"Master, does this mean our Wind and Snow Sect was once a great and reputable sect?" Bao Wuxin interjected, his curiosity piqued.
"Hahaha, Wuxin, you're overthinking it. The Wind and Snow Sect is no great and reputable sect. It is a small sect founded by our ancestor three thousand years ago, exactly as you've read in the sect's general records."
Ding Yushan's Master waved his hand, then his expression turned serious as he returned to the previous topic.
"As I was saying, the seal at the Devil's Cliff Crevice has loosened. My old friend told me it has become particularly severe in the last two years, to the point where even Nascent Soul cultivators from the Four Great Sects have gone to investigate."
His words made Ding Yushan and his junior brother's mouths fall open. In their minds, Nascent Soul cultivators were already terrestrial immortals, capable of traversing heaven and earth, omnipotent beings who were as elusive as dragons.
It was no exaggeration to call them divine figures. Even their own Master had never seen one in person.
But what they didn't know was that their Master had withheld another piece of information he had obtained: the situation at the Devil's Cliff Crevice might have even alarmed the Spirit Transformation Ancestors.
But he didn't dare speak of it. He didn't even dare to mention the words "Spirit Transformation." The divine arts of these heaven-defying seniors were not for him to speculate upon. Powerful cultivators abhorred people gossiping about them behind their backs.
If things went wrong, it wouldn't just be a small sect like the Wind and Snow Sect; even a first-rate sect could be reduced to ashes at the flick of their fingers.
Seeing the stunned expressions on his two disciples, their Master waved his hand.
"Alright, it is enough for you to know of this matter. You must take it to your graves. If it weren't to explain the severity of this situation, I shouldn't have told you any of this."
"The next matter concerns us directly. The recent disappearances of some sects are related to these Demonic Creatures."
"My old friend is not very clear on the specifics. Perhaps some of those vanished sects were long ago taken over by Demonic Creatures after Body Seizure."
"Others might have been directly annihilated by these Demonic Creatures."
"The last possibility is that these sects may have been coerced or lured into becoming their vassals. However, these are all just speculations, but they are the three most likely scenarios."
"The reason this situation didn't occur before was that the Devil's Cliff Crevice was relatively stable. Now, a major problem may have arisen. A catastrophe is coming to this world."
After saying this, Ding Yushan's Master let out a long sigh.
"You two are the most promising among all the disciples, but you may not have much time left to grow."
"Therefore, I plan to use the full strength of the sect to send you both to the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, hoping you can find your own opportunities."
"If a great change comes to the cultivation world in the future, you will have more power to protect yourselves. My Wind and Snow Sect has few members to begin with. We must preserve as much of our bloodline as we can."
"After all, our foundation is too shallow. Compared to the great sects and even the old second-rate sects, our heritage is far too inferior, and our defensive measures are too thin."
After listening, Ding Yushan and Bao Wuxin were momentarily unable to process the news. Their Master's words struck their hearts like heavy hammers, leaving them feeling oppressed and frightened.
What they had heard today was too incredible. If the person before them wasn't their Master, they would have thought he had gone mad and was spouting nonsense. They simply wouldn't have believed it.
Things like "Demonic Creatures," "war between two realms," and entire sects being possessed or controlled by demons were all too distant and absurd, merely dust from history recorded in ancient texts. To think they had suddenly arrived at their doorstep left the two feeling as if they were lost in a fog.
Seeing the two of them staring blankly, Ding Yushan's Master knew they couldn't accept so much information at once. He waved his hand, seemingly exhausted, and said, "You two may go back for now. Rest well, and remember, do not speak of this to anyone else. Remember this, remember this! Otherwise, I will kill you with my own hands first."
He repeated "remember this" several times, his voice growing stern and severe by the end. Spreading this matter would cause great chaos. If the Four Great Sects found out, his Wind and Snow Sect could be branded as the source of the rumor, and it would also implicate his friend.
Ding Yushan and his brother were struck as if by lightning, their hearts filled with terror. They had never seen their Master so severe, even seeing the undisguised killing intent in his eyes as he stared straight at them.
This made them understand the gravity of the situation. They quickly prostrated themselves on the ground, repeatedly acknowledging his command, and then retreated in a state of terror and disbelief.
Long after they had left, the hall remained deathly still, illuminated only by the soft light of the night-luminescent pearls on the ceiling.
Finally, the oriole-like voice of Ding Yushan's Martial Mother broke the silence. "You truly had killing intent just now!"
She could feel the murderous aura emanating from her husband. If those two disciples had shown even a hint of hesitation or doubt, her husband would have killed them directly upon discovering it.
"This matter concerns the future of our sect. One misstep, and the entire sect could be doomed. If this matter starts with me, how could I face our Ancestor and my Master in the netherworld?"
"Similarly, if I didn't tell them, it's uncertain if there will be time to do so in the future. You and I must both be prepared to go to the Devil's Cliff Crevice or carry out other missions at any time. Perhaps this time, we really can't escape it."
Looking at her husband's worried face, Ding Yushan's Martial Mother gently reached out her slender jade hand and slowly clasped his.
"In the end, you do care for them. Yushan knows that disaster comes from a loose tongue. This decision can be considered the biggest one we have made for the Wind and Snow Sect. In the future, wherever you go, I will go, whether it's to the heavens... or to the earth..."
More than half a year later, when Ding Yushan and Bao Wuxin returned to the sect in high spirits, they were eager to tell their Master and Martial Mother about the benefits they had gained in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.
During their training in the pagoda, the two had reaped great rewards, but they had also narrowly escaped death nine times.
Ding Yushan had failed to break through in the palace beneath the Red Maple Pool. He parted ways with Bao Wuxin, who remained in the palace to continue his training.
Ding Yushan, however, went to another perilous land on the second level, the "Marshwood Sea." There, he finally broke through to the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, but he almost lost his life in the process. In the end, he relied on an "Ice Heart Talisman," which his Master had condensed for him at the cost of his own Essence Blood, to escape with his life.
Bao Wuxin, through constant battles, also saw his cultivation advance daily. Although he didn't break through, his cultivation in the late stage of Foundation Establishment became more stable. He only needed another two years of secluded cultivation to smoothly break through to the Great Perfection stage.
Furthermore, while fighting and treasure hunting inside the pagoda, he had actually managed to obtain a fragmented ancient Immortal Art manual. On it was a single Immortal Art of immense power.
The power of this Immortal Art would grow with his realm, enough to support Bao Wuxin's needs until the mid-stage Golden Core without worry.
But in fighting for this art, he had lost an arm. He too relied on a life-saving "Ice Heart Talisman" given by his Master to finally walk out of the palace beneath the Red Maple Pool.
These two "Ice Heart Talismans" were the most their Master could possibly give, exhausting all his resources.
When the two met up using their pre-arranged contact method and returned to the sect, a bucket of cold water was poured over their heads.
Their Third Junior Sister was temporarily in charge of the sect's affairs. She handed Ding Yushan a Jade Slip. After reading it, Ding Yushan's heart turned ice-cold.
The Jade Slip was left by his Master and Martial Mother. The seal on it could only be opened by someone with a cultivation at or above the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. It was clear his Master had been certain that Ding Yushan would succeed in his advancement.
Otherwise, Ding Yushan might have remained in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda forever, and the future of the Wind and Snow Sect would have been left to fate.
The Jade Slip informed Ding Yushan that they had received an order from the Jingtu Sect and would soon depart on a mission of indeterminate length and unknown duration.
If Ding Yushan was able to read this Jade Slip, he was to take over authority from his Third Junior Sister and assume full command of the Wind and Snow Sect.
It also reiterated that he must not mention what they had spoken of previously to anyone, not even the whereabouts of his Master and Martial Mother to the other disciples.
After reading it, Ding Yushan could only silently accept this reality. In the end, he didn't even tell Bao Wuxin where their Master and Martial Mother had gone.
Ding Yushan only told him that the Jade Slip contained his Master's repeated warnings about the matter they had discussed before, and that he must not speak carelessly.
Bao Wuxin, though suspicious, did not dare ask to see the Jade Slip.
From then on, the disciples of the Wind and Snow Sect all thought their Sect Master and his wife had gone on a journey. Since Ding Yushan had always handled the sect's trivial matters, no one felt anything was out of the ordinary.
Ding Yushan thought things would pass just like that. Besides worrying about his Master and Martial Mother, all he needed to do was carry out the tasks his Master had arranged. But just three months later, they too received a conscription order from the Jingtu Sect.
It ordered all Foundation Establishment cultivators from the sects that received the order to report to a designated first-rate sect and await dispatch. Third-rate sects had to send at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator, while second-rate sects had to send three.
For second and third-rate sects, this was already mobilizing their core or even top-tier strength. A third-rate sect often had only two or three Foundation Establishment cultivators at most. Sending one was already damaging their foundation, but an order from a superior sect was something no one dared to disobey.
Ding Yushan held the conscription order, speechless for a long time. Finally, he could only let out a long sigh. He had a premonition that the matter his Master spoke of was worsening; they were now starting to conscript Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But how could he dare defy the order? After some thought, he left Bao Wuxin behind to manage the sect's affairs. Although Bao Wuxin lacked management skills, he was the person with the highest cultivation in the Wind and Snow Sect besides himself.
His own trip was of uncertain fortune, so Bao Wuxin had to stay. Thus, he took two other junior disciples and went to the first-rate sect, Lingtian Gate.
By the time Ding Yushan arrived, more than three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators from other sects like them had already gathered. And this was just one gathering point at a first-rate sect, which showed the vastness of the territory under the Jingtu Sect's jurisdiction.
Lingtian Gate itself had dispatched fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators, and five Golden Core elders were each in charge of seventy to eighty Foundation Establishment cultivators.
These Foundation Establishment cultivators were then divided into several small groups. Ding Yushan's ten-person group was composed of members from three different sects.