In the mirror, first, there were many silhouettes, then the image flickered and turned pitch black.
Ye Zhizhou frowned. "What's going on?"
[It's demonic energy.]
"You mean all this darkness is caused by demonic energy?"
[Yes.]
He stood up abruptly and carefully sensed it again. He found that the east was continuously emitting spiritual energy. He couldn't help but feel anxious. "How can there be demonic energy here? Even if Yuan Tai was captured by the East, it wouldn't generate such dense demonic energy unless..." He paused, his expression turning serious. "Unless Yuan Tai had already colluded with a demonic cultivator. This time, he not only wants to set a trap for me and the East but also intends to kill all cultivators and devour their souls."
Similar to his desire to kill the protagonist directly, this time, the protagonist didn't plan to slowly seduce the harem and carefully absorb souls. He wanted to swiftly and decisively eliminate the root and harvest souls. Blame it on his negligence; since the Soul Banner was about to make its final counterattack, how could it settle for only absorbing eight souls? By letting the demonic cultivators kill the cultivators without directly harming the soul-absorption targets, the evil spirits wouldn't need to fear detection by the Heavenly Dao and subsequent divine punishment.
It was a simple principle of "When two sides fight, a third party benefits," and he hadn't thought of it earlier. What made matters worse was that although there were many cultivators who had come for the Great Competition, most of them were just minor cultivators at the Golden Core stage. Moreover, the few strongest cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage were currently not in their peak condition due to the depletion of their spiritual energy during the opening of the Deity Forming Secret Realm. Not to mention those eight fools from the Linxian Pavilion who went to besiege the East! The cultivators had already engaged in internal conflicts before the arrival of the demonic cultivators. Adding to that, the top one hundred cultivators of the Golden Core stage were all trapped inside the secret realm...
Suddenly, the shadow-covered image cleared, revealing the figures of Su Yin and a few others.
"Master!" He rushed to the mirror, looking at Yuan Tai sitting opposite Su Yin. His eyes were filled with rage. "Evil spirit, if you harm them, I will make sure your soul is scattered!"
As if sensing his gaze, Yuan Tai, who had been talking to Su Yin, suddenly turned his head to look at the mirror. An evil smile appeared on his pale and handsome face, and he was gradually engulfed in black smoke.
"What is he saying? Oh no, he's about to become a demon! Master, we need to run!" The protagonist urged anxiously.
The image was shrouded in darkness again and then disappeared.
[Interference detected, spiritual power blocked by demonic energy.]
"Damn it!" He retracted the Heaven-Piercing Mirror into his dantian and looked down at Yuan Jing and the others still trapped in the illusion, spinning around in place. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he waved his hand, directly collecting the illusion formation. With his spiritual power pressing down, he shouted, "If you don't want to die, follow me to the west of the Secret Realm! We need to break out of the Secret Realm!" Just now, he had used the Heaven-Piercing Mirror to locate the weakest point in the Deity Forming Secret Realm's spiritual power constraints. With the assistance of Heaven-Piercing pills, a few Golden Core cultivators with slightly stronger spiritual power, and tearing through space, they should be able to escape the Secret Realm.
As Yuan Jing had just regained his senses from the illusion, he heard this impolite and arrogant remark. Filled with anger at being manipulated, he raised his weapon and attacked in that direction. "Demon, you won't leave this Secret Realm alive today!"
Other cultivators who had also regained their senses from the illusion began to form a formation and joined in the attack against Ye Zhizhou in the sky.
"Troublesome." Ye Zhizhou easily blocked their attacks, his figure disappearing like the wind. He then quickly reappeared behind Yuan Jing, breaking through his protective barrier and aiming for his life. Threateningly, he paused and said, "I'll say it once: outside is filled with demonic cultivators, and your disciples are in danger. Whether you choose to follow me or not is up to you!"
Yuan Jing was forced to break into a cold sweat by the pressure from Ye Zhizhou's aura and the hand on his life gate. However, he held onto his anger and said, "Stop your nonsense! It's clear that you and your master want to wipe out Linxian Pavilion. What do demonic cultivators have to do with this?"
With different perspectives and mutual distrust, cooperation seemed to be a big problem. Ye Zhizhou calmed down a bit and withdrew his hand from Yuan Jing's life gate. He then took out the formation disc and the Heaven-Piercing Mirror again. "It seems you haven't learned your lesson yet. Take a good look at the situation outside, with demonic energy permeating the air."
Beneath the black clouds, the man in the red robe, after realizing that he could move freely, quickly got up from the ground. He looked up at the increasingly thick demonic energy in the sky. "How many demonic cultivators have come this time with such heavy demonic energy?"
No one answered him; everyone was looking up at the demonic energy in the sky with solemn expressions.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a scream came from not far away. Dongfang Shu glanced over and then pointed towards that direction with a flicker of spiritual energy. A cultivator who had just started emitting black smoke was directly turned into blue smoke by lightning.
The man in the red robe was furious. "Why did you harm the innocent?"
Another cultivator who had a clearer view hurriedly pulled on the sleeve of the man in the red robe and explained stiffly, "That person was a demonic cultivator disguised as a cultivator. He had just injured a fellow cultivator. It was Senior Tianhe who killed the demonic cultivator."
The man in the red robe was momentarily stunned. He glanced at the expressionless Dongfang Shu and turned his head without saying a word.
"The worst-case scenario has occurred." Dongfang Shu sensed the condition of the cultivators trapped by the spiritual power web and said with electrical sparks in his hand, "Demonic cultivators have infiltrated the ranks of the cultivators, and we need to distinguish them as soon as possible."
Several cultivators frowned, and one of them asked seriously, "But why have so many demonic cultivators appeared?"
"They were attracted by Yuan Tai. He is a demonic cultivator with a demonic artifact, the Soul-Devouring Banner." Dongfang Shu raised his hand and directed the spiritual power web towards the crowd. "Return to your own sects. If Yuan Tai appears, kill him."
The man in the red robe was angry again. "Stop slandering Xiaotai!"
Dongfang Shu glanced at him coldly, unwilling to say more. "If you want to be foolish and die, go ahead, but don't involve others. Take care of yourself." With that, he flew straight up into the sky, heading towards the area with the thickest demonic energy.
A man in a white robe, whose expression remained indifferent, suddenly spoke, "The plan to attack Tianhe and his disciples was devised by Xiaotai. But now, it has turned into a siege by the demonic cultivators against us."
Upon hearing this, the others were momentarily stunned, and then they instinctively flew towards the location of their sect members.
After a crisp sound of metal clashing, Liusha fell to the ground and coughed up blood. He quickly swallowed a pill, and his pale face soon returned to normal.
"It seems that Ye Zhizhou does value you a lot, giving you so many life-saving items." Yuan Tai sheathed his weapon, his confident expression turning somewhat grim. "I wonder how many good things you still have."
"Why?" Liusha looked at him over Su Yin, his eyes filled with anger and disbelief. "You clearly don't know Ye Zhizhou, so why do you hate him so much? Were you intentionally getting close to me from the beginning?"
"There's no why!" Su Yin wiped the blood from his face, gripping his weapon tightly. "He's just trash who wants to kill for treasures! Liusha, wake up! He's a demonic cultivator. Why bother with a demonic cultivator? Their hatred never needs a reason!"
Xuanzhongzi, who had been severely injured and unconscious after the ambush, suddenly opened his eyes. He took out a formation disc and infused it with spiritual energy, shooting it towards Yuan Tai. Then, he quickly got up, rushed over to grab Su Yin and Liusha, and activated a flying talisman. "Up we go! Run!"
The formation disc landed on the ground and quickly unfolded, disrupting Yuan Tai's attack. Su Yin, seeing the situation, grabbed Liusha and jumped onto the flying talisman. Once Xuanzhongzi also boarded, he infused it with spiritual energy and flew off in a chosen direction.
Yuan Tai, trapped within the formation, watched them escape with bloodlust in his eyes. "Think you can escape? Dream on!"
Suddenly, a black mist appeared behind him, and the formation disc shattered with a loud noise. The formation dissipated. A cloaked and hideous demonic cultivator revealed himself, bowing respectfully. "Demonic Lord, the encirclement is ready. Shall we begin now?"
Yuan Tai's eyes lost some of their blood-red hue, and his body suddenly turned into black smoke, disappearing. "I'm returning to my true form. Take care of Liusha and the others, but make sure to capture their souls!"
"Understood."
[Han Xiang, Tiansui, Donggao, Bixuzi, Yuan Hongmeng, Huangguan, Huaquan, and the protagonist's chance of falling in love has decreased to 50%. Please continue your efforts, young master.]
Ye Zhizhou closed the holographic screen. "Yuan Tai's current target is the entire cultivation world. We can do without these reminders."
The holographic screen flickered briefly and then turned into dots of light, vanishing.
Yuan Jing, pale-faced, emerged from the illusion formation. His gaze was unfocused. "How could this happen? Xiaotai..."
Ye Zhizhou gave him a cold look. "Do you want to leave the Deity Forming Secret Realm?"
Yuan Jing's expression kept changing, and in the end, he glared at Ye Zhizhou with a grimace, gritting his teeth. "Yes! Even if it means dying with you!"
Dongfang Shu's sudden attack initiated a chaotic battle between the cultivators and the demonic cultivators. With the protection of their anti-demonic energy, the cultivators gradually gained the upper hand.
Amidst the clash of blades, Yuan Tai's figure once again turned into black smoke and disappeared.
"It's another clone," Dongfang Shu said as he stood on a rolling cloud of black mist, surveying his surroundings. The nature of the Soul-Devouring Banner allowed it to hide within demonic energy, helping its wielder conceal their form. To find Yuan Tai, they first needed to clear this patch of demonic energy.
"If only Xiaozhou were here," he looked at the advanced demonic cultivators who were attacking several injured cultivators. He then charged forward, raising his blade. "It's time to change the wind."
After a massive surge of spiritual power, the ordinary mountain walls suddenly started to distort and transform, turning into a black hole similar to the entrance of the Deity Forming Secret Realm.
Ye Zhizhou tossed a few pills to the cultivators whose spiritual power was almost depleted, drew his weapon, and said, "I'll go out first. Take care of yourselves." With that, he flew towards the black hole.
Yuan Jing quickly swallowed a pill and followed him. "Don't run away!"
After a moment of discomfort caused by the spatial distortion, they found themselves amidst the chaotic battle between cultivators and demonic cultivators.
"What is this..." A blue-robed cultivator who had emerged right after them widened his eyes, his face growing paler. "Ye Zhizhou didn't deceive us. There are really demonic cultivators everywhere, and Senior Yuan Tai..."
"Shut up!" Yuan Jing, with bloodshot eyes, interrupted him. He no longer searched for Ye Zhizhou, who had vanished, and instead flew towards the gathering of sect members. "I don't believe Xiaotai is a demonic cultivator! I don't believe it!"
Sensing the position of his beloved, Ye Zhizhou took out the Heaven-Piercing Mirror and flew in that direction.
"Xiaozhou!"
Liusha, in a sorry state, suddenly burst out of the black mist, pointing urgently in a direction. "Quick! Master and Master Uncle were captured by Yuan Tai! It's my fault. If I hadn't been so blind and mistaken someone, Master wouldn't have been severely injured by an ambush."
Ye Zhizhou swung his twin blades, attacking him without hesitation. "Get lost! Don't try to deceive me!"
Liusha's face displayed incredulous disbelief, then he screamed and transformed into black smoke, merging back into the dark mist.
"I've sensed the direction of the Soul-Devouring Banner."
"Well done!" Ye Zhizhou mobilized his spiritual power, causing a whirlwind around him. "These disgusting demonic energies have ensnared who knows how many unsuspecting cultivators. Let me disperse them!"
With a burst of spiritual energy infused into the wind, the demonic energy dissipated wherever it passed, revealing a clear blue sky.
A familiar figure appeared not far away. His eyes lit up, and he put away his spiritual power, flying towards that figure. "Dongfang, the Heaven-Piercing Mirror has located the Soul-Devouring Banner!"
The tall figure in white turned and faced him, raising his weapon. "Yuan Tai, don't think you can mislead me again."
As the raging spiritual energy surged forward, Ye Zhizhou was greatly shocked. He quickly took out a protective talisman and held it in front of him, angrily shouting, "You moron! Who are you attacking? It's me! Look clearly!"
"This time, you really look like him," Dongfang Shu didn't stop his attack and swiftly flew towards him, his giant sword gleaming with a chilling light. "Daring to impersonate Xiaozhou, you're dead!"
Ye Zhizhou choked back his anger, feeling like he was about to explode. He also drew his weapon and retorted, "You want a family dispute, huh? Fine, I'll crush you!"