Chapter 102
When Shi Yunzhou walked out of the cage, Zhou Xuanzhi stopped him and asked, "Are you really sure you want to do this?" The other person was Chonghua, who didn't seem like a normal person.
"Of course!" Shi Yunzhou said firmly, "For Master."
Zhou Xuanzhi saw no hesitation in the other man's eyes, so he let go of his hand. "Then go!" This was something he had made up his mind to do, and Zhou Xuanzhi couldn't stop him.
Seeing his senior brother's dejected appearance, Shi Yunzhou wanted to speak, but in the end he just pursed his lips and left with the guards sent by Chonghua. He looked at his fellow disciples hanging up, their expressions calm, but the anger in his heart surged like a tidal wave.
The demons have launched an attack on the strongholds established by the immortal sects. The major immortal sects are also surrounded by demons and demonic beasts. Chonghua is listening to the battle report from the demon generals in his newly built room.
The room was heavily protected by barriers, making it impossible to see even a shadowy figure. Shi Yunzhou had long since given up on gathering battle reports from the demons; his gaze remained fixed on Xiao Mu and the others. What he wanted now was to move freely on Mount Cuiwei, create some chaos, and then lay down their corpses.
After an unknown amount of time, Chonghua emerged and saw that Shi Yunzhou had no patience to wait for him and was instead staring at the corpses of the cultivators. He approached Shi Yunzhou and said softly, "Your intentions are written all over your faces."
Shi Yunzhou was startled. He didn't know when Chonghua had come to his side. Chonghua caught his momentary look of terror, even though he quickly concealed it.
"I don't know what you've all learned, your thoughts are written all over your faces." Chonghua sighed, "Even if you want to let them down, you'll have to wait two days."
Shi Yunzhou shook his head and argued, "That's not it. I want Master to come back."
Chonghua looked at Shi Yunzhou and nodded: "Don't you know? To bring her back, you and your senior brother's lives are needed. Didn't you already know that? You don't value your life, yet you want to offer your senior brother's life to me?"
After Chonghua finished speaking, he looked at Shi Yunzhou with a smile, without any hint of sarcasm. Then he turned to the guard beside him, pointed at Shi Yunzhou, and said, "Didn't you see what he was trying to do?"
The guard immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "My lord, I was negligent for a moment, please forgive me." His trembling as he kowtowed made him seem genuinely afraid.
Why is this happening? Shi Yunzhou felt he hadn't done anything wrong, and hadn't even said anything yet. He looked at Chonghua anxiously: "I just want my master to come back, no matter the cost, even if it's my life or my senior brother's!"
Chonghua shook his head in disappointment. He slapped the guard on the head, and the guard collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices. The other guards rushed forward, carried the dead man away, and cleaned up the bloodstains. Everything happened too fast, and the people handled it too skillfully.
Shi Yunzhou looked at Chonghua, not quite understanding. Although he hadn't spent much time with Chonghua before, he wasn't like this. Could it be that he was wrong?
"I don't have time to act with you now. You'd better stay alive." With that, he led his men away, leaving only Shi Yunzhou behind.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, after receiving Deng Lan's letter for help, he made arrangements at the stronghold and led his men there. However, the journey was not peaceful, as countless demons surged towards them. After repelling them, they arrived at Deng Lan's stronghold, but it was too late.
The ground was littered with corpses—some from demons, some from immortal sects, and a few from ordinary people…
They saw traces of their former life: the fire was out but still warm, clothes were drying outside the tents, and some pots still held food. They could imagine how lively this place used to be, but now it was deathly silent.
After searching for a while, a disciple from Tianyu Mountain stammered, "There doesn't seem to be anyone alive here."
Mingmo didn't believe it. She checked each person's breath and led them further inside until they saw Deng Lan lying on the ground. His face was deathly pale, and there were many demons and monsters' corpses around him...
"There are very few corpses of civilians; they must have moved them all away." A disciple searched the stronghold and found few civilian corpses.
Seeing the situation at this stronghold, everyone began to worry about the other strongholds. Before long, news from the Immortal Sect arrived, and everyone received it.
"Twenty-seven strongholds were attacked, and no one survived at three of them. Disciples patrolling outside were dispatched to provide support to the nearest strongholds."
Everyone watched until the end of the Ming Dynasty, waiting for her to make a decision.
“Provide support from the nearest source.” Mingmo said with all his might, “At least, the common people cannot…” Demons like to eat mortals and the resentment on their bodies, so at least we cannot let demons absorb resentment, and we cannot let them become stronger by absorbing resentment.
Lin Jichen's situation wasn't good either. The demons had besieged the stronghold for two days, and everyone was in a state of panic, especially after receiving Deng Lan's plea for help. She really wanted to help, but everyone at the stronghold was tied up, fearing that the demons would attack the moment they left.
The mortals inside the stronghold also sensed the tense atmosphere among the immortal disciples. Some constables and soldiers had already taken out their weapons and were guarding the stronghold just like the immortal disciples.
The celestial boats are all ready, just waiting to escape with the civilians who have no ability to protect themselves as soon as chaos breaks out.
Just then, Mingmo entered with a large group of people. The elders led men to greet them; they appeared to be civilians from the Qingxu Sect's stronghold. They were covered in undried blood, looked exhausted, and moved listlessly.
The immortal sect disciples didn't look too good either; they were covered in dust and dirt, and had serious injuries. Some immortal sect disciples had already gone to treat them.
When the local people saw these people, they rushed forward to arrange a place for them to stay, and served them clean water and simple meals. Some of these people shook their heads and waved their hands, some had red eyes and burst into tears, and others ate and drank heartily.
"What happened over there? How did it get like this?" someone asked.
The man swallowed his food and said, "The demons invaded, and the cultivators led us to escape. We met that female cultivator on the way, and then she brought us in." He pointed to Mingmo, who was explaining to the elder.
The man sighed after hearing this, "What kind of world is this? We're not safe here either. Look at how nervous those cultivators are."
Indeed, none of the cultivators at this stronghold had scabbards on their swords, and there were even more cultivators standing on the watchtowers.
“Who says otherwise? What kind of world is this?” he said, shoveling two more mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.
Lin Jichen had been on guard duty and had just returned to the stronghold. She was still confused about the situation, but she spotted Mingmo in the distance. She ran up to him and almost hugged him, "Senior Sister, you've finally arrived! Those demons outside are like they've taken some kind of drug, they're terrifying!"
But seeing Mingmo's solemn expression, Lin Jichen dropped his feigned demeanor and asked, "What's wrong, Senior Sister?"
"Did you receive Deng Lan's letter asking for help?" Mingmo asked.
Lin Jichen nodded and said, "I received it, but as you can see, my situation here isn't very good either, so I haven't been able to go and help. How is he doing now?" But suddenly she felt a emptiness in her heart, and she had a premonition that the situation might not be good.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, he paused and said, "He...he died in battle while protecting the people during their retreat."
Deng Lan died in battle? Lin Jichen recalled the elegant disciple of Hanfeng Valley and felt like he was dreaming when he heard the news. How could he have died?
“The demons have begun attacking various strongholds, and some strongholds have been breached,” Mingmo said, turning to Lin Jichen to look at the people in the other strongholds. “I also encountered them on my way here. Their strongholds were breached, and some senior brothers and sisters tried to stop the demons, while others escorted the civilians to escape. However, there are still many demons chasing after them.”
"I contacted the elders, and they agreed to let them take refuge nearby." Mingmo looked very distressed.
Lin Jichen looked at those people and suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. She ran to the watchtower to look at the restless demons outside the stronghold. The stronghold was currently only protected by a thin barrier; if that barrier were breached, everyone in the stronghold would…
They had fought against the demons before, but after gathering all the mortals at their stronghold, they thought the war was over. Now they realized the war had only just begun. The demons weren't afraid of the immortal disciples; they were like cats hunting mice, playing with them first, then eating them when they were done with them.
They are just mice under the cat's paws.
Following Lin Jichen's footsteps, Ming Mo climbed the watchtower and saw the demons slowly gathering outside, realizing something was wrong.
She asked Lin Jichen, "Are there any backup bases? I'll go ask the elders if we can leave immediately?"
"Now?" Lin Jichen understood that this was a special period, but could the bodies of the cultivators from other strongholds withstand it?
Mingmo had naturally considered these things as well. Looking worriedly at the demons outside, she shook her head and said, "With so many demons gathered around here, I'm afraid..."
They'll probably attack this barrier at any moment.
As Mingmo finished speaking, he went down from the watchtower and found the elder, explaining the situation outside.
Lin Jichen looked at the large number of demons gathering and summoned her zither, holding it close to her arms. If these demons attacked the barrier, she would rush out and fight them to the death!
The elder arrived at the watchtower, looked at the demons, and sighed deeply. He said to Mingmo beside him, "Master Feixiang is stationed in Kuizhou City. His patchwork robe can protect the people of the city. Let's go there."
"Yes." After accepting the order, Mingmo looked at Lin Jichen who was still standing there, thought for a moment and said to her, "Come with me."
The celestial boat quickly arrived above the stronghold, and the people inside were arranged to board in an orderly manner. Lin Jichen served as a guard on one of the boats. In addition to the disciples of Tianyu Mountain, there were also disciples of Qingxu Sect on board, one of whom happened to be able to speak.
"Senior Brother Shen? How could it be you?" Lin Jichen stepped forward and asked.
Shen Junning saw Lin Jichen shake his head and say, "It's hard to say. We'll be traveling together from now on."
Shen Junning's cultivation level was far superior to his own, so Lin Jichen nodded and said, "Alright, I'll leave the rest of the operation to Senior Brother Shen."
As the celestial ship ascended into the sky, the demons finally discovered the celestial sect's actions. Previously, they might have been waiting for an opportunity. But now that everyone was fleeing, what opportunity was there to wait for? So they launched their attack. The elders arranged for guards along the ground to halt their advance.
Besides the ground troops, there were also disciples flying on swords on both sides of the immortal ship. Once the ground forces were no longer able to stop them, they would be dispatched to halt the demons. Finally, the disciples on the ship, including Lin Jichen and his group, would remain. If all the cultivators on the ground and on both sides perished, they would be the ship's last hope.
The common people couldn't bear to watch the immortal disciples fighting the demons on the ground. After all, they had lived and eaten together for a while, and they just couldn't bear to watch them die.
The elder was fighting those demons down there. He sent a message telling everyone to leave quickly and not to linger!
After the message was relayed at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the immortal ship accelerated...
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