From Mo Yuanhai’s perspective, a pale red long sword was hurtling toward him, but he couldn’t find the Spirit Refiner who controlled it.

Faced with a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, he instinctively reached out to grab it.

However, the instant he tried, the pale red long sword sliced off his arm. The next moment, it pierced through the weakest point of his body.

Mo Yuanhai couldn’t believe a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact could possess such power.

That hadn’t been a casual grab, yet his hand had still been severed in an instant.

Mo Yuanhai was certain of one thing. Even if the pale red long sword was a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact specifically designed to counter Demons like them, it should never have been this powerful.

Who was it!

In his final moments, on the brink of death.

A red light flared in Mo Yuanhai’s eyes as he tried to find the Spirit Refiner controlling the pale red long sword.

Before his consciousness faded, all he saw was a hazy silhouette.

In that moment, a realization seemed to dawn on Mo Yuanhai.

The Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect had died without sending back a single message. Perhaps their situation had been exactly like his.

A deceptive Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, a Spirit Refiner ambushing from the shadows.

As his life force drained away, there was nothing he could do.

’That takes care of the three Foundation Establishment Demons.’

After collecting the Foundation Establishment Demons’ Storage Pouches and their heads, Fang Yun began to eliminate the Feng Family’s Qi Refining Demons.

He gave himself one hour, at most.

If he couldn’t clean them all up within that hour, he would have to leave anyway.

DONG DONG—DONG DONG—

After killing five Qi Refining Demons, Fang Yun heard a bell tolling, its sound echoing across the Feng Family’s ancestral land.

With the Foundation Establishment Demons dealt with, the sounding of the alarm would actually help him eliminate the Qi Refining Demons more quickly.

The Demons who had been cultivating would surely come out to investigate, which meant he could find them much faster.

"What’s happening?"

"I don’t know."

"It must be something critical. Come on, let’s go check it out."

"Okay."

Many of the Feng Family’s Qi Refining Stage Demons emerged only to see a long sword flying toward them.

Before they could even react, they were cut down by the long sword.

...

Celestial Demon Sect.

In the chamber where the Demon Jars were stored.

The Demon Jar belonging to Elder Mo Yuanhai shattered.

"Elder Mo is dead."

The Celestial Demon Sect Elder guarding the Demon Jars saw this and immediately sent a message.

The message had to be delivered first to the Spirit Destruction Hall Master.

At that moment, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master was holding a small meeting. Not many Sect Elders were in attendance, and none of them were in the early Foundation Establishment Stage.

"Hall Master Jiang, is there any important news?"

During the meeting, the Celestial Demon Sect Elders saw the Spirit Destruction Hall Master receive a message and were eager to learn the details at once.

"Elder Mo Yuanhai is dead."

"Was Elder Mo killed while operating in Celestial Cloud Sect territory?"

"I remember Elder Mo was also in charge of the Feng Family. We should ask their Foundation Establishment members what he was doing."

"I’ll contact them."

A mid-stage Foundation Establishment Elder volunteered and tried to contact the Foundation Establishment Demons of the Feng Family.

After a long while, he remained silent.

The gazes of the other Celestial Demon Sect Elders were now fixed on him.

"It’s no use. I can’t reach them. They’ve likely perished as well."

He had used an urgent contact method. To be unreachable under such circumstances meant they were, in all likelihood, dead.

"We can’t contact any of the Feng Family’s Foundation Establishment members?"

"That’s right."

Two Foundation Establishment members from the Feng Family, plus their own Celestial Demon Sect Elder, made for three Foundation Establishment cultivators. Losing three of them at once was no small matter.

"And with Elder Mo’s death, not a single piece of information was sent back."

"Has anyone noticed? The deaths of Elder Mo and the Feng Family’s Foundation Establishment members are very similar to what happened with the Stone Demon Sect’s Leader and Vice Sect Leader."

"Yes. No message was sent back in either case, so we still have no idea which Spirit Refiner is responsible for the attacks."

"Can we contact Elder Di Shanhai?" the Spirit Destruction Hall Master asked.

"I’ll try."

It didn’t take long to get a response this time.

"I’ve made contact."

"Relay our current information to him. Tell him to send someone to the Feng Family’s ancestral land to see what’s going on."

"Yes, Hall Master."

...

「Iron Tiger Manor.」

Celestial Demon Sect Elder Di Shanhai received the message from his sect.

"So that fool Mo Yuanhai just up and died."

Di Shanhai muttered.

It was true that Mo Yuanhai had been his rival within the sect, but under these circumstances, Mo Yuanhai’s death was definitely not good news for him.

The message stated that besides Mo Yuanhai, the two early-stage Foundation Establishment members of the Feng Family were also dead.

This area was the front line against the Celestial Cloud Sect. Of their original three Foundation Establishment Influences, both the Stone Demon Sect and the Feng Family had now lost their Foundation Establishment cultivators, reducing them to nothing more than powerful Qi Refining Influences.

No matter how strong a Qi Refining Influence was, it was still just Qi Refining; it could never compare to a Foundation Establishment Influence.

With Mo Yuanhai dead, the pressure on him was now immense.

’The Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect died without sending back any message, and now Mo Yuanhai has died without a message either... Could this be the work of the same Spirit Refiner?’

’If so, who could this Spirit Refiner be?’

Di Shanhai felt like he had a vague idea, but after thinking for a long time, he still couldn’t connect the dots.

Because based on all his known information about the Celestial Cloud Sect, there was no Spirit Refiner who fit the profile.

For cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage like them, sending a message wasn’t difficult. The moment they sensed something was wrong, they should have been able to report it to the sect immediately.

Unable to identify a suspect, Di Shanhai could only give up on the line of thought for now.