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Chapter 215: Evolution!

Once the moment was over, the tiny maggot had grown into a white wormlike creature the size of Chu Liang's palm!

Chu Liang could finally get a proper look at the creature now that it had grown a lot larger. It turned out that the creature wasn't actually a maggot. The creature had several pairs of short golden legs and a golden mouth, and its plump body had distinct sections.

Rather than a maggot, the creature was more like a silkworm, especially since it could expel threads... from its rear end.

The white and golden silkworm had eaten a large chunk of the iron, leaving a dip in the smooth interior surface of the alms bowl. That meant the engraved enchanted formation was damaged, and the suppression effect was lifted.

The owner of the enchanted tool had already left, so the alms bowl was now an ownerless damaged enchanted tool.

Chu Liang injected his foundational qi into the enchanted tool, having "reluctantly"[1] decided to keep it.

The enchanted formation was damaged and no longer usable; it would definitely be difficult to repair. Nevertheless, the alms bowl was excellent as feed for the little silkworm.

Just as Chu Liang put away the damaged black iron alms bowl and the little silkworm, he noticed a beam of golden light flying over the horizon. Daoist Huang Long had arrived with Yang Yuhu.

This was when Yang Yuhu asked about the alms bowl.

Hearing Yang Yuhu's inquiry, Chu Liang let out an "Ah."

His mind raced for a moment.

Then Chu Liang replied simply, "I managed to break the enchanted tool. With its enchanted formation inscription damaged, it can't suppress anyone anymore, so I stored it away."

He had the alms bowl appear briefly on his hand. Then he stored it away again.

Yang Yuhu once again felt astonished. "What?"

He had felt just how hard and dense that alms bowl was. It was so solid that it might not get damaged even if he were to use his sword and strike it with full force. Chu Liang was only at the beginning stage of the Golden Core Realm, so how could he possibly...

However, Yang Yuhu recalled Chu Liang's shockingly powerful sword strike that had almost ended the life of the diabolical cultivator. It seemed that it was possible that Chu Liang might actually be telling the truth.

How terrifying! Yang Yuhu thought. He certainly isn't an ordinary boy!

While Yang Yuhu was amazed by Chu Liang, his teacher, Daoist Huang Long, was rather displeased.

Yang Yuhu, if you're truly in a life-threatening crisis, I, as your teacher, am more than willing to use my Golden Path to rush over and rescue you. However, a disciple who is clearly at the beginning stage of the Golden Core Realm managed to break free. You, on the other hand, couldn't do it. Instead, all you knew how to do was run back to the sect and ask to be rescued...

Daoist Huang Long shot a dark look at Yang Yuhu.

He thought, It seems my disciple is rather weak...?

Daoist Huang Long had been at a critical stage of his understanding of his Dao. For a seventh-realm Eminent One like him, missing a moment of enlightenment could mean having to spend several more years cultivating. Yet, he'd disregarded that and rushed over to save his disciple... only to find his disciple had been in no danger at all. It was only natural that Daoist Huang Long felt quite displeased.

Of course, if Chu Liang knew about that, he'd probably find it strange... and think, Oh, so even cultivators at the seventh realm need to spend time understanding the Dao?

It seems this teacher is rather weak...?

Yang Yuhu immediately sensed Daoist Huang Long's glare. Nevertheless, he didn't know how to explain the situation to his teacher. It was true that he was at the later stage of the Golden Core Realm, which meant his cultivation level was higher than Chu Liang's. However, it was also true that the prowess of Chu Liang's terrifying sword qi greatly surpassed the level of the Golden Core Realm.

Consequently, Yang Yuhu could only look at his teacher with a pitiful expression, unable to voice his misery.

He felt so wronged.

...

Seeing as Daoist Huang Long was already here, he followed his disciple and Chu Liang to Misty Waters City's government office.

On the way there, they ran into Du Ce and his troops. Du Ce's group had rushed over with Lin Bei and Shang Ziliang.

It turned out that after Du Ce's group left the city, they were intercepted by a group of diabolical cultivators and engaged in a battle with them. Ultimately, Du Ce's group killed three of the diabolical cultivators and captured one alive. However, the captured diabolical cultivator committed suicide by self-detonation, causing a huge disturbance to the area.

Du Ce's group had no idea that those diabolical cultivators had exchanged their lives just to delay the Misty Waters City's soldiers, giving the middle-aged man time to flee.

Upon hearing what had happened, Chu Liang furrowed his brows in pensively.

Du Ce was extremely courteous to Daoist Huang Long. He escorted Daoist Huang Long the whole way to the government office, where he then respectfully offered the seat of honor to the Daoist.

As a fifth-realm Confucian cultivator, Du Ce was indeed far inferior to Daoist Huang Long, a seventh-realm Eminent One who possessed real power in the Penglai Supreme Sect. It didn't even need to be said as to whether any members of the imperial court were supporting Daoist Huang Long. Even the regent in the capital of Yu had to be respectful toward Daoist Huang Long.

Daoist Huang Long didn't bother with courtesies and sat in the seat of honor.

He then said, "Misty Waters City is located in the flourishing Eastern Regions. There have always been very few signs of diabolical cultivators here, so where exactly did those people come from? They dared to act so arrogantly!"

"The Soul Destroyer Sect," Du Ce answered. He paused and then added, "The perpetrator that committed the string of murders and dug out his victims' hearts—he's probably a disciple of the Soul Destroyer Sect. As for the powerful cultivator who took him away, it's probably Chen Wuyin, the current sect leader of the Soul Destroyer Sect and a major criminal wanted by the imperial court. Aside from him, there's no one else who could mobilize that many diabolical cultivators."

Despite being heavily suppressed for many years, the Soul Destroyer Sect tenaciously continued to exist. Nevertheless, it was no longer what it used to be.

Its current sect leader, Chen Wuyin, was only at the fifth realm of cultivation, and he was the only fifth-realm cultivator in the sect. Despite that, he was clearly much stronger than the fifth-realm diabolical cultivators of the Dark King Sect that Chu Liang had killed at the Southern Bastion Mountain.

As cultivators advanced through the realms, the potential gap in between cultivators of the same realm would continue to widen.

This wasn't a difficult concept. For example, if the widest gap that could exist between two cultivators at the Spiritual Awareness Realm were to be quantified, it would be the difference between 11 and 19. For the Golden Core Realm, it would be the difference between 101 and 199, and for the Realm of the Five Elements, it would be the difference between 1001 and 1999.

Daoist Huang Long snorted coldly. "They're just the dregs of a diabolical sect, still struggling to exist even on the verge of death. Yet, they dare to behave so arrogantly as if they're something to be feared!"

At this moment, Chu Liang stood up and said, "Esteemed senior, I think there's something strange about this."

"Hmm?" Du Ce shifted his gaze to Chu Liang and nodded. "Go on."

On the way to the government office, Lin Bei had already told Du Ce about how Chu Liang had swiftly discovered the murderer in the red-light district. It made Du Ce look at this outstandingly quick-witted disciple of the Mount Shu Sect with newfound respect.

Now, seeing that Chu Liang had something to say, Du Ce gave Chu Liang the floor, showing that he respected Chu Liang's opinion.

Chu Liang said, "That diabolical cultivator who got rescued was only at the pinnacle of the third realm, and his foundational qi was quite heterogenous... But those cultivators from the Soul Destroyer Sect that you killed—there were only four of them, and one of them had even been at the Golden Core Realm. It doesn't seem very likely that they would go to such lengths if all they wanted to do was rescue a member of their sect."

This was a very simple reason. Abandoning four strong people to rescue one weaker person just wasn't something any rational person would do.

"Eh?" City Supervisor Du uttered, surprised by Chu Liang's train of thought. Then City Supervisor Du said, "So, the rescued diabolical cultivator might be an important figure in the Soul Destroyer Sect..."

"It's possible, but it's unlikely," Chu Liang replied. "I fought with him briefly... Although he's completely inferior to me in terms of power, he didn't even use any divine skills or enchanted tools. The flow of his qi was a total mess. He's essentially... an unorthodox cultivator."

The diabolical cultivator in question hadn't seemed like a cultivator who had been taught by a teacher in a sect. In fact, even if he were a genuine diabolical cultivator, he wouldn't have needed to do the atrocious acts he'd committed in Misty Waters City.

The actual Soul Destroyer Sect that Chen Wuyin led had long had since developed a system that allowed its members to grow even under the attacks from various righteous sects that were trying to kill them.

"Hmm," Du Ce mumured. He pondered for a moment, furrowing his brows. "There are indeed some points of suspicion. Let's do a detailed investigation tomorrow before drawing a conclusion."

...

A clap of thunder rumbled from the sky as heavy rain poured down. It was midsummer, but this was the rainy season in the Southeast Regions.

Not far from the city, there were several people taking shelter in a dilapidated temple.

A flash of lightning illuminated the person standing with his body facing the temple doors and his head tilted up as he looked at the sky. It was the middle-aged man who had escaped from the Crimson Executioner.

He was the current sect leader of the Soul Destroyer Sect, Chen Wuyin.

On the altar behind Chen Wuyin, the street vendor was lying on a woven bamboo mat with his eyes closed. There was a terrifyingly deep wound in his neck; his flesh was badly mangled.

Two disciples of the Soul Destroyer Sect were beside the street vendor, sweating profusely as they tried to save him.

“Sect Leader!” one of the two disciples appeared very distressed. "This man is severely injured. It will be very difficult to save him!"

"That's right!" the other disciple agreed. "With the circulation of his qi and blood severed, even immortals wouldn't be able to save him!"

Chu Liang had hit the street vendor with a movement-restricting attack[2]. One could say that the street vendor was pretty lucky, considering that he hadn't suffocated to death on the spot.

Moreover, Chen Wuyin had later carried the vendor as he fought and fled, constantly jolting the vendor for quite a while. It was no surprise that he was beyond recovery.

"In that case, let's just give him a drug to give him a final moment of lucidity before dying! We must make him speak!" Chen Wuyin's expression turned dark and icy. "If he doesn't speak, kill him and extract his soul. Have his soul speak instead!"

There was another flash of lightning, followed by a clap of thunder. Chen Wuyin's sinister expression was illuminated for all to see.

...

Seven hundred years ago, the world was in a chaotic state.

The Soul Destroyer Sect once made a resurgence with a sect leader known as the Elder Reaper. The Soul Destroyer Sect thrived under his leadership for some time, taking advantage of those chaotic times when people behaved like animals to spread their influence.

Nevertheless, when the Yu Dynasty was established and peace was returned to the world, sects like the Soul Destroyer Sect were met with destruction. Several powerful figures of the righteous path worked together to hunt down the Elder Reaper, and he ultimately died near the East Sea.

However, there was reliable information that the Elder Reaper hadn't died at the hands of the righteous cultivators. Instead, he'd disappeared after sustaining severe injuries. At that time, he'd carried with him the most important treasures and the cultivation legacy of the Soul Destroyer Sect. The sect lost all of them together with the Elder Reaper.

...

So, when news emerged of the Soul Destroyer Sect causing trouble in Misty Waters City, Chen Wuyin had immediately figured it out. The person causing trouble in Misty Waters City had probably acquired the sect's cultivation legacy from the Elder Reaper's resting place!

Chen Wuyin had then promptly led his subordinates and killed their way to Misty Waters City. Like the righteous cultivators, Chen Wuyin had been closely monitoring news about the perpetrator of the murders, waiting for him to reappear.

Unfortunately, he had been one step behind Chu Liang...

Chen Wuyin let out a deep bellow, "Our Soul Destroyer Sect was already weak, and now we've lost four of our brothers just so that we could bring this man back with us. I will never give up until we can extract the location of where the Elder Reaper is buried!"

1. It's a politeness thing. GT: Like if your aunt gives you money and you pretend you don't want to take it but you actually do. So, Chu Liang made an excuse about how the bowl is ownerless and damaged so that he can take the bowl for himself. LD: As expected of Chu Liang the profiteer. ☜

2. Referring to the Razor Leaf's snake form. See Book 3, Chapter 9 ☜