Daqin Zhentiansi

“First,” Zhang Yuan held up a finger, “summon the core disciples who are willing to follow me, and take with you the remaining inherited books and seeds of rare species that you can still carry with you, board the flying boat I left behind, and leave with my army.”

“This place will be wiped off the map by a salvo of Qin warships, turning it into scorched earth, and naturally no more trouble will come your way.”

"From now on, you will become a subordinate force of my Great Qin Zhen Tian Si."

Zhang Yuan paused for a moment, then spoke again.

"Secondly," he raised his second finger, his gaze sweeping over the dilapidated mountain gate, "you will stay. I will send a group of powerful individuals to join your Yunlan Immortal Sect under different names, and they will serve as elders or even the new 'Sect Master'."

"From today onwards, the Yunlan Immortal Sect will still exist, and under the leadership of these 'core leaders,' it will focus on recuperation and secretly obey the orders of the Zhentian Division."

This place will become a foothold for my forces to infiltrate Qizhou.

"Choose."

Zhang Yuan said no more, leaving the two men with immense pressure and boundless fear.

Dead silence.

Only heavy breathing and the faint, distant rumble of a fleet being mobilized sounded like a death countdown.

Choose? How do I choose?
There is no choice at all!
The treasures of the various sects that were slaughtered were scattered.

Do they, the Yunlan Immortal Sect, even qualify for selection?
"Hey……"

After a long while, Daoist Qingling sighed softly.

His gaze fell upon the broken rocks beneath his feet, the only remaining foundation stones of the Ancestral Hall.

He glanced again at the few dozen remaining, still-shaken core disciples beside him; then, one last look at the pleading eyes of the Supreme Elder who had been forcibly kept behind—

He could never let go of the foundation of this millennia-old heritage, even though it was riddled with holes.

"Disciples of the Immortal Sect have been born and raised here for generations, and it is hard for them to leave their homeland..."

Qingling's voice was dry and hoarse, filled with endless sorrow.

"We choose... to stay."

He uttered those words with difficulty, as if he had used up all his strength.

Qingling Daoist knew that this choice meant that Yunlan Immortal Sect would exist in name only and become someone else's puppet.

But he understood even more clearly that the first choice, "erasure," was more thorough than death.

For that faint hope of continuing the tradition, he could only resort to desperate measures.

“A wise choice.”

Zhang Yuan nodded slightly, unsurprised.

With a wave of his hand, the Shadow Division Commander, Faceless, walked up to Qingling Daoist, his appearance changing from a middle-aged man to an old man with a black beard.

"From now on, I will rely on the support of Sect Master Qingling and all fellow disciples for the internal affairs of Yunlan Sect. I will temporarily assume the position of Grand Elder, responsible for the sect's external affairs and security."

His faceless gaze swept over the remaining disciples, carrying an undeniable aura of power.

Several elite Zhen Tian Si soldiers, with refined auras and indifferent expressions, removed their standard armor, changed into the Yunlan Immortal Sect disciple robes that had been prepared beforehand, and walked towards Qing Ling and the others without expression.

Several powerful figures from the Zhen Tian Division remained, and they will become the new "Yunlan Elders Council," quickly taking over control of the sect's defensive formations and core areas.

Zhang Yuan turned his head and looked at Ye Qingfeng, the deputy head of the Martial Defense Division, who was standing to the side with his hands clasped in front of him.

“Deputy Chief Ye, with you in charge of Qizhou, all matters, big and small, can be decided with a single word.”

"Yes, sir." Ye Qingfeng clasped his hands and bowed.

He is the deputy head of the Martial Guard and a top expert in the Heavenly Guard.

Sword cultivators at the Grandmaster level, without the suppression of the Great Dao of Yongtian Continent, can fight beyond their level and are even capable of defeating those at the Tongyou realm.

With this level of cultivation, it's more than enough to control the overall situation behind the Yunlan Immortal Sect.

"By the way, the demonic sword that was sent to the imperial city came from Qizhou. We need to find out whether it has any connection with the forces that attacked the Boundless Sea back then."

Zhang Yuan looked into the distance, his eyes revealing a deep light: "Also, I read in the ancient books that there is a Yuwang Zhenhai Sect in Qizhou. Remember to check their origins."

...Just as the Yunlan Immortal Sect completed the power transfer, the Qin army did not rush to withdraw.

Under Zhang Yuan's instructions, groups of "Yunlan Immortal Sect messengers," disguised as members of the Zhen Tian Si, scattered in all directions, carrying information jade slips with a unified message, and flew to all forces, large and small, within a radius of millions of miles.

The core message of the jade slip was that the demons launched a surprise attack and suffered a devastating annihilation.

It emphasizes that Yunlan Immortal Sect and several surrounding sects and aristocratic strongholds were suddenly attacked by the elite forces of the Three-Eyed Blue-Eyed Demon Clan, and the offensive was unprecedentedly fierce.

Just as the protective array of the Yunlan Immortal Sect was on the verge of collapse, it was fortunate that a powerful fellow traveler from beyond the realm came to its timely aid, thus defeating the vanguard of the demon race who were on the verge of extinction.

The jade slip emphasizes that several surrounding forces that participated in the defense or were geographically close suffered a "bloodbath, their sects were destroyed, and their lineages were cut off" due to the demons' final desperate counterattack.

The scene was horrific; the ruins were filled with demonic energy, and fragments of the three-eyed demons were scattered everywhere.

The Yunlan Immortal Sect itself also suffered heavy losses.

The Supreme Elder is critically injured and on the verge of death, and most of the elite disciples have been lost. They urgently need to recuperate and are unable to shoulder the great responsibility of fighting against the demons in Qizhou in the short term. We request that all parties be vigilant against possible subsequent counterattacks from the demons.

All of this was Zhang Yuan's way of delaying the time it would take for all parties to notice.

This also decouples the Yunlan Immortal Sect from this incident.

Those schemes to frame someone couldn't possibly fool everyone.

As long as the army leaves, even if it is discovered that it was not the Three-Eyed Demon Clan that plundered various places, so what?

The Yunlan Immortal Sect explained that they were unaware of the situation and that it was all the work of the extraterrestrial reinforcements.

The message in the jade slip was like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, causing huge waves within a million miles of Qizhou.

"The Three-Eyed Demon Clan is so insane! They wiped out more than a dozen families! These are no scattered soldiers, but the vanguard of a main force! Our small sects are in grave danger!" In the main hall of a small sect, several gray-robed elders looked worried.

"They've even lost their stronghold at the Xuanjing mine, which they've held for years. Where will the Demon Clan go next?" The middle-aged Taoist priest spoke with a tense expression, clenching his fists.

The closer the sects were to each other, the more panicked they became.

Instead, they dared not investigate the area around Yunlan Immortal Sect, for fear of attracting the remaining Three-Eyed Demon Clan.

Several other factions are also cautiously observing the situation.

On a mountain thousands of feet high.

The grand hall exudes a spiritual light.

"Strange, according to the Yunlan Immortal Sect, the main force of the demon army was severely damaged and retreated. But apart from the Yunlan Mountain Gate, where there are signs of battle, why are there no traces of the great battle at those strongholds that were wiped out?"

Inside the main hall, someone held a jade slip in their hand and whispered.

"Moreover, the Three-Eyed Demons have always liked to enslave and seize resource points. When have they ever been so brutal as to completely destroy everything without leaving any survivors?"

This time, the extraterrestrial demons launched a surprise attack on Qizhou, with dozens of breakthrough points.

The Yunlan Immortal Sect itself was nothing special, but their behavior was somewhat unusual.

"Wait, what about the support army? Yunlan was vague, only mentioning fellow Daoists from beyond the realm?" On the other side, a white-haired Daoist's eyes flashed with a sharp light.

"To be able to rescue Yunlan under the siege of the main force of the demon race with seemingly minimal losses? And to make the vanguard of the demon race retreat? This strength is probably extraordinary!"

"Could it be... some ancient, reclusive lineage?"

The Taoist priest's eyes gleamed as he spoke.

……

Almost as soon as the news spread, several large sects, including Li Huo Bao Ge, and their affiliated forces were in an uproar!

"Report—Sect Master! Something terrible has happened! Elder Ouyang Ye's primordial spirit lamp is faintly aurad and its location is rapidly shifting! It's not on the return route!"

"Master! Uncle Feng Chengyue's soul jade tablet is shattered, but the Spirit Rhinoceros Gu shows that he... he is still alive!"

"Elder! Inner Sect Deacon Li Rong and seventeen true disciples skilled in the core of formations, along with their natal soul flames, have all vanished! Their last known location is near the Yunlan Mountain Gate!"

Elite members of the sect have defected?
A powerful figure from a sect has gone missing?
This is an extremely important matter! (End of Chapter)