Chapter 2850: Five Hundred Years

If it hadn't been for Bai Ling'er, he likely wouldn't have escaped that confined space.

Many years had passed, and he never expected to hear news of Bai Ling'er.

"Senior, have you been to the Nine Demon Realm?" Zhang Feng paused, a look of confusion on his face. While it wasn't surprising for a powerful figure from the Upper Realm to know the names of the Lower Realms and their various races, knowing a specific individual was indeed peculiar.

"Daoist Friend Zhang, just answer Old Ancestor Qingshan truthfully," Wang Shenjie corrected.

Zhang Feng came to his senses, realizing that Wang Qingshan was beyond his own cultivation realm. He quickly replied, "I have heard of her. Bai Ling'er is the patriarch of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox tribe. However, she emerged suddenly, already at the Soul Transformation stage. Before her appearance, there was no record or rumor of her existence."

"The patriarch of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox tribe? Is she still in the Nine Demon Realm?" Wang Qingshan's expression tightened as he pressed for more information.

"No, she isn't. The Blood Eagle tribe, allied with the Black Tiger and Green Sable tribes, attempted to unify the Nine Demon Realm. Bai Ling'er utilized a great divine ability to defeat the leaders of all three tribes, establishing the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox tribe as the most powerful race in the Nine Demon Realm. Afterward, I heard Bai Ling'er ascended to the Celestial Demon Realm and hasn't been seen for many years," Zhang Feng explained.

"The Celestial Demon Realm? By all accounts, you should have ascended there. How did you end up ascending to the Profound Sun Realm instead?" Wang Moshan asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"The Nine Demon Realm is primarily ruled by demon races, and humans there are quite weak. After I advanced to the Soul Transformation stage, I sought further cultivation breakthroughs by venturing into dangerous areas to search for treasures. During this, I accidentally clashed with the patriarch of the Fire Hedgehog tribe. I was outmatched and, while fleeing, unintentionally activated an inter-realm teleportation array. This transported me out of the Nine Demon Realm and into the Azure Firmament Realm. From there, it was a long and arduous journey to cultivate to the mid-Soul Transformation stage, eventually leading to my successful ascension," Zhang Feng recounted the events in full detail.

"Young Friend Zhang," Wang Moshan said, "it's not that we don't trust you, but if you wish to join our family, you will need to undergo tests with the Heart-Sensing Mirror and the Spirit-Testing Array. We won't ask about your personal privacy. However, if you object to this, that's fine; we can still provide you with some resources to support your independent activities." Wang Moshan stated this seriously, emphasizing that the Wang family was not a minor household. To join, one had to pass these tests to ensure their suitability and loyalty.

Zhang Feng considered for a moment, then agreed.

Wang Qingshan inquired about Bai Ling'er's current situation, but Zhang Feng's knowledge was limited. After all, Bai Ling'er hadn't been seen for several millennia and had, in all likelihood, ascended to the Celestial Demon Realm.

Wang Moshan then escorted Zhang Feng away for the tests, and Wang Shenjie also departed with them, leaving Wang Qingshan by himself.

"The Celestial Demon Realm and the Profound Sun Realm are parallel realms; there will be a chance for us to meet," Wang Qingshan murmured to himself, a nostalgic expression on his face. He then recalled something, shook his head, and continued to speak to himself: "The first page of the sword manual: 'Forget your beloved!'"

This particular phrase was uttered by a renowned sword cultivator. Many immortal cultivators have found themselves ensnared by emotional attachments, unable to escape, thereby jeopardizing their cultivation path. His own master, the Carefree Sword Venerable, was one such example. Wang Qingshan was determined not to follow in the Carefree Sword Venerable's footsteps. Should an opportunity arise to meet her, he would simply offer Bai Ling'er his thanks, nothing more. He harbored no romantic intentions.

Upon returning to Green Bamboo Peak, Wang Qingshan retrieved his Profound Yin Bottle. He channeled a spell into it, and a golden flame emerged, quickly coiling into a golden fire snake—it was the True Solar Flame. Wang Qingshan then exhaled a ball of azure flame, which swiftly solidified into an azure firebird that darted towards the golden flame.

The True Solar Flame was relatively weak; even at its full power, it was only comparable to a Soul Transformation cultivator, certainly no match for a sixth-tier spirit flame. Shortly after, the azure firebird completely devoured the True Solar Flame. With a gentle flap of its wings, the azure firebird's flames surged, and the surrounding temperature rapidly increased. Wang Qingshan formed a hand seal, guiding the Azure Lotus Karmic Fire to consume the True Solar Flame. The captured True Solar Flame was only fifth-tier, so while its consumption wouldn't elevate the Azure Lotus Karmic Fire to the seventh-tier, its overall power would certainly increase considerably. Had this True Solar Flame been given several millennia, or even ten thousand years, it might have advanced to the sixth-tier.

Spring gave way to autumn, and five hundred years swiftly passed.

In a secluded courtyard with green tiled roofs within Crimson Lotus Market, Wang Zhongchen was reporting to Wang Chuanming. The Dark Hall's membership had steadily grown, now including four Void Refinement cultivators. Their primary responsibilities were intelligence gathering and discreetly managing affairs the family preferred not to handle openly.

"It appears we are not being targeted specifically," Wang Chuanming mused. "Someone is collecting the souls of Five-Yin maidens, and Shenfeng was simply unlucky. But how do they know who was born on a Yin year, Yin month, Yin day, Yin hour, and Yin minute?" Wang Chuanming frowned, a puzzled expression on his face.

More than five hundred years prior, Wang Shenfeng had been attacked by a Void Refinement cultivator. Fortunately, she possessed a sixth-tier defensive talisman and a sixth-tier escape talisman, which allowed her Nascent Soul to flee. Wang Chuanming personally conducted the investigation. Initially, he focused his efforts on the Wang family's adversaries, but after extensive inquiry, he found no pertinent issues. On one accidental occasion, he learned that Wang Shenfeng was a Five-Yin maiden—a female cultivator born precisely on a Yin year, Yin month, Yin day, Yin hour, and Yin minute. He then shifted his investigative focus. Following this new lead, he unexpectedly discovered that numerous female cultivators had been inexplicably murdered over the years. A closer examination revealed that a significant number of these victims were indeed Five-Yin maidens. He consulted with a ghost cultivator, who informed him that certain specialized ghost-path formations incorporated the refined souls of Five-Yin maidens into their array flags, using them as formation cores to significantly amplify the array's power.

As the head of the Dark Hall, Wang Chuanming was naturally aware of the Lizard tribe's activities in the Lower Realms. He suspected a possible connection, though he also didn't rule out the possibility that a rogue cultivation organization was behind these incidents. He believed it was an organized effort for a clear reason: while the times of death for some victims were close, the locations of the incidents were vastly separated, making it impossible for a single individual to commit them. This strongly suggested a premeditated and organized collection of Five-Yin maidens' souls.

One pressing question remained for Wang Chuanming: how did the perpetrators identify which female cultivators were Five-Yin maidens? Five-Yin maidens wouldn't openly declare their unique birth details. While secret techniques could reveal this information, it seemed impractical for the culprits to randomly select and capture numerous female cultivators on the streets just to test them. Such an approach would be excessively time-consuming, resource-intensive, and would inevitably attract too much attention. Perhaps the culprits possessed a specialized secret art that allowed them to sense the aura of Five-Yin maidens within a certain range. This possibility could not be ruled out.

"I'm not sure," Wang Zhongchen speculated. "There might indeed be a secret art specifically designed to locate Five-Yin maidens." The Wang family had only a handful of members who practiced ghost-path cultivation techniques, and their cultivation levels were not high. Consequently, his own understanding of ghost cultivators was limited, preventing him from definitively ruling out the existence of such secret arts.

"Forget it for now. Assign someone to gather any information concerning Five-Yin maidens. I will return to Green Lotus Island to report this to the Old Ancestor," Wang Chuanming instructed. The Dark Hall had previously been tasked with investigating the Lizard tribe's true purpose behind their extensive soul collection, and he suspected a connection to the Five-Yin maidens. As the matter involved the Lizard tribe, Wang Chuanming recognized it was beyond his purview. Knowing his limitations, he concluded it would be best to report directly to Wang Changsheng.

"Understood," Wang Zhongchen readily agreed.

Wang Chuanming offered a few final instructions before departing from Crimson Lotus Market.