Chapter 292 - 253: Limited Impact

Compared to nurturing a Demon Vein, removing one to alter the cultivation environment was certainly far simpler.

This gave them a distinct advantage when it came to altering the cultivation environment.

However, this advantage was rarely useful. Within the Qionglin Domain, cultivators who followed conventional cultivation paths like them were a tiny minority.

With the Celestial Cloud Sect’s current overall strength, it was difficult to occupy even a small piece of land within the Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm.

The Demons occupying this area needed to nurture Demon Veins to change the cultivation environment. This difficulty gave the cultivators more breathing room.

Fang Yun left White Crane Castle and headed back to the Celestial Cloud Sect.

Before he had traveled ten li, he sensed two waves of Spiritual Power.

Fang Yun quickly determined that the fluctuations came from two mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

’Coming from this direction, and emitting fluctuations of Spiritual Power... Without a doubt, these must be the Battle Peak Elders on their way to reinforce White Crane Castle.’

Once he had confirmed their identities, Fang Yun stopped concealing his presence.

Among the Battle Peak Elders coming to reinforce White Crane Castle was one he knew very well.

"Senior Sister Bai, Elder Zhou."

As his voice rang out, Bai Qinying and Elder Zhou noticed him as well.

From their perspective, Fang Yun’s voice and aura had appeared simultaneously.

"Junior Brother."

"Elder Fang."

The two called out, and then Bai Qinying asked.

"Junior Brother, weren’t you sent to reinforce the Xiao Family? Why are you here?"

Bai Qinying’s attention was focused entirely on Fang Yun, but Elder Zhou glanced in the direction of White Crane Castle.

’Fang Yun is here, which means he’s probably already been to White Crane Castle... and that means...’

While Elder Zhou was still pondering this, Fang Yun’s reply to Bai Qinying also answered the question in his mind.

"The mission to reinforce the Xiao Family is complete. I figured I had some time, so I came to check on White Crane Castle, which is closest to the Xiao Family’s ancestral land. Turns out, the battle here was already over. All of White Crane Castle’s Cultivators are dead."

"What!"

Bai Qinying was shocked. She thought that she and Elder Zhou had been traveling quite fast.

For White Crane Castle to have been wiped out in such a short time...

’Could the information White Crane Castle sent to the Management Elder have been wrong?’

After all, none of the eleven affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences had sent a particularly urgent request for reinforcements.

"Just as I thought." Elder Zhou wasn’t surprised; what Fang Yun said was more or less what he had just been thinking.

"White Crane Castle fell too quickly. There were only five Foundation Establishment Demons attacking them, none of which were late-stage. White Crane Castle itself has three Foundation Establishment Cultivators. If the information they sent was accurate, they should have been able to hold out against a group of five Foundation Establishment Demons for a long time."

"I don’t know the specifics," Fang Yun said, shaking his head.

By the time he arrived, he couldn’t sense any fluctuations of Demon Power.

"Junior Brother, what was the situation with the Xiao Family? Did you eliminate all the Foundation Establishment Demons?"

"With the help of the Xiao Family’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Elder Wang pinning them down, all the Foundation Establishment Demons and Qi Refining Demons have been eliminated," Fang Yun replied.

Although Patriarch Xiao hadn’t been much help, the other Xiao Family elders and Elder Wang had provided some assistance. By keeping the Demons occupied, they had saved the Earth Yellow Sword and Demon-slaying Sword he controlled from having to travel greater distances.

Bai Qinying wanted to know more about the situation at the Xiao Family, so Fang Yun gave her a brief summary.

The gist of it was that he had arrived just in time.

Had he been any later, the Xiao Family would have likely met the same fate as White Crane Castle.

After hearing this, Bai Qinying couldn’t help but ask with concern, "If it’s like this for both the Xiao Family and White Crane Castle, could the other locations be the same?"

If that were the case, their losses from this Demon assault would be immense.

If they lost too many affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences, many places within the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm would become even more unsafe.

"For now, it’s all speculation. We’ll only know the full situation once we return to the sect. Perhaps things aren’t as bad as they seem," Fang Yun said.

"Elder Fang is right. To get a clear picture, we must return to the sect first," Elder Zhou added.

"Mm."

With Fang Yun flying in the lead, the three of them returned to the Celestial Cloud Sect.

The journey back was uneventful.

Upon returning to the sect, Bai Qinying and Elder Zhou hurried to Battle Peak.

Fang Yun, however, made his way to the Evil Extermination Hall.

He needed to convert the Foundation Establishment Demons and Qi Refining Demons he had killed into Sect Contribution Points.

This time, his visit to the Evil Extermination Hall was different from usual.

All of the Evil Extermination Hall’s Elders were present.

Seeing this, Fang Yun thought for a moment and understood why.

Both Battle Peak and the Evil Extermination Hall dealt with external affairs. The former’s primary role was combat, supplemented by intelligence gathering, while the latter’s was intelligence gathering, supplemented by combat.

In a situation like the current one, if the affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences still required reinforcements from the Celestial Cloud Sect, the Elders from the Evil Extermination Hall would be the next to be dispatched after the Elders from Battle Peak.

As an Elder of the Evil Extermination Hall, one was required to have excellent concealment skills and a thorough familiarity with the Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm. Yang Yingjie met both criteria, which was why he became an Elder of the Evil Extermination Hall after reaching Foundation Establishment.

"Elder Fang, did you take on a reinforcement mission for Battle Peak?"

Wei Tiexin, the most powerful Elder in the Evil Extermination Hall, asked the moment he saw Fang Yun appear.

"Yes." Fang Yun nodded, then took out the Demons’ heads. "Take a look at these."

"Lu Hongyu of the Celestial Demon Sect!"

Wei Tiexin was taken aback.

Even without having to inspect it, he knew this Demon’s head belonged to a late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

’So, Fang Yun, an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, has the ability to kill a late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon.’