She arrived. Old Man Ji’s expression shifted slightly as he unleashed the Long Yao Yu, shattering every chain that had been placed upon the Heavenly Gale Wyvern.
He soared onto the back of the Heavenly Gale Wyvern. With Ji Changkong commanding the creature, he cut down every expert of the Manichaean cult blocking their path within the mountain belly. Together, they burst forth, lingered briefly over the Holy Mountain of Light, and then abruptly shot toward the heavens.
As the Heavenly Gale Wyvern ascended above the Holy Mountain of Light, continuous, massive roars erupted from within the cult’s sacred site. Amidst the pervasive booming, the Holy Mountain of Light began to tilt.
Many Manichaean cultists, along with the experts from the Eastern Sea who had followed the Blood Emperor, remained atop the Holy Mountain of Light. Inside, they were engaged in fierce combat, the ground littered with corpses, their souls dying upon the sacred peak. They subsequently fled in all directions.
Ji Changkong, preparing to immediately depart from the Holy Mountain of Light, casually tossed out the Celestial Origin Orb, dropping it into the sky above the sacred mountain.
“Come up!” At the same moment, Ji Changkong lightly commanded the gray storm clouds above.
Aiyiguli, who had been waiting patiently in the clouds, descended instantly, landing on the Heavenly Gale Wyvern. Overcome with excitement, she pointed at the Holy Mountain of Light and shrieked, “It’s—it’s slowly collapsing! It’s collapsing, did you see?!”
Aiyiguli was wildly elated, trembling on the back of the Heavenly Gale Wyvern. If the space on the Wyvern hadn't been so limited, she might have already been dancing with joy.
She could never have imagined that, thanks to Ji Changkong’s meddling, the Manichaean cult’s sacred ground would be reduced to such a state!
For millennia, the Holy Mountain of Light had been revered by the people of the Western Regions. All the Heavenly Master sects of the Western Regions proclaimed this sacred mountain of the Manichaean cult to be an inviolable, mystical place.
For such a location, where outsiders struggled even to gain entry, to be brought to this ruin today!
Aiyiguli had every reason to be thrilled. Hailing from the Oro Sect, she had regarded the Manichaean cult as her greatest enemy since childhood, driven by a deeply rooted desire to see them destroyed.
Furthermore, all of Aiyiguli’s kin had perished at the hands of the Manichaean cultists. To select a new Saintess, the cult frequently committed atrocities so horrific that Aiyiguli’s hatred for them had reached an unfathomable depth.
And today, due to Ji Changkong’s disruption, the Holy Mountain of Light—touted as impregnable—was experiencing such a drastic upheaval. Not only had many Manichaean experts been slain, but the mountain itself was now on the verge of ruin.
Such a devastating battle was glorious to the extreme.
“Let’s go. We must return to the Grand Temple immediately! That woman will be back soon, and I believe she will stop at nothing to deal with you. Head back now, order all outside cultists to cease all activities, and if possible, return to the Grand Temple!” Ji Changkong urged Aiyiguli.
Aiyiguli nodded repeatedly. “I’ll listen to you.”
Having suffered such a grievous blow, the Manichaean Holy Mother Youlan would certainly not let it go. She would undoubtedly retaliate against the Oro Sect swiftly, lest the Manichaean authority in the Western Regions be utterly disgraced, making it impossible for them to hold ground there in the future.
To restore the Manichaean prestige, Youlan needed to execute the most decisive and straightforward action, and the best target was obviously the Grand Temple of the Oro Sect.
Only by utterly destroying the Oro Sect’s Grand Temple and annihilating Ji Changkong, the intruder of today, could the Manichaean cult remain supreme in the Western Regions!
Aiyiguli understood this, and Ji Changkong understood this. Once today’s events were exposed, all the Heavenly Master sects of the Western Regions would understand it as well.
Riding the Heavenly Gale Wyvern, Ji Changkong and Aiyiguli flew directly toward the Grand Temple of the Oro Sect. Upon reaching an extremely high altitude where clusters of dark clouds swirled, Ji Changkong suddenly paused, silently awaiting something.
“What is it, Cult Master?” Aiyiguli inquired.
“Nothing. Just wait a moment longer,” Ji Changkong smiled, beginning to use his soul sense to peer into the distant scene.
BOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion resonated from within the Holy Mountain of Light.
The Holy Mountain of Light, which had stood for a thousand years in the Western Regions, the place revered as sacred by the populace, finally succumbed to the internal detonation. It collapsed completely.
The Holy Mountain of Light was ruined. Heavenly Masters with sinister appearances and thick auras of wickedness battled against Heavenly Masters who feigned an air of detached cultivation, all atop the rubble of the sacred mountain.
Upon the ruins of the Holy Mountain of Light lay countless corpses. Within the collapsed structure, the number of the dead buried was incalculable.
Pilgrims who had come to the Holy Mountain of Light nearby stood blankly at the foot of the mountain, watching the ruins. Many were struck dumb with terror, while others immediately prostrated themselves, weeping toward the collapsed peak, crying out that the heavenly gods had abandoned the Western Regions, speaking words that were vague and intangible.
At this moment, they saw numerous figures still locked in combat atop the ruins. Fierce energy lashed out everywhere, and many residual shocks flew outward. Some pilgrims who were too close were struck down and killed on the periphery.
The Manichaean cult was divided into the Light Faction and the Dark Faction. The Dark Faction had always been commanded by the King of Darkness, while the Light Faction followed Youlan.
The Manichaean experts of the Dark Faction inside the Holy Mountain of Light knew they were part of the cult, understood their identity, and recognized the relationship between Dark and Light.
However, very few of the Light Faction experts within the Holy Mountain of Light knew that the Dark Faction even existed beneath the sacred mountain’s depths.
Youlan had never revealed the existence of the Dark Faction to these members so that their hearts might remain illuminated, allowing them to cultivate the unique techniques of the Manichaean cult successfully.
The cultivation methods of the Manichaean Light Faction demanded unwavering faith and the belief that their deeds were righteous. Because of this principle, even the Four Great Dharma Kings and the Saintess were only informed of the Dark Faction’s existence by Youlan after they had mastered the foundational techniques and reached a certain realm. This was because the Dark Faction members operated via secret passages deep beneath the Holy Mountain, augmented by various barriers within the mountain that concealed their aura. Consequently, the Light Faction cultists were completely unaware of their darker counterparts.
Thus, when the Holy Mountain of Light collapsed and the experts of the Dark Faction emerged from within, the Light Faction experts, who specialized in cultivating Light energy, mistook these sinister-looking figures for the enemy, believing their presence was the cause of the disaster that befell the sacred mountain.
Among both the Light and Dark factions, many individuals had been afflicted by Ji Changkong’s Soul Driving technique and were now causing chaos, slaughtering anyone near them indiscriminately!
As a result, once the Holy Mountain of Light was destroyed, the Manichaean Light Faction experts immediately turned on the Dark Faction members, launching brutal retaliation. The Dark Faction members knew they were all from the same origin and tried to explain, but amidst the frenzied attacks from their comrades afflicted by the Soul Driving technique, their pleas of “we are family” became a cruel joke.
The Manichaean cult descended into utter chaos. Experts from the Dark and Light factions engaged in savage internal slaughter. Because of the scattering of cultivators afflicted by the Soul Driving technique, Light Faction members also began fighting Light Faction members, and the same occurred within the Dark Faction.
Disorder! Absolute pandemonium!
Manichaean experts died unknowingly at the hands of their own people, their souls soaring heavenward to be instantly devoured by the Celestial Origin Orb. The maddened cultists never detected the Orb’s presence. Though Ji Changkong had departed, the Celestial Origin Orb was reaping a lavish harvest here.
Only when the aura of Holy Mother Youlan finally manifested near the ruins of the Holy Mountain of Light did the Celestial Origin Orb quietly withdraw, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Absorbing the scenes unfolding there via the Celestial Origin Orb, Ji Changkong’s lips curled into an icy smile. He turned to Aiyiguli beside him. “Just watch. After this great upheaval today, it will take the Manichaean cult another hundred years just to regain their vitality.”
“How many died?” Aiyiguli asked excitedly. “Cult Master, surely a great number of Manichaean experts perished this time?”
“At least half,” Ji Changkong chuckled. “Those cultivating within the Holy Mountain of Light were the true heavy hitters of the Manichaean cult. With the Dark and Light factions fighting each other, half their experts are gone just like that. Heh, I must thank these people for fighting their own kin; otherwise, I would truly have no way to shatter the Manichaean Sacred Realm of Light and Dark!”
The defensive power of the Manichaean Sacred Realm of Light and Dark was not significantly inferior to the Divine Punishment of the Oro Sect. Ji Changkong’s cultivation at the Nine Palaces Heavenly Realm could not shake the Sacred Realm in the slightest; even using his full strength left the realm utterly unmoved.
This Sacred Realm of Light and Dark was indeed formidable—but only against outsiders.
“Yes, I fear the ancestors of the Manichaean cult never dreamed that their Sacred Realm of Light and Dark would ultimately be destroyed by the power of their own kin,” Aiyiguli chuckled, her beautiful eyes shimmering with excitement. “Cult Master, you are truly unbelievable.”
“Let’s go back. We’re leaving,” Ji Changkong replied noncommittally, smiling as he tucked the Celestial Origin Orb into his palm. “Back to the Oro Sect. We shall await the esteemed arrival of Holy Mother Youlan.”