"Junior Brother Xiao, our mission this time is to conduct some transactions with the other three sects. There's no danger.
Since this is your first time participating and you have little experience, you should watch and listen more, and speak less.
Once you are familiar with the procedures, you can handle things independently."
Beside a small path, Fei Xin, Ao Ling Xue, and Xiao Fei each found a large rock to sit on.
Fei Xin indeed possessed the demeanor of an elder. Throughout their journey, he had taken good care of Xiao Fei, the newly initiated junior brother.
He patiently answered many questions Xiao Fei had.
The three of them represented their sect for trading. They had brought a large batch of elixirs when they left. They had just exchanged some formation plates and flags from the Purple Cloud Sect.
Their next stop would be the Crimson Sun Sect, to exchange elixirs for magical artifacts and spiritual artifacts from them.
The four major sects of the Lu Kingdom each had their strengths, and there were no major grudges. While there was competition, cooperation was the main approach.
They often exchanged goods and their interactions were frequent, generally operating on a model of cooperation and mutual benefit.
At times, they even formed temporary alliances to resist external enemies.
This was because the areas surrounding the Lu Kingdom were not peaceful. To the west of the Lu Kingdom lay the notorious Eagle Mountain Kingdom in the cultivation world.
Although the people in the Lu Kingdom's cultivation world had somewhat twisted personalities and their morals were somewhat degenerate, they could still maintain a relatively peaceful and stable social state.
However, the Eagle Mountain Kingdom was different. For ordinary people living there, it was no exaggeration to call it a living hell.
Virtually all the dregs of the cultivation world – demonic cultivators, evil cultivators, beast cultivators, ghost cultivators – were concentrated in the Eagle Mountain Kingdom.
In such an environment, if you didn't kill a few people every day, you wouldn't even dare to greet others.
Sometimes, the Eagle Mountain Kingdom would accidentally wipe out all its own ordinary people.
The vast population at the lower strata formed the foundation of the upper society, even in the cultivation world.
Without the support of a large population at the bottom, there would be no one to do the dirty and tedious work. It was estimated that cultivators would have to carry their own manure.
Therefore, every few decades, the Eagle Mountain Kingdom would experience such a cycle. When the people at the bottom were all dead, they could only turn their attention to neighboring countries.
They would snatch the lower-class population or directly invade neighboring countries and cause havoc.
In contrast to the beasts in the Eagle Mountain Kingdom, the cultivators in Lu Kingdom, whose moral standards were already not up to par, immediately appeared noble and righteous.
It was a difficult situation for them to be forced to reluctantly carry the banner of righteous cultivators.
The three of them rested for a while, ate something, and then resumed flying on their swords, following the mountain ravine towards the Crimson Sun Sect.
Foundation Establishment cultivators could not fly too high when controlling their artifacts; they had to detour around taller mountains.
As they flew over a mountain ravine, they entered an open area with some small villages and towns.
"After we fly over this plain, the Crimson Sun Sect's territory will be ahead!"
Fei Xin pointed forward and said.
"Eh!"
At this moment, all three of them noticed that the village below was eerily quiet, devoid of any signs of life.
Xiao Fei looked down and saw numerous bodies scattered haphazardly in the open spaces of the village. The entire village seemed to be dead.
The three of them immediately descended and landed in the village.
Even though Xiao Fei had annihilated entire families before, he was still shaken by the horrific scene before him.
At this moment, a corpse at his feet had a contorted face, its limbs nailed to the ground in a cross shape with large iron nails.
Its ten fingers were bloody and mangled, and its body had dozens of injuries, many of them compound fractures, all of which had avoided vital points.
From these injuries, one could guess the immense pain this person had endured before death.
Beside this corpse was another bloody body, its skin completely peeled off.
Xiao Fei scanned the entire village with his divine sense. There were dozens of households, not a single survivor, and all of them had died after enduring immense torture. Even newborn infants had not been spared.
"Damn it!"
Even though all three of them were accustomed to seeing death, they were all moved by this human tragedy.
"This should be the work of evil cultivators or ghost cultivators."
Fei Xin, being older and more experienced, could infer some clues from these methods of killing.
"Some evil cultivators, in order to cultivate certain techniques or refine powerful treasures, need to collect a large number of souls or fierce ghosts.
The greater the pain and torment a person suffers before death, the fiercer the fierce ghost formed after death will be! And the better the effect."
Fei Xin glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground and shook his head helplessly.
"These bodies have been dead for some time, and the evil cultivators should have already left. We should go too!"
In the cultivation world of the Lu Kingdom, for such situations, if it was a minor incident, with only a few hundred or a thousand ordinary people dead, no one would generally intervene. They would turn a blind eye and be too lazy to bother.
However, if the commotion was too large and affected the foundation of the cultivation world, then whoever's sphere of influence it was would be responsible for dealing with it.
Although the deaths in this village were tragic enough, they did not reach the threshold for the four major sects to intervene. They were destined to have died in vain.
Moreover, this place was within the Crimson Sun Sect's sphere of influence, so even if an investigation were to be conducted, it would be the Crimson Sun Sect's responsibility.
The three continued to fly forward and discovered that a dozen or so villages and a small town ahead had all been tortured to death by evil cultivators.
This meant that the matter was no longer trivial.
"Someone ahead!"
Just ahead of the three, two cultivators from the Crimson Sun Sect, dressed in red robes, appeared.
As they approached each other, Xiao Fei recognized one of them as Ji Wu Di, who had fought the bald man in the Fallen Dragon Abyss battle years ago.
Xiao Fei had a deep impression of this person; he was brave in battle and a true man. Back then, he was at the twelfth level of Qi Condensation, and now he had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
However, Xiao Fei had been wearing a mask back then, so Ji Wu Di did not recognize Xiao Fei's identity.
Fei Xin, on the other hand, frequently traveled between sects and had some acquaintance with another Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Crimson Sun Sect named Du Xiu.
Thus, the five of them found a place with fewer corpses and sat down to chat and reminisce.
"Brother Du, are you currently investigating the whereabouts of the evil cultivators?"
"Alas! This matter is a long story, it all started with a clan annihilation case in Star Moon City..."
It turned out that in Star Moon City, there was a Lin family, a cultivation family. A member of their clan was an inner disciple of the Crimson Sun Sect.
The Lin family had obtained a treasure through some unknown means and intended to send it to a Golden Core elder of the Crimson Sun Sect through this inner disciple.
However, for some unknown reason, the news leaked out, and evil cultivators learned of it. They came to the Lin family and annihilated the entire clan. Naturally, the treasure also fell into the hands of the evil cultivators.
"These evil cultivators are truly ruthless in their actions. The Lin family, including that inner disciple, had no survivors.
Even the Lin family's calf, which was only a month old, had its head chopped off."
Upon hearing the cruel methods of the evil cultivators' clan annihilation, Fei Xin and the other two showed expressions of indignation.
"Although I am not skilled in combat, I have always hated evil and cannot stand the vile deeds of these evil cultivators!"
After hearing this, Xiao Fei even more forcefully displayed his good qualities as a righteous cultivator who hated evil.
In his heart, however, he was constantly pondering what treasure, with the Lin family's fortune of only 200,000 spirit stones, could have caught the eye of a Golden Core cultivator?
After much thought, it seemed that only the Spirit Nurturing Tea could attract the attention of a Golden Core elder.
"Upon learning of the Lin family's tragic fate, the sect's elders dispatched disciples to investigate. They quickly found clues, and it was believed to be the work of evil cultivators who could control fierce ghosts.
Then, through layers of investigation, it took over a year to finally pinpoint this group of evil cultivators.
The sect dispatched ten Foundation Establishment cultivators to encircle and suppress them, but unexpectedly, two of them managed to escape.
After escaping, these two evil cultivators did not repent but became even more rampant, committing heinous acts of slaughter in the Crimson Sun Sect's territory."
"These evil cultivators are like a tumor hidden within the cultivation world of the Lu Kingdom. Fortunately, your sect's disciples have exposed them, otherwise, the harm would be endless.
The disciples of your sect who were responsible for the investigation have indeed rendered a great service to the cultivation world."
Xiao Fei greatly admired these cultivators from the Crimson Sun Sect who had uncovered the truth and felt they deserved extra praise.
Fei Xin gently tugged at Xiao Fei and stood up to bid farewell to Du Xiu.
"Brother Du, I have important matters to attend to today, and unfortunately, I cannot join you in eliminating the evil cultivators!"
After the three of them took their leave, Fei Xin said:
"Junior Brother Xiao, these two evil cultivators were able to escape from the encirclement of ten Crimson Sun Sect experts, so they must have some means. It would be best for us not to get involved lightly!"
"Senior Brother's teachings are correct!"
Xiao Fei quickly agreed.
Fei Xin nodded. Du Xiu had spoken to them with the intention of enlisting their help.
He was afraid that Xiao Fei, being young and spirited, might impulsively agree, so he hastily pulled Xiao Fei away.