Through simple communication, smiles gradually appeared on the faces of Elder Peng and the other seven, occasionally sweeping their gazes toward Li Yan on the side. When Baili Yuan and Gan Shi respectively presented two storage pouches, after their divine senses swept through them, they actually showed hints of excitement.

“The Wraith Sect has excellent methods. Each disciple under your sect is extraordinary. Who would have thought that under the combined siege of two teams from our demon cultivator lineage, we would still fall into your trap and let you take the first and second place rewards. This Yin truly admires you, truly admires you.”

At this moment, a cold voice came from the demon cultivator side, drowning out all the discussion. Each word was crystal clear—it was Yin Congfeng. His face revealed a half-smiling expression as he looked toward Elder Peng and the others from the Wraith Sect.

They had already learned from Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu’an that the Wraith Sect had taken the top two places, causing them to secretly sigh. When it came to scheming, Jin and Wu still needed more training.

Yan Motian, however, thoroughly scolded the two of them.

“The first and second places were originally in our grasp, but you insisted on fighting to the death for some top-grade benefits for yourselves, ending up with the lowest rank that still had to be split evenly. Utterly stupid beyond measure!”

He scolded Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu’an until they were thoroughly berated, naturally adding several more points to their hatred toward Baili Yuan.

“Eight teams of our demon cultivators went in, and only two teams came out. Yet your Wraith Sect sent three teams in and three teams out. Remarkable, remarkable!”

Lin Mingyu tapped his folding fan against his palm, his face showing a smile as if he didn’t care much about losing so many demon cultivators, but his words carried great sourness.

As soon as the two of them spoke, they directed their hostility toward the Wraith Sect.

Hearing these words, Elder Peng and the others couldn’t help but roll their eyes. Peak Master Yi from Four Symbols Peak slowly said, “One must accept defeat gracefully.”

The three of them, Yin Congfeng, showed no angry expressions upon hearing this. They simply cupped their hands [unauthorized copy]toward Peak Master Yi, being quite straightforward about it. However, their hearts still ached for the first and second place rewards—the duck that was in their grasp had just flown away, so they couldn’t help but say a few more words.

Yan Motian let out a heavy cold snort. This snort fell into the ears of Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu’an, causing them both to sway. Each of them let out a “wa” sound and spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood, their auras immediately becoming dispirited.

“A… mi… ta… Buddha. I wonder what expert our sect encountered that caused all of them to achieve ultimate bliss and return to paradise.”

A loud Buddhist chant rang out. Master Yisong’s face had already turned iron-blue. The Pure Land Sect hadn’t had a single person return—all had perished. He spoke almost word by word, his scarlet kasaya rustling loudly.

His gaze first swept over Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu’an, then finally settled on Baili Yuan, Gan Shi, and the others.

“This old fellow is also extremely curious. This time, our Court and the Pure Land Sect were almost completely annihilated. Now that the competition is over, could you bring out the antidote?”

From another direction, Sword King Xiahua from Ten-Step Court also frowned as he looked toward the demon cultivators and the Wraith Sect. Their Ten-Step Court wasn’t much better off than the Pure Land Sect. Although one person had ultimately emerged, he was half-dead.

Most critically, the poison that Wang Lang had been afflicted with was extremely strange. For a time, even a group of Core Formation cultivators couldn’t treat it, causing great alarm in their hearts. They could only temporarily suppress it with spiritual power and wait until they returned to have their sect’s ancestors take action.

Speaking of poison, both demon cultivators and the Wraith Sect were experts in this field, so for a moment, they didn’t know which side Wang Lang had actually encountered.

“This is a trial. Are you looking to settle accounts now?” Elder Peng looked toward Master Yisong with an unfriendly expression.

“Elder Peng has misunderstood. Amitabha Buddha. From the moment of intention, this poor monk became attached to appearances. If you’re unwilling to speak, then let it be.”

A flash of light passed through Master Yisong’s eyes, then he clasped his hands together and offered an apology. However, the group of Buddhas behind him had auras that surged in waves, their momentum gradually rising—hardly showing any intention of letting it be.

Elder Peng glanced toward the Pure Land Sect direction ​Read on Jormuntl​and ignored them, turning his head to speak indifferently.

“Which of you fought with Junior Wang Lang? The competition is over. If any of you did, bring out the antidote.”

“Uncle-Master Peng, this junior did fight with him, though it would be more accurate to say he was chasing and trying to kill me. As for the poison he was afflicted with, this junior doesn’t know. I was hiding the entire time and don’t know what else he encountered afterward.”

Gong Chenying bowed and answered.

“Oh, what about you two?” Elder Peng nodded and looked toward Baili Yuan and Gan Shi. Both shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know.

“Sword King Xiahua, you see… this is somewhat beyond our ability to help.” Elder Peng turned back to Sword King Xiahua with a slight smile.

“Oh? Then may I ask this junior—how did he chase and try to kill you? And how did you escape?”

Sword King Xiahua instantly fixed his gaze on Gong Chenying.

“Xiahua, you’ve gone too far!”

Before Gong Chenying could speak, a cold and elegant voice suddenly rang out—it was Peak Mistress Li Yuin from Boundless Peak.

Gong Chenying also shook her head. “When I couldn’t win, I ran. No particular reason.”

“Uncle-Master Xiahua, I can actually testify to this. When I was fighting with Brother Baili from the Wraith Sect, Wang Lang was indeed chasing an opponent ahead of us.”

Just as Gong Chenying’s voice fell, a clear voice rang out from the Grand Profound Sect direction. A graceful figure stood there somewhat desolately—it was Qiu Jiuzhen. Seeing everyone looking her way, she respectfully bowed to Sword King Xiahua. However, in the moment she lowered her head, a flash [stolen content]of resentment passed through her eyes, though when she raised her head again, her eyes were completely clear.

Her sudden statement caused the Grand Profound Sect side to fall silent. Immortal Elder Hangzhi frowned several times, then finally sighed inwardly without stopping her.

What people didn’t notice was that Qiu Jiuzhen’s wording was ambiguous. She didn’t explicitly say Wang Lang was chasing Gong Chenying, but had said he was chasing an “opponent.” To outsiders, it sounded like Wang Lang and Gong Chenying had indeed fought.

Baili Yuan, hearing this, also cupped his hands toward Qiu Jiuzhen and said indifferently, “I yield to your superiority!”

Sword King Xiahua’s frown deepened. After staring at Qiu Jiuzhen for a while, he looked at the perfectly calm Baili Yuan, then withdrew his gaze and asked no further questions.

Observing these people’s expressions, they didn’t seem to be faking at all, and there was even testimony from a Grand Profound Sect disciple. For a moment, he couldn’t determine who had actually made the move. Moreover, this was a normal trial—he could only use requesting an antidote as a pretext for indirect questioning.

Who knew that Qiu Jiuzhen would stand out and say such things? Even Gong Chenying found it strange, but after her surprise, she couldn’t help but glance at Li Yan beside her, thinking to herself, “This guy definitely intended for Qiu Jiuzhen to overhear those words earlier!”

Li Yan revealed his white teeth to her and chuckled softly.

The atmosphere here became strange for a moment. Several sides stopped talking, but their auras grew stronger and stronger, especially Ten-Step Court and Pure Land Sect—and this time it included Grand Profound Sect as well—all looking over with unfriendly gazes, while the Wraith Sect side coldly observed the three sects.

The three sects’ decades-long plan this time had consumed vast resources, only to end in almost complete annihilation. Only Qiu Jiuzhen had returned with wounded and disciples in storage pouches. Including Wang Lang, only eighteen people from the three sects had come out alive, when they had entered with over three hundred thirty people.

In the end, not only had they failed to annihilate their enemies according to plan, they hadn’t even touched the edge of the final generous rewards. This time’s loss was far beyond just “taking a beating.”

In contrast, the Wraith Sect had over forty people come out alive and had even obtained the most generous first and second place rewards. Just looking at the excited expressions of Elder Peng and the others, one could guess that these rewards even exceeded the value of cultivators’ lives.

How could the three sects not be enraged? They were gradually losing control of the anger in their hearts.

After they returned this time, they would each have to bear the towering fury of their sect ancestors. Decades of painstaking effort had been wasted in their hands, and the punishment would be extremely severe—they might even have their cultivation paths severed.

Thinking of these things, the Core Formation cultivators from the three sects were gradually becoming red-eyed.

The Wraith Sect wasn’t giving them a way to live, so they didn’t want to just go back and suffer punishment for nothing. The Core Formation cultivators from the three sects actually formed a tacit understanding in the same instant.

Seeing the atmosphere becoming increasingly tense, the disciples couldn’t help but grow nervous. Many thought to themselves, “Are these three sides really going to tear off all pretenses here and directly surround the Wraith Sect?”

In terms of current fighting strength, the Wraith Sect only had eight Core Formation elders, clearly at a severe numerical disadvantage.

Elder Peng and the other seven Core Formation elders, however, acted completely unconcerned. Suddenly, Elder Peng cupped his hands toward the demon cultivator side, who were watching with interest as if enjoying the show.

“Brothers Yin, Yan, and Lin, I wonder if you could come over for a chat? I have some small items here for you to examine.”

This sudden action left Yin Congfeng and the others stunned, while Ten-Step Court and the three sects were even more puzzled about what Elder Peng and his group were trying to do at this critical moment. Rally allies?

The reason they hadn’t immediately acted was naturally because they were considering the consequences. If there were no demon cultivators watching, as long as they acted cleanly with no witnesses, even if the Wraith Sect knew it was the three sects working together, what could they do? On the surface, they still had to be reasonable.

It was just that acting directly in front of the demon cultivators now—they weren’t confident about what the demon cultivators’ attitude would be.

“Oh, since Elder Peng puts it that way, we’ll come over. However, we won’t interfere in your sect matters.”

After thinking briefly and seeing Elder Peng’s extremely composed appearance—as if they would suffer a great loss if they didn’t ​visit our site​go—Yin Congfeng couldn’t help but become curious.

Yin Congfeng exchanged glances with Yan Motian and Lin Mingyu. After confirming with each other through their eyes, they unfolded their movements and flew directly toward the peak where the Wraith Sect was located.

With the departure of the three mid-stage demon cultivators, the storm-like momentum from before dissipated considerably, and even Ten-Step Court and the three sects stopped all their actions.

However, what surprised Ten-Step Court and the three sects was that after Yin Congfeng and the other two flew to the Wraith Sect’s peak, Peak Master Yi waved his long sleeve and created another light barrier, enveloping the eight of them along with the three demon cultivators, preventing them from seeing anything clearly.

Seeing the light barrier enveloping them, the three demon cultivators weren’t afraid. In this secret realm, human cultivators wouldn’t dare to suddenly attack them.

Inside the light barrier, Yin Congfeng looked at the Wraith Sect Core Formation cultivators and slowly spoke.

“I don’t know why Elder Peng summoned us here. What is there for us to examine? In the current situation, I think you should be more worried about your own predicament.”

Elder Peng smiled and said, “Hehe… this matter also concerns you all. After I finish speaking, perhaps you won’t be so calm.”

“Oh, it concerns us?”

After hearing this, the three of them, Yin Congfeng, couldn’t help but be stunned.

(Chapter End)