Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

into the night.

Two figures emerged from the main gate of Huiqixuan, one holding a long sword and the other wearing a veiled hat.

The two looked around and, seeing no movement, immediately mounted their vehicles and headed straight for the east exit of the market.

After the two left, two slight disturbances were heard on the previously peaceful street, which quickly returned to calm.

Another hour passed, and the small west door of Huiqixuan quietly opened.

Zhou Qing wore a veiled hat, and from his appearance, he looked like a completely different person, transformed into a bald, burly man.

They released the Inkscale Boat, jumped aboard, and headed straight for the north exit of the market.

Several hours later, in the eastern part of the Yunmeng Mountains.

Two figures stood atop a mountain peak, with five or six corpses dressed in black lying haphazardly around them.

"Brother Song, your swordsmanship is becoming more and more exquisite. These few rogue cultivators are no match for you at all."

The monk wearing the veil removed it, revealing his true identity—it was Steward Xu, who had just been talking to Zhou Qing.

The cultivator surnamed Song snorted coldly, carefully wiping the longsword in his hand with a handkerchief, and then said in a chilling voice:

"Hmph, rogue cultivators? Old Xu, you're too naive. This wave of robbers is clearly using the Spirit Illusion Technique of the Thousand Illusion Sect of the Demonic Path, while the last wave used the Tai Bai Sword Technique of the Righteous Path's Vast and Righteous Pavilion. These scoundrels from both the righteous and demonic paths are even robbing into the territory of our Three Sects of Yunmeng! They're truly courting death!"

Upon hearing this, Manager Xu's expression darkened.

He knew that of the four major powers in Tiannan, apart from the Nine Kingdoms Alliance which needed to focus on dealing with the Mulan invasion, the other three powers had always maintained a facade of harmony while secretly engaging in underhanded tactics.

I just didn't expect it to be this serious this time.

If they were allowed to so freely intercept and kill people coming out of Huiqixuan, then Huiqixuan's reputation would be ruined, and who would dare to come?

After recovering their strength, the two began to clean up the battlefield, using several fireballs to burn the corpses.

Steward Xu tucked all the storage bags from the corpse into his sleeve and asked, "Brother Song, I have another question. Since that Fellow Daoist Han devised the strategy of feigning an attack while secretly advancing, why did you still send people to secretly protect him? He only paid spirit stones for two people!"

The cultivator surnamed Song was slightly taken aback, then replied, "Telling you won't hurt. I recognize the veiled hat that the man surnamed Han is wearing. It's a magical artifact I gave to my daughter Yu'er when she was establishing her foundation. Since he was able to obtain it, the two of them must have some kind of relationship, so naturally, I can't let anything happen to him."

"I see! But speaking of which, it's truly enviable that Brother Song has a niece with a Heavenly Spiritual Root." Manager Xu nodded and said with a smile.

"Enough talk! Back to the shop!" The cultivator surnamed Song sheathed his longsword and soared into the sky on his weapon.

"Uh." Manager Xu shook his head with a wry smile and quickly followed.

……

Meanwhile, Zhou Qing left the north gate of the market and flew at full speed, instantly reaching the territory of the Ancient Sword Sect.

Zhou Qing figured that no matter how bold those cultivators were, they wouldn't dare to commit any atrocities near the Ancient Sword Sect.

So they landed in a stone forest, intending to rest and recover their magical power.

Before we knew it, it was already past midnight.

Just as Zhou Qing had recovered his magical power and was preparing to take flight again, he suddenly heard a scream from not far away.

"Damn it, how dare these cultivators be so audacious? They dare to kill someone right under the nose of the Ancient Sword Sect?" Zhou Qing was shocked.

Zhou Qing activated the white smoke curtain to completely conceal his aura and quietly approached.

He saw that at the bottom of the cliff below him, there were three white-robed cultivators holding long swords, one young, one old, and one with a gray beard, surrounding a white-robed corpse.

One of the young monks in white robes was groping something on the corpse.

"They're actually disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect! Three Ancient Sword Sect disciples ganged up on one Ancient Sword Sect disciple. Ha, fellow disciples!" Zhou Qing sneered inwardly.

The young cultivator took out a storage bag from inside the corpse's inner garment, then grabbed the bottom of the bag and emptied out all its contents.

One of the swords, a vibrant green, was particularly eye-catching.

"Haha, it was on him after all. We're rich now! With this sword, the three of us brothers can at least get a regular top-tier magic weapon. It's very possible that we'll make it into the top 100 of the Cloud Dream Tournament and advance to inner disciples."

He then kicked the body into a deep pit they had dug beforehand, and then threw all the miscellaneous items from the storage bag into the pit.

We're ready to start filling in the hole.

"Big brother, second brother, what are you all standing there for? Get to work! You can't just watch your little brother fill this hole all by himself."

"Yes, it's time to make a move."

The gray-bearded cultivator slowly walked behind the young cultivator, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. Suddenly, he struck, a sharp blade piercing straight into the young cultivator's heart.

The poor young cultivator didn't even have time to utter a scream before he died and became a victim of the blade.

The gray-bearded cultivator gazed at the deceased young cultivator and sighed softly, "Ah, brother. Don't blame me. Without you, we could have acquired a top-tier, precious magic artifact. What's entering the inner sect? We should become core disciples; only then can we have a path to immortality!"

The older cultivator watched the whole thing without uttering a word, and casually tossed the younger cultivator's sword into the pit, indicating that he already knew.

Zhou Qing stood silently on the cliff edge, watching. "Ha, brother!"

Just as the gray-bearded cultivator bent down to rummage through the young cultivator's storage bag, the older cultivator suddenly moved. With a wave of his hands, a dark longsword shot out, aiming straight for the gray-bearded cultivator's neck.

With a clang, a yellow protective shield suddenly appeared around the gray-bearded cultivator, blocking his longsword.

"Second brother, why the rush?"

The older cultivator was initially startled, but quickly calmed down, continuously performing hand seals as his dark longsword grew larger, his attacks becoming even more ferocious.

"Hmph, there's no point in saying more. You and I both know what this Green Edge Sword means."

Finally, the yellow protective shield could not hold on any longer and shattered, but at this moment the gray-bearded cultivator had already drawn his longsword and was fighting against the dark longsword like a spirit snake.

Zhou Qing could tell that the two were of similar cultivation levels, both at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, and their magical artifacts were of similar grade. This battle was destined to result in mutual destruction, but it was uncertain who would be more severely injured.

After some time, the older cultivator suddenly became somewhat weak and revealed a slight flaw. He was then killed by the gray-bearded cultivator who pierced his right chest with a sword.

The gray-bearded cultivator chuckled sinisterly, sheathed his longsword, and then opened his left hand, revealing a glittering spirit stone in his palm.

"This guy is really generous, using a mid-grade spirit stone to replenish his mana. Could it be that he can surpass others of the same realm in mana?" Zhou Qing immediately understood after seeing the spirit stone.

"However, even if you have mid-grade spirit stones to replenish your mana, after fighting for so long, you should be running out of spiritual energy by now!" Zhou Qing sneered.

He secretly activated the Crimson Flame Ring and released the Sun Ravens, letting them flank him from both sides under the cover of night.

Once everything was ready, Zhou Qing seized the moment when the gray-bearded cultivator bent down to fill the soil, and suddenly attacked him.

The gray-bearded monk was startled and hurriedly used his magic weapon to defend himself, but it was too late, and he could only forcefully turn his body to the side.

This quick thinking saved his life, but Zhou Qing's Crimson Flame Ring severed his left arm.

Zhou Qing's move exposed his location. Upon seeing this, the gray-bearded cultivator's heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, slowly calmed down. However, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger, his fury reaching the heavens: "A mere Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator dares to engage in the 'when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits' scheme. He's really tired of living."

He misjudged Zhou Qing's cultivation level because of Zhou Qing's Plain Smoke Veil, a magical artifact that can conceal a cultivator's spiritual energy fluctuations, thus hiding their cultivation level.

Having successfully launched a sneak attack, Zhou Qing smiled wickedly and intensified his offensive. His strategy of concealing his cultivation level to provoke the gray-bearded cultivator was precisely to lure him into a life-or-death battle.

Unexpectedly, after the gray-bearded cultivator stopped the bleeding and used his magic weapon to block Zhou Qing's Crimson Flame Ring, he immediately put away the Azure Edge Sword and tried to run away.

"My magic power is insufficient this time, and I should not fight again. This is the territory of the Ancient Sword Sect. As long as I can escape this calamity, I can shift all the blame for the murder of my fellow disciples onto this scoundrel, and then the Azure Edge Sword will be mine again. You little scoundrel, you've come at the right time, you've done me a great favor!"

The gray-bearded monk thought to himself, his face beaming with smugness, and immediately prepared to flee.

Just then, two red spiritual flames suddenly attacked from his left and right sides. The gray-bearded cultivator was focused on Zhou Qing behind him and never expected such a deadly calamity.

As the two spiritual flames suddenly converged, they instantly enveloped the gray-bearded cultivator, burning him to ashes.

Zhou Qing rushed over and caught the falling Qingfeng sword.

"I guess I'm just helping the Ancient Sword Sect clean house of scum, hehe!"

Ignoring the remaining corpses, he released the Ink Scale Boat and quickly left the area, heading straight for the eastern foothills of Yunmeng Mountain.

Just after Zhou Qing left, a dark figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

Looking at the corpses of the Ancient Sword Sect disciples piled up in the pit, and the storage bags and miscellaneous items scattered throughout the pit.

"Hmph, this infighting among fellow disciples has given the Falling Cloud Sect a reason to laugh!"

After saying that, the shadowy figure casually threw out a fireball, burning the corpse to ashes, and all traces vanished into thin air.