Villain Master, my disciples all want to backstab me

However, her identity was not ordinary either. She was a direct disciple of Luo Yunyi, the current leader of the Liguang Sword Sect, and had been acting as a deputy to various sect duties during the latter's retreat. Therefore, she was theoretically on par with the leader, so her presence here was not surprising.

At this time, several righteous leaders exchanged greetings with each other.

Xun Shouzheng and Feng Yi vaguely sensed that Ling Xiuya's cultivation aura was not normal, but due to their respective identities and the current situation, neither of them said much.

then.

Ling Xiuya glanced around and said straight to the point, "I've asked everyone to come here today to discuss the hunting event a month ago."

"Ling has already written down the details of this incident in a letter, and I'm sure you've all read it. There were three factions involved in the ambush that day. One was the Blood Origin Sect, led by Gu Youruo, the head of the Blood Hidden Hall. Another was the Sky-Splitting Mysterious Eagle Clan from the Eastern Wasteland, led by an eagle demon who possessed the cultivation level of the Divine Transformation Realm. Finally, there was another unidentified entity..."

Following Ling Xiuya's narration.

Yun Wuya had already stood up and walked to the center of the hall. He took out a jade slip from his sleeve and tapped it a few times with his fingertips. Immediately, fine runes appeared and projected a series of images in the void:

Broken valleys, remaining blood-red runes, broken black iron chains...

These were all traces left behind after the battle that day. Their clarity was exceptionally high, as if they had been captured directly from the side with a high-quality camera—all naturally Yun Wuya's work.

Although Qing Lingzi and his companions had seen the details of the battle in the letter and had also learned some information through some channels, they still read it very carefully with a thoughtful look on their faces.

"Master Ling, since you've summoned us here, you should have some idea of ​​the third party involved in the ambush, right?"

Fairy Feng Yi turned her head to look at Ling Xiuya first and asked.

"Indeed."

Ling Xiuya's voice was calm, but his words caused the temperature in the hall to plummet. "Based on our investigation, this third party is most likely the Shentu family, one of the eight ancient cultivation clans. Moreover, they are most likely the culprits who orchestrated the tragic massacre of the Jiang family twenty years ago!"

"What!?"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

In an instant, Qing Lingzi, Xun Shouzheng, and Feng Yi all opened their eyes wide, with expressions of inexplicable surprise on their faces.

"The Jiang family... the Blood Origin Sect and the demon clan?"

"How is this possible? Why would that guy do such a thing?!"

The eight ancient cultivation clans all descended from the ancient Celestial Realm. Their formation predates the current ten sects of righteousness and evil. Furthermore, they have been secluded and neutral for over a thousand years, rarely interfering in the turmoil of the cultivation world.

But now...

The Shentu family is actually going to make an exception?

Not only did they make an exception, they actually joined the camp of the Demonic Path, and even colluded with the Blood Source Sect, the largest sect of the Demonic Path, and the Eastern Wasteland Demon Clan, to attack the Jiang Family and the Tianyuan Sword Sect, which are also among the Eight Clans?

"Master Ling, is this news true?"

Facing the inquiries from several people, Ling Xiuya paused for a moment and said, "Although it's not 100% confirmed yet, but... it's highly likely to be the case."

In fact, simply looking at the traces left at the scene was not enough to determine the identities of Shentu Hong and the others, especially since the latter had disguised themselves and were intentionally hiding their whereabouts.

The main reason that forced the Tianyuan Sword Sect to cast its suspicion on the Shentu family was Jiang Rao, and Jiang Rao had two bases for this: first, when she was a child, she was tracked down by Shentu Jixue into Cangwu County; second, the residual soul of Jiang Taixu, who was in the Jiang family's ancestral land, personally identified the Shentu family.

——But these two pieces of evidence are not very sufficient.

Because Jiang Rao was only six or seven years old when she encountered Shentu Jixue, and after so many years, it was difficult to guarantee the accuracy of her memory. Jiang Taixu himself had never witnessed the scene of genocide, and his information came from the "Blood Kite Demon Lord" who had met him first...

This is also the reason why Ling Xiuya didn't dare to say anything final.

Even so, several righteous giants present held different opinions, such as the leader of Haoran Sect.

Xun Shouzheng frowned. "Although the Shentu and Jiang families don't have a very good relationship, it shouldn't be to the point of exterminating the entire clan. This kind of thing is a bit excessive anyway. Moreover, the Shentu family is very powerful, second only to the Ji family among the eight ancient clans..."

"Could it be a frame-up, or a simple misunderstanding? If that's the case, then if we jump to conclusions here, we're afraid we'll only invite fierce retaliation from the Shentu family, a consequence we absolutely cannot bear."

Chapter 163 Will a cat's tail grow?

"Yes."

Qing Lingzi also echoed from the side, "The Blood Source Sect is the largest sect in the Demonic Path. They have been entrenched in the Yunhe Continent in the western region of Central Continent for many years and have already incurred a huge blood debt. As for us, the Qingxuan Sect has no objection to attacking them and several other Demonic Sects. But the Shentu Family..."

"I'm afraid there are some unknown hidden secrets in this matter, so we need to discuss it in detail."

Fairy Feng Yi of the Li Guang Sword Sect did not speak, but the expression on her face also revealed her thoughts.

For them, considering the eight ancient tribes as imaginary enemies is indeed a bit stressful, and it is not something that can be determined with just a few words.

Unless Tianyuan Mountain can produce sufficient evidence to prove everything it said before, there will be room for further discussion on this topic, rather than just empty talk like now.

Three to one.

It seems that the judgment about the "Shentu family" was not recognized.

Ling Xiuya no longer insisted, "Since all three of you say so, let's discuss this matter later. We'll only consider the parts with solid evidence now. As Fellow Daoist Qing Lingzi said, the Blood Origin Sect is the greatest sect of the Demonic Path, and its strength is no less than any of our four major sects. The Eastern Wasteland Demon Clan is even more powerful, and coupled with the mysterious third party..."

"These three have joined forces, and their ambitions are significant. Besides our attack, the destruction of several Qingxuan Sect strongholds previously was also closely related to them.

"Do you have any solutions to this problem?"

"This one……"

This time, Qing Lingzi was the first to respond: "The evil scoundrels have gone too far, how can we tolerate this? In my opinion, we should gather the elite of all factions and crush the Blood Source Sect!"

"There are also Qingming Valley and Heiyun Mountain. These two have always had close ties with the Blood Source Sect and are likely to be implicated. It's best to eliminate them all at once!"

There is a reason for Qing Lingzi's statement.

After all, the first people targeted by the Blood Origin Sect weren't the Tianyuan Sword Sect, but his own Qingxuan Sect. Ever since the "first destroy Yinyue, then the Blood Origin" plan, the Blood Origin Sect had launched numerous attacks on the Qingxuan Sect, resulting in casualties among both inner and outer disciples reaching nearly triple digits.

There is also Qingming Valley, which has secretly made several moves because of Yu Qiuming's incident.

Therefore, if he could borrow the power of the other three to eliminate these forces that posed a threat to him, he would fully agree and even look forward to starting the fight tomorrow.

In contrast.

The Haoran Sect and the Liguang Sword Sect, which have not yet had a direct conflict with the Xueyuan Sect, are not so active.

"Wait a minute, my two Taoist friends."

The speaker was Xun Shouzheng: "The Blood Source Sect has been rooted in the Western Region of Central Continent for many years. Their influence is complex and they are particularly skilled in formations. Their mountain protection formation is not much inferior to Brother Ling's Tianyuan Mountain's 'Star Falling Diagram Formation'. If we rashly start a war, I'm afraid our chances of winning will be worrying.

"Not to mention the Eastern Wasteland Demon Clan and that unidentified third-party force. What if..."

Qing Lingzi was a little unhappy when he heard this: "Brother Xun is so cautious, are you afraid of those demon cultivators?"

"No, just being cautious."

Xun Shouzheng said.

Fairy Feng Yi beside her sighed softly, "Speaking of the Eastern Wasteland demons... My Li Guang Sword Sect is located in the Eastern Region, closest to those demons. If a full-scale war breaks out and the Eastern Wasteland demons invade Central Continent, my sect will probably bear the brunt..."

She hadn't finished her words, but her worry was clear.

The argument gradually broke out, and voices of people talking to each other rose and fell in the hall.

Although the people present were all righteous cultivators, they all had their own calculations and concerns. Reaching a consensus was not an easy task.

Ling Xiuya listened quietly at the side until the voices of the crowd gradually died down. He then coughed lightly and slowly said, "I have something. Please take a look."

talking.

A short sword forged from blood jade materialized out of thin air, hovering in the center of the hall. Strange patterns covered the blade, now entangled by several chains of starlight, which trembled uncontrollably, emitting a sharp humming sound.

"This is……?"

Qing Lingzi's pupils suddenly shrank, as if he recognized him.

Ling Xiuya nodded slightly. "Yes, it is the Blood Origin Sect's 'Blood Demon Blade'. Only those above the rank of Hall Master are qualified to wield this blade and use it to store and transmit information."

"That day near the Cangwu Abyss, I severely injured three Divine Transformations, severed the arm of the Blood Source Sect's demonic cultivator 'Xing Qianshan', and seized this blade from him. Within this jade blade, I discovered something of note... Do you know what it is?"

Qing Lingzi and others naturally didn't know.

Ling Xiuya didn't intend to keep the secret. With a flick of his finger, the jade Blood Demon Blade suddenly vibrated violently, and a streak of blood-red light shot into the air, transforming into a densely packed list. Each name glowed with a strange red light. Upon closer inspection, they were the names of elite disciples from the four righteous sects!

"This is……"

Fairy Feng Yi stood up suddenly.

As the only junior among the four people present, her name was actually on the list!

"This is the Blood Origin Sect's secretly marked hunting list. Including my Tianyuan Mountain, almost all the core disciples of everyone here are on it."

"And what's even more terrifying than this is..."

Ling Xiuya said this and waved his hand again. The image in the air also changed, becoming a map-like image with a dozen red dots marked on it, which seemed to represent some very important places:

"In the past month, our sect has conducted in-depth research and comparison on this map and found that the red dots marked on the map are almost all the spiritual vein nodes in the Central Continent.

“Moreover, most of the locations are within the sphere of influence of the four major sects, and there are strongholds of your disciples nearby.

"The Blood Origin Sect has spent so much effort collecting and compiling this information. What do you think is their purpose?"

"..."

This time, the expressions of Qing Lingzi and the other two changed drastically.

"Could it be that the Blood Origin Sect is..."

"If these spiritual veins are destroyed, the spiritual energy of the entire Central Continent will probably fall into chaos, and it will be difficult to restore it to its original state within the next hundred years. By then, our four major sects will be severely affected, and may even be unable to recover for a long time!"

Over the past few decades, although there have been occasional conflicts between the righteous and evil sects, they have generally been in a relatively balanced state. Neither side can stand up to the other, but neither can destroy the other. However, if the spiritual veins controlled by the four righteous sects are destroyed...

That would be like cutting off half the root of the righteous path. Even if they could completely annihilate the five sects of the demonic path, they would only inflict eight hundred casualties on themselves. Furthermore, when they actually took action, it would likely be far from smooth sailing.

"The ambitions of this group of demonic cultivators are so great?!"

The hall was dead silent.

After a long pause, Qing Lingzi said in a deep voice, "Master Ling, what do you think?"

"Ah."

Ling Xiuya smiled, his gaze sweeping across everyone present like a sword. "The demonic sects are determined to destroy us. Ever since the great war eighty years ago, we righteous sects have been at peace for far too long. Now, the righteous sect is declining, while the demonic sects are gaining strength, wreaking havoc on the world. Twenty years ago, it was the Jiang family, a month ago it was Tianyuan Mountain, and tomorrow it could be the Qingxuan Sect, the Haoran Sect, and the Liguang Sword Sect!"

"Indecisiveness leads to disaster."

He raised his hand and swung it, crushing the Blood Demon Blade into dust by the starlight. "Therefore, as the head of the Tianyuan Sword Sect, I propose that the four major sects join forces to launch a war to eliminate the demons!"

"The Battle to Eliminate Demons..."

Meng Shouzheng repeated softly, a complicated look in his eyes.

Fairy Feng Yi pondered for a moment, then suddenly stood up and bowed: "Haoran Sect is willing to follow in your footsteps."

"Qingxuanmen has no choice but to accept it!"

Qing Lingzi immediately agreed - it was he who first proposed the proposal of "War to Eliminate Demons" to Tianyuan Mountain, but because of Jiang Rao's matter, Ling Xiuya did not respond immediately. It was not until now that it was finally put on the table.

Having the Tianyuan Sword Sect, the first of the four sects, as the initiator will naturally have a much better effect than having Qing Lingzi do it.

then.

Everyone's eyes fell on Meng Shouzheng.

The Haoran Sect's leader gently stroked the jade pendant on his waist with his fingertips, seemingly still pondering. After a while, he slowly raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief: "Haoran Sect... join."

Seeing this, Ling Xiuya bowed slightly and made a salutation to the other three masters: "On behalf of Tianyuan Mountain and the people of the world, I would like to thank you all."

"Master Ling, you are too polite. It is our duty to eliminate demons and defend the Way."

The other leaders also responded with greetings.

At this point, the united front of the four authentic factions has been preliminarily achieved.

Next, there are still many details to be discussed.

For example, what are the specific tasks of each sect, what matters need to be paid attention to, the time and place for cooperation, and whether it is necessary to organize a group of people to go deep into the heart of the Blood Source Sect to rescue Jiang Cheng and Yan Shu...

All of these need to be finalized one by one.

The information about "Jiang Cheng" didn't just come from "Blood Kite"; it was confirmed by Shao An of the Blood Origin Sect several months ago when Jiang Rao and Yan Shu were attacked outside. Therefore, its authenticity should be fairly reliable. However, the implementation strategy needed careful consideration to prevent Jiang Cheng from being transferred prematurely due to a failed operation.

Then there was Yan Shu. The Tianyuan Sword Sect could only confirm that she was still alive, as her "soul lamp" remained lit. However, where Yan Shu had gone, and which of the three factions had taken her, remained unknown. They had to find more clues before making a final decision.

At this time.

Feng Yi couldn't help but be curious and asked a question, "Speaking of which, where is the orphan of the Jiang family from your sect now? I heard that Sect Master Ling was about to take her to the Jiang family's ancestral land to seek opportunities a few days ago, when they encountered the Blood Source Sect's hunting party. I wonder where she is now..."

"Rao'er is already in seclusion."

Ling Xiuya said succinctly, "To be honest, I and that child have indeed gained some opportunities from the Jiang family this time. If that child is willing, perhaps I can share some of them with you. However, she hasn't come out of seclusion yet, so I can't make any decisions on my own. Please forgive me."

"...It doesn't matter."