Seeing that Qin Sang had not come to settle old grievances, the Yuanzhao Sect Master breathed a sigh of relief.
Not daring to hide anything from Qin Sang, he answered truthfully, "Reporting to Senior, when the Kuiyin Sect attacked us in the past, our sect suffered great losses. The only reason we were able to launch a counteroffensive was because disciples of the Wuji Sect intervened. After breaking through the Kuiyin Sect's mountain-protecting grand array, most of the Kuiyin Sect's treasures fell into the hands of the Wuji Sect disciples."
"Were Patriarch Kuiyin's famous magical treasures from his lifetime, the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners, all taken by the Wuji Sect?" Qin Sang pressed.
So he had come for the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners...
The Yuanzhao Sect Master had never imagined that after so much time had passed, someone would still be dwelling on this matter.
Maintaining a calm expression, he pondered as he spoke: "Back then, after we joined forces to slay Yi Tiannie, the Sect Master of the Kuiyin Sect, we found one Ten Directions Yanluo Banner among his belongings, which was taken by Ying Jiansheng of the Wuji Sect. Another Core Formation cultivator died by Ying Jiansheng's sword, so none of us know whether he had a Ten Directions Yanluo Banner on him. As for the third Core Formation cultivator, when we breached the array, he used a petty trick to let his primordial spirit escape, and there has been no news of him to this day... It is said that Ying Jiansheng later found several damaged Ten Directions Yanluo Banners, and he brought all of them back to the Wuji Sect as well."
This aligned closely with what Qin Sang had anticipated; since the Wuji Sect had stepped in, good things naturally wouldn't have been left for the Yuanzhao Sect.
This made things rather troublesome.
The Wuji Sect had been annihilated over a hundred years ago. Its disciples had died or scattered, and the sect's generational treasures had been carved up among the various powers. It was impossible to know whose hands the banner poles had fallen into.
Even if he managed to locate them and went to trade for them, the other side would surely demand an exorbitant price.
Qin Sang pondered for a moment before continuing, "When the Wuji Sect was wiped out, was Ying Jiansheng also swept up in it?"
The Yuanzhao Sect Master nodded. "Rumor has it that on the night the Wuji Sect fell, all of the Wuji Sect Master's direct disciples were slain, and not a single one escaped. Ying Jiansheng was among them."
"So you're saying your Yuanzhao Sect didn't obtain a single Yanluo Banner?"
Qin Sang's gaze narrowed slightly, his tone suddenly laced with a hint of chill.
He remembered clearly.
Back then at the foot of Yuanzhao Peak, Zhao Yan had trapped the cultivator guarding the Nine Illusions Heavenly Orchid with a demonic banner. After Qin Sang killed Zhao Yan in a counterattack, he had not dared to touch the demonic banner and left it behind.
The demonic banner must have ended up in the Yuanzhao Sect's hands, yet this man had made no mention of it just now.
If he dared to deceive him, Qin Sang wouldn't mind resorting to force.
The Yuanzhao Sect Master's heart gave a violent jolt. Filled with apprehension and doubt, he hurriedly said, "Junior hasn't finished! Back then, Yi Tiannie sent someone sneaking into the Yuanzhao Sect with a demonic banner, which was later retrieved by a disciple of our sect and never handed over to the Wuji Sect. However, that demonic banner is no longer in Junior's hands; it was later claimed by a senior."
"Who?"
Qin Sang's eyes lit up.
With a troubled look, the Yuanzhao Sect Master shook his head. "Junior does not know that senior's origins either. After the Wuji Sect was annihilated, she came knocking to demand the demonic banner, promising in return to protect the Yuanzhao Sect from being implicated in the Wuji Sect's downfall. Given Junior's low cultivation, I have never seen that senior again and still do not know her identity."
This came as a surprise to Qin Sang. "Could she not have been from the righteous sects? Do you recall her appearance?"
"That senior was a female cultivator wearing a red dress..." the Yuanzhao Sect Master described.
The more Qin Sang listened, the more astonished he became. The person the Yuanzhao Sect Master was describing was actually Senior Sister Qingjun!
It was no wonder the Yuanzhao Sect Master had never heard of Qingjun. Very few people knew her true identity; for all these years, she had been roaming the outside world disguised as Leng Yuntian.
'Does that mean the other demonic banners are in Senior Sister Qingjun's hands as well? What is she gathering demonic banners for? Could she have heard the legends surrounding Patriarch Kuiyin and taken an interest in the might of this banner set?'
Qin Sang was inwardly surprised.
If it was Senior Sister Qingjun, matters would be much easier to handle.
Qin Sang glanced at the Yuanzhao Sect Master and asked a few more questions, to which the man responded one by one.
Seeing that he was being thoroughly honest and hiding nothing, Qin Sang made no further trouble for him. Once everything was clarified, he took to the sky in an escape light and departed.
The Yuanzhao Sect Master maintained an attitude of utmost reverence. Only after Qin Sang vanished from sight did he feel as if he had survived a great catastrophe. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, his expression shifted uncertainly as he murmured, "A Nascent Soul Patriarch came in person to question me—how could I dare conceal a single thing? Fortunately, that senior never strictly forbade us from speaking of it... May this not stir up any trouble..."
Qin Sang did not care what the Yuanzhao Sect Master thought. Leaving the Yuanzhao Sect behind, he soared eastward across the sky toward his next destination: the Demon Flame Sect.
He did not dwell long on Senior Sister Qingjun's motives; he could simply ask her in person the next time they met.
What truly intrigued him was Senior Sister Qingjun's cultivation.
The timing of the Wuji Sect's destruction was very clear.
After the Ziwei Palace closed, the Xiaohan Realm's top experts had marched straight on the Wuji Sect without a moment's pause, and it was around that time that Senior Sister Qingjun had approached the Yuanzhao Sect.
Before entering the Ziwei Palace, Senior Sister Qingjun had even needed him to lend a hand with the Foul Blood Divine Light before daring to take on Leng Yuntian. Yet immediately upon emerging, she was already a Nascent Soul Patriarch.
That breakthrough had been astonishingly fast.
Could she have undergone her heavenly tribulation inside the Ziwei Palace?
Qin Sang had always felt that something was amiss about Senior Sister Qingjun, as her realm and combat strength were contradictory. Moreover, for someone so peerlessly graceful to disguise herself as Granny Jing was even stranger.
Now it seemed his instincts had been correct.
Qin Sang suspected that before entering the Ziwei Palace, Senior Sister Qingjun had already formed her Nascent Soul, but for some unknown reason, her cultivation had been suppressed, preventing her from exerting her full strength.
After getting rid of Leng Yuntian, she must have found a solution inside the Ziwei Palace to restore her cultivation, instantly ascending to become a top expert—one whom even Patriarch Chifa was wary of, tacitly permitting her seizure of the Yuanshen Sect.
'Calculating it like this, Senior Sister Qingjun's cultivation speed is truly astonishing; her natural talent is probably not inferior to Chen Yan's. One must consider that of her parents, one went missing and the other died early. Burdened with a feud of blood and tears, she never joined any sect, and her circumstances were barely better than those of a rogue cultivator. Even Chen Yan, who had the backing of Dongyang Bo and Shaohua Mountain, ultimately had to rely on sinister demonic arts to forcefully form her Nascent Soul.'
The more Qin Sang thought about it, the more he realized Senior Sister Qingjun was extraordinary.
Unlike him, they didn't have the luxury of a cultivation method that spared them from bottlenecks between minor realms.
...
Qin Sang flew at high speed, making almost no stops along the way, and soon entered the vicinity of Tianduan Mountain.
Arriving here meant he had entered the domain of the demonic path.
Intending to secretly inquire about the Qingyang Demon Sect, Qin Sang kept a very low profile.
With his cultivation realm, ordinary people could never see through his disguise.
With the impending war, immortal cultivators had been mobilized to the front lines, leaving the market cities noticeably desolate and sparsely populated.
Qin Sang first visited Tianyou City, a major city of demonic cultivators, where he gathered some intelligence, before heading south. Making intermittent stops in this manner, he eventually arrived near the Demon Flame Sect.
On a deserted mountain peak.
Qin Sang materialized noiselessly, fiddled with the Qianjun Ring on his hand, and gazed toward the Demon Flame Sect.
The mountain gate of the Demon Flame Sect remained in its original location, having not moved away from this area.
"Although the Demon Flame Sect is located in demonic territory, its inherited cultivation method actually absorbs earth fire to cultivate rather than being a demonic technique. If the sect's ethos is decent, there is no harm in taking them under my wing..."
Chapter 1160