The territory of the Celestial Demon Sect.

Qingyao County. This place had a Tier One Upper Grade Demon Vein and a Tier One Middle Grade Spirit Vein.

A mixture of Demon Qi and Spiritual Qi, with the concentration of Demon Qi being higher than Spiritual Qi, created the optimal environment for Demons to cultivate.

Ideally, the Demon Vein’s grade should be one small level higher than the Spirit Vein’s.

The Demon Power of Demon Beasts is pure, while the Demon Power of Demons is complex and impure. If they were in a place with only concentrated Demon Qi, their cultivation speed would be very slow.

And if there was only Spiritual Qi, Demons could not cultivate at all.

"Come on! Bottoms up!"

"Bottoms up!"

"Hahaha, this wine is packed with Demon Qi. It’s so refreshing to drink!"

In the core area of Qingyao County lay the estate of the Gu Family, a Qi Refining Clan. The entirety of Qingyao County and its surrounding areas were the Gu Family’s territory.

The various powers, large and small, within the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory were either directly or indirectly affiliated with the sect.

The Gu Family was a vassal of the Stone Demon Sect, a Foundation Establishment sect. As a vassal power, the Gu Family must pay an annual tribute of resources to the Stone Demon Sect. In turn, the Stone Demon Sect was required to offer an increased tribute to its own masters because of the Gu Family’s affiliation.

At this very moment, the Gu Family, a Qi Refining Clan, was holding a victory banquet.

"Fifth Uncle is a beast! He even killed an Inner Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect."

"Of course Fifth Uncle is a beast. You have to know, his compatibility with the transplanted Sunset Tiger bloodline is incredibly high. He might even reach Foundation Establishment in the future."

"You juniors must all have faith in your Fifth Uncle. He will definitely lead our Gu Family to become a Foundation Establishment Clan."

The "Fifth Uncle" spoken of by the Gu Family Demons was named Gu Feihu. Although he wasn’t the patriarch, his prestige within the Gu Family was second only to the old patriarch.

The reason he hadn’t become the patriarch was that the current Patriarch Gu was the person he was closest to in the "Fei" generation.

The victory banquet ended.

Patriarch Gu sought out Gu Feihu for a talk.

"Fifth Brother, think again. Does the Celestial Cloud Sect know it was you who killed their Inner Sect Disciple?"

"I don’t think so." Gu Feihu recalled the battle. "The Celestial Cloud Sect’s Inner Sect Disciple who died at my hands didn’t send any message."

Gu Feihu thought about it again, this time speaking with great certainty.

"He definitely didn’t send any message. To be honest, that Inner Sect Disciple from the Celestial Cloud Sect had quite a few protective measures, especially that jade pendant that could automatically generate a protective shield. But in the end, the shield was still shattered by my Tiger Fist, and the pendant split in two."

As he spoke, Gu Feihu brandished his fist.

"That’s good." Patriarch Gu nodded.

It was a good thing that Gu Feihu had been able to kill a Celestial Cloud Sect disciple, especially since the sect didn’t know about it yet.

Afterward, they could bypass the Stone Demon Sect and present the body of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Inner Sect Disciple directly to the Celestial Demon Sect. The reward for this wasn’t much, so that was secondary. The important thing was that the Gu Family would be officially noted by the Celestial Demon Sect.

"Second Brother, I know what you’re worried about. In my opinion, you don’t need to worry at all." Gu Feihu shared his thoughts. "Even if the Celestial Cloud Sect finds out I killed one of their Inner Sect Disciples, if they dare to come for revenge, they’ll die!"

"I’m already at the peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. The next breakthrough is the Tenth Layer. Once I break through, our Gu Family will have two cultivators at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer. Would the Celestial Cloud Sect dare to send that much force to deal with our Gu Family?"

As he finished, Gu Feihu clenched his fist, signaling to Patriarch Gu that if any Celestial Cloud Sect disciples dared to come, he would crush them.

"The family has yet to produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator. We can’t be careless when it comes to the Celestial Cloud Sect." Patriarch Gu also shared his thoughts. "The current Celestial Cloud Sect Elders don’t dare to enter the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, but the Celestial Cloud Sect still has many powerful Inner Sect Disciples."

As the Patriarch of the Gu Family, he understood the general situation between the Celestial Demon Sect and the Celestial Cloud Sect.

If the Celestial Cloud Sect dared to send a Foundation Establishment Elder, it would certainly alert the Celestial Demon Sect.

Under the protection of the Celestial Demon Sect, only by becoming a Foundation Establishment Clan could they kill Celestial Cloud Sect Inner Sect Disciples without worrying about the consequences.

"In any case, it’s best that the Celestial Cloud Sect doesn’t know their Inner Sect Disciple died at your hands."

...

As he traveled, Fang Yun drew near the territory of the Celestial Demon Sect and put on his Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

He had accepted the task Yang Yingjie had mentioned.

The reward for the task was extremely generous. After reviewing the details, he was certain it must have been posted by an Elder.

According to the rules of the Task Hall, the person accepting a task does not know who posted it. This information is recorded exclusively by the Task Hall. However, this was just the official rule. If an Elder wanted to know who completed their task, they could easily find out given their status.

The fact that an Elder had posted the task was the second most important reason Fang Yun accepted it.

A task posted by an Elder to kill a Demon from a Qi Refining Clan in the territory of the Celestial Demon Sect. From this, Fang Yun could infer that the Elder must have had someone important to them die at the hands of a Demon from this clan.

Gaining the approval of more Elders was a rather important matter to him.

This would increase his influence within the sect.

Becoming the Sect Leader didn’t require one hundred percent sect influence, but unlocking the regional influence bonus did.

To achieve that level of influence, when he eventually became Sect Leader, he would need the heartfelt approval of most of the sect’s middle and upper management.

Although the goal of becoming Sect Leader was still very distant, it didn’t stop him from planning for the future.

As for the present, perhaps completing this task would increase his sect influence by a little bit. That little bit, added to what he had already accumulated, might be enough to reach the next percentage point. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

’It’s a pity I can’t see the numbers after the decimal point for my sect influence on the light screen interface. If I could, I’d have a much more intuitive feel for the changes in my sect influence...’

Right now, his sect influence had reached 38%.

Upon entering the territory of the Celestial Demon Sect, with his aura concealed by the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, Fang Yun moved with great speed, just as he did in the Supreme Profound Mountain Range.

The operational efficiency of other Celestial Cloud Sect disciples within the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory was much lower compared to his.

As Fang Yun moved quickly, he constantly paid attention to his surroundings, and he also took out his Demon-Seeking Disc to scan the area.

If he detected the presence of Demon Power, he would do his best to avoid contact.

The Demon-Seeking Disc could only detect fluctuations in Demon Power; it couldn’t be used to determine a Demon’s specific Demon Power and thereby estimate their approximate Realm of strength.

At dusk, Fang Yun appeared in a small wood, five li from Qingyao County.

From the moment he entered the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory until now, he had not encountered any Demons.

As long as one didn’t head toward dangerous places teeming with Demons, this was the norm.