“Bee Daoist has made a move against the Immortal Alliance again?”
Meng Yan stared at the message on his communication token in disbelief.
When he’d first learned that Bee Daoist had reemerged and dealt the Immortal Alliance a heavy blow, he’d been absolutely thrilled. After learning about the Immortal Alliance, he’d chosen to stand against them, just like his master.
But the cultivation world’s situation was complicated. Even his master, a Golden Core cultivator, was caught in circumstances beyond his control, let alone Meng Yan himself.
The Immortal Alliance had too much backing. Although there were other superpower alliances above them keeping them in check—preventing them from completely wiping out any local power—it was still a behemoth. To Qingyuan Sect, the local power in these parts, the Immortal Alliance was like a mighty dragon crossing their river.
That made the relationship between the Immortal Alliance and Qingyuan Sect extremely delicate. No one could predict what would happen if that balance were broken.
Inside Qingyuan Sect itself, there were differing stances toward the Immortal Alliance.
Meng Yan and his master were firm opponents. No matter how much they loathed everything the Immortal Alliance did, they could only watch helplessly as it harvested the people of their homeland, one after another. They were bound by their positions and couldn’t act on impulse—there was no room for that.
Because impulse wouldn’t bring any good outcome. It would only lead to their deaths, to the loss of their Qingtian Domain, plunging it into an even darker era of humanity being herded like livestock.
Instead, their very existence held back and influenced many of Qingyuan Sect’s policies.
These people were also the fertile soil for underground organizations like the one behind Elder Zhou—groups that opposed the Immortal Alliance within Qingtian Domain. In a sense, these anti-Alliance organizations served as Qingyuan Sect’s white gloves, allowing them to strike at the Immortal Alliance at critical moments when needed.
In short, there were too many rules and too much helplessness involved. For so many years, no one had been able to break free from these constraints.
Until today. Bee Daoist’s appearance had injected a great deal of uncertainty into the Qingtian Domain’s situation, and it had given some people a glimpse of different opportunities.
Meng Yan, too, saw a glimmer of hope for breaking the deadlock.
He felt that as long as Bee Daoist moved steadily and patiently, it wasn’t impossible to gradually tear down the Immortal Alliance’s foundations. Even if it took a long time, at least there was considerable hope.
But now—Bee Daoist had just massacred a large number of the Alliance’s Foundation Establishment cultivators only days ago, with several Golden Core cultivators frantically searching for him.
And now, after hiding for only a few days, he’s come back out?
Wasn’t that just asking for death?
So upon hearing the news, Meng Yan couldn’t help but worry. Though he’d never met Bee Daoist, his deeds had already earned Meng Yan’s recognition and respect. He didn’t want to see such a person die so soon, nor did he want this chance to solve the Immortal Alliance problem to slip away.
So after getting the news, he immediately consulted his master, discussing the various possibilities.
Out in the wider world, with Qi Ping’s actions, the already delicate situation in Qingtian Domain instantly grew tense.
Several Golden Core cultivators from the Immortal Alliance continuously swept their detection spells across the entire domain, while their Foundation Establishment subordinates poured out in full force.
But despite the grand spectacle, it was largely useless. Aside from the Golden Core cultivators, the rest were mostly going through the motions—completely different from their previous fervor.
After Bee Daoist had slaughtered over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators in a single battle, who would dare to actively provoke him?
He was a complete madman!
These Foundation Establishment cultivators had been thoroughly terrified by Bee Daoist. Most of them had joined the Immortal Alliance for profit, but what good was profit if you couldn’t live to enjoy it?
They’d spent a hundred years, even several hundred, toiling to reach their current level. Why would they throw their lives away for nothing?
The Immortal Alliance’s envoy was helpless against this situation. He couldn’t push these late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators too hard—otherwise, they might just become guest elders of Qingyuan Sect, or leave Qingtian Domain entirely and seek refuge elsewhere.
And if he became a man alone, how could he gather enough blood sacrifices? If he failed his mission, his fate would likely be worse than death!
He’d never imagined that Bee Daoist’s single massacre would crush his momentum at its peak, turning the Immortal Alliance’s once-mighty tiger skin into a death warrant. Many powers that had been willing to join had now openly distanced themselves.
Facing this situation, he was furious but helpless. Qingtian Domain wasn’t his personal fiefdom. In terms of raw power, Qingyuan Sect—the local dragon—was stronger. The Alliance’s advantage lay in its massive reputation and the terrifying existences at its headquarters.
Now, he could only hope that the Alliance’s Golden Cores would eliminate Bee Daoist as soon as possible. Only then could he stop his carefully cultivated power structure from collapsing further.
Better yet, by riding the prestige of killing Bee Daoist, he could push the Immortal Alliance’s influence even further in Qingtian Domain!
But as time passed and half a month went by, Bee Daoist remained at large.
One by one, the Foundation Establishment factions under his command were being wiped out, and the Alliance envoy grew more frantic by the day.
“Thirteen Foundation Establishment factions and seventy-nine Qi Refining factions left…”
After all this time, Qi Ping had lost count of how many he’d killed. He was nearly numb to the slaughter.
But he knew he had to keep going. Only by continuing this carnage could he completely overturn the foundations the Immortal Alliance had built in Shanhai Region over so many years.
Fortunately, the hunt was now more than halfway done!
The smoothness of this mission had far exceeded his expectations. All the Foundation Establishment cultivators searching for him in Qingtian Domain were slacking off—only a few Golden Cores were actually hunting him in earnest.
Given that he was choosing targets at random, he hadn’t encountered a single Golden Core yet. That was way beyond his original estimate of how long this treant clone would last.
It seemed those Immortal Alliance Foundation Establishment cultivators had been scared out of their wits.
Which was exactly the effect Qi Ping wanted.
Beyond that, Qi Ping noticed another force was also taking advantage of the chaos to eliminate the Alliance’s Qi Refining-level factions, as if covering for him and muddying the Golden Cores’ search efforts.
“That old man who blocked my way last time?”
After thinking it over, Qi Ping could only attribute it to that.
But he also knew that the chances of encountering a Golden Core would only increase from here. If each of those Golden Cores holed up in a Foundation Establishment faction, Qi Ping would have a one-in-several chance of running into one.
“What should I do next? Take out the Qi Refining factions first?”
Qi Ping felt the difficulty would only grow from here.
It was a real headache.
Still, no matter what, he couldn’t stop now. If he didn’t cripple the Immortal Alliance’s subordinate forces this time—if he didn’t completely shatter the people of Qingtian Domain’s faith in the Alliance—they’d surely rise again like wildfire.
But before Qi Ping could come up with a plan, as he was moving stealthily, a terrifying figure descended before him—clad in white robes, wearing a silver mask, with flowing white hair.
Golden Core!
Qi Ping’s heart lurched violently.
Just the faint trace of aura leaking from this figure made him feel a primal fear!
Facing that vast, ocean-like pressure, Qi Ping felt like a speck of dust—utterly hopeless. Even if he used every trick he had, he couldn’t possibly scratch this being.
“So this is a Golden Core cultivator?”
Qi Ping’s mind reeled. He couldn’t tell if this particular person was exceptionally strong, or if all Golden Cores were like this.
He knew far too little about Golden Core-level information!
Strangely enough, among all the books and jade slips he’d collected, descriptions of Golden Core cultivators were pitifully sparse.
Facing an existence at this level, Qi Ping knew he had no options.
“Looks like I’ll have to self-destruct and erase everything…”
Qi Ping was determined not to leave any trace of his treant clone.
But just as he was about to trigger his self-destruction, a voice he hadn’t expected rang out:
“Friend Bee, don’t be nervous—I’m not here to fight you…”
The silver-masked figure’s voice was remarkably calm, its gender indistinguishable.
Qi Ping guessed they were using magic to alter their voice, probably to conceal their identity.
“I came here to say this: I can provide you with real-time positions of the other Golden Core cultivators, so you can safely continue destroying the Immortal Alliance’s affiliated factions. What do you say?”
