The Shen Family’s ancestral grounds.

The residence of Patriarch Shen.

A knock came from outside.

"Come in."

The moment Patriarch Shen spoke, Shen Xingchen entered from outside. The recent years of conflict between the Shen Family and the Demon forces of the Stone Demon Sect had made the patriarch look much older.

"Third Uncle, take a look at this."

Shen Xingchen quickly handed a token to the patriarch.

"This is... an Identity Token from a Celestial Demon Sect disciple."

"Yes." Shen Xingchen nodded. "We can now confirm that the Celestial Demon Sect is officially providing support to the Stone Demon Sect."

Before killing that Celestial Demon Sect disciple, they could only guess that the Stone Demon Sect had their support. But now, having found this token on the dead Demon’s body, there was no more need for speculation. It was a fact.

"This war won’t end easily. It could take thirty or forty years," Patriarch Shen couldn’t help but say.

When it was just speculation, there was a small chance the Celestial Demon Sect wouldn’t support the Stone Demon Sect. If that were the case, the Stone Demon Sect’s assault on their Shen Family would likely have ended in five or six years, and peace would have returned.

The Celestial Demon Sect’s support would likely lead to a direct conflict with the Celestial Cloud Sect, igniting the flames of war across the entire Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"The relatively peaceful days have lasted long enough." Ever since Shen Xingchen could remember, this was the first time he had ever felt so powerless.

He had handled his share of incidents in his middle age, but those were all just minor conflicts.

"I understand. I’ll speak with the Elders from the Celestial Cloud Sect about this later."

Two Elders from the Celestial Cloud Sect were still stationed as Guardians in the Shen Family’s ancestral grounds.

The two discussed the matter of the Celestial Demon Sect supporting the Stone Demon Sect a bit more. Just as they were about to finish, a Yellow Talisman appeared before Patriarch Shen.

Seeing this, Patriarch Shen immediately received the message.

"Third Uncle, what happened?"

"The Zheng Family is in trouble. They need our support."

The Zheng Family was a Qi Refining Cultivation Clan whose ancestral grounds were located within the Shen Family’s territory, making them a subordinate Qi Refining Influence.

In fact, all the powers within the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Earth Realm were, directly or indirectly, subordinate to the Celestial Cloud Sect.

"A Demon from the Celestial Demon Sect dies, and then something like this happens..." Shen Xingchen quickly made the connection.

Before the Zheng Family’s call for help, nothing like this had occurred during the Stone Demon Sect’s attacks on the Shen Family.

This was undoubtedly a sign of the war escalating.

"I’m heading over now."

Patriarch Shen had initially intended to hand this matter over to the family elders, but after a moment’s thought, he decided it was better to go himself.

This wasn’t an ordinary request for aid. The situation was critical; it required one of their family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Someone at the Qi Refining Stage might not make it in time.

As the patriarch was leaving, Shen Xingchen quickly said.

"Third Uncle, be careful. There might be an ambush on the way."

"Yes, I know."

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect.」

Inner Sect A Zone, Room 22.

Today, besides Fang Yun, Bai Qinying was also here.

The last time Bai Qinying had come to see him was three days after he had annihilated the Demon Gu Family and returned to the sect.

At that time, she had sought him out specifically because he had destroyed the Demon Gu Family.

Besides asking him to briefly recount the process, Bai Qinying had also expressed her envy. Unfortunately, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it would be extremely troublesome for her to travel to the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory.

Before an all-out war erupted with the Celestial Demon Sect, the sect advised Foundation Establishment Elders against entering their territory, as it would provoke a strong reaction.

Fang Yun understood the Celestial Cloud Sect’s general strategy was to prolong the days of peace as much as possible.

Fang Yun fully supported this strategy. The territories of the Celestial Demon Sect, the Black Ghost Cave, and the Demon Spirit Sect surrounded the Celestial Cloud Sect.

’When the sect isn’t strong enough, playing defense and focusing on stable development is the best choice.’

"Junior Brother Fang, it’s now confirmed that the Celestial Demon Sect is supporting the Stone Demon Sect’s attack on the Shen Family," Bai Qinying said first.

Fang Yun wasn’t surprised by this news.

Based on historical precedent, this was the normal course of events.

The Stone Demon Sect’s attack on the Shen Family was the beginning of the turmoil, and the recent catalyst had undoubtedly sped things up.

"Elder Bai, are you saying you want to go act as Guardian for the Shen Family again?" Fang Yun asked after a moment of thought.

"Even if the Stone Demon Sect really intends to attack the Shen Family’s ancestral grounds, I doubt it will be so soon. It’s too early to go now." Having learned from her previous experience, Bai Qinying had no intention of acting for the time being.

"I see. In that case," Fang Yun nodded, "it would be best for you to focus on improving your strength for now, Elder Bai."

"I’m an Elder; I don’t need a disciple like you to teach me what to do." Bai Qinying rolled her eyes at Fang Yun. What he had just said was the exact same thing her master, Feng Tianrui, had told her after she heard the news. "Enough about me. I came to see you today, Junior Brother, to ask if you’re planning to take action."

"If it’s about the mission to support the Shen Family..."

"No, not that." Bai Qinying remembered a piece of information she hadn’t mentioned. "Some of the Qi Refining Influences subordinate to the Shen Family have been attacked by Demons. You could go act as a Guardian for them and give the Demons a little ’surprise’."

The "surprise" Bai Qinying mentioned was for Fang Yun to kill these invading Demons.

He had failed Foundation Establishment once, but his foundation wasn’t damaged and had even improved, making him a Half-Step Foundation Establishment cultivator. Bai Qinying felt that with Fang Yun’s current comprehensive strength, he could be considered half a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Okay." Fang Yun nodded. "But I have a few things to take care of in the next few days. After I’m done, I’ll go see if there are any suitable missions."

’In short, what Bai Qinying is saying is that the war is spreading.’

’I now have the ability to do a lot more, and I can also acquire more Talent Points from combat settlements.’

"Alright, you decide what’s best."

Afterward, their conversation revolved almost entirely around the recent changes in the situation.

Among the Celestial Cloud Sect’s four peaks and Three Halls, the Battle Peak had the most Elders.

Many of the matters the Battle Peak had to handle were external affairs. As an Elder of the Battle Peak, Bai Qinying was privy to a great deal of information in this area.

「After Bai Qinying left.」

Fang Yun continued his cultivation.

The reason he wanted to wait a few days before looking for a mission was that the beginning of the eighth month was only five days away.

’By then, my other two Combat Talents should be ready to upgrade to four stars.’

’At that point, my strength will increase even further.’

「Five days later.」

Closing his book, Fang Yun looked at the Talent Points settled for the month.

Including his leftover points, his Talent Points now just broke the thirty-thousand mark, reaching a total of 30,003.

This gave him thirty chances to draw for Combat Talents.

This time, there was no need to spend all his Talent Points on drawing Combat Talents.

Fang Yun went to the Combat Talent interface and began his single draws.

On the fourteenth single draw.

After drawing the fifth Sword Type Talent fragment, his Sword Type Talent was upgraded.

The scorching heat receded, and Fang Yun took a deep breath.

’Before I reach Foundation Establishment, if I were to upgrade two four-star Combat Talents at the same time, I really might not be able to handle it.’

Once he recovered, Fang Yun continued to draw.

It was a good thing his Sword Type Talent hadn’t upgraded at the same time as his Shield Talent at the beginning of last month. Back then, he hadn’t been doing single draws like this.

On the twenty-fifth draw, he collected the eighth fragment for his Shoe Talent.

With that, all of Fang Yun’s Combat Talents had been upgraded to four stars.

After another intense wave of scorching heat subsided.

Fang Yun looked at his current Combat Talent interface. His Shield Talent and Sword Type Talent had seven and five fragments respectively, while upgrading to five stars required 720 fragments.

To upgrade all his Combat Talents to five stars, he would need approximately 2,100,000 Talent Points.

Next, he planned to focus on his Life Talents, which were easier to upgrade to six stars.

’The stronger my Life Talents, the higher my resource conversion rate will be.’

Fang Yun used his remaining 5,003 Talent Points to draw for Life Talents fifty times.

Alchemy Talent fragments x15

Artifact Refining Talent fragments x16

Planting Talent fragments x17

The Life Talent interface changed as follows:

Alchemy Talent ★★★★★ (42/5040)

Artifact Refining Talent ★★★★★ (34/5040)

Planting Talent ★★★★★ (17/5040)

"Still a long way to go," Fang Yun muttered after glancing at the Life Talent interface.

At his current rate of acquiring Talent Points, averaging 30,000 per month, it would take him over four years to upgrade his Life Talents to six stars.

Without the Talent Points from combat settlements, relying only on those from life settlements, the upgrade would take about twenty years.

After closing the screen of light.

Fang Yun took out a pair of boots.

The Light Wind Boots, a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, had two Spirit Patterns. He had only managed to gather the materials and succeed in Refining them a month and a half ago. The main material he had been missing was the pelt of an adult Wind Leopard.

After upgrading his Shoe Talent to four stars, combined with these Light Wind Boots, he now possessed the ability to fly for extended periods, even though he was still at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

With this qualitative leap in speed, any future missions he undertook within the sect’s territory would be much easier and faster.