Nanjue.
Within a secluded mountain valley.
At this moment, the entire valley was shrouded in an incomparably dense baleful aura.
Blood-colored mist surged violently, vegetation throughout the valley had completely withered, and beasts and insects were nowhere to be seen—only ghastly white bones remained.
Ye Dingzhi sat with his eyes closed, demonic energy circulating within him as he absorbed the baleful aura permeating the valley into his body.
Since entering demonic cultivation,
his strength had been increasing at a visibly rapid pace day by day.
In just a few short days,
his power had grown yet again.
At this moment,
a figure clad in a purple robe and wearing a mask descended through the air.
Even beneath the loose purple robes,
one could still vaguely make out her graceful, curvaceous figure.
"Yan Lingxia pays her respects to Master!"
The purple-robed masked figure knelt before Ye Dingzhi and spoke respectfully.
As that silver-bell–like voice rang out,
Ye Dingzhi slowly opened his eyes, a trace of blood-red light flashing across his pupils.
He looked at Yan Lingxia and asked calmly,
"Rise. How did things go?"
Yan Lingxia stood up slowly and removed the mask from her face, revealing a delicate and beautiful countenance.
No one would have imagined that beneath such a fierce and ominous mask
was such a tender, alluring beauty.
Yan Lingxia reported,
"Reporting to Master: all Nanjue experts have been challenged."
"A total of one hundred and thirty-five people."
"Among them, fifteen were killed, and thirty had their martial arts crippled."
Hearing this, Ye Dingzhi opened the system interface and submitted the task.
[Congratulations to the host for completing the first Demonic Path Leader mission.]
[Mission: Shake Nanjue!]
[Successfully defeated 135 Nanjue experts and killed 15.]
[Reward: Void Thought Art!]
As the mechanical voice faded,
a surge of inner power suddenly poured into Ye Dingzhi's body.
Immediately after,
this energy began circulating automatically along a specific route through his meridians, over and over again.
After a short while,
Ye Dingzhi completely mastered the Void Thought Art.
At the same time,
all information related to the Void Thought Art flooded into his mind.
Once the Void Thought Art was cultivated to the ninth level,
one could step into the Divine Wanderer Profound Realm.
Moreover, this technique allowed the cultivator to continuously absorb others' inner power to strengthen themselves.
After meditating and circulating the Void Thought Art for the time it took an incense stick to burn,
Ye Dingzhi reached Minor Mastery of the art.
When he opened his eyes again,
his pupils had shifted from pitch black to golden.
This was a special effect of cultivating the Void Thought Art—
the eyes would turn gold.
At this moment,
the mechanical voice sounded once more.
[Issuing the second Demonic Path Leader mission.]
[Mission: Cultivate Power!]
[Gain control of:]
[20 Nine Heavens Realm experts,]
[5 Soaring Realm experts,]
[1 Great Free and Unfettered Realm expert.]
[Reward: Soul-Refining Banner!]
"Soul-Refining Banner?!"
Ye Dingzhi's expression shifted slightly as baleful aura condensed around him.
Just from the name of the reward alone,
one could tell exactly what kind of object it was.
If he obtained this Soul-Refining Banner,
then when the time came,
he would make Emperor Taian, the Prince Jingyu's Residence, and all those people
experience what it truly meant to be unable to live—
and unable to die!
Ye Dingzhi then looked at the mission requirements.
"Nine Heavens Realm… Soaring Realm…"
"And it even requires a Great Free and Unfettered Realm expert?"
He frowned slightly.
The task requirements were, in fact, quite aligned with his current situation.
There were still six months left before he would storm the Prince Jingyu's Residence to seize Yi Wenjun.
Those six months were more than enough
for him to continuously expand his forces and strengthen himself.
However—
the difficulty of this mission was far from low.
Although his current realm was Half-Step Lordly Evil Realm,
situated between Half-Step Divine Wanderer and Divine Wanderer Profound Realm,
killing experts of those realms would be as easy as slaughtering chickens.
But this mission required subjugation, not slaughter.
Killing was easy.
Finding people worth keeping—
that was the difficult part.
In this world,
martial cultivation was divided into First to Ninth Grade.
Above the Ninth Grade lay the Vajra Mortal Realm—
only those who reached this realm were considered true experts of the martial world.
Above the Vajra Mortal Realm was the Free Earth Realm.
This realm formed the backbone of martial sects and major powers—
generals guarding regions, renowned martial masters presiding over territories.
Most of these figures possessed cultivation at the Free Earth Realm.
Above the Free Earth Realm was the Heavenly Freedom Realm,
and only by entering this realm could one be said to stand at the true pinnacle of the martial world.
Within the Heavenly Freedom Realm,
there were four distinct tiers, with vast differences between them:
Nine Heavens,
Soaring,
Great Free and Unfettered,
and Half-Step Divine Wanderer.
The Nine Heavens Realm was where the majority of Heavenly Freedom experts resided.
Typically, the strongest figures of first-rate factions were at this level.
The Soaring Realm represented true top-tier experts—
entering the court, they could be ennobled as lords or generals;
entering the martial world, they could rule as hegemonic overlords.
For example, the five great eunuchs of the Tianqi Imperial Palace,
the emperor's true confidants responsible for handling the dirtiest affairs,
all had to be at the Soaring Realm.
Only a tiny fraction of Heavenly Freedom experts
could advance to this level and become world-shaking powerhouses.
Above that was the Great Free and Unfettered Realm,
a truly transcendent level.
In the martial world,
experts of this realm had another title—
Immortals.
Sword users were called Sword Immortals,
blade users, Blade Immortals.
Beyond that lay the Half-Step Divine Wanderer Realm,
which was exactly where Ye Dingzhi now stood.
He had already half-stepped into legend.
Above that—
was the Divine Wanderer Profound Realm.
A realm only immortals like Li Changsheng and Mo Yi could reach.
Within Nanjue,
there were only a little over a hundred experts at or above the Heavenly Freedom Realm.
Nearly half of them
had already been crippled by his master Yusheng Mo and Yan Lingxia.
Most of the remaining experts
were merely at the basic Nine Heavens Realm.
Soaring Realm experts were extremely rare.
As for even stronger Great Free and Unfettered Realm experts—
there were none left at all.
Therefore,
to complete this mission,
he would have to go elsewhere to find and subdue powerful figures.
But before that—
Ye Dingzhi planned to first sweep through Southern Zhao entirely
and gather all its remaining experts.
His thoughts settled.
Ye Dingzhi spoke calmly,
"Yan Lingxia, go capture all Southern Zhao experts above the Nine Heavens Realm."
"Yes, Master!"
Yan Lingxia turned and departed once more.
Within the baleful, oppressive mountain valley,
only Ye Dingzhi and Yue Qing remained.
Ye Dingzhi sat cross-legged,
already calculating in his mind
where he should go next to seize powerful subordinates.