Li Xuanfeng watched closely as Murong En seemed to suddenly hear something. He tilted his head as if listening intently. A red-gray glow flared behind his head.
The demon had taken on human form. His thick brows rose, his eyes widened, lips pressed tight, and he scrambled forward, tripping and crawling in his panic.
The three Daoist Masters watched in silence. Murong En solemnly lifted his robe and performed a deep ceremonial bow. Forming his hand into a blade, he drew twice across his chest, then reached into his chest. He fumbled briefly before yanking out a dark, blackened heart.
"In obedience to the immortal command of the honored Daoist Master!"
The heart still billowed with demonic qi. Murong En clutched it tightly, as though it weren’t his own, then quickly drew a blade from his waist. One hand held the heart aloft, the other forcefully plunged a knife into it.
Squelch...
A gray wind swept through the sky, rustling with eerie whispers. Li Xuanfeng’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the wind blow in from the east. The few remaining plants at his feet bowed low, it was a sign of someone's fall.
Murong En nonchalantly took his own life as if it were only natural. Even after tearing out his heart, some awareness remained in his mind. Murong En hastily reached into his body with two fingers, retrieved a pearl-sized azure orb, and wiped the demonic aura off of it. He then knelt respectfully and offered it up with both hands.
Zipei gently beckoned with her hand, and Qi Wang's Profound Heaven Hearing flew into her palm. She lifted it for a close look. Beside her, Murong En’s demonic body began to collapse, yet he maintained his respectful posture. Black mist, thick as a waterfall, poured from his body and spilled into the air.
"Qi Wang’s Profound Heaven Hearing... After a hundred years, it is finally back in our hands."
None of the three Daoist Masters cast a single glance at him. Demonic mist drifted beneath their feathered robes and jade boots, shrouding Chengshui Tomb in darkness.
Boom!
A sudden thunderclap split the sky, illuminating the surroundings. Three beams of multicolored light stood atop the demonic clouds. Yet, the once arrogant and unbridled devil cultivator lay dead like a dog, silent and unnoticed.
Li Xuanfeng looked down in silence as rain poured from the sky. Beneath his feet, Chengshui Tomb had already turned into marshland when Daoist Master Zipei used the Xinyou Pristine Marsh Seal. Now it was a flooded expanse, rippling with dark light.
Thunder roared across the sky. He watched the three beams of multicolored light flicker in and out of the white lightning. Murong En’s demonic aura still clung to his spirit boots.
As thunder crashed again, he suddenly heard Daoist Yuan Xiu’s deep voice, "The one that fell... is the Great Ning Palace."
————
The geomantic lines of Chengshui Tomb shifted without rest. Water veins surged, and water droplets formed everywhere in the dark cliffside cave dwellings. Rain pattered down without end, pouring furiously into the depths and vanishing into the black underground.
Li Qinghong took a medicinal pill and adjusted her breath for a while until her complexion visibly improved. Li Xizhi and Li Quantao were both in poor condition, and the elder Yu Yuwei looked equally grim.
They were currently in a corner of Chengshui Tomb. Li Qinghong had fought her way out through waves of demonic qi, fleeing all the way to this subterranean ravine before things slightly stabilized.
She had once sought thunder essence here years ago and had leased a cave dwelling in the area for her family. Now, when the group fled into this ravine, she led them to that same cave to take refuge.
"Fellow Daoist Qinghong... we’re in serious trouble now..." Yu Yuwei’s voice was hoarse, but he was only stating what everyone already understood.
Tang Shedu’s betrayal may have been within the calculations of certain Purple Mansion Realm cultivators, but the extent of the damage was unknown. However, what was certain was the blow it dealt to the allied cultivators.
He had revealed the deployment of their forces to the devil cultivators. Over a dozen Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators had been picked off one by one and their forces had been nearly annihilated. The reinforcing devil cultivators had surrounded Lingu Lanying, Zhuang Cheng, and several others.
The outcome of the aerial clash between Li Xuanfeng and Tang Shedu remained unknown. But Murong En had descended on devil winds, and those who were already struggling stood no chance against him. They had suffered a heavy blow and scattered in all directions.
"We don’t even know how many might still be alive..." said Li Qinghong.
Li Qinghong closed her eyes. Kongheng was a buddhist cultivator of the ancient ways. He was not offensively strong, but he should be able to survive the chaos. Li Wushao, on the other hand, was much more uncertain. Whether he could escape was unclear.
She didn’t believe Tang Shedu could defeat Li Xuanfeng. But she was worried that Li Xuanfeng might linger after killing him and get swarmed by the devil cultivators. But even setting aside his condition, returning to rescue him would likely only lead to more deaths.
Since she had gone to rescue Li Xizhi, she hadn’t been caught in the encirclement nor encountered Murong En. The fact she managed to break through and escape with a few others was already a stroke of luck. There was no going back now.
As she pondered all this, she heard Yu Yuwei speak in a low voice, "Have any of you seen Yu Su bringing his forces this way?"
According to the Azure Pond Sect's plan, Li Xuanfeng and Tang Shedu should have joined forces to rout the devil cultivators, while Yu Su would lead troops north along the only remaining southern path from Chengshui Tomb. He would be perfectly positioned to cut off fleeing enemies and support the two.
But when the cultivators fled south, they encountered devil cultivators everywhere. The more they fought, the more enemies appeared. They had been forced to hide in this location, yet not a single trace of Yu Su’s forces was anywhere to be seen...
Li Xizhi slowly opened his eyes and said quietly, "Do you recall that the Murong Family was supposed to have two members present? Yet we only saw Murong En. Where did the other one go?"
A chill settled in his heart as he continued, "I'm afraid Tang Shedu leaked information and Yu Su was likely ambushed on the road. Perhaps he even defected. In any case, that force is probably scattered. If that’s true, Mount Yan Pass is in grave danger."
Li Xizhi pointed to the south. Yu Yuwei stood up and walked to the cave entrance. When he saw columns of demonic smoke rising over Mount Yan Pass in the distance, he waved his sleeve and returned inside, saying hoarsely, "Xizhi’s guess was dead on."
Li Quantao finally realized where the missing Murong Family devil cultivator had gone. After a moment of silence, he suddenly realized that the southern road was entirely overrun by demonic forces and murmured, "If Mount Yan Pass falls, heading south is a dead end. If it's taken, our only path is to follow the river all the way around to Baixiang Valley... and who knows how many devil cultivators we'll face along the way."
"Baixiang Valley may not even be safe!" said Yu Yuwei roughly.
After he spoke, Li Quantao murmured softly, "What are the Daoist Masters really thinking..."
"What should we think?" Yu Yuwei let out a deep sigh from his throat, his aged face caught between fury and sorrow as he said in a raspy voice, "Do we even need to think? Too many in Jiangnan have died. The Purple Mansion Realm Daoist Masters must have bargained with the demonic cultivators for enough benefits. Perhaps it was a spirit artifact, a grotto heaven, or some mystical cultivation method...
"You think we just suffer these losses for no reason? And those Purple Mansion Realm figures would just stand and watch? The ones who keep dying are never their direct descendants, so what can’t they bring themselves to do? A hundred years from now, the Purple Mansion Realm will be theirs, not ours. In the end, we’re just ashes. What use are we to them?"
The nearly three-hundred-year-old man had seen far too much. His words sent chills down everyone’s spine. Li Quantao stared at him quietly, and then fell into sudden silence.