Shi Lang displayed a shred of his might and calmed the hearts of the three elders. Then he talked about a few things and left the hall. Shi Yulong and his brothers did not mind his actions because they knew that the Terran was going out to look for Shi Ning.
They had a small talk and delegated multiple tasks to their subordinates before they came to the main hall to greet fellow disciples Shi Lang had brought along.
The family was worried about their daughter’s well-being but maintained civility. This made the five disciples admire them. After a few minutes, Shi Lang came over wearing red and black attire. He said, “Senior Brother Liang, shall we go?”
Liang Ping was the leader of the group. Shi Lang did not want to step over his dignity and thus asked politely. Liang Ping also knew that this young man was giving him a great deal of face and nodded. The group stood up, bade farewell, and exited the mansion. However, before they could leave, Shi Ting came beside Shi Lang and hugged him tightly.
Shi Lang patted her back and flew away with his fellow disciples. They had already received the details of the last sightings from the Royal Family. The people flying in the sky surprised the people in the city. They had a lot of cultivators, but none of them was this strong.
…
Wen Lengxue asked, “Junior Brother, where are we headed?”
Shi Lang replied calmly, “The southern peaks, Senior sister.”
Hu Shan raised his brows and said, “That region is a mountain range, right?”
Shi Lang nodded and replied, “You are correct, Senior Brother Hu. It is a mountain range, and there are several valleys where humans have settled. That place is so chaotic that even the imperial forces have trouble maintaining order. This was why the new crown prince sent his trusted aids to look deeper into this matter.
He is a young man with an innate sword heart. He has already reached the sword grandmaster level, with a rudimentary understanding of the sword’s intent. His cultivation is a bit lower than the requirements from our sect.”
The people nodded, and Xu Guang said, “It would be good if he joined our sect. The relation between the Tian Kingdom and the sect is slightly too sect. The kingdom’s current ruler fails to see the bigger picture.”
Bai Yan said, “I heard something about it. Master said that one in his youth, the King came to test for the sect. However, despite having a fine talent, his mind was not suitable for cultivation. He was too selfish, so they did not accept him. The King thought he was humiliated on purpose and left the sect. Ever since then, it had been like this.”
Shi Lang thought about it and recalled a few people from the Federation who could not see the bigger picture, too. He sighed and shook his head as they all traveled further. It took them half a day before they arrived at the entrance of the eastern peak.
The terran squinted his eyes as he heard Bai Yan exclaim. They were all at the peak of Immortal General Level. They had controlled their thoughts, and such a reaction was not expected. Shi Lang asked, “Senior Sister, what happened?”
The girl calmed her mind and panted while saying, “I practice ocular technique, and I just saw a dark aura in the mountain range. It was almost tangible.”
The expressions of all the people turned unsightly. They did not expect such a thing to happen. Shi Lang took a deep breath and said, “We should focus on the smaller things and then locate the source of this demonic energy.”
The people nodded in agreement. Liang Ping said, “Shi Lang, what do you think we should do?”
The Terran was confused and said, “Senior Brother, this… How can I instruct you?”
Liang Ping smiled and said, “You must not hold back. We will express our thoughts to you if we find something odd.”
Shi Lang thought for a bit and hesitated. It was not like he had never instructed the people of higher ages. It was just that he did not wish anyone to say that he was acting out of line. This was the immortal realm and not the Federation, where he was the general, and everyone had to respect him regardless of age. This was the world with no militia code.
Wen Lengxue said, “You do not have to stand here in a dilemma. You are the strongest among us, so it is only obvious that we listen to your instructions.”
Shi Lang smiled faintly and said, “Fine. So, the first thing we should do is look for Shi Ning, according to the report provided by the royal family. She had located a bog force of demonic cultivators. If we find her, we can gain a better insight. Yes, I have a selfish reason, but I will not let it affect the expedition. If Ning is dead, I will bury every demonic cultivator and beast in these valleys with her. If she is fine, I will still bury them.”
The people nodded, and Hu Shan asked, “Where do we start?”
The terran replied, We should look for the people who worked with Shi Ning and find things out. Also, I will say the bitter things first. If you find someone suspicious and think using force is not the righteous path, you might as well stay out of it. I do not care how I get the results; I only care about the results.
To hunt the demonic cultivators, you must also act out of your comfort zone. In this world, no one cares about our status and will only fear us. However, those involved with demonic cultivators do not even have that fear in their eyes.” 𝑶𝑽𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t
His words were bitter, and they did scare the disciples a bit into thinking what Shi Lang was about to do. Shi Lang did not talk much and took a small map from his space ring. The source of this map was the royal family. The map marked the location where Shi Ning was and also the spot where her unit was stationed.
Shi Lang furrowed his brows, and Xu Guang asked, “What happened?”
The Terran replied, “The distance from the unit position to the spot where she was sighted the last time is odd.”
He shared the map with everyone, and the people frowned. They did not know much, but something was odd. Wen Lengxue said, “Why would she go to such a faraway place? This is too suspicious.”
Shi Lang said, “The report said that Shi Ning was left alone to act as a demonic follower but was found out. She was acting without support. I cannot agree more, and she does like to do things on her own. However, the unit could have followed her. Why did they wish to stay so far away?”
Wen Lengxue said, “We will find the answers we are looking for if we interrogate the person in charge of the unit. No?”
Shi Lang nodded, and they all moved to deal with the unit. The terran was silent on the way, but his mind raged with thoughts. It was evening when they reached the unit camp. Shi Lang lowered the altitude as they flew, and a guard on the wall happened to spot them and immediately hit the gong beside him repeatedly.
The camp sprang to life, and all the soldiers queued up with their weapons, and the guard shouted, “Stop! State your identity, or we will kill you.”
Shi Lang and the rest stopped in the void and he said, “My name is Shi Lang, I have come here from the spirit heart sect, to investigate the demonic cultivators your people discovered.”
The guard was shocked, and then he watched Shi Lang and his friends float closer to the gates and the guard said, “Exalted Immortal, please forgive me, I have informed my leader. He will be here soon.”
Shi Lang looked at these soldiers and nodded. He said, “You did nothing wrong. It is your job to ask people who they are. Do not worry.”
The guard was surprised and opened his eyes wide before he lowered his head. He said, “Thank you, Your Grace.”
Shi Lang sighed and conversed with his friends about the situation here. They all were a group of people who did not like to be treated in such an high manner. Shi Lang thought of something and asked, “Have you seen any immortals here before?”
According to him, Shi Ning and the commander should be the highest level of cultivators here. Immortal Soul realm. The soldiers should not treat cultivators like this. The guard nodded and said, “Sir, there have been a few immortals who have come here in the past few days. Yesterday, one of them came here and the guard stopped him. That senior killed the guard.”
This was a surprising detail. Hu Shan asked calmly, “What can you tell me about this cultivator?”
The guard looked around and shook his head as he said, “Not much, just that he recruits people every few days to go to the woods.”
Shi Lang turned to look at Hu Shan and said, “Is it possible that this guy is a demonic cultivator?”
The rest of the people nodded and Hu Shan said, “I will ask people in the valleys.”
That said, he went away, and the leader of the camp came over.