Ye Anping stood in the center of the formation platform with the bloodied sword in his hand, looking at Gong Yimo who was gradually being blown away by the wind, with a somewhat dull gaze.
—"Aren't you dead?!"
Gong Yimo's words before his death echoed in his mind.
In the eyes of the Exiled Immortal, had he already died a long time ago?
Although the Exiled Immortals were immortals who had been demoted to the mortal world, they were still true immortals after all. They were cultivators who had practiced for tens of millions of years and relied on themselves to break the tribulations and ascend back to the immortal world.
Although they forgot the past when they were imprisoned in the flesh, they could return to the immortal body for a short time before reincarnation at the moment of death, and see their past life with the consciousness of an immortal.
This was also a trait of immortality.
He could understand that Si Xuanji's star-reading could not predict his fate. After all, Xuanji was only half-immortal, and predicting the future was a power that ordinary people did not possess.
Therefore, Xuanji named him "Reverse Star" as a reference to someone who could not be accounted for.
But a true immortal was omniscient and omnipotent, just like the "NPC" in a game for the player sitting in front of the computer. It was equivalent to an immortal in this world and could change everything in the game without restraint.
If even a true immortal questioned his existence, what was his meaning in this world?
Could it be that this world was just an advanced version of the game with a slightly higher degree of freedom?
His Sister, Xiao Yunluo, Feng Yu Die, Yun Yiyi... Were they just a bunch of insignificant data in the game...
"Hiss——"
Suddenly, a strong stinging sensation spread from his shoulder to the bone marrow before entering his consciousness.
Ye Anping looked sideways and saw that the wound on his shoulder that was scratched by the Erosion Demon had already overflowed with black pus, which seemed to be the demonic energy entering his body.
This stinging pain also pulled him back from his queries about this world; at least the pain was real.
If this wound happened to an ordinary immortal cultivator, it would be beyond recovery.
Ye Anping knew this, but he was not panicked at all. After all...
He would find Yu Die and bite her hard later...
No.
Ye Anping quickly corrected his thoughts. It should be that with Yu Die by his side, this injury was not a big deal.
But this Erosion Demon Sword...
Ye Anping glanced sideways at the Erosion Demon that had fallen to the ground and had lost its edge at this moment. There was a little helplessness in his eyes. A cultivator who had devoted his whole life to destroying demonic cultivators, in the end, became a demon himself because of killing demonic cultivators.
Woo-woo--!
At this time, a shrill sound like a baby crying spread from the sky.
Because of Gong Yimo's death, the Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation lost its main knot. The huge snake pupil condensed by the earthly vein demonic energy drawn by the formation began to melt and gradually turned into a rotten blood-colored grape, smearing the sky with blood.
At the same time, a golden sword arrived from the main gate in the south of the city and stabbed directly into the Snake Eye.
Swish——
The sword stabbed directly into the pupil, making the baby-like wail even more piercing.
Bright red blood gushed out like a column.
Ye Anping thought that Yun Tianchong from outside the city should have noticed what happened here, so he threw a sword, taking the opportunity to try to break the Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation.
Now that the main formation knot was gone, this sword could indeed break the formation of Heavenly Sorrow City in a moment.
But...
Let's make the best use of it.
Although the Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation required twelve Nascent Soul cultivators or above to hold the formation together, the other eleven people should not have known that Gong Yimo was dead.
In other words, if he replaced Gong Yimo, the main formation knot, the remaining eleven Nascent Soul Elders would still maintain the formation.
Ye Anping took a deep breath, put away the sword, and sat cross-legged on the ashes of Gong Yimo that had not been completely blown away. He made a hand seal and said, "Xue'e, help me."
"Ah..."
Hearing Ye Anping's call, Xue'e came back to her senses from the conversation between him and Shen Xin just now. She glanced at Gu Mingxin, whose eyes were bubbling with love, thinking that Ye Anping was too cool. She simply ignored her and ran to Ye Anping's side.
"Ye Anping, are you going to use this formation?"
"Give someone a taste of his own medicine, isn't it good?"
Xue'e nodded, and she quickly took out the Heavenly Demonic Scroll from her skirt, opened the page that recorded the "Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation", and used herself as a bookshelf to place the book in front of Ye Anping. "Mingxin, stop staring like a fool! Come and help! Send your demonic energy into this formation platform."
"Coming~~"
… …
Meanwhile, outside the Heavenly Sorrow City trench.
Two of the Sword Sect's immortal ships lined up in the sky had already caught fire under the siege of many demonic cultivators.
The Sword Sect disciples around the immortal boats were either flying in the air or riding their flying swords and fighting with the demonic cultivators brought by Gong Yue in the sky and on the wasteland. There were exploding flames, ice shards from spells, and cries of swords colliding everywhere.
In a sandstone quarry about twenty miles away from the battlefield, Yun Yiyi covered her golden hair with a bamboo hat and used her Long-Distance Vision technique to watch the battle in the sky with a deep frown.
Before she came, she knew that even if the Sword Sect attacked with all its strength, it wouldn't be able to break through the gates of Heavenly Sorrow City.
However, she originally thought that the gates and the Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation should be the ones that blocked the Moon Shadow Sword Sect from entering the city.
But what she saw was that Gong Yue, with twelve Nascent Soul cultivators and nearly a thousand Core Formation-stage demonic cultivators, had completely stopped the Sword Sect.
Because of their cultivation experience, most demonic cultivators were raised crawling through flesh and blood. But in the Sword Sect, other than the Elders and a few disciples who had fought demonic cultivators, most of the fiercest battles they had experienced were hunting demonic beasts in the Southern Region or sparring with fellow disciples.
Their experiences were very different.
Even if the cultivation level was similar, it basically took two immortal disciples to barely manage to kill a demonic cultivator.
Yun Yiyi watched one Sword Sect disciple after another being shot down, and she gripped her sleeves, knowing that if this continued, the Moon Shadow Sword Sect would be completely destroyed.
Elder Tianxing, who was on her side, was also in a dilemma at this moment. He was arranged by Yun Tianchong to protect Yun Yiyi and bring her to Seven Star Pass safely. He didn't want to let Yun Yiyi too close to such a place.
Seeing the situation, he had to speak up. "Miss, please follow me and retreat to Seven Star Pass. It is not advisable to stay here for a long time..."
"It's okay."
"Miss, don't be stubborn... The Sword Sect suffered this disaster. If you have any mishaps, the Sword Sect will be annihilated. Only relying on the Third Lady..."
"I said it's okay." Yun Yiyi retorted with a frown while clutching her collar. "Anping is in the city. He must have a plan."
Elder Tianxing was a little surprised, and he asked, "Young Master Ye... is in the city? Why didn't you mention it to me and the Patriarch before?"
Yun Yiyi sighed. "He is the one who sent Jiujiu's hair and identity badge. He probably wanted to provoke my father to lead the Sword Sect to attack Heavenly Sorrow City, so I concealed it. Knowing him, he definitely has a plan."
Elder Tianxing listened to Yun Yiyi's words with a frown and after a while, he asked back, "With all due respect, although Young Master Ye does have an outstanding talent, it's impossible for him to reverse this kind of disadvantage by himself. Miss, you knew this but didn't say anything. Are you putting the fate of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect entirely on one person?! The war between immortals and demonic cultivators is not a joke... How can you..."
Yun Yiyi retorted solemnly. "I know that war is not a joke. Trusting him is one aspect. He was chosen as one of the direct disciples of my grandfather, Immortal Yun Jian. After I marry him, he will also be the next leader of the Sword Sect. Besides, keeping it a secret is more beneficial than harmful.
Even if the Sword Sect is completely destroyed in this battle, it will be enough to inspire the Southern Region immortals, whose morale is already low because of Patriarch Zu's return to the ordinary world. After losing Patriarch Zu, the Southern Region needs a region-stabilizing sect like the Black Star Sect in the Western Region."
Elder Tianxing: "But..."
Swoosh—
Boom–!!
Eight rays of sword light and a spear snake-like energy collided thousands of feet in the air, causing the sky and the earth to turn white.
Elder Tianxing immediately waved his horsetail whisk and condensed the energy into a shield around him and Yun Yiyi, which saved them from being injured in the aftermath of the battle between the two Deification cultivators.
Yun Yiyi stepped forward with her right foot, coughed lightly, and raised her head to look up at the sky. Seeing Yun Tianchong and Gong Yue collide with each other in the air, her eyes widened.
The black long spear in Gong Yue's hand pierced her father's abdomen. Even if it did not hurt his core, such an injury was fatal enough in a Deification cultivators battle.
Yun Yiyi took a deep breath and clenched the identity jade badge of Yun Jiujiu in her hand. The only thing she could do now was to pray that her husband would move faster.
… …
"Hah! Hiss! Damn it! It's the kidney again! You guys have a grudge against my kidney, right?!"
Yun Tianchong coughed up blood in anger as he looked at the long spear that pierced his right kidney with his bloodshot golden eyes. But he didn't stand idly and immediately grabbed Gong Yue's spear.
Seven spiritual blades formed by his sword power shot toward Gong Yue, who was close to him.
However—
Dang–
They were completely blocked by Gong Yue's protective spirit shield.
Gong Yue looked at the blood stains gradually spreading on his golden robe, and his face became more playful. He said, "Master Yun, I have heard that you are the shame of the immortal cultivators in the Deification stage. Now that we fight, you really live up to that reputation! Haha... In the late stage of Deification, it took less than three hours for me to break the body protection energy..."
"You know nothing!" Yun Tianchong shouted angrily. "Look at the snake eye on your house!!!"
"Huh?!"
Hearing this, Gong Yue noticed that Yun Tianchong only had seven of his eight sword powers left and the eighth spiritual sword...
Woo-woo--!
Something that sounded like a crying baby resounded throughout the wasteland.
Gong Yue hurriedly turned his head and saw that the snake pupil's demonic phase formed by the Blood Sea Seal Formation was pierced by a spiritual sword, and blood was gushing out. He clicked his tongue unhappily.
He now understood that something had probably happened in the city.
But he didn't care about it at the moment.
When he turned his head to look at Heavenly Sorrow City, Yun Tianchong seized the opportunity. He raised the sword in his right hand and swung it horizontally with the Interrogation Sword technique.
Swish—
The spirit sword collided with Gong Yue's body-protective energy, making a shrill sound that made people's teeth itch.
Although Gong Yue's body was not injured, it was a blow that knocked him back hundreds of feet away, incidentally killing a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator who was fighting with an Elder of the Sword Sect.
Yun Tianchong touched his waist and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Pfft--"
Gong Yue also held the spear down, looking up at Yun Tianchong. "So what if you broke my formation? Now that your protective spiritual shield has been broken by me, how long can you last? Even without the Blood Sea Seal Formation, I can kill you, the shame of the Deification cultivators."
Yun Tianchong wiped the bloody corner of his mouth and sneered. "Heh..."
However, at this moment, a strong blood light rose from under the snake's eyes, which should have been pierced by Yun Tianchong's sword power.
Boom—
The blood light rushed directly to the bottom of the snake's pupil, and in just a moment, it forced out the spiritual sword that pierced its pupil, and the wound began to heal visibly.
Seeing this, Yun Tianchong gritted his teeth.
He felt that there seemed to be something wrong with the Blood Sea Seal Formation, so he let Gong Yue's spear shot get through, taking the opportunity to attack Heavenly Sorrow City's formation. In this way, even if the Sword Sect was completely destroyed, as long as the Bright Star Sect arrived later, Gong Yue would not be able to use the formation.
But how did this happen suddenly...
Gong Yue didn't know what happened in the city, but he thought that it was probably his excellent adopted son who had dealt with the trouble, and he laughed out loud. "Hehehe... Hahahaha-- Master Yun, it seems that you will die in vain..."
"..."
"It just so happens that I've had enough fun."
Gong Yue swung his long spear and instantly turned into a dark purple arc of light. He retreated another three hundred feet, raised his spear, and pointed it at the sky, summoning blood-colored thunderclouds with demonic energy.
Yun Tianchong saw that he was going to use the Heavenly Sorrow City formation, and he panicked. "Don't even think about it!!"
The eight swords reappeared and turned into eight green rays, stabbing straight into Gong Yue's chest.
However, they were all blocked by a protective spirit shield dozens of feet in front of him.
The surviving Nascent Soul-stage demonic cultivators came to Gong Yue one after another and worked together to form a protective formation, and they seemed not to want to fight with the Sword Sect head-on.
Yun Tianchong saw that the situation was not good, and he immediately shouted.
"Sword Sect disciples, listen to the order! Form the Nine Spirit Sword Formation!!"
At the command, the Sword Sect disciples and Elders who were still fighting with the Core Formation-stage demonic cultivators quickly got rid of their respective opponents and gathered behind Yun Tianchong, using their swords as magic weapons, gathering their spiritual power and spreading it out.
A huge formation appeared in mid-air. The golden spiritual light instantly illuminated the desert that was originally darkened by smoke and black clouds, turning it white.
Shields condensed by spiritual power fell in front of Yun Tianchong, enveloping all the Sword Sect disciples who were still alive.
However, Gong Yue sneered disdainfully. "Back then, Nangong Cheng and tens of thousands of Imperial Sect disciples were unable to completely block this demonic formation that gathers the energy of four spiritual veins. Patriarch Yun, you are a loser... You think you're better than Nangong Cheng?"
Yun Tianchong naturally knew that although the Nine Spirit Sword Formation was the Sword Sect's great spiritual formation, it was still a far cry from Nangong Cheng and tens of thousands of Imperial Sect disciples.
However, if he didn't fight back and their morale was lost, they might not even be able to resist the first blow.
The Sword Sect's attack on Heavenly Sorrow City was originally to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, and he didn't think that he would be able to go back alive. But if that was all and Gong Yue wasn't even seriously injured before he died, it was unacceptable.
"Damn it, my father is Immortal Yun Jian!! Is he any less than Nangong Cheng?!"
"Heh..."
Gong Yue pointed the long spear in his hand at Yun Tianchong, signaling Gong Yimo in the city formation to take action.
In an instant, a demonic light condensed in the center of the snake eye's vertical pupil, turning into a pitch-black arrow that devoured all light within a radius of a hundred miles.
The light emitted by the flame could dispel the darkness.
But this black arrow seemed to be burning with black flames and emitting black light, illuminating everything along the way into chaos.
Yun Tianchong felt that everything in his eyes turned into nothingness, but he did not freeze. He immediately activated his sword power to the front of the Nine Spirit Sword Formation. The worst thing was to lose spiritual power forever.
As long as he could withstand this attack, he would still have a chance to kill Gong Yue.
"Hah ah ah ah ah——!!"
Yun Tianchong shouted loudly, trying to make himself overcome the fear of facing death.
Time seemed to have lengthened several times, and he felt as if he had been hit by Old Madam Si's Moonlight Divine Ability. For a moment, he even thought that Old Madam Si had rushed over to help.
However, after waiting for a long time, he still did not feel the pressure of being hit by the Blood Sea Seal Formation.
Yun Tianchong was a little puzzled. Behind him, the Sword Sect Elders and disciples who were ready to die were also a little puzzled.
The next moment, the black light gradually dissipated, and everyone finally saw the wasteland next to the city's moat again.
However, what was different from before, was that the sand ahead had already turned into molten glass, and the approximately one thousand demonic cultivators that had originally faced them seemed to have evaporated and disappeared without a trace.
???
The battlefield was quiet in an instant, leaving only the bubbling sound of boiling glass.
Yun Tianchong had no idea what was going on until he saw Gong Yue's body, which had lost its lower body and was now floating above the sea of glass.
Gong Yue looked in the direction of Heavenly Sorrow City in disbelief.
Why did the demonic technique that was supposed to hit the Moon Shadow Sword Sect hit them?!
Did someone replace his adopted son and control the formation?
Impossible!!
The Blood Sea Seal Sorrow Formation was a secret, and he only passed it on to Gong Yimo in his entire life. Some people had deduced the formation diagram before, but he killed them all.
In other words, even if Gong Yimo was killed, there was no way anyone else could control the city formation.
Then there was only one answer left.
His adopted son betrayed him...
Why?
Gong Yue's eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth and shouted. "Yi... Yimo!!!!!!"
Whoosh—
However, before he could finish speaking, eight spiritual swords pierced down from the sky, instantly turning Gong Yue into fragments and completely burying him in the hot glass lake.
Although Yun Tianchong didn't know what happened, Gong Yue was dead.
Did the Sword Sect win?
Was there an internal fight among the demonic cultivators? Or was it just a mistake?
The Great Elder of the Sword Sect also stepped forward at this moment and asked with a confused look. "Sect Master... this is..."
"..."
Yun Tianchong opened his mouth to say something but closed it back and took a deep breath. No matter what, this was a good thing.
What he had to do now was to spend some time breaking through the city gate, and then find the Elder surnamed "Liang" and bury that scumbag with his second daughter!!
"All disciples listen to my order! Follow me and break the city gates!!!"
After giving the order again, Yun Tianchong took the lead, retracted the eight swords and the spiritual shield protecting his body, and turned into a golden light, rushing towards the gates.
However...
Originally, Yun Tianchong thought that even if Gong Yue was gone, it would take a day or two to break the gate of Heavenly Sorrow City.
But when he arrived in front of the city gate, he was dumbfounded again.
The southern part of the city looked deserted. The gate was open, but the gate tower had disappeared as if it had been cut off by something. The corpses of the city guards were piled up on both sides of the city wall. The entire place was so quiet that it was creepy.
"..."
When the Elders and disciples of the Sword Sect at the back caught up and saw this scene, they thought that Yun Tianchong had just broken through the gates without any sound in just twenty minutes. They all looked at their Patriarch in a new light.
Only the Great Elder was skeptical, because the gate of Heavenly Sorrow City was very strong.
Even if it was a cultivator in the late stage of the Deification, it would definitely not be opened without a few earth-shattering blows. But they arrived after only twenty minutes or so, and they didn't hear any sound.
The Great Elder still asked, "Patriarch, did you do it?"
"..."
Yun Tianchong hesitated to speak, feeling that this scene was a bit eerie.
Although it was a good thing for the Sword Sect, now that the gate was open, he was afraid that it was a trap, and he didn't dare to go in.
After a moment of silence, Yun Tianchong closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
"Elder Hu, kill all the demonic cultivators in the city without mercy, don't let any of them go!"
"...Yes."
Yun Tianchong hesitated for a while, but he still rushed into the city and came to the wide brick-tiled street that was thousands of feet long and connected to the City Lord's Mansion in the south.
At this moment, many demonic cultivators still hadn't come back to their senses, and now they stared blankly at an immortal cultivator in the Deification stage, with eight spiritual swords around him and a golden sword in his hand, who landed on the street.
Yun Tianchong looked at these people and saw many young children who were only as tall as his waist.
In this situation, it was the children who reacted the fastest. After realizing his identity as an immortal cultivator, the children were so scared that they ran and scattered into the alleys.
Without caring about the demonic cultivators, he rushed up, grabbed a running child, and lifted him up.
"Ah!! Woohoo! Mommy!! Mommy!"
Yun Tianchong frowned. "Where is the new Elder Liang from Heavenly Sorrow City?!"