like ants under the empire’s army.
How could this news not be shocking?
How could the Moon Flower Sect not take it seriously?
Thus, that same day, after deliberation, the sect’s leaders dispatched four inner sect elders, leading elite inner sect disciples, to Green Valley.
Such a lineup showed the gravity they placed on the matter.
…
“Success! Ten rare treasure-grade Heavenly Astral Flying Swords are finally complete. This will greatly boost the power of my sword control technique!”
Ling Xiao gazed at the finished set of ten rare treasure-grade swords, feeling immensely satisfied.
Even among the Moon Flower Sect’s inner disciples, no one possessed so many rare treasures. As an outer disciple, he had surpassed them in terms of weaponry.
He wasn’t sure about the ten core disciples, but owning over a dozen rare treasures was likely still extremely rare.
“Hm?”
Ling Xiao quickly stored the Heavenly Astral Flying Swords.
He sensed powerful auras approaching from dozens of miles away.
Among the four formidable auras, one was familiar—likely Guanghan Heavenly Venerable!
It seemed the Moon Flower Sect’s forces had arrived first. If the Beast King Palace had gotten there before them, he’d have had to flee.
He wasn’t invincible yet; facing martial artists above Mortal Realm Fourth Level would be troublesome, especially inner sect elders, who were all Heaven-Human Realm experts.
“Greetings, esteemed elders!”
Ling Xiao stepped out of the manor and, after a short wait, saw four beams of light descend from the sky. He bowed respectfully.
Among them was indeed Guanghan Heavenly Venerable.
She still wore a mask, though less menacing than the one worn by the Death Tower’s master, and her aura was not only familiar but also approachable.
Ling Xiao suspected she had come to back him up.
Another elder he recognized was Golden Light Heavenly Venerable, who had taken Leng Hao as a disciple. As always, he exuded an imposing air of strength.
The other two were unfamiliar, dressed distinctively from the others, with a crescent blade emblem on their backs and the words “Enforcement Hall” written below.
These two were supreme elders from the Enforcement Hall.
Their auras were no weaker than Guanghan or Golden Light Heavenly Venerables, perhaps even slightly stronger.
They appeared to be in their thirties, but their true ages were likely over two hundred, with unfathomable strength.
In the Moon Flower Sect, the five supreme elders of the Enforcement Hall held authority even above the sect leader.
And these were two of them.
Others might look at them with respect or fear, but Ling Xiao felt a surge of anger.
It was the five Enforcement Hall elders who had shown bias, likely protecting Demon Flame Heavenly Venerable and even suppressing his master, Yuan Zun, in the Moon Flower Pagoda.
How could he not be furious?
But he knew his strength was lacking. For now, he had to endure, or he’d likely face death.
Guanghan Heavenly Venerable’s presence was probably because she knew these Enforcement Hall elders disliked him.
After all, Ling Xiao was a rule-breaker in the Moon Flower Sect, and the old fossils in the Enforcement Hall didn’t take kindly to such people.
Aside from Guanghan, the other three elders ignored Ling Xiao and led the elite inner disciples straight toward the manor.
“Hold on, everyone!”
Ling Xiao spoke up.
“Ling Xiao, how dare you block the elders from entering the manor? What’s your motive?”
The speaker was Hei Suo, one of the elite inner disciples.
Even core disciple Meng Yuan was present.
Clearly, they were bitter about Wan Yanjun and Chen Zui’s deaths while Ling Xiao survived, and they were here to pick a fight.
As he spoke, Hei Suo threw a punch at Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao sneered, not meeting the attack head-on but stepping beside Guanghan Heavenly Venerable.
There was no need to engage. He had stopped them for their own good, as the manor’s entrance was rigged with a Plague Bone-Dissolving Formation. Since Hei Suo was ungrateful, why should Ling Xiao bother?
Seeing Ling Xiao take cover beside Guanghan, Hei Suo couldn’t continue his attack and instead moved toward the manor to clear the way for the elders.
