This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

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Dantai Qingrun's explanation was undoubtedly the most reasonable.

The Netherworld authorities in Zhenjiang marshaled the forces of nearly half of Qing State's Netherworld, plotted a Corpse Puppet Chaos, and still had to swallow their pride and lay low for a century.

Lingxu Tower, despite having all the advantages of time and place in its hundred-year struggle with the Netherworld, repeatedly suffered setbacks. If there were no other forces behind the scenes lending a hand, wouldn't the very idea of a vigilant tower be a joke?

"Have you investigated the recent activities of the forces within Lingxu Tower?" Lu Qingshan asked.

"Of course, I've spent most of the past six months doing just that," Dantai Qingrun nodded, gesturing to the dazzling array of Jade Slips on the table. "Recorded within these Jade Slips are the major and minor events that have occurred over the past century among the sects and families within Lingxu Tower that have some standing."

"You found no problems?" Lu Qingshan asked.

Dantai Qingrun shook her head, "In these pieces of information, I haven't yet found any that are flawed."

"I see..." Lu Qingshan pondered and then strolled to the desk, casually flipping through those Jade Slips.

Dantai Qingrun stood quietly at the side, silently watching as Lu Qingshan rapidly scanned one Jade Slip after another, occasionally falling into deep thought.

After a while,

Lu Qingshan had gone through all the complex information.

For cultivators, it was not difficult to remember this information, but the difficulty lay in how to sift through the vast sea of data to find the crucial pieces of information.

Swish! Swish!

However, Lu Qingshan now looked confident, and with a sweep of his Spiritual Power, two Jade Slips hovered in front of Dantai Qingrun.

"Take another look at the information recorded in these two Jade Slips," Lu Qingshan said.

Dantai Qingrun's eyebrows raised in disbelief that the problems she hadn't discovered in half a year's time, Lu Qingshan had identified in just half a day.

She took the two Jade Slips and probed them with her Divine Sense.

"In the year 19945 of Chang'an, the second elder of the Poison Butterfly Sect, Moon Butterfly True Man, entered the Demon Spirit Mountain Range to search for herbs and was not heard from again."

"In the year 19947 of Chang'an, the Young Master of Shui Yue Fort entered the Demon Spirit Mountain Range and met his end within."

"...."

The first Jade Slip recorded a long list of cultivators from the major powers within Lingxu Tower who had perished in the Demon Spirit Mountain Range over the years.

The second Jade Slip contained a very brief message.

"In the year 19975 of Chang'an, the Demon Spirit Palace publicly declared that they were sealing off the Demon Spirit Mountain Range for fifty years."

Dantai Qingrun looked up with a puzzled expression at Lu Qingshan.

The Demon Spirit Mountain Range was a vast expanse of primitive mountains, teeming with numerous Demon Beasts. For cultivators to venture into and fall prey to fierce Demon Beasts was not uncommon, and such events were always happening in the world of cultivators—nothing out of the ordinary.

"Tower Master Dantai, you've repeatedly checked the Human Race forces within Lingxu Tower, trying to find among them the sects that might be colluding with the Netherworld, yet you've come up empty.

Have you considered, Tower Master Dantai, the possibility that the problematic force isn't within your scope of investigation at all?" Lu Qingshan said softly.

"But I've already included all the sects and families with any significant strength in Lingxu Tower. If it's those insignificant small forces, how much help could they possibly offer to the Netherworld?" Dantai Qingrun retorted instinctively.

"Are you sure you've accounted for all the major powers within Lingxu Tower?" Lu Qingshan countered.

Dantai Qingrun was momentarily stunned, at a loss for words at Lu Qingshan's question.

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"You've simply counted all the Human Race forces." Lu Qingshan's eyes narrowed slightly, a glint of sharpness flashing through them.

Qin Yitian, who had been witnessing the entire process from the side, also seemed to have some sudden insight. She nodded thoughtfully, but although she might have an answer, she did not rashly interrupt the conversation between Lu Qingshan and Dantai Qingrun.

"There's another force within the Lingxu Prefecture that ranks in the top three in terms of comprehensive strength, one you have overlooked," Lu Qingshan said calmly.

"Are you referring to the Demon Spirit Palace?!" Dantai Qingrun was taken aback, grasping Lu Qingshan's meaning.

The Demon Spirit Palace, in terms of combat power alone, could even be the most preeminent among all sects in Lingxu Prefecture.

Yet Dantai Qingrun had never once doubted the Demon Spirit Palace, let alone investigated it.

It wasn't that Dantai Qingrun was being muddle-headed, but rather because, just as its name indicated, the Demon Spirit Palace was a Demon Clan force!
Experience tales at empire

In fact, the Demon Clan was scattered throughout the human territories, and in terms of strength, it was in no way inferior to the Human Race.

But due to the wild nature of Demon Beasts and racial divisions, most Demon Beasts generally did not mingle with others. At most, they were like the Jiaolong Demon King, leading their own kind and occupying mountains to establish their rule, with very few forming significant forces.

And the Demon Spirit Palace was the only Demon Clan force within Qing State.

The first Palace Master of the Demon Spirit Palace was a Gengjin Tiger King at the peak of Fifth Grade Realm.

It is said that this Gengjin Tiger King possessed a faint trace of ancient Spirit Beast White Tiger bloodline, which granted him extraordinary combat power. He united the divided Demon Clan of Qing State for tens of thousands of years and established the Demon Spirit Palace. He reigned supreme over Qing State, wreaking havoc for a thousand years.

After a millennium, when the Gengjin Tiger King could no longer break through to the Sixth Grade Realm and his lifespan reached its limit, he fell.

After the Gengjin Tiger King passed away, the Demon Spirit Palace, lacking an absolute strong presence to suppress the untamed natures of the Demon Beasts, saw most of its members quickly leave the Demon Spirit Palace, with only a very small part willing to remain and continue the legacy of the Demon Spirit Palace.

Following the fragmentation of the Demon Spirit Palace, its sphere of influence also began to rapidly shrink.

From its heyday with a presence throughout Qing State, now it could only barely cling to survival in the Demon Spirit Mountain Range at the junction of Lingxu, Yanxi, and Changyang Prefectures.

But a camel thinned by hunger is still bigger than a horse. In terms of peak combat power, not a single sect or power within Lingxu Prefecture could best the Demon Spirit Palace.

"If there indeed was a sect colluding with the Netherworld, they must have received some benefits from the Netherworld. It would not stay quiet on the surface.

Yet, in the past hundred years, none of the Human Race powers within Lingxu Prefecture that could be considered significant exhibited any sudden rise or made any unusual large movements. It does not match your expectations," Lu Qingshan said gravely. "But there just happens to be such a Demon Spirit Palace, which has been very active in recent years.

First, the death rate of Human Cultivators entering the Demon Spirit Mountain Range began to surge, later on, the Demon Spirit Palace even unprecedentedly sealed off the Demon Spirit Mountain Range to outsiders."

The Demon Spirit Mountain Range is vast in area, and even the Demon Spirit Palace only controls the core region.

Typically, aside from the core area, the Demon Spirit Mountain Range does not forbid Cultivators from entering.

But it was precisely in this century that a relentless series of bloody events occurred in the Demon Spirit Mountain Range, with Cultivators entering it either falling dead or disappearing at a rate dozens of times higher than before.

Latterly, the Demon Spirit Palace unusually proclaimed they were sealing off the Demon Spirit Mountain Range to outsiders.

Given the vastness of the Demon Spirit Mountain Range, how could the Demon Spirit Palace possibly achieve a complete blockade? Announcing this seemed more like an attempt to deter Human Cultivators who wished to enter the Demon Spirit Mountain Range.

After carefully pondering the unusual actions of the Demon Spirit Palace, Dantai Qingrun muttered, "When put that way, it seems to be a bit too coincidental."

Dantai Qingrun was of course aware of the Demon Spirit Palace's significant activity over the last hundred years.

However, because the Demon Spirit Palace was not a Human Race force, this issue was subconsciously overlooked by Dantai Qingrun.

But upon closer thought, Dantai Qingrun suddenly realized that she had become fixated on a narrow view under the influence of her subconscious bias.

Why couldn't the Netherworld collaborate with the Demon Clan?