Only then did the burly man turn around, his expression complicated as he glanced at the old man's corpse. He let out a soft sigh.
"What, does Fellow Daoist Meng still feel lingering attachment to the Ghost Spirit Sect?"
Among the handful of Qi Condensation stage disciples, a seemingly ordinary middle-aged cultivator suddenly spoke up. He raised a hand and beckoned toward a silver-white flying sword circling in the air above.
The sword instantly flashed and transformed into a silver streak that shot back into his hand.
It was this man who had killed the old man from behind with a sudden release of his flying sword. And though he had been displaying the cultivation of a mere Qi Condensation cultivator moments ago, he now revealed the aura of late-stage Foundation Establishment.
"Since I've already decided to defect to your Devil Flame Sect, naturally I have no regrets. It's just that although I can't say this man and I were particularly close, we did meet many times in the past. It's only natural to feel a touch of sentiment." The burly man surnamed Meng replied evenly.
"It's best that Fellow Daoist Meng thinks this way. Ever since the Ghost Spirit Sect lost two Nascent Soul cultivators and a large number of Core Formation cultivators over a hundred years ago, its strength has been greatly diminished — it no longer deserves to monopolize an entire country. This time, our Devil Flame Sect, the Spirit Controller Sect, and the newly risen Blood Kill Sect are joining hands. The Ghost Spirit Sect is doomed no matter what. From now on, the Blood Kill Sect will take the Ghost Spirit Sect's place in the demonic path. Your early defection to our sect was truly a wise decision." The middle-aged cultivator chuckled.
At this point, the auras of the remaining several people also shifted abruptly, each of them revealing Foundation Establishment stage cultivation. Every last one of them was a cultivator from the Devil Flame Sect.
"As long as your sect honors the promises you made to me, I will naturally cooperate to the fullest." The burly man replied with a thin, insincere smile.
"Ha ha, rest assured about that. Brother Meng's aptitude is quite decent. Once this battle ends in victory, my own master will personally take you as a disciple. That's incomparably better than toiling alone in the Ghost Spirit Sect with no one to guide you. But this place really is remote enough — hiding a large force here, the Ghost Spirit Sect truly would never detect it. This is thanks in large part to the several breath-concealing talismans my master specifically had me bring along before departing. Otherwise, it really wouldn't have been easy to fool this old man's spiritual sense." The middle-aged cultivator swept a glance over the corpse on the ground, looking somewhat smug.
"That's also fortunate that this place happens to have an ancient teleportation formation, giving me a pretext to lure him to this remote location for the ambush. Otherwise, even if the strike had landed, there are over a dozen Qi Condensation disciples stationed here. If they had managed to activate the restrictions or send off a sound-transmission alarm talisman, it would have been trouble. Now that this man is eliminated, I can round up the remaining disciples and strike them all down at once — not a single one left alive." The burly man's expression turned dark again in an instant, his voice cold.
"Good, Brother Meng, that's an excellent plan. We'll proceed exactly as you suggest." The middle-aged cultivator nodded with visible approval upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, another person had already deftly removed the old man's storage pouch, then fired off a fireball that reduced the corpse to ash in the blink of an eye.
The group then prepared to leave the stalactite cave.
But at that very moment, the ancient teleportation formation that no one had been paying attention to suddenly emitted a deep humming sound. The entire formation blazed with white light, activating all on its own — as though someone were being teleported over.
This sudden development left the burly man surnamed Meng and the middle-aged cultivator stunned, their minds going blank for a moment.
Hadn't the old man said that this formation had long been defunct? What were the odds that it would suddenly spring back to life at precisely this moment?
"Destroy the formation! No matter who's coming through, our operation is imminent — we absolutely cannot afford any complications!" The middle-aged cultivator reacted swiftly, shouting as he raised his hand.
The flying sword that had been put away once more transformed into a streak of cold light and struck straight at one corner of the formation.
The others also snapped to their senses, each unleashing various magical treasures in a desperate attempt to destroy the teleportation formation in an instant.
But after several thunderous booms, the ancient formation erupted with blinding white radiance. The white light flickered and deflected every single treasure away.
The middle-aged cultivator and his companions were shaken to the core.
Of course, none of them knew that while an ancient teleportation formation remained dormant, any low-level cultivator could easily destroy it. But once a transmission began, the formation was inundated with a powerful surge of spiritual energy — without at least Core Formation cultivation, it was impossible to damage such a formation.
Otherwise, ancient cultivators would have been in deep trouble if anything went wrong on the other end during a transmission.
And so, under the stunned gazes of the group, the faint outlines of a man and a woman materialized within the formation. Their figures wavered unsteadily, as if they were still reeling from the disorientation of teleportation.
The middle-aged cultivator saw that the man appeared to be in his twenties while the girl looked to be only in her teens. He swept his spiritual sense over the woman first, discovered she was merely at the Qi Condensation stage, and immediately relaxed.
In the cultivation world, one could never judge a woman's age by appearance alone. A girl who looked to be in her teens could very well be a high-level cultivator who had lived for several hundred years — this was a common occurrence. A man in his twenties, on the other hand, was most likely not very highly cultivated, since few men bothered to practice age-preservation techniques.
He had been about to sweep his spiritual sense over the young man as well, but noticed the fellow shaking his head, seemingly trying to recover his senses. Growing anxious, he didn't bother scanning the man's cultivation and instead barked out orders.