Chapter 2617: Song Yiming's Plan

The local factions are growing stronger, and the families they support, the Song and Situ families, are becoming increasingly powerful. The Song family, in particular, is subtly poised to become a second Li family.

As long as Zhenhai Palace consistently has multiple Integration stage cultivators, the strength of its affiliated cultivation families is not necessarily a bad thing for Zhenhai Palace. This is especially true given the high difficulty for Void Refinement cultivators to advance to the Integration stage. For affiliated cultivation families to surpass Zhenhai Palace, their number of Integration stage cultivators would need to exceed Zhenhai Palace's, or a Mahayana stage cultivator would need to emerge among them. Zhenhai Palace has over three hundred Void Refinement cultivators but only a dozen or so at the Integration stage. For affiliated cultivation families to have a few Integration stage cultivators is already quite good, making it exceedingly difficult for them to surpass Zhenhai Palace.

The Song family's ability to produce an Integration stage cultivator, besides the support of the local factions, is also closely related to Song Yunlong's talent. While the local factions include the Song and Situ families, among the Ascension factions, only the Wang family stands out somewhat, and they are still not strong enough to contend with the Song family. After Song Yunlong advanced to the Integration stage, the number of Void Refinement cultivators in the Song family continuously increased. Ostensibly, there are no fewer than twenty Void Refinement cultivators, possibly even more.

Within Zhenhai Palace are Lin Tianlong and Liu Qingfeng, and externally, the Song and Situ families. These are all forces of the local factions. In contrast, the Ascension factions are much weaker. If this continues, Zhenhai Palace might well become dominated by the local factions.

Song Yiming seeks balance, as it benefits Zhenhai Palace's development. He helps whichever side is weaker, thereby reconciling conflicts and preventing internal strife. Since the Ascension factions are currently weak, he naturally needs to intensify his efforts to support them and try to narrow the gap between the two factions. This will be beneficial for the development of Zhenhai Palace.

Song Yuchan agreed. After she advanced to the Integration stage, her influence increased significantly.

"Senior Sister Chen and Senior Brother Yang have been away from the main altar for so long without any news. They should be alright, shouldn't they?" Song Yuchan said with some concern, remembering something.

"They should be fine. Junior Sister Chen and Junior Brother Yang are not weak in their divine abilities, especially Junior Sister Chen, whose abilities are greatly enhanced if fighting on land," Song Yiming explained. He then recalled something and added, "Currently, the most promising candidates in Zhenhai Palace to advance to the Mahayana stage are Junior Brother Liu and Junior Brother Lin. However, the spiritual items that assist in breaking through to the Mahayana stage are extremely rare, likely found only in perilous areas."

The Yu Xuan Mountain Range, named after a large Yu Xuan ore vein located there, is rich in spiritual energy and home to many high-level demonic beasts. A seventh-tier demonic beast once appeared here but was quickly eliminated by experts from the Divine Weapon Sect. The Divine Weapon Sect dispatched a large number of disciples to guard the area and mine Yu Xuan ore. To facilitate the exchange of cultivation resources for their disciples, they established a market here. Over the years, the Yu Xuan ore has been completely mined out. However, the market still exists, with many merchants and travelers passing through. Many high-level cultivators specifically come here to hunt demonic beasts.

Deep within the Yu Xuan Mountain Range, in a hidden underground cave, deafening roars periodically echoed, shaking the ground and faintly mixing with eerie wails of ghosts. Inside the underground cave, Wang Huayue and Liu Hongxue were attacking a crimson giant ape over a hundred zhang tall. The ape had a crimson horn on its head, blood-red eyes, and emanated overwhelming yin energy. It was a Void Refinement stage ghost.

Wang Changsheng had issued a task to capture as many high-level ghosts as possible and seal them within the Myriad Ghost Seal, effectively preparing food for the Soul-Devouring Golden Cicada. Upon receiving a report from her clansmen about a sixth-tier ghost in the area, Liu Hongxue immediately brought Wang Huayue and rushed over. Wang Huayue had already advanced to the Void Refinement stage. Given that Void Refinement cultivators might not advance even a minor stage in several millennia, it is not uncommon in the cultivation world for parents and children to be at the same cultivation stage, or even for the younger generation to surpass their elders. While Wang Yingjie was overseeing the Azure Lotus Valley, Liu Hongxue brought Wang Huayue here to eliminate the sixth-tier ghost. Liu Hongxue had extensive combat experience. Having spent many years in the Barren Lands with Wang Yingjie, she would have died long ago had her cultivation been too weak.

A gigantic red female phantom floated above Liu Hongxue's head, spewing out a hazy red flame that turned most of the cave into a sea of crimson fire, causing the stone walls to show signs of melting. A hazy blue female phantom floated above Wang Huayue's head, holding a hazy blue longsword in its right hand. With a slight flick of its wrist, countless sharp blue sword qi swept out, rushing straight towards their opponent. The crimson giant ape simultaneously spewed out a crimson flame to meet the incoming crimson inferno while dodging the blue sword qi. Rumbles of explosions sounded as large amounts of rubble rolled down from the stone walls.

Liu Hongxue took out a feather fan shimmering with golden light. With a gentle wave, a hazy golden flame swept out, transforming into a golden fire phoenix hundreds of zhang in size, rushing straight towards the crimson giant ape. The crimson giant ape was greatly alarmed, and the crimson horn on its head shot out a beam of blood-light. The golden fire phoenix was hit by the blood-light, instantly dissipating into countless tiny golden flames.

A hazy blue sky-reaching sword-light swept over, instantly appearing before the crimson giant ape. The crimson giant ape met it with its right fist, shattering the sky-reaching sword-light with a single punch. Its right fist was torn open, revealing white bone. Its original form was a Blood-Eyed Poison Ape that died from severe injuries. Its corpse, nourished by yin energy, slowly transformed into a ghost. Unlike ordinary ghosts, its physical body was relatively strong.

A crimson flame descended from the sky, landing on the crimson giant ape, which hissed and screamed repeatedly. A large expanse of blood-light surged from the crimson giant ape's body, and the flames scattered as if encountering a nemesis. It let out a shrill roar, making Wang Huayue and Liu Hongxue dizzy.

Taking this opportunity, the crimson giant ape transformed into a crimson streak of light and flew towards the cave entrance. As soon as it reached the cave entrance, a golden light flashed, and a hazy golden net descended from above. The crimson giant ape opened its mouth and spewed out a crimson flame, meeting and holding up the golden net, halting its descent. However, a dark light flew over, circling the crimson giant ape several times. The dark light was a shimmering dark iron chain with flashing runes. It was the Ghost-Imprisoning Chain, specifically used to capture ghosts.

The crimson giant ape struggled violently, and a crimson flame surged from its body, but it was useless. Countless golden runes appeared on the surface of the golden net, and a torrent of golden flames surged out, defeating the crimson flame and enveloping the crimson giant ape. The golden flames engulfed the crimson giant ape, causing green smoke to rise from its body as it screamed repeatedly. A hazy blue sky-reaching sword-light descended from the sky, striking the crimson giant ape. A muffled thud was heard, and its flesh was torn open, revealing white bone.

A flash of blood-light, and a blood shadow flew out from its body. Before it could fly far, the void vibrated and distorted, and countless crimson flames emerged, forming a crimson fiery palm that slammed onto the blood shadow. The blood shadow let out a miserable wail and was engulfed by the surging flames. Wang Huayue performed a hand seal, causing the female phantom to instantly brighten significantly. With a slight flick of its wrist, a hazy blue sword qi swept out, instantly condensing into a sky-reaching sword-light that plunged into the sea of fire. From within, an extremely miserable ghost wail emanated.

Within the inferno, a dazzling blood-light illuminated, and the flames flickered violently before extinguishing. A hideous crimson ghost shadow appeared, its aura weak and its body flickering in and out of existence, appearing severely weakened. A black light flashed, and a gigantic black jade seal appeared out of thin air. Its surface showed numerous hideous ghost shadows; it was precisely the Myriad Ghost Seal. The Myriad Ghost Seal spewed out a black mist, enveloping the crimson ghost shadow. The crimson ghost shadow was about to dodge when a woman's loud shout rang out. The crimson ghost shadow's reaction slowed, and it was enveloped by the black mist and pulled into the Myriad Ghost Seal.

Liu Hongxue put away the Myriad Ghost Seal, withdrew her Dharma Idol, and left the area with Wang Huayue. The Myriad Ghost Seal had already collected multiple ghosts, including no fewer than twenty at the Soul Transformation stage, but for now, only one at the Void Refinement stage. The Myriad Spirit Abyss had more high-level ghosts, but it was extremely dangerous. With their current cultivation, going there would be courting death.