Chapter 595: Evilheart Sect (I)
On an inconspicuous island in the Chaotic Star Sea, Wu Di rose into the air and gazed toward the distant horizon, his expression complicated.
"What a loss. If I'd found an opportunity to ask to become his disciple during this time, I wonder whether that senior would have accepted." Wu Di muttered softly, "And I still don't even know his name..."
Now that Lin Zheyu had left, Wu Di found himself feeling a faint sense of reluctance. Having such a powerful expert residing on the island had always filled him with apprehension, yet at the same time, it had given him an inexplicable sense of security.
Wu Di murmured to himself, "The Heavenly Derivation Sect... I've heard disciples of the Heavenly Derivation Sect are allowed to bring attendants. If that senior really joins the Heavenly Derivation Sect, perhaps I can ask him to take me along."
As he spoke, he waved a hand, and the grand formation once again enveloped the entire island.
High in the sky, Lin Zheyu strode through the air. With every step, the distance before him seemed to compress, carrying him over a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. After putting more than a dozen kilometers between himself and Wu Di's island, he suddenly halted and stood motionless in midair.
Lin Zheyu's expression turned slightly cold as he said in an even tone, "You've been following me long enough. Come out."
The moment he left the island, he had already sensed three concealed auras lurking nearby. To avoid dragging Wu Di into trouble, he had deliberately put some distance between them before exposing their presence.
A crisp round of applause rang out. "What impressive abilities, Fellow Daoist. I heard that a powerful new demon cultivator has appeared in the Chaotic Star Sea. My curiosity got the better of me, so I came to see whether the rumors were true."
A pale woman stepped slowly out of the void. Her skin was unnaturally white, and she appeared sickly and frail. The aura she emitted carried an unsettling, sinister quality, suggesting that she did not follow an orthodox Immortal Dao.
Lin Zheyu glanced at the smiling woman and continued coldly. "The other two can come out as well. Since you're already here, why bother hiding?"
The woman's pale face immediately betrayed surprise and caution. There were others besides her? Spiritual qi surged through her body as she spread her powerful spiritual sense, carefully searching for any nearby cultivators. Yet no matter how thoroughly she searched, she could not find the two people Lin Zheyu had mentioned.
The strange woman arched a delicate brow and cast Lin Zheyu a sidelong glance. "Are you trying to bluff me, Fellow Friend?"
Lin Zheyu merely glanced at her and ignored the question. He took a single step forward, and his figure vanished instantly.
A thunderous explosion erupted five kilometers away. A streak of blood-red escape light shot into the sky as it attempted to flee. Before it could get far, however, a gigantic hand covered in purple-black scales descended from above and clenched tightly around it.
A muffled burst echoed through the air as a cloud of blood-red aura spread across the sky. At the same moment, a pale yellow streak of escape light suddenly flared to life elsewhere in the void and shot away at astonishing speed. Lin Zheyu cast a distant glance toward the fleeing figure before vanishing from where he stood.
"Speak. What business do you have with me?" Lin Zheyu's calm voice drifted through the air. His figure emerged slowly from the void as though strolling out of thin air. He fixed the strange woman with a cold stare, a dangerous glint flickering in his eyes.
The woman hurriedly explained, "S-Senior, it's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! I came with no ill intentions. I merely wished to verify whether you were truly a demon cultivator. If so, I intended to invite you to join the Evilheart Sect, a sect composed entirely of demon cultivators."
Lin Zheyu's icy gaze left her scalp tingling with dread, and she hastily revealed her purpose without holding anything back.
"The Evilheart Sect?" Lin Zheyu scoffed. "What kind of nonsense sect is that? I'm not interested."
His right hand shot forward. Before the woman's horrified eyes, it rapidly expanded until it engulfed her whole body. A vast surge of demon essence erupted from within her as a hairpin-shaped dharma treasure flashed with a cold, sinister light and shot toward Lin Zheyu's forehead.
The dharma treasure struck the purple-black scales covering his forehead, leaving only a faint white mark.
Lin Zheyu casually reached out with his left hand and caught the hairpin. With only the slightest exertion of force, the dharma treasure shattered into pieces.
"How is that possible?" Terror filled the woman's heart. Demon essence surged through her body as she rapidly expanded in size, desperately trying to break free from Lin Zheyu's grasp.
Lin Zheyu remained expressionless. His fingers tightened, and a series of cracking sounds rang out. The woman let out a shrill scream. Her half-expanded body immediately shrank back down, and her entire figure became limp and dispirited.
Lin Zheyu let out a quiet chuckle. "Heh."
A powerful wave of spiritual sense swept over her. Four storage pouches and two ornamental dharma artifacts in the form of feminine jewelry flew from her person and landed in his possession.
Lin Zheyu withdrew his hand and said in a calm tone, "The technique you use to conceal your aura is somewhat interesting. Hand it over, and I'll spare your life."
His senses were extraordinarily sharp, yet when they first met, he had failed to immediately recognize that the woman was a demon cultivator. The aura-concealing technique she practiced was clearly no ordinary art.
"Y-Yes, Senior!" The woman answered weakly, terror filling her eyes.
The man before her was frighteningly powerful. He was definitely not an ordinary mid-stage Golden Core realm cultivator.
"Use this." Lin Zheyu released her and casually tossed a jade slip over.
Struggling to steady herself, the woman caught the jade slip and pressed it against her forehead. She quickly used her spiritual sense to record the technique. Before long, she had finished copying everything into the jade slip.
"Senior, I've recorded every technique I cultivate in that jade slip. Please spare my life." The woman forced a pitiful smile onto her face and said respectfully, "I truly meant no harm. I only wished to invite you to join the Evilheart Sect so that we might seek a way to free ourselves from the influence of the yao will."
At that moment, her desire to survive had overwhelmed everything else. To stay alive, she humbled herself completely. Lin Zheyu had only asked for her aura-concealing technique, yet she had recorded every technique she knew without reservation.
"What experts does the Evilheart Sect have?" Lin Zheyu accepted the jade slip and asked casually, "Do you have a library?"
According to the woman, the Evilheart Sect was a sect formed entirely of demon cultivators. If it possessed a library, Lin Zheyu would not have minded making a visit. Although the Primordial Golden Body had gradually begun to break free from the limitations of demon arts and demonic patterns after the second stage of the Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual reached Perfection, studying more powerful demon arts and comprehending additional demonic patterns would still greatly benefit his future deductions of the technique.
The woman shook her head. "Uh, no. There is no library. The Evilheart Sect is really just a loose organization. It's a group where demon cultivators help one another and search for ways to escape the influence of the yao will."
"Then forget it." Lin Zheyu's interest immediately faded.
Sweeping through the jade slip with his spiritual sense, he gave its contents a cursory examination. Once he confirmed there were no problems, his figure flickered and vanished from sight.
"Senior! Senior!" The woman hurriedly called after him as she stared at the place where he had disappeared.
No reply came. Regret flashed across the woman's eyes. "That senior is terrifyingly powerful, and he doesn't seem troubled by the yao will at all..."
If only I had been more decisive and offered my soul blood to acknowledge him as my master... she thought ruefully.
The influence of the yao will had already begun to consume her. If she failed to find a solution soon, she would lose herself entirely and become a monster driven solely by slaughter and desire. Compared to such a fate, submitting to that senior and grasping at a chance of survival seemed far more acceptable.
"Wait... That senior came from that island, and he seemed to have stayed there for quite some time. If I find the island's owner, I might be able to contact him through that person!"
A trace of excitement appeared in her eyes. Her figure blurred and vanished as she raced toward the island where Wu Di resided.
***
Lin Zheyu knew nothing of the woman's thoughts. By this time, he had already arrived near the demon god barrier bordering the Eastern Sea. Three space-time nodes existed in the vicinity of the Chaotic Star Sea. Two had long since stabilized and fallen under the control of the sea clans. The third, according to the information he had gathered, had only appeared recently.
Deep beneath the sea, countless microorganisms glowed with a faint blue luminescence as they drifted through the dark waters. Sunlight could not reach this depth. Aside from the light emitted by marine life, no other illumination existed. Such darkness posed no obstacle to Lin Zheyu.
According to the information he had obtained, the newly formed space-time node lay more than two thousand meters below the surface. Clad in sleek purple-black scales, he shot through the water like a cannonball, plunging rapidly toward the ocean floor.
Lin Zheyu noticed that the deeper he descended, the denser both the spiritual qi and demonic qi became. The abundant spiritual qi had nurtured the sea beasts dwelling in the depths, making them extraordinarily powerful.
The deep sea was home to countless gigantic sea beasts. Their enormous bodies granted them innate advantages, and some possessed strength comparable to early Foundation Establishment realm cultivators the moment they reached adulthood.