Xuanjian: I am the tenth son of Zhenchi, and I plot to seize the throne from Zhenlong.

"These... how much are they worth? Just spirit stones."

After searching for more than ten days, Su Ming finally found a relatively large town in the desert near an oasis.

However, this town has long been occupied by demonic cultivators. It is said that there are two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators stationed there to maintain order, which is why the market can be built.

Bloodshed erupted across the desert. Su Ming had no idea where so many demonic cultivators had come from, yet their combat strength was pitifully weak. He had killed quite a few along the way, but upon arriving at this gathering place of demonic cultivators, he found some peace and quiet.

The shop owner was slightly alarmed when he saw Su Ming placing bottles of blood on the counter, filling it to the brim, some of which were still stained with blood.

He then secretly sized up the masked young man in front of him, and felt that he reeked of blood and his mind was quite chaotic. He wondered how many people he had killed.

He casually picked up a few bottles of blood mist from the table, shook them slowly, uncorked them, and inhaled the rising blood mist, sensing it briefly.

"Your blood essence is mostly taken from mortals, so its quality is... rather rough. It can probably be exchanged for sixteen spirit stones."

Su Ming nodded, swept the spirit stones on the table and left. The clan's spiritual resources were stored separately in various secret vaults. He couldn't disturb others that night, so he just followed the voice in his mind and took the two easiest ones.

He didn't have much in his possession. Back then, he heard from Zhang Zeguan that things were chaotic in the west. Since he was quite well-known in the Su family, the Qin family would definitely search for him if they didn't find his body.

So they came here hoping to try their luck and escape, but they never expected that the desert demons would run rampant and cause such chaos.

He randomly found an inn to stay in, pondering whether he should head south.

The name of the [Moonlight Sword] is widely known even in the west. He has been cultivating sword energy for two years. He really wants to pay a visit to such a person who can kill Maha with a single sword while only having a Foundation Establishment cultivation.

……

"On July 11th, I had just stayed in the town for two days and was thinking about whether to stay or leave when a lightning cultivator from the Golden Feather Sect came down to subdue the demon. With just one Foundation Establishment talisman, the array covering the town shattered."

"The leader, Lei Xiu, was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, possessing all the necessary Foundation Establishment magical artifacts. In just a few breaths, he killed one of the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators in the town on the spot, while the other Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator fled in terror."

"The remaining Qi Refining Thunder Cultivators charged into the formation. The Demon Cultivators were cowardly and fought individually, and soon most of them were killed or wounded. Jin Yu had a grand scheme. I had been fighting too much recently and was full of bloodlust, so he wouldn't listen to my explanation. Therefore, I was also hunted down."

Su Ming opened his eyes, a hint of helplessness flashing across his face. Perhaps this was the fate of rogue cultivators: struggling for spiritual resources, yet caught up in the grand scheme of things, unable to find a moment's peace.

He nimbly darted out of the inn through the window, secretly choosing a dark spot to wait for the chaos to unfold.

The voice in his head didn't say where Lei Xiu would come from, so he immediately ran out. If he ran straight into him, he probably wouldn't survive.

At midnight, the town gradually quieted down. Su Ming, who was resting with his eyes closed in the dark, suddenly opened his eyes. A faint light fell lightly from the night sky and touched something, followed by a deafening roar.

A thin curtain of light suddenly appeared above the entire town. When the light touched it, bolts of lightning burst forth and moved across the entire curtain of light.

"Click~"

The lightning pierced through the light barrier in an instant, scattering across the town and collapsing large sections of brick and stone buildings, turning the people inside into ashes in the blink of an eye.

Contrary to what the words in their minds said, neither of the two auras in the town dared to meet the figure flashing with lightning in the night. Instead, they transformed into two wisps of black smoke and fled to the two sides the instant the formation broke.

"Tch~"

A sneer echoed through the night sky, and the figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, casually choosing a wisp of black smoke to strike directly at it.

……

"Hey!"

"You demonic cultivator, with such a strong bloodlust, where do you think you're going?"

A delicate shout rang out, and Su Ming, who was sneaking in the darkness, frowned and swung his sword to deflect an axe flying from his side.

Su Ming stopped and looked at the female cultivator who had waved her hand to recall the iron axe. He couldn't understand how she had found him when he had clearly used a secret technique.

Just as he was about to leave again, another axe flew over, stopping him in his tracks. Su Ming's heart sank slightly, and a murderous intent surged within him. He turned his sword and charged straight at the female cultivator.

In the void, a figure saw that the two below had already begun to fight. He raised an eyebrow and continued to manipulate fate, causing the other demonic cultivators and lightning cultivators around him to unconsciously step aside and make way for the two.

Under his manipulation, the female cultivator, who was already no match for Su Ming, fought and retreated step by step to the edge of the town, following the route he had specially cleared.

Zi Fu had a smile on his lips when he saw the male cultivator force the female cultivator back with a single sword strike as soon as he stepped outside the town, and then immediately flee on the wind.

The figure shook his head and chuckled, but was not annoyed. He focused on manipulating the female cultivator's fate, making her ride the wind to catch up.

The story of True Person Tianwan was widely circulated back then, causing a stir within the sect. At that time, he was still at the Foundation Establishment stage and felt extremely humiliated.

After he cultivated the Divine Power of Fate, he was ordered to come out and lead the Thunder Cultivator to eliminate demons and increase his destiny. He did not expect to encounter a Fire Cultivator in this place whose destiny was more abundant than that of ordinary cultivators.

He instantly recalled what happened back then, and a thought struck him; naturally, he wouldn't let it go.

"what!"

Just as he was pondering how to deal with this cultivator, a scream suddenly came from the horizon. He looked up and saw that his own Foundation Establishment lightning cultivator had already killed a demonic cultivator with lightning.

Zi Fu was secretly pleased and quickly used his supernatural powers to pull back another demonic cultivator who had fled further away.

Suddenly, he scratched his head, feeling as if he had forgotten something.

"Oh, we can't kill all these demonic cultivators. We have to let some escape so that new ones can grow."

Jiang Shi slowly withdrew his supernatural power "Concealing Spirits" from the side. As Su Ming and Ming Hua's dragon vein destiny increased, he became more and more adept at using this supernatural power, and its effects became stronger and stronger.

This was also an attempt on his part. Since the Purple Mansion could emulate the Golden Core True Monarch's path to enlightenment and increase its own destiny, would it have the same effect if it used its Qi cultivation to do what the Purple Mansion did back then?

"It's a pity that the female cultivator isn't of the Cold Qi type..." Jiang Shi thought casually, then flew into the town and used the appearance of a lightning cultivator who had died at the hands of a demonic cultivator to impersonate the female cultivator. After concealing it, he quietly left.

……

On the desert, Su Ming slightly turned his head to dodge an axe, feeling somewhat puzzled. He didn't understand why this crazy woman behind him, who was clearly no match for him, dared to chase him like this.

However, he didn't dare to kill the woman. According to the words in his mind, these lightning cultivators were specially trained by the Golden Feather Sect to wipe out the demonic cultivators in the desert.

If he were to kill him, his identity as a demonic cultivator would be definitively confirmed, and he would likely be caught and killed before he could even escape the desert.

But this wasn't a solution. Su Ming carefully sensed behind him and confirmed that only this woman was chasing after him.

He seized the opportunity, suddenly unleashed his spiritual power, turned around and knocked away the iron axe that was attacking again with a single sword strike, and then charged straight up.

The female cultivator chased after him too hastily and "just happened" to be punched to the ground by him.

------

ps

This might be a bit clichéd. I forgot that there were still more than five years after Li Tongya's death before the demonic cultivators started causing trouble. I'll try to speed up the pace and make the timeline clearer later. Sorry.