Chapter 59
Exorcism Division, Council Hall.
"The Ten Directions Barrier remains intact, so how did these wretches manage to reach the capital?" Elder Wan Qihuai of the Qingxu Sect sighed. "The Demon Clan had internal conflicts before, and their several invasions all ended in failure. Now that Chonghua has succeeded to the Demon Lord's position, he has been carrying out sweeping reforms. Now that Li Sheng has arrived, does it mean they are about to...?"
“I have a feeling that things are not simple.” Gu Yufeng, the sect leader of Hanfeng Valley, who was reclining in a chair in red, said, “Chonghua rose from a mortal who fell into demonhood to the position of Demon Lord, which shows that he is not simple-minded.”
As he spoke, he sat up straight, "It's clear that what we know now is what he wants us to know."
"Sect Leader Gu is right, but we know very little about the Demon Clan right now," said Chu Shangyuan, the sect leader of Qingxu Sect. "Now we can only deal with whatever comes our way."
"Will he know?" Han Wenqing looked at Chu Shangyuan and said, "We just want an answer from him."
Hanfeng Gu Yufeng agreed with this view, "That's really good." He looked very young and his behavior was quite unrestrained.
Regarding this sect leader, everyone generally felt that Cold Maple Valley had no one else. Why could such a person become the leader of a sect? Fortunately, some of them had experienced the mortal realm with him and knew his strength. Otherwise, Cold Maple Valley would have been ostracized from the Immortal Alliance Conference because of the sect leader's unruly personality.
"Although he is a demon, but..." Fang Xingyang, the head of the Exorcism Bureau, stopped speaking, sighed, and said nothing more. This was not an appropriate statement to make now, especially given the many demons causing trouble in the capital.
"Cooperating with the demons is not a wise choice." A middle-aged, refined man stood up to object; he was Wu Chenghao, the sect leader of the Yan Yue Sect.
Seeing that someone had stood up and shared his view, Fang Xingyang nodded and said, "If the demons could cooperate, how could there be so many calamities in the human world..."
Just then, someone entered. It was a disciple from the Exorcism Division, breaking the awkward silence in the room. "Sect Leader, Senior Uncle Cheng from Tianyu Mountain has brought an injured disciple."
The disciple who was sent back by Cheng Yaojun must have been seriously injured.
"How badly are you injured?" Fang Xingyang had just been talking about that fiend, and now a disciple had been sent back. He felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn't care less about that now.
"He's still unconscious; they say he was injured by Li Sheng."
Han Wenqing glanced at Mu Jin beside him, and Mu Jin understood immediately, walking down to let the disciple lead the way.
Looking at Shi Yunzhou lying on the bed, Mu Jin stepped forward to check on him. His meridians were intact, but he had suffered some internal injuries and would indeed need to recuperate for a while.
Not long after Shi Wanqing's accident, the demonic cultivators came to take their young master away. At that time, Shi Yunzhou mistakenly believed that he had indirectly caused his master's death for some reason, so he left Tianyu Mountain. In the blink of an eye, two hundred years have passed, and the child has grown so much.
Looking at his injuries, she felt a pang of regret. She shouldn't have let that child go down the mountain in the first place. Shi Wanqing only had these two disciples, and they had to live on.
"The injury isn't too serious; it will heal after some rest."
With Wen Liangjiang, the leader of Medicine God Valley, personally examining her, Mu Jin was naturally at ease.
"You care about him a lot?" Wen Liangjiang saw that the pity on Mu Jin's face seemed genuine. This disciple was not from Tianyu Mountain, but seemed to be the young master of Huanhai.
"This is Shi Wanqing's youngest apprentice."
"Is that the child Chu Yi left behind in the mortal realm?" That was Chu Yi, the leader of the Illusionary Sea Demon Cultivators. He met an ordinary woman during an outing and stayed in the mortal realm, wanting to spend his life with her. But fate had other plans. In an accident, the demon cultivator and the woman both died, leaving behind only the newborn child.
The people of Huanhai had searched for a long time and were almost about to give up. Who could have imagined that the child would be taken in by Shi Wanqing? During that period, the cultivators and the demonic cultivators of Huanhai worked together. If Shi Wanqing hadn't died, she could still be discussing how to fight against the demons with Huanhai. What a pity.
“It’s him.” Mu Jin looked at the person lying on the bed with his eyes closed and said, “I don’t know when this child was tainted by demonic energy. He was just lucky that he didn’t become a demon. Later, my junior sister removed the demonic energy from him and raised him. Originally, I didn’t expect him to be outstanding. I just hoped that he would live.”
The child is doing well now, and Huanhai calls him Young Master. He has also lived up to the teachings of his sect, and has been constantly fighting demons and monsters.
"Bearing demonic energy, one careless move and he could fall into demonic possession." Wen Liangjiang nodded. If this were her disciple, she wouldn't have any expectations for him, only hoping that he could live a comfortable and happy life.
After Zhou Xuanzhi and Su Liyue finally managed to defeat the combined demon, they discovered something strange about the situation.
"The ones that came were all very low-level demons." Some of these demons could be killed by soldiers and yamen runners with their swords, and some of them couldn't even take human form. They were sent to the human world as if they looked down on the cultivators and immortal sects stationed there.
Looking at the imperial city behind him, Zhou Xuanzhi said, "Could their target be the imperial city?"
Looking at the majestic place that resembled a city, Su Liyue denied it, saying, "The Imperial City has the Imperial Observatory, and they are very powerful. Over the years, disciples from various immortal sects have also served in the Imperial Observatory."
So what exactly is their goal? If the capital isn't their target, then what is it?
"They can break into the capital, but they can't get out." Su Liyue was also very puzzled, and then asked, "How did they even get into the capital?"
"We did not receive any warning of the demon invasion." Not only Tianyu Mountain did not receive any warning, but Qingxu Sect did not receive any either.
"Didn't they come from the Ten Directions Barrier?" The Ten Directions Barrier is patrolled by cultivators from various immortal sects in turns, and the barrier itself will issue warnings if it is damaged.
Zhou Xuanzhi seemed to have seen this situation before: "We encountered the Illusion Demon on our way to the capital. It's likely that we came out with the Illusion Demon."
"Could it be a loophole in the Ten Directions Barrier?" The Ten Directions Barrier can detect malevolent energy; anyone carrying demonic energy or tainted by malevolent energy will be intercepted by the Ten Directions Barrier. As long as one has never harmed a mortal since birth, one will not possess malevolent energy.
"That must be it. It seems that humans and demons haven't fully mastered the method yet." If they had, these little demons wouldn't have come to the capital.
Before their conversation was over, they saw a huge magic circle rising in the direction of the Exorcism Bureau, its power seemingly shooting straight into the sky.
After this magic array was activated, the spiritual energy in the entire capital city suddenly became abundant. This spiritual energy was refreshing and invigorating, making the cultivators present feel refreshed, but to the demons, it was nothing short of poison.
Because of this spiritual energy, all the demons in the capital city lost their fighting ability. Those with weak cultivation even collapsed and couldn't get up, while others were completely annihilated.
Zhou Xuanzhi and his group had exhausted a lot of spiritual energy in the battle just now, but they were replenished by the abundant spiritual energy.
"Is this magic array from your sect?" A magic array instantly filled the entire capital with spiritual energy. Although various sects also have magic arrays to gather spiritual energy, those are accumulated slowly over time.
Su Liyue looked at the Exorcism Bureau's magic circle, which was still being upgraded, and was somewhat surprised. "No."
At that moment, the spiritual energy spread beyond the capital city, extending to the temporary arena previously erected for the Immortal Alliance Conference. This spiritual energy acted like a key, instantly opening a door, and a magic array similar to that of the Exorcism Bureau rose up.
On the outskirts of the capital, the spiritual energy was so dense that some demons cultivating in the vicinity emerged to absorb this "natural" spiritual energy. Although this spiritual energy might be related to the cultivators who came today, their identities were all registered with the Exorcism Bureau, so those cultivators shouldn't cause them any trouble.
Even Su Liyue was somewhat unsettled at this moment. When did the Exorcism Division become so powerful? Before she could even finish her shock, another magic array rose up, and the three arrays erupted with enormous energy at that instant, causing even the most powerful demons in the capital to fall.
Even Li Sheng was struggling to breathe under the oppressive pressure of the dense spiritual energy. Watching his subordinates fall one after another, he was filled with hatred, but he was now unable to move.
At this moment, even an ordinary mortal could take his life. Now he can only hide in a dilapidated room, accumulating strength to fight against this evil spiritual energy.
"Vice Envoy, is this aimed at us?" asked a demon soldier who could no longer tolerate it.
"No, if they really wanted to kill me, they would have just sent those sword cultivators and talisman cultivators." Who knows what all this fuss is about?
Through the window, one could vaguely see humans walking on the road. To sneak out of the capital without the eyes of the cultivators, the only option was to wear their skins. But that wasn't possible yet; the streets were full of cultivators. One had to wait until they relaxed before going out.
Li Sheng recognized several familiar figures: Cheng Yaojun, the sword cultivator he had just mentioned, and Wan Qihuai, an elder of the Qingxu Sect. He suppressed his demonic energy, closed the window, and hid behind the door.
Seeing this, several soldiers also drew their weapons and stood at the door in a defensive stance. Once the cultivators broke in, they would hold them off, giving their deputy time to escape.
A tense atmosphere filled the room, and there was no sound for a long time. Li Sheng looked out through the crack in the wooden door and saw a soldier opening a crack in the window, but he could no longer see any cultivators.
Li Sheng also has a mission in mind when he came to the mortal realm. The fact that the immortal sects made such a big commotion is probably related to his mission.
"Their target is Yue Mingke." Li Sheng couldn't help but laugh. A mere illusion demon had made this group of people feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.
One soldier asked, "Our mission is complete. Shall we take him with us?"
Li Sheng replied, "Our mission is complete, but this little phantom demon's mission is not."
The entire capital was bathed in spiritual energy, making everyone, from humans to demons outside the city, feel very comfortable. However, some of the demonic beasts kept by high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital did not fare so well; some had even turned to ashes like the demons. Some haunted houses were also purified that night, no longer eerie and terrifying.
The sun rose, and the streets of the capital were cleaned up, showing no trace of the fierce battle that had taken place the previous night. Condolences and compensation were offered to the dead and wounded throughout the capital, a gesture of appeasement.
Zhou Xuanzhi and Su Liyue returned to the Exorcism Bureau, and as soon as they entered, they heard the news that Shi Yunzhou was injured.
Seeing Shi Yunzhou lying unconscious on the bed, he felt ashamed of his master's teachings and that he was not a very good senior brother.
“It’s Li Sheng, the deputy envoy of the Demon Clan. But you don’t need to worry, he’s doing very well, he just needs to sleep a little longer,” Mu Jin said.
"Thank you for your care, Uncle Mu."
Looking at her travel-worn nephew, Mu Jin was still a little worried: "Go back and rest, you've been tired all night."
"I'll stay..."
Mu Jin interrupted him, "I promise, something good will happen when you wake up."
"Then I'll leave you in the care of my senior brother. I'll take my leave now." As he walked out of the room, he glanced back at his junior brother, who was still asleep. Fortunately, he was alright.
Back in his room, Zhou Xuanzhi realized something was wrong. The demon envoy's hands were covered in blood. How had he gotten out of the Ten Directions Barrier? All his previous guesses were wrong…
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