He had slain numerous Evil Spirits.
He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but Li Chang’an faintly felt his power had improved by a fraction.
However, it was a critical moment.
There was no time for Li Chang’an to dwell on it.
Following the trail of footprints, they entered the third ridge. A dense fog surrounded them, and everything was deathly still, so quiet they could only hear each other breathe.
They had no idea how far they had walked.
The dense fog before Li Chang’an and Leng Yanran suddenly dissipated, and their vision cleared.
Composing themselves, they looked ahead and realized that at some point, they had arrived before a dim, dilapidated wooden door.
All the fog around the wooden door had vanished, revealing intricate, blood-red Array Patterns on the ground below. The Array Patterns were divided into four sections, and the first three all emitted a faint glow.
Only the last Array Pattern seemed to be inactive.
Leng Yanran wanted to get closer to inspect it.
But Li Chang’an stopped her. "This must be the gateway the Cultivators left in our world," he said. "The Cultivators have set up many traps here. It’s extremely dangerous!"
A dense web of Arrays spread out from the wooden door in all directions.
The three ridges they had just passed through likely corresponded to the first three sections of this grand Array.
Their strength was considerable, allowing them to break through the first three sections. Even the numerous Evil Spirits in the area couldn’t stop them.
But Li Chang’an could sense the danger surrounding the wooden door. The fourth Array Pattern had not yet been triggered, and it was probably the Cultivators’ true killing blow.
After being stopped, Leng Yanran came to her senses and didn’t dare move any further.
She asked, her tone somewhat uncertain, "What should we do now? If we can find a way to destroy this Array, can we stop the Cultivators from descending?"
Li Chang’an observed the edge of the Array for a moment before shaking his head. "I don’t think we can destroy this Array. Even if we could, I’m afraid it would alert the Cultivator World. We could end up trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it, attracting the Cultivators to our world ahead of schedule!"
Leng Yanran was at a loss. "Then what should we do?"
Li Chang’an thought for a moment before answering decisively, "For now, just finding its location is enough. We shouldn’t act rashly!"
"I suspect the Cultivators have opened more than one path. Are there other places on the continent similar to Soul-Breaking Mountain?!"
Leng Yanran looked a bit lost. "There probably are... I’ve never paid special attention to them before!"
Li Chang’an smiled. "No matter. We’ll go back, gather our people, and turn over every strange and unusual place in the world to find them all!"
Leng Yanran nodded.
She knew she wasn’t qualified to make decisions on this matter; all she could do was resolutely support Li Chang’an.
The two of them paced around the entrance to the great Array a few times, examining the effects and principles of the surrounding formations. Once they had a general understanding, they turned and left Soul-Breaking Mountain.
After returning to Li Yang, Li Chang’an quickly summoned the world’s Martial Artists to Kyoto. He then informed the great masters of the current Martial Arts World of everything he had discovered on Soul-Breaking Mountain, holding nothing back.
When they heard that Cultivators existed and were raising the Lower Realm as blood food, the entire Martial Arts World was shocked and, at first, unwilling to believe it.
But when Li Chang’an personally led them to Soul-Breaking Mountain to see the awe-inspiring, ancient gate with their own eyes, they were mostly convinced, no matter how much they wished it weren’t true.
Humans raising pigs and dogs as a food source is common, as they exist on different levels of the food chain. But for Cultivators to raise humans as livestock to be slaughtered at will...
...that was something the vast majority of people could never accept.
Therefore, after learning the truth, the entire Martial Arts World erupted. Everyone was filled with a mixture of rage and terror.
Their rage stemmed from the fact that the Cultivators clearly didn’t see the people of this world as human. Behind each slaughter lay mountains of corpses, seas of blood, and countless wronged souls.
Their terror also came from this same realization.
They couldn’t begin to fathom the terrifying power possessed by Cultivators who could treat an entire world as their personal livestock farm.
"For the Cultivators to treat our world as a pasture... this is going too far!"
"We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past! We must teach the Cultivators a harsh lesson and show them we are not pigs for the slaughter."
"We are powerful, not livestock to be butchered at will! If they want to treat us like animals, they’d better be prepared to pay the price!"
"Thank heavens Alliance Leader Li created the Martial Scripture and forged a new path for us Jianghu Martial Artists! Otherwise, with our previous Cultivation Methods, our only fate would have been to let them slaughter us!"
"Alliance Leader Li! Li Shenwa! You are the only hope for us Martial Artists now. Please, show us the way! How can we find even a glimmer of hope for survival?"
Once they collected themselves.
Most of the invited Jianghu People immediately voiced their anger and indignation.
Only a small minority of Jianghu People remained silent, their thoughts unreadable.
Li Chang’an’s gaze swept across the crowd, taking in everyone’s expression.
He gave a thumbs-up to the indignant Martial Artists and declared, "Since you all have the courage to fight those Cultivators to the death, I will naturally be the one to raise the banner!"
He paused, his gaze shifting to the silent group of Martial Artists. In a level voice, he said, "When I entered Soul-Breaking Mountain, I killed many Evil Spirits in the ridges. Those Evil Spirits were likely summoned by the Cultivators through some unknown means to guard the great Array."