Wan Lai followed Gu Pinglin's instructions, went out to get news every day, and soon brought back Li Moqing's letter. Yinlan Villa originally had friendships with many sects. Li Moqing's pulse disease recovered, and his words carried a different weight, so they all bought into his words. Gu Pinglin also made progress. Now the Lingxin Sect is growing stronger and has good relations with many sects. Just looking at the small sects and families that have attached themselves to it, they are also a considerable force.
There are also those who do not believe.
Gu Pinglin sent letters to the eight major sects and all the major families, but only Guangling Sect and Wan Clan responded clearly. This result was expected. The Demon Ancestor and the Solitary Yin Land have become history. The cultivation world has been peaceful for many years. Suddenly, someone wants to turn the cultivation world into a Solitary Yin Land. It sounds incredible. There is no evidence at present. Just based on the changes in the spiritual energy of Wuyin Mountain and Baitou Mountain, it is difficult to convince everyone even with the reputation of the Sword King Pavilion. Moreover, Duan Qingming's survival has already made many people wary. It was confirmed on Penglai Island that he was the successor of "Nine Chapters of Refining the Spirit". It may be more credible to say that he planned this matter. It is normal for everyone to doubt that he took the initiative to report the news.
Those sects and families that are willing to cooperate may not necessarily believe it completely. When it comes to actually using their full strength, they will certainly hold back. Therefore, although their own fighting power seems strong, they can actually only barely deal with two places.
To affect the entire cultivation world, at least four soul-locking arrays must be activated at the same time to form the Four Souls Swallowing the Sun array. These four soul-locking arrays are independent of each other, and each creates a unique Yin area. The important thing is that as long as three of the four arrays are successfully activated, it is enough to make the Four Souls Swallowing the Sun array work, and most of the cultivation world will become a unique Yin area, and the rest of the area will sooner or later be eroded by Yin Qi.
This means that at least two places must be defended in order to completely destroy the Four Spirits Swallowing Sun Formation.
Unlike Li Moqing, Gu Pinglin was not worried about the combat effectiveness.
Our side is short of manpower, and so is the Wanfa Sect. The Demon Realm has a co-leader, Master Weifeng, and the Wanfa Sect does not have enough power. Even with the addition of the Sword King Pavilion, it is not easy to defend four formations.
The biggest problem now is the location of the four soul-locking arrays.
The operation of such a large formation must require a lot of spiritual energy. The four formations must be located on the spiritual veins of the eight spiritual mountains. The eight spiritual mountains have countless spiritual veins and spiritual eyes, so it is difficult to determine the specific location. The Soul Locking Formation is a magic formation created by the Hundred Refining Demon Ancestor. Even Yao Feng and Li Moqing can only understand a little bit from the records in the book. No one knows the conditions for the formation. Currently, only Xin Ji and Duan Qingming have read the "Nine Chapters of Refining the Spirit" passed down by the Demon Ancestor. Xin Ji only learned the pupil technique and was controlled by Duan Qingming. Even if Gu Pinglin has a lot of attainments in the art of formation, he cannot deduce it out of thin air.
What's more troublesome is that news has been coming out from the Demon Realm recently: the spiritual energy in the areas of Tianjing Mountain and Canchi in the Demon Realm has increased, and there are rumors in the cultivation world that the earth veins are changing.
The Yuluo Mountains where the Baekdu Mountain is located, the Wuyin Mountains in the Misty Wilderness, and the Qianyang Mountains where the Lingxin Sect and Xuanming Sect are located, plus the Demon Realm Tianjing Mountains and the Silkworm Pond...
too messy.
Someone is creating an illusion to confuse people.
Judging from the arrangement of the Four Spirits Swallowing Sun Formation, there is a Soul Locking Formation that should indeed be in the Demon Realm, which makes the task even more difficult.
"If the Demon Realm becomes a lonely place, it's not our turn to worry about it," Dao Governor Jiang Wu said bluntly, "Why not reveal the news to Master Wei Feng and let Master Wei Feng fight them? In this way, we only need to defend one more place, isn't that good?"
Gu Pinglin immediately frowned: "No."
Yan Feixiu misunderstood his meaning: "That's right, Master Weifeng won't believe it. The Taoist sect and the Demon Realm are already in opposition. Even our orthodox Taoist sect may not believe this, not to mention that with Duan... Pavilion Master Duan here, he will definitely find a way to disrupt the cooperation."
Jiang Wu smiled bitterly, "If the news hadn't come from the headmaster, even I wouldn't have believed it. The Demon Ancestor has been dead for many years, and he couldn't do anything to the cultivation world when he was alive. How could the Wanfa Sect create the Duyin Land? Now that things have come to this, why not just make the news public? It's better than trying to figure it out on our own."
Gu Pinglin neither explained nor answered. He tapped the table with his fingers. Jiang Wu was about to say something else when muffled thunder sounded faintly outside the hall.
The three of them were startled and walked out of the palace to watch.
"It's the Tribulation Thunder!" Jiang Wu was surprised. "It's one of ours. Could it be Senior Brother Chen?"
Yan Feixiu immediately said: "I'll go take a look."
Recently, only Chen Qian and Gan Li were in seclusion in the sect. Gan Li's cultivation was shallow, so it was impossible for him to trigger such a powerful thunder. Chen Qian had been stuck in the ninth level of the outer elixir transformation for a long time, and he should be about to form an inner elixir. If a cultivator fails to form an inner elixir, not only will his cultivation drop, but his aptitude will also be damaged, and he will basically have no hope of becoming a Taoist. When Gu Pinglin failed to form an inner elixir, he was lucky to have the "Creation Art" to protect his aptitude. He claimed to the outside world that he had found the spirit stone milk, and Yan Feixiu, Bu Shuihan and others did not doubt it, which shows his trust.
Gu Pinglin was about to nod, but saw Wan Lai hurried over: "Master, there is news!"
This was a very sensitive time, Yan Feixiu's expression changed a little: "What happened again?"
Wan Lai had just rushed back from outside, sweating profusely, and hurriedly saluted to everyone: "I don't know where the news came from, saying that someone has tampered with the seal of the spiritual eye of the former Zixiao Palace on Baitou Mountain, trying to use the eighth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar to attract spiritual energy and change the earth veins. The abnormal spiritual energy in recent days is precisely because of this."
Jiang Wu was stunned for a long while, then laughed out loud, clapping his hands: "Who spread this news? It helped us a lot. It's related to the spiritual vein. Are you afraid that they won't move?"
The spiritual energy of the land veins in the cultivation world will change naturally, but if it is artificial, the nature is different. Compared with the soul-locking array in the Yin land, this reason is more convincing, and all sects and families will definitely pay attention to it.
Wan Lai kept fanning himself with his folding fan: "That's true, but I always feel something is wrong. Master used the news from the Sword King Pavilion to gain the trust of the major sects and families. Will they doubt us?"
Jiang Wu waved his hand and said, "What's the big deal? Neither side has any real evidence. No one can say that our news is definitely false. As long as we lead them to take action, they will naturally understand when they see the Soul Locking Array with their own eyes."
Yan Feixiu looked at Pinglin and said, "Junior Brother Jiang, what you said makes sense. This matter seems to be beneficial to us. I wonder who leaked the information and why he would help us?"
Gu Pinglin frowned.
"Senior Brother Chen has passed the alchemy tribulation. Our Lingxin sect will have another great inner alchemy practitioner!" Bu Shuihan's laughter could be heard.
Everyone stopped talking.
.
At this critical moment, Chen Qian lived up to everyone's expectations and successfully advanced to the Inner Alchemy Realm. The Lingxin Sect had four Inner Alchemy masters in charge, and the disciples were delighted. Mu Shiqing's practice of "Creation Art" also showed initial results, breaking through a small realm of Qi transformation. He really had a talent for formation swordsmanship, and learned the new sword moves of the Lingxin Sect faster than others. He got the essence of "using formation to enter the sword", and occasionally had unique insights, and Gu Pinglin did not stop him from trying.
The news that someone was trying to draw the spiritual energy spread, causing a sensation in the cultivation world. After the Zixiao Palace was destroyed, the spiritual eye was sealed by masters from various major sects and families. Countless cultivators rushed to Mount Baitou upon hearing the news. In the end, it was the leader of the Xuanming Sect, Zhan Renjie, who stepped forward and personally led everyone to check the seal. Apart from the increase in spiritual energy, no other abnormalities were found, and everyone had their own doubts.
In the study, Gu Pinglin put down the letter from the head of the Wan family.
The letter was brought by Wan Lai. In addition to the usual polite words, there was also a message saying "The Wan family will definitely pay attention to this matter, so Master Gu doesn't need to worry too much" and so on.
Two days ago, Ying also sent a letter with similar content.
They were all on guard.
It's Duan Qingming.
Duan Qingming was the only one who released the news. Duan Qingming certainly had no good intentions. He used him to gain the trust of the major sects and families because he had personally visited the Lingxin Sect. In the eyes of outsiders, he had an inseparable relationship with the Lingxin Sect. He did not deny it directly, but released this news that was easier to gain trust from others, deliberately muddying the waters, making those sects and families suspicious of each other, dispersing their actions, and eventually being led astray, destroying his plans. Once those sects and families became defensive, they would no longer obey his orders.
He had used Duan Qingming in secret before and did not agree with Jiang Wu to make the news public because he knew this would be the result. However, Duan Qingming still got the news and saw his concerns, so it was only a matter of time before he took action.
"Is that really Junior Brother Duan?" Chen Qian turned around. After several months of seclusion, the short beard on his chin had grown longer, and it was black and shiny. He looked younger than before he formed the Dan, but his complexion didn't look very good.
Unlike Bu Shuihan, who is a man of temperament, Chen Qian follows the rules and will not forget his position just because he admires Duan Qingming, so Gu Pinglin did not hide it from him.
Chen Qian had been practicing in seclusion since the discussion on the cliff. He didn't feel good until now when he heard the news. "The Lingxin Sect never treated him badly. He was the one who went astray and practiced magic. The Sect Master had no choice but to expel him from the Lingxin Sect in public. It's good that he's alive now, but he shouldn't be so stubborn as to associate with the magic cultivators and harm the cultivation world."
Jiang Wu said: "Master Duan seems to have become a different person after losing his memory. It is useless to say these things now. Let's deal with the present situation first. Now we have fewer people to use."
Chen Qian thought of something: "This matter cannot be known to Junior Brother Bu."
"You don't have to tell me," Yan Feixiu said angrily, "The master has already given the order."
Rumors of someone stealing spiritual energy were spreading like wildfire. When Bu Shuihan learned about it, he wanted to take his disciples to Mount Baitou to check it out himself, but was stopped by Gu Pinglin. With his personality, he could easily be taken advantage of by Duan Qingming.
"I think the person behind the scenes deliberately released the news to confuse people. Now everyone is staring at Mount Paektu, but I think the Soul Locking Array is probably not there," Chen Qian said in a deep voice, "There are many sects and families near the spiritual veins of spiritual mountains, but Mount Wuyin is different. It is close to the Misty Wilderness and the Broken Soul Forest. There are few major sects guarding it, monsters are roaming around, and there are demon cultivators causing trouble. It is more suitable for the Wanfa Sect to take action. Didn't the season say that the spiritual energy there is also abnormal?"
Jiang Wu agreed: "Senior Brother Chen is right."
Yan Feixiu frowned: "Now the spiritual energy is abnormal everywhere, someone is creating chaos, it can't be used as a basis."
"That can't be helped. We have no hope in the Demon Realm. We have to defend both places," Chen Qian said. "But those ghost cultivators of the Wanfa Sect are very strange. We need to be careful in dealing with them. Does the Sect Master have any ideas?"
Everyone looked at Gu Pinglin.
Gu Pinglin said: "Defend Qianyang Mountain first."
"Of course," Chen Qian said, "The spiritual vein of Qianyang Mountain is the foundation of our Lingxin Sect. We have to guard it just in case. However, there are many sects near Qianyang Mountain, and the Xuanming Sect occupies the main spiritual eye, so it is convenient for them to support each other. I'm afraid the Wanfa Sect will not take action here."
Gu Pinglin did not comment and asked Yan Feixiu: "Sister, did you go to the place where Dean Yun was in seclusion when you returned to Xuanming Sect last time?"
He suddenly mentioned Yun He. Yan Feixiu was stunned for a moment and shook her head: "Dean Yun wants to break the sword technique of Feijian Palace and is in seclusion to comprehend the sword. Master doesn't allow anyone to get close to him." Seeing that Gu Pinglin seemed to be thinking about something, she hurriedly said: "I have inquired about it. Dean Yun is really in seclusion. But my master is a little different from usual... I have been feeling uneasy recently. What's wrong?"
Gu Pinglin waved his hand and said, "Nothing, I want to visit Sect Leader Zhan in person. After all, to defend Qianyang Mountain, I still need the help of Xuanming Sect."
Yan Feixiu hesitated after hearing this, and said after a while: "I have already written to Master, but he scolded me. I am afraid..."
"How could you leak the information to outsiders without permission!" Chen Qian's face darkened.
"Who is an outsider?" Yan Feixiu wanted to explain, but he felt embarrassed after hearing this, and said unhappily, "This is not a secret. All the sects have sent letters, so why can't my master know? What's more, my master knows all the heads of the sects and families. If I don't send a letter, he won't know? Then it will seem like we are deliberately concealing it, which will only increase misunderstandings. Am I not also thinking about the Lingxin Sect?"
Chen Qian said stubbornly: "This is the Lingxin Sect. You shouldn't act on your own without the Sect Leader's permission!"
Yan Feixiu stood up suddenly, looked at him for a long while, and sneered: "I know you don't like Xuanming Sect, but my master has never treated you badly in recent years. I am his disciple, so I am also an outsider?"
Chen Qian blushed and pointed at her: "You... are so unreasonable!"
"Chen Lu!" Yan Feixiu said angrily, "Don't take advantage of me asking you to do so. I know you think I'm in the way. Today you stay in your Lingxin sect, and I'll go back to my Xuanming sect!" After she said that, she was about to leave.
"Hey, Master's wife, you can't leave." Wan Lai quickly closed the fan and stopped her.
"Let her go!" Chen Qian shouted.
Wan Lai ignored him and said to Yan Feixiu with a smile, "Master Chen has always been a stubborn person. Auntie, you are the direct disciple of the head of the Xuanming Sect, and you are very smart. Since you are willing to marry me, you must have made up your mind to keep him until the end. What are you still fussing about now?"
Chen Qian cursed with a dark face: "You bastard! Do you still have any respect for your elders?"
Yan Feixiu stopped him: "Why, he is not wrong."
"I believe that Senior Sister Yan knows her limits," Gu Pinglin said to stop Chen Qian, "This matter should have been made known to Sect Leader Zhan. I was negligent. The two sects are on good terms, so there is no reason to hide it."
Yan Feixiu softened his tone after hearing this, and said apologetically: "I did something wrong in this matter. I should tell you. I also know that you have never hidden important matters from me. Naturally, I also have to take care of the Lingxin Sect. Don't worry, if there is any important secret, I will never reveal a word."
Gu Pinglin nodded: "Although it was just an angry remark just now, Senior Sister should indeed return to Xuanming Sect this time." He ignored Chen Qian's expression and stood up: "I will go with you to visit Sect Master Zhan."