"They may not have a heritage that ancient.
In our Duobao Sect, there are only scraps of information about things before ancient times.
From what I know, this was all orchestrated by Emperor Dui, who wanted to become a god afterward.
I made up my mind then that even if the Tenth Tier path was cut off, I would never allow Dadui to return.
If Dadui returns, the Tenth Tier path will open.
This path is the equality of all beings, and Emperor Dui might have the opportunity to directly enter the Tenth Tier.
And those Earth Deities might advance to the Tenth Tier even faster.
By then, trying to eradicate those Earth Deities would be extremely difficult.
The disaster of the Earth Deities here might spread, bringing calamity to the Three Divine Dynasties and us."
The Sect Master of the Duobao Sect looked around at the others.
"We cultivators, at the root of our cultivation, do it for the sake of longevity.
If there's a shortcut, we might not be able to maintain our true heart, let alone those mortals.
However, to tread this path would mean cutting off our Daoist heritage.
Qi Refinement would then fall into the Evil Dao, and how could we face our ancestors?
Unfortunately, while we can understand this, those few may not comprehend it.
Either they are reckless, thinking things won't spiral out of control.
Or swayed by the shortcut, their will faltered, how tragic."
Yu Ziqing listened silently.
Even Dadui, this vast Divine Dynasty, was turned into such a mess.
Where did those people get the courage, the confidence, to think this wouldn't slip from their control?
Yu Ziqing believed that those people likely had their will falter and made excuses for themselves.
They probably didn't believe that once Dadui returned, they would have the power to kill those Earth Deities.
In just a few months, the people who came in had already fractured .
Not just one traitor, but a full seven.
Whether it was their faltering will, their greed, choosing their path, or being brainwashed, it no longer mattered.
The Ninth Tier Strong were all very self-centered.
Yu Ziqing increasingly felt that it was better to hurry and destroy it.
By nightfall, after everyone finished talking and went to rest and recuperate, Yu Ziqing quietly went to another strong cultivator's place of rest.
After entering, Yu Ziqing gestured for silence, quickly took out materials, and began manually assembling a secret chamber.
Once secure, Yu Ziqing sat opposite the strong cultivator.
"Senior, I'd like to know about the specific circumstances when the Nirvana Sect Master fell."
"You've noticed something?" The middle-aged man across from him had a stoic expression, understanding that Yu Ziqing was being so cautious to hide from others.
"Senior, just tell me the details first. Who ambushed the Nirvana Sect Master at that time? How was the ambush carried out? Do you all know?"
"Not very clearly, at the time we were spread out investigating, and by the time I returned, the Nirvana Sect Master had already fallen."
"I feel the Duobao Sect Master is not very trustworthy."
"Hmm?" The middle-aged man's face tensed, an expression of doubt in his eyes.
"Don't ask me why, senior. I can't say for sure, I just feel we need to be cautious. Better safe than sorry."
Yu Ziqing took the night to quietly visit six people, recounting the matter each time.
It wasn't because Yu Ziqing found them trustworthy, but because their sects provided sufficiently detailed information, supplemented with Song Chengyue's data, enough to draw swords.
At least their sects were trustworthy when it came to wanting to save them.
Even if any of the six harbored different thoughts, Yu Ziqing saw it as merely having an additional ornament.
And as for the Duobao Sect Master, with two sources of information that complemented each other yet didn't even meet the basic criteria for confirmation of reliability.
Either his sect left out a critical piece of information, or the Duobao Sect Master himself was problematic. The issue likely arose in the few months after entering this place.
As it couldn't be determined, Yu Ziqing regarded him as problematic.
Yu Ziqing and the other six couldn't pinpoint the issue with the Duobao Sect Master but remained alert at heart.
Yu Ziqing kept going through documents at this temporary base of the Faceless Man, supplementing information.
The more he reviewed, the more he wanted to stop.
Several days later, in the dead of night, a shadow slipped out of the blessed land.
The person took out a tiny Magical Treasure, the size of a pinky fingernail, and gently blew on it. The Magical Treasure, resembling a black bean, disintegrated, turning into small insects that flew away.
The local alarm systems and detection methods hadn't noticed these little bugs.
If not seen, they might not even sense these little bugs.
One by one, the insects flew near the guards, landing on their bodies. Their sharp proboscises pierced the guards' skin.
Instantly, the guards looked horrified, collapsing one after another.
They didn't even have time to sound the alarm.
Every guard outside was paralyzed, but none were killed. With a wave of his hand, the shadow recalled the insects, which fell into his palm, forming a black bean.
He turned and re-entered the blessed land. Once inside, he saw it brightly lit, with the Faceless Man and six strong cultivators, including Yu Ziqing, all waiting at the entrance.
The light illuminated the newcomer's face, revealing him to be the Duobao Sect Master.
He looked somewhat surprised at everyone coldly staring at him, his expression calm.
"So late at night, are you heading out?"
Saying this, he turned naturally to walk away.
The next moment, a black light descended from the sky.
From the Duobao Sect Master's body, a stream of light flew out, transforming into a palm-sized shield that blocked the black light. Then he turned into a tunneling light, rushing toward the entrance of the blessed land.