"Who's there?!"
The old man suddenly stood up, and everyone else opened their eyes at the same time, drawing their swords.
Zhang Ziqiang held his greatsword, pointing it at the other disciples and coldly said, "Don't move, this doesn't concern you, stand to the side!"
"Three Golden Core Stage cultivators at their peak…" The old man's gaze was uncertain, his face filled with solemnity.
"May I ask what you intend? I am an elder of the Wan Gu Sect. If we have disturbed you, please forgive us…"
The old man cupped his hands and bowed slightly to Fang Yuan and the other three.
Whoosh—
A cold light flashed, and the old man's entire arm was severed, blood spraying out.
"Sixth Elder!" Several disciples cried out in alarm.
The old man had not expected Sun Yiyi to be so decisive; he hadn't reacted at all. Only when a searing pain came from his arm did he let out a shrill scream.
"Kill them!"
The old man's eyes were bloodshot, filled with killing intent.
Hiss, hiss…
Dense swarms of flying insects and various snakes and scorpions rushed out from the secret forest, and a winged centipede flew out of the old man's mouth, heading straight for Sun Yiyi and the other three.
"Damn it, what the hell is that? I'm getting goosebumps!"
Fang Yuan was so startled by the sight of these snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and dense insects that he jumped up.
A phantom image of Sun Yichen appeared behind Sun Yiyi, and a ball of scorching flame suddenly emerged, instantly incinerating all the surrounding flying insects.
Crackling—
The dense swarms of flying insects writhed in the fire, emitting a nauseating stench.
Fang Yuan and Qin Hao simultaneously drew their blades, two streams of blade energy soaring into the sky. Just as they were about to strike, Li Xiaoman suddenly burst in, screaming, "Stop! Seniors, stop!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Yuan and Qin Hao paused their movements.
But Sun Yiyi did not stop; she clawed at the empty air with both hands, and the old man suddenly tensed up, his entire body suspended in mid-air, desperately clutching his neck.
"Sixth Elder!" Several disciples wanted to rush forward to help, but Sun Yiyi sent them flying with a single palm strike, slamming them into a nearby large tree.
Bang, the large tree broke in half.
Several disciples couldn't help but spit out a large mouthful of blood.
One of the male disciples roared angrily towards Li Xiaoman, "Li Xiaoman, do you know what you're doing? Colluding with outsiders to harm fellow disciples, are you ready to suffer the sect's Ten Thousand Worms Devouring Heart!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoman's face immediately turned pale with fear, and she shook her head repeatedly, screaming, "No! I didn't!"
Sun Yiyi frowned, looking at Li Xiaoman with displeasure, "What exactly are you afraid of? Don't you want revenge? Don't you want to wash away the humiliation on you? Or are you content to degrade yourself?"
Li Xiaoman stared blankly at Sun Yiyi, her gaze unconsciously shifting to the old man in mid-air.
At this moment, the old man's eyes revealed a look of pleading, and he desperately made muffled sounds from his mouth.
Clang, a long blade was thrown at her feet.
"Pick it up and end your nightmare."
Li Xiaoman stared blankly at the gleaming long blade on the ground, then tremblingly grasped the hilt.
"Ah!!"
She suddenly let out a furious roar, falling into a frenzy. Clutching the hilt with both hands, she rushed to the old man.
Pfft, pfft—
The long blade swung relentlessly, blood splattering on Li Xiaoman's face.
She didn't know how long she hacked until the old man was reduced to a pile of flesh and mud. Only then did Li Xiaoman collapse to the ground, weeping loudly.
Her voice was filled with desolation and helplessness, as if to vent all the emotions in her heart.
The few disciples clutched their chests, looking at her in confusion.
Fang Yuan stepped forward, took the old man's storage ring, retrieved the wooden box inside, and tossed it in front of the disciples.
"See what your elder has done."
The disciples curiously opened the wooden box, their eyes instantly widening.
"This, what exactly is going on?!" They couldn't believe their eyes.
It turned out that the ghost fiend they had been searching for was right beside them all along.
"Li Xiaoman, we need an explanation!" Someone roared loudly towards Li Xiaoman.
At this point, Li Xiaoman was still immersed in pain. Hearing this, she suddenly raised the long blade and stabbed it towards her heart.
Clang, the long blade was struck away.
Sun Yiyi frowned, looking at her, "Did I permit you to die?"
Li Xiaoman's body stiffened. She turned to look at Sun Yiyi, and tears once again streamed from her eyes, unstoppable.
"I won't live much longer…" She spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Why do you say that?"
"I've been poisoned by a Gu, and without the antidote, I won't live more than five days."
"Look inside, is there the antidote you mentioned?"
Fang Yuan tossed the storage ring at her feet.
Li Xiaoman shook her head, "It's useless. I'm afflicted with the Heart-Devouring Mother-Child Gu. As long as the Mother Gu lives, the Child Gu will never perish."
"There's something like that too?"
Fang Yuan exclaimed in surprise, quickly ran to her, picked up the storage ring from the ground, stuffed it into his pocket, and urgently asked, "Where is the Mother Gu then?"
"In the Sect Master's hands."
"Damn it, your sect is truly something." Fang Yuan gave her a thumbs up.
It seemed this Li Xiaoman had lived an even more miserable life than they had imagined.
"Junior Sister Li, what exactly happened?" Several disciples now ran to Li Xiaoman and helped her up.
"All of us have been deceived by the Wan Gu Sect. Ever since we entered the sect, we've all been implanted with the Mother-Child Heart-Devouring Gu. Three years ago, I accidentally discovered this secret…"
Li Xiaoman recounted all the torment she had suffered over the years.
She revealed everything, including the shameless things the Sect Master and the Sixth Elder forced her to do, and the matter of harming fellow disciples to raise Gu by extracting hearts.
"So, the ghost fiend was actually something the Sect Master himself fabricated?" Someone asked with a trembling voice, a hint of despair in their eyes.
"Yes, if a sect disciple's cultivation reaches the Golden Core Stage, and their talent is poor, they will be marked by the sect and have their hearts extracted to raise Gu."
Upon hearing this, several disciples took two steps back, their bodies trembling violently.
"No wonder, no wonder the sect provided a large amount of pills to disciples with poor talent. So, they were treating us as nourishment…"
"Heh heh, I always thought our Wan Gu Sect was a benevolent sect. I never would have thought, never would have thought…"
Several disciples couldn't accept this answer and all slumped to the ground, their eyes dim and lifeless, their faith completely collapsing at this moment.
"This truly is a sad story." Fang Yuan muttered, clapped his hands, and prepared to leave.
"Let's go, let's go. The plot ends here, time to get moving."
Just as the four were about to leave on their flying swords, several disciples suddenly knelt on the ground, pleading with them, "Seniors, please help us, help us rescue our friends and family…"
"Refused." Fang Yuan immediately rejected them.
He wasn't bothered with these troublesome matters, and there were no benefits. The most important thing was to quickly go to the Barren State to catch spirit beasts.
"Seniors, please, I'll give you all the treasures on me, please help us just this once…"
The disciple named Zhang Bo took off his storage ring and handed it to Fang Yuan and the other three.
Seeing this, the others followed suit, taking off their rings and respectfully handing them over.
Fang Yuan and the other three exchanged glances, silently accepted their storage rings, and asked, "What is the strength of your Wan Gu Sect?"
"There are six Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. Among them, the Sect Master is the strongest, at the Yuan Ying Stage."
"Besides them, there are also over fifty Golden Core Stage disciples, over a thousand Foundation Establishment disciples, and over ten thousand Qi Refining Stage disciples in the sect."
Upon hearing this, Fang Yuan pondered. With their strength, a direct confrontation might be difficult. They needed to find a way to infiltrate.
"Do you have a way to help us sneak in and find your Sect Master?"
"This…" Zhang Bo, Li Xiaoman, and the others exchanged glances.
Fang Yuan saw their expressions and guessed they couldn't come up with a good plan.
At this moment, Qin Hao took out four Bi You Sect tokens from his storage ring. "How about we disguise ourselves as Bi You Sect disciples and find an excuse to visit their Sect Master?"
"Oh, where did you get these?" Fang Yuan's face lit up, and he quickly picked one up and put it in his pocket.
"The Bi You Sect disciples gave them to me last time when we fought that corpse demon."
"With these, it'll be easy. We'll disguise ourselves as Bi You Sect genius disciples, and these few people will provide cover. We should be able to get in and see their Sect Master."
As he spoke, the more Fang Yuan thought about it, the more feasible this method seemed. He then discussed the battle plan in detail with Zhang Bo and the others.
