Translator: AnubisTL
"Who... exactly are you?" The black feather mountain lord's voice was barely a whisper. His eyes, filled with resentment, stared at Li Qing as if trying to etch the ordinary face into his memory.
Standing beside the massive form of Mo Shan, Li Qing retracted the four Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain spears and walked toward the black feather mountain lord, the Wandering Dragon Dagger in his hand.
"Don't look at me like that. Those who kill will be killed. You should have understood this when you treated the Martial Artists of Giant Rock City as blood slaves."
"I am Li Qing, the dao guardian of new martial arts."
Li Qing's voice was calm and soothing, the killing intent in his eyes completely concealed. At this moment, he looked no different from an ordinary person.
"Now that I've answered your question, it's my turn to ask. What's this about the Blood Lotus Sect you mentioned earlier?"
At this question, the black feather mountain lord let out a hollow laugh. "Hahaha, I won't tell you. After you destroyed Tianliang Mountain, you're as good as dead anyway."
As his words faded, the light in the black feather mountain lord's eyes rapidly dimmed.
He died so swiftly that Li Qing was left speechless.
"Sigh, it seems I'll have to put some effort into learning a secret technique for soul-searching and soul-refining in the future. Otherwise, I'll never get anything out of them just by questioning," Li Qing sighed, realizing he needed to master such a technique.
However, most of these secret techniques were only known to Demonic Path cultivators. He wasn't sure if the Lingyun Sect even had anything similar.
For most orthodox cultivators, forcibly opening someone's Sea of Consciousness and soul-searching and soul-refining them to extract memories was an act against the heavens.
Once subjected to such a technique, a person's divine soul would be utterly annihilated, unable to even enter the cycle of reincarnation.
That's why these secret techniques were typically held by Demonic Path cultivators—ruthless individuals who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals, scoffing at the notion of reincarnation and living only for the present moment.
"These iron feathers might be useful for artifact refinement, but the rest is useless."
With that, Li Qing plucked some relatively intact black feathers from the black feather mountain lord's body.
Each feather was incredibly tough, far surpassing ordinary steel. They were probably the only things on the black feather mountain lord that held any value to Li Qing.
Of course, Li Qing hadn't come to kill the two mountain leaders for these trivial Artifact Refining materials. He hadn't forgotten the most important thing: Tianliang Mountain's former immortal dao heritage!
"Let's search systematically. Hopefully, we'll find something."
With those words, Li Qing began his search of the main peak.
After the four-way battle, this once-imposing peak had been reduced to a wasteland. The mountain's architectural complexes had completely collapsed, leaving behind only ruins and rubble.
With the two mountain leaders slain, the remaining black feathered men were mere insignificant pawns.
Li Qing sent Fan Tong to eliminate these potential future threats—the blackfeather disciples—while he himself scoured the main peak, digging three feet deep and practically turning the entire mountain upside down.
After a long while, standing amidst the ruins of a collapsed structure, Li Qing stared at the Red Moon Secret Manuals in his hand, lost in deep thought.
"These are all scriptures and secret techniques related to cultivating the Red Moon. Could it be that Tianliang Mountain truly destroyed its former immortal dao heritage after the change of regime?"
Li Qing frowned, his gaze fixed on the last side peak.
He had already searched two of Tianliang Mountain's three peaks, leaving only the one guarded by the black feather mountain lord untouched.
"If there really isn't anything, then I'll just consider myself unlucky," Li Qing sighed, his voice tinged with resignation.
These Red Moon secret manuals were, at best, merely reference material for him—hardly anything of practical value.
He had the Immortal Path to pursue; there was no way he would dabble in these strange and eerie practices.
However, after reading through Tianliang Mountain's collection of Red Moon manuals, Li Qing had gained a deeper understanding of the Red Moon path that was currently flourishing in the World of Eternal Night.
In the early stages of Red Moon cultivation, nearly everyone's mutations were bizarre and indescribable, often leading to madness.
Later, some cultivators drew inspiration from powerful strange beasts, choosing the path of the beast transformation body—guiding their mutations toward bestial forms.
For example, the numerous blackfeather disciples of Tianliang Mountain, who grew black wings on their backs, and their mountain leader, followed the path of the yin crow, directing their physical mutations toward a strange beast known as the yin crow, native to the World of Eternal Night.
In short, this world, where the Great Dao had been severed, was now in utter chaos.
Not only had the path of cultivating Red Moon Secret Power emerged, but a new martial path had also appeared.
And these were just the paths Li Qing knew of. In the vast and boundless World of Eternal Night, countless other paths might have already sprouted.
"Chaos reigns," Li Qing murmured, squinting. He couldn't shake the feeling that this world, where the Immortal Path had vanished, was like an experimental ground, or perhaps a breeding ground for demonic beasts.
What will the future hold? Will multiple power systems coexist, or will one ultimately dominate?
The thought struck him, and Li Qing suddenly felt he'd been rather hasty in claiming the title of new martial arts protector daoist.
"I shouldn't have stirred up any major karmic consequences, right?" he muttered uncertainly, then shook his head, banishing the distracting thoughts.
How could a cultivator fear karma?
Moreover, he walked the path of immortality. Even if this world spawned a myriad of diverse power systems, he was confident he could suppress them all.
That's the confidence immortality grants me!
With that, Li Qing stepped onto his wind spear and shot toward the final peak of Tianliang Mountain at incredible speed.
The rampage of a Second-Tier Demonic Beast was like a dimensional attack against these ordinary blackfeather disciples.
Fan Tong's entry into the third peak of Tianliang Mountain was no different than a tiger among sheep. Only a handful managed to escape by flight; the rest of the blackfeather disciples were either slain or pierced through by the beast's strange eye beams.
"Roar!"
The tiger's might shook the forest, scattering the few black-feathered mutated persons who had managed to escape. Terrified beyond measure, they fled in all directions without daring to look back.
Some unlucky souls tried to fly to the main peak to report the disaster and seek the mountain leader's protection, but they encountered Li Qing flying leisurely through the air.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Li Qing unleashed a few weightless fireballs, incinerating the black-feathered mutated persons into ashes.
During his flight, he captured one alive, carrying him back to the side peak like a chick.
When Li Qing arrived, only Fan Tong remained on the summit, roaring like a mountain king, thoroughly enjoying his moment of glory.
"Tell me, what places are there on this mountain?" Li Qing's gaze was as cold as ice as he stared at the blackfeather disciple. The aura of a foundation establishment realm cultivator emanated from him, nearly suffocating the black-feathered mutated person he held captive.
Terrified, the disciple stammered, "The black feather mountain lord's daily residence... our disciples' living quarters... and... and a Forbidden Land on the summit."
Hearing this, Li Qing nodded slightly and turned his gaze to the architectural layout of the entire side peak.
Buildings were clearly visible halfway up the mountain and at the summit, distinctly different in style.
Li Qing nodded again and said, "The Forbidden Land... I might as well take a look."
As his words fell, he suddenly exerted force with both hands, snapping the blackfeather disciple's wings behind him. Then, he released his grip, letting the disciple plummet from the high altitude.
Ignoring the disciple's screams, Li Qing remained calm, feeling no guilt whatsoever.
Every single person on Tianliang Mountain who had cultivated the Red Moon Secret Power was guilty. They had all undoubtedly drunk human blood in their daily lives.
After finishing, Li Qing immediately headed toward Tianliang Mountain's mysterious Forbidden Land.
As he approached, he unleashed his divine sense, enveloping everything around him in his mind.
When he saw what lay within, a smile curled his lips.
"Finally found it. Looks like those mountain leaders aren't complete fools. They understand the importance of these immortal dao heritages and didn't destroy them."
Indeed, within the Forbidden Land stood an ancient hall. Inside, several storage bags, numerous ancient books and scrolls, and a few jade slips were neatly arranged.
To Li Qing's surprise, the hall wasn't covered in dust. It was remarkably clean, as if someone visited it regularly.
"Interesting. If this is a Forbidden Land, ordinary disciples certainly wouldn't be allowed to enter easily."
"It seems the black feather mountain lord often comes here to peruse these Immortal Path Secret Manuals. Is he hoping to gain some inspiration from them?"
But since he wasn't an immortal cultivator, he could only flip through the ancient books and scrolls. He couldn't even touch the jade slips or the contents of the storage bags.
Li Qing stepped into the hall with a surge of joy, feeling like a farmer who had finally reached harvest season after a year of toil.
But his smile quickly faded as he frowned, sensing something amiss.
"How could this be? There's a fluctuation of divine soul power here?" Li Qing narrowed his eyes and extended his divine sense, finally pinpointing the source within a pile of debris in a corner of the ancient hall.
To be precise, it was a hidden entrance to a secret chamber concealed beneath the debris!
"They even hid a secret chamber? Interesting!"
Li Qing moved the debris aside, revealing the chamber's entrance.
Bang!
With a deafening crash, the sealed chamber door was kicked open by Li Qing's brute force. He had no interest in playing puzzle games.
After the dust settled, Li Qing, his divine sense still extended, quickly saw an elderly man on the brink of death imprisoned within an iron cage in the chamber. Chains pierced through the old man's body, and any slight movement would tug at them, tearing open his wounds.
"May I ask which fellow Daoist has come?"
Fellow Daoist.
This term was quite unfamiliar in the World of Eternal Night. Li Qing had rarely heard anyone address him as such here.
(End of the Chapter)
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