This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

After integrating all the cultivator teams, following the command of Tower Master Chu He, all cultivators surged out of Zhenjiang Tower like a mighty torrent, rushing towards their respective destinations.

Tiger Squad followed the Golden Core Cultivators, and even though they merely dealt with miscellaneous tasks, the pressure was still immense.

Thus, even Su Shu, who was usually the most vivacious, remained silent at this moment, silently following behind Dantai Qingrun and the Tiger Squad.

Upon exiting Zhenjiang Tower, a flash of blue light appeared, followed by the clear sound of a sword cry, and a flying sword materialized in front of Dantai Qingrun.

This was Dantai Qingrun's life-bound sword, Spirit Concealment.

"Depart. Head for Xuan Ming Valley!" Dantai Qingrun said in a cold voice.

After issuing the command, Dantai Qingrun rode the Spirit Concealment Sword, turning into a streak of blue sword light, and flew towards the direction of Xuan Ming Valley.

From Tiger Squad, a Beast Cultivator quickly summoned a hawk with twin wings from his Spirit Beast Bag.

The six cultivators of Tiger Squad promptly leaped onto the back of the hawk, and under the command of the Beast Cultivator, as the hawk spread its wings, a surge of wind arose.

Tiger Squad also boarded the Red Rock Goose summoned by Xiao Zhi, closely following the sword light transformed by Dantai Qingrun.

.........

For a long time, cultivators have been divided into righteous and evil, with both sides standing in opposition to each other.

Evil Cultivators are those who practice forbidden cultivation techniques.

Evil Cultivators are known for being ruthless and indifferent to right and wrong, focusing only on one's cultivation level. This has been their longstanding principle.

Therefore, the techniques of the Evil Path generally focus on practical combat ability and are extremely efficient in advancement. However, in order to enhance the power of their techniques, the cultivation of the Evil Path is generally cruel and devoid of taboos.

For instance, Corpse Puppets are a product of Evil Cultivators, refined from living humans.

There is also the infamous magical artifact of the Evil Path—the Soul Banner, which requires souls for its refining process.

Even the simplest Hundred Souls Banner requires at least a hundred souls, which means that behind every successfully refined Soul Banner, at least a hundred people have lost their lives.

For these reasons, before the invasion of the Demon Race, Evil Cultivators had always been the common enemy of the Human Race.

It was only after the great war twenty thousand years ago, that Ancestral Daoist Xia single-handedly saved the Heavens and established the Great Xia Dynasty.

To establish order, Ancestral Daoist Xia unified the Human Race and also set forth rules for all major sects.

While holding the belief that people can be good or bad and techniques neither righteous nor evil, Ancestral Daoist Xia did not completely exterminate all Evil Cultivators, but he personally executed several tyrants of the Evil Path to set an example and established extremely strict regulations for all Evil Cultivators.

The core point of these regulations is that Evil Cultivators must not harm innocent civilians to practice techniques or refine Evil Path magical artifacts. Anyone found doing so would be pursued and killed.

The Great Xia does not forbid the life-and-death struggles between cultivators, nor can it.

However, ordinary civilians, being the foundation of the Human Race, are strictly protected by the Great Xia from indiscriminate killing by cultivators.

While the Evil Cultivators were reluctant, in the Cultivation World, the mightiest fist dictates the rules; thus, they had no choice but to accept the laws of the Great Xia.

Of course, the reason the Evil Cultivators were willing to compromise is because practicing their techniques did not necessarily require the slaughter of ordinary people; there were other alternative methods.

Like the refining of Soul Banners, besides using human souls, using beast souls was also possible, although the power would be slightly inferior to those refined with human souls.

They could make do with this, and life could still go on, so the Evil Cultivators continued to survive in this way.

Of course, although the Great Xia explicitly prohibited it, there were definitely Evil Cultivators who secretly violated the regulations.

Some Evil Cultivators held firm, unwilling to compromise.

This came down to individual power; those petty and low acts, as long as they weren't discovered by the Great Xia, these Evil Cultivators would appear honorable in public.

If found, however, don't blame the Great Xia for their ruthless and merciless methods.

...

Although they weren't completely exterminated, the lives of Evil Cultivators were definitely not easy.

Twenty thousand years ago, the Evil Cultivators, who could once stand toe-to-toe with the orthodox Taoism sects, had gradually declined, becoming a minor lineage that could no longer stir up significant turbulence.

One could deduce from the fact that the Xuan Ming Valley, a well-known Evil Cultivator sect within the boundaries of Zhenjiang Prefecture, had its sect's blessed land established in an extremely remote and spirit-vein-impoverished valley.

When a group of people rushed to the outside of Xuan Ming Valley, it was already late, and the bright moon hung high.

Xuan Ming Valley was vast, endlessly deep at a glance.

The cold moonlight spilled over the valley, shrouded in a layer of grey mist, making it appear extremely eerie.

Dantai Qingrun glanced at the unimpressive Mountain Protection Array of the valley's sect gate and felt a stir in his heart, standing high above on the Spirit Hidden Sword, and coldly said, "Prepare to break the formation!"

Attacking a sect's Mountain Protection Array, which took a vast amount of resources and effort to establish, was by no means an easy task.

For Dantai Qingrun and his group, though breaking this sect gate's Great Formation wasn't difficult, it inevitably could trap them in a prolonged tug-of-war.

And knowing the actions of Zhenjiang Tower, they often valued efficiency very highly, well aware of the principle that lengthy delays breed risks.

Thus, Zhenjiang Tower typically adopted more flexible approaches such as sneak attacks and covert infiltration when carrying out gate-assault missions.

This time was no exception.

Following Dantai Qingrun's command, a cultivator flew out from the Jiazi Squad.

It was the captain of the Jiazi Squad, Liu Xuan, a middle-stage Golden Core Spiritual Cultivator.

Liu Xuan brought out a small Array Plate, which had been refined in advance, pinched a technique with his left hand, and swiftly activated the array.

Numerous spiritual lights, fine as filaments, shot out from the array plate, swarmed forward, and attached themselves atop the Mountain Protection Array of Xuan Ming Valley.

For a moment, undulating ripples continuously appeared on the array.

"Forbidden Breaking Disc!" Su Shu murmured as she watched the small array plate in Liu Xuan's hand.

The Forbidden Breaking Disc, an essential auxiliary magical artifact for high-rank Spiritual Cultivators, greatly enhanced the effectiveness of their inherent "Forbidden Breaking Technique."

This was an extremely costly and difficult-to-craft magical artifact.

As a fellow Spiritual Cultivator, Su Shu neither had the capital nor the confidence to acquire a Forbidden Breaking Disc for herself.

So, upon first sight of the coveted Forbidden Breaking Disc, Su Shu couldn't help but feel a bit jealous.

However, even with the aid of the Forbidden Breaking Disc, breaking the Mountain Protection Array of Xuan Ming Valley was by no means an easy task.

Under the constant dissipation of the spiritual lights, a barely audible fine crack slowly appeared on the array.

Dantai Qingrun squinted slightly, watching the crack on the formation, a cold light flashed through his eyes.

He didn't want to waste any more time here!

With a flick of his slender finger in the void, the Spirit Hidden Sword beneath his feet instantly shot out, and simultaneously, hundreds of minute sword lights suddenly emerged on the Spirit Hidden Sword.

Crescent Moon Sword Technique!

The signature sword technique of the Dantai House, renowned among many Sword Cultivator families for its unique accompanying sword lights.

Boom!

The Spirit Hidden Sword, carrying a hundred sword lights, struck the crack opened by Liu Xuan.

In an instant, the ground shook and the mountains trembled.

Under this assault, following the crack on the Mountain Protection Array of Xuan Ming Valley, an enormous breach large enough for a person to pass through, suddenly broke open!

Without hesitation, Dantai Qingrun dashed in first, his figure swift as lightning.

Jiazi Squad and Yin Hu Squad followed closely without any hesitation.