CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 38: THE TURMOIL OF YIN NIANG AND THE WOODSMAN

Some records within the Magic Sect can only be accessed by those at the Elder Level.

A thousand years ago, the Magic Sect experienced two severe internal conflicts, occurring about a century apart, resulting in the downfall of numerous experts and the loss or destruction of many ancient texts.

As a result, future generations could only rely on memory, and even refer to some folk tales and legendary stories, to piece together the truth of those events.

This turmoil began about twelve hundred years ago with the "Yin Niang Rebellion," and ended about eleven hundred years ago with the "Woodsman Rebellion."

The earliest Magic Sect was not as it is today but was like a major cultivation sect often depicted in novels, with a tightly organized structure and strict sect rules.

Lingxi, Qi Observation, Microcosm, Heart Plate, Alchemy Cauldron, Observing Body, and Xingshen were the seven secret techniques passed down by the Magic Sect, akin to the colleges and departments in today’s universities.

Besides these seven mainstream branches, the Magic Sect had a secret lineage, which was the Insect Concealment Skill. The so-called secret lineage can be understood as not open to public recruitment.

This lineage had very few disciples, all carefully selected and nurtured from a young age. Disciples of the Insect Concealment Skill had to cultivate to Tier Four before being sent out on missions, with males referred to as "Kong’Er" and females as "Yin Niang."

They excelled at concealing their tracks, and were masters of tracking, stealth, and assassination.

The leaders of these eight lineages were also called Sect Leaders, above whom was the Sect Leader, along with various executive bodies at the Sect Headquarters. The leader of the Insect Concealment Skill lineage was also known as the Hidden Moth, rumored to wield an incredible Immortal Artifact.

As for the Immortal Artifact, even Gu Chun and Jiang Daozhen didn’t know what it was, possibly a name concocted through oral tradition, ostensibly a Divine Artifact of heritage, which later generations referred to as the Hidden Moth Object.

There is no record of where the Hidden Moth Object came from, or if it even exists, in the extant texts, and it is speculated to have been left by the ancestor who first established the Magic Sect.

The ancestor also created this secret lineage of the Insect Concealment Skill with the intention of overseeing the conduct of sorcerers worldwide. By modern understanding, it served as an internal surveillance agency within the Magic Sect.

The characteristics of the Insect Concealment Skill made it most suitable for this role.

Roughly twelve hundred years ago, the Sect Leader Hidden Moth was a nun, known as the Divine Nun. Besides the Sect Leader, the Hidden Moth Sect had three disciples, consisting of one Yin Niang and two Kong’Er.

One day, the Sect Leader tasked Yin Niang with investigating a Lingxi Sect disciple, who was said to have violated sect rules by killing innocents indiscriminately.

This Lingxi Sect disciple’s surname was Liu, and he was a general with significant military and political power in the secular world, whose cultivation level had reached Tier Five "Passerby."

General Liu had somehow deduced Yin Niang’s arrival, dismissed all attendants, and waited alone without setting any traps or ambushes.

Yin Niang felt that this general was forthright and not a villain, and upon investigation, the so-called indiscriminate killing of innocents was a trumped-up charge.

At that time, the world was in chaos; although there was an emperor sitting in the capital, the regions had become semi-autonomous. Various factions held their own troops, often attacking each other. Casualties were inevitable during the battles between armies, so discussing violations of Magic Sect rules seemed far-fetched.

Yin Niang reported her findings to the Magic Sect, yet the sect still ordered her to assassinate General Liu.

Why the Magic Sect’s high-ranking members decided so is unknown due to the loss of records. Even the above story was pieced together by later sect elders from scattered notes and rumors.

There’s an unverified speculation that another group of high-ranking members might have secretly supported forces opposing General Liu and wanted to eliminate him using the Magic Sect’s power.

Yin Niang likely uncovered the internal secrets and reported back to the sect, but it was to no avail. Eventually, she simply left the sect, refusing to complete the mission or return for reporting.

This defection normally would result in pursuit and punishment, but given the chaotic times and ongoing disorder within the Magic Sect, and Yin Niang being an expert in assassination, the sect chose to remain silent on this matter for a time.

With Yin Niang gone, the mission still needed to be carried out, so the Magic Sect continuously sent out two Kong’Er to assassinate General Liu. Secretly, Yin Niang protected General Liu, killing the first Kong’Er and injuring the second, who then fled far away.

There’s also a saying that the first Kong’Er was bribed by General Liu’s opponents to act as their tool for eliminating rivals, which was why Yin Niang showed no mercy.

The second Kong’Er’s skills might have been on par with Yin Niang’s, but he didn’t exert his full strength in the mission, feigning serious injury and retreating, using the opportunity to leave the Magic Sect as well, and hasn’t been heard from since.

With all three disciples in trouble, only the Sect Leader remained in the Hidden Moth Lineage, the Hidden Moth Divine Nun.

Subsequent events have no written records. It’s said the Magic Sect’s high-ranking members used this incident to pressure the Divine Nun to hand over the Hidden Moth Object or at least reveal the secret of the Invisibility Ability.

The Hidden Moth lineage has been a secret tradition since ancient times. Regarding the Hidden Moth Object, others in the Magic Sect could only speculate; no one had ever publicly admitted its existence, though the Invisibility Ability had traces to follow.

The Hidden Moth once instantly appeared thousands of miles away, in a heavily guarded area, inexplicably emerged from behind a hall to kill a renegade of the Magic Sect, then vanished back into the hall, reappearing in the Sect Headquarters thousands of miles away in the blink of an eye.

With such skill, even the Sect Leader with the highest cultivation level throughout history was left in the dust. The fact that the Hidden Moth’s cultivation wasn’t beyond past Sect Leaders spawned the legend of the Immortal Artifact.

The specific cause of this conflict is untraceable, but even the Sect Leader perished in the ensuing chaos, and the Magic Sect lost a group of elders. Ultimately, the Hidden Moth Divine Nun was killed by a joint effort, yet the supposed Immortal Artifact was not found.