Ancestor Mo Yexuan flew calmly through the majestic streets of the Celestial Mist Sect, carefully studying what a sect of this level was like and how it was organized.
And yes, there were streets in a sect, though not a great avenue connecting every place.
Most of them were just paths linking complexes of palaces or pavilions, without connecting to the others scattered across the mountain, since sects of this level tend to be extremely large, and even their weakest disciples can freely fly from one place to another without any real need for roads.
Of course, it still happened that some important elder would recruit weaker cultivators unable to fly but full of talent, especially children. In such cases, it was enough to assign some available disciple to help the little one move around the sect when necessary, and once he or she grew a bit older, that help would no longer be needed.
During his walk through that sect, although he still had time to observe the architecture and organization of the place, Aotian was mainly focused on the formations around him, dodging them like a cunning fish to avoid being detected.
It was not difficult for him, although it was somewhat troublesome. That was why it would be the first thing he would deal with.
His eyes turned into the distance, toward the peak of the sect's mountain beneath his feet, where the main hall of the place stood.
With a step forward, space seemed to distort, and he appeared directly there, in a place miles away from where he had been before.
The hall was opulent, with the predominant color being gold, representing not only wealth but also celestial fortune and power.
It was quite a standard color for important places like that.
But Mo Yexuan's eyes were not focused on the architecture this time. Instead, they swept across the environment, roughly judging where what he was looking for would be.
Soon, as if he had found something, his eyes lit up. With another step, he passed through several layers of restrictions and walls as if they were nothing, appearing inside a hermetic chamber hidden within the main hall, with a calm smile.
There, the number of formations and protections was tremendous, and there was not a single living soul in sight, as if they feared someone might disturb or perhaps negatively influence what was being kept there.
Floating in the center of the dark room was a ball of blue light, which pulsed slightly when it saw the intruder suddenly appear in the environment, as if it were alive. However, it did not seem alarmed; on the contrary, it radiated intense curiosity.
Of course, it was Aotian who allowed Mo Yexuan's figure to appear while simultaneously avoiding the formations, confusing the little guy.
'Formation spirit…'
He identified it with a simple glance and couldn't help but remember the little dragon girl he had seen before in the Mahayana mansion.
'Given the level of the formation in this place, it must have taken an extremely long time for this little guy to be gestated, and it will take an eternity for him to grow to the level of that little girl—if that ever happens.'
'But just the fact that a formation possesses a spirit would drive anyone mad with joy. When someone uses one of these as an intermediary to manipulate the formations of a small world, the power of the formations can increase by up to two times or more, and the ease of use also becomes several times greater. It's simply a natural boost for formations.'
'The problem is the difficulty of gestating one, in addition to the enormous amount of time required for them to be born and develop. And the more mature the spirit, the greater the strength the formation can demonstrate.'
'But it is also important to cultivate the spirit's personality, because if it wants to help, the formation will become more powerful, but if it doesn't want to, it will become weaker.'
He evaluated while Mo Yexuan's steps continued unhindered toward the cluster of light, which watched him curiously without understanding anything.
It was very young and its mind very fragile, not understanding anything about the world, even though it could see everything within the range of its formation. Thus, it did not even try to leave and remained still while Ancestor Mo's withered hand gently touched it.
As soon as he did so, a black energy emanated from that palm, infiltrating the cluster of blue light like sinister veins about to corrupt a pure being.
When that black energy completely enveloped it and reached its core, it suddenly receded like a tide, returning to Mo Yexuan's palm.
A malicious smile appeared on the old man's lips, and he affectionately gave the cluster of light two small pats, which still remained there without understanding anything.
What Aotian had done was simply take control of the entire formation for himself.
It must be known that when born, the formation spirit automatically becomes the core of the array. Thus, if you have it in your hands, it becomes much easier to take control of the situation.
But of course, easy only in relation to Aotian; others would have countless times more difficulty.
Normally no one does what he did, simply passing through all the formations as if strolling through a garden. If an enemy wishes to dismantle a formation, they must begin by corroding the outer area and slowly advance inward, something that usually takes decades, centuries, or even millennia to work, besides being susceptible to failures and all kinds of counterattacks during the process.
Having taken control, Aotian no longer needed to play hide-and-seek with the formations. Thus, he turned around and left the place far more relaxed.
With him hidden in the void and the formations no longer monitoring the slightest fluctuation that could reveal him, there was no longer anyone capable of stopping or finding Mo Yexuan, a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, within that Void Refinement sect.
The cluster of light remained there, confused by the man's sudden entrance and exit, before simply ignoring what had happened and looking back at the wall, while in reality it was excitedly observing various places and people of the sect, returning to its cycle of slowly learning and growing.
Aotian ignored the formation spirit, having no intention of harming a little boy who was essentially a newborn, even though he was certainly many times older than him.
His steps crossed great distances with each stride, and through his control of the formation, he quickly found the places of interest he intended to visit.
'Let's go to the treasure first…'
Decided, he passed through numerous formations, infiltrating an extremely restricted area of the sect without any guard seeing him.
Upon arriving and entering easily, he smiled when he saw a vast treasury that dazzled the eyes: countless storage rings, weapons, accessories, robes, pills, talismans, among many other things.
Curious, Aotian controlled Mo Yexuan to approach the largest pile of storage rings, which looked like a small hill tossed onto the ground as if it were nothing.
When he opened one of them, his eyes were dazzled.
'High-grade spirit stones!'
His gaze moved from the ring in his hand, filled with spirit stones, to the pile of rings at his feet, rising higher than his waist, and he swallowed hard.
'There must be trillions of high-grade spirit stones here… how absurd! And I thought I was rich before!'
Smiling happily, he began enthusiastically tossing the rings into his pocket space, which had no problem with the overlap of other objects that possessed internal space.
Pocket space was not something exclusive to Ancestor Bao Wuji, but something every Void Refinement cultivator could create. While an occupied storage ring could not be placed inside another, in pocket space they could be thrown in freely.
However, unlike the terrifyingly vast space of Ancestor Bao, the space of an ordinary cultivator—even that of Mo Yexuan—was not that large and could not hold many things.
Thus, in moments, that space became full, snapping Aotian out of his greed. Looking awkwardly at the enormous treasury around him and at the small hill of rings filled with stones—more than he could properly carry even if he only took the ones on top—he scratched his head.
Fortunately, he had already counted on this, since it was not the first time he had carried out a large-scale robbery.
And as soon as he thought about it, Bao Wuji himself—who had been sent earlier—had already arrived at the Celestial Mist Sect. He entered the place with ease, and shortly afterward the two ancestors met in that enormous treasury, looking at each other with malicious smiles.
'Time to take everything.'
…
"Sect Leader! Sect Leader!"
"Everything is gone! Everything is gone!"
"The treasury is empty! In the spiritual fields, even the soil was taken! The inheritance halls were stripped clean—every jade slip, even the broken ones. Not even the shelves were left! Even the sect leader's throne from the main hall was carried off! I suspect even some of the spiritual energy clouds in the sky were taken!"
A scream of anxiety and horror echoed relentlessly across the mountain peak, carrying toward the area behind the main hall, where the sect leader and other elders usually cultivated.
Normally, no elder or disciple would enter that place shouting. On the contrary, they would even shrink back and not dare make any sound in that sacred and intimidating environment.
But that was an extraordinary day, because the sect, at some point, had simply been cleaned from top to bottom, and even the elders' storage rings had been taken without anyone noticing.
It was simply the greatest daylight robbery recorded in the history of the cultivation world.
When the elder rushed in shouting in terror, a figure blocked his path.
It was the sect leader of the Celestial Mist Sect, a middle-aged man with gray hair and a dark aura.
"S-Sect Leader! S-S-Someone—"
The elder was startled and immediately halted his frantic flight, stopping anxiously and awkwardly before the leader, struggling to explain the situation while fearing he would have to bear the consequences for being the one delivering the message.
His leader was not known for being an easy person to deal with.
But before he could speak, the man raised his hand with a calm look, stopping the elder's explanation.
"I already know what you're going to say. Go back. The items are with me and the elders, and we'll return everything within a month. Make sure everyone is informed. Every single item will be returned once we've dealt with a specific problem that might concern us."
"For now, make everyone remain silent and do not share what happened here. This is an order. Those who do not comply will be sentenced directly to death. And you must not disturb me or the ancestors during this month."
The sect leader spoke in a heavy and assertive tone, causing the elder to calm down greatly, with ninety percent of his worry disappearing and a wave of relief washing over him.
When the elder nodded solemnly and wanted to ask more about what was happening, the leader simply disappeared from in front of him, with no intention of explaining anything, leaving him awkwardly standing there. Thus, he could only turn around and go back to deliver the message and calm everyone down.
The leader, meanwhile, returned to his cave. But at his feet, a lifeless body exactly identical to him lay on the ground, without a single drop of blood spilled.
"Everything has been taken, and with the news kept secret for a month, we will be able to calmly rob the other ill-intentioned Void Refinement sects that we have been mapping over the past year."
Looking toward the corner of the cave, where an old man stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, he spoke as his body shifted back to his true form—a grim old man.
Yes, that was Mo Yexuan, using his Perfect Acting ability.
As for the real sect leader of the Celestial Mist Sect, he had already been interrogated and killed.
Having confirmed that he had sent millions of people to die in the Shadow Domain without a second thought, just to profit from the ancestral families of the Central Continent, Aotian no longer hesitated to deal with him.
After brutally reading his mind until his soul shattered and he died, Aotian discovered that the ancestors of that sect were no better. Thus, he dealt with them the same way.
As for being cruel to those people, Aotian did not think much about it. They certainly did not hesitate to act that way—or worse—toward others, and he had absolute certainty of that, since he had read their minds.
Furthermore, breaking their souls did not truly prevent them from reincarnating. It was merely a way of killing someone. To truly eradicate a soul and prevent reincarnation, Aotian judged that perhaps he would only be able to accomplish such a feat after reaching immortality.
Looking at the bodies lying in the cave, he did not want to waste resources, and at that moment he controlled Ancestor Mo to extend his shadow and convert the corpses into shadow soldiers before storing them in his shadow realm.
With everything settled there, it was time to leave.
Smiling with amusement, Bao Wuji pushed himself off the wall and walked until he stood beside Mo Yexuan.
"Alright, let's go. It's time for our legend as master thieves to spread across the central continent as well. What nickname do you think we'll get this time?"
With his playful question, the figures of the two flickered, and they disappeared from the place.