Chapter 66 The Demonic Cult

Jie Zhoujian was ordered to find Wen Tianyu and the others, but by the time they arrived, it was already too late.

The area in front of the Ruan family's house was littered with corpses, and blood covered the high walls.

A familiar face lay in the pool of blood.

Jie Zhanjian's face showed difficulty, then, somewhat heartbroken, he lowered his voice and said, "Master... how could you..."

"...You and your junior sister resolved this matter so quickly?"

Aju: "It just makes it seem like our presence is pointless."

Qingjue stood in the pool of blood and turned around: "You've come? Perfect timing, the man isn't quite dead yet. Aju and Ayan, pull him up for me."

The familiar person was none other than Fan Aotian, with whom Jie Zhou had a long-standing feud that remained unresolved.

Aju: "Hey, Turkey Head, what's the meaning of your attacking the Ruan family?"

"Jie Zhoujian!" Fan Aotian said to him, "I challenge you to a duel every year, and every year you suppress me! All of you Qing family disciples are the same, arrogant and self-important!"

Qingjue took the handkerchief Wen Tianyu handed him, wiped the blood off his face, and said, "I almost forgot this person existed. He was obviously just there to make up the numbers."

Wen Tianyu: "...Just to make up the numbers? Does Master mean the Ruan family is destined for disaster?"

"...I just said it casually, how could you glean so much information from it?"

Forget it, there's no point in hiding it anymore. Anyway, the ironclad rule that time travelers won't be exposed has long since failed with the True Spirit Elder.

“Indeed,” Qingjue said, “I knew long ago that there would be a calamity, but I did not expect it to happen to the Ruan family, and I did not expect that the mountain bandits led by Fan Aotian would be the ones to make the move.”

Ruan Linglai was also surprised: "Master, why is that? They said that people who have never fought with the world and only pursue business should not get involved in these things."

"Tianyu, send a message back and tell Qinghuan to bring people to handle the situation and appease the surrounding people."

"yes."

Although the Fan family has not accomplished anything great in recent years, they are still an obscure and respectable family. Fan Aotian has been unruly since childhood. In order to defeat Jie Zhoujian, he cultivated diligently. In the end, he even found the family's cultivation methods too sluggish and ran away to the mountains to become a rogue cultivator.

Then he became the leader of this mountain bandit group, and today he came to kidnap the Ruan family.

The Ruan family is powerful and influential in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, but their reckless act of taking action right under their noses still seems somewhat abrupt.

I only found out after asking that it was a crime committed in the heat of the moment. Fan Aotian felt that his martial arts skills were already high enough, and he was not satisfied with just challenging Xie Zhou to a duel. He wanted to take down the Ruan family to consolidate his position here.

It seems that in the original plot... the Ruan family was their next target; it really was a plot-driven kill.

After all, Fan Aotian's character was positioned as cannon fodder from the very beginning.

Because this brat always speaks ill of his own child, and is arrogant and has a bad temper, Qingjue doesn't like him very much.

Unexpectedly, when he grew up, he actually joined the bandit gang.

However, there's something fishy about this. After all, Fan Aotian is the sole heir of the Fan family, and his family used to dote on him. They shouldn't just let him do something like this.

Qingjue deliberately spared his life and that of the others, just to find out what was really going on.

Fan Aotian didn't seem to want to give in so easily; instead, he clamored for a one-on-one fight during the day.

Qingjue said, "Okay, as long as you explain the whole story in detail, I will let you fight during the day."

It doesn't matter to Jie Zhoujian, since he can kill him in one move anyway.

Fan Aotian may seem like a cannon fodder villain, but he's actually quite cowardly. For some reason, he seems like a different person today, with a much stronger temper, and even his explanations are full of curses.

But he did honestly confess.

After listening to his explanation of the Qingjue, I roughly understood.

When Fan Aotian went into the mountains to cultivate, the mountaintop had originally gathered many independent cultivators, and with so many people, it naturally formed its own sect.

The Fan family didn't ignore him; on the contrary, they sent people to keep a close eye on him.

Just a few days ago, their leader died.

Not only Fan Aotian's personality, but also the accounts of the other survivors, showed that after the eldest brother died, Fan Aotian even killed the followers sent by the Fan family.

No matter what, Fan Aotian is just a guy with a bad temper. No one present would believe that he would kill someone, let alone lead a group to besiege the Ruan family.

We already know the three main villainous families in this storyline: the Li family has been destroyed, the Zhao family has been eliminated, and the Xie family has been completely wiped out.

Who else could be behind this?

“Then it seems we have no choice but to use this method,” Qingjue said, “Heavenly Language.”

Wen Tianyu obeyed and lifted the restriction, his white eyes about to see through everything.

However, at that moment, Fan Aotian bit the poison in his mouth and committed suicide.

The separated goose: "Such a spirit of sacrifice? What the hell?"

"..." Wen Tianyu saw something before he died: "This matter..."

Wen Tianyu looked at Yan Shiqun: "I'm afraid it's related to the Demonic Sect."

A short while later, Qinghuan arrived with her people to handle the aftermath.

After comforting her parents and brothers, Ruan Linglai reunited with Qingjue and his group.

Ruan Linglai: "Don't worry, Master, they are all fine."

"That's good," Qingjue said, her robes fluttering slightly by the Shuiyun Lake. "Since that's the case, Tianyu, tell us what happened before Fan Aotian died."

Yan Shiqun's expression wasn't good, but she didn't say much: "..."

Wen Tianyu said, "I dare not say anything about the others, but his drastic change in temperament is indeed related to the Demonic Sect."

A year ago, Fan Aotian encountered a demonic cultivator and began cultivating the demonic path, which led him to establish inappropriate connections with Qianlun Mountain.

Unrestrained and talent-based forced cultivation of secret techniques can lead to qi deviation and demonic possession.

"I always thought that I was the only demonic cultivator who escaped from the mountains..." Yan Shiqun: "I was careless."

A decade or so can indeed make people lower their guard.

Moreover, strictly speaking, Yan Shiqun did not escape; he merely underwent a tribulation and was reborn.

He should have been dead by now.

Furthermore, in the eyes of those demonic cultivators, their Demon Lord should also be dead.

What would they do in this situation?

Self-help.

“In other words, there are many people in the cultivation world who have already cultivated the demonic path,” Jie Zhoujian said. “They have been expanding their power for decades. If Fan Aotian hadn’t been so eager for quick success this time, we probably wouldn’t have known.”

“You learn from your mistakes,” Aju also said. “Before, they were attacked by some self-proclaimed righteous people because they were too powerful. In their eyes, the Demon Lord was dead, and it was normal for them to endure humiliation and hide their identities after breaking the seal of Qianlun Mountain.”

The few demonic cultivators who escaped from Qianlun Mountain have spread far and wide. Although they don't know exactly how many people they have gathered, their power is not to be underestimated.

Wen Tianyu: "I also saw that the demonic cultivator in the scene address another person in Qianlun Mountain as the new leader."

The most crucial point is that this concerns a rebellion within Qianlun Mountain.

That's not something that can be solved simply by Yan Shiqun revealing his identity.

Revealing your identity too early could even make you a target.

Yan Shiqun gritted his teeth, having never been provoked like this before: "I'm not afraid, I'll burn it all down."

Qingjue patted him: "Hey, calm down. The other side has already shown their true colors, which is a good thing. After all, they are a faction. If we kill them all, wouldn't we be left with nothing? We still need to use righteous means to regain our position."

Ruan Linglai: "Did Fan Aotian specifically choose to target my house because their plan could already begin? That's why he was so confident in his demonic state."

Wen Tianyu: "That's most likely it, which is why she was so confident. She just didn't expect to run into this. We need to act quickly."

Aju: "What can we do? We can't even determine the number of people who have been trained... Even Xiaoyanzi can't find every single person who has fallen into the demonic path."

Yan Shiqun admitted, "...that's indeed impossible."

Qingjue: "If we face them head-on, they definitely can't beat us. Since that's the case, let's use a strategy of open warfare. Let's find a way to break the seal on Qianlun Mountain and help Ayan reclaim the position of Demon Lord before they secretly try to disrupt the cultivation world."

Yan Shiqun glanced in the direction of the Ruan family again and said, "Hmph, people with weak willpower are prone to this when they become demonic cultivators."

Qingjue was thinking about something else at that moment.

Given this development, it's reasonable to assume that in the original storyline, the villains targeted the Ruan family after wiping out the Yun family.

This time, however, due to the butterfly effect, he took Jie Zhoujian as his disciple, and Fan Aotian was suppressed in every way. By a twist of fate, he entered the mountains and encountered a demonic cultivator.

That's how it came about for him to target the Ruan family.

Their original villains targeted the Ruan family because...

Qingjue had always thought that such grudges and grievances were limited to cultivation families, but now he understood a little better; human greed was indeed endless.

If we step outside the limitations and think about it carefully, if he were the villain, and he needed to consolidate his position, he would first target a powerful family that consisted of ordinary people.

It seemed to be a warning to everyone that this was the consequence of resisting them.

Incidentally, one can amass endless funds, gaining both fame and fortune.

The Ruan family is indeed a good starting point.

...In other words, the ethereal voice in the original story...

Qingjue glanced at the girl, who was full of energy and passion, discussing the matter with her fellow disciples.

She may have already lost her family.

The thought of this filled Qingjue with a sorrow no less than the grief he felt upon learning of Yun Yuelin's impending death.

Before accepting Ruan Linglai as his disciple, he thought that even if he didn't take her in, this beloved little girl would surely live a peaceful and carefree life.

It seems that this is not the case now.

If the Xie, Zhao, and Li families were still alive.

Her parents, brothers, and all the servants and relatives of the Ruan family... will probably all die.

Ruan Linglai almost couldn't escape the same fate either.

"Wait a minute," Qingjue thought of another blind spot: "Tianyu, are you sure what you saw was something that actually happened, that Fan Aotian encountered a demonic cultivator?"

"Yes, I didn't see clearly what happened before and after his death."

"...Then there's a problem."

Wen Tianyu's eyes are a blatant bug.

The original plot was not supposed to take this turn for Fan Aotian.

However, he saw Yun Yuelin from the original storyline. Why is it that when he looks at other people's past, it is changed?

Could it be that... only the future, which hasn't happened yet, is considered the original storyline in his eyes?

But so much has changed now, doesn't that mean the future we see is completely meaningless? This damned underlying logic.