Chapter 95 - 94: Stars Surrounding the Moon

Chapter 95: Chapter 94: Stars Surrounding the Moon

Just a moment ago, he had been mocking the Direct Disciples of the Demon Sect and the Dao Sect for being members of the Wenda Alliance.

And yet...

’So the Ghost Sect has been this thoroughly infiltrated? Besides me, the Sect Leader, everyone else is a spy for the Wenda Alliance?’

’What’s the meaning of this? Did they recruit everyone and leave me, the Sect Leader, alone just for their amusement?’

’If I’d known, I never would have opened this can of worms. Then I could have continued being the Sect Leader in peace...’

The Ghost Sect Leader’s throat was dry. "So, you’re all from the Wenda Alliance?"

"Fool. What Wenda Alliance? They all belong to me." Ninth Elder looked at the Sect Leader mockingly. Without any discernible movement, dozens of threads suddenly shot out from his back, flying toward the Ghost Sect Leader.

The Sect Leader raised a hand, sending out a ball of black qi to intercept the black threads.

But the dozens of black threads were completely unaffected, continuing toward his limbs, head, and the major acupoints all over his body.

’What is this stuff?’

The Sect Leader frowned. The moment the black threads reached him, he transformed into a streak of black light and shot toward the ceiling of the great hall.

’Live to fight another day.’

’Even if my body were made of iron, I couldn’t possibly defeat all the Ghost Sect Elders. It’s better to escape first and plan my next move.’

But just as he was about to smash through the roof, a sudden pain shot through his limbs, his meridians, and his Dantian.

Then, a tremendous force pulled him straight out of the streak of black light and slammed him to the ground.

The Ghost Sect Leader was furious. He reached out and snatched at the air, and the Dharma Artifact that had made him famous, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, was already in his hand. Suppressing the excruciating pain in his meridians, he snarled, "Jiu, since you’re so eager to die, I’ll grant you your wish."

"Hmph!" Ninth Elder snorted contemptuously and flicked the threads that extended from his back.

AH!

A miserable scream echoed.

The Ghost Sect Leader felt as if ten thousand ants were devouring his soul. All his meridians ached unbearably, and the Spiritual Power in his body ran rampant, completely beyond his control.

It wasn’t just his meridians; even his limbs, his body, and his facial features no longer seemed to belong to him.

To his horror, the Sect Leader discovered that at some unknown point, the threads from Ninth Elder had already pierced through his entire body—his palms, arms, eyelids, lips, tongue, and even his internal organs had all been threaded with nearly transparent strands.

The source of the threads was Ninth Elder himself...

These threads blocked the flow of Spiritual Qi in his meridians and controlled his body. The Ten Thousand Souls Banner was within reach, yet he couldn’t control it...

The Ghost Sect Leader asked in terror, "Jiu, what Dharma Artifact is this?"

"Puppet Silk."

Ninth Elder toyed with the threads, his gaze as gentle as if he were caressing a lover.

With every flick of his fingers, the Sect Leader let out involuntary, miserable screams.

Then, he was forced to his knees before Ninth Elder, unable to move. He couldn’t even close his eyes, as the threads held his eyelids open...

The surrounding Elders looked on, unable to bear the sight. Some turned their heads away, while others trembled...

Clearly, every one of them had suffered this same torture before.

"Sect Leader, do you understand now? There are no members of the Wenda Alliance here," Ninth Elder said with a faint smile. "The Ghost Sect has belonged to me for a long time... I only kept you around for fun! Now, I have a better toy, so I have no more use for you!"

The Ninth Elder before him was like a complete stranger. The Ghost Sect Leader struggled and begged, "Kill... kill me!"

"If I kill you, who will work for me?" Ninth Elder chuckled, walking past the Sect Leader. He went all the way to the Sect Leader’s throne, turned, and sat down with an imposing air, looking out at the crowd in the hall.

With a light wave of his hand, all the threads controlling the Sect Leader vanished.

The Ghost Sect Leader regained control of his body. He stood up, gasping for air, but didn’t dare to strike at Ninth Elder again. He could clearly feel that the threads were still attached to him.

’Puppet Silk?’

’The Sect Leader tried to break free of the threads piercing his body, but he couldn’t even feel a trace of them. If he couldn’t even sense them, he naturally had no way of removing them.’

’Am I destined to be Ninth Elder’s puppet for the rest of my life?’

’How can such a domineering Dharma Artifact exist in this world?’

Taking a deep breath, the Ghost Sect Leader prostrated himself on the floor and declared loudly, "I am willing to submit to the Sect Leader, to charge into battle for you, and I will not shrink from death."

"We are willing to submit to the Sect Leader, to charge into battle for you, and we will not shrink from death." The other Elders reacted quickly, all kneeling on the ground and paying their respects to the newly appointed Ninth Elder.

"All of you, rise," Ninth Elder said coolly. "Cangli."

’Sect Leader one moment, Cangli the next. I certainly adapted to my new role quickly,’ the former Ghost Sect Leader sighed inwardly. He stepped forward and said, "Your subordinate is here."

"Take ten Elders and investigate everything about the Wenda Alliance. Probe all of the Wenda Alliance Leader’s Divine Abilities and report back to me," Ninth Elder ordered. "Remember, do not leak any information about me..."

As he spoke, he flicked a finger, and a sharp pain shot through Cangli’s heart.

"I wouldn’t dare," Cangli said, terrified.

"Just gather information. Don’t kill him," Ninth Elder said. "I will handle that myself."

"Yes," Cangli replied with the utmost respect.

"The rest of you will follow me to the Demon Realm." Ninth Elder’s gaze swept over the remaining people. "I need some mounts..."

...

The imperial family had its own sponsored cultivators, but they still didn’t dare to refuse the Wenda Alliance’s demands—at least not openly.

After all, the Divinity Transformation Realm experts sent by the Wenda Alliance included people from the Dao Sect and the Demon Sect.

An entity capable of uniting two factions as incompatible as fire and water was not something Mortals could afford to provoke.

Besides, having the Wenda Alliance operate in the open was far better than them secretly pulling strings from the shadows.

If they reported the Wenda Alliance’s activities to the Dao Sect and the Demon Sect afterward, those two would naturally step in to resolve the problem.

And if they couldn’t resolve it? It wouldn’t matter. The imperial family had already followed the Wenda Alliance’s arrangements, so the Alliance couldn’t blame them...

...

The Wenda Alliance recruited only elites, the leaders of their fields, so membership was a symbol of honor.

As soon as the imperial edict was issued, it immediately triggered a positive response throughout society...

With Divinity Transformation Realm masters fanning the flames, the Wenda Alliance became a household name in just over ten days.

Li Ye’s Demon Qi rose with the Alliance’s growing influence, and the cooldown time for his watch dropped to just one minute. Meanwhile, his own cultivation was pushed to the Divinity Transformation Realm.

His cultivation speed of a thousand miles a day was the envy of everyone in the Wenda Alliance.

Xu Jingxing was now also in the Wenda Alliance’s ranks and no longer dared to call himself Li Ye’s master.

To have a genius who had gone from Foundation Establishment straight to Divinity Transformation in less than a month call him master—it felt like it would shorten his own lifespan.

Senior Brother and the other original eight founding members of the Wenda Alliance had cultivation levels that were too low, and technically, they weren’t qualified to follow Li Ye.

But Li Ye was one to remember old ties, so he still brought them along. He would stab them with his sword every now and then to help raise their cultivation levels, considering it a repayment of their kindness.

But that was as far as it went. Li Ye was ultimately just a passerby in this world and had little interest in building connections here.

However, Senior Brother and the others didn’t see it that way. They didn’t hold it against their junior brother for using and deceiving them. Instead, they saw him as an idol and a benefactor, silently cherishing his kindness in their hearts and hoping to one day repay his grace.

As for the fallen Ge Rui, no one cared about him anymore. He had been captured by the Demon Sect and had immediately sold out his junior brother, nearly costing him his life. Such a person didn’t deserve to be their brother; his death was nothing to be sorry about.

...

With a one-minute cooldown, even though the Demon Qi consumption was immense, Li Ye could now experiment with his watch’s abilities without restraint.

He had never dared to test the "one-second forward" ability in combat, but now, with many Protective Treasures at his disposal, he had finally been able to test it in multiple battles.

The results left him pleasantly surprised.

When he fast-forwarded one second, all attacks would also fast-forward along their original trajectories. It was like a movie suddenly lagging and then skipping to a later frame; everything that was supposed to happen still happened.

But Li Ye was amazed to find that within that fast-forwarded second, his body remained unharmed, even if he was in the epicenter of an attack.

In other words, it wasn’t that *his* time was fast-forwarded by a second.

Rather, his body had traveled to the world one second in the future, just as his body, Spiritual Power, and memories remained intact when he rewound time by one second.

’An invincible dodge! This is the ultimate Path of Defense!’

But that wasn’t the real surprise. The real surprise was that if he used Time Acceleration mid-attack, he would "clip" through the intervening distance and strike his opponent directly.

The distance covered depended on how far he could move in one second.

Unfortunately, this "blink-like" attack only worked for attacks originating from his own body. Projectiles made of Spiritual Qi didn’t count; even if he fast-forwarded time, a pre-launched burst of Spiritual Qi would continue along its original trajectory with no change to the outcome.

Even so, this was already ridiculously broken.

Li Ye’s Body Attributes had hit a cap when he was cultivating Inner Strength, then again at the peak of Foundation Establishment, again at the consummation of the Golden Core, and yet again at the consummation of the Nascent Soul. Now that he had advanced to the Divinity Transformation Realm, his Body Attributes had begun to increase dramatically once more.

His current physical strength was comparable to a full-power blow from a Divinity Transformation Realm expert. By infusing Spiritual Qi into his physical attacks, he could achieve double the damage, making his close-quarters combat far more destructive than his ranged attacks.

Right now, Li Ye’s situation was more like the Witch Race from the Primordial Chaos novels—born with Divine Abilities and immense strength.

Of course, the fact that he could use Spiritual Qi made him even more powerful than the Witches.

...

Rewinding time was his path to survival when on the brink of death.

Advancing time was his path to invincible evasion and ultimate assassination...

Of the three functions, time pause was the most useless. The day he could move while time was paused was the day this skill would truly become king.

...

"Stars Surrounding the Moon: When you are in a leadership position, you will automatically trigger and amplify the emotions of those around you, such as admiration, jealousy, hatred, and contempt. The specific emotion depends on their perception of you."

One day, Li Ye had just led his people in conquering a sect called the Flame Sect. While Qu Hao and the others were distributing wristwatches to the new recruits and explaining the watch’s ranking system, Li Ye unintentionally pulled up his sleeve, revealing his own watch.

A new Derived Skill inexplicably popped up.

When the Derived Skill appeared, Li Ye was stunned for a moment. ’So Derived Skills can be triggered outside of life-or-death situations!’

’But what’s the use of a skill like this?’

’It makes those who admire me admire me more, and those who hate me hate me more. And it only works when I’m in a leadership position. The conditions are too strict. It seems even more useless than Pulling People Down...’