Qi Chengshuo specially arranged for someone to prepare a shorter horse for her, which looked quite docile.
"Xianya, you've just learned to ride a horse, so be careful. Hold the reins tight and don't let go. If you're scared or notice anything wrong, remember to call Chengshuo for help." Ye Miaoyun was a little worried and quickly gave her instructions after her daughter got on the horse.
"Don't worry, Mother, I will be careful and won't get hurt." Ye Xianya nodded quickly.
...
Meanwhile, in a secluded courtyard behind Yunxiao Palace, Xie Peng was cultivating with the demon core that his third disciple, Zhao Zhifeng, had brought back from Jiyuan Kingdom.
Nowadays, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is scarce, making cultivation extremely difficult for both humans and demons.
Demons like to absorb the blood and essence of people, and even more so, they devour people's souls to enhance their own cultivation. Some demons even like to eat people.
Each demon's body also contains a demon core, which is the source of the demon's power.
This power is extremely violent, unlike the gentle spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Cultivators, as long as they are on the righteous path, will not use demon cores for cultivation. However, if they fall into the evil path, there are no taboos.
In order to cultivate, Xie Peng specially sent his third disciple Zhao Zhifeng to infiltrate the Silent Abyss Kingdom a few years ago to secretly kill some demons and bring back their demon cores for his own cultivation.
Over the years, Xie Peng has absorbed the powerful energy contained in more than a dozen demon cores, but he almost went berserk several times, turning himself into a demon.
Unfortunately, he absorbed the power of different demon cores. If he were to truly become a demon, he would be a monster.
“Zhifeng, next time you go to Jiyuan Kingdom, remember to only bring back the demon cores of those plants. You don’t need to bring back the demon cores of those beasts.” Xie Peng frowned as he spoke: “The demon cores of beasts contain more violent power and are harder to absorb. In comparison, the demon cores of those flowers and plants mostly contain the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which is of great help to my cultivation.”
"Yes, Master!" Zhao Zhifeng quickly clasped his hands in response.
Xie Peng stood up and gently patted his shoulder: "Zhifeng, your eldest brother is dead, your second brother is gone, and your fourth and fifth brothers are not strong. The only one your master can rely on is you. From now on, I will hand over the Cloud Palace to you."
Xie Peng never dreamed that his second disciple, whom he had sent to Weiyang County, would be killed on the way. He also had to send his carefully cultivated evil creature with him, which he had originally intended for his second disciple to take with him to devour the girl who had killed his son and everyone around her, killing them all, eating their flesh and souls, leaving not a trace. In this way, the government and the Taoist temple would not be able to find any clues.
Unexpectedly... his most powerful second disciple actually died.
When the soul jade tablet belonging to the second disciple Liu Ruilin shattered, Xie Peng could hardly believe it.
The second brother was incredibly powerful, not much weaker than his master, and was the number one among the younger generation in the entire Cloud Palace. Unexpectedly, he also died.
Of course, Xie Peng wanted to have another child after losing his son so that he could inherit the entire Cloud Palace, but unfortunately... he absorbed demonic power and is now neither human nor demon, so he can't have children at all.
He can only raise his third son.
"Master, I want to investigate the cause of Second Senior Brother's death," Zhao Zhifeng said tentatively.
Master said that the eldest brother died at the hands of a little girl, and the second brother went to avenge the eldest brother, but died before even reaching Weiyang County, without even knowing who the enemy was.
He and his second senior brother were like brothers, and he was determined to find their enemy and avenge his brother.
"You're not allowed to go!" Xie Peng glared at him fiercely. "I don't want to lose you too."
"My strength has increased greatly these days, so I will be fine. Please rest assured, Master." Zhao Zhifeng was still unwilling to give up.
"I've already sent people to investigate this matter, and we'll have news soon, so don't rush." Xie Peng clenched his fists tightly, his hatred surging: "I will find the person who killed the eldest and second eldest brothers and make sure his soul is scattered and he is never reincarnated."
Zhao Zhifeng, like his master, hated the people who killed his fellow disciples.
After a private discussion, Zhao Zhifeng brought up the matter of the Daoist Grand Competition in early December.
“Master, last year at the beginning of December, our Yunxiao Palace sent our second senior brother to the sect’s grand competition. This year… how about I go instead?” Zhao Zhifeng suggested.
"No way." Xie Peng refused without even thinking: "I know you are strong, but you have been in Jiyuan Kingdom for several years, absorbing demon cores to cultivate. If you really fight with people, you might be exposed."
Although he devised a secret method to conceal his demonic power and crafted some magical artifacts to disguise his aura for himself and his three disciples, he was still afraid of the worst-case scenario. Even he himself could not completely guarantee that his demonic power would not leak out when he unleashed a powerful attack, let alone his disciples.
“As long as my disciple is careful, it should be fine. If we send the fourth or fifth brother to fight for our Yunxiao Palace, they are very likely to not even make it into the top twenty. As one of the ten major Daoist sects of the Great Yan Dynasty, where would Yunxiao Palace put its face if its disciples were ranked too poorly?”
Xie Peng fell silent after hearing Zhao Zhifeng's words.
"Let me go, disciple. I will be careful. In any case, we cannot let Yunxiao Palace lose face," Zhao Zhifeng said in a low voice.
"Then be careful not to let the Taiyi Sect find out, otherwise... it will be a disaster that wipes out your entire sect." Xie Peng finally agreed, because he didn't want Yunxiao Palace to become the object of ridicule.
Every year, the Taiyi Sect sends a Xuanshu master to the capital to preach to Taoists across the land. In addition, there is a grand competition. Those who perform well in the competition have the opportunity to enter the Taiyi Sect and become its outer disciples.
The people from Taiyi Sect have very high standards. Sometimes they will accept two or three people, sometimes they will only accept one person, or even none at all.
When they accept disciples, they look at their character, state of mind, and talent, rather than their current strength.
Often, those chosen by the Taiyi Sect are not members of their ten major Daoist sects.
Since Yunxiao Palace came into Xie Peng's hands, not a single disciple has entered Taiyi Sect yet. However, Xie Peng has a senior uncle who became an outer disciple of Taiyi Sect thirty years ago, and later became an inner disciple.
However, his uncle never came out again after he went to the Taiyi Sect.
They are completely unreliable.
“I have observed the celestial phenomena and made some calculations these past few days, and I have discovered that the fortune of our Cloud Palace is declining. Instruct the disciples in the sect not to go down the mountain these days, but to cultivate diligently in the mountains,” Xie Peng said, raising his head.
The people from Yunxiao Palace like to go down the mountain to make money, which leads to a lot of karma. If they are not careful, they will cause trouble. It would be better to keep a low profile recently.
"Yes, Master." Zhao Zhifeng replied and was about to leave when he saw Qingyao, the maidservant beside his master, enter.
"Immortal Master, Madam Lan from the Pei family requests an audience," Qingyao said, bowing.
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