Blood fell and splattered everywhere.
Demons of various lands, when will you return…
Sounds continuously sounded out, sounding like people chanting or a woman singing.
As the chant sounded out, the three black-robed people fell.
Only Hou Juan was left, her clothes stained with blood.
Blood-red light could be seen in her eyes, and there seemed to be faint blood qi flowing into her body, being absorbed by her.
If anyone else saw this scene, they would feel incredibly dumbfounded.
Absorbing blood qi and using it for themselves was a technique of the Demon Sect, and it was not something that a cultivator of a righteous sect would do.
The technique that Hou Juan currently used was something that far surpassed what ordinary people were capable of.
However, Hou Juan did not seem to take mind of this, and demonic qi billowed out, seeming to twist this region.
In the distance, a breeze blew over, causing the stench of blood to decrease.
By the time the magic energy in the surroundings had stopped surging, the situation had changed.
The three bodies had become three withered corpses.
Their savage and pained expressions still lingered on their faces, but their qi blood and souls had all been sucked out.
This was undoubtedly a technique of the demonic path.
Hou Juan did not seem to mind, and she only shook her head and waved her hand.
As her arm descended, the three corpses turned into ash and scattered.
Even if anyone came to investigate, they would not be able to find any traces of what had happened.
Only after this did Hou Juan feel at ease and deeply sighed.
"It's becoming more and more troublesome…"
Thinking about those three people, a blank look appeared in her eyes.
From when she had set out on that path, she had begun to kill more and more people.
Back then, she had sworn that she would not become like those demonic cultivators and kill people.
However, without realizing it, she had killed more and more people.
Among those people, some she had killed of her own volition, and some had come to her and then been killed by her.
It was just that she could not doubt that she had used those people's qi blood and souls to cultivate.
What difference was there between her current self and those demonic cultivators?
Standing there, Hou Juan thought to herself and deeply sighed.
From how others saw it, she leaned on the massive tree that was the Zhang clan and was the most beloved person to the Zhang clan's clan leader, having a position and resources that others admired and could never obtain.
Apart from this, she was also an Inner Court Disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect and would most likely become a True Legacy Disciple of an Elder.
It seemed like her path was incredibly bright, causing countless people to look at her with admiration.
However, in actuality, Hou Juan herself knew that she was treading on thin ice, and she had to take every step cautiously.
Her talent was simply too lacking; even with the Zhang clan's support and receiving many spirit stones and spirit pills, she would not be able to reach Foundation Building under normal circumstances.
It was because she knew this from early on that she had made this painful decision.
When the demonic cultivators had invaded, they had left behind some texts, giving her hope.
Her talent was too lacking, and using normal methods, she most likely would never reach Foundation Building—however, with demonic cultivators' techniques, this would not necessarily be the case.
Compared to orthodox cultivation methods, the demonic path's cultivation techniques were quite unique and did not require great talent. As long as one had enough blood qi and souls, they had hope of reaching Foundation Building.
As such, Hou Juan had begun practicing the demonic path's cultivation techniques.
Over these years, she had focused on cultivating and had finally broken through to Foundation Building, becoming a Foundation Building cultivator.
It was just that she knew that her situation was very dangerous.
Even though she did not wantonly kill people and devour their qi blood and souls, the fact that she cultivated demonic path techniques was the undeniable truth.
Once this information was revealed, it might create great waves and cause terrible consequences.
If that happened, it wasn't just her but even the Zhang clan supporting her and Chen Heng, who would be affected.
This was not what she wanted to see at all.
As such, from the start, she had always felt quite threatened, worried that she would one day be discovered.
However, by now, she had no other choice.
Standing there, her expression was calm as she inwardly sighed.
After a while, she looked up and left.
Time gradually passed.
Soon, it had been a few months, and a big event exploded out.
Within Nine Peaks City, Chen Heng sat in his courtyard and silently looked out.
Outside, a spirit bird flew by and left behind a letter.
Looking at the letter, Chen Heng stretched out his hand and opened it, and he frowned as he read it.
"What is it?" Zhang Ya asked out of curiosity.
"You can have a look for yourself," Chen Heng did not explain and handed the letter to Zhang Ya.
After skimming through the letter, Zhang Ya's expression greatly changed.
"Impossible!" a look of disbelief appeared on Zhang Ya's face, "Junior Apprentice Sister, she… how could she be a demonic cultivator?"
The contents of the letter were quite simple: In the past few days, the Flowing Cloud Sect had suddenly captured Hou Juan.
The reason was because of demonic qi.
After doing examinations, the Flowing Cloud Sect had concluded that Hou Juan's demonic qi originated from cultivating demonic techniques.
As such, Hou Juan had been captured and put in one of the Flowing Cloud Sect's prisons.
Reading this, Zhang Ya's expression greatly changed, and she could not believe it.
In her mind, Hou Juan was a quiet and introverted person. She had never done anything outrageous, and was completely different to those demonic cultivators.
She could not believe that such a person was a demonic cultivator.
"Clan brother…"
After reading the letter again and again, Zhang Ya looked at Chen Heng and asked hesitantly, "Are the contents in this letter… true?"
"Since they've written this, it's most likely true," HChen Heng did not look over and said calmly.
Compared to Zhang Ya, his reaction was very calm.
Perhaps to others, cultivating demonic techniques and devouring other people's qi blood and souls was a severe matter, but it was not a big deal to him.
After all, he had done similar things before too.
If one had to categorize it, his Heaven Devouring Scripture would also be a demonic technique.
Even though Chen Heng did not devour other people's qi blood and souls, devouring their essence blood was essentially the same.
However, to other people, this matter was not so simple.
Demonic cultivators killing people and using their corpses to cultivate was a shocking matter.
After all, this meant that to demonic cultivators, one could become their fodder at any time.
Moreover, the events from 30 years ago still caused chills in people's hearts.
After 30 years, the Yue Kingdom had greatly recovered, but that matter had left a shadow in everyone's hearts.
It could be said that within the Yue Kingdom, demonic cultivators became incredibly despised and hated.
Now that a demonic cultivator was exposed, one could easily imagine what would happen.
"As expected, after her Fortune broke out, things have become different."
Sitting within the courtyard, Chen Heng's expression was calm as he looked out at the grass and flowers outside.
Hou Juan was now nearly 50 years old.
In the previous decades, her Fortune had been dormant, and she had always kept a low-profile.
During that period of time, the person who caused the least problems and needed least worry was her.
However, things suddenly became different after her Fortune broke out.
Now, things had immediately changed and she had caused something like this, becoming the heart of a massive disturbance.
This difference was quite great.
It seemed that this kind of thing would go on for a long time until she used up her Fortune.
Sitting in the courtyard, Chen Heng thought various things to himself.
Zhang Ya walked out, looking quite uncertain.
"How is it?" a voice sounded.
Seeing Zhang Ya walk over looking quite worried, Zhang Chong asked seriously, "How did Hao'Er react?"
Hearing Zhang Chong's words, Zhang Ya came back to her senses and looked at him.
Over the past 30 years, Zhang Chong had greatly aged, and he did not have much life span left.
After Chen Heng became the clan leader, he had especially gone to search for high quality spirit materials and had also helped Zhang Chong progress in his cultivation, giving him more time.
That was why he was still alive after 30 years and just looked older.
After ten or so years though, he would probably pass away.
However, right now, he was still alive and had watched the changes in the Zhang clan over the past 30 years.
He had been quite pleased at how much stronger the Zhang clan had become, which was why he had chosen to retire. He stayed within the Zhang clan's ancestral lands, drinking tea and playing chess with some old friends, living a leisurely life.
It was only today that he came out again.
Zhang Ya looked at Zhang Chong.
Zhang Chong looked incredibly worried; it seemed that he had also heard about this.
When that spirit bird had come, he had also received the news, which was why he had run out.
Looking at Zhang Chong, Zhang Ya lightly sighed and said, "Clan brother, he… he's extremely calm and does not seem shocked. However, clan brother's temperament has also been quite good, and I have no idea what he's actually thinking."
Chen Heng had a very good temper; at least, that was the case most of the time.
Even if someone did some bad things, he would not react much and would stay calm.
That was why Zhang Ya could not tell what Chen Heng was thinking.
Was he angry or something else?
"Ai."
Hearing Zhang Ya's words, Zhang Chong could not help but sigh, "What a disaster… I long since told Hao'Er not to treat an outsider so well, but he never listened…
"Who would have thought something like this would happen.. she dared to cultivate a demonic technique and ruin the Zhang clan's reputation!"
He stomped his feet, looking quite angry.
Looking at Zhang Chong, Zhang Ya hesitated before saying, "Surely it's not that bad… whether or not Junior Apprentice Sister Hou has cultivated a demonic technique has not been conclusively determined yet…"
"Even now you're trying to be positive about it?" Looking at Zhang Ya, Zhang Chong sighed and said, "The most important thing right now is to find out how Hao'Er feels about this. He must not do something stupid for this woman."
After developing for 30 years, the Zhang family had become a massive faction. Apart from the three remaining major sects, the Zhang clan's forces were the greatest in the Yue Kingdom.