Yellow Court Daoist

Red Wood Ridge.

Some three thousand nine hundred li away from Heavenly Dog Cliff lay a valley that, after a dispersal of five streams of black smoke, revealed a young Daoist.

It was Lu Qingfeng.

"After Yingsheng Peak, Red Wood Ridge is next."

Lu Qingfeng dissolved the Five Ghosts' spells, wavered, and vanished from sight. To onlookers, he was invisible as he made a beeline for Heavenly Dog Cliff.

Unnoticed by all, he quickly reached the destination.

Looking through his Spirit Eye, the energies of five formidable entities darted skyward from Heavenly Dog Cliff. Four belonged to Earth Immortals, but the strongest and most mystical, undoubtedly, was that of the Red-haired Ancestor, who was superior to an Earth Immortal.

"All present."

Lu Qingfeng chuckled lightly, getting to work.

The Red Wood Ridge stretched tens of thousands of li, but its heart was the Heavenly Dog Cliff, under the dominion of the Red-haired Ancestor. Other areas like Tu Cui Peak and Lush Peach Mountain were prime territories within the Ridge, also belonging to it.

Lu Qingfeng strolled leisurely, as if perusing his own backyard garden. Along the trails and below the cliffs were numerous Mountain Patrol Generals, including those at the level of True Immortals. Each possessed extraordinary abilities, equivalent to esteemed elders in the Mortal realms, and their placement at Heavenly Dog Cliff marked them exceptional.

But even as Lu Qingfeng walked by, these True Immortals remained unaware.

His Invisibility Technique was potent.

Lu Qingfeng circulated his Mana, casting talismans in every direction. Some embedded in the Void, others merged with the earth and mountains.

Before this, long before overthrowing Yingsheng Peak, Lu Qingfeng had wandered through the Hundred Barbarians and Red Wood Ridge, laying down countless talismans. Having absorbed ample Spiritual Energy and connected with the earth's essence during two months, the talismans laid within Red Wood Ridge were ready.

Lu Qingfeng focused and observed the talismans draw in Spiritual Energy and imbue spirit light.

The Qi of the Nine Heavens coursed through them, weaving together the local earth and Spiritual Energy.

As he now activated more talismans, each one came alive.

Below Heavenly Dog Cliff, the cultivators of Red Wood Ridge—whether meditating, conversing, or patrolling—simultaneously detected a sudden tremor in the Spiritual Energy and a violent quiver of the earth.

"What's happening?"

"An earthquake?!"

"Heavenly Dog Cliff is one of the rare Spiritual Mountains of the Southern Border, fortified by the Old Ancestor's Arrays, how could it quake like the common earth?"

...

Expressions of surprise colored the faces of the cultivators at Heavenly Dog Cliff.

An earthquake, a force of nature insurmountable to common folk, was negligible to Immortal Sects. Their spiritual mountains, caves, and structures were safeguarded by Arrays—earthquakes hardly had an effect.

Thus, an earthquake should not occur. But when it did, it forewarned great disaster!

"What in the world is going on?"

Several True Immortal soldiers, with knitted brows, took to the sky to investigate.

What they saw was shocking.

Throughout Heavenly Dog Cliff, bursts of spirit light flickered. Upon closer inspection, these lights turned out to be talismans. Countless talismans combined to envelop the entirety of Heavenly Dog Cliff, yet the Mountain Guarding Array showed no response.

"Quickly, report to the Old Ancestor!"

The True Immortal soldiers shouted, their composure breaking in the face of the unknown. With the Red-haired Ancestor stationed at Heavenly Dog Cliff, nothing of this sort had happened for tens of thousands of years. The chaotic flashing lights and disturbances among the soldiers and cultivators stirred an ominous feeling.

There was no need for reports from True Immortals.

A half moment before.

At Heavenly Dog Cliff.

The Red-haired Ancestor and four Earth Immortal Disciples looked up simultaneously at the reporting True Immortals.

Qian Bugu exclaimed, "The Killing Department has been operating at Yingsheng Peak for tens of thousands of years, filled with intricate Arrays and impregnable defenses. Even without an Earth Immortal garrisoned, we Earth Immortals combined couldn't break through. How could it fall?!"

Qian Bugu was stunned.

If Yingsheng Peak, which was even more secure than Heavenly Dog Cliff, could fall, what could have caused it?

"Yingsheng Peak has fallen."

"Nine Earth Immortals perished."

The Red-haired Ancestor's hair fluttered with the breeze, his eyes bearing a hint of gravity. He had once attacked Yingsheng Peak but was stopped by successive Great Arrays, thus he knew it well.

To bring down Yingsheng Peak was beyond him.

"Which Demon God did Yingsheng Peak offend?"

The Red-haired Ancestor's eyes opened wide, scanning northward. Alas, with countless masters and perilous territories in the Southern Border clouding the sky, the Red-haired Ancestor could neither see nor hear anything from Yingsheng Peak.

"It seems it wasn't Yingsheng Peak's doing."

A thought struck Qian Bugu, he hesitantly asked the Red-haired Ancestor, "Could it be the work of the one who killed Zhao and Yao, our fellow Disciples?"

In the Earth Realm of the Southern Border, the simultaneous emergence of two great powers was unlikely.

It was probable to be the same individual.

"You go first to Yingsheng Peak and uncover the truth, then—"

The Red-haired Ancestor looked at Qian Bugu, about to give an order, but before he could finish, the surrounding spirit light radiated from all directions around Heavenly Dog Cliff, accompanied by a sudden pulse of earth's veins and fluctuation of Spiritual Energy.

"How audacious!"

With a fierce shout, he stood abruptly, his eyes aglow with spirit light as he surveyed all around Heavenly Dog Cliff.

Upon seeing the talismans all over, the Red-haired Ancestor's brow furrowed with a sinking premonition.

Just as he intended to leave Heavenly Dog Cliff to further investigate...

Buzz!

A resounding hum in his ears and mind nearly made him collapse; his Mana surged chaotically, almost throwing his firm stance into disarray. The Red-haired Ancestor stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

"How can this be!"

To the Red-haired Ancestor, this shock was monumental.

After all.

The Red-haired Ancestor had transcended the Red Dust and had already deciphered the path of an Earth Immortal, ascending to the Heavenly Immortal Realm. His Cultivation and Dao Ability were among the Southern Border's peak, matched by only a few mighty beings like the Hierarch of the Sahpo Demon Sect, the Old Ancestor of Hundred Barbarians, and the Old Ancestor of Sword Immortal Sect.