"Sakura Island, Sakura Island again! One day, I will make Sakura Island pay the price!" Qu Fei said to Song Mingqin, his voice infused with spiritual energy.
"Calm down first! Now that things have escalated to this point, what we need to do is to thwart Sakura Island's plan. We cannot let them succeed," Song Mingqin said to Qu Fei.
"Don't spread the word about this matter yet. Let's find a few people we can trust," Song Mingqin said.
"Fine, I'll keep an eye on them. If they make any moves, I'll strike directly and kill them," Qu Fei made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand.
Seeing this, Song Mingqin glared fiercely at Qu Fei. Only then did Qu Fei react and give a sheepish smile.
"Hoo—"
At this moment, Dai Baiyan, the master of Neon Mountain Villa, transformed into a streak of red light and instantly appeared before Bai Zizhen.
"Old Bai," Dai Baiyan met Bai Zizhen's gaze. "We've reached an agreement. We'll each take a step back, and the demon race and we will enter in batches."
Upon hearing this, Bai Zizhen nodded with satisfaction.
"The Living Yama isn't stupid. He knows that if we don't act as the vanguard, no one will sacrifice themselves for them. At this time, only by sticking together can we go further," Bai Zizhen said. "Remind the disciples below to stay far away from the Demonic Sect."
"Alright, esteemed sect leaders, quickly arrange your disciples and find a place to set up camp. More sects and rogue cultivators will be arriving here soon," Bai Zizhen said.
After speaking, Bai Zizhen and Dai Baiyan returned to their respective sect formations.
Song Mingqin and Qu Fei exchanged glances and returned to their sect formations. They called their respective sect leaders aside and began discussing how to deal with the people from Sakura Island.
Ye Bufan followed the Red Sword Sect and set up tents between the Tyrant Blade Gate and the Palace of Light.
In the following days, Song Mingqin and Qu Fei were busy dealing with matters concerning Sakura Island. Through their arrangements, most of the sect leaders were aware of the situation.
Late at night, Ye Bufan was meditating in his tent. Outside, Ye Bufan sensed a spiritual power cautiously searching for something.
"What a powerful spiritual force?" Ye Bufan felt that this spiritual force should have come from a cultivator in the Core Formation stage.
When the other party realized someone had detected it, it immediately withdrew its spiritual power.
At this moment, Song Mingqin arrived outside Ye Bufan's tent.
"Ye Bufan, are you resting?" Song Mingqin asked from outside the tent, his tone sounding somewhat anxious.
Ye Bufan pulled open the tent flap and walked out, looking at Song Mingqin in confusion. His brows were furrowed, and his expression was grim.
"Senior Song, what happened?" Ye Bufan asked.
Song Mingqin sighed and said to Ye Bufan, "Follow me."
Ye Bufan followed Song Mingqin, and the two quickly traversed the forest, finally arriving at a lake. Standing by the lake were several people: Bai Zizhen, the Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Star Sect; Yan Se, the Sect Leader; Qu Fei, the Supreme Elder of the Red Sword Sect; Ying Yao, the Sect Leader; Song Xinghai, the Sect Leader of the Red Sword Sect; and Yan Yuzhu, the Palace Mistress of the Palace of Light.
"What's going on?" Ye Bufan asked, puzzled.
"You'll know soon enough." Song Mingqin led Ye Bufan to Bai Zizhen. "Old Bai, Ye Bufan is here."
Bai Zizhen turned around, looked at Ye Bufan, and asked, "Kid, do you know about Sakura Island's Living Puppet technique?"
Ye Bufan nodded. Immediately, Bai Zizhen produced a jade bead and tossed it into the air. Everyone simultaneously unleashed their spiritual power, forming a spiritual barrier to isolate them from outside interference.
"Kid, I want you to look at something."
Bai Zizhen finished speaking, waved his hand, and a horsetail whisk appeared. With a sweep of the whisk, a corpse appeared on the floor.
"This... Isn't this a disciple from the Palace of Light?" Ye Bufan recognized the clothes on the corpse and turned to look at Yan Yuzhu.
As Bai Zizhen drew his whisk back, a black ball of light flew out from the corpse of the Palace of Light disciple.
"Soul form!" Ye Bufan immediately recognized the thing within the ball of light.
"Yesterday, after Senior Song told me about the Living Puppets, I conducted a self-inspection of our disciples," Yan Yuzhu explained to Ye Bufan. "Following the characteristics of Living Puppets described by Senior Song, I quickly identified this disciple. However, I was afraid that Sakura Island might notice, so I orchestrated an accident tonight."
"We heard from Song Mingqin that you are skilled in spiritual power techniques and can extract useful information from these soul forms," Bai Zizhen said.
"Don't worry, the master of Neon Mountain Villa and the sect leaders of other sects are helping us keep an eye on the people from Thunder Valley and the demon race," Song Mingqin said.
"I'll try," Ye Bufan took a deep breath and unleashed his spiritual power, instantly enveloping the small black ball of light.
As Ye Bufan's spiritual power emerged, everyone present changed their expressions.
"This spiritual power... it should be as powerful as Old Bai's, right?" Yan Se, the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Star Sect, who was beside Bai Zizhen, transmitted his voice to Bai Zizhen. "He's only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, how can his spiritual power be this strong?"
Bai Zizhen turned to Song Mingqin and transmitted his voice, inquiring about Ye Bufan's origins.
The black ball of light slowly took on a human form. Soon, a person resembling a young man in his twenties, from Sakura Island, appeared. He looked nothing like the corpse on the ground.
"Baga!" Seeing Ye Bufan, the other party immediately lunged at him.
"Illusory Sound Demonic Eyes!"
Ye Bufan's eyes suddenly deepened. The other party instantly lost his ability to resist.
"Don't look at Ye Bufan," Bai Zizhen quickly warned everyone upon seeing this.
Even so, Ying Yao was still affected. His gaze became vacant, and he too fell under the effect of Ye Bufan's Illusory Sound Demonic Eyes.
Seeing this, Qu Fei infused a stream of his true qi into Ying Yao's body. Ying Yao shivered and woke up.
"Terrifying. His spiritual power technique can evoke the deepest fears within our hearts," Ying Yao said with emotion.
Meanwhile, Ye Bufan's spiritual power invaded the soul of the Sakura Island person, surging into his sea of consciousness. Then, the Heavenly Gang Wheel began to spin, absorbing the other party's soul power while reading the memories in his mind.
This person's name was Dao Shangkong. He had not infiltrated the Palace of Light because of this mission; he had been there for three years.
From his memories, Ye Bufan also discovered Living Puppets in other sects.