Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

Half a month later, they arrived in Qian Kingdom.

More than ten warships landed together in an unnamed mountain forest.

The Golden Core cultivators gathered to discuss countermeasures.

Chen An and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators came to the edge of the warship to observe the situation.

Extending his divine sense into the distance, he sensed a strong sense of resentment in this world, as if the heavens had abandoned this land.

Creatures living in such an environment will become belligerent and irritable due to the influence of resentment.

It's hard to imagine what kind of evil deeds the Netherworld Cult committed to affect the entire environment.

This is not a stronghold of the Netherworld Cult; it's just a random outing where Xuan Yang Sect warships have docked in the Qian Kingdom.

The Netherworld Cult's strongholds—how terrifying and desolate must those legendary evil environments be?

Beside Chen An, Ye Hongyi gazed at the distant sky, her pupils slightly contracting, a hint of surprise appearing in her eyes.

"Senior brother, look what that is!"

Chen An looked in the direction Ye Hongyi was pointing and saw a breathtaking scene: a huge crack had been torn open in the clouds, and the sun's light shone through the crack onto the world.

The area exposed to the sun emitted a plume of black, filthy gas, which drifted into the distance and soon blocked the sunlight again.

Rumble.

The clouds tore apart, and black smoke rose. This strange phenomenon shocked and disgusted those on the warship who witnessed it.

Chen An guessed what was going on. It must be that a Golden Core cultivator was trying to break through the clouds on the horizon to bring sunlight to the earth and dispel the resentment on the ground.

Unfortunately, it failed. Even if sunlight was brought in, new dark energy would rise into the sky to replenish the clouds and block the sunlight again.

In the cultivation world, such areas are called Yin lands. They are generally formed naturally and will disappear over time, but can also be quickly eliminated through the intervention of cultivators.

However, in the Qian Kingdom, the Yin land is too vast. Even if a Golden Core expert uses water-attribute techniques to tear open the clouds with their bare hands to bring in sunlight, a large amount of black energy will still block the sky again afterward.

To eliminate the negative influence of the Qian Kingdom, the first step is to deal with the various grievances among the people.

Unfortunately, this is impossible. The Qian Kingdom is too large and too vast, and many new grievances are born every day, making it impossible to eliminate them all.

Eliminating a small area is meaningless; before long, the resentment flowing through the world will fill the eliminated area again.

About fifteen minutes later.

Team leader Chen Ying reboarded the warship and, while navigating it, assigned tasks to all the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The warship will stop four times en route.

Each time they dock, a legion lands and goes to attack a nearby stronghold of heretics.

Chen Ying distributed a map of the strongholds of evil cultivators to each Foundation Establishment cultivator. The map was very detailed, and some strongholds even indicated the specific configuration and number of evil cultivators.

Chen An's team landed in the third batch and then proceeded to the Netherworld Cult's stronghold according to their instructions.

Chen An's original legion had cooperative experience in hunting demons in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, so it did not appear chaotic, which was in stark contrast to the 1,500 new recruits.

The war was rushed, and not all rogue cultivators were trained, nor were all Foundation Establishment cultivators able to lead large groups of rogue cultivators on missions.

Chen An's Demon Wolf Squad was able to gain the upper hand thanks to the influence of the Yu family, a Golden Core cultivator. Yu Lanhua, a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, personally oversaw the demon-hunting team, giving everyone in the team confidence.

The battle group's landing point was less than twenty miles from the Demonic Cult's stronghold. Without hesitation, Chen An immediately ordered a thousand vanguard troops to advance towards the Demonic Cult's stronghold.

This war was fought entirely by surprise.

The stronghold of the Netherworld Cult was built against the mountain, with many suspension bridges built around a mountain peak, the main peak resembling a heart that had been forcibly ripped out.

The mountain is dark purple, barren of vegetation, and covered with blood-red, spiderweb-like patterns.

On the other small hills surrounding the main peak, there is no ordinary vegetation, only a patch of gray-black scorched earth, where occasionally a few pieces of white bone are turned up in the soil, creaking in the strong wind.

"kill!"

Chen An's lips moved slightly.

Zheng Ping, who was in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, led the four Foundation Establishment cultivators assigned by Chen Ying and rushed towards the Demon Sect's stronghold with the vanguard.

As for the safety of Zheng Ping and the four Foundation Establishment cultivators, no one in the group cared.

Those in the team who didn't want them to die were simply those who didn't want to face danger themselves.

The ten-year agreement is not just about serving as a guest of the Yu family for ten years, but also about working for the Yu family and Yu Peiyao for ten years.

This is the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill.

The four Foundation Establishment cultivators from the sect were in an even worse situation. They had reached the Foundation Establishment realm ahead of schedule thanks to the sect's resources, and now they had to pay off the sect's debts.

While listening to the leader's instructions, you also need to earn enough battle merits to return to your sect and secure your future.

Liu Hao and Wang Rulong served as guards beside Yu Peiyao, their eyes fixed on the vanguard, hoping for a good outcome.

The lower the casualty ratio of the vanguard, the greater the chance of the two surviving when they act as the vanguard in the future. Conversely, the more dangerous it is for Zheng Ping, the more dangerous it will be for the two of them in the future.

Compared to Yu Lanhua, Lu Nian, Chen An, and Ye Hongyi, Zheng Ping appears to be the weakest among the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Demon Wolf Hunting Team.

In reality, he was not weak at all. His years of experience hunting demons allowed him to easily defeat most ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The four Foundation Establishment cultivators fostered by the sect were relatively weak, possessing Foundation Establishment cultivation but unable to unleash their true Foundation Establishment strength.

In order to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill, the four Foundation Establishment cultivators had exhausted all the resources at their disposal, and the only magic weapon they had was the mid-grade magic weapon Fire Spirit Sword, which came from Chen Ying.

In addition to the mid-grade Fire Spirit Sword given to Zheng Ping by Chen Ying, Zheng Ping also possessed a matching mid-grade magic weapon that was much more powerful than the Fire Spirit Sword.

Because it was a surprise attack, the demonic cultivators in the Netherworld Cult's stronghold had no time to prepare, and the situation had already become one-sided.

Those legendary, powerful Qi Refining stage demonic cultivators were utterly powerless against the siege of a large number of cultivators.

Using talismans, thunder beads, and various other methods, they successfully killed their opponents before they could react.

Some prepared demonic cultivators, seeing the overwhelming army pressing in and with no possibility of victory, decisively chose to flee.

They were greeted by a sky full of flying talismans, thunderbolts, and arrows.

When powerful demonic cultivators fight alone and choose to flee, they become lambs to the slaughter.

How could an unorganized and undisciplined escape possibly break through the encirclement of a group of cultivators? Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not escape while being bombarded with arrows, talismans, and lightning beads.

Things progressed more smoothly than expected. In less than a quarter of an hour, most of the Netherworld Cult's stronghold had been captured, and the vanguard had not even suffered much damage.

Until one person came along.

An old man dressed in a black robe, with a white bone necklace hanging from his chest, emerged from the hidden black mist of the main peak. His aura of malevolence was almost tangible, causing the air to tremble.

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner in his hand swayed gently, as if a hellish purgatory had descended upon the human world!

This banner of ten thousand souls is very special. The skull at the top releases black mist, and many ghostly figures struggle and wail in the black mist. There are old and young, men and women, all with distorted faces, stretching out pale claws to try to escape, but they are locked tightly by the talismans on the banner.