Chapter Seventeen: The Supreme Purity Sect

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Cold mountains loom over the clouds as jade-like blossoms burst forth in defiance of the snow, their fragrance wafting on the wind.

“I’ve found it!” Ji Feichen exclaimed in delight, surveying the scene from the sky. Not far from the snow lotus, he spotted two divine spirit condors.

“These must be the so-called guardian beasts?” Ji Feichen gauged their strength and stepped forward to probe with an attack.

The two condors were not native to this place; they seemed to have come from afar and could not rely on the local terrain. They were no match for Ji Feichen. After a few exchanges, he drove them back, forcing them to circle warily outside the mountain.

Ji Feichen moved forward to pluck the snow lotus, when suddenly a sense of danger surged within him.

Without hesitation, he tossed a Jade Tide Pearl behind him. The green gem rose before him, radiating watery light as Ji Feichen swiftly retreated. From beneath the blossom, a streak of red light shot out, aiming straight for his chest. Thankfully, his barrier was already in place; the red light was blocked by the watery shield, falling to the ground and flicking out a forked tongue.

It was a spirit serpent, its scales marked with crimson patterns, eyes glinting with malice as it glared at Ji Feichen.

Ji Feichen’s expression darkened. With no time for subterfuge, he unleashed his power. His right arm transformed into a dragon’s claw, swiftly crushing the red light.

The glow dropped to the ground, writhed twice, then its life faded away.

“Hunting wild geese all year, and finally pecked by one. I never thought the day would come,” Ji Feichen realized. Clearly, someone had set a trap beneath the lotus, scheming against those seeking rare herbs. Even the spirit condors above might be raised by that person.

Annoyed and embarrassed, Ji Feichen recognized this trick as one he’d used himself in the Immortal Mansion—designed to ensnare greedy fools.

“Who would have thought I’d fall into such a trap?” he mused, reflecting as he gripped the Jade Tide Pearl, twelve rays of gleaming light forming a rippling water-patterned sword in his hand.

“Come out!” Ji Feichen thrust his sword beneath the lotus. One by one, venomous snakes slithered out, only to be slain by his blade.

The condors overhead sensed something amiss and dove downward. One opened its beak and spat a beam of dark light. Ji Feichen flicked his sleeve, conjuring twelve more rays of light into a watery shield before him.

“Excellent!” Ji Feichen braced himself behind the shield, but suddenly a sword’s ringing cry echoed through the air: “Fellow cultivator, allow me to assist you!”

Someone else? Ji Feichen’s heart jolted. At once, he reined in his strength, carefully hiding the sinister energy, letting only the green and golden lights of merit shine for all to see. He stepped back warily, transforming the twelve Jade Tide Pearls into a shield at his side.

A sword streaked across the sky, golden radiance clashing with the dark beam. After a few ringing collisions, the golden light flew into the hand of a young man who’d just arrived. He was dressed in crimson robes, wore a Nine-Cloud Crown of white jade inlaid with cloud patterns and talismans, and bore a silken gourd at his waist. The golden light transformed into the Danxia Jinxiao Sword in his grasp.

A disciple of the Celestial Order?

Ji Feichen took note, standing cautiously to the side.

The crimson robes were woven of sunset clouds, forming a protective garment. The Nine-Cloud Crown, adorned with talismans, was also a defensive treasure.

The young man bowed from afar. “I am Jing Xuan of the Supreme Purity Sect. These two abominations are raised by the Western Demon Cult, dedicated to harming those who gather herbs in the northern lands. Would you join forces with me, fellow cultivator?”

Ji Feichen remained alert, but nodded. He watched as Jing Xuan intercepted the male condor, while Ji Feichen carefully trapped the female, the twelve pearls spinning in tight orbits around her.

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Waves rose from the azure sea, clouds gathering thick and dense, entrapping the female condor without striking. Ji Feichen’s gaze kept drifting to Jing Xuan.

“Supreme Purity Sect… If I recall, they inherit the teachings of the Most High, practicing the ‘Supreme Purity Golden Palace Violet Yuan Profound Scripture’?”

That scripture, a celestial tome bestowed by the Most High, was the foundation of the Supreme Purity Sect, a symbol of their standing among the greatest sects of the Daoist world.

“In terms of power, the Supreme Purity Sect is no less than our Netherdark Sect. Their core teachings are equal to our own ‘Nether River Primordial Luo Celestial Canon.’”

Unfortunately, though the ten demon paths were formidable, they still had to bow before the authority of the Daoist sects. With three sacred lands and thirty-six major sects suppressing them, the demon paths could only dwell in remote corners, unable to set foot in the Central Plains.

Jing Xuan battled the spirit condor, which again unleashed its dark light. The young man laughed calmly as a surge of pure energy erupted from his crown, stirring the clouds and forming a giant lotus in the sky. Amidst the swirling haze, the jade lotus flickered with a hint of blue.

“The Supreme Purity Lotus Radiance Protection Spell?” Ji Feichen recognized the famed art of the Supreme Purity Sect. The Netherdark Sect had fought them many times and knew their methods well.

Like the Chongxu Dao, the Supreme Purity Sect traced its lineage to the Most High. However, unlike the Chongxu Daoists, who cultivated the ancient arts of qi, the Supreme Purity Sect truly refined pure celestial energy, forging the Supreme Purity Immortal Light. The protective lotus, formed from this light, was a manifestation of their attainment. Human immortals conjured a blue lotus; earth immortals, a violet-blue one. When the lotus turned pure violet, it could envelop the soul for ascension to the heavens. Jing Xuan’s lotus, now white tinged with blue, indicated he stood at the threshold of human immortality—on par with Ji Feichen.

The lotus radiated divine brilliance, rolling clouds of light that repelled the dark beam. Bathed in this glow, the beam revealed its true form—a spirit core the size of a bowl. Realizing it was ineffective, the condor withdrew its core and attacked with its claws.

“Boundless auspice and righteous might—truly a disciple of the Supreme Purity Sect,” Ji Feichen observed, growing more cautious lest his identity be discovered.

His eyes flickered with a plan.

Facing the other condor, Ji Feichen feigned ignorance and allowed it to approach. Jing Xuan, watching, cried out in alarm as the condor struck Ji Feichen’s chest.

Feigning surprise, Ji Feichen staggered back, then glared in fury. “Abomination, courting death!”

Without another word, he invoked a profound art. A divine dragon emerged above his crown—an avatar from the “Celestial Dragon Subtle Jade Radiance,” a transformation of the Supreme Elder himself.

The celestial dragon appeared, its roar resounding through the skies, black-and-white whiskers swirling and forming giant shears that slashed at the condor.

This was a technique Ji Feichen had just mastered, derived from the Yin-Yang Dragon Whisk Fan. The shears snapped shut with a crisp sound—the condor was severed in two, blood spraying across the snow, dead on the spot.

Jing Xuan, seeing this, drew his Danxia Jinxiao Sword, reciting an incantation. Nine rays of rosy light bound the other condor, and with a single stroke he grievously wounded it, then sealed it within his gourd.

Ji Feichen raised an eyebrow, noting the young man’s temperament. “Seems this fellow shuns needless killing.”

Unlike the demon sects, many Daoist orders imposed strict rules on their disciples, forbidding killing except when necessary, lest karmic entanglements endanger their lives.

As a member of the thirty-six great sects, the Supreme Purity Sect naturally enforced such discipline. Jing Xuan’s gourd, a secret treasure of their line, was used to seal away demons without unnecessary slaughter.

Jing Xuan descended, greeting Ji Feichen. Seeing the dragon soul recede, he smiled, “So you too are of the Most High’s lineage?”

The Most High’s teachings permeated the three thousand Daoist sects, but the dragon avatar Ji Feichen had displayed bore a distinct air of Supreme Nonaction, marking him as a true inheritor.

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“Just a wandering cultivator,” Ji Feichen replied, purposely acting thus to allay Jing Xuan’s suspicions. With an easy smile, he stepped forward in gratitude. “Thank you, brother, for your timely aid. Otherwise, I might have come to grief this day.”

“We of the Dao all share one root—no need for such formality, little brother,” Jing Xuan replied, wiping the blood from his blade. “While traveling the northern lands, I discovered demon cultists setting traps beneath medicinal herbs on various mountains, so I’ve been warning our fellow cultivators.”

He paused, then added, “But it seems you hardly needed my help—these two fiends were well within your power.”

Glancing at the corpses, Jing Xuan frowned, swept away the blood with a flick of his sleeve, and guided the spirit of the condor to the underworld. He mused inwardly, “He appears to be a wandering Daoist, unconstrained by strict discipline. But his arts are surely of the Most High’s line—the Yin-Yang Dragon Whisk Shears resemble our founder’s own fan.”

The Most High manifested in eighty-one forms, revered by all as their ancestor, but each sect interpreted his teachings differently.

Some worshiped the Lord of Morality, others the Patriarch of Nonaction, some venerated the Primordial Lord, others contemplated the Spirit of Supreme Purity, or visualized the Master of Yin and Yang…

In short, whether Yin-Yang or Nonaction, all were expressions of the Most High’s great Dao.

The Supreme Purity Sect’s “Supreme Purity Golden Palace Violet Yuan Profound Scripture” involved visualizing the Supreme Sage in the Golden Palace and refining the Supreme Purity Immortal Light. Ji Feichen’s dragon-form visualization of the Elder was of the same origin, though a different path.

The condors defeated, Ji Feichen stepped forward to gather the herb, while Jing Xuan sat cross-legged nearby, eyes closed in meditation, a silent sign he had no intention of vying for the treasure.

Relieved, Ji Feichen calmly plucked the celestial snow lotus linked to his fate. Suddenly, the sky darkened—a demonic radiance shrouded the heavens.

“Well, well, was it you two whelps who slew my spirit birds?” A massive demon figure stood in the shadow, body etched with infernal markings, bells and golden rings jangling from wrists and ankles—a foreign figure, his cultivation just a step below human immortality.

“The true master arrives,” Jing Xuan declared, drawing his sword and laughing skyward. “Even the Western Demon Cult dares threaten us Daoists!”

Ji Feichen quietly stowed the snow lotus in his cosmos bracelet. The storage devices used by Daoists and demon sect disciples differed greatly.

“Western Demon Cult or Supreme Purity Sect—which side do I help?” Ji Feichen strove to erase his presence, pondering his next move. Should he assist the Supreme Purity Sect, maintaining his guise as a wandering Daoist? Or should he join forces with his demonic kin and betray Jing Xuan?

His gaze dropped to his white robe, torn by the condor’s talons. “I’m disguised as a Daoist now; it wouldn’t do to greet the demon cultist as kin. Besides, the Western Demon Cult has little kinship with our Netherdark Sect.”

The ten demon paths all had different origins. The Holy Land of the demon path, the Boundless Blood Sea, descended from the demon patriarch. The Fourfold Demon Cult, once a single line in antiquity, worshiped four ancient demon gods but later split after being destroyed by the three Daoist sacred lands. The Black Saint Sect and Six-Armed Demon God Sect were offshoots from another demon god’s legacy. The Netherdark Sect and Heart Demon Sect were founded by their own patriarchs, one venerating the Nine Hells River, the other cultivating the Way of Heart Demons. The White Lotus Pure Sect, meanwhile, was a former Daoist sect that fell and was cast out.

In short, relations between the Netherdark Sect and the Fourfold Demon Cult were poor.

“This fellow set his spirit condors on me; who’s to say he won’t turn on me next?” Mind made up, Ji Feichen strode to Jing Xuan’s side. “Brother, let me assist you!” With that, he scattered twenty-four beams of light.

The Jade Tide Pearls shone with white brilliance, dispelling the demonic gloom. Jing Xuan followed up, sweeping the sky with his Danxia Sword, nine rays of rosy light rolling across the heavens as he leapt to meet the demon head-on.

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