Fairy, you call this repaying a debt of gratitude?

The remaining disciples of the Demonic Sect, seeing Shen Wei's murderous aura and his relentless advance, finally realized that the situation was dire.

Some of the more timid and quick-witted disciples of the Demonic Sect immediately ran backward, hoping to escape and save their lives.

Shen Wei's figure suddenly swayed, and in an instant he caught up with the fastest demonic cultivator, blocking his retreat. Then he raised his hand and swung his sword, slashing downwards with swiftness.

A burst of blood erupted, and the man collapsed to the ground, dead, before he could even utter a scream.

Before the cold light had even faded, and before Shen Wei could regain his footing, his body shifted again.

In the next instant, he silently appeared behind another fleeing disciple and slashed downwards again without hesitation.

With a thud, another head fell to the ground.

"A monster...a monster."

The remaining demonic cultivators, seeing Shen Wei standing there covered in blood, like a god of death descending to earth, were all so frightened that they froze and dared not take another step forward.

They stopped, but the killing did not stop.

Shen Wei stepped forward one by one and killed them, each sword strike precise and deadly, showing no mercy.

From the perspective of those demonic cultivators, the scene before them seemed extremely bizarre.

The young man in black was killing his companions on the left just moments before, and in the blink of an eye he moved to the right to reap their lives. They didn't even have time to mobilize any spiritual energy to defend themselves before their vision went black and their lives were instantly cut off.

Almost simultaneously, the sounds of blood splattering and screams rang out, creating a chaotic and jarring cacophony.

Blood stained almost half the street. Shen Wei looked up and saw that there were no more demonic cultivators standing on the empty street before slowly sheathing his sword.

"call……"

He exhaled a breath of stale air, then gently wiped the bloodstains on his clothes with his left hand. Instantly, using the bloodstains on his clothes as a guide, all the remaining essence and scattered demonic energy in the surrounding area were absorbed into his body.

These demonic cultivators were shallow in cultivation, barely at the Foundation Establishment or early Core Formation level. They could only suppress the evil dragon's restlessness for a moment and barely fill their stomachs.

It was not enough for the Evil Dragon to react and improve its cultivation.

After doing all this, Shen Wei raised his hand and lightly patted his robe, then turned around and quickly chased after Wen Yutang in the direction she had just left.

.......

The five Qingze Sect disciples had been engaged in intense battles for days, and their spiritual energy was completely depleted. Unable to continue, their steps became increasingly slow. It didn't take Wen Yutang long to find their presence within the range of her divine sense.

But her heart sank suddenly. If she could catch up so easily, the demonic disciples who were following closely behind must have caught up as well.

As expected, when Wen Yutang arrived, the five disciples were already surrounded by ten demonic sect disciples, with no way to retreat.

The five men looked at each other, their eyes filled with despair and distress, knowing full well that they would have no way to escape today.

Seeing that they couldn't escape, the five Qingze Sect disciples gritted their teeth, gripped their longswords tightly, and were determined to fight their way out, even though they were exhausted.

However, they were too exhausted, their spiritual energy depleted, and they had little strength left to even swing their swords. Their sword strikes were weak and feeble, and they could barely maintain their basic protective spiritual light.

When Wen Yutang arrived, the five disciples were already surrounded by ten disciples of the Demonic Sect.

Seeing that they couldn't escape, the five Qingze Sect disciples each drew their swords, determined to fight their way out.

Seeing this, Wen Yutang quickly drew her sword and went to help. With a light touch of her toes, her white clothes fluttering, she turned around and landed, killing a disciple of the Demonic Sect, and forcibly created an escape route for the five people.

"He's a disciple of the Fuyou Upper Sect..."

"Finally, the sect has sent someone!"

Exclamations of surprise spread among the disciples of Qingze Sect.

But the Fuyou Sect only sent her alone, so now is not the time to be happy!

While wielding her sword to parry the demonic cultivators' fierce attacks, Wen Yutang shouted a warning: "Be careful, don't be distracted, break through to my side!"

Upon seeing this, the demonic sect disciples who had been surrounding them were thrown into disarray, exchanging bewildered glances. One of the disciples, his face trembling with shock, asked his companion beside him:

"What's going on... Didn't the elder say no one would care about us?"

A disciple of the Demonic Sect was somewhat bewildered by this and asked the person next to him. As he spoke, another person died at Wen Yutang's hands.

Wen Yutang was at the late stage of Core Formation, so dealing with these demonic cultivators who were at most at the early stage of Core Formation was not too difficult for her. With each rise and fall of her sword, the demonic cultivators fell to the ground one after another.

The demonic cultivator leader beside him suppressed his panic and coldly ordered, "I don't know! Capture her first and silence her!"

The five Qingze Sect disciples, whose nerves had just relaxed slightly, tensed up again in an instant.

One of the calm and collected male disciples raised his arm and shouted to boost morale: "Let's join forces and charge towards the direction of our fellow Daoists from the Fuyou Sect, fighting our way out!"

The remaining four seemed to be encouraged by Wen Yutang's arrival and responded in unison.

The five of them focused their minds and exhausted the last bit of spiritual energy in their bodies to form a sword formation, which they then used to attack Wen Yutang.

Seeing this, Wen Yutang nodded in understanding and drew her sword to meet him.

"The Soaring Clouds and Gentle Breeze Sword Technique!"

In an instant, sword light filled the sky, and less than one in ten of the demonic sect disciples survived.

Only three disciples of the Demonic Sect and the leader of the Demonic Path remained, putting up a last-ditch resistance.

At this moment, Shen Wei also arrived. He neatly finished off the battle, piercing through four people with a single sword strike before sheathing his sword.

The five Qingze Sect disciples exchanged glances, their eyes filled with relief at surviving the ordeal.

The male disciple who had just raised his arms and shouted slowly walked out, bowed deeply to Shen Wei and Wen Yutang, and said with gratitude, "Thank you for your righteous rescue, fellow Daoist of Fuyao Sect, and for the help of this great hero. We will never forget your great kindness."

"It's alright. Protecting the people is what we should do," Wen Yutang replied softly.

Upon hearing this answer, the male disciple's gaze did not relax.

"Fellow Daoists, could you possibly turn back and rescue our senior brother? Just now, he single-handedly covered our retreat to protect us during our breakout, and is now surrounded. We...we don't know if he's alive or dead..."

But before he could finish speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Shen Wei's back, where a slender figure was staggering towards them. It was none other than the senior brother, Fang Qi, who had just desperately covered their retreat.

"Senior brother!" The male disciple's heart warmed, and he quickly stepped forward to support the trembling Fang Qi, his voice filled with urgency and joy.

The disciples had thought they would never see each other again in this life, but seeing their respected senior brother still alive, they were overwhelmed with emotion and could not hide their feelings.

Some of the more sentimental disciples even had tears welling up in their eyes, which slowly slid down their cheeks.

With his junior brother's support, Fang Qi managed to stand steadily and slowly walked to Shen Wei and Wen Yutang. He bowed deeply and clasped his hands in a solemn tone:

"Thank you both for your great help in saving us and giving us a second chance. My fellow disciples and I will never forget your kindness."

Shen Wei nodded slightly, his mind now filled with questions.

However, seeing the disheveled state of his disciples, he decided to let them rest and recuperate nearby before asking them questions.

The group of demonic sect disciples that Shen Wei just killed should be the last remaining forces within Ningyuan Town.

After their deaths, the Evil Dragon Demon also fell into complete silence.

Those who had survived by chance, realizing that there were no more screams and cries of battle outside, finally mustered their courage and came out one by one.

The group temporarily set up camp at the largest restaurant in town, where the more seriously injured Qingze Sect disciples recuperated and rested.

As for the disciples with minor injuries, they forced themselves to participate in the post-incident recovery work, gathering the scattered villagers one by one in the town center for easier care and protection.

The town is not large, with a permanent population of about a thousand.

Fang Qi looked around and roughly estimated that there were only about three hundred people left, then reported this to Shen Wei.

Shen Wei pondered for a moment. If even towns are like this, then the remaining villages are probably less than one in ten left.

If this kind of thing were happening all over Cangying Continent...

The price that Fuyou Sect paid was no ordinary amount.

But now is not the time to think about these things. The most important thing right now is to get the information we need from Fang Qi and the others, and then help them find a safe place.

"Fang Qi." Shen Wei learned the other person's name from the previous conversation and spoke calmly, getting straight to the point, "When did these demonic cultivators invade?"

"About four days ago."

Four days ago, the day after he and Ye Qingci entered the city, no wonder they hadn't seen such a tragic scene on their way here by sword.

He then asked, "What other towns, like yours, have been invaded by demonic cultivators?"

"Besides our Ningyuan Town... there are about four other towns." Fang Qi tried hard to recall, his severe injuries making it difficult for him to speak.

Seeing this, Shen Wei took out some medicine from his mouth, which was some he had left for Ye Qingci last time.

Seeing this, Shen Wei took out a bottle of wound medicine from his pocket—it was the one he had left for Ye Qingci last time, and it hadn't been used up yet.

He handed the medicine to Fang Qi, who accepted it without hesitation or doubt and immediately swallowed it.

After a short while, the medicine slowly took effect, and Fang Qi's complexion improved considerably, and he could speak more fluently.

"Our Ningyuan Town was probably the last town to be invaded, but the invasions all happened on the same day."

Shen Wei nodded to indicate that he understood, and then asked:

"Have you taken note of how many of these demonic cultivators there are?"

"A few days ago, my fellow disciples and I worked closely together. Most of those demonic cultivators were cowardly and afraid of death, and we killed nearly thirty of them together. But later, the number of those demonic cultivators suddenly increased, and we gradually became overwhelmed, losing many disciples. We only managed to kill less than fifteen. If you include the demonic cultivators you killed earlier, roughly speaking, there are at least a hundred."

One hundred people?

There are over a hundred demonic cultivators in just Ningyuan Town. If what Fang Qi said is true, there are four more towns, that would be four hundred people, which is no small number.

When Shen Wei was traveling in this world, he often dealt with demonic cultivators.

He knew that although some of these demonic cultivators belonged to sects, most of them were lone wolves.

Those powerful and influential demonic sects had long been wiped out by the late Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty and driven to the far north, forbidden from setting foot in the Central Plains.

So the question is, how did so many disciples of the Demonic Sect cross the northern border and quietly arrive in the heart of the Great Zhou Dynasty—Cangying Continent?

The Shangqing Sect has been stationed in the northern frontier for many years. It is impossible for them to be unaware of such a large-scale invasion of demonic cultivators.

Moreover, where were these demonic sect disciples placed after arriving in Cangying Continent?

He had just observed them carefully and found that these demonic disciples belonged to different sects, making them difficult to manage and impossible to place within the Fuyou Sect.

Even if the Fuyou Sect and the Demonic Sect secretly colluded, it was mostly a dirty trick done by the higher-ups for their own selfish interests.

Most outer and inner disciples would certainly be unaware of this matter, let alone accept it. After all, the belief in eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path is already engraved in the hearts of every disciple of the immortal sect, a fact that can be confirmed by the reaction of Wen Jingxing and his sister.

Of course, Cangyingzhou is a vast region, so these demonic cultivators can easily find a place to hide, but logistical support is a major problem for them.

Four hundred people might be manageable, but if, as Shen Wei suspected, such demonic cultivator invasions were happening all over Cangying Continent, then even with the Fuyou Sect secretly providing support, the logistical pressure would be enormous.

Could it be that by allowing these demonic sect disciples to slaughter indiscriminately in their subordinate towns, they intend to use the lives of ordinary people and lower-level cultivators as a substitute for logistical supplies?

If that's the case, then their behavior is truly appalling; they don't even bother to squeeze the people's hard-earned money...

Is it really worth it to do this?

He always felt that things were far more complicated than they seemed.

However, with limited intelligence at the moment, he could only pin his hopes on the meeting three days later to obtain more clues.

Before that, he needs to do what he can to protect the survivors in front of him.

Speaking of the meeting three days later, Shen Wei couldn't help but feel a little doubtful. Wen Jingxing seemed to be taking this matter too lightly. However, with a large number of demonic cultivators entering the country, there must be a bigger conspiracy behind it. This initiative would probably not be smooth sailing.

But all of this will have to wait until he has dealt with the current issues before he can make any plans.

"These disciples of the demonic sect seem to have a clear division of labor and are very disciplined. Is someone organizing them behind the scenes?"

He felt that these disciples of the Demonic Sect were definitely not as neglected as Wen Yutang claimed, or that they were fighting to the death with the awareness of being cannon fodder.

"Very likely! When we first came down the mountain, we captured a disciple of the Demonic Sect who was acting alone. We interrogated him relentlessly, but he was very stubborn, only saying that he couldn't say, couldn't say, and at the end he even said that the elders would not let him go."

"At the time, we were also very curious about who this so-called elder was, that he would rather die than reveal any information."

Elder?

The elder that Wen Jingxing mentioned earlier was an elder of the Jade Dew Sect. He didn't know if the elder mentioned by that disciple was the same one that Wen Jingxing was talking about.

Never mind, we'll talk about these things tomorrow.

It's getting late, so we still need to make arrangements for these townspeople first.

Just then, a female disciple who was not seriously injured walked up to Shen Wei and said somewhat timidly, "Hero, we have prepared a room for you on the second floor of the restaurant. Please go up and rest for a while."

"No need, I'll just make do outside. Leave the extra beds for those who need them."

Previously, those members of the Demonic Sect invaded the village, killing ordinary people and setting fire to houses. Although the fire has been extinguished, most of the houses are no longer habitable. This restaurant is one of the better-preserved places.

He was almost unharmed, and since rooms are in short supply, they should naturally be given priority to those who need them more.

After saying that, Shen Wei turned and walked out of the restaurant to an open space outside the town. The stench of blood in the air had faded somewhat, and the evening breeze was cool on his face.

Shen Wei found a clean wall and slowly sat down.

It's a nice day today, with a cool breeze that makes him feel very comfortable.

Shen Wei has always liked nights like this, quiet and peaceful.

For most of the survivors, however, this night was one of utter devastation, loss of family, and separation by death—a painful memory they would never forget.

Every beautiful night like this from now on will remind them of the despair they experienced today.

Fuyou Sect...

Have you never considered that behind your transactions are precious lives?

Not long after, Wen Yutang, who had just finished directing the resettlement work, also returned.

Seeing Shen Wei sitting alone outside instead of going into the restaurant to rest, she walked over and asked softly:

"Master Shen, why don't you go to a guest room to rest? There are clean rooms on the second floor, specially reserved for you."

Shen Wei opened his eyes and slowly repeated to Wen Yutang what he had just said to the female disciple.

"So that's how it is."

Wen Yutang suddenly realized, and then smiled slightly, "Then I'll keep you company, hero, so I can look after you."

She found a clean spot near Shen Wei and sat down.

As she spoke, she found a clean spot near Shen Wei and sat down.

The two sat side by side, saying little, simply gazing at the stars in the night sky.

The surroundings were quiet and still. A gentle evening breeze ruffled their hair. The fatigue of the past few days washed over them, and they drifted off to sleep without realizing it...