Tang Wei glared at the man. “Li Yuan, if you’re that unhappy, you can leave right now.”
Li Yuan sneered. “If the Pavilion Master weren’t here, do you think I’d willingly sit around with you?”
Qian Ze leaned back in his chair, listening to their argument with his eyes lowered. His voice was calm and unhurried. “Enough.”
Li Yuan immediately fell silent and turned away from Tang Wei.
Qian Ze’s eyes narrowed, a sharp gleam flashing within them. “Li Guanqi anticipated even this... His foresight and schemes are truly exceptional. Tang Wei, if we wrap this up without any issues, I’ll entrust the cooperation between the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and Guanyun Pavilion to you.”
Tang Wei promptly stood up and acknowledged the order.
Qian Ze rested his chin on his left hand and slowly turned the teacup before him with his right, his eyes flickering as though something had caught his thoughts.
He had spent so long in seclusion that he had stopped involving himself in worldly affairs. But now, the Six Territories had fallen into turmoil, and the Abyssal Demons were running rampant. Even he could no longer remain detached.
The world... seemed far more interesting than before.
A faint smile touched his lips. Looking toward the hall entrance, Qian Ze murmured, “If that is truly the case... how will you respond?”
***
Tens of thousands of cultivators had gathered in the Qilian Mountains of the Taiqing Territory.
Less than an hour had passed since the news spread, yet cultivators continued to arrive in droves. The skies echoed with the roars of tamed spirit beasts, their riders’ eyes gleaming with excitement.
Cracks opened in the void, and dozens of lavish cloud boats descended one after another. Most of the cultivators disembarking from them wore ornate robes of their sect or clan. Those leading the groups were all elderly, with auras as deep and unfathomable as an abyss. Each carried a compass.
By this point, the Qilian Mountains, which stretched for hundreds of li, were completely filled with cultivators. Each of them was searching for spatial fluctuations that would locate the hidden domain of the Sha organization.
Li Guanqi watched the black demonic flames gathering on the Heavenly Intelligence Map, and his unease deepened.
One piece was still missing, however. He could not give the enemy the slightest opening. He could not leave the Daxia Sword Sect’s territory.
Lu Kangnian, Qin Xian, and Ling Daoyan stood within a mysterious space. Several jade slips floated before them, all glowing brightly.
Ling Daoyan asked gravely, “Sect Master, are you certain we need to use all of these?”
Lu Kangnian nodded, his expression grave. “They’re useless if we keep them. Our sect is on the verge of rising, and we must protect Ye Feng, Guanqi, and the others. Use them!”
The other two offered no further objections.
In an instant, several massive pillars of light shot up from within the Daxia Sword Sect.
Seated atop Heavenly Sword Peak, Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow in surprise. “How did a sect with such powerful tools stay low-profile for so long?”
Three enormous altars rose into the sky and stacked atop one another, releasing layer after layer of radiant halos. A cyan array barrier spread outward like an overturned bowl, enveloping the entire Daxia Sword Sect.
The commotion drew the attention of nearby sects and clans, but none dared probe recklessly. The Daxia Sword Sect was no longer what it had once been.
The hidden agents planted by the Three Pavilions across the Taiqing Territory simultaneously soared into the sky and infused their voices with vital force.
“Everyone, leave immediately! This is a trap set by the Sha organization! Get out of here!”
Over a hundred cultivators shouted in unison, their voices resounding across the Qilian Mountains.
Everyone gathered throughout the range looked up and froze. They did not know who these people were or what the warning meant.
The entire mountain range fell into a deathly silence.
At that moment, thin wisps of demonic qi seeped from the earth and entered the bodies of more than a dozen cultivators. Their pupils turned pitch-black and fathomless. “Leave? Leave for what?”
“Are you all from the Three Pavilions?!”
“You’re telling us to leave now? Are you trying to go back on your promise?”
Many cultivators agreed, their expressions darkening with anger.
A brocade-robed man flew into the air and faced the crowd. He pointed down at the mountains beneath them. “Does the famous Yanluo Sword Sovereign, Li Guanqi, have so little integrity?”
He continued, “We searched for seven full days before finally finding a few clues. Tens of thousands of cultivators are gathered throughout the Qilian Mountains, yet you expect us to withdraw on nothing but your word that it’s dangerous? Pah! Why should we leave? So the Three Pavilions can find the Sha organization’s headquarters on their own? After breaking your word like this, do you take us for fools?”
The cultivators who had been watching from the sidelines nodded at his reasoning. Even those who trusted the Three Pavilions began to waver. The timing of the warning was simply too suspicious.
Had there been no prior news that the Sha organization’s main hall might be in the Qilian Mountains, their warnings would have been reasonable. They might even have owed the Three Pavilions a favor.
But now, with credible information indicating that the Sha organization was likely here, people from the Three Pavilions had suddenly emerged and urged everyone to leave. It was far too suspicious.
“A billion spirit stones, my ass! They never meant to pay up!”
“More cultivators are still arriving. With a hundred thousand of us, how could we possibly fail to find one hidden domain?”
“The Three Pavilions are trash!! They’re clearly working together to scam us!”
The crowd erupted in fury. Some even launched covert attacks against the Three Pavilions’ agents.
The hundred or so cultivators from the Three Pavilions scattered across the area could only desperately raise their vital force barriers, their expressions grim.
With no other choice, the agents in charge exchanged glances, concealed themselves for the moment, and reported the situation to their superiors.
Li Guanqi set down his jade slip, his expression uncertain. He took out another and spoke in a low voice. “Senior, please make your move!”
The jade slip’s spatial fluctuations faded, and Li Guanqi finally breathed a sigh of relief. He frowned. “What a scheme. Absolutely vicious... But do you really think you have me cornered?”
Boom!
The instant the Three Pavilions’ agents disappeared, the sky suddenly darkened.
The cultivators throughout the mountains looked up to see dense pitch-black clouds swirling into an enormous vortex.
A suffocating pressure filled the air. Many cultivators in the Illusory Refinement Realm and Combined Body Realm immediately sensed that something was wrong.
“Quick! Get on the cloud boats!! We’re leaving!”
“Damn it! That’s demonic qi! Run!”
Screams erupted across the mountains. At some point, the surrounding area had been engulfed by demonic qi.
A pitch-black array spanning the entire Qilian Mountains flickered with ancient runes. A face seemed to take shape within the black clouds, its eyes mocking the tens of thousands of cultivators below.
Boom!
Within a single breath, a terrifying barrier spanning hundreds of li snapped into place. Red-robed experts teleported out of the pitch-black vortex one after another.
The mountains trembled. One black spatial rift after another, each thousands of zhang wide, tore open and spewed forth overwhelming torrents of demonic qi.
Roars and shrill howls rang out without end. Panicked cries shook the heavens.
“Abyssal Demons! There are so many Abyssal Demons!”
Sha’s mouth curved in a faint smile, and he murmured, “Since you all came here... you can stay forever.”
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