Chapter 233: Live and Die Together

Xie Yao tilted his head slightly, appearing somewhat puzzled, "Can you not see your own situation clearly? Truly strange, the Xuanbing Sect has indeed declined, to have someone like you guarding the Mountain Protection Array."

Furthermore, his peak has hundreds of disciples, and now that they are almost all dead, has he not noticed either?

A very charming female cultivator walked up, urging with slight anxiety: "Saint Demon Lord, although the Xuanbing Sect's Mountain Protection Array is guarded by Lin Wenxi alone, the Sect Master is also capable of activating it; we must hurry to stop the Sect Master."

"It is actually you... you have actually become a traitor to the Sect!" Lin Wenxi's eyes were splitting, and he roared through gritted teeth.

The woman turned her head and smiled triumphantly; it was Zhu Lihua.

She brushed a stray lock of hair from her temple and laughed: "Those who understand the times are heroes. The Xuanbing Sect is destined to be destroyed at the hands of the Saint Demon Lord. I am merely trying to reduce needless casualties by defecting to the Saint Demon Lord in advance; what is the problem with that?"

"But all your cultivation since you entered the Dao has relied on the Sect's support! Do you not have even a shred of gratitude toward the Sect?"

Zhu Lihua found it amusing: "Do not speak of gratitude or devotion; I am tired of hearing it. If I had not submitted myself to the Xu Family, who knows where my bones would be buried by now? How could I possibly live the kind of life I have today?"

She turned to Xie Yao and said: "This person can perform divination; to avoid long delays, it is better to kill him."

"Oh? Can someone who calculates the fate of others see their own fate?" Xie Yao chuckled, "Did you calculate that you would die today?"

Lin Wenxi's complexion was ashen, his expression humiliated, and blood dripped from his body pierced by vines. He gritted his teeth, wanting to self-destruct his Nascent Soul, but Xie Yao's vines were already prepared; the moment he mobilized the Spiritual Power within his body, the vines pierced into his dantian.

His Divine Soul floated out and flew rapidly away in another direction.

"Saint Demon Lord!" Zhu Lihua urged anxiously.

"No rush." Xie Yao looked up at the sky, "Let's see where he wants to go; we shall just follow."

Another figure flew over. After Demon Lord Cheng Huan stood still, he smiled and said: "Saint Demon Lord, the Demon Cultivator army has already breached the Outer Sect. Those little dolls raised in a greenhouse have no power to fight back and are already showing signs of being swept away."

"Not bad." Xie Yao nodded in praise, then flew into the sky, chasing after Lin Wenxi's Divine Soul.

Demon Lord Cheng Huan was in no rush to leave, instead looking at Zhu Lihua and asking with a smile: "Where is your daughter? Why did you not bring her along? Once the Demon Cultivators storm in, they will not be gentle or show mercy. If you do not keep her by your side, she might just die."

"Let her die if she must." Zhu Lihua said indifferently: "She has grown up and stopped listening. Since she is obsessed and refuses to see reason, there is nothing I can do."

"Tsk tsk, truly heartless." Demon Lord Cheng Huan shook his head in pity.

With the invasion of the Demon Cultivator army, cries of battle could be heard reaching the heavens from every peak.

On Chenshui Peak, several Cheng Family disciples looked toward the direction of the Outer Sect, where fire filled the sky, and could not help but frown: "What is happening? If there is an enemy attack, why has the Mountain Protection Array not been activated?"

"Do not panic. Previously, Peak Master Lin suffered a cultivation deviation, and the Sect Master did not send extra people to guard the Mountain Protection Array. It is possible that Peak Master Lin was negligent due to his injuries. With the various Peak Masters present, nothing major will happen. I will go over to take a look first." Cheng Bi pacified several cousins of the same clan and then went to find the Peak Master.

Cheng Shuo hurriedly followed, "I will go with you."

Before the two could run to the front of the hall, they heard a loud boom, and the white-haired and white-bearded Cheng Lu fell from the sky, blood spilling uncontrollably from his mouth.

"Grandfather!" Cheng Bi ran up to support Cheng Lu.

Cheng Shuo shouted with a pale face: "It is the Demon Cultivators!"

Demon Lord Chen Xin landed on a stone pillar in front of the hall, standing with his hands behind his back, a faint smile forced onto his face: "Old thing, have you eaten the Longevity Pill?"

"You tampered with our Sect's Longevity Pill?" Cheng Lu was shocked.

There were not a few cultivators in the Xuanbing Sect who had consumed the Longevity Pill.

Having cultivated to this realm, who was willing to die willingly? Even the Sect, to avoid losing high-level cultivators within its ranks, would take the initiative to find Longevity Pills for them.

No wonder he had been evenly matched with the opponent, only to suddenly feel a wave of weakness in his body, which was why he was struck down from the sky by the opponent.

It took only a second for this information to pass through Cheng Lu's mind, and he quickly made a decision, mobilizing the last of his Spiritual Power to sweep Cheng Bi and the other away from Chenshui Peak.

His Cheng Family descendants all lived on Chenshui Peak and must not be wiped out by the Demon Cultivators in one go. His heart-wrenching roar echoed through the heavens: "Go find the Sect Master!"

Within the Xuanbing Sect, only three people at the Transformation Stage had never taken the Longevity Pill.

One was the Sect Master, one was Qingyuan Daojun, and one was Qingmeng Daojun. Qingyuan Daojun was currently far away in Canghai City, and Qingmeng Daojun had suffered a cultivation deviation and failed to activate the Mountain Protection Array in time, likely already unable to save himself. Within the Xuanbing Sect, only the Sect Master's location was likely safe.

Demon Lord Chen Xin flipped his hands, and silver hook chains flew toward Cheng Lu.

Cheng Lu had no energy left to respond at this moment. Just as he prepared to take the blow head-on, a sword flew toward the chains, though it only hindered the speed of the chains slightly. The person holding the sword grabbed the chains with both hands, and the sharp silver hooks sliced through his body. The newcomer groaned, holding onto the chains tightly and refusing to let go.

Cheng Lu looked closely and saw it was his son blocking in front of him, while his other nephew and niece rushed up to tangle with Demon Lord Chen Xin.

"Want to save him? Since you are in such a hurry to die, then I will send you on your way first." A strange smile hung on Demon Lord Chen Xin's stiff face as he retracted the silver hook chains, sliding them in a semicircle in his hands.

"Grandfather! Father—"

The scene before them grew more and more distant; Cheng Bi's eyes instantly turned red from crying, and tears dripped down continuously.

With their Spiritual Power failing, they fell from the sky before they could even reach the Sect Master's Main Peak.

Cheng Shuo climbed up and pulled Cheng Bi, "Pull yourself together! We must hurry to find the Sect Master and ask for reinforcements, otherwise the entire Chenshui Peak will not escape this disaster!"

At this time, on the Main Peak.

Xie Yao held Lin Wenxi's Divine Soul in his hand.

The Sect Master, Peak Master Zhao of Xuemu Peak, Peak Master Ou of Zhengyang Peak, Hall Master Jia of the Sect Affairs Hall...

Dozens of Peak Masters were gathered here, among them three Transformation Stage Daojuns.

They looked at Xie Yao as if facing a great enemy, yet before Xie Yao, they were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Gently crushing Lin Wenxi's Divine Soul, Xie Yao pursed his lips and chuckled, "I thought the Central Province had declined because you were hiding things; I didn't expect you really have no one at the Return to Ruins Stage?"

"Demon, do not be so arrogant! If Guangyou Xianjun were still here, how would he tolerate you acting so wantonly!" A Nascent Soul Stage Peak Master shouted angrily, then suddenly widened his eyes as his body fell straight backward. His Nascent Soul popped out, only to be swept up by vines emerging from the ground and swallowed in two bites.

Demon Lord Cheng Huan's figure appeared behind the fallen Peak Master, smiling: "I am not late, am I?"

Below the Main Peak.

"Mingqi, don't go!" Xu Sirui screamed, hugging Yue Mingqi.

But she was pushed away by Yue Mingqi, "You are greedy for life and afraid of death; do not treat me as the same as you."

"But they are all high-level Demon Cultivators; what help can you be if you go?" Xu Sirui clutched her stomach, unable to stop her tears.

Yue Mingqi paused, "I may not be able to help at the Main Peak, but what about the Outer Sect? As long as the sword is still in hand, I will kill as many Demon Cultivators as I can. I swear to live and die with the Sect. If you are afraid, stay here and hide. We have been husband and wife; if I die, everything I have will be left to you."

Having said this, he turned and left, carrying his sword without hesitation.

"Greedy for life and afraid of death..." Xu Sirui repeated through tear-blurred eyes. This was the same phrase she had used to accuse her own mother just an hour ago.

She did not leave with her mother but stayed behind, not only because she did not agree with her mother's actions, but also because she did not want her child to lose a father before it was even born.

She touched her lower abdomen, took out the Dharma Sword she had personally tempered before her marriage, and her gaze became firm, "I am not someone who is greedy for life and afraid of death..."

She only wanted to be a person of value. Not as an Artifact Refiner, creating value for her father and the Xu Family; nor as a woman, creating value for her mother and her husband.

But as a Cultivator, for the Sect, for the common people.

The momentum of the fierce battle was overwhelming; after Xie Yao and the others had dealt with all the high-level Cultivators, she sat alone on the steps of the front hall, her body leaning lazily to one side, a faint layer of cyan mist on the ground, vines like tentacles cleaning up the remaining pools of blood and corpses below.

Their battle ended very quickly, but the battle at the foot of the mountain ended very slowly.

The one hundred and eighty mountain peaks were too large, and there were too many Outer Sect disciples; finding all those people and killing them wasted quite a bit of their time.

It was not until the east broke with dawn that this one-sided situation finally came to an end.

Xie Huai's white robes were stained with the blood of many other Cultivators; he leaned against the wall to close his eyes and rest, and Chuan Nu patted his shoulder, "Rest well."

Then he went to report before Xie Yao.

Aside from objectively describing Xie Huai's performance, he said in a low, hoarse voice: "Including Xianyuan City and the one hundred and eighty mountain peaks, everything is now under our control. However, the commotion was too great after all; other Sects and towns within a hundred miles seem to have sensed it. Should we wipe them out as well?"

"No need. Give them time to send messages for help; I can afford to wait." Xie Yao rubbed her brow and looked up at the sky.

For eight hundred years, how many thousands of Longevity Pills have flowed out from the Northern Territory? Facing these Immortal Sect Cultivators who still do not know the truth, what does she have to fear? The only thing that makes her unwilling to accept it is the Heavenly Dao Order.

She does not know if her bargaining chips are enough.

The news that the Central Province Xuanbing Sect had been attacked flew to Canghai City as if it had grown wings.

Upon hearing this, Qingyuan Daojun could not sit still and wanted to return to Central Province.

The auction on the third day had just begun when a middle-aged man walked over to soothe him in a low voice: "Daojun, please calm down. The attack on Central Province happened last night; even if you go back now, it will likely be of no avail. It would be better to stay and listen to the final proceedings of the auction."

Peak Master Qi suppressed his anxious emotions, frowned, and said: "We have already waited for three days. What does Wanbao Tower have that cannot be said clearly, that they must play coy at this critical moment when things are at stake?"

"Since you are so anxious, then I will bring out the final auction item ahead of schedule." Cheng Zhishu sighed and snapped his fingers.

Several auctioneers placed a transparent, semi-circular jar on the platform.

Inside was a White Long-handled Ruyi.

Cheng Zhishu flew onto the platform, signaling everyone to pay attention to this final auction item.

After two seconds of silence, he began to introduce it: "I presume many of you fellow Daoists came here specifically for this final item. I will not hide it from you all: this is the token and key that governs my Wanbao Tower. More importantly, it is itself a top-grade Spirit Tool, possessing the ability to communicate with heaven and earth, increase the chances of epiphany, and accelerate cultivation speed. Furthermore, its effect will not weaken due to the improvement of one's realm; the higher your cultivation, the stronger its efficacy!"

Once these words were spoken, the entire venue was in an uproar.

Even those Cultivators who had not originally intended to compete for the ownership of Wanbao Tower were tempted.

This treasure not only represented the immense financial power of Wanbao Tower but could also significantly increase the strength of high-level Cultivators.

Even if it were not an offensive or defensive Spirit Tool, its preciousness was self-evident.

A Cultivator was eager to act and said: "I bid ten million Spirit Stones!"

"You want to take it away with a mere ten million? Don't make people laugh; Wanbao Tower can earn ten million in net profit in just a few years!" someone mocked.

The Cultivator who bid earlier turned red and then white, "If you think ten million is not enough, then you bid!"

Seeing that they were about to quarrel, Cheng Zhishu waved his hand, and the entire venue instantly fell silent.

Some Cultivators wanted to speak again, only to find that no matter how they spoke, others could not hear their voices.

This move shocked all the Cultivators in the venue. Most of the people present were Spirit Severing or Nascent Soul; to make so many high-level Cultivators unable to make a sound with his Magic Art all at once, it seemed this person in charge of Wanbao Tower was no ordinary individual.

"I presume everyone has guessed it; I am the Great Building Master behind Wanbao Tower, Cheng Zhishu." Cheng Zhishu smiled slightly: "And for this auction item, what needs to be bid is not your Spirit Stones, but something else to exchange for it."

He paused; although he had already withdrawn his silent Magic Art, everyone held their breath, waiting for his next words.

However, Cheng Zhishu did not reveal what to exchange it with; he played coy, and another person appeared on the stage.

Cheng Zhishu said: "Actually, a few days ago, I had already received news that the Demon Cultivators were about to invade, but I did not expect them to come so quickly. The first strike hit Central Province directly, catching the Xuanbing Sect off guard."

Qingyuan Daojun interrupted with an ugly expression: "Since you knew, why didn't you notify the various Sects? Even if you didn't know the specific date, letting the Sects prepare in advance would have been better!"

Immediately, many Sect Cultivators nodded in agreement.

This news, even if it cost money, they would have bought it.

But for Wanbao Tower to hide it and not say anything, their intentions were very suspicious.

"At the time, I also doubted the authenticity of the news, so I did not send messages to the various Sects. It is too late for regrets now." Cheng Zhishu sighed, "But I am willing to use this as a remedy. This news was learned from a traitor of an Immortal Sect who had already defected to the Demon Cultivators. Now, I will use this treasure as a prize and gift it for free to the fellow Daoist who kills the head of the traitorous Sect!"

"To think there is such a shameless Immortal Cultivator, defecting to the Demon Cultivators; it is simply defying the Heavenly Dao!"

"Building Master Cheng, tell us, which Sect is that traitorous Sect? And who is the Cultivator? What is the name of this treasure?"

Cheng Zhishu smiled slightly, "As for the matter of the traitorous Sect, let my little disciple tell it; he is the person who endured humiliation and sneaked into the traitorous Sect as an undercover agent. As for this treasure, it is called the Heavenly Dao Order."

Heavenly Dao Order—

Ruan Xing's pupils shrank violently.

That's not right... In the Simulation, although the final auction item was also this thing, Cheng Zhishu did not say it was the Heavenly Dao Order.

And there was no story about a traitorous Sect to tell.

The only variable in this was that she helped Mo Cijun use the Illusion Technique.

Could it be that Mo Cijun betrayed the agreement in just two days? That's not right; he doesn't seem like that kind of person. Since she has known Mo Cijun, the other party has always been very compliant with the spirit of the Contract.

Her gaze scanned the venue, looking for Mo Cijun's figure.

But she could not find him.

And the new Spirit Severing Cultivator who appeared on the stage also made Ruan Xing feel somewhat familiar.

But she did not remember knowing such a Spirit Severing Daojun.

That person walked to the front of the stage with a leisurely pace and told everyone the ins and outs: "Decades ago, a group of Demon Cultivators suddenly appeared in Nanzhou. I presume everyone has some impression of this matter? Although those Demon Cultivators were killed, I felt there was something suspicious about it. I investigated in secret and discovered that a Sect in Nanzhou actually had some connection with the Demon Cultivators.

Therefore, after understanding the basic situation of that Sect, I thought of a way to sneak in.

That Sect was previously called the Six Suns Study; now, it is called the Fengling Yueying Sect. Of course, it makes no difference what it is called, because they are all in collusion with the Demon Cultivators.

And the Fengling Yueying Sect also received an invitation from Wanbao Tower; the current Sect Master is sitting right here in the venue!"

His gaze met Ruan Xing's, and he curled his lips, "Sect Master, I am Shao Yang; do you remember me?"

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