I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Chapter 327 - 270: Unexpected, Part 2

As time passed.

The Sect Leader of the Celestial Water Sect, who had been on the defensive, had now shifted to the offense.

At this moment, Yun Hanshan felt the time was right. She couldn’t continue to deliberately entangle herself with the Celestial Water Sect’s Leader. If this stalemate dragged on, he might realize something was wrong, send another message to the Celestial Cloud Sect, and all her previous efforts would be for naught.

After carrying out a plan like this once, the enemy’s guard would be raised, making it difficult to execute a similar scheme in the future.

Therefore, she had to take this opportunity to feign an escape.

"Where do you think you’re going?"

A late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon was trying to escape, and Ke Huairen, the Sect Leader of the Celestial Water Sect, was not about to let this opportunity slip by.

Once the reinforcements from the Celestial Cloud Sect arrived, this late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon would certainly be dead.

’She ambushed me here; escaping won’t be so easy.’

"Seal!"

Ke Huairen deployed a barrier, directly blocking the late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon’s path.

To be honest, he felt a pang of regret deploying this barrier. It was expensive and a one-time-use item.

He had gone all out today to kill the late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon who had ambushed him. He hoped the Elder coming from the Celestial Cloud Sect would be strong enough to kill this Female Demon with his assistance.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon’s expression changed, her previous composure gone.

Ke Huairen’s spirits lifted at the sight. All he had to do now was focus on trapping this Female Demon and wait for the Elder from the Celestial Cloud Sect to arrive.

He had just been thinking this when something happened.

Just as he was thinking this, a light-red Long Sword flew out from nowhere. It sliced off the Female Demon’s wings and pierced straight through her heart.

The entire process was so fast that Ke Huairen didn’t even have time to react.

The Sect Leader of the Celestial Water Sect hadn’t reacted, but the late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon had.

At first, Yun Hanshan’s change in expression had been a pretense, meant to deceive the Sect Leader of the Celestial Water Sect.

But a moment later, her expression changed for real.

She had spotted a light-red Long Sword rapidly approaching her.

The light-red Long Sword was only a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, and its wielder was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Yun Hanshan had made this assessment the moment she noticed the sword.

’How could the reinforcement be a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner?’

’Where are the others?’

As these two questions arose, she instantly recalled the information their Sect Leader had given them.

The destruction of the Celestial Demon Sect’s vassal Foundation Establishment Influences had all been at the hands of a mysterious Spirit Refiner, and this mysterious Spirit Refiner only had a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation.

This piece of information had been relayed at the cost of the lives of every Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Vortex Cave.

There was also a well-known piece of intelligence: this Spirit Refiner possessed powerful concealment techniques.

’A Spirit Refiner who can’t be found, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation, even if he’s only controlling a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact...’

At that moment, Yun Hanshan’s only thought was to block the attack first and worry about the rest later.

But her defenses were like a thin sheet of paper against the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact Long Sword. As her consciousness rapidly faded, her only thought was to see the face of the Spirit Refiner who had killed her—to see just who this person was.

The ones most shocked by Yun Hanshan’s death were the two late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons who were still in hiding.

They never imagined that Yun Hanshan would die just like that.

She had seemed utterly powerless against that light-red Long Sword.

To die just like that... It was far too easy.

According to Yun Hanshan’s plan, the moment the reinforcements from the Celestial Cloud Sect arrived was supposed to be their cue to strike.

But judging by the current situation, they had better stay hidden and wait for the Spirit Refiner to leave.

"Elder Wei, what do we do now?"

"What else can we do? We’ll stay put for now."

After the sudden turn of events, the two fell silent for a moment before beginning to communicate covertly via voice transmission.

"We still haven’t seen the Spirit Refiner who attacked. Elder Wei, do you think this could be the mysterious Spirit Refiner?"

As the Sect Leader of a Foundation Establishment Influence vassalized to the Demon Spirit Sect, he was particularly concerned about this mysterious Spirit Refiner. If this person could annihilate the Vortex Cave, it meant they could also annihilate his sect.

The overall strength of his influence was not much different from that of the Vortex Cave.

And as for the strength of the Vortex Cave Master, he, also at late-stage Foundation Establishment, believed he might not have been his match.

"Sect Leader Huang, you are correct. The Spirit Refiner who appeared is indeed the mysterious Spirit Refiner."

Prompted by the question, Elder Wei of the Demon Spirit Sect became certain that the reinforcement was the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner was incredibly strong and skilled in concealment. Today, they had seen it with their own eyes.

"Let’s stay put. This mysterious Spirit Refiner has to show himself eventually."

"Yes. We’re about to obtain information that even the Celestial Demon Sect hasn’t managed to acquire."

At this moment, Elder Wei felt a surge of excitement. If they could gather more information on this mysterious Spirit Refiner, then Elder Yun Hanshan’s sacrifice would almost seem worthwhile.

As the two late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons concluded their voice transmission...

Ke Huairen, the Sect Leader of the Celestial Water Sect, followed the path of the retracting light-red Long Sword and saw the Celestial Cloud Sect Elder who had come to reinforce him.

"Elder Fang?"

When Ke Huairen saw Fang Yun, he was stunned.

He had been about to say how timely the Celestial Cloud Sect Elder’s arrival was, and how much faster the support had come than he had expected.

He had imagined he would have to keep the late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon trapped for some time before the Celestial Cloud Sect’s reinforcements could arrive.

But now, he had completely forgotten what he was going to say.

He was utterly surprised that the Celestial Cloud Sect Elder who came to his aid was actually Fang Yun, and even more so that Fang Yun was so powerful.

Elder Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect was very well-known among their vassal influences, mainly due to his talent for Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

He had personally gone to the Celestial Cloud Sect this time precisely to meet Fang Yun, hoping that Fang Yun could help the Celestial Water Sect refine a certain type of pill.

The Foundation Establishment Pill!

The upper echelons of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s vassal Foundation Establishment Influences all knew something about Fang Yun: his skill in Refining Foundation Establishment Pills was currently very high. As long as he wasn’t given exceptionally poor Spirit Medicine, he could guarantee at least one Middle Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

As a vassal influence of the Celestial Cloud Sect, besides receiving protection, they also enjoyed certain benefits in exchange for the resources they tributed annually.

Having Fang Yun prioritize them for Refining Foundation Establishment Pills was one of those current benefits.

As for Refining other pills, that depended on Fang Yun’s availability. Since he had pills to refine for the Celestial Cloud Sect itself, and he also practiced Artifact Refining in addition to Alchemy, Fang Yun basically had no spare time to refine other pills.

Unless one had an exceptionally good relationship with Fang Yun, in which case it might be a different story.

Therefore, the leaders of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s vassal Foundation Establishment Influences all wanted to get on good terms with Fang Yun, but they didn’t know where to start. It seemed they couldn’t offer anything he wanted, and anything they could offer, he could easily obtain on his own.

Just as Ke Huairen was about to say something...

He saw Fang Yun attack again.

After killing the late-stage Foundation Establishment Female Demon and retrieving his Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Demon-slaying Sword, Fang Yun had just revealed himself when he was forced back into a combat state.

This was an involuntary response.

’Malicious intent!’

Fang Yun quickly locked onto the source of the malice.

There were more late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons, and two of them at that.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Fang Yun struck again. This time, it wasn’t just the Demon-slaying Sword that flew out, but also the Earth Yellow Sword.

The Earth Yellow Sword, with its nine Spirit Patterns, was his most powerful offensive weapon.

As Fang Yun moved swiftly, the dark yellow and light-red Long Swords shot straight toward the two hidden late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons.

The two had no idea how they had been discovered.

At this very moment, two thoughts flashed through their minds.

The first thought was to run.

They had witnessed Yun Hanshan’s fate; she seemed to have no power to resist that light-red Long Sword at all.

The second thought was:

’The mysterious Spirit Refiner is actually Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect!’

This was something they had never, ever imagined.

They knew of Fang Yun, the Celestial Cloud Sect Elder with great Alchemy and Artifact Refining talent, but whose Spirit Root Talent was terrible.

With his Five Spirit Roots, his chances of reaching Core Formation were practically nil.