It was not surprising that Bai Shengyi was astonished by Li Tingyun's descent into demonic ways. In fact, initially, many people had not expected Li Tingyun to become entangled with demonic cultivators.
The reason the Wushang Sect had become the leader among the first-rate sects, apart from Li Tingyun's powerful cultivation and the support of the Three Lords of Wushang, was also because the Wushang Sect was the sect most widely known in the Shenqi world for "eliminating evil and promoting good," second only to the Buddhist Sect.
Regardless of how the other major sects viewed the Wushang Sect, at least in the eyes of many rogue cultivators, the Wushang Sect maintained an excellent public image, dispatching disciples every year to guard the Far West and descend the mountains to slay demons and monsters.
In less than a hundred years, such a prosperous sect had declined so rapidly. No, it wasn't just a decline; starting from the Red Lotus Demon Lord to the current Wushang Demon Lord, the Wushang Sect had become a demonic sect in everyone's minds.
Qin Si recounted the reasons for Li Tingyun's demonic descent and the events that transpired after Bai Shengyi's disappearance.
"...After you disappeared, your maternal grandfather and I wanted to seek justice for you. We never expected to discover that Huayun and Li Tingyun had colluded with Liu Tianyun. Liu Tianyun broke through the seal of the Far West with his men, resulting in demonic cultivators and demonic energy appearing everywhere in the Shenqi world."
"This is not demonic energy, this is demonic affliction," Bai Shengyi corrected.
These energies were identical to what she had seen in the Heavenly Dao Tree space within the Divine Temple of the Central Region, only less potent than those demonic afflictions.
"Demonic affliction?" Qin Si asked, puzzled.
It was no wonder he was unaware.
The Far West had been sealed for thousands of years. It could be said that before Liu Tianyun led those demonic and heretical cultivators out of the Far West, even Yue Bufan did not know what had been sealed within.
Everyone simply referred to these black, ominous energies, which were neither Thousand Soul Insect Silks nor Prison Fiends, as demonic energy, yet they could not discern any anomalies within it.
Bai Shengyi nodded affirmatively. "Demonic energy and spiritual energy are mutually reinforcing and opposing. In essence, it can be considered an alternative method of cultivation. In reality, it does not cause cultivators to be stained with resentment and bloodshed. However, demonic affliction is different. Demonic affliction originates from negative emotions such as greed, resentment, delusion, and hatred. Therefore, once a cultivator is afflicted, they either descend into demonic ways or suffer damage to their Dao heart."
As she spoke, she paused for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Qin Si looked at her with concern and placed another ninth-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill into Bai Shengyi's mouth.
He thought Bai Shengyi's spiritual power had not yet recovered and she was still unwell.
The ninth-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill dissolved upon entering her mouth. Bai Shengyi, unable to stop him, said helplessly, "I'm fine. I'm just suddenly a bit surprised. I don't know why, but I haven't specifically observed or categorized these things. Yet, as soon as you asked, this information seemed to appear in my mind as if it were always there, and I recalled it all at once."
However, Bai Shengyi quickly found a reason for herself.
"Perhaps it's because I saw it in Lvyun."
"Lvyun?" Qin Si frowned. "After you disappeared, did you go to Lvyun?"
"Yes," Bai Shengyi said without elaborating. "Asi, you said this is Donghui City, so it shouldn't be very far from the academy, right? I accidentally obtained the Azure Dragon Scale in the Vast Universe Secret Realm, and later I luckily obtained the Heart of Divine Wood in Lvyun. I want to go and cure my mother's illness first."
She said it lightly, but Qin Si knew that it was by no means as simple as "accidentally" or "luckily" could describe.
However, seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Qin Si did not press further.
He said, "I'll go back with you."
"But here..." Bai Shengyi looked at the city behind them.
For mortals, building a city might take three to five months, but for cultivators, it was only three to five days. In the time Bai Shengyi and Qin Si were speaking, Li Shiqing and the others had already erected the outer city walls.
Hearing Bai Shengyi's words, Qin Sanxiang smiled and said, "It's alright, Ayi. You and the Dean can leave with peace of mind. Here, we have me and Ximen Hongchun!"
Perhaps because their spiritual power was obscure and stagnant when they were in Lvyun, Qin Sanxiang and Ximen Hongchun had not given up on their cultivation. Thus, upon returning to Shenqi, the benefits of persistent cultivation became evident.
Their cultivation levels had rapidly ascended to the peak of the Soul Transformation realm within the past half-day. They were only a step away from entering the Mahayana realm.
It could be said that Sun Ling's somewhat gloomy mood, which had been caused by Sun Chongyang, was instantly dispelled by this turn of events.
The fellow disciples with whom he could once contend were now terrifyingly powerful!
When Sun Ling and Li Shiqing learned that Qin Sanxiang and the others had been stranded in Lvyun Small World from the Mustard Seed Layer, they were even more shocked.
Sun Ling said, "Although I always knew there were heavens beyond heavens, I always thought that 'heaven' referred to the heavens we ascend to. I never imagined there were other small worlds outside our Shenqi Small World where cultivation was possible. This is truly miraculous."
Ximen Hongchun was not one for words. Qin Sanxiang, being forthright, took over the conversation while continuing her work.
She said helplessly, "It is indeed miraculous, but the path of cultivation in that place is different from ours. Both Ximen Hongchun and I had our realms suppressed at the beginning. We were captured and made sacrifices. If we hadn't met Ayi later, we would have almost perished there."
"Since you were all in Lvyun Small World, could Chu Tianle also be in Lvyun Small World?"
Li Shiqing suddenly spoke.
Ximen Hongchun couldn't help but glance at her.
He was aware of what had transpired between Li Shiqing, Chu Tianle, Bai Shengyi, and Bai Murong. To prevent Li Shiqing from misunderstanding, he said gravely, "Chu Tianle was not in Lvyun."
Li Shiqing also realized that her words might lead people to believe she was blaming Bai Shengyi for leaving Chu Tianle behind. She immediately explained, "I was just guessing. You might not know, but after you entered the Mustard Seed Layer to search for the missing Chu Tianle, the academy dispatched many groups of people to look for you. Even Dao Lord Qinglan and the Mountain Lord had entered to search twice."
"However, apart from Feng Wuya, who happened to exit the Mustard Seed Layer, none of you were found. It's strange. Not only you, but the young sect leader of Fanglan Sect, Dao Lord Yi'an, the sect leader of Hundred Flowers Sect, Shui Lianyue, and the sect leader of Jin Xia Sect, Qi Fei, who entered the rift with Chu Tianle at the same time, also went missing."
Sun Ling added in agreement, "This is indeed true. The Hundred Flowers Sect and Jin Xia Sect have already disbanded."
This situation was truly bizarre. The few of them discussed it for a while longer and finally all agreed that there might be many spacetime rifts within the Mustard Seed Layer, which caused this. As for the unreasonable aspects, they found it difficult to explain themselves, so they disregarded them and acted as if they didn't know.
On the other side, Qin Si was also discussing this matter with Bai Shengyi.
"If Chu Tianle is not here, could it be that he has already..."
Bai Shengyi thought of the worst possible outcome. After all, Qin Si had also mentioned that when he and Master Qinglan entered the Mustard Seed Layer, they had investigated. Although there were spacetime rifts within, there weren't many, and it was impossible for so many cultivators to go missing.
If anything, Liu Tianyun's movements within the Mustard Seed Layer during that time were more worthy of contemplation.
Perhaps, at that time, without their knowledge, Liu Tianyun had already joined forces with the Void Beast race and done something to the cultivators of various sects within the Mustard Seed Layer.