Such maneuvering, even if the upper echelons of the immortal sects were shrewd, would be nearly impossible to detect. After all, there were only six sect cultivators stationed at Cicada Cry Cliff. Even if the casualty rate among them was slightly higher than that of the rogue cultivators, it didn’t mean much.

At the Foundation Establishment stage, rogue cultivators and sect cultivators diverged dramatically in ability.

In the Qi Refinement stage, rogue cultivators were far inferior to sect cultivators. But by the time one reached Foundation Establishment, those rogue cultivators who had made it that far were not necessarily weaker than their sect counterparts.

They might lack potential, but when it came to actual combat power and survival tactics, most rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators were stronger than ordinary sect cultivators.

——After all, the difficulty of reaching Foundation Establishment as a rogue cultivator was many times higher than for a sect disciple.

They were only inferior in spiritual root quality, but in every other aspect, these cultivators were essentially elites.

Thus, rogue cultivators who reached Foundation Establishment were all veterans of the cultivation world.

These seasoned veterans naturally had a lower mortality rate when executing missions. No one could find fault with that.

And the immortal sects couldn’t very well say: “Rogue cultivators are supposed to die more than sect cultivators.”

…

Entering the discussion hall, Wei Tu took his usual seat in a secluded corner and waited for Xi Ying to make his announcement.

Not long after, Xi Ying entered and explained the reason for the summons.

“In the past year or so, there’s been little activity from demonic cultivators around Cicada Cry Cliff. According to intel from the Righteous Alliance, we’ve uncovered some inside information.”

“The demonic elder Yan, of Demonfiend Sect, will be celebrating his six hundred sixty-year birthday in two months. His disciples and underlings are all busy gathering birthday tributes.”

“After the banquet, Elder Yan will mobilize the entire strength of Demonfiend Sect to launch a full-scale assault on Nanzhuang Pass, aiming to crush the righteous forces nearby and advance the front lines.”

Xi Ying spoke slowly.

Nanzhuang Pass was a key fortress in the western part of the righteous–demonic warfront, a true strategic stronghold.

Cicada Cry Cliff, by comparison, was a small outpost embedded into the front line ahead of Nanzhuang Pass. Together, the two positions created a pincer formation.

If Nanzhuang Pass fell, Cicada Cry Cliff would be surrounded by demonic cultivators and completely cut off—isolated and without support.

“This is intelligence regarding one of the tribute-gathering teams. The higher-ups want us to ambush and eliminate this squad before they return.”

Xi Ying pulled a jade slip shaped like a command token from his sleeve and placed it on the long table in front of him.

Then he turned his gaze toward the rogue cultivators in the corner. His eyes swept across Wei Tu, Li Daoyuan and his wife, Chu Huan, and then paused.

“Li Daoyuan, Wei Tu, Chu Huan… and you, Daoist Zuo. The four of you will carry out the ambush on this demonic squad.”

“Daoist Zuo, you’re in command.”

The "Daoist Zuo" Xi Ying referred to was Zuo Kui, a yellow-faced man from the Jingguo Beastmaster Sect, currently in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Wei Tu recalled what Li Daoyuan had told him before. He didn’t refuse the mission. Along with the others, he accepted what seemed to be a very dangerous task.

After that—

Xi Ying assigned duties to the sect cultivators as well. He kept three of them behind to help guard Cicada Cry Cliff, while sending the others on missions.

For example, Guan Zhenying and Shen Changfeng were assigned to Tongma City in the mortal realm to escort an injured cultivator back to Nanzhuang Pass.

Compared to Wei Tu’s ambush assignment, this mission sounded far less risky.

“But based on what Li Daoyuan said, the missions given to rogue cultivators are usually less dangerous than those given to sect cultivators.”

“Seems like there might be hidden danger in Tongma City.”

Wei Tu thought to himself.

An ambush on demonic cultivators seemed dangerous—but the risk was clear and on the surface. With accurate intel and caution, they could survive.

In contrast, escorting an injured cultivator seemed easy—but with vague information, any unexpected situation could make the danger skyrocket.

Still, if nothing went wrong, escorting a fellow cultivator was easy and smooth, and Xi Ying’s arrangements would appear fair to the higher-ups.

After all, on the surface, it was rogue cultivators like Wei Tu who were taking the biggest risks by ambushing demonic forces.

…

After leaving the discussion hall—

Wei Tu returned to his cave residence. He placed the Wind-Cleaving Eagle, his vital combat companion, and the Seven-Colored Phantom Moths, his intel-gathering insects, into their respective spirit beast and insect pouches. Then he went to the cliffside to meet up with Zuo Kui and the others.

“Here’s the intel. Copy it.”

Zuo Kui’s expression was calm. When he saw Wei Tu arrive, he gave a nod, then handed the command slip that Xi Ying had displayed earlier to Li Daoyuan.

Li Daoyuan was the most senior rogue cultivator at Cicada Cry Cliff. He’d been stationed there for four years, and he had the highest cultivation among the rogue cultivators—Foundation Establishment mid-stage, peak.

Li Daoyuan copied the information and passed the jade slip to Wei Tu without hesitation.

Although Chu Huan had more seniority, cultivation reigned supreme in the cultivation world. She was only at early Foundation Establishment, and thus ranked beneath Wei Tu in status.

Wei Tu glanced at the command slip and breathed a little easier.

According to the intel, the demonic squad they were targeting consisted of only two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators—one late stage, one mid-stage.

Four versus two. They held the advantage.

Once Chu Huan had finished copying the intel—

Zuo Kui led the other three off the cliff, heading straight to the ambush site.

Since the location was deep in demonic territory, near the border between Zheng Kingdom and Jing Kingdom, they traveled at low altitude, moving slowly to avoid attention.

Unlike righteous territory, where nearly all cultivators followed orthodox paths, demonic territory was a chaotic mess.

Within its borders were not only true demonic cultivators, but also righteous cultivators and rogue cultivators who had defected to the demonic side.

These surrendered cultivators were called “meat sheep” in demonic territory. Over ninety percent of them were raised as slaves or blood food for the demonic sects.

“Every time the world falls into chaos, there are rogue cultivators who rise to power, founding sects and claiming Dao Ancestor titles. Even ascending to the Nascent Soul stage isn't unheard of in ancient records...”

“But most of them end up as nothing more than bones, fuel for others’ cultivation paths.”

Along the way, Li Daoyuan watched as a demonic cultivator bit into a surrendered cultivator alive, then sighed.

Immortal sects might be overbearing, but they at least left rogue cultivators a sliver of hope—they didn’t drive them all to extinction.

But the demonic sects weren’t like that. Other than those rogue cultivators deemed useful, the rest were just blood offerings.

After that, Li Daoyuan spoke with great interest to Wei Tu about the notorious actions of the five major demonic sects.

“The Blood God Sect feeds on cultivators’ blood essence, Myriad Spirits Sect extracts their soul force, Demonfiend Sect refines corpses into zombies, and Hehuan Sect steals cultivators’ vital energy...”

“Only the Heavenly Maiden Sect is slightly better.”

“But even that one is a righteous sect that defected to the demonic path—not even worth mentioning.”

The Heavenly Maiden Sect was once a righteous sect?

That was something Wei Tu was hearing for the first time.

“No wonder Si Qing was able to infiltrate the Huang Clan for so many years without being discovered,” Wei Tu realized.

Besides her demonic background, Si Qing’s spiritual power was nearly indistinguishable from that of righteous cultivators. That subtle difference, no matter how sharp-eyed the Huang Clan cultivators were, was hard to detect.

From their conversation, Wei Tu also learned that Li Daoyuan wasn’t originally from Zheng Kingdom, but a rogue cultivator from Jing Kingdom who had migrated here along with the Rogue Cultivator Alliance.

The Rogue Cultivator Alliance was originally formed in Jing Kingdom, a group forged out of necessity by rogue cultivators who were being oppressed by the immortal sects.

But after the demonic invasion—

In that crisis, more and more rogue cultivators joined the alliance. It grew like a snowball, eventually reaching a size capable of challenging the immortal sects themselves.

“In the beginning, the alliance in Jing Kingdom only had nine Golden Core cultivators. After arriving in Zheng Kingdom, they recruited eight more Golden Core cultivators. That’s how they ended up with the current seventeen.”

To prevent Wei Tu from developing bias against the “foreign” Rogue Cultivator Alliance, Li Daoyuan added this comment immediately.

After hearing all this—

Wei Tu could tell Li Daoyuan deeply admired the alliance. But he wasn’t surprised.

After all, if not for the alliance, there was no guarantee Li Daoyuan and his wife could have escaped the chaos of Jing Kingdom and made it to Zheng Kingdom safely.

In other words, the Rogue Cultivator Alliance had saved their lives.

In that context, it would be more surprising if Li Daoyuan didn’t support the alliance wholeheartedly.

If Wei Tu didn’t have such confidence in his own strength, and if he weren’t so wary of getting entangled, just seeing how the alliance had forced Xi Ying to change his attitude might have been enough to make him feel a sense of allegiance too.

…

A few days later—

Wei Tu and the others arrived at the ambush site and concealed their auras, quietly lying in wait.

This was a path the demonic convoy had to take on their way to Elder Yan’s lair.

What Li Daoyuan and the others didn’t notice was that while hiding, Wei Tu had secretly released his Seven-Colored Phantom Moths ahead of the ambush point.

After two days—

A group of several dozen demonic cultivators appeared on the road. In the middle of the group were two carriages, each several zhang tall, slowly rolling forward.

These two carriages were pulled by Tiger-Headed Oxen, first-tier spirit beasts.

As they moved, Wei Tu noticed something—

The last carriage seemed especially heavy. The tracks it left in the dirt were more than half a foot deep.

Wei Tu commanded a Seven-Colored Phantom Moth to flutter near the last carriage. Peeking through a gap in the side, he took a look inside.

One glance—and everything clicked.

Now he understood why these demonic cultivators hadn’t used storage pouches to carry this item, but instead transported it like mortals.

Inside the rear carriage sat a massive golden ore, several zhang in size. It shimmered with light, one solid piece, radiating an oppressive spiritual pressure.

A storage pouch suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t possibly hold something that large. It was basically a small mountain.

“If it’s a birthday tribute for Elder Yan, then that golden ore must be at least second-tier, high-grade, maybe even third-tier spirit material,” Wei Tu guessed.

After confirming the tribute, Wei Tu directed his Phantom Moth toward the first carriage, trying to see what was inside.

If his guess was right—

That’s where the two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators would be.

However—

What he saw surprised him.

There were indeed two demonic cultivators inside, but they didn’t seem like Foundation Establishment cultivators at all.

Both looked nervous, gripping their sleeves with anxious expressions.

“What do we do? That Senior Yin clearly dragged us along as bait. If things go south, we’ll be the first to die,” muttered the thin, tall one in a low voice, his face filled with discontent.

“Watch your mouth! If Senior Yin hears you, we’re both dead,” the black-robed man beside him warned sharply.

“What’s there to be afraid of? To hide his trail, he already placed a soundproof formation around this carriage. He can’t hear us talking in here,” the tall one replied indifferently.

Hearing that, the black-robed man glanced outside nervously. Seeing that Senior Yin walking ahead looked perfectly calm, he finally relaxed a little, his expression easing.

“Still, we should speak through sound transmission just in case. Who knows if Senior Yin added other restrictions besides the soundproofing?” the black-robed man suggested, his lips barely moving as he transmitted his voice.

But those words weren’t hidden from Wei Tu’s Seven-Colored Phantom Moths.

Each of the Phantom Moths he had released carried a fragment of his divine sense, and his divine sense far surpassed that of the two Qi Refinement stage demonic cultivators in the carriage.

So everything the two were discussing, Wei Tu overheard in full.

However, after a while, the conversation between those two became rather meaningless.

Just trivial nonsense.

From the earlier actions of the black-robed cultivator, Wei Tu had already figured out which of the demonic cultivators outside the carriage was the so-called “Senior Yin.”

He no longer felt like wasting divine sense spying on idle talk, and was just about to withdraw his Phantom Moth from the carriage.

After all, his divine sense was limited. In the battle to come, being short even a portion could be a disadvantage.

But right then—

A sentence from the tall, skinny demonic cultivator caught his attention.

The two Qi Refinement demonic cultivators sitting inside the carriage had shifted their conversation from “Senior Yin” to other people.

“Senior Yin gave such a big gift to Elder Yan this time. I bet he’s hoping Elder Yan will say a few good words to Ancestor Ninyan, so he can marry Fairy Leng.”

“Fairy Leng is Elder Ninyan’s niece, a prodigy among this generation of the Heavenly Maiden Sect. Just based on Senior Yin alone… not likely.”

At this, the black-robed man laughed a few times, a trace of scorn flashing in his eyes.

Clearly, he didn’t have any real respect for this “Senior Yin.”

“But I’ve heard that Fairy Leng isn’t exactly... chaste. Seems she’s kept male pets before. Her Yuan Yin has probably long been lost.”

“Even if Senior Yin wins over Elder Yan and becomes her Dao companion, it’ll still be a waste of effort.”

The tall, skinny demonic cultivator spoke with a sneer.

“What? Her Yuan Yin is gone? Such a beautiful woman—who took it?” The black-robed cultivator’s expression immediately turned ugly, gritting his teeth.

“It wasn’t someone else who took it—Fairy Leng loves dual cultivation. She’s the one who harvested someone.”

“You’ve heard of the Three Demons of the Fu Clan, right? That Fu eldest brother from the Myriad Spirits Sect? Word is, he’s already under her skirts.”

The tall one chuckled as he spoke, clearly enjoying watching his companion get riled up.

…

“Could that Fu eldest brother be Fu Lin?” Wei Tu narrowed his eyes at the mention, forming a guess.

Besides Fu Lin, he couldn’t think of another Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator in the Myriad Spirits Sect known as “Fu eldest brother.”

A hundred years ago—

When Fu Lin fled Baishi Lake Marketplace, he hadn’t gone alone. He took along his younger brother and sister.

Now, hearing the term “Three Demons of the Fu Clan” from this tall cultivator only confirmed Wei Tu’s guess—this “Fu eldest brother” really was Fu Lin.

“Fu Lin ended up under the skirt of a demonic beauty from the Heavenly Maiden Sect?”

“Could this be why Fu Lin broke his promise—why he never returned to Zheng Kingdom, or wrote to Yan’er again?”

Wei Tu frowned deeply.

Even if they had once been childhood sweethearts, a hundred years apart would dull those feelings.

Wei Tu had never seen this “Fairy Leng,” but he could easily imagine her beauty—absolutely stunning, a realm-toppling beauty.

Far more beautiful than Wei Yan.

After all, Wei Yan took after her mother Xinghua in looks—delicate, sweet, and charming, but hardly a peerless beauty.

“It’s just personal choice. Nothing for me to get involved in.” Wei Tu shook his head and reined in his thoughts.

A hundred years ago, Fu Lin had confessed to Wei Yan, but she turned him down.

So from that standpoint, Fu Lin finding someone more suited to him now was only natural.

“That debt of ten spirit stones from long ago—Fu Lin has already repaid it tenfold.”

“Besides, those spirit stones were borrowed by my fourth brother. Had nothing to do with me.”

“The two letters I sent—they were enough to settle the past.”

Wei Tu sighed, no longer fixated on Fu Lin breaking his promise.

Still, he did feel a bit of regret.

After all, Fu Lin cutting contact now meant his heart and path were fully immersed in the demonic way.

To the point that he’d severed all ties with his former family and friends, becoming a stranger.

“If it were me, I might’ve made the same choice. The path of immortality is hard.”

“If Fu Lin hadn’t defected to the demonic path, he’d likely have had no chance at Foundation Establishment in Zheng Kingdom…”

Wei Tu reflected quietly.

Fu Lin was much like Fu Zhizhou—like father, like son—possessing a determined Dao heart.

But Fu Lin wasn’t as lucky as his father.

If Fu Zhizhou hadn’t backed Kou Hongying, hadn’t received a premium Beast Control Talisman from him, he too might have never reached Foundation Establishment.

…

About the time it takes to brew a cup of tea later—

The two carriages escorted by demonic cultivators finally entered the ambush zone set up by Wei Tu and his team.

“Be cautious. Watch that fourth person from the left—he’s not simple,” Wei Tu turned and transmitted a message to Chu Huan beside him.

Among the four of them lying in wait, Chu Huan was the weakest in cultivation—and the most likely to fall.

So, for the sake of how courteous she’d been to him over the past two years, Wei Tu kindly gave her a warning.

He wasn’t worried that leaking this info would bring him trouble.

First, Chu Huan wasn’t the type to repay kindness with betrayal.

Second, even if others found out he had foreseen the identity of “Senior Yin,” he wouldn’t be afraid. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, who didn’t have a few secrets or trump cards?

There were countless excuses he could use—no need to mention the Phantom Moths at all.

“Thank you, Daoist Wei.” Chu Huan’s face flushed slightly, gratitude flickering in her eyes.

Since her husband died, Wei Tu was the only male cultivator who had shown her this much consideration.