The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

When Yang Qingyuan arrived at the market, Lei family father and son, Nie Ying, and Wang Ping were already waiting at the market entrance.

"Hmph, how about it?" Lei Hong immediately sneered, "Fellow Daoist Yang, you didn't encounter any evil cultivators, did you?"

Nie Ying gave her a reassuring look and explained, "Everything is normal in the market."

"Junior Brother Yang, there's no need to worry."

Wang Ping of the Wulong Sect chuckled and said, "Now that everyone is here, let's go up the mountain."

After saying that, he walked towards the stone steps on one side of the market.

The stone steps wind their way uphill, disappearing into the misty mountain fog at the other end.

Lei and his son, along with Nie Ying, followed behind Wang Ping as they climbed the steps.

Yang Qingyuan stood at the very back, secretly holding a transparent flying needle in his sleeve.

At such close range, none of the Foundation Establishment cultivators noticed the flying needles.

This flying needle was transformed from the Invisible Needle, a talisman treasure of Old Monster Qiong, and could ignore the detection of divine sense.

Yang Qingyuan activated the talisman on his way here, just in case.

The group walked up the stone steps for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before arriving at the white mountain mist.

Wang Ping took out a black token engraved with a black dragon pattern from his sleeve and walked straight into the mountain mist.

The surrounding mountain mist, upon encountering the token, surged to both sides, revealing a mountain path.

"This formation is quite ingenious." Lei Hong followed behind Wang Ping, looking left and right as they went. He found that even his divine sense couldn't see the scene behind the mist, and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "What is the name of this formation of your Wulong Sect?"

Wang Ping walked towards the mist ahead, explaining as he went, "I don't know the name of this formation either."

Lei Hong was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "Don't the disciples of your Wulong Sect know the names of their own sect's formations? How did you manage to enter and exit the formations?"

Wang Ping suddenly stopped, without turning around, and said quietly, "Now it's too easy to enter or leave this formation. All you need is a disciple token from the Wulong Sect."

"After all, this mountain-protecting formation is no longer controlled by anyone; it's just operating autonomously."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan frowned, immediately stopped, and turned around to look behind him, only to find that the mountain path he had come from was once again shrouded in mist.

Meanwhile, the group had reached the end of the mountain mist.

The view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing the scene shrouded in mountain mist.

But what came into view was a vast expanse of ruins and raging black flames.

There wasn't a single intact building on the entire Wulong Mountain, as if it had just been the site of a major battle.

In front of them was a huge white jade plaza covering tens of acres.

The square was now littered with corpses, numbering in the hundreds.

The corpses were dressed in uniform gray robes with black dragon patterns embroidered on their shoulders.

In the center of the square stood nine monks.

These seven people were either dressed in green robes or fiery red robes, and all of them had cultivation levels above the Foundation Establishment stage.

In particular, an elderly woman and an elderly man in the crowd terrified the Lei family father and son.

The old man, dressed in a long, green robe, was hunched over and ugly. He was manipulating a large swath of black mist to refine a golden bell in the center of the plaza.

The old woman beside her, dressed in a fiery red dress, with a face full of wrinkles and looking very old, was manipulating a red gourd, releasing scorching black demonic flames that burned the golden bell in the center of the square.

Inside the large golden bell, an elderly man with white hair and beard sat cross-legged.

The old man had an air of otherworldly wisdom and wore a gray robe embroidered with black dragon patterns. His face was deathly pale due to excessive consumption of magical power. Standing beside him were three middle-aged cultivators who were also wearing gray robes with black dragon patterns.

The golden bell wielded by the white-haired old man appeared to be of high quality, far from being an ordinary magical artifact. However, under the refinement of the black mist and demonic fire, it was already at its limit and was gradually melting.

Whether it's this golden bell, or the Demon Flame Divine Power and Ghost Mist Divine Power, their power far exceeds the scope of the Foundation Establishment stage.

"A Core Formation True Person!"

The head of the Lei family let out a strange cry, retreated repeatedly, and turned to flee.

However, the mountain path they had taken to get there was now shrouded in mist again, making it impossible to leave.

Nie Ying was also flustered at this moment, her face turned pale with fright, and she was inwardly groaning.

Yang Qingyuan then observed the two old men and women who were controlling the black mist and demonic flames. Seeing that they were completely focused on attacking the golden bell, he was temporarily relieved.

"Four young friends!" The old man inside the golden bell saw the suddenly appearing Lei family father and son, Yang Qingyuan, and Nie Ying. As if grasping at a last straw, he hurriedly called out, "I am the Core Formation Ancestor of the Wulong Sect, True Man Wulong! These people are cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect of the Six Sects of the Demonic Path. They are colluding with traitors from within my sect to destroy the lineage of my Wulong Sect!"

"If you can interrupt these two Core Formation cultivators' spellcasting for even a moment, I will be able to break free!"

"At that time, I will lead you to repel the invading enemy."

Upon hearing this, the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect surrounding the square burst into laughter.

The two old men and women who maintained the black mist and demonic flames also revealed mocking smiles.

Upon hearing this, the head of the Lei family finally understood why he hadn't received any further messages from Master Wulong; it turned out that the other party had been trapped in the demonic fire and black mist.

The entire Wulong Sect was silently and unexpectedly captured by the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect.

Wang Ping then looked at the white-haired old man inside the golden bell and sneered, "True Master Wulong, are you just grasping at straws? What can those four Foundation Establishment cultivators possibly do?"

"If it weren't for the fact that Wang was worried that taking action down the mountain would alert the cultivators passing through the market, he would have killed all four of them last night."

Upon hearing this, Lei Hong was struck dumb, exclaiming in shock, "What? You're not a disciple of the Wulong Sect?"

"Of course not," a female cultivator dressed in a flame-patterned robe said jokingly. "Half of the guards in the market are now surrendered disciples of the Wulong Sect, and the other half are from our Demonic Path Ghost Spirit Sect and Demon Flame Sect."

"Now we just need Elders Gui Li and Yan Ji to kill Wulong Zhenren, then we can take over the Wulong Sect."

"By the way, Wang Ping sent me a message earlier, saying that you came for a merchant caravan."

"Don't bother looking. Three months ago, they happened to stumble upon my whereabouts and were killed by me. There's no trace of them."

The female cultivator from the Demon Flame Sect who spoke was about twenty years old. The aura emanating from her was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. She had a face like a lotus and eyebrows like willow leaves, making her an absolute beauty. However, judging from her words, she was a venomous witch.

Upon hearing this, the head of the Lei family felt extremely remorseful and hurriedly said, "This fairy from the Demon Flame Sect, our Yue Kingdom has never interfered in the feud between your sect and the Jiang Kingdom."

"Please, fellow Daoist, show mercy and let us leave."

"Once we're out, we'll keep quiet and won't pursue the matter with the caravan."

"Hehe." The female cultivator from the Demon Flame Sect sneered and said, "Let you go? That's impossible."

"The Jiang Kingdom is just an appetizer; the next one will be your Yue Kingdom!"

"What?!" Upon hearing this, Lei's father and son, as well as Nie Ying, felt as if struck by lightning.

"Aren't you afraid of the Righteous Alliance if your six demonic sects want to annex the Jiang and Yue kingdoms?" Nie Ying gritted her teeth and warned.

The female cultivator from the Demon Flame Sect didn't seem to care and replied, "As long as you all die here, no one will know."

Lei Hong felt the overwhelming killing intent and was terrified. His legs trembled as he said in a trembling voice, "If you can accept the surrender of the Wulong Sect disciples, then you can accept my surrender as well."

"My grandfather is Lei Wanhe from Huangfeng Valley. I can help you lure him out."

Upon hearing this, Wang Ping, who was standing nearby, also showed a look of interest.

"Shut up!" The Lei family patriarch snapped at Lei Hong, looking utterly disappointed. "If something happens to my uncle, our Lei family will cease to exist."

Lei Hong's face turned deathly pale. He shook his head repeatedly and backed away, saying, "Father, I don't want to die... I don't want to die."

Nie Ying then looked at Yang Qingyuan and asked, "Junior Brother Yang, what should we do?"

"Are we going to die here today?"

Yang Qingyuan, however, appeared confident and fearless, replying, "I don't think I'll die here today."

"On the contrary, I have never felt so refreshed."

Upon hearing this, Wang Ping chuckled and replied, "Are you scared out of your wits?"

"Even if Elder Gui Li of our Ghost Spirit Sect and Elder Yan Ji of the Demon Flame Sect don't make a move, I, Wang, and Junior Sister Lian Feihua alone are enough to kill you all."

The demonic cultivators watching the spectacle nodded frequently, seemingly trusting Wang Ping and the beautiful Foundation Establishment stage female cultivator.

"Junior Sister Lian Feihua is the daughter of the Demon Flame Sect Master, and Junior Brother Wang Ping is a descendant of the Ghost Spirit Sect's Ancestor Wang Tiangu."

"Treating a bunch of third-rate Foundation Establishment cultivators like you is a piece of cake."

When Lei family head and Nie Ying heard that Wang Ping and Lian Feihua had such powerful backgrounds, they broke out in a cold sweat and felt a sense of despair.

But just then, a scream shattered the atmosphere.

"Ah~"

"Who used those flying needles?!"

Everyone present turned to look.

Suddenly, the old woman named Yan Ji, a Core Formation stage cultivator from the Demon Flame Sect, covered her forehead and knelt on the ground.

Blood flowed from a small hole in her forehead.

"What? Elder Yan Ji is injured!" The members of the demonic path were all startled.

Elder Yan Ji had just escaped death, but she was seriously injured. Kneeling on the ground, she felt like she was being watched, her heart pounding with fear. She hurriedly manipulated the black flames that filled the sky to shrink back to her side, no longer caring about attacking Master Wulong.

The next moment, a translucent flying needle was forced out of the void by the demonic fire, flew back, and disappeared into Yang Qingyuan's sleeve...