Chapter 108
In the capital, a large horde of demons had gathered beneath the city walls, waiting to deliver a fatal blow at any moment. Disciples of the Exorcism Bureau stood atop the city walls, determined to defend the capital to the death, their families behind them.
At the very least, I can't let my family members die in front of me.
Gu Qingci followed Su Liyue to the city wall. Seeing the group of demons below, fear gripped her, and she involuntarily took two steps back. Only when Su Liyue turned to look at her did she realize what had happened. She immediately felt ashamed, her face burning red, and she lowered her head.
"To be honest, I'm very scared." Su Liyue had heard that many people had died outside the capital, including some she knew. Gu Qingci looked up at her. She had just entered the immortal sect, while her senior sister was now the sect leader's disciple. Was she also afraid?
“But I’m afraid you still have to stand here, because you are a disciple of the Exorcism Bureau, and you bear the responsibility of protecting the capital.” Su Liyue came to the other side of the city wall and gestured for Gu Qingci to look down at the people of the capital.
Those people were standing on the street. They could hear the voices of the demons outside, and Gu Qingci could see them trembling with fear yet still standing outside.
"We are already quite safe in the capital." Despite the threat from the demons, the people of the capital have, at least for now, suffered no casualties. These days, officials from other regions are simultaneously avoiding the demons and compiling statistics on the dead and injured.
It is said that the emperor's hair turned completely white in just a few days.
Seeing that Gu Qingci was frightened, Su Liyue comforted her, "But don't be too scared. We have now closed the path from the Demon Realm to the Human Realm. If we just hold on for two more days, we will win!"
But winning was incredibly difficult. Mingmo and the other disciples were still guarding Kuizhou City, and they hadn't slept for days. The demons seemed tireless, attacking continuously for days. Several times their defenses had been breached, but fortunately, the patchwork robe hovered in mid-air above Kuizhou City, preventing the demons from getting past it.
Those present were truly giving it their all, and watching their companions fall one by one, they were almost in despair.
Cuiwei Mountain.
The demon guards who rushed forward were trapped in Yue Ze's illusion and had lost their fighting ability. Zhou Xuanzhi and Shi Yunzhou, seeing the guards lying on the ground, recalled the helplessness they felt when they were trapped by Yue Mingke before. They were incredibly grateful that Yue Ze was not their opponent, but rather a temporary ally.
The sound of the guards falling to the ground finally made Chonghua turn his head. He didn't understand why Yue Ze would betray him, nor did he understand why these two disciples of the Immortal Sect would oppose him. He clearly wanted Shi Wanqing to come back.
"Why?" He really didn't understand.
After Shi Wanqing's death, Chonghua's behavior became very abnormal, which Yueze noticed but was powerless to change. Out of sight, out of mind, he chose to leave and return to the Illusion Demon Clan to live a carefree life.
Seeing Chonghua's state, Yueze realized that he had long since gone mad, after knowing that Shi Wanqing would reject him, and after seeing Shi Wanqing getting close to others. He was simply very good at hiding it, even deceiving Shi Wanqing. All of this only became apparent after Shi Wanqing's death.
Zhou Xuanzhi had regained some strength and tried to stand up. When Chonghua saw Zhou Xuanzhi's movement, he asked him, "Why?"
"Master said that those who enter the immortal sect to cultivate should take it upon themselves to protect all living beings. Your actions have violated Master's teachings!"
"But I was saving your master. Don't you want to hear his teachings again?" Chonghua looked at Shi Wanqing lying there. He had painstakingly crafted her physical body and gathered her remnant soul fragments. Why didn't anyone understand him? Even Shi Wanqing's disciple couldn't understand him.
Shi Yunzhou came to Zhou Xuanzhi's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, letting his senior brother lean on him to save some energy. He didn't let his senior brother speak and answered himself, "Because Master also taught that no one can be as important as the common people, including Master himself."
Hearing Shi Yunzhou's words, Chonghua laughed. He pointed at the two men, laughing so hard he bent over, as if he had heard something very naive. After a long while, he said, "You two are still too young. Open your eyes and look at the common people! Are they happy? The powerful oppress the people, they are like leeches, sucking the blood of the people, and the people are powerless to resist. Is there any need to protect such people?"
"Why not destroy it and rebuild it?" Chonghua tempted.
Shi Yunzhou recalled his master's words. He always felt there weren't that many madmen in the world, but after his experiences, he suddenly realized he had been well protected by his sect. He looked at Zhou Xuanzhi and asked, "Master also said, what should we do if we encounter someone who threatens to destroy the world at the drop of a hat?"
“Master said that there was once an immortal who slaughtered ordinary people for the sake of his so-called lover. No matter what kind of suffering such a person has in his heart, there is no need to listen to him. His actions deserve his suffering!” Zhou Xuanzhi’s words became colder and harder. “When you encounter such a person, there is no need to waste words. Just kill him and be done with it.”
His hard work had been ruined, and they were mocking him like this. Chonghua, who prided himself on his good temper, could no longer suppress his anger.
He raised his hand and struck Yue Ze, who was watching the scene unfold, with a palm strike. Caught off guard, Yue Ze was completely rendered incapable of resistance. He could only kneel on the ground and watch as Chong Hua walked step by step toward the two fellow disciples. Having worked with this man for so long, he naturally knew what Chong Hua was planning to do.
He shouted at the two unsuspecting men, "Run!" Before he finished speaking, Chonghua grabbed Shi Yunzhou by the neck.
Shi Yunzhou's injuries were less severe than the other two's. Subduing him now meant that Zhou Xuanzhi and Yue Ze had no hope of winning.
"As expected of Chonghua!" Yue Ze thought. He understood Chonghua, and Chonghua understood him. Faced with what Chonghua had done, he knew he wouldn't stand idly by; he would definitely do something. No wonder he was able to escape from the Demon Realm; he had thought he had found a way to open the Guancheng.
Zhou Xuanzhi couldn't care less about anything else at this point. He had promised his master to protect his junior brother, but he had always broken his promise. The fact that he couldn't use his spiritual power now didn't mean he was giving up. At least he couldn't let his junior brother die in front of him.
He picked up his junior brother's sword, which had fallen to the ground, and plunged it into Chonghua's abdomen in one swift motion. It was so fast that Yueze didn't even see the movement.
Chonghua released his grip on Shi Yunzhou's neck and slapped Zhou Xuanzhi on the head again.
Shi Yunzhou only saw blood flowing from his senior brother's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. He frantically crawled over, then held Zhou Xuanzhi in his arms, softly calling out a few times, "Senior brother."
"...Senior brother."
Zhou Xuanzhi closed his eyes, and his hand fell from the hilt of his sword...
"Senior Brother!" Shi Yunzhou never expected his senior brother to collapse in front of him. After a loud cry, he reached out his trembling hand to touch Zhou Xuanzhi's nose, but there was no breath...
Chonghua remained unmoved by the scene before him, as if it had nothing to do with him. He forced out the sword that had pierced his abdomen, and with a flick of his wrist, the Moon Worship Sword shattered.
He clutched his injured abdomen, squatted down, reached out and lifted Shi Yunzhou's face, who was crying while holding Zhou Xuanzhi, and said indifferently, "Why are you crying? If it weren't for him, your master would be back by now, and she would be standing in front of us right now."
Shi Yunzhou wanted nothing more than to kill the person in front of him. How dare this man bring up his master! If his master returned, the first thing he would do was kill this guy who had touched his head!
Consumed by rage, Shi Yunzhou picked up a shard of sword, intending to slit Chonghua's neck and kill him!
Unfortunately, he was no match for Chonghua now. The moment he made his move, Chonghua grabbed Shi Yunzhou's wrist and broke it with a slight force.
Even though it hurt terribly, he refused to bow down to Chonghua. He suppressed the urge to scream, but still let out a low growl: "Ugh..."
"I'm not killing you because I'm afraid your master will be heartbroken to see both of his disciples dead when he returns. Just be a good disciple like this!" With that, he reached out and placed his hand on Shi Yunzhou's head.
This time, Shi Yunzhou could no longer hold back and cried out.
What obedient disciple? He just wants to turn Shi Yunzhou into a cripple! Yue Ze was furious. Only Chonghua could still pull off such torture; it would be better to just kill him! But he couldn't move at all and couldn't help...
Shi Yunzhou didn't know how long this torment lasted; it might have been a moment, or it might have been a long time... In any case, when he regained consciousness, he was completely soaked. He lay on the blood-stained ground like a corpse, with his senior brother beside him.
He struggled to lift his head and saw Chonghua rearranging the destroyed altar; he was almost done. The remnant soul of Yueze's master had already attached itself to Chonghua's body; they should both be quite used to it by now.
Chonghua sacrificed half the world's lives to bring his master back. How would his master face that? How could Heaven forgive him? Shi Yunzhou dared not think any further. He turned and saw his senior brother, his heart filled with immense grief. His senior brother, who had always protected him, was dead, and he was now a cripple.
The dark clouds in the sky gathered again, and suddenly a fierce wind arose, causing the birds and beasts in the forest to cry out in despair. Sensing danger, they scattered and fled in an instant. Leaving Cuiwei Mountain, the same was true for everywhere else; there was no place in this world that was safe.
The green of the trees is being stripped away, and they are turning withered and dry. Birds that have not yet escaped suddenly fall from the sky; beasts that are running suddenly stop and fall straight to the ground.
Centered on the sacrificial altar, death rapidly spread outwards from Mount Cuiwei. Shi Yunzhou, whose cultivation had been crippled, also felt the heavens robbing him of his breath, the surrounding chill engulfing him…
In the capital city, the protective barrier was stripped of its spiritual power once again. The barrier became unstable, and the demons below naturally sensed it. They shouted, "We've succeeded!" and began a frenzied attack on the fragile barrier.
The monks on the city wall have started a new round of fighting. Although they are very tired, they cannot let the people behind them suffer.
The people of the capital are now kneeling on the ground in agony, clutching their necks tightly. Just moments ago, something invisible had gripped their necks, and for a moment they could not breathe.
Some people had nosebleeds, but the blood didn't fall to the ground; instead, it flew into the air...
The situation in Kuizhou City was the same as in the capital; they were doing everything in their power to keep the demons out of the city. However, without the effective barrier of the capital, several sections of Kuizhou City's walls had collapsed, becoming "gates" for the demons to enter the city.
The cultivators naturally couldn't let these demons take even a single step forward. The cultivators who remained in Kuizhou City stepped forward and used their own flesh and blood to block the demons' path.
The patchwork robe seemed to have exhausted its spiritual power, and could no longer eliminate the demons; it could only serve as a barrier.
The people of Kuizhou City had been besieged for several days, and they saw cultivators dying and being seriously injured every day. They had lost all hope.
Especially after seeing that even the patchwork robe had lost its power, some people even shouted out desperate words like, "Heaven is going to destroy our human race!"
On Mount Cuiwei, Shi Yunzhou had already closed his eyes, but he vaguely saw a familiar figure getting up from the bed. Only his master was on that bed…it was his master! He wanted to get up and find his master, beg him to save his senior brother, beg him to stop this disaster.
Shi Wanqing had indeed returned. Chonghua looked at the sky, which was still absorbing his offerings, and it was clear that this was not because of his return.
But it's good that you're back, it's good that you're back. He straightened his clothes, feeling annoyed at the bloodstains on them, but Shi Wanqing was right in front of him, so he didn't have time to fix his clothes.
Chonghua wiped his face. He wanted to go to Shi Wanqing's side, even if she had nothing to say to him. It didn't matter if she hated everything he had done; as long as she looked at him, everything he had done would be worthwhile.
Shi Wanqing stood up and looked at everything in front of her, then fixed her gaze on Chonghua. At this moment, he was just like the first time she met him, and she couldn't tell that he was the one who had done all this.
Shi Wanqing sighed, raised her hand and waved it, destroying the formation that Chonghua had just set up. The dark clouds in the sky dispersed again, and the wind stopped.
This formation originally existed for the purpose of resurrecting the resurrected master Wan Qing. Now that she has returned, the formation is destroyed, so be it.
Yue Ze forced himself to watch Shi Wanqing's return. She was no longer the cultivator who died from the shattering of her spiritual mansion, nor was she the Tianyu Mountain disciple who walked among mortals in her prime. She was now an immortal!
Every step Shi Wanqing took as she stepped out of bed brought a glimmer of life back to Cuiwei Mountain. With her first step, the grass began to sprout; with her second, the withered tree trunks came back to life; with her third, tender buds appeared on the branches… With each step she took, Cuiwei Mountain became more vibrant.
When she arrived before Chonghua, even though it was late autumn, Cuiwei Mountain looked as if it were springtime.
It's normal that I overlooked any changes in Shi Wanqing when she just returned. But now that Shi Wanqing has turned the desolate Cuiwei Mountain into spring, Chonghua can no longer deceive himself.
"You can come back without me?" he asked.
There was nothing in Shi Wanqing's eyes, only regret: "You originally had a bright future."
A bright future? Chonghua didn't quite understand. He never understood from the beginning. "Why do you insist that I be that short-lived mortal? What's wrong with being a cultivator or a demon? The fact that I'm still alive proves that I'm on the right path."
Shi Wanqing knew that this person would not listen to any advice now. "The world has become like this because of me. From now on, I will be in charge of guarding Guancheng." She was very sad to see that her two disciples had no life left, but she only took a moment to adjust her emotions.
"As for you, you killed many people in the capital back then. And today you put half the world's lives on fire. I spared you, but Heaven will not tolerate you." Shi Wanqing said without joy or sorrow, "Then atone for the sins of those you have killed!"
After saying this, Shi Wanqing attacked Chonghua with a deadly move; once it touched him, he would die. Chonghua had many more things to say, but Shi Wanqing didn't give him a chance to speak. To die at her hands was a good choice for him.
Chonghua did not retaliate. After dodging several times, he took Shi Wanqing's palm strike with his chest. The palm strike was extremely powerful, and Chonghua's physical body instantly dissipated into the air.
Upon witnessing Chonghua's death, Yueze was suddenly gripped by fear. He too was a demon, and although he had lived in seclusion within the demon realm for years, if the truth were uncovered, he feared he too would be utterly powerless against this woman, just like Chonghua. Heaven knows how she could have become so powerful after her return!
But Shi Wanqing simply said, "Let them break free from the illusion."
Yue Ze thought to himself, "These words must be directed at me." Even though he was unwilling, he still did as he was told in the face of Shi Wanqing's pressure.
In the capital, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and the people in the city suddenly felt that they could breathe again; the suffocating feeling had disappeared.
On the city wall, the barrier absorbed more spiritual energy than ever before, and the barrier itself became stronger. Those demons who tried to destroy the barrier were repelled by the powerful spiritual energy the moment their weapons struck it, and their weapons shattered. Everything was heading towards the best possible outcome in an instant.
In Kuizhou City, the patchwork robe gradually rose, and the barrier on the ground unfolded like lotus petals, then enveloped the entire city, and the demons could no longer approach Kuizhou City.
The suffering people recovered completely. When they saw the patchwork robes protecting Kuizhou City again, they had no idea what had happened; it all happened so suddenly.
The demon guards on Cuiwei Mountain saw Shi Wanqing but not Chonghua. When they heard Shi Wanqing say that she had killed Chonghua, they wanted nothing more than to rush up and kill her. It wasn't that no one stepped forward, but this woman had become very powerful; with a wave of her sleeve, she knocked them all to the ground.
"Now I'm giving you two choices. First, go back to the Demon Clan with him." Shi Wanqing gestured for the guards to look at Yue Ze beside her, and then said sternly, "Second, I'll send you back to the Demon Clan! Of course, my methods are different from his."
The guards looked at those who had acted so impulsively earlier, now some severely injured, others lifeless. They had initially wanted to resist, but seeing the woman's strength, they dared not provoke her. However, returning to the Demon Realm now was out of the question.
"The passage through the city has been closed, so it's basically impossible for you to go back. But the sect leader and elders of the Immortal Sect are about to return. Do you think you still have a chance?" Shi Wanqing's words were half deception and half threat, which genuinely frightened the group.
She made a hand seal, and a door to the demon realm opened. She said to Yue Ze beside her, "You decide what to do! Three days. I'll give you three days. After three days, if there are still demons in the mortal realm, you know what will happen."
He knew he couldn't bear the wrath of the gods alone, so he nodded and said, "I will do my best. Those who are unwilling to leave are yours to deal with."
After getting the answer she wanted, Shi Wanqing came to her disciple's side. Fortunately, their souls had not yet left their bodies, and they could still be saved.
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