With three branch altars wiped out in quick succession, the entire Prime One Church was not just furious—they became highly alert.
That same day, Master Mingtan, the sect leader, dispatched Fusion experts from the Main Altar to each of the remaining one hundred and five branch altars, ensuring that every altar now had at least two Fusion guardians stationed.
They also joined forces with the local cultivation sects to hunt down Ian Song with full force.
To motivate the search, the Prime One Church offered an incredibly generous reward: anyone who could capture Ian Song—dead or alive—would receive a complete cultivation manual up to Tribulation stage, one hundred thousand top-grade spirit crystals, and a hundred high-grade pills.
Even Fusion experts found these terms irresistible, so cultivators across the Tang Dynasty sprang into action, searching everywhere for Ian Song.
As a result, Ian Song's name spread throughout every corner of the Tang Dynasty—everyone knew it, no one was unaware.
At the same time, the Prime One Church dispatched huge numbers of cultivators to scour the Tang Dynasty for any trace of Ian Song.
Ten days flashed by, but all the search parties came up empty—Ian Song seemed to have vanished into thin air. Even experts skilled in divination tried to calculate his whereabouts, but not a single one succeeded.
Three days later.
News arrived from Northern Heaven Province: yet another Prime One Church branch altar had been wiped out, and the two early Fusion guardians stationed there had been beheaded—their corpses thrown inside the ruined altar.
When this news broke, it shook the entire world, and the Prime One Church was furious.
At the same time, some sects that had been helping hunt Ian Song quietly withdrew. No matter how tempting the Prime One Church’s rewards were, that Ian Song was simply too ruthless—if he could wipe out branch altars guarded by top experts, he could easily destroy their sects too. Risking their entire sect for a bit of profit just wasn’t worth it.
As more sects pulled out of the hunt, Ian Song’s fearsome reputation spread rapidly across the Tang Dynasty. Someone coined the nickname ‘Little Demon Song,’ and soon everyone just naturally called him that.
Within three days, every sect across the Tang Dynasty sounded the retreat—they stopped hunting Ian Song altogether.
In response, the Prime One Church tripled the reward.
But still, not a single sect was willing to get involved.
In Great Wild Province, inside a bustling tavern in the state capital, Ian Song—disguised as a burly middle-aged man—was drinking alone.
The tavern was lively, and almost everyone was talking about him—Little Demon Song.
“Which branch altar do you think Little Demon Song will target next?” a curious Golden Core youth asked.
At his table sat five other young men and women. Judging by their clothes, they all seemed to belong to the same sect or faction.
One of them replied, “Little Demon Song first wiped out the branch altar in Dragon-God Province, then Taiyin Prefecture, then Battlefront Province and Northern Heaven Province. There’s no pattern at all—how could anyone guess his next target?”
Another chimed in, “Exactly. But I heard the Prime One Church has now reinforced all its branch altars, and each one has three Fusion experts guarding it. Little Demon Song probably won’t succeed so easily anymore—he might even lose his life!”
A young woman said, “Honestly, I kind of admire Little Demon Song. He managed to destroy four Prime One Church branch altars with just early Soul-Split cultivation!”
An older youth retorted, “That’s got to be a rumor. How could someone at early Soul-Split possibly destroy a Prime One Church branch altar? I bet Little Demon Song is at least Fusion stage, maybe even Tribulation!”
The woman sneered, “Nonsense. My uncle talked about it—Little Demon Song really is only early Soul-Split, but he’s incredibly smart, almost no one can match him. He’s a master of schemes. They say the Battlefront branch master, Terry Xie, was tricked to death by him—and Terry was mid-Fusion!”
“If that’s really true, then Little Demon Song is terrifying. He reached early Soul-Split before he’s even a hundred years old, and he can kill Fusion experts. If I had even a tenth of his ability, I’d be satisfied!” the youngest cultivator sighed.
“Give it a rest—even if you were a Fusion expert, you wouldn’t dare go head-to-head with the Prime One Church like Little Demon Song!” his senior teased.
Ian Song had heard this kind of talk so much lately that his ears were getting numb, so he didn’t pay it any mind.
But with the Prime One Church reinforcing every branch altar, it was getting harder and harder for him to strike. That frustrated him—and he was also shocked by the Church’s depth. With three Fusion guardians at each branch, there were now over three hundred Fusion experts just at the branch level.
How many Fusion experts were there in the Main Altar?
Besides that, there were Tribulation experts—and even more terrifying, the Prime One Church had actual Immortals stationed.
Sure, he’d destroyed four branch altars and given the Prime One Church plenty of trouble lately, but he hadn’t shaken their foundation. As long as they dealt with him, they could just send a few people to rebuild the altars.
So, how could he actually hurt the Prime One Church’s foundation?
Ian Song took a sip of wine and started analyzing things carefully. First, the Prime One Church had been established for many years and had deep roots. Second, it was the Tang Dynasty’s national church, holding the moral high ground—which let it recruit the best disciples.
Third, the Prime One Church enjoyed the same privileges as the Tang Dynasty itself—including the right to tax every sect in the realm. With that, the Church was never short on resources, and after a hundred thousand years of accumulation, it was swimming in wealth.
If the Prime One Church lost its status as the national church, it wouldn’t be allowed to recruit disciples anywhere in the Tang Dynasty. But unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty relies on the Church’s support, so there’s no way they’d strip its status—unless another power just as strong backed the dynasty.
So that path was blocked. The only option was to stop all the sects in the realm from paying taxes to the Prime One Church.
The Church might be deep-rooted, but it was so massive that if the tax revenue dried up, it would eventually run out of resources.
But how could he convince the top-tier sects and powers to stop paying taxes to the Prime One Church?
For a while, Ian Song racked his brains over it.
After thinking for a full half hour, a plan began to slowly take shape in Ian Song’s mind.
Great Wild Province had thirty-two commanderies, its territory far broader than Battlefront Province—and its resources were much richer too.
Within Great Wild Province, there were thirty-eight top-tier powers.
Each power had at least one Fusion expert in residence, and three sects even had two Fusion guardians.
By evening, fiery clouds painted half the sky red.
In Sky-Ruin Commandery, a burly middle-aged man strode up to the mountain gate of the Lesser Sun Sect—it was Ian Song.
“Senior, who are you? What brings you here?”
Since Ian Song hadn’t concealed his early Soul-Split aura, the Lesser Sun Sect disciples guarding the gate felt immense pressure and asked respectfully.
“I have business with your sect master—could you please inform him for me?” Ian said.
As he spoke, Ian Song tossed out four bags.
The four gatekeeping disciples grabbed the bags and looked inside—instantly delighted. Each bag held ten top-grade spirit crystals, so they hurried off to report.
Lesser Sun Sect sent an early Soul-Split elder to greet Ian Song. He introduced himself politely: “May I ask your name, friend? I am Chu Tianzhi, an inner elder of the Lesser Sun Sect.”
Ian Song smiled, then softly recited a passage of text.
Chu Tianzhi’s expression changed dramatically as he listened—the passage Ian recited was clearly from an extremely advanced cultivation manual.