Support missions could be provided by Battle Peak.

But to go into the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, he would still need to rely more on intelligence from the Evil Extermination Hall.

For this kind of information, Fang Yun always went to Yang Yingjie. Sometimes when he went looking for Yang Yingjie, the Elder would be out on a mission.

This time, he was in his own cave residence.

"Senior Brother Fang, you’re here. Have a seat."

Yang Yingjie was already used to Fang Yun’s visits and knew what kind of news he was coming to ask about.

"Junior Brother Yang, sorry to trouble you."

Every time he came, Yang Yingjie would host him, serving fine Spirit Cakes that not only satisfied the palate but also provided a small boost to one’s Cultivation.

"The Celestial Demon Sect’s deployments are still relatively conservative right now. The places you broke through before don’t have a Celestial Demon Sect Foundation Establishment Elder acting as Guardian yet..."

Yang Yingjie was telling him exactly what he wanted to know.

Within the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, it was difficult to move against the remaining subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences. However, if the Celestial Demon Sect sent one of their Elders to act as a Guardian and manage one of the previously destroyed influences, or propped up a new one, he would consider the situation and decide whether or not to act.

Since there was always a possibility of an ambush, the intelligence gathered before taking action was crucial.

"Senior Brother Fang, because of you, those Demon territories now only have Qi Refining Level Demons. This is a waste of their Earth Vein resources."

"Five locations with Second Tier Spirit Veins and Demon Veins... The Celestial Demon Sect is getting more and more cautious now," Fang Yun couldn’t help but say.

If they took the Demons’ territory, they could make good use of it as long as they removed the Demon Veins.

But as long as the Celestial Demon Sect was still around, it was difficult to make a move on these places. While it was true that destroying an Earth Vein was simpler than nurturing one, the process took time and required them to dispatch the Celestial Cloud Sect’s only Spirit Vein Master.

The sect’s Array Master, Deng Fusheng, had found a talented disciple, but the Spirit Vein Master, Yu Chuanze, had not.

If the sect wanted to develop better in the future, these types of Cultivators were indispensable.

Fang Yun left Yang Yingjie’s cave residence.

On his way back, Fang Yun planned to focus on his training and raise his Cultivation.

Based on the information from Yang Yingjie, there was no need to take action in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory for the time being.

Judging by the current frequency of the Celestial Demon Sect and Demon Spirit Sect’s operations against them, if they didn’t dispatch Core Formation Stage Demons next, the conflict would settle into another stable phase.

Fang Yun felt that this time, the Celestial Demon Sect and the Demon Spirit Sect wouldn’t just cease their attacks completely, as they had after the last great war.

Many future battles were unavoidable.

For now, he could only hope that the Celestial Demon Sect and the Demon Spirit Sect’s next large-scale operation would wait until after he returned from the Secret Realm known as the "Land of No Master."

If they acted during that time, he would miss out on a lot of Combat Talent Points.

As for the sect’s safety, he wasn’t worried for the time being.

After all, the upper echelons of the Celestial Cloud Sect were very strong, equivalent to three mid-stage and two early-stage Core Formation cultivators.

With the help of the sect’s Grand Array, even if the Core Formation cultivators from the Demon Spirit Sect and Celestial Demon Sect truly came to the Celestial Cloud Sect’s location, it would be very difficult for them to win.

Unless they didn’t leave a single Core Formation Stage Demon behind to act as Guardian of their own sect, which would be quite dangerous for them.

And don’t forget, the Black Ghost Cave was currently being very quiet.

If the Black Ghost Cave were to strike at a time like that, they definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Fang Yun was constantly analyzing the current situation.

For him, since the sect’s situation was relatively stable, the more important matter was to obtain the Purifying Spirit Fruit from the Purple Mist Sect to cleanse his Spirit Root, thereby increasing his chances of reaching Core Formation in the future.

...

「Celestial Demon Sect.」

Inside the Soul Destruction Hall.

The current Spirit Destruction Hall Master had a massive headache.

He had just received more bad news: an early-stage Foundation Establishment Elder from the sect had been killed while on a mission in Celestial Cloud Sect territory.

’Is there really any need to keep fighting?’

This question had surfaced in the Spirit Destruction Hall Master’s mind many times in recent years.

He felt that if he were a Supreme Elder, he would stop the operations against the Celestial Cloud Sect and just quietly wait for an opportunity.

It wouldn’t be too late to strike when the Celestial Cloud Sect’s strength waned.

He had already investigated and clarified some information.

Due to the influence of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Fang Yun, the probability of Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiners emerging, both within the Celestial Cloud Sect and its subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences, was now much higher than before.

After learning this, he finally understood how terrifying Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Alchemy Talent was.

Previously, he had assumed that Fang Yun’s Alchemy Talent was inferior to his Artifact Refining talent. But as he gathered more information, he no longer thought so.

Both his Alchemy Talent and his Artifact Refining talent were monstrous.

The only good news for them regarding Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect was that the guy was only a Five Spirit Roots cultivator.

This was incredibly important.

Spirit Root Talent represented one’s potential. With Fang Yun’s potential, even if the Celestial Cloud Sect gave him endless resources, he would most likely be stuck at the Foundation Establishment Stage, unable to take a single step into the Core Formation Stage.

"The mysterious Spirit Refiner hasn’t appeared for a long time," an Elder said during a discussion about the situation in the Soul Destruction Hall.

"Elder Xu, listen to yourself! Are you saying you hope the mysterious Spirit Refiner shows up?"

A few of the Elders in the Soul Destruction Hall had a stress-induced reaction to the mere mention of the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s strength was immense. It was already the case when he was at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and he was even more powerful now at the late-stage.

They still knew very little about the mysterious Spirit Refiner, not even which Celestial Cloud Sect Elder he was.

In the future, even if they truly managed to take down the Celestial Cloud Sect, they couldn’t guarantee that the mysterious Spirit Refiner would be among the Elders they killed, because they still had no idea who he actually was.