I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Unlike Fang Yun, Duan Qingyun didn’t care who killed the Core Formation Demon. All that mattered to him was that it was dead.

With his hands now free, Duan Qingyun could do more.

Miao Qinghong was still locked in battle with the Late-stage Core Formation Demon, Lu Yaoling.

Upon his return, Fang Yun attacked directly.

"Sect Leader, you don’t need to help. I can handle him on my own." Miao Qinghong glanced at the returning Fang Yun, momentarily distracted as she sent him a voice transmission.

At this moment, Fang Yun was still completely concealed, a sign that he didn’t want to reveal his identity until the Demons were dead.

"Elder Miao, how about we see who can kill him first?"

It wasn’t that Fang Yun didn’t want to give Miao Qinghong the chance.

A Late-stage Core Formation Demon was a huge prize for him. Killing it would surely grant him tens of millions of base Talent Points.

He couldn’t just let it go.

"Deal!"

As Miao Qinghong answered, she left a deep gash on the Late-stage Core Formation Demon, Lu Yaoling.

Lu Yaoling had already been wounded by Fang Yun, and now he had taken another injury from Miao Qinghong.

Though Lu Yaoling’s injuries were now considerable, his Late-stage Core Formation Cultivation allowed his ferocious aura to remain undiminished. Demon Qi surged around his body as he attempted one last counterattack.

Miao Qinghong’s Sword Qi erupted, and the power of her Lifebound Magical Treasure intensified.

"Slash!"

Fang Yun did not strike at the first opportunity.

Miao Qinghong’s burst of power created an opening, and he had to seize it to deliver the final blow to the Late-stage Core Formation Demon, Lu Yaoling.

When the moment arrived, Fang Yun’s gaze hardened, and the Profound Jade Sword in his hand vanished.

Lu Yaoling’s Demon Core was located at the very center of his body.

With the two of them working together, the battle ended swiftly.

’Good. The Late-stage Core Formation Demon died by my hand in the end.’

The moment Lu Yaoling died, a notification appeared on the light screen.

Qionglin Domain Influence +1%

Fang Yun glanced at the light screen, his mood improving even further.

With all of the Celestial Demon Sect’s Core Formation leadership dead, the sect was effectively annihilated, and it was their Celestial Cloud Sect that had done it.

The destruction of a Core Formation-level Demon power would certainly help increase the Celestial Cloud Sect’s influence in the Qionglin Domain.

A one percent increase in influence was equivalent to a forty percent bonus to Talent Points.

The final tally of Talent Points was now more than ten times the base amount.

’So satisfying!’

The Celestial Demon Sect was destroyed, five Core Formation Demons had died by his hand, and his influence in the Qionglin Domain had increased. Even so, Fang Yun still had things to do.

Namely, continue earning Talent Points.

The Talent Points provided by Foundation Establishment Demons were still a hefty prize in his eyes.

"Sect—"

Just as Miao Qinghong was about to say something to Fang Yun, she discovered that his figure had already vanished.

’He’s gone to hunt down the other Demons.’

At this, Miao Qinghong couldn’t help but shake her head and smile.

’The Sect Leader truly despises Demons.’

She would have plenty of opportunities later to tell Fang Yun what she wanted to say.

Just before Fang Yun left, while she was fighting the Late-stage Core Formation Demon, the Demon had transmitted a message.

After sending the message, he had even shouted through gritted teeth.

"Mysterious Spirit Refiner!"

Miao Qinghong knew that Fang Yun was the mysterious Spirit Refiner, which meant the message the Late-stage Core Formation Demon sent was most likely related to this figure they spoke of.

’It made sense, thinking about it.’

In the eyes of the Celestial Demon Sect’s Core Formation leadership, their sect’s destruction was largely due to the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

Miao Qinghong, still in midair, didn’t dwell on it for long. She quickly took action as well, deciding to hunt down the fleeing Demons just as Fang Yun had.

Every one of these fleeing Demons that she could kill was a victory.

She chose to pursue the Demons in the opposite direction from Fang Yun.

The Celestial Demon Sect Demons were scattering in every direction.

The more directions they fled, the greater their chances of survival. If they had all run in a single direction, it would have been over for them.

However, in their escape paths, Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Celestial Cloud Sect and its vassal powers were lying in ambush.

"Those are fluctuations of Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Power!"

"It seems the Supreme Elders have breached the Celestial Demon Sect."

"We can’t let a single Demon fleeing in this direction get away."

"Right!"

At this point, the appearance of Foundation Establishment Demons meant only one thing to them: the Celestial Demon Sect’s Grand Array had been broken.

If this had happened earlier, fleeing Foundation Establishment Demons might not have been from the sect’s headquarters but simply Demons on patrol nearby.

If they had encountered such Demons, they certainly wouldn’t have let them go, either.

However, they had yet to encounter any such Demons in their direction.

"Attack!"

Once the fleeing Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon came within range, they struck.

In the regions surrounding the Celestial Demon Sect, the number of battles between Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Foundation Establishment Demons steadily increased.

Not all the Demons could be intercepted.

The forces Fang Yun deployed were not enough to form a completely airtight net. To achieve that level of coverage, the number of Sect Elders and Foundation Establishment cultivators from their vassal powers would need to double, especially the Elders from Battle Peak.

If the entire Celestial Cloud Sect had been mobilized, leaving the sect an empty shell, it might have been possible, but it was clearly unnecessary.

The goal of annihilating the Celestial Demon Sect wasn’t to exterminate every last one of its Demons.

The effort required for that last ten percent of a perfect result might well exceed the effort spent on the first ninety percent.

A small number of Demons managed to slip through the net.

An even smaller fraction of Demons managed to escape even after being intercepted; their escape techniques were considered top-tier among the Celestial Demon Sect’s Elders.

The Elders from the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Battle Peak had encountered such situations while fighting Foundation Establishment Demons.

"How is it dead already?"

"It was the Sect Leader!"

"The Sect Leader struck so fast, I didn’t even have time to react."

"So how do we split the Contribution Points for killing this mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon? How much should go to the Sect Leader?"

They had already agreed upon a distribution strategy before the ambush.

In short, whoever contributed the most would get the largest share.

They hadn’t expected the Sect Leader to pop in, finish off a Foundation Establishment Demon with a single sword strike, and then disappear.

"Hahahaha."

"What are you laughing at?"

"Elder Li, you only succeeded in your Foundation Establishment less than a decade ago, so it’s normal you wouldn’t know. The Sect Leader of our Celestial Cloud Sect has no use for Contribution Points. We can just split the things on this Demon’s body amongst ourselves. The Sect Leader wouldn’t look twice at this stuff."

Fang Yun’s interventions only served to quicken the pace at which the Sect Elders and the Foundation Establishment cultivators from vassal powers could kill the Demons.

「Four hours later.」

Fang Yun returned once more to the site of the Celestial Demon Sect’s headquarters.

One Peak of Foundation Establishment Demon, one Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, two mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demons, three early-stage Foundation Establishment Demons, and an uncounted number of Qi Refining Demons he had dispatched along the way.

This was his tally from scavenging for Talent Points.

The base Talent Points he gained from killing these Demons might not have even amounted to thirty percent of what a single Early-stage Core Formation Demon was worth, but Fang Yun was already quite satisfied.

The situation was better than he had expected.

The Celestial Demon Sect Demons had scattered widely, and he wasn’t the only Core Formation expert hunting them down.

To have scavenged this many Talent Points in the end was already quite good.

When he returned to the site of the Celestial Demon Sect’s headquarters, the sect’s Supreme Elders had already gathered and were waiting for him.

"Sect Leader, you’re a little too eager. There was no need to chase those small fry so far; you could have just let them go," Miao Qinghong said, being the first to speak as Fang Yun descended.

"Elder Miao, you have the nerve to talk about the Sect Leader? Besides him, you were the last one to return," Duan Qingyun said.

"That’s right, that’s right."

"Hahaha."

The other Supreme Elders chimed in in agreement.

Clearly, everyone was in an excellent mood.

Annihilating the Celestial Demon Sect—this was a magnificent feat!

Before the operation began, no one had thought they could actually annihilate the Celestial Demon Sect.

Other than Fang Yun, the rest of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s upper echelon—even Song Qiaoqiao—had believed the chances of annihilating the Celestial Demon Sect were less than fifty percent.

The sect’s leadership had gathered because there were still matters to discuss.

The Celestial Demon Sect was destroyed, but things weren’t over yet.

Take the Demon Spirit Sect, for example. Their reinforcements were surely still on their way.