Learning what had occurred during the battle at Blood Lake from Qin Sang, Bai muttered to himself, "Jade bone, brocade skin..."
"It must be a life-saving secret technique—refining oneself into an inhuman monstrosity just to cling to life. That mysterious figure in the water dungeon who refined his own bones into a bone formation had the exact same intention," Bai pondered, then said, "Such secret techniques cannot be very common. If my memories were intact, I'm sure I could deduce his origin. Are you certain his primordial spirit has completely dispersed?"
Qin Sang replied, "Senior Sister's Green Luan spirit puppet is equivalent to an incarnation of hers. When she clashed with Old Demon Ye over it, she personally touched the jade bone and confirmed that the person was truly gone before giving up the struggle."
"Qingjun?"
Bai nodded slightly. Pausing for a moment, he shifted the topic to Old Demon Ye.
He was intensely interested in Old Demon Ye, inquiring about every detail, no matter how small.
Unfortunately, the two times Qin Sang had clashed with Old Demon Ye, he had only fought his incarnations and had never had the chance to face the old demon's true body head-on.
During the battle of Mount Shuangjing, Old Demon Ye had fallen into a trap and fled wounded once more. Since then, he had rarely shown himself, and Qin Sang had not encountered him even once.
"Brother Bai, what do you suspect?" Qin Sang asked curiously, seeing how persistently Bai inquired about Old Demon Ye.
Bai replied as if it were obvious, "Your feeling about the Nether Crystal Pagoda might not be an illusion! How did the Sin Abyss discover the connection between the Sin God Palace and the Ziwei Palace? Where did the Nether Crystal Pagoda come from? And how did they know that an ancient cultivator was trapped beneath the Blood Lake, surviving to this day? Old Demon Ye's shadow looms behind every single one of these matters. As the foremost figure in the Beichen Realm, he must know many untold secrets!"
Naturally, Qin Sang was curious about all of this as well, but Old Demon Ye was no easy opponent.
In truth, so long as Old Demon Ye's actions posed no threat to him, Qin Sang had no desire to engage in a life-or-death struggle with him; he still harbored deep apprehension toward the old demon.
He already carried more than enough secrets of his own.
The Nanming Primordial Fire and the Killing Sword fragments went without saying.
The immortal palace above the Hall of Seven Kills awaited his exploration.
The Four Sages Palace was the only legacy of a Soul Formation existence Qin Sang currently knew of, possessing profound foundations. With the medallion given to him by Bao Zhengnan, he could pay a legitimate visit to the Four Sages Palace in the future.
If he could unravel these secrets, he might very well find opportunities to reach the late Nascent Soul stage, or even the Soul Formation stage.
Qin Sang had plenty of options and no need to risk his life against Old Demon Ye. At the very least, before breaking through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage, he would not actively seek trouble with Old Demon Ye.
Once this war settled down and the framework for Qingyang Temple was firmly established, Qin Sang intended to focus entirely on his own cultivation.
"Old Demon Ye is crafty and cunning, and he is determined to withdraw his forces now. We will soon arrive at the gates of Yucheng. With nowhere left to retreat, the Sin Abyss is bound to hole up inside the city and fight to the death. When that time comes, Brother Bai, you should have an opportunity to cross swords with him. However, before that, I will need a favor from you..."
Qin Sang's tone turned cold, a glint of chill flashing in his eyes.
***
Only Qin Sang and Qingjun knew of Bai's return.
The next day, Qin Sang led his forces out of the city in pursuit, just as usual.
The Sin Abyss no longer concealed its intentions. Its armies raced against time to evacuate everything from the plains, destroying on the spot whatever could not be taken away, fleeing toward Yucheng like a swarm of locusts or an ebbing tide.
Under these circumstances, slaying enemies was no longer Qin Sang and his allies' primary objective; rather, it was seizing resources as quickly as possible.
Because the plains were so vast, Qin Sang was forced to split his forces with Jingyu on the third day. Jingyu pursued a remnant force of the Sin Abyss toward a small city ahead, while Qin Sang altered his course mid-journey to seize a spirit mine.
Over the following days, the two fought their own battles and had almost no opportunity to rendezvous.
Qingjun was occupied with similar tasks, drifting farther and farther away from them.
From beginning to end, Bai never revealed himself.
Ten days later.
Qin Sang led his troops into a city.
The Sin Abyss cultivators had long since fled, but not before destroying the city's spirit formation, leaving behind only broken walls and ruins. Amidst the debris, mortals who lacked the means to leave looked upon the intruding cultivators with trembling dread, awaiting their fate.
Although this was a war among cultivators, mortals inevitably suffered collateral damage.
Most cultivators would not trouble mortals, yet cruel and bloodthirsty individuals were never lacking.
Certain demonic cultivators whose techniques required living souls did not dare act with utter impunity within the Two Domains Alliance, but upon entering enemy territory, they seized the opportunity to unleash wanton slaughter, massacring countless innocents.
Qin Sang and Qingjun could only restrain the cultivators under their own command, ensuring no such tragedies took place in their presence.
"Martial Uncle, the cultivator clans in the city have completely evacuated, and the treasuries have been emptied. There were several herb gardens outside the city, but all the spiritual herbs have been destroyed," Li Yufu stepped forward to report.
Qin Sang nodded. "Pass down the order: we will rest in the city tonight, and set out tomorrow straight for Yucheng!"
"Yes!"
Li Yufu withdrew.
Qin Sang went to the location with the densest spiritual energy in the city and conjured a simple stone house using an incantation.
"It seems your plan failed," Bai said as he emerged from the corpse puppet bag.
It turned out that after discovering Bai had broken through and possessed extraordinary strength, Qin Sang had devised a plan to lure the snake out of its hole.
With the Sin Abyss soon to be driven back into Yucheng, the next stage would be either peace talks or a prolonged standoff; such chaotic circumstances would rarely occur again.
Once the situation stabilized, there would be even less opportunity.
If Dongyang Bo harbored ill intent, these past few days would have been the optimal time to strike, allowing him to kill Qin Sang and pin the blame on the Sin Abyss.
With his senior sister and Jingyu at his side, Dongyang Bo would certainly not dare act rashly. Thus, Qin Sang had quietly separated from them, intentionally exposing a vulnerability.
With Bai's assistance, Qin Sang was confident that even if Old Demon Ye and Daoist Canghong arrived together, they could hold out until Jingyu and Senior Sister arrived.
Of course, that was the worst-case scenario, and Qin Sang considered it extremely improbable; those two old foxes were cunning and would not readily trust Dongyang Bo's intelligence.
His primary objective was to draw out Dongyang Bo and his conspirators.
Yet over the past ten days, everything had proceeded normally, even though Qin Sang had deliberately put a vast distance between himself and Jingyu.
He could not tell whether Dongyang Bo felt unsure of dealing with Qin Sang alone and was biding his time, or if he genuinely prioritized the greater good.
"An opponent of that caliber becomes all the harder to guard against the more patient he is. Fortunately, Shaohua Mountain is his concern, so he won't dare resort to unscrupulous means against me; otherwise, he would be a truly massive headache," Qin Sang sighed softly.
Just then, the restriction outside the stone house was suddenly disturbed. With a sweep of his divine sense, Qin Sang found Li Yufu rushing back with a jade slip in hand—an urgent dispatch.
"What happened?" Bai asked curiously, seeing Qin Sang take the jade slip and his expression change abruptly.
"Brother Bai, you truly are a lucky star!"
Qin Sang withdrew his divine sense, his expression shifting unpredictably, before uttering this baffling remark to Bai.
Passing the jade slip to Bai, he said with sheer disbelief, "We just received word—Yucheng is suddenly in utter turmoil, though the cause is still unknown... See for yourself, Brother Bai!"
Chapter 1295