Chapter 593: Divine Tactics Sect

“The secret passage didn’t change after all,” scoffed Black Water Taoist. It wasn’t easy to change the entry mechanism, and since the sect was already on the verge of closing down when he left, it made sense that no one bothered to change it.

That was where Black Water Taoist got his confidence from.

Right after stepping into the valley, the air immediately cleared up. The miasma was gone, revealing the paradise behind it.

This valley was filled with straw huts and farms, and it looked very much like a tiny village that one would find anywhere else.

However, the place was now covered in weeds. It seemed to have been deserted for god knows how long.

Black Water Taoist continued treading carefully.

He knew this place was dangerous because he had lived here for ten years. While the inhabitants of this village might appear to be ordinary people, they would be stronger than a first-rate expert in the outside world.

Black Water Taoist was being extra cautious. He remembered every detail of this place and knew the many restriction spells that guarded it. For example, the wooden bridge up ahead actually had a Leaf-Worm Blade Array. Oblivious folks who walked over it would be killed by invisible leaf-worm blades.

There were many similar traps around.

Black Water Taoist went around the place to investigate. After he was sure no humans were around, he breathed a sigh of relief before cackling madly.

“I had thought of coming here in a few more years to harvest the place but who knew that a strong enemy would appear out of nowhere. But that’s fine, I’ll just take away the treasures of this sect and then execute my revenge. After that, I will retrieve the gourd that rightly belongs to me,” said Black Water Taoist as he entered a tiny hall.

This place had been used to worship the sect’s ancestral figures so their portraits hung on the wall. Beneath the portraits were descriptions of their contributions.

With no one to tend to the place for centuries, the hall looked terrible. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. The portraits were still there but they had lost the luster from before.

“Hmph!” scoffed Black Water Taoist after looking up at these portraits.

“Divine Tactics Sect… So what if you used to have a glorious past? You still have no one to inherit the sect and let it fall to ruin.”

Having said that, Black Water Taoist pondered before going over to kneel on the ground. Then, he prostrated before the portraits of the grandmasters.

“I, Black Water, may have stolen a talisman and left, but I didn’t betray the sect. Strictly speaking, I am still a disciple of Divine Tactics Sect. Now that I’m the only seedling left, it is only right for me to succeed the sect’s inheritance. Please watch over me, Grandmasters.”

Having said that, Black Water Taoist prostrated a few more times before getting up.

The Divine Tactics Sect was renowned for its powerful formations.

This included the miasma surrounding the mountain valley, and the Leaf-Worm Blade Array. Even the sand formation which Black Water Taoist used to protect the Water God Cult came from the Divine Tactics Sect.

In the era of ancient immortals, it was said that the Divine Tactics Sect was considered a remarkable sect. However, just like the other sects, the Divine Tactics Sect went into decline over the years.

The sect had chosen to operate in this extraterritorial zone of Black Mountain and was founded by a team of quiet cultivators. As time passed, they either died from battles or of old age. Without new disciples to take over the helm, it wasn’t odd that they crumbled away.

Black Water Taoist might just be telling the truth when he said he was the sect’s only surviving successor.

Behind the hall was a unique structure. It couldn’t be seen from the outside and it was only accessible by undoing a unique array.

Back in the day, Black Water Taoist had cultivated under venerable Taoist Yue Hua. The latter had been good to Black Water Taoist, teaching him everything. It was the reason why Black Water Taoist knew many of the sect’s secrets.

It took a huge effort but Black Water Taoist finally undid the restrictions on the formation and opened the door.

Behind this door was the treasure vault of the Divine Tactics Sect.

Cultivation methods, formation plans, divine medicine, and magic treasures. This place had everything the sect had to offer.

Of course, even though he had opened the door, every item had a unique seal placed on them so Black Water Taoist could only take away a handful of them.

“Sh*t! They’re already dead so why keep so many of these things locked up? I don’t even know what those old bastards were thinking,” Black Water Taoist started cursing after his attempts to undo the seals on the treasures failed.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the rage and agony of a thief who finally entered a treasure vault but was unable to take away most of the treasures.

This was Black Water Taoist’s situation.

After trying for the longest time, he finally managed to undo the seal on one treasure.

It was a black metal glove with sharp fingers and a hunter’s blade on the back. The glove emitted corrosive dark energy and judging by its appearance, one could tell how malicious an item it was. But the viler it was, the more Black Water Taoist was fond of it.

“This must be an incredible magic treasure.” Black Water Taoist was excited. After undoing the seal with great effort, he was startled by a loud rumble that shook the sky.

“What’s going on?”

Like a startled bird, he backed away slowly. There, he stood patiently for a while. After a moment, when nothing happened, he relaxed slightly.

He went back to retrieve the metal glove. Feeling pleased, just as he was about to research its usage, the rumbling noise could be heard outside again.

The ground started shaking.

Black Water Taoist’s heart was thumping madly. He rushed outside to investigate the situation, only to be greeted by a silhouette standing at the valley’s entrance.

The silhouette was strikingly tall that even through the thick miasma, Black Water Taoist could see the shape of his build.

This frightened him.

After all, the Divine Tactics Sect was located in an extraterritorial zone surrounded by deadly miasma. No ordinary person, not even normal beasts, dared to come close. The only ones that could survive here were harrowing beasts and the disciples of the Divine Tactics Sect.

‘Could it be people from other sects?’ thought Black Water Taoist.

Although he had never seen people from other sects during his ten years here, Black Water Taoist once heard his master mention that their Divine Tactics Sect wasn’t the only sect that took ‘refuge’ here.

Black Water Taoist may have lived for five centuries but there were plenty of things he still did not know. One example would be the other sects hidden in the extraterritorial zone and what his master meant by ‘taking refuge’.

As he thought, Black Water Taoist kept staring at the human silhouette at the valley’s entrance.

Logically speaking, he could see what was outside, but that person standing outside couldn’t see this valley’s actual landscape due to the formation.

Suddenly, that human silhouette made a grabbing gesture before forcefully tearing the formation apart.

This scene was so frightening that Black Water Taoist started sweating buckets. Words could not describe the sense of dread he was currently feeling.

The miasma formation that protected this valley a thousand years ago was said to be laid down by a great expert. In Black Water Taoist’s opinion, no one should be able to break the formation with external force.

Today, the impossible happened before his eyes.

How could he possibly not be afraid?