The scholarly man sneered and said, “What? Has Brother Wei grown fond of this place in the hundred years he had stayed here?”
The disheveled-haired old man emotionlessly said, “Of course not, but I have developed a bit of attachment towards this place, having spent so many years here. After all, to be human, is to feel. In these long years, Elder Yun of the Drifting Cloud Sect treated me as if I were kin. Not only did he impart divine techniques onto me, but he even saved my life during critical moments and faced immense opposition to grant me authority over the Drifting Cloud Sect. I am incapable of ignoring such kindness. I cannot allow you two to take the Spirit Well Tree away.”
Du Dong smiled instead of growing angry. He sinisterly threatened, “Good, good! Brother Wei must mean to act as a genuine Drifting Cloud Sect Elder. However, you forget what will happen if we were to speak the truth and reveal your true ident.i.ty as a spy for the Heavenly Fiend Sect. Do you think you’ll be able to freely remain?”
The dishevel-haired old man calmly replied, “I don’t need your reminder. I am perfectly aware. Why do you think I am restrained here? I’ve long gathered suspicion from the two Martial Uncles. There is merely a lack of concrete evidence. That is why I was forcefully removed from power in the sect and was trapped in this confined place. Of course, I’ve also received much kindness from the Heavenly Fiend Sect. Since Fellow Daoist Du has shown me the Sect Master Xie’s token, I can give you a bit of the Wine Nectar even though I can’t allow you to take away the tree. This should be enough to repay the past kindness of the Heavenly Fiend Sect.”
“What? You will only give us the Wine Nectar? I...”
Du Dong expression relaxed and he interrupted the scholarly man, “Fine, just give us the Wine Nectar. With that in hand, we won’t need the Spirit Well Tree. After all, our Righteous and Devil Dao sects possess countless treasures. Although we may not have something like the Spirit Well Tree, we have plenty other types of spirit wells.”
When Cultivator Bai heard this, he glanced at Du Dong in surprise, but after a moment more of thought, he remained silent. After all, his orders were all given to him by the Thousand Illusion Sect’s young master. Although he didn’t know when the Righteous Dao Alliance and the Six Devil Dao Sects grew so close, he may as well defer to his judgement of the matter.
Cultivator Wei coldly said, “Since you Fellow Daoists both approve, I will take out the Wine Nectar from the restrictions. But first, I will get the ugly matters out of the way. If you plan to take advantage of when I release the restrictions, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
Du Dong chuckled and pledged with a calm expression, “Be at ease, we won’t do something so foolish. After all, this Spirit Well Tree is a trivial affair compared to the Profound G.o.ddess’ Palm.”
The old man then nodded and took out a small white bottle from his storage pouch.
“Prepare to...”
“Prepare what? To give our three sects’ most precious a.s.set to our enemies?” Before the dishevel-haired old man could finish, ten sword threads shot out from below the ground in a flash of red light, tightly tying him down.
At that same moment, yellow light flashed from the direction of the cave’s entrance revealing the previously hidden cultivators. They unwaveringly approached Du Dong and Cultivator Bai.
When Cultivator Bai and Du Dong saw this, their expressions greatly changed.
At that moment, the boy surnamed Lan appeared behind the restrained Cultivator Wei.
The boy stared at the two with an icy expression and said, “Good, very good. Us old men long knew that the Righteous and Devilish Dao had embedded many spies within our ranks. And since we didn’t have any concrete evidence towards you, we couldn’t cleanly dispose of you. After all, it would be extremely costly if we were to wrongfully kill a Core Formation cultivator. But since you’ve now taken the initiative to reveal yourselves, I no longer need to restrain myself.”
Cultivator Bai’s expression was filled with disbelief and he was at a loss for words.
As for Du Dong, he managed to force a smile despite his pale complexion and ask, “Lan, why are you here? Outside...”
The boy had no intention of concealing his plans and indifferently said, “Do you truly believe that Old Devil Blaze and Scholar Golden Mirror would be enough to fully take up our attention? At this moment, they should’ve been surrounded by my Fellow Daoists from the Drifting Cloud Sect. The sounds of attack from the outside was something deliberately fabricated so that you would obediently take action. Since we wished to deal a blow against the Righteous and Devilish Dao so that they may learn their place, we may as well wipe our ranks of their spies.”
“What? Those Martial Uncles aren’t outside?” Cultivator Bai’s rigid face instantly became panicked.
The white-clothed woman couldn’t help ask her Dao Companion with a trembling voice, “Senior Martial Brother Bai, you... you truly were a Righteous Dao spy?” Her face was deathly pale.
When he heard the young woman, the scholarly man’s panic disappeared and he could only bitterly smile. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t utter any words.
The boy then pursed his lips and imposingly declared, “I am unwilling to bully the weak, so how about you obediently surrender yourselves? Or would you rather this old man use force?”
When the two heard this, their expressions changed.
But at that moment, a streak of white light flew in from outside the cave, revealing the old man surnamed Jiang drenched in sweat. He urgently shouted, “Martial Uncle Lan, bad news! The Drifting Cloud Sect’s Senior Cheng sent a sound transmission talisman for immediate reinforcements. His forces were ambushed by the Heavenly Fiend Sect and the Thousand Illusions Sect, and they are currently locked in battle.” When that was said, the cultivators in the room were shocked. Were it not the three sects that were supposed to ambush them?
The boy was startled by these words and pondered for a moment before loudly cursing.
“You devil child! You actually planned around us. It seems this old man can’t keep you alive.” The boy then shot a streak of fiery light from his mouth, intending on executing the two before him.
But in that instant, the originally restrained Cultivator Wei loudly shouted. His arm grew several times in size and his body glowed with purple-red light as he broke through his restraints and fiercely moved to grab the boy.
From the imposing aura of the flicker purple light covering his fingers, the boy’s skull would most certainly fracture if it were to make contact.
The boy wore an expression of alarm. Having just spat out his magic treasure, he could only suck in his chest and puff out his cheeks in the face of the sudden ambush.
Another ball of fiery red light left his mouth and collided against Cultivator Wei’s purple claw.
Hiss. Like scalding iron against flesh, Cultivator Wei’s hand slowed down as it struck through the red light. The boy took advantage of this opportunity to instantly fly out from the sacred tree’s light barrier in a mist of red light.
“Truelord Heavenfiend!”
The boy gloomily shouted out the t.i.tle of the Heavenly Fiend Sect Master and wordlessly stared at Cultivator Wei. He then pointed to some direction and had his magic treasure revolve around him. It soon transformed into a scarlet python, baring its fangs as if it were alive.
The head of the dishevel-haired cultivator drooped down as if he were unconscious, but a lazy, unfamiliar voice was still uttered from his mouth, “Hehe! I didn’t expect for Fellow Daoist Lan to so quickly recognize me. This Sect Master has long heard of the Child Fire Dragon. However, it is quite unfortunate that I currently cannot truly fight with you.”
When Han Li saw this, he immediately recalled the Greater Possession Technique that Zenith Yin had used on Wu Chou. Although there were a few differing aspects, it was certain to be a similar Devilish Dao technique.
According to what Han Li knew, this technique had to be applied to the target beforehand in a complicated procedure before it could be used. It seemed the Heavenly Fiend Sect master had done this as a precaution before he placed Cultivator Wei inside the Drifting Cloud Sect.
From these sudden turn of events, Han Li’s mind suddenly stirred and he recalled something. He spoke to the small fox in his sleeve with a serious tone, “Silvermoon, immediately return to the safe room and transform my form with grave injuries. We cannot allow others to discover my absence. As for why I am still alive, play it by ear. I will quickly return, just don’t reveal my true cultivation or ident.i.ty.”
Upon hearing Han Li’s solemn tone, she wordlessly flew into the ground and dug straight back to the safe room.
At that moment, the Truelord Heavenfiend raised his hand and glanced at the small bottle of Wine Nectar before tossing it to Du Dong. Afterwards he regretfully glanced at the Spirit Well Tree before indifferently saying, “Bring that item back. I will hold the Child Fire Dragon down while you escape. But you had best be quick, I can’t give you much time.” Once that was said, he suddenly shot out and prepared by Old Man Jiang’s side. He sinisterly smiled and fiercely struck with his hand glowing in purple light.