Northern part of the Yinming Sea.
Ji Cheng, with a pale face, was standing on the surface of the sea, holding in his hand the corpse of a demonic cultivator.
From the terrifying residual aura on the body, it was evident that it was an old monster in the Integration Realm.
Having completed the last step of the plan, his mood at that moment was extremely complex: there was anticipation, excitement, guilt, and fear.
It was a big gamble.
If he wanted to become the king of Litang, he had to pay this price, even though this action could mean the loss of all the experts of the Litang Sect!
But the facts proved that he had bet well.
When the aura of the Great Emperor Dingzhen spread throughout the Yinming Sea,
he had no choice but to bow his head and salute respectfully in the direction of the ancestor, relieved in his heart.
That brat Wang Yuan, as expected, chose to use that card to protect his own.
Summon a god!
With his current cultivation level, once the summoning was finished, he would inevitably disintegrate completely, leaving not even a trace of soul.
And that the ancestor would descend to take care of the remnants of the battle was, for him, the most favorable scenario!
Just as Ji Cheng was excited, suddenly a change in the surroundings made him shudder.
The spiritual energy of the Yinming Sea was disappearing!?
Upon paying close attention, he realized.
It wasn't that the spiritual energy had disappeared.
But... it had been contaminated to the point that it could not be absorbed.
Not even an Immortal Emperor could refine that murky spiritual energy.
This change alarmed Ji Cheng.
What the hell was happening?
This huge variable planted uncertainty in his heart again. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to go to the scene to see what was really going on.
At that moment, at the scene, the Great Emperor Dingzhen and the Lord of the Yinming Sea were engaged in a fierce battle.
Taking advantage of his local advantage, the Lord of the Yinming Sea managed to resist the combined attacks of the Great Emperor Dingzhen and the Snow Leopard.
Although at a disadvantage, the Lord of the Yinming Sea appeared calm and even somewhat excited.
Finally, he could resist that monster!
This time, the Emperor had only been summoned, at most lasting the time of an incense stick.
Once that time passed,
how could the Snow Leopard fight against him alone?
The members of the Litang Sect also realized this. Although at first they were euphoric to see their ancestor descend and act in person,
now, they really could no longer feel excited; they even began to feel some fear.
If not even the descended ancestor could face that guy,
what would they do once the ancestor returned?
Just as everyone was tense,
the huge change in the spiritual energy of the Yinming Sea instantly caught their attention.
When they thought it was another secret card from the Lord of the Yinming Sea,
his face, which until recently showed a confident smile, immediately turned grim.
In the next instant,
he was struck by the joint attack of the Great Emperor Dingzhen and the Snow Leopard, being thrown to the bottom of the Yinming Sea.
The Great Emperor Dingzhen, floating in the sky, with a serene face, extended his hand and shouted:
"Yue! Ke!"
After pronouncing the name of his native treasure, a majestic and enormous heavenly gate appeared over the sea of clouds.
When the gate opened, a purple mist quickly emerged from it and flew toward the hand of the Great Emperor Dingzhen.
With his native treasure finally in hand, Emperor Dingzhen directed his gaze toward the Lord of the Yinming Sea, who lay at the bottom of the sea.
Just moments ago, all the spiritual energy of the Yinming Sea had vanished.
For this Lord of the Yinming Sea, that act was no different than burning the foundations of his power.
He extended his hand as if grasping something invisible, and the purple palace called Yue Ke immediately returned to his hand, transforming into a purple spear.
After firmly grasping the spear, Dingzhen raised his arm and threw it.
The purple spear instantly pierced through the skull of the Lord of the Yinming Sea,
pinning him firmly to the bottom of the sea.
After being pierced in the head, no blood flowed from the wound, but slowly purple floral patterns began to appear, spreading over the entire body of the Lord of the Yinming Sea.
The Lord of the Yinming Sea showed an expression of resignation on his face, but could not move; he could only allow those patterns to cover his entire body.
When the patterns stopped flowing,
countless black chains sprouted from inside the Lord of the Yinming Sea's body, firmly binding him to the seabed.
Until the entire bed of the Yinming Sea was covered by those black chains.
Then, the seal was officially completed.
With the Lord of the Yinming Sea once again sealed beneath the Yinming Sea,
the sea calmed once more.
The Snow Leopard raised his eyes toward Emperor Dingzhen, with a look full of nostalgia, flying to him and gently pushing his leg with his head.
"We don't need to say goodbye, we will meet again in the celestial world."
Emperor Dingzhen smiled lightly and then looked at the many cultivators of the Litang Sect.
"This old monster can only be sealed for a thousand years, after that be alert. This time it cost me a lot to come down, from now on you'll have to manage on your own."
"That's how it should be."
The members of the Litang Sect listened to this answer with mixed feelings.
Now that the spiritual energy of the Yinming Sea has disappeared, there is no longer fear of a demon beast invasion.
But the Lord of the Yinming Sea remains a threat, which means more troubles still await them in the future.
After giving a few instructions to his disciples and successors, Emperor Dingzhen took a cigarette from his clothes, lit it, took a deep drag, and looked tenderly toward the Litang Mountain Range.
He remembered his youth, when after arduous cultivation sessions, his mother always prepared a cigarette for him.
Today the cigarette and the mountains are still there, but unfortunately, she is no longer here.
"Mom, I miss you so much."
He whispered without making a sound, and among the smoke that surrounded him, it seemed to him he saw his mother's smile just as he remembered it.
When the cigarette was completely consumed, Dingzhen ascended to the celestial world along with the mist around him.
Meanwhile, Wang Yuan's body dispersed like ashes in the wind, falling onto the Yinming Sea.
With tears in his eyes, the great elder of the Litang Sect used a spell to gather those ashes, and said softly:
"Master, let's go home."
All the members of the Litang Sect knelt and bowed, bidding farewell to the sect master.
With the end of the war.
The remaining demons could not avoid their fate of being completely exterminated.
Throughout the vast Yinming Sea, not a single demonic cultivator of the Golden Core Realm remained alive.
And since the Yinming Sea now no longer possesses even a trace of spiritual energy,
the lower-ranked demons can only await their inevitable death.
After finishing off the beasts and demonic cultivators,
the final tasks were relatively simple, consisting only of cleaning the battlefield.
But in every great battle, the Yinming Sea mobilized an enormous amount of resources.
And this time, most of those important resources were secretly sold by Tang Yu, which left the cultivators in charge of cleaning quite disappointed.
Due to the death in combat of sect master Wang Yuan,
and along with him, many other cultivators also perished.
The Litang Sect mourned for seven days.
Tang Yu also specially attended the mourning ceremony, feeling some sadness inside.
During the time he spent in the Litang Sect, his relationship with Wang Yuan had been good.
Now that Wang Yuan is gone,
it is still unknown who will be the next sect master.
Tang Yu will have to stay until the new leader is chosen, to discuss cooperation matters between both factions.
Members of other sects began to return after attending the funeral.
The Maidens Sect was one of the first to leave.
Before leaving, Ning Qingyan went to look for Tang Yu, and after an intense fight between them, said farewell with regret.
After all, once back in her sect, she would not know when they would see each other again.
While watching the flying ship of the Maidens Sect disappear,
Tang Yu stood for a while on the sea of clouds before preparing to return.
A figure appeared beside him.
It was old Ye from Shaoling, Ji Cheng's companion.
---------------------------
Hey guys, I want to apologize for not uploading any chapters lately. My mother passed away a week ago, and honestly, I just didn't have the energy to do anything. The chapters that were uploaded were the ones already scheduled.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your patience and for still being here. Starting tomorrow, uploads will return to normal.