A month later.

  For a whole month, Li Hui stayed in the Yuanhao Xianfu, every day either meditating or practicing swordsmanship in front of the main hall, studying the calligraphy left behind by Yuanhao Zhenren.

  During this period, Li Hui's cultivation broke through another layer, reaching the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage. This was already Li Hui's third time dispersing his cultivation and re-cultivating to the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage. Each time he dispersed his cultivation and re-cultivated, it would cause Li Hui's dantian qihai to expand greatly. At this point, Li Hui's dantian qihai was nearly twice as large as when he first cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage. Although it was only the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage, the thickness of his Fa Li was not inferior to that of a typical ninth-layer Qi Refining stage cultivator who had reached Great Perfection.

  At this time, the situation in the entire Chu State Immortal Realm underwent a heaven-shaking and earth-shattering change.

  After breaking through the defensive line of Chi Meng Ridge, the demonic cultivators advanced rapidly and quickly surrounded Qingfeng Valley. In just one week, Qingfeng Valley fell and became the first sect to be annihilated in this demonic invasion.

  The demonic cultivators did not continue to advance recklessly, but instead used the Clear Wind Valley as a forward outpost and the previously captured Red Python Ridge as a rear outpost, waiting for the arrival of the subsequent demonic army.

  A large number of demonic cultivators from the Liangzhou main camp set out for Chi Meng Ridge, with some stationed at Chi Meng Ridge and others heading to Qingfeng Valley.

  The next target of the Demon Path Army's attack is the Xuanyang Sect. With Qingfeng Valley as its base, it can attack Qinghua Mountain to the north, Xuanyang Sect to the east, and Bixiao Gate to the south. Among these sects, the Xuanyang Sect is the weakest. Of course, they would choose the softest one to squeeze.

  For Qing Hua Shan, Zi Xuan Men and Bi Xiao Men, these three sects, the demonic cultivators adopted a policy of harassment but not attack. Each sect sent out a team of several Golden Dan cultivists to lead the teams in harassing these sects, cutting off their peripheral forces, making it seem as if they were about to launch an attack at any moment, keeping them in a state of constant terror.

  This move was, of course, to prevent these sects from forming an alliance again and going to support the Xuan Yang Sect. In fact, in the battle at Chi Meng Ridge, all four Golden Elixir cultivators of the Zi Xuan Gate fell, and the Golden Elixir cultivators of Qing Feng Valley, Xuan Yang Sect, and Bai Yun Guan also all fell. Only Lin Yu of Bi Xiao Gate, Mu Rong Lie, and a Golden Elixir cultivator from Qing Hua Mountain escaped. The Foundation Establishment period cultivators and Qi Refining period cultivators were annihilated by 70%, the remaining ones fled in all directions but did not run far, most of them hid around Chi Meng Ridge.

  These factions have been so frustrated that they were frightened and only thought of self-protection, without thinking about the survival of other factions.

  Moreover, the Qifeng Sect colluded with the Demon Dao, Qingfeng Valley was destroyed, and the Seven Sects Alliance was reduced to only five sects. The Demon Dao cultivators connected Chì Mǎng Ridge and Qingfeng Valley, which is equivalent to inserting a horizontal bar in the middle of these five sects, making it impossible for the five sects to respond to each other from north to south.

  At this time, most of the demonic cultivators stationed at Chi Meng Ridge had gone to attack Xuan Yang Sect. Only some foundation-building and energy-refining cultivators were left to guard the place, patrolling around and killing those escaped and hidden nearby cultivators.

  "It's time to go!"

  Li Hui woke up from his meditation, muttering to himself in a low voice. Although he didn't know the situation outside, he had a rough guess about it.

  "The Hawk Plan has officially begun!" A glint flashed in Li Hui's eyes, and then he vanished into thin air.

  In a desolate mountain south of Red Python Ridge, Li Hui's figure emerged, but he immediately found a large stone to hide behind.

  "These days are really able to make birds come out, every day just walking back and forth in this desolate mountain, three days can't even meet a cultivator, I really don't know what's on their mind, if it were up to me, we'd directly divide our troops into several routes and exterminate all those miscellaneous hairs!" A complaining voice came from a demonic cultivator not far ahead.

  "Alright, Liu Big Mouth, with your character, do you still think you can be the commander of our Demon Dao army? Don't even mention letting you command, if we let you follow us to attack that Xuan Yang Sect, you'll probably end up dying in the chaos!" A voice with a hint of mockery came over.

  "Hahaha!"

  A burst of laughter all around.

  Li Hui hid quietly behind a large rock, judging from the voices and footsteps, there were about a dozen or so demon cultivators!

  "Hey, don't underestimate people, if it's a fight of wits, my cultivation as Liu Dàmǒu may be low, but when it comes to strategy and tactics, I'm afraid those Golden Elixir elders can't compare to me!" That cultivator named Liu Dàmǒu was still boasting there.

  "Cut!" was met with a mocking tone.

  There were fourteen of these demonic cultivators, all at the Qi Refining stage. At this moment, they were walking towards the direction of the large rock where Li Hui was hiding, chatting and laughing as they went.

  "Fifteen steps, fourteen steps... ten steps!" Li Hui calculated the distance of the demonic cultivator based on the footsteps. "Now's the time!"

  Li Hui suddenly jumped out from behind a stone and appeared in front of the small team of demonic cultivators.

  "Hiss!"

  A mage who was walking in front of him hadn't even reacted yet when Li Hui's Qingming sword had already pierced through his throat.

  The demonic cultivator stared at the cold and ruthless black-clad youth in front of him with wide eyes, making a "gurgling" sound in his throat as he unwillingly fell to the ground.

  "An ambush!"

  At this time, the other demonic cultivators finally reacted, loudly shouting and taking out their weapons from their storage bags to prepare for battle. They thought they had encountered an ambush by the immortal practitioners.

  "Not one of you will escape!" Li Hui said coldly, holding the Qing Ming sword and pointing at the dozen or so demonic cultivators in front of him.

  At this time, the demonic cultivators had calmed down and saw that there was only Li Hui on the opposite side.

  "Haha, a small fry dares to come out and be arrogant! Brothers, kill him for me!"

  A demonic cultivator burst out laughing. These demon cultivators were mostly heartless and cold-blooded, they didn't have a shred of sorrow for their deceased companions.

  "Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

  Suddenly all kinds of weapons came towards Li Hui with a whooshing sound, and for a moment, the surroundings were filled with flashing knives and swords.

  "Looking for death!" Li Hui shouted, his body suddenly transformed into a gust of clear wind. With precise control over his figure, he dodged through the flashing knives and swords, passing through the encirclement of the fourteen demonic cultivators.

  "Hiss! Hiss!"

  In the process of breaking through the siege, Li Hui's Qingming Sword had already struck, finding an opening and taking down two more demonic cultivators!

  "What an incredibly powerful cultivator!"

  Their faces changed, with the Thousand Illusory Treasure Clothes isolating them, they couldn't sense Li Hui's cultivation. However, if it were a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would have probably been killed outright, no need to hide behind rocks and ambush. But a Qi Refining cultivator actually killed all three of them in one encounter!

  "Let's go together!"

  "Get him wrapped up, pay attention to coordination!"

  These demon slayers no longer dared to be careless, each wielding the weapons in their hands and charging up again, but this time they clearly had coordination.

  Li Hui charged forward again with the Qing Ming sword in hand, and in an instant, he was fighting alongside these demon cultivators once more! Amidst the dense encirclement of the demonic path cultivators, Li Hui transformed into a phantasmal shadow, darting back and forth amidst the flashing blades. The Qing Ming sword in his hand transformed into a cluster of sword lights, occasionally piercing through the dense attacks of the demonic path cultivators with a faint blue glow, causing one of them to let out a miserable cry as they fell to the ground.

  "Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

  Li Hui's Qingming Sword was almost all "thrusts", a move that looked ordinary and unremarkable, yet hid dozens of variations, combined with Li Hui's strange footwork, under the siege of more than a dozen demonic cultivators, he strolled through as if taking a leisurely walk.

  A stick of incense time, seven devilish Taoist priests have fallen.

  The remaining demonic cultivators looked at the black-clad youth holding a cyan long sword in front of them with terror, they had never seen such an eerie movement and swordsmanship. Killing people was like chopping vegetables, those cold eyes and extremely fast sword edges made it seem as if they were not the ones cultivating demons, but Li Hui was!

  These demonic cultivators all had terrified expressions on their faces, and even the hands grasping their weapons were trembling slightly.

  "Run!"

  It was unclear who had shouted, but the remaining four demonic cultivators turned around and scattered in all directions.

  "Uh!" Li Hui was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect the other side to choose to escape when they had more people!

  "Not one of you can escape!" Li Hui's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness, and his body suddenly transformed into a clear breeze, chasing after one of the demonic cultivators.

  "Hiss!"

  The Azure Illusory Sword pierced through the throat of this demonic cultivator from behind, and Li Hui's figure bent as he chased after another demonic cultivator in a different direction!

  A moment later, Li Hui returned to where he had just fought the demonic cultivator, carrying four weapons and four storage bags in his hand.

  With a flick of his hand, everything in his hand was thrown into the Yuanhao Xianfu. Li Hui squatted down and picked up the storage bags and weapons of the ten fallen magic path cultivators on the ground and threw them into the Yuanhao Xianfu as well.

  Then a fireball burst out from the fingertips, burning all these corpses to ashes. The bodies of the other four devil cultivators were also disposed of in the same way.

  Watching these corpses turn to ashes in an instant, Li Hui couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration of the fireball technique. At first, he had only picked up a jade slip recording the fireball technique at the Bi Xiao Men transmission hall with a playful attitude, and occasionally practiced it when he was idle.

  However, the actual combat value of this fireball technique is really low. Li Hui only managed to practice it to the point where he could shoot out one fireball at a time, which was far inferior to those cultivators who could shoot out ten fireballs in a row with their fingers during his entrance test at Bi Xiang Men. However, this move of destroying corpses and erasing traces is really useful.

  With a flick of his sleeve, Li Hui re-entered the Yuankai Xianfu. The storage bags and weapons he had obtained from those demonic cultivators earlier were tossed into a pile in the sky above the immortal mansion.

  Li Hui checked these things one by one.

  "These demonic cultivators are really poor, they only have two spiritual artifacts, the rest are just ordinary weapons that aren't even comparable to a Qingming sword."

  Li Hui shook his head, looking at the captured weapons on the ground with some disappointment. There were knives, swords, hooks, and all sorts of other things - the demonic cultivators' arsenal was truly diverse.

  In the storage bag, however, he found some spiritual stones and elixirs. There were over 2,000 low-grade spiritual stones. As for those elixirs, Li Hui didn't recognize them. He randomly picked one out, and a strong bloody smell came from it. Li Hui furrowed his brow and threw it back in. He dared not to take these elixirs casually.

  Liangzhou is a desolate place, lacking various elixir materials, spiritual energy minerals, and spirit stone veins. It's normal for ordinary demonic path disciples to have nothing good. Otherwise, demonic cultivators wouldn't need to invade Chuzhou either.

  "It's not bad today, I met a group of prey as soon as I went out." Li Hui muttered to himself, still relatively satisfied with the harvest from his first "hunt".

  Throw all these things into the storage room, Li Hui's figure left Yuanhao Xianfu again to find the next target.

  ————————————————---

  The first watch of the night has arrived, I've been running around all day and only returned at 9 pm. The house still hasn't settled down, tomorrow I'll have to go out again. Please collect! A new week has begun!