Cultivating In Secret Beside A Demoness

Hong Yuye sat on a tree branch, gazing into the distance.

Jiang Hao stood beneath the tree. He felt that Hong Yuye belonged to the red shadow in the darkness. It was an eerie thought.

Jiang Hao didn’t pay attention to Hong Yuye but focused on the direction of the building.

His own position was somewhat conspicuous, but the fact that Hong Yuye was sitting on the tree branch made him feel that he wouldn’t be noticed standing beneath the tree.

As for other things, Jiang Hao had made a preliminary observation and hadn’t found Fang Jin and the others so far. He didn’t know where they were hiding.

“Behave and spare yourselves the pain.”

In front of the building, four adult men escorted a group of children in black hoods. Jiang Hao observed them carefully.

Nine children and five adults.

Among the five adults, four were escorts, while the fifth one walked at the back. The four at the front were at various stages of the Golden Core Realm.

The one at the back was at the peak stage ot the Golden Core Realm, but his aura was strange.

‘They’re strong…’

Jiang Hao was surprised. The five people were very powerful. He assumed the person walking at the back must be Zuo Lan, but…

“Is he still a clone? Where is his true body?” Jiang Hao said, looking up at the woman on the tree branch.

“You don’t need to ask me. Make your own decisions and do what you need to do. I will not interfere,” said Hong Yuye.

Jiang Hao wasn’t surprised at her response.

If even the Golden Core cultivators required Hong Yuye to take action, there would be no need to bring anyone along.

‘The four in front are not clones, but I don’t feel any mental connection with the fifth one… This means Zuo Lan is hiding and that is indeed a clone. Is he going to wait for the final power to appear before coming out? Will I still have time to make a move at that point?’

It was going to be a difficult battle since most of the adults were in the Golden Core Realm. Although he hoped for a challenging fight, it would be best to crush the enemy with a single strike.

Subconsciously, he touched his eyebrow. There were no issues with his divine ability.

The Reappearance of the Hidden Spirit ability would be his greatest trump card for tonight. Whether he could take down Zuo Lan or not would depend on this ability.

The nine children were led to the side of the altar. Their heads were covered with black hoods, so Jiang Hao couldn’t be sure whether there was a girl among them. Everyone wore similar clothes.

It seemed that the disciple of the Bright Moon Sect was also from a poor family.

“Stand still. Don’t move. You die if you struggle,” said a man as he kicked a child.

From afar, Jiang Hao heard the children whimper in fear. He waited quietly.

Once the children were bound, a man took out a knife and tried to cut their wrists.

Jiang Hao saw a sword light flash in the distance.

“You scum from the demonic sect!”

It was Lan Jin.

Jiang Hao remained calm and watched quietly from afar.

The demonic sects had a bad reputation. Even the Heavenly Note Sect was notorious in its actions. That was one of the reasons why Jiang Hao wanted to clear his name as soon as possible. It was quite troublesome to carry the name of the Heavenly Note Sect and venture to other places.

The Heavenly Note Sect wasn’t a small sect, but it wasn’t that great either. If it was as big as the Clear Sky School, it would be much better.

Boom!

Lan Jin took action. There were surprise attacks from two other locations near the building.

‘So… the first one was a decoy,’ Jiang Hao thought.

Fang Jin had injured a Golden Core Realm cultivator. Although it wasn’t a severe injury, it still gave Fang Jin an advantage in the fight.

The situation was far better for Bai Qiong. It seemed that the late-stage Golden Realm cultivator was no match for her.

Among Zuo Lan’s group, there was more than one cultivator in the peak stage of the Golden Core Realm.

At this moment, Zuo Lan himself was cutting the children.

Jiang Hao watched without taking any action.

Zuo Lan’s true body had not yet appeared, so he couldn’t be impatient. If the true Zuo Lan didn’t appear, he wouldn’t find the stone tablet here.

Boom!

The aftermath of the battle shook the building and exposed the entire altar to the moonlight.

Fang Jin looked at the activated altar impatiently. He was unsure what Zuo Lan meant to do.

The one at the peak of Golden Core Realm held on. It wasn’t difficult to defeat this opponent, but it would take quite a while. He didn’t have time to waste.

Lan Jin, who was fighting against two early-stage Golden Core Realm cultivators, called for help. She was at a disadvantage as she was fighting them alone.

Although she had outstanding strength and powerful treasures, she lacked combat experience.

“Sister, don’t be nervous. They are not your match. Keep your mind steady and analyze their movements. Think about the body techniques, and sword techniques you know. Apply them, and you’ll be able to defeat those two easily. They are not strong,” Fang Jin said to her.

“Not strong?” said one of the early-stage Golden Core Realm cultivators and laughed. “A bunch of children would be enough to deal with this little girl.”

They knew that if she got accustomed to their attacks, they would be in danger. Her spirit sword was far too powerful.

“Sister, hold on a little longer.” Bai Qiong applied her magic seal and suppressed the enemy with the power of her techniques.

She manipulated thunder, and electric light swept from all directions like multiple swords. However, it did nothing to the altar.

Fang Jin was somewhat puzzled. He still hadn’t seen Jiang Hao anywhere. He didn’t know if Jiang Hao was hiding somewhere, or if he hadn’t arrived at all.

“The people of the Bright Moon Sect are nothing special.” Zuo Lan looked at Fang Jin from the altar. “I even prepared other… methods, but it seems they won’t be necessary.”

“Zuo Lan, do you know that one of the disciples among your captives is our sect’s disciple?” asked Fang Jin.

His hands clenched on his sword, and it exerted even stronger pressure on the Golden Core Realm cultivator he was fighting.

“I know. What does it matter? What can you even do to me?” said Zuo Lan. “I heard that the Heavenly Note Sect also plans to snatch her away. If I sell her to them, I will get a substantial amount of spirit stones, won’t I?” Zuo Lan activated the altar.

“I’m guessing that you’ll definitely be blackmailed by the Heavenly Note Sect and killed,” said Lan Jin.

“Thanks for the warning. Maybe I’ll sell her elsewhere,” Zuo Lan said with a grateful smile.

“You!” Lan Jin was furious.

Zuo Lan calmly took out the stone tablet and placed it on the altar. The others didn’t react, but Jiang Hao was finally interested.

The stone tablet looked similar to the ones he had. However, Jiang Hao sensed a slight difference in the aura of the tablet.

‘Is it a fake?’ Jiang Hao couldn’t understand. ‘Can a fake stone tablet still serve as a medium?’

He used the technique he learned from the nameless manual to observe and analyze the stone tablet. He found that it seemed to be connected to something.

“Is the fake stone tablet connected to the real one and used as a medium?”

Jiang Hao was shocked.. Zuo Lan was this cautious?