When Tang Xiaotang left, her spirits were clearly sowhat dazed.
Lei Jun watched her back and stroked his own chin, "Was this actually an even greater shock...? Looks like I’d better be careful to avoid this in the future."
Fortunately, Celestial Master Tang had an easygoing attitude and quickly stopped taking it to heart.
At present, Lei Jun only treated the rumors about the Pure Yin Woman of the Pure Yang Palace as idle gossip.
By comparison, he paid more attention to other news.
For example, reports continued to co in from the Southern Wilderness, detailing the latest developnts.
Although Wei Ancheng had escaped, the Blood River Sect had suffered disastrous losses overall.
In recent years, they had seed like a flock of scavenging vultures, drawn by the sll of blood, stirring up trouble both openly and covertly, and taking advantage of disasters wherever they could.
Their harvest was bountiful indeed; aside from Wei Ancheng himself, other Blood River cultivators had also reaped major gains.
Not only had Wei Ancheng finally taken the first step from the Eighth to the Ninth Heavenly Layer, but the overall strength of the Blood River Sect had advanced in kind.
But in this great war, which spread outward with Sleeping Dragon Lake at its center, the Blood River Lineage had suffered devastating losses—in terms of deaths and injuries, they had not only vomited back all their previous gains, but their overall strength had actually regressed compared to earlier years.
So many Blood River disciples, once hidden, had now resurfaced together; however mighty they had been before, now they were just as imperiled, beset and hunted down by all factions.
Since Tu Dong, Xiong Gang, and Lian Ran, many more Blood River Elders had been surrounded and killed, the casualties among key personnel almost impossible to count.
What particularly caught Lei Jun’s attention was news about another expert from the Blood River Sect.
Xing Feng, known as the foremost prodigy of the younger generation within the Blood River Sect.
His forr conduct was very different from the other sect mbers—he rarely initiated slaughter against mortals or provoked others without cause.
Yet even so, Xing Feng had risen to prominence in the Blood River Lineage, a testant to his prodigious talent and strength.
And he was known for being a loner, rarely mingling with the rest of Blood River’s people.
This ti, when things suddenly fell apart for the Blood River Sect, Xing Feng was only occasionally seen, helping just a handful of Blood River inheritors to escape.
But he was not seen aiding or rescuing the Blood River Sect Leader, Wei Ancheng.
Such conduct made onlookers privately speculate that the situation within the Blood River Sect must have beco rather delicate as well...
The Holy Master of Gepo Mountain, Sang Lu, had been heavily wounded in the battle at Sleeping Dragon Lake.
Li Tianqing had chosen to escort her back to the sacred land of Gepo Mountain.
The Divine Dance Lineage thereafter ceased to participate in the hunt against the Blood River Lineage.
Yuan Shanji, who had been expelled from the gates of Gepo Mountain, also escaped disaster thanks to this; not purged by the Divine Dance Lineage, but still wounded in the battle at Sleeping Dragon Lake, he then vanished, never reappearing thereafter.
The Samsara Abyss and Yintuo Mountain, led by top experts Feng Gui and Hu Hengyuan, had joined in the subsequent fighting.
Besides the Blood River Sect, Golden City Stronghold had also suffered severe losses—the sacred land, only recently rebuilt, was once again abandoned and destroyed, and disciples of the Ghost Tao Lineage were now scattered and hidden, concealing their traces.
Besides Gao Pu, rumors said that two other Seventh Heavenly Layer Elders of theirs had also perished.
To save himself, the Holy Master of Golden City Stronghold, Ghost King Zonghan, had even lost an exceptionally powerful Evil Soul.
This further diminished their threat to our sect...Lei Jun, on hearing the news about Golden City Stronghold, nodded quietly to himself.
Tracing the master lineages of Zonghan, Gao Pu, and the others upward, all had strained relations with the Celestial Master Mansion, so ever since Zonghan unified Golden City Stronghold, this Witchcraft Ghost Path sacred land had beco yet another enemy of the Celestial Master Mansion.
But previously, when Wei Ancheng, leading the Blood River, subjugated Golden City Stronghold, they had already lost backbone mbers like Cao Chu. Now, with the continued deaths of more key people like Gao Pu, Golden City Stronghold had also suffered severely damaged vitality.
Now, just like the Blood River in the Southern Wilderness, they had beco targets for everyone, and would have to focus on self-preservation for a long ti to co. The likelihood of heading north to cause more trouble for the Celestial Master Mansion had greatly diminished.
In fact, the people within Golden City Stronghold who’d originally been suppressed by Zonghan and Gao Pu might now be hatching new plans, possibly causing that previously united stronghold to fracture once more.
Wei Ancheng and the Blood River had suffered heavy losses, and the direct descendants of the Sui imperial line were having just as hard a ti.
It had always been tough for them to accumulate talent, and the Crown Prince of Sheng Kang, Yang Yuqi, had been nearly reduced to a commander without troops.
*In such circumstances, restoring the nation seed like a mirage; even if Yang Yuqi himself could persevere, how many of his old retainers and leftover followers still had the determination or faith to carry on?*
From this angle, the Tang imperial family had already achieved its initial goal this ti, even though they hadn’t managed to capture Wei Ancheng or Yang Yuqi.
After all, Empress Zhang Wantong and the other imperial experts hadn’t even gone south at all.
Of course, there had been losses as well.
Besides the previously fallen Shangguan Peng, the Great Tang Shenji Army lost another Seventh Heavenly Layer martial arts expert.
The rest of the wounded were also nurous.
There was no shortage of top experts like Grand General Shangguan Yunbo, who could hold the line on their own.
To preserve himself and the Expelling Invaders Halberd, and also to escort the incomplete Sui imperial seal back to the capital, he had no choice but to withdraw ahead of the main force and return north.
In the follow-up fighting, it was instead Xiao Xueting and Shen Qubing who made nas for themselves with new achievents.
Of course, for countless eyes watching, the biggest mystery of this whole Southern Wilderness war was always the sudden intervention of the White Lotus Sect’s Future Maitreya, targeting Wei Ancheng of the Blood River Sect.
This future sect master of the White Lotus rarely acted, but when she did, she showed no rcy—even bringing the sect’s holy Ninth Grade White Jade Lotus Platform along to the Southern Wilderness and deploying it in the clash with Wei Ancheng.
But she ca and went in haste. After Wei Ancheng escaped, the Future Maitreya also vanished, leaving only imnse confusion for the world.
As one of the few insiders, Master Lei of Dragon Tiger Mountain kept his contributions and reputation well hidden, maintaining a calm composure, as if he were rely listening to other people’s gossip.
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