White-Robed Chief

The old man sat on the ground and pondered for a while. In the end, he turned around and returned to the Heavenly Demonic Sect.

Since he was left with only one level of his Heavenly Demonic Power, the speed of his Light-body technique reduced significantly, and it took him more effort to make his way back to the Heavenly Demonic Sect. Then, he came straight to the basilica.

“Master’s Junior Du, I’d like to speak to you!” the old man said from outside the basilica.

Elder Du’s voice could be heard saying, “Shen Bing? Come in!”

After the old man, Shen Bing stepped into the basilica, he gave a fist salute and bowed to Elder Du who was sitting on a cattail hassock. “Greetings, Master’s Junior Du.”

The basilica was gently lit by the last rays of the setting sun and Elder Du blended in completely with the shadows around him as he sat on his cattail hassock.

“Didn’t you leave just now? Why have you returned?” Elder Du waved a hand and then suddenly looked taken aback as he knitted his eyebrows together. “What happened? Are you injured?”

Elder Du noticed something different about the force in Shen Bing’s body. It almost seemed as though Shen Bing had been crippled of his cultivation.

“I was just about to report this matter to you,” Shen Bing replied coldly. “I was ambushed by someone soon after I left the ravine. Then, this person devoured my Heavenly Demonic Orb until I was left with only one level of cultivation!”

“Your Heavenly Demonic Orb was devoured!” Elder Du frowned and asked, “Was it the Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique?”

“Indeed, it was!” Shen Bing replied gravely.

Elder Du’s frown deepened as he asked, “Do you have any idea who the culprit could be?”

The Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique was a special antique study of the Heavenly Demonic Sect. Even if outsiders managed to acquire it, they would not be able to cultivate it without learning the Heavenly Demonic Power first. Therefore, the culprit could only be a disciple of the Heavenly Demonic Sect.

“It’s Zhe Ying,” Shen Bing muttered with a huff.

Elder Du stared at him intently as if he was trying to read Shen Bing’s mind.

Shen Bing said, “Master’s Junior Du, I can recognize Zhe Ying’s force. It’s him!”

“Young Ying would never go so far as to do something like this!” Elder Du replied while shaking his head. “Although he may be petty-minded at times and is greedy for small advantages, he can still make clear distinctions between right and wrong on major issues. He’ll never violate our sect’s prohibitions!”

“Master’s Junior Du, you guys have no idea what kind of a person Zhe Ying truly is!” Shen Bing laughed coldly. “He might seem obedient and well-behaved in front of you and the other elders, but he’s a whole different person when he’s around other people. He’s an arrogant and reckless person who has no limit to his greed. It’s no surprise that he’s capable of doing such a thing!”

“Nonsense!” Elder Du shouted. “I know that you guys have been envious of Young Ying because you feel that we’ve favored him too much!”

“Master’s Junior Du, you can go ahead and ask the other disciples if what I said about Zhe Ying is true!” Shen Bing huffed. “Nonetheless, at least he’s not naturally malicious, seeing as he has decided not to kill me even though he had the chance to do so just now!”

“Of course, he’s a kind-hearted child.” Elder Du smiled.

Shen Bing said, “Although he doesn’t have an evil heart, he has indeed violated a prohibition of our sect. When it comes to matters like this, he’ll certainly try it a second time if he gets away with it the first time, and he may end up becoming addicted. Master’s Junior Du, please don’t tell me you’re thinking of covering up for him?”

“Stop talking nonsense!” Elder Du replied grimly. “Of course, we’ll punish him!”

After giving it some thought, Elder Du pressed the stone slab beside him.

Two other elders and Elder Bai showed up soon after that. As they examined Shen Bing and listened to his recount of the incident, their expressions became grave.

Elder Bai had a look of resignation on his ruddy face. “It’s precisely to prevent this outcome that the sect has strictly prohibited all disciples from using the Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique to devour Heavenly Demonic Orbs. One would feel the urge to do it again after having tried it once and would eventually lose all self-control. Greed is the hardest thing to overcome!”

“Senior Brother Bai, there’s no point talking about this anymore now that the situation has reached this stage. Let’s hurry up and discuss what we should do about this!” Elder Du said impatiently. “We have to think of a way to capture him and bring him back, so as to prevent him from falling deeper into trouble!”

They could still show mercy to him since he had devoured only one Heavenly Demonic Orb. At most, they would cripple his martial arts and then leave him in a cave to reflect upon his misdeeds and start his cultivation all over again. However, if he went on to devour a few more Heavenly Demonic Orbs, they would have no other choice but to kill him. There was no way they could show him mercy at that point even if they wished to do so.

They had been fostering and educating Zhe Ying with great care since he was a child. That was why Zhe Ying had managed to achieve the fifth level at such a young age. They never expected all their efforts to lead to such a disheartening outcome, and this made them feel very sad and somewhat disappointed.

“Let’s send out four martial arts masters who have achieved the sixth level!” Elder Li suggested gravely. “We have to capture him and bring him back here!”

“But how are we supposed to capture him?” Elder Bai asked. “He’d be able to guess that we’ll be coming for him, so he’ll definitely hide from us!”

“Let’s lure him out of hiding!” Elder Li replied with a huff. “We’ll let our people bring along the Heavenly Demonic Stone and have Lu Chaonan take charge of hunting him down!”

“Hmm, that’s a good idea.” The other three elders nodded.

Since Zhe Ying had the nerve to devour a fellow disciple’s Heavenly Demonic Orb, he would not stop at devouring only one Heavenly Demonic Orb and would certainly become bolder. Thus, he would not be able to stop himself from launching an attack if he came across another level-six martial arts master. There was no need to worry about him not taking the bait.

On top of that, they would approach this problem from two angles at the same time by using the Heavenly Demonic Stone and the Demon Hunting Technique as well, so they would definitely be able to track him down!

Soon, a tall and sturdy middle-aged man glided into the basilica. He had a piercing gaze and a firm expression on his face as he gave a fist salute and bowed. “Greetings, Master’s Juniors… Senior Brother Shen is here as well.”

Shen Bing nodded awkwardly.

He was not on friendly terms with this middle-aged man as they had been in conflict with one another many times.

“Lu Chaonan, take the Heavenly Demonic Stone with you this time and bring along Qi Feng, Cheng Liang, and Zhu Hua. You must capture Young Ying and bring him back here!” Elder Du instructed. “Do not take his life!”

Elder Bai explained the situation to him.

Lu Chaonan frowned and said, “Master’s Juniors, in my opinion, we should just hunt him down and kill him!”

“Nonsense!” Elder Du replied. “Young Ying doesn’t deserve to die for he has done so far. He has devoured only five levels of Shen Bing’s cultivation and left him with one level. In fact, he has spared Shen Bing’s life too. According to the sect rules, he should be crippled of his martial art and be locked up for ten years!”

Lu Chaonan knew that the Four Grand Elders thought of Zhe Ying as their own grandson and that they had been spoiling him to no end. This caused everyone else in the ravine to dislike Zhe Ying very much.

His fellow disciples would have treated him better if Zhe Ying had been an upright person and had tried to get along with them. After all, he had a tragic yet respectable past considering how his parents had sacrificed their lives for the sect. However, Zhe Ying had been putting on an obedient and amiable facade in front of the Four Grand Elder while behaving coldly and arrogantly toward others. He had regarded his fellow disciples as beneath his notice and refused to associate himself with any of them. Therefore, all the other disciples found him intolerable.

Lu Chaonan frowned and said, “Master’s Juniors, Zhe Ying has been blinded by greed, so he might not repent and change his ways. Instead of risking him becoming a greater threat to us in the future, we should kill him right away!”

“Is that how you treat your fellow disciples?!” Elder Du muttered coldly.

Elder Li said grimly, “He does not deserve to die just yet! Lu Chaonan, you better not mess things up. Bring him back alive. You’re not allowed to kill him!”

“… Understood.” Lu Chaonan nodded in resignation.

“You already know how to carry out operations like this, so gather your people and set off as soon as possible. Bring him back before he gets in too deep!” Elder Du ordered.

Lu Chaonan gave a fist salute and left the basilica alongside Shen Bing.

…

Chu Li was sitting on a huge rock on top of a mountain as he stared at the passing clouds in the sky while observing how the Heavenly Demonic Power was transforming his body.

He had noticed changes occurring only in his body after having advanced to the seventh level of the Heavenly Demonic Power. Meanwhile, the void of his mind and the rate of his improvement in the Heavenly Demonic Power remained unaffected.

Chu Li could feel that his body was becoming increasingly lighter, so much as that he felt as weightless as a feather. Thus, his speed had become significantly faster than before, as though he had taken two more Wind Speed Pills.

Wind Speed Pills could no longer have any effect on his body since his speed had been increased to the greatest extent possible, and yet the Heavenly Demonic Power was capable of further enhancing his speed. This came as a pleasant surprise to him. Due to this, he could produce a much more destructive and powerful force when launching his attacks, and his Light-body technique had become faster as well.

Additionally, his Life and Death Scripture and the Omniscient Mirror had both been enhanced.

He took out the Heavenly Demonic Stone from his inner pocket and placed it on the huge rock before resting the back of his head on the Heavenly Demonic Stone. Immediately, he felt a cooling sensation flow into his mind.

Chu Li had already figured out the main effects of the Heavenly Demonic Stone. It was not capable of strengthening his soul and could only be used to heal his soul. Nonetheless, it was still a very precious item for him since using he always consumed a lot of his soul energy whenever he used his divine powers, the Omniscient Mirror, and the Life and Death Scripture. Aside from that, martial arts cultivation would also deplete his soul energy.

At present, the observational field of the Omniscient Mirror had been extended to a six-mile radius. As for the Life and Death Scripture, he noticed that its efficiency had increased immensely since the spiritual energy extracted by it was much more refined and was several times purer than before.

These benefits made him feel tempted to touch the Heavenly Demon Statue again.

Nonetheless, his rational mind and his intuition warned him not to touch the Heavenly Demon Statue. If not, he would lose his life.