Chapter 152 — Unfilial
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 6
Canglan Mountain, the Peak That Touches Heaven, the Yuheng Hall.
"What?" Daoist Zhenren Daoyan blurted out, stunned into disbelief. "All three great factions of the Demonic Cult were wiped out after their decisive battle with the beast demons?"
Standing below the three leaders of the orthodox path, along with the many elders seated or standing nearby, Xiao Yichen, Facheng, Lu Xueling, and the other orthodox disciples who had returned to Canglan Mountain said nothing. Only Xiao Yichen, at their head, gave a firm nod. "Yes, Master. All seven of us saw it with our own eyes. In Vipers' Valley in the southwest, corpses lay strewn across the land—a sight too horrible to bear. The Demonic Cult has indeed been dealt a grievous blow. We found the bodies of many of their number, including Lady Sanmiao of the Enchantment Sect and others of the Ten Thousand Poisons Gate. Only a few of the Banished King Sect's leading figures were discovered—though perhaps the beast demons devoured them, and so..."
Behind him, Lu Xueling's face went pale again, as though that affair and the carnage of that time were etched forever in her heart, impossible to wipe away. Yet she had by now regained command of herself; outwardly she showed little sign of disturbance, and no one noticed anything amiss—save Master Shuijing, head of Xiaozhu Peak, who had raised Lu Xueling from childhood, seated at the front of the gathering. She alone marked the strange, bitter anguish that seemed to lurk beneath Lu Xueling's cold, clear, frost-like beauty.
Master Shuijing's brow furrowed slightly. She gave a soft sigh and said nothing.
By now the Yuheng Hall was astir, the murmur of discussion growing ever louder. Looking at the faces of these elite cultivators of the orthodox path—some astonished, some fearful, but more than anything wearing complicated expressions, mingled joy and dread—one could well understand. The Demonic Cult and the orthodox path of the Central Plains had warred for countless years; several campaigns of suppression had achieved little. Now, this time, the cult had been annihilated in a single stroke by the beast demons—a joy wholly unforeseen. Yet if the Demonic Cult could hold its own against the orthodox path, its strength could hardly be underestimated; and to suffer such crushing defeat at the beast demons' hands... There were few fools in this hall. Anyone could guess that the beast demons' next target must surely be Canglan Mountain, where the orthodox path of the world had gathered.
And could the orthodox path—now the last hope of all living things under heaven—withstand this unprecedented, world-shaking calamity?
No one had any confidence at all.
The three great pillars of the orthodox path seated at the very front—Daoist Zhenren Daoyan, the Venerable Pucheng, and Yun Yifeng—conferred in low voices for a time, all with brows tightly knit. Then Daoyan spoke a few words; Pucheng and Yun Yifeng both nodded in assent. At once Daoyan rose and cleared his throat.
The murmuring and private talk in the Yuheng Hall immediately died down, and every eye turned toward Daoyan. His face was grave, and once the hall had fallen completely silent, he said in a deep voice, "Fellow cultivators, you have all heard clearly what has just been reported. The Demonic Cult's unexpected destruction has taken us entirely by surprise. But the details remain unclear—whether any remnants of the cult survived and fled that great battle is something we must still investigate thoroughly. For the moment, however, that matter is no longer of importance."