Villain Master, my disciples all want to backstab me

In reality, Bai Yuan's quick recovery from the "Purple Sky Divine Thunder Tribulation" was primarily due to Ji Lingyun's efforts. However, Ji Lingyun's existence remained an unknown to Shentu Hong and the others, so they could only attribute all of this to the [Path of Time]. This wasn't entirely wrong, but it wasn't the primary cause.

"Great Elder."

One of the two Shentu people whispered, "What should we do now?"

"Since Blood Kite has recovered her cultivation, and is accompanied by the daughter of the Divine Phoenix, the remnants of the Jiang family, and the poisonous Gu spirit, it is probably no longer realistic to use the Haoran Sect to kill her.

"From what we've gathered this time, we know that three of them are at the Spiritual Transformation Realm, two at the Nascent Soul Realm, and that Ji family heir is more likely the reincarnation of a powerful being at the Return to Void Realm... Such a force is even more terrifying than Ling Xiuya. Unless we can gather all the Spiritual Transformations within our clan, the Blood Origin Sect, and the demon clan, we can be sure of killing them.

"or……"

Alternatively, ask someone in the Return to Void Realm to take action and launch a dimensionality reduction attack.

The two Shentu monks did not say the latter part.

Because once it involves the Return to Void Realm, it is no longer an ordinary situation. Ordinary clansmen like them cannot make the decision. In theory, it should be decided by the head of the family.

Speaking of which...

"Great Elder, this matter is of great importance. Do we need to report it to the ancestor?"

Monk Shentu, who had just spoken, asked again.

Chapter 243 Ancestor Shentu and the Thousand-Year Chess Game!

Different from the Ji family and the Jiang family.

The Shentu family is a family with a serious aging problem.

The average age of the surviving members of their tribe is over 300 years old, and there are more than one or two members like Shen Tuhong who are over 500 years old.

This is not because the Shentu family has poor reproductive ability and cannot give birth to more offspring.

Rather, it was because, since a thousand years ago, their clan's primary method of increasing their strength was no longer through normal cultivation, but rather drawing strength from the bloodlines of others. This "other" could be the descendants of the Jiang, Chu, or Xiao families, or other righteous and demonic cultivators, or even the descendants of the Shentu family themselves.

In a sense, this kind of practice is no different from "cannibalism".

Those whose bloodline power was extracted, if weak, might die on the spot. Afterwards, their bodies would be thrown into the alchemy furnace and used as material for refining human pills.

If one's physique is better, then one will lose his gift of supernatural powers and become an ordinary person.

Among them, those with the surname Shentu might enjoy the perks of being kept in captivity, left to eat and wait for death; the others were mostly thrown into spiritual mines to dig, and a few were thrown into poison pools to feed the poisonous insects. In short, they were sure to have no good end.

same.

The person who can serve as the head of the Shentu family must be a genuine old man.

This person was over a thousand years old. No one, except him, could tell exactly how old he was. All that was known was that over a thousand years ago, he had already reached the strongest Return to Void Realm of his generation. Even the brilliant and talented Saintess of the Ji Family, who lived at the same time, could only retreat in fear before him.

This ancestor possessed lofty ambitions. Upon realizing he had no rivals left in the world, he entered a state of mortal retreat, intent on reaching a higher level, the "Heavenly Realm," surpassing the original founder of the Shentu clan. He then handed over all clan affairs to the chief elder, Shentu Hong.

Therefore, none of the Shentu people born in the last eight hundred years have ever seen the ancestor.

Some of them even doubted whether the ancestor was dead.

You know, even if you reach the Return to Void Realm, your lifespan is limited.

When the ancestor first entered seclusion, he was already at the Return to Void Realm, making him at least two or three hundred years old. Unless he truly broke through to the Celestial Realm during his seclusion, it would be almost impossible for him to have survived these nine hundred years and reached this point.

If the ancestor is really dead...

Then the Shentu family must make preparations early and decide on a new head of the family as soon as possible.

Although Shentu Hong had done a good job over the years, he was, after all, only a "grand elder" acting as the head of the family. And the position of head of the family... was not necessarily his.

——We all have the surname Shentu, and we are all gods. You can be the head of the family, so why can’t I?

and so……

They will try to persuade Shen Tu Hong to return to the Void Realm and take action.

After all, if Hua Shen was really allowed to go against Bai Yuan, then they would most likely be used as filler. Even if they could win, it would most likely be a pyrrhic victory, and many people would die in this battle.

You can't fight to the death. How can you be the head of the family if you fight to the death?

Shen Tuhong was almost fully aware of the little thoughts of these tribesmen.

——Can you expect a group of people who, in order to improve their cultivation, can drain the blood of their direct descendants, or even give birth to direct descendants and then drain their blood, to have any moral conscience or sense of family honor?

To put it bluntly, the Shentu family today only looks like a family. In reality, it is just a group of extremely selfish blood-sucking leeches forming an alliance.

If given the chance, they will not miss any opportunity to lick the corpses of their own people with tears.

"Ah."

Shen Tuhong sneered and said in a deep voice, "Why bother the ancestor with such a small matter? I will ask the former great elder to come out."

"Over the thousands of years that the Shentu family has existed, they've killed more than a dozen Spiritual Transformation Realm cultivators. Even in the last few decades, Jiang Taixu, Chu Liuyun, and Xiao Yan were all late Spiritual Transformation Realm warriors, but what was the final outcome? Blood Kite is nothing more than a barely surviving escape. There's no need to worry about it."

This is the end of the polite talk.

The expressions of the two Shentu people eased slightly.

At this time.

Shentu Hong raised his head again, his gaze seemingly spanning thousands of miles as he looked far to the north, a mysterious expression on his face.

“Besides…

"There's no need for us to report this. The ancestor should already know about this by now."

……

In the direction Shentu Hong was looking.

Thousands of miles away.

Deep in the wilderness.

In a hidden cave located in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Inside the dim, dark retreat, a square stone platform stood, surrounded by a gurgling underground river. The dark water flowed through the rocks, creating a gurgling sound and gently swaying the surrounding black lotus flowers.

——This is where the scene that Bai Yuan had "seen" before was located.

now.

A person, completely covered in a black cloak and surrounded by gray mist, was floating in the air. Even the man, woman, age, and youngest could not be distinguished. He was resting with his eyes closed.

around him.

At the heart of each "Soul Lotus" flower, a faint blue flame is flickering, like blinking human eyes.

In the reflection of this "light", a coffin was placed in the middle of the stone platform that was hundreds of meters square. The coffin was about ten meters long and three meters wide, about the same size as Gui Yuan's "black coffin", but it was ice blue all over, as if it was made of cold jade, and there were wisps of white frost around it.

Because of the presence of this white frost, you can't tell what's inside the coffin from the outside.

Just looking at the solemn posture of the "black cloak" and the surrounding pomp, it is estimated that it is not a simple thing.

Also.

Around the coffin, dense, blood-red streaks, seemingly drawn with blood, filled the entire stone platform. Horizontal and vertical lines formed a sophisticated formation, resembling a giant chessboard. But the board wasn't filled with chess pieces, but rather a vast mass of crushed sand.

That's right.

It was the kind of crushed sand you'd see by the river, some big and some small, the largest about the size of a fingernail, the smallest the size of an ant. The colors ranged from white, black, red, and even some gray... So densely packed, so many that it was impossible to count them, that they filled the entire stone platform.

In just a short while.

I saw some of the various sand and gravel silently shattering. Then some new sand and gravel condensed and formed. The broken sand and gravel dissipated into the surrounding air like smoke.

"..."

A long breath was heard.

Then, the man in black cloak came out of his training state and relaxed a little.

"……Ah."

"Although Shentu Hong was a bit clueless and messed things up, he did manage to pass on some useful information to me... I never thought that after a thousand years, I would be able to witness the recurring power of the [Way of Time] reappear in the world."

"And...it should be you, Ji Lingyun?"

"For so many years, I've always suspected you weren't truly dead, but I've never been able to find evidence. I never imagined you'd escape the eyes and ears of Heaven in this way. And instead of just finding a deserted place to hide, you'd come out on your own accord at this very moment... Is it because of her?"

"Well, that's right too."

"After all, it was you two who stood in my way a thousand years ago. What's happening now is nothing more than history repeating itself."

"A thousand years ago, you who died in my hands, a thousand years later... naturally, the same will happen!!!"

While talking.

The man in the black cloak lowered his head and looked at the ice coffin and the bloody chessboard below.

With this movement, the gray mist surrounding his face began to flow, gradually outlining his facial features. The rest of his features remained blurry and distorted, but his eyes alone appeared deep, weathered, and aged. It was as if he could see into eternity.

In fact...

The moment he "looked" at it, the chessboard on the stone platform began to move quietly, countless pieces of sand appeared and disappeared, and countless blood lines became deeper and lighter, as if it had started from ancient times, and had gone through vicissitudes of life, the passage of time... All these changes happened in less than a second.

One second later, all the images suddenly disappeared, and the "chessboard" returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

“I’m getting a little tired of watching this thousand-year-old chess game.

"You guys should be too, right?"

The man in the black cloak grinned, revealing a smile that was almost identical to the one Bai Yuan had seen before:

"In that case..."

An invisible aura rose from the black-cloaked figure, spreading and expanding in all directions like a violent storm. The hearts of all the "Nether Soul Lotuses" lit up simultaneously, and the gravel on the stone platform began to tremble violently. Some of the white gravel began to show fine red lines, as if transforming into red gravel.

The same changes also appeared on some black sand and stones.

"...In that case, let's try something exciting."

"Let me see, is your [Way of Time] stronger, or is my foundation accumulated through years of hard training stronger!!"

boom--!

A violent wind exploded!

At this moment, the sand and stones on the entire "chessboard" seemed to merge into one word:

kill--!!!

……

Northwest of land.

Yunhezhou.

The Blood Source Sect’s headquarters is six hundred miles away.

This is the place Bai Yuan passed by when he went to rescue Jiang Cheng. It is also the second to last line of defense leading to the Blood Source Sect's headquarters - the first to last line of defense is naturally the one on the mountain gate of the Blood Source Sect's headquarters.

Here, within a radius of about several hundred miles, there is a "wall of flesh and blood" composed of a large number of monster corpses, corpse vines, and the bodies of monks from various major sects who were killed by the Blood Source Sect.

Over the past thousands of years, there have been many cultivators who have entered this place, hoping to rescue the bodies of their companions or simply to "enforce justice." However, without exception, they have all failed. The few who have made it through the "wall of flesh and blood" are often severely damaged and cannot withstand the reinforcements sent by the Blood Origin Sect. They are defeated and taken back to the blood pool for detention.

And now...

The tables were turned.

The three powerful people in the God Transformation Realm, Xue Shen Zi, Gu Youruo, and Xing Yan, were all injured; Shao An and other backbone forces close to the God Transformation Realm were either dead or injured.

A large number of elite troops from the four righteous sects, led by masters of the Divine Transformation realm like Meng Yueshan and Xun Shouzheng, attacked all the way from the outskirts of Yunhe Island. In just ten days, they swept through the Blood Origin Sect's strongholds with near-impact devastation. Then, here, they collided with the Blood Origin Sect's assembled elite troops.

Although, this battle was not as smooth as the previous ones.

However, after a fierce and bitter battle, especially with the fearless charge of the Qingxuan Sect monks who bore a grudge for their sect's destruction, the four righteous sects finally won the battle. Not only did they successfully break through the Blood Origin Sect's defenses, but they also killed a large number of Blood Origin Sect monks.

“…It’s truly tragic.”

Meng Yueshan, the person in charge of Tianyuan Mountain, stood in the air and looked at the scene of corpses everywhere and blood flowing like a river around him. He couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Xun Shouzheng beside him also nodded: "Indeed, but this is a necessary sacrifice."

"...The Blood Origin Sect has been established for over a thousand years, and who knows how many evil deeds they have done. Now that they have met this end, it is truly the cycle of justice, retribution.

"Although all the major sects of the righteous path have paid a heavy price on this journey, and even many elders in the Nascent Soul Realm have perished, we should seize this opportunity, regardless of the cost, to crush the Blood Origin Sect in one fell swoop and restore order to the world!"

Xun Shouzheng spoke with great righteousness.

Meng Yueshan nodded: "Indeed."

Although he felt a little sorry for the young disciples who died on this trip, he was more aware of another truth: