Chapter 44: Underground Abyss
Xiao Daoyi's expression changed slightly, and he asked hurriedly, "What happened?"

The old servant replied expressionlessly, "Just now, someone broke into the Demon Refining Island and secretly killed more than a dozen members of the mermaid tribe on the Demon Refining Island. They were later discovered by the mermaid tribe leader Yu Xuanji. In the fight, Yu Xuanji was seriously injured. The assassin didn't seem to dare to stay for long. After leaving a line of blood, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke and has not been found until now. Li Qingque was furious and has activated the Demon Refining Array of the Demon Refining Island. Even the sword madmen stationed at the entrance to the Underworld Abyss were alarmed and were about to make a fuss. The Supreme Master has already rushed to the Underworld Abyss to appease them."

"what!"

Guan Zhongxuan's face changed drastically.

Xiao Daoyi remained calm. He continued to ask, "Blood letter? What blood letter?"

"I don't know about that, but it seems to have been done by someone from the Huangquan Demon Sect. The blood letter left behind might be a warning."

Xiao Daoyi's face looked a little grim. "You said that those crazy sword-fighting people in the Underground Abyss have been alarmed? Aren't those crazy people usually secluded in the Underground Abyss and never ask about the affairs of the sect? Why are they making a fuss now?"

Guan Zhongxuan said with a gloomy look in his eyes: "Although the Demon Refining Island has long been in decline, we cannot forget those lunatics in the Underworld Abyss. They are also the basis of the Demon Refining Island. As long as those people are not dead, we dare not force the Demon Refining Island too much. Now, after a lot of effort, we have suppressed the momentum of the Demon Refining Island, but these lunatics have jumped out. I will go to meet the head of the sect and see what is going on."

After saying hello to Xiao Daoyi, Guan Zhongxuan disappeared with a flash of sword light.

After Guan Zhongxuan left, the old servant said calmly, "Sir, I have already found out what you asked me to find out. Zhang Qian seems to have comprehended a very extraordinary sword intent, which is why Li Qingque took a fancy to him and accepted him as his junior brother. Moreover, when fighting for the Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map, Zhang Qian faced Qi Xingdou's sword intent directly, but he was unscathed. It was not until Qi Xingdou became furious and burst out with his actual sword pressure that he injured Zhang Qian."

"Hmph, interesting, Uncle Zhong, you keep finding out. Zhang Qian is hiding too many things. I feel uneasy if I don't find out the truth."

"As ordered!"

At this time, the Demon Refining Island was on full alert, and the Demon Refining Formation that covered the entire Demon Refining Island was activated. The name of this formation was Demon Refining and it was worthy of its name. As soon as the formation was activated, Zhang Qian saw red auspicious clouds shaped like Ganoderma lucidum covering the sky of the Demon Refining Island. As time passed, the fiery red auspicious clouds became more and more, and finally enveloped the entire Demon Refining Island.

Scanning his mind, Zhang Qian keenly discovered that each of these fiery red auspicious clouds was ready to go, containing terrifying and blazing power that would shake the world once it was launched.

"The Demon Refining Island Array is connected to the Demon Refining Island. These fire clouds can produce demon refining fires that can melt gold and burn rocks. They can cause great damage to cultivators who practice the ways of gods and demons."

Li Qingque saw Zhang Qian's curiosity and explained.

Zhang Qian nodded and said, "Sister, was it really done by the Huangquan Demon Sect? Could it be that someone deliberately framed them? The Jianhu Palace is heavily guarded, and the mountain protection formation is usually activated. How did the Huangquan Demon Sect get in? Moreover, since Yu Xuanji said that he was only slightly at a disadvantage in the fight with his assassin, it is obvious that the assassin's cultivation is also at the Jindan realm, not that high. How could he enter the Jianhu Palace mountain protection formation silently?"

This is exactly what Zhang Qian was puzzled about. Before, an assassin suddenly came to the Demon Refining Island and killed more than a dozen members of the mermaid clan and left a blood letter. If Yu Xuanji hadn't seen it, who knows how many members of the mermaid clan would have died. The assassin was really bold. What everyone couldn't figure out was that the entire Jianhu Palace was completely covered by the mountain protection formation. How did the assassin get through the mountain protection formation?
Li Qingque suppressed anger in his eyes. After listening to Zhang Qian's words, he thought for a while and said, "It's unlikely. Judging from the blood letter left by the assassin and the wounds left by the dead mermaids, the person who came must be from the Huangquan Demon Sect. I participated in that battle and am very familiar with the methods of the Huangquan Demon Sect. Humph, as for his silent breakthrough of the mountain protection formation, maybe there was a spy in the sect who acted as an insider. Hey, Xuanji, why are you here? You are seriously injured. You should go and recuperate. Don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

It was the seriously injured Yu Xuanji who was supported by someone and walked over. Yu Xuanji's face was very pale and his breath became very weak.

"Island Master, I just remembered something. When I was fighting with that person before, he accidentally revealed a trace of demonic energy. It is very likely that he is not a member of the Huangquan Demon Sect, but a demon!"

Li Qingque's expression was stern, and he asked, "Did you see it clearly? If it was really done by the demon clan, then this matter becomes complicated."

Yu Xuanji thought about it carefully, and his tone became very sure: "It was indeed a demonic aura. I was at a disadvantage at the time, so I had no choice but to summon my life-long golden elixir and smash it over. The man couldn't resist it, so he suddenly used a strange body technique and moved away. It was when he used this body technique that he revealed a trace of demonic aura."

Li Qingque clenched his fists. "If he is from the demon clan, how did he learn the methods of the Huangquan Demon Sect? Weird."

Zhang Qian said: "It should be the demon tribe that joined the Huangquan Demon Sect."

"impossible!"

Li Qingque shook his head directly: "Junior brother, you don't understand the secrets. Sects like Huangquan Demon Sect that follow the path of gods and demons are determined to kill all the monsters. The battle between the path of gods and demons and the path of monsters has been going on forever."

"why is that?"

Zhang Qian was a little surprised.

"Nothing else, just because most of the people of the Demonic Path have strange bloodlines, or contain the bloodlines of ancient divine beasts. These bloodlines are extremely precious to the cultivators of the Divine and Demonic Path, and are the best treasures for cultivating the bodies of gods and demons. As a result, for several eras, the Divine and Demonic Path has repeatedly fought with the Demonic Path for these precious bloodlines. In the eyes of the Demonic and Demonic Path cultivators, those sect cultivators who follow the Divine and Demonic Path are their biggest enemies, because every moment, there are countless Demonic and Demonic Path cultivators who are calculated and killed by the Divine and Demonic Path cultivators because of the preciousness of their bloodlines. You must know that it is very difficult to inherit precious bloodlines. Many bloodlines only appear once in an era, but are coveted by countless Divine and Demonic Path cultivators. How could the cultivators of these two paths of cultivation not fight endlessly?
Moreover, the sects of the Gods and Demons and the Demons are now secretly uniting together to guard against sudden attacks from each other. These two forces can be said to be incompatible. It is absolutely impossible for the cultivators of the Demons to have any intersection with the cultivators of the Gods and Demons, let alone learning each other's magical powers, which is even more impossible.

"So that's how it is. This assassin has demonic energy and can use the magical methods of the Yellow Springs Devil Sect. The blood letter he left behind said that it was to warn us, the Sword Gourd Palace, and it also contained the Nine Bends of Yellow Springs. It is obvious that he is on the side of the Yellow Springs Devil Sect. However, Senior Sister, you'd better be patient for the time being. Our power on the Demon Refining Island is low right now, so we must not show up, otherwise we will be hit repeatedly by the Yellow Springs Devil Sect."

Li Qingque nodded and said, "I know, but our Demon Refining Island is not without any background. I originally wanted to wait for you to come back from Shangyuan Bajing Palace before telling you, but now that this has happened, I will not hide it from you. Although our Demon Refining Island suffered heavy casualties in the war that year, there are still many senior masters who survived. These people are disheartened and have been in seclusion deep in the underworld of our Sword Gourd Palace. The swordsmanship they practiced is very crazy. Over the years, they have also developed many disciples with similar personalities, but they don't come out of the underworld. If it weren't for these seniors, our Demon Refining Island would have disappeared long ago."

(End of this chapter)