Becoming evil makes you ten times stronger, but becoming a demon gives you hundredfold strength

Cao Defang had ascended to the Ascension List a day and a night ago. Eternal Night Palace had gone through various discussions and finally made up its mind. Master Jin, one of the guardians of Sleepless City and the most adamant about taking action against Cao Defang, cautiously observed Cao Defang's cave mansion, preparing for scenarios including the appearance of Hua Miaochai and others, even including a group of a dozen or so Golden Core cultivators—the thought wasn't that he lacked imagination, but who would hoard a few hundred Golden Core cultivators in a single cave mansion instead of going after Nascent Souls or even Divinity Transformations? Five Golden Core cultivators, in cooperation with thousands of disciples, could contest a Nascent Soul. Ten Golden Core cultivators could challenge a Nascent Soul, and several hundred Golden Core cultivators... with such combat power, you could be king and dominate, so why waste it like that? Of course, a more likely scenario was that Cao Defang was not Meng Yu, and there was only one Golden Core cultivator inside the cave mansion. Regarding the conflict with Meng Yu, the Eternal Night Palace had long come to regret their decision bitterly; all of it had been an unwarranted disaster. The other side had been reasonable and moderate, while they themselves were oppressively aggressive. The demands were very simple, just the lives of a few involved parties. However, the Eternal Night Palace, for the sake of face, refused and subsequently lost so many Golden Core cultivators as well as a vast Cultivator Legion. It's somewhat amusing to mention, but now, the mainstream opinion in Eternal Night Palace was that Cao Defang was not Meng Yu. Some time ago, Meng Yu had used the Void Shifting to return to the Moon-Watching Sect and had a reunion with Hu Qingquan, Bu Shixian, and others, happily relaxing for several days. During those days, he made no attempt to hide his whereabouts, on the contrary, he summoned people from all levels of the Moon-Watching Sect for meetings, announcing, "I took a trip to the northwest and fought with the Eternal Night Palace, they're tough as bones, almost shattered my teeth, but luckily, I'm not one to be trifiled with, I killed a bunch of them." As the foremost power in Western Wastes, other sects naturally had various permanent envoys. Hearing that the Sect Master had returned, they came over one by one, flatteringly. Everyone listened to Meng Yu boasting about the perilous battles and various spoils of war, extremely shocked and admiring of him. Meng Yu happily drank with everyone and even demonstrated the Four Great Void for others to see, showing them how powerful his combat ability had become. He also sparred with experts from other sects, showing everyone what it means for Foundation Establishment to triumph over Golden Core! After the solid bouts, the Golden Core Masters from other sects acknowledged that Meng Yu's swordsmanship was divine and profoundly insightful. Unbeknownst to Meng Yu, the Eternal Night Palace had always harbored ambitions for the Western Wastes, wanting to interfere in its affairs, and had enough spies that, even before the Ascension List event began, when a Nascent Soul from Eternal Night Palace received an invitation, a Golden Core Master was sent to the Western Wastes to change identity and gather information, facilitating the quickest relay of news. This was also one of the reasons why the Eternal Night Palace acted upon learning that Meng Yu appeared in Sleepless City. A Golden Core Master in the Western Wastes closely observed Meng Yu's performance, and while playing with the spoils of war that Meng Yu presented, recognized at a glance an item that belonged to a disciple! The news was quickly and details transmitted through the Ascension List. Meng Yu was confirmed to have returned to the Western Wastes! Then, unexpectedly to all, Meng Yu was in Sleepless City in the morning, and by afternoon he had used Void Shifting to return to Sleepless City, strolling around the city, even including having a face-to-face encounter with a certain Golden Core Master, confirming his identity to the other party. The more intricate arrangement in between was that after Meng Yu left the Moon-Watching Sect, they arranged a fake Meng Yu to continue operating, and when Meng Yu was not in Sleepless City, a skilled illusionist Golden Core cultivator, disguised as Cao Defang, moved about. The key strategy was a seamless connection! The key strategy was that Four Great Void could not possibly be imitated by anyone. Afterward, when the Eternal Night Palace conducted their review, they were surprised to find that Meng Yu and Cao Defang shouldn't be the same person! Hence, many in the Eternal Night Palace believed it was just a coincidence, but Master Jin and his group were insistent on taking down Cao Defang! They didn't care about the death of a few disciples, but everyone had seen the prowess of the Blood Transmutation Divine Saber, especially such an orthodox cultivation technique with no side effects; capturing it would become the foundation of the Eternal Night Palace! So, even if he wasn't Meng Yu, they were determined to label him as Meng Yu and then capture him! Poor Cao Defang had no idea that the number of Golden Core cultivators in Sleepless City was not five or ten, but twenty-seven (when the second Nascent Soul from the Eternal Night Palace came over, he brought a substantial number of Golden Core cultivators)! In light of this, the Eternal Night Palace had invested a massive effort, preparing to deal with all sorts of dangers, any contingency in the city could be suppressed, plus the close and vassal Golden Core cultivators, thirty-eight people in total, capable of facing any challenge! Nascent Souls were assertive outside, and inside there were enough Golden Core cultivators, the advantage was ours! ... Sleepless City. A Golden Core cultivator from the Red Water Sect boredly sat in the cave mansion, overseeing the Array. Sleepless City's City-Protecting Great Array, named Black Sun Hexagram, where each of the six points represented strength and support. On normal days, each Eye of Array was garrisoned by three Foundation Building cultivators, capable of withstanding even a Golden Core assault. The Formation was profoundly mysterious, capable of a variety of techniques, while also having a short-range Teleportation Array connecting six key points, always ready for reinforcement. At the same time, the defense strength had been maximized; now each Eye of Array was overseen by a Golden Core Master, along with six Foundation Building cultivators, this force, combined with the Array, could even hold against ten times the enemy forces.