In the sky, Mo Qing glanced at Li Yan. He hadn't expected this new junior brother to react so quickly to a crisis.
"Many thanks, Junior Brother!"
Li Yan merely nodded in response, not speaking.
His Divine Sense was powerful, and when he saw Yuyuan of the Ten-Pace Courtyard being pursued and fleeing here, his ever-cautious mind had unconsciously tensed up.
He had then begun to pay close attention to the visiting Nascent Soul cultivators around him. This was a habit Li Yan had developed over many years.
Subsequently, he saw Qi Jinghong, who had questioned him earlier, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally move closer to Mo Qing's back during the conversation among the crowd.
Just as Li Yan was feeling puzzled, he sensed a fluctuation of magical power from Qi Jinghong's body. Li Yan instantly locked onto him and immediately acted to interrupt his attack.
Mo Qing's gaze once again fell on Hang Lin, then looked at the hundred-plus people in the distance who were already engaged in a fierce battle with many cultivators.
Then, his gaze swept over the faces of Qi Jinghong, Chan Master Dajing, Hang Lin, and the Ye-surnamed Nascent Soul cultivator from the Twelve Dens, one by one.
At this point, there was no need for questions. With the experience of Mo Qing and the others, how could they not understand what had happened?
What's more, apart from Li Yan and Li Yuyin who were newly advanced Nascent Souls, the rest, including Wei Zhongran, knew many secrets about the pursuit of the demons.
Coupled with what Yuyuan had just said about being ambushed, and the group of fallen Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivators around Qiu Jiuzhen below, the situation was already very clear.
This Hang Lin and those nine disciples had betrayed the Supreme Mystery Teachings. The Ten-Pace Courtyard and Jingtu Sect were unaware, and these three sects had been secretly allied before.
Undoubtedly, the Supreme Mystery Teachings had sold out the whereabouts of these two sects. However, because Arhat Yiye had set off a day earlier due to a sudden departure, he was not ambushed. Yuyuan's group, however, was not so lucky.
However, what Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye couldn't be sure of was whether this collusion with the demons was Hang Lin's personal act or a collective decision by the upper echelons of the Supreme Mystery Teachings.
The implications of these two possibilities were completely different.
But judging from the fact that Qiu Jiuzhen and the others were also attacked, it seemed that only a portion of the Supreme Mystery Teachings members had turned traitor.
Even the previously gentle Arhat Yiye's gaze instantly turned from calm to bone-chillingly murderous.
"So there are so many undiscovered traitors. As members of the human race, you collude with the demons. You failed even when the demon army was at its peak, and now you dare to slaughter your own kind. You fools who do not know life from death!"
As Mo Qing spoke, his Divine Sense instantly spread out. And he wasn't the only one who had spread his Divine Sense so forcefully.
Arhat Yiye, Wei Zhongran, and the others also spread their Divine Sense.
This was the heartland of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. Mo Qing could activate the sect-protecting grand formation at any time. Even though Hang Lin and his group, along with the hundred-odd Golden Core cultivators, had ambushed many people, they were still outnumbered.
Especially those hundred-odd Golden Core cultivators. As soon as Mo Qing and the others gave the order, the various sect's Golden Core cultivators who were still hesitating on the square would immediately join the attack. Those hundred-odd Golden Core cultivators were nothing more than a lonely few.
Therefore, Hang Lin and his group were certainly not madmen, nor would they sacrifice themselves for the demons with such "righteousness."
So, the greatest possibility was a pincer attack from within and without. In that case, there were most likely reinforcements outside.
But within their Divine Sense, there were no powerful spiritual energy fluctuations for thousands of li. This, in turn, made Mo Qing and the others somewhat suspicious and uncertain.
Mo Qing's words fell on the ears of Hang Lin and his group. The four Nascent Soul cultivators either remained expressionless or smiled grimly, but no one answered.
After the end of the great war a hundred years ago, apart from some Nascent Soul cultivators who were personally guaranteed by Spirit Transformation cultivators and were directly trusted, more than ninety percent of the Nascent Soul cultivators of the major sects had been soul-searched by several Spirit Transformation cultivators.
They checked if these people had been placed under restrictions by the demons or had a history of defecting to the demons in their memories.
At that time, some people were indeed found. Afterward, those Nascent Soul cultivators who were found to have problems were never seen again.
However, after this matter, the Spirit Transformation cultivators of the three major sects still passed down a secret decree, saying that such a purge would still have loopholes.
Firstly, there were too many cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm in the entire Desolate Moon Continent. They couldn't possibly check the low and mid-level cultivators one by one.
Secondly, the soul-searching purge was carried out some time after the great war.
Although no news was leaked beforehand, the remnants of the Demon Clan were not fools. They had time to cover the tracks of those spies.
The simplest method was to remove the restrictions on them and erase that part of their memory, leaving no trace for anyone to find.
After they passed this hurdle, there would naturally be ways to reactivate these pawns.
While Mo Qing was questioning them, Hang Lin and his group on the other side also sighed helplessly in their hearts. Among them were veteran Nascent Souls and newly advanced ones.
The situation was just as Mo Qing and the others had guessed after learning the secret.
Veteran Nascent Souls like the Ye-surnamed cultivator from the Twelve Dens here were those who had been captured by a Spirit Transformation demon cultivator back then, and had a restriction planted in them.
After the final battle, in order to preserve such an important pawn, his memory was erased by the Spirit Transformation cultivator, so that even they themselves felt that they had been fighting for the human race all along.
As for newly advanced Nascent Souls like Hang Lin, when the South Sea fell back then, he, along with a large number of Golden Core cultivators, was captured and controlled... and then some of them were quietly released.
And there were far too many Golden Core cultivators like him in the entire Desolate Moon Continent. Even with a check, there would still be omissions.
Nine years ago, when the Malevolent Spirit Sect announced that it would hold a Nascent Soul ceremony in a few years.
Hang Lin and the others received an order, requiring them to start preparing and constantly provide information.
When someone like the Ye-surnamed cultivator from the Twelve Dens first received the order, he was greatly shocked. He even thought someone was deliberately framing him, trying to sling mud at him.
But when he saw the images and information attached at the end of the jade slip, he finally realized that he had lost a part of his memory and had long since defected to the demons.
The evidence was all images of him killing human cultivators, and even scenes of him slaughtering an entire sect.
Seeing these, the Ye-surnamed cultivator from the Twelve Dens broke out in a cold sweat. Only then did he realize that the meritorious deeds he had been praised for all these years were nothing but a fleeting illusion.
If any piece of this evidence were to be taken out, his fate was imaginable. And the sect he led or the family he established would also collapse in an instant.
Thus, all the honor and resistance in these people's hearts were almost instantly destroyed.
Whether they were willing or not now, whether the things they had done in the past were caused by the control of others, they had only two endings.
One, the evidence is exposed, and they apologize to the world by committing suicide!
Two, act according to orders to gain the chance to continue living.
The higher a cultivator's cultivation, the more they cherish life. How many would be willing to apologize to the world by committing suicide? They were even more reluctant to give up their current cultivation and long lifespan.
So, in the end, they all just acted according to orders, constantly passing secret information to the demons, and finally participating in this plan to kill the high and mid-level cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent during the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Nascent Soul ceremony.
Their goal was to level the playing field of high-end combat power between the two sides after this battle. This was the key to controlling the overall situation.
According to the information Hang Lin and the others had received, the demon side now also had Spirit Transformation cultivators, which was their biggest pillar of support.
It wasn't that they hadn't thought of using the elusive methods of Spirit Transformation cultivators to directly ambush the sects and families with Nascent Soul cultivators.
But the things they could think of, how could the Four Great Sects not think of?
After that purge, for any family or sect with a Nascent Soul cultivator, the Four Great Sects had spared no expense in spirit stones and heavenly materials to build one teleportation formation after another.
In times of danger, these teleportation formations could instantly transport people to secret locations that even Spirit Transformation cultivators couldn't find for a while. At the same time, the formation would also send out a warning to the Four Great Sects.
And that wasn't all. Those Nascent Soul old monsters themselves had also established many secret chambers and hidden caves. Outsiders had no way of knowing in which secret chamber they would be cultivating.
Moreover, some secret chambers and hidden caves might be connected by teleportation formations, either a thousand li apart or tens of thousands of li away.
This made it impossible for the demon side to kill these Nascent Soul cultivators with a single blow, even if they wanted to. The most likely outcome was to expose themselves prematurely.
And this time, the matter of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Nascent Soul ceremony gave the demon side an opportunity. As long as they took the Malevolent Spirit Sect as the core and calculated some necessary routes, they could set up ambushes separately.
What's more, with Hang Lin and the others providing information to help, it would be difficult for things to go wrong.
"Amitabha, Fellow Daoist Hang Lin, are you not afraid of bringing a great disaster upon the Supreme Mystery Teachings?" Arhat Yiye's brow furrowed tightly. He felt it was impossible for the Supreme Mystery Teachings to have fallen to this level. This should be Hang Lin's personal decision.
Especially since the three sects had been secretly allied, with Hang Lin acting like this, if the Supreme Mystery Teachings didn't have the best evidence to prove their innocence, they would definitely be held accountable. The Jingtu Sect and Ten-Pace Courtyard would certainly not side with him this time.
"Martial Uncle, why are you doing this? Slaughtering your fellow sect members, have you really so shamelessly defected to the remnants of the Demon Clan?"
Just as Arhat Yiye was asking, a Supreme Mystery Teachings disciple beside Qiu Jiuzhen below, his eyes splitting with rage, questioned loudly, his face full of grief and indignation, his fists clenched so tightly they creaked.
This Supreme Mystery Teachings disciple was covered in blood. Not only was he seriously injured himself, but he had also watched his fellow sect members die tragically in an instant.
The few surviving Supreme Mystery Teachings disciples now had chaotic auras. Apart from a few whose auras were due to their injuries, most were due to shock and anger, their auras surging violently.
From the surprise attack by Hang Lin's group of four and the hundred-plus cultivators below, to the continuous questioning by Mo Qing, Arhat Yiye, and the others, only six breaths of time had passed.
Hang Lin did not answer these questions. His face was indifferent, as if he hadn't heard, completely ignoring them.
Hang Lin's body suddenly flew up. Just as Mo Qing and the others were about to stop him, a light flashed in his hand, and a formation plate was held high by him. Then, his magical power was fiercely poured into it.
"Not good..."
A sharp light flashed in Arhat Yiye's eyes. But before he could finish speaking, a gray vortex instantly appeared above Hang Lin's head.
The moment the vortex appeared, it immediately began to spin crazily, instantly forming a large black hole.
"A temporary spatial teleportation formation! Quick! Shatter it!"
Arhat Yiye and the others reacted extremely quickly. Just as he spoke, a light flashed in Mo Qing's hand, and a hundred-zhang-long cyan streak of light slashed towards the black hole.
And Arhat Yiye, almost at the same time, also fiercely pushed out his palm. A huge golden palm print quickly enveloped Hang Lin.
Wei Zhongran, silently, shot out a streak of black light from his hand, its target also the huge black hole.
Li Yan and Li Yuyin also formed hand seals, and two powerful wind blades, one black and one red, also stabbed straight at the black hole. They all knew they couldn't let the other party complete the spell.
Seeing that not all of the enemy had gathered when Hang Lin produced the formation plate, they knew that these people were not planning to escape using the formation.
The only remaining possibility was that they were summoning reinforcements.
"Quickly slay those traitors who have defected to the demons! Those who hesitate will be killed!"
At the same time, Wei Zhongran's voice rolled out, directed at the hesitant cultivators on the square.
And before he spoke, Li Wuyi's group and the monks of the Jingtu Sect had already charged towards the hundred-plus cultivators.
There were also many cultivators here from the sects and families that had been attacked. They vowed to slay those Golden Core cultivators completely.
Wang Lang and the others had just fled here. After a few words, they were thrown from the high platform by Li Yan. Their faces were also filled with shock and anger.
Martial Aunt Yuyuan had managed to escape here with them, only to be ambushed again. Now, she was on the verge of death.
Wang Lang saw these Nascent Souls instantly engage in battle in the air, but no one was paying attention to Martial Aunt Yuyuan anymore. His heart was filled with grief and indignation!