Half an hour ago.
The Old Sect Master returned to his bedroom and cautiously placed the two Buddha statue eyeballs on the table.
Based on his decades of experience in slaying demons and defending the Way, if Demonic Cultivators wanted to obtain such ordinary and mundane objects, it meant there was certainly something suspicious about them.
After a brief period of examination, the Old Sect Master discovered that the pair of Buddha statue eyeballs were merely two rough stone spheres with no hidden mechanisms inside.
The Old Sect Master then circulated his Zhenqi, causing the wind in the air to flow slowly around the Buddha statue eyeballs.
The result remained the same.
Aside from dust and dirt, the Old Sect Master did not sense any other suspicious auras.
‘This is truly strange,’ the Old Sect Master thought, filled with doubt.
He had spent his entire life slaying demons and defending the Way, having fought countless members of the Evil Sect and Demonic Path, but he had never encountered something so bizarre.
What was the Demon Sect’s intention in stealing the eyeballs of a Buddha statue?
‘After dawn, I will summon the various sects of Yuanzhou to discuss this together,’ the Old Sect Master decided.
Afterward, the Old Sect Master prepared to focus his mind and meditate.
Just as the Old Sect Master became fully immersed in his meditation, the pair of Buddha statue eyeballs on the table moved slightly, to a degree imperceptible to the naked eye.
Although it was nearly impossible to see, the “wind” informed the Old Sect Master of the unusual aura produced in that fleeting moment.
The Old Sect Master snapped his attention back to the two Buddha statue eyeballs.
In that instant, the Buddha statue eyeballs seemed to come to life, hurling themselves toward him like two cannonballs.
The Old Sect Master raised his hand to block them, but the two Buddha statue eyeballs passed directly through his protective Zhenqi.
They smashed two bloody holes through his palms and embedded themselves precisely into his eye sockets.
The Old Sect Master immediately felt an intense pang of agony. He tried to call for help, but he found his throat tightly constricted by something, preventing him from making a single sound.
Although the Fengqing Sect had been very famous recently, it was actually only an Earth-tier Force because the Old Sect Master’s cultivation was only at the Wang rank and had not reached the rank of Grandmaster.
However, was it possible that a dignified powerhouse of the Wang rank could not even block two “ordinary stone spheres”?
Of course, those were not stone spheres.
Instead, they were eyeballs selected by the Demon Sect and secretly nourished with Demonic Qi, bit by bit, for many years!
“Zha… zawu… ting… ah ke…”
The Old Sect Master fell to his knees, incoherent sounds spilling from his mouth. He covered his eyes with both hands, trying to gouge out the two eyeballs that did not belong to him.
However, even though he clawed until his hands were covered in blood, it was to no avail.
His eye sockets had long since been torn open, and blood flowed down his cheeks, staining his white beard red.
After tasting the flavor of flesh and blood, the two stone spheres gained complete life and consciousness — the consciousness of the Holy Sovereign of the Demon Sect.
As the eyes fully opened, the Old Sect Master’s final traces of consciousness gradually dissipated. With just a pair of eyeballs, the Holy Sovereign took control of the Old Sect Master’s physical body.
“Hmph… although changing hosts repeatedly is a bit of a hassle, since a small accident occurred midway, I will just have to make do with this for now.” Controlling the Old Sect Master, the Holy Sovereign spoke in a raspy, disgusted voice.
According to the Plan devised by the Demon Sect, this pair of Buddha statue eyeballs was supposed to “awaken” at exactly this moment.
If they were placed onto the Holy Sovereign’s stitched-together face, he would have directly gained “sight.”
However, by a stroke of bad luck, the Buddha statue eyeballs were intercepted by Lü Qi, disrupting the Demon Sect’s Plan.
Fortunately for the Holy Sovereign, the Buddha statue eyeballs awakened just as the Old Sect Master stopped his inspection and began to meditate.
Sensing the aura of only one old man nearby, they dove into the Old Sect Master’s eye sockets without hesitation, forcibly making him the master of these “Demon Eyes.”
‘This physical body… is too weak, too much like trash.’
The Old Sect Master’s body was not the one meticulously selected and stitched together by the Demon Sect, after all, and it instinctively rejected the Demon Eyes.
This caused the Holy Sovereign’s eyes to constantly twitch, with one eye closing while the other opened, unable to keep both open at the same time for long.
‘Damn it, I have to leave here quickly.’
The Holy Sovereign spoke with great impatience. He then left the bedroom and reached an open area as quickly as possible.
Ignoring the twitching and contorting of the physical body, he forcibly used the power of the Demon Eyes. With a single glance, he saw Qingxu Town and the Cangjin Cave 100 miles away.
Of the Seven Apostles of the Demon Sect, only four remained. All of them had been deployed tonight, arriving at Qingxu Town and the Cangjin Cave in two groups of two.
Under the Holy Sovereign’s surveillance, the battle at Qingxu Town was proceeding smoothly.
The disciples of the Orthodox Faction were completely unable to withstand the attack of the apostles and were wiped out in an instant. Afterward, the two apostles took the “nose” and vanished into the night.
However, things were not going as smoothly over at the Cangjin Cave.
“Oh? They’re actually being held back here? Interesting, how interesting…”
The Holy Sovereign discovered that among the Orthodox Faction disciples guarding the Cangjin Cave, there was a female Wang.
The cultivation of the disciples fighting alongside her was average, but they were not particularly outstanding.
Nevertheless, they had managed to cause considerable obstruction to the two apostles.
The Holy Sovereign felt a hint of admiration for these people.
One had to understand that there was a certain gap in the cultivation levels of the Seven Apostles.
The deceased Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh were only at the Wang rank, but the remaining four were all above the rank of Grandmaster!
For those Orthodox Faction disciples guarding the Cangjin Cave to not be killed instantly by two apostles at the Grandmaster rank was already a very impressive feat.
“But no matter how outstanding their coordination is, they can only hold out for a little while longer. In the end, they cannot bridge the massive gap in cultivation.”
The Holy Sovereign was not worried about the battle at the Cangjin Cave at all.
He decided to use the Old Sect Master’s body for now to bring the Demon Eyes to Qingxu Town.
He would hand them over to the two apostles and have them install the eyes into his body that was about to be revived.
Controlling the Old Sect Master’s body, the Holy Sovereign stiffly disappeared into the night.
All of this was witnessed by Yun Qianxue, who was not far away.
“…Disappeared?”
From Yun Qianxue’s perspective, the Old Sect Master had suddenly appeared and then suddenly vanished. The entire interval was actually less than half a second, as if she had imagined it.
But she did not foolishly believe her eyes had deceived her.
For a brief moment just now, she had felt a gaze that made her skin crawl. There was no doubt about it.
At this moment, Yun Qianxue did not realize that she had narrowly escaped a disaster.
The Holy Sovereign had just used the power of the Demon Eyes to see the landscape 100 miles away from the Fengqing Sect.
Had he used the eyes a moment later, he might have seen a young girl standing not far from him.
A young girl’s body would have been much more useful than that of a dying old man.
***
Yuanzhou, Cangjin Cave.
Someone had once discovered gold here. After the news spread, it attracted gold prospectors from all over.
Because of the struggle for gold, a massive number of fights broke out here. After years of accumulation, the number of skeletons buried in this underground area was countless.
From then on, the Yin energy here became extremely heavy. And what the Holy Sovereign needed was exactly one “arm” from among the countless remains.
At this moment, the two apostles who had come to retrieve the item were being blocked.
“If you dare take another step forward, do not blame the arrows in my hand for being blind.” Fu Yi drew her bowstring to its limit.
Her gaze was as sharp as an arrow as she stared intently at the two black-robed apostles in front of her, issuing a cold warning.
“I really want to kill her quickly.”
“Second Brother, this little sister is exactly my type.” The other man smiled and licked his lips.
“Second Brother, one look and I can tell you haven’t tasted a woman in years. The more aggressive a woman is like this, the more tender and soft she becomes in bed~”
“Third, you brat, you dare go out and find women behind the Holy Sovereign’s back?”
“Hee hee hee, no one will find out anyway. My skill in ‘changing faces’ is already nearly as good as the Holy Sovereign’s~”
Just as those words were spoken, Fu Yi heard a sudden scream from behind her.
The black-robed apostle in front of her dissolved into an afterimage and vanished!
Fu Yi looked back. At first glance, their formation appeared undisturbed.
But at second glance, she saw one of the disciples fall dead, while another person who looked exactly like him stood beside him, grinning at Fu Yi.
The smile was incredibly eerie and hair-raising.