"Cuixiang County is our target this time. There are quite a few Shen Family mortals here, as well as some garrisoned Shen Family Spirit Refiners."

spoke the Stone Demon Sect Elder of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer. His limbs were massive and his head was tiny, giving him a very bizarre appearance.

The Vice Sect Leader had assigned several missions, and the one given to him was to lead a team to attack Cuixiang County.

Besides himself, a total of seven other Stone Demon Sect disciples were on the mission with him. Among the disciples, two were in the late Qi Refining Stage—one at the Ninth Layer and one at the Eighth Layer. The remaining five were in the mid-Qi Refining Stage: two at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer and three at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

For a mere raid on Cuixiang County, this lineup could be considered extravagant.

"Before the Shen Family Cultivators come out to fight, we’ll kill as many of their mortals as we can. If they do come out to fight, we’ll take care of them first..."

After the Stone Demon Sect Elder finished his instructions, the disciples below began to speak.

"Elder, if we get the chance, I think we should kill those Loose Cultivator Spirit Refiners, too."

"We should retreat once the mission is complete. Forget the Loose Cultivator Spirit Refiners. If a Foundation Establishment expert from the Shen Family shows up, it’ll be hard for us to escape," one Stone Demon Sect disciple disagreed.

"Afraid of the Shen Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators? What a coward! As long as our Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader don’t show themselves, would the Shen Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators dare to come? If they do, they’d better watch out for their ancestral grounds."

"Yeah, that’s right."

All the Stone Demon Sect disciples present voiced their opinions on the mission.

The most talkative among them were the two in the late Qi Refining Stage.

"Just do as I say," the Stone Demon Sect Elder said.

"Elder, I still think my suggestion is a good one," the Stone Demon Sect disciple at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer replied.

An Elder of the Stone Demon Sect was still fundamentally in the Qi Refining Stage. They held little authority over the disciples, especially those in the late Qi Refining Stage.

Disciples at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, for example, would also become Elders of the Stone Demon Sect once they broke through.

"If you can beat me, I’ll agree to your suggestion." As he spoke, Demon Power flared around the Stone Demon Sect Elder.

"We still have a mission to do. I don’t want to waste my energy."

In the end, all the disciples deferred to the Stone Demon Sect Elder.

Led by the Stone Demon Sect Elder, they advanced toward Cuixiang County.

They followed the path given to them by the Vice Sect Leader.

This route was harder to detect.

Beneath the moonlight, the team led by the Stone Demon Sect Elder was only a single mile from their target, Cuixiang County.

"The Shen Family’s defenses are getting weaker and weaker. We’ve made it this far without being spotted."

"Elder, we’re not far from Cuixiang County now. Let’s just hurry over."

"I can’t hold it in anymore!"

The Stone Demon Sect Elder considered it. Some of the hot-tempered disciples behind him were already getting restless.

By now, the attacks in other locations should have already begun.

"Fine. Go."

He quickly gave the order.

For the final mile, they dropped their cover and broke into a mad dash.

Their actions were quickly discovered.

"It’s Demons!"

"Quick, inform the clan’s Culti—..."

"Inform what?" With a single punch, a head shattered. "Boring. Not even a Spirit Refiner."

The ones who first spotted them were just ordinary Shen Family mortals on patrol.

The eight Stone Demon Sect Demons were like wolves in a sheep pen, starting a massacre.

A red signal flare shot into the sky.

The sound of its explosion was exceptionally loud in the dead of night, quickly spreading throughout Cuixiang County.

Fang Yun, hearing the noise, woke up instantly.

He had only just fallen asleep.

’The Demons are here.’

It was now late in the fourth month, seven days since he had arrived in Cuixiang County.

Leaving his room, he burst forth at incredible speed, running and leaping across rooftops toward the western part of Cuixiang County—the direction of the flare.

As he neared the west side of Cuixiang County, Fang Yun could clearly feel the fluctuations of Demon Power.

’First, I’ll deal with the one with the strongest Demon Power.’

A Demon at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer. It was most likely a Stone Demon Sect Elder, though the possibility of him being a Celestial Demon Sect disciple couldn’t be ruled out.

"A Spirit Refiner at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer! A fine catch, hahaha!"

The Stone Demon Sect Elder was pleasantly surprised when he saw Fang Yun.

Killing a Spirit Refiner at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer would give him a great sense of accomplishment.

"Go!"

Fang Yun slapped his Storage Pouch, and a Yellow Iron Sword shot out, closing in on the Stone Demon Sect Elder at extreme speed.

"An Upper Grade Magical Artifact. Watch me snap it in two!"

In recent days, the Stone Demon Sect Elder had destroyed a total of three Upper Grade Magical Artifacts, all of which had belonged to Shen Family Cultivators.

The Stone Demon Sect Elder raised his enormous hands, the palms covered in dense scales. In that instant, the Demon Power surging from his body grew even stronger.

He snatched with both hands.

The smile on the Stone Demon Sect Elder’s face vanished, replaced by a completely different expression.

With that grab, he felt an abnormal pain. It was the first time he had felt such intense agony since breaking through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer. A large amount of blood gushed from his palms, spilling onto the ground as a headless corpse toppled over. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

’This is an Upper Grade Magical Artifact?’

As the world spun around him, this was the only thought left in the Stone Demon Sect Elder’s mind.

He could guarantee his senses weren’t mistaken. The Magical Artifact used by the Qi Refining Ninth Layer Spirit Refiner was definitely Upper Grade, both in terms of its Spiritual Power fluctuations and its appearance.

Facing a Demon at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

This was the first time Fang Yun had used an Upper Grade Magical Artifact at full power, amplified by his three-star Combat Talent.

With just a single Yellow Iron Sword, he could easily slay a Demon at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

With every pale yellow Long Sword that flew out, another Demon fell, never to rise again.

Finally, only one Demon at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer remained.

"You... you... are you even human?" the Stone Demon Sect disciple at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer asked, trembling, as he pointed at Fang Yun, who was bathed in moonlight.

Just now, in less than three breaths’ time, this Qi Refining Ninth Layer Spirit Refiner had taken care of their Stone Demon Sect Elder and all the other disciples.

When he dispatched the Elder, never mind him, even his two senior brothers in the late Qi Refining Stage hadn’t had time to react.

’He can control multiple Upper Grade Magical Artifacts, and each one is incredibly powerful. Otherwise, the Elder wouldn’t have been unable to block a single strike.’

"I’ll give you a chance to run," Fang Yun said lightly.

"I... I..."

The Stone Demon Sect disciple at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer couldn’t utter a complete sentence.

’You’ll give me a chance to run?’

’Then you should probably put this sword away first.’

At this very moment, a pale yellow Long Sword floated just three inches from the Qi Refining Sixth Layer Stone Demon Sect disciple’s face, ready to end his life at any moment.

"Run," Fang Yun said again.

His action was merely to prevent this Stone Demon Sect Demon from sending a message. Any attempt to do so would mean death.

The experiment could wait.

"Okay!"

Looking at the ice-cold face under the moonlight, the Stone Demon Sect disciple’s hair stood on end. He dropped to all fours and started running.

Deep in his heart, he felt this was a great humiliation.

’If I get the chance, I must take revenge. Having the Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader avenge me would also work.’

However, before he could even run out of Cuixiang County, he completely lost consciousness.

On Fang Yun’s end, the results of his experiment were in.

It was just as he had guessed.

Coming to the Foundation Establishment Shen Family’s territory this time had already been fruitful enough.

In another eight days, after his month-long mission was over, he would return to the sect.

"Thank you for saving us, my lord from the clan!"

The mortals Fang Yun had saved all around him expressed their gratitude.

In their eyes, Fang Yun was a powerful Cultivator from their Shen Clan.

After dealing with the Demons, the next step was to clean up the battlefield.

The Demons’ Storage Pouches, as well as their bodies, were all collected by Fang Yun one by one.

"His Lordship appeared so quickly."

"Maybe His Lordship was just patrolling nearby."

"I think His Lordship is so handsome. The way he just acted was to make that Demon die in despair. I want to say ’I’ll give you a chance to run’ to a Demon, too."

"Oh, please. With your courage? I saw you nearly pissed your pants just now."

"Nonsense!"

On his way back, Fang Yun saw a young, beautiful female Cultivator hurrying over.

This was Shen Jinghan, the only Qi Refining Seventh Layer Cultivator from the Shen Family assigned to guard this place with him.

In a Foundation Establishment Clan like the Shen Family, reaching the late Qi Refining Stage at her age was enough to prove that her Spirit Root Talent was quite good.

Fang Yun naturally understood why Patriarch Shen had made such an arrangement.

As long as it didn’t disturb him, he wasn’t opposed to it.

"It’s already over."

"Ah? It was that fast?"

Shen Jinghan, who had stopped in her tracks, was stunned for a moment. Once she recovered, she immediately followed Fang Yun back.

In seven days, this was the third sentence she had spoken to Fang Yun.

Before coming to Cuixiang County, the clan’s Patriarch had only given her five words of instruction.

Let nature take its course.

Those five words also indicated the difficulty of her task. More than wanting her to build a relationship with Fang Yun, the Patriarch clearly didn’t want to ruin the decent one they already had.

She had only spoken two sentences in seven days, mainly because Fang Yun was almost always in his room, giving her no opportunity to talk.

Just now, when the signal flare had exploded, Shen Jinghan had immediately gone to find Fang Yun, only to see his door open. He had obviously already left for the location of the flare.

So she had rushed over as well.

Now, she had run into a relaxed-looking Fang Yun on his way back, and he had spoken the third sentence to her.

’It seems the force sent for this Demon attack wasn’t very strong.’

「In the small courtyard.」

Fang Yun turned and glanced at Shen Jinghan.

Then, he took all the Demon corpses out of his Storage Pouch.

"I’ll leave these Demon corpses for you to handle. Just give me the extra reward later."

"Okay," Shen Jinghan nodded, her attention drawn to the Demon corpses on the ground.

’The situation seems a little different from what I imagined.’

’There’s a Demon at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer!’

Shen Jinghan saw the headless corpse with massive limbs. Based on her experience, she judged that this was definitely a Demon at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

’Led by a Stone Demon Sect Elder, the invading Demons’ strength was not weak.’

Shen Jinghan had learned from the Patriarch that Fang Yun was very powerful, much stronger than a typical Cultivator at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

He was capable of taking care of such a Stone Demon Sect team all by himself.

She wasn’t surprised by that.

But the speed at which he had dealt with the Demons was just too fast.

’He’s so strong!’

Before she had even gotten there, the battle was already over, and all the Demon corpses had been packed up and collected.

At this moment, when she looked up, she found that Fang Yun had already closed his door.

She had wanted to praise Fang Yun a little, but now she had lost the chance.

’I should count the Demon corpses first.’

Killing a Stone Demon Sect Elder at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer gave an extra reward of one hundred and thirty Lower Grade Spirit Stones. A Stone Demon Sect disciple at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer was worth eighty Lower Grade Spirit Stones... and killing the three Stone Demon Sect disciples at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer would earn sixty Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

For killing all these Demons, Fang Yun would receive a total of four hundred and ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Shen Jinghan finished counting the dead Demons and simultaneously calculated the extra reward Fang Yun would get.

She collected the Demon corpses in the courtyard.

Shen Jinghan looked at Fang Yun’s house, wondering if she should go in to thank him for his timely intervention.

In the end, she decided against it.

She had to remember the Patriarch’s five words.

’This is so hard for me...’