My ancestors were spiritual plant growers, so it's not surprising that I hunt demons every day,

With a deafening roar, the silver moon formed by the Yao Guang Sword shattered and scattered, releasing nearly a hundred slender sword energies like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.

Under the relentless onslaught of countless sword energies, the skull worm's head was riddled with holes in an instant. Several sword energies even condensed in the void, shooting straight towards Zhao Kai as if they had eyes.

Before these sword energies could actually reach Zhao Kai, several sharp, chilling energies rushed towards him, making his hair stand on end.

Zhao Kai's pupils contracted, and he tried to cast a spell to defend himself, but his vision went black and he almost stumbled and fell on the spot. It turned out that most of the magic power in his body had been depleted, which caused him to feel dizzy.

But at this critical moment of life and death, Zhao Kai dared not be negligent in the slightest. He immediately gritted his teeth and summoned another swarm of insects to block in front of him.

But the silver sword light was incredibly sharp; it flashed through the air in an instant before arriving in front of Zhao Kai, easily slicing the swarm of insects to pieces.

Zhao Kai's face turned pale. Upon seeing this, he immediately turned around and tried to run away without thinking.

But Cui Ying wouldn't give him that chance. A ripple appeared in mid-air, and a faint light, almost invisible to the naked eye, shot out from Cui Ying's sleeve, piercing Zhao Kai's head almost the instant he turned around.

A cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining perished before he could even let out a scream.

On the day Cui Ying reached an agreement with Zhao Wang, she had already anticipated that something tricky would happen today. Besides finding Zhao Kai's weakness and openly eliminating Zhao Yong's faction, how to win was also crucial. After much deliberation, she took the deadly venom secreted by the golden scorpion and soaked the Flowing Shadow Needle in it to block the powerful life force of the high-level cultivator.

At this moment, the remaining swarm of insects above the martial arts arena, under the frenzied stirring of the silver sword light, finally all fell to the ground. The silver sword light was also consumed to only a few strands, and with a clear cry, they all dissipated and vanished, leaving only an ancient silver short sword falling from mid-air.

With a blank expression, Cui Ying waved her hand, and the Yao Guang Sword transformed into a silver ray that flew towards her. The silver light then vanished into her sleeve and disappeared without a trace.

Cui Ying put away her Yao Guang sword, her face pale as she stood in the martial arts square. Gu Shiyin quickly ran over to support her: "Wife, are you alright?"

Cui Ying smiled slightly, indicating that she was alright.

Then, she went to Taxue's side and found that its body was covered with wounds from the strange insects, and her eyes were filled with heartache:

"Ta Xue, next time you're not allowed to come here and risk your life without my permission, understand?"

As Cui Ying spoke, she took out several spirit herbs that had been cultivated in advance with spirit liquid from her storage bag. She first stuffed the jade spirit mushroom into Ta Xue's mouth, and then crushed the blood spirit grass and carefully applied it to its wounds.

After doing all this, Ta Xue stood beside Cui Ying again.

Blood flowed like a river on the vast martial arts training ground, and Zhao Yong's head was cut off and hung on the pillar outside the ancestral hall.

Having never witnessed such a bloody scene before, Gu Shiyin thought he would be afraid and terrified. However, looking at the slender and resilient body beside him, he slowly fell silent and followed Cui Ying's steps, stepping over the corpses on the ground and walking towards the other side.

Cui Ying had no idea what Gu Shiyin was thinking.

It was simply because she had witnessed bloodshed in her previous life and was accustomed to this way of surviving by risking her life.

Zhao Wang slumped down in the corridor of the Zhao family ancestral hall, looking withered and emaciated, yet flames burned fiercely on both sides of his body.

In order to completely eliminate any future troubles, he spared no effort in using all his magical power to fight the enemy, but he could no longer suppress the poison within his body. Now, he was barely clinging to life.

"Guest Minister Cui"

He raised his trembling hand, laboriously offering a blood-stained jade slip, and gasped:

"Please take this jade slip back to the Thundercloud family. If you can gain their favor, that would be best. If not, let bygones be bygones."

Cui Ying took the jade slip, but before she could speak, her pale arm fell limply to the ground.

She frowned slightly, feeling inexplicably suffocated.

In truth, given Zhao Wang's shrewdness, he was probably aware that the Thundercloud City Lord's family didn't value those followers from back then. Perhaps, his words were also a way of resolving his own inner conflict.

The Zhao family members remained silent. The old patriarch they were seeing off today had also killed his own blood relative.

From now on, there will be no more traitors like Zhao Yong in Zhao Family Village, but the Zhao family will also find it difficult to establish a foothold in Camel Peak Mountain outside Jinsha City.

With Zhao Wang dead and Zhao Yunbo seriously injured and unconscious, the only one who could step forward to handle the aftermath was Zhao Zhen, Zhao Wang's son, who was at the third level of Qi Refining.

"I am very grateful for your help today, Guest Elder Cui. Now, I can only hope that Yunbo recovers quickly so that we can rebuild the family."

Zhao Zhen, his eyes red, back hunched, temples streaked with gray, spoke hoarsely to Cui Ying:

"As for the master, I would like to ask Guest Elder Cui to put in a good word for us. Considering the past favor of the Zhao family, who lost several Foundation Establishment Ancestors in the fight against foreign enemies, we would appreciate any assistance you could offer."

"I have promised to be a guest advisor to your Zhao family, and I will not go back on my word. You may rest and recuperate here. I will send you a message as soon as I have the results."

Although the Zhao family's promise was driven by self-interest, Cui Ying felt that the oath had been made and she would not sit idly by just because the Zhao family was no longer of any use to her. However, she was now of low status, so she would wait and see how the Lei family would handle the situation.

The internal strife within the Zhao family has been resolved; the real issue is the Five Poisons Sect behind it all.

On Zhao Kai's already melting corpse, the Zhao family found a token representing his identity.

Cui Ying couldn't tell what material it was made of, but it looked extremely strange. A black snake with its head and tail intertwined was carved on the edge, and in the middle were the seven large characters "Outer Disciple of the Five Poisons Sect".

After a slight flicker in her eyes, Cui Ying put the item into a brocade box and then into her storage bag, intending to take it back to Thundercloud City as proof.

The feud between Lianyin City and Leiyun City has a long history. After a century, wars have broken out frequently. Last year's war was only quelled because Huichuan Prefecture mediated between them.

If the Five Poisons Sect, one of the most powerful sects in Qingyang Prefecture, were to get involved in the planning, the future development of the two cities—or even the two prefectures—would certainly be extremely complicated.

With a thousand thoughts swirling in her mind, Cui Ying did not rush to set off, but instead stayed at the Zhao family's house for a few more days to recuperate from her injuries.

The news of the Zhao family's misfortune eventually spread throughout the surrounding area. Now that the family was in a weakened state, Zhao Zhen had no choice but to consult with Cui Ying before releasing the names of the non-family members of the main family to deter those who might try to harm him.

However, this place is thousands of miles away from Thundercloud City. The emperor is far away and the sky is high. Even though the main family produced a Golden Core expert a few days ago, Cui Ying is just a Qi Refining stage outsider. To those families that have been rooted and multiplied in the vicinity for hundreds of years, his deterrent power is extremely limited.

Fortunately, the battle footage of her killing Zhao Kai somehow leaked out, making those restless Qi Refining families and rogue cultivators quite wary.