Chapter 227: Laozu Breaks the Restriction

The arrival of Nanxuan Laozu was a shocking encouragement to the cultivators of the Four Great Sects; after attacking for many days without success, they finally saw hope today.

At the same time, the reinforcements that arrived for the Four Great Sects also greatly boosted morale, surrounding the entire Demon Mountain so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through, and their shouts drowned out the clouds!

Standing on the Demon Mountain and looking down, the area was densely packed with cultivators from the Four Great Sects. Wang Ji, who had been watching for half a day, took a deep breath of cold air; he had not expected that the Four Great Sects would pour out their entire strength to wage this war.

Many disciples on the Demon Mountain felt a chill in their hearts upon seeing the scene below, and they began to doubt the strength of the Demon Emperor. For these past few years, they had been serving the Demon Emperor, but the Demon Emperor had never given them any benefits.

At this very moment, Nanxuan Laozu stood at the foot of Qingnian Demon Mountain, looking up toward the peak. The rolling, pure Demonic Qi was emanating from there, supporting the entire Mountain Protection Restriction.

"This day has finally arrived!"

With no expression on his face, Nanxuan Laozu looked like an immortal who had just descended into the mortal world, his white hair and white beard fluttering in the breeze.

"Laozu, since the method to break the restriction has been devised, when shall we take action?"

Standing behind Nanxuan Laozu were four people, the Sect Leaders of the Four Great Sects, but only Zhuge An dared to ask such a question.

"Let everyone rest first; besides, breaking the restriction also requires some time to prepare!"

After these low words were spoken, Zhuge An and the others nodded slightly. During these days, they had put in a lot of hard work attacking the Mountain Protection Restriction; although there were no casualties, the consumption of Spirit Power had become the biggest problem by comparison. Using the time it took for Laozu to break the restriction to rest would also allow them to recover a good deal of combat power.

After learning more about the details around the Demon Mountain from the four of them, Nanxuan Laozu retreated. Early the next morning, several disciples of the Nanxuan Sect began setting up something at the foot of Qingnian Demon Mountain.

However, judging by the appearance of these items, it seemed extremely laborious; dozens of people could only set up two or three of them each day.

"Are we just going to let them be like that at the foot of the mountain?"

On the Demon Mountain, Gui Xiao, who saw this scene, said with great dissatisfaction.

"Do you not have confidence in the Mountain Protection Restriction of my Qingnian Demon Mountain?"

Glancing at Gui Xiao, Wang Ji said coldly.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, you misunderstand; that is not what I meant. It is just that with the Four Great Sects acting like this below, I truly cannot stand to watch!"

"Rest assured! I doubt they can come up with anything; perhaps this is even a lure to draw us out!"

Sneering, Wang Ji said with full confidence.

"In my opinion, everything they are doing does not look like a lure."

A woman's voice slowly sounded; it was Fu Ling.

"Oh? How does Fellow Daoist Fu see it?"

Wang Ji had always disliked this woman, especially since the last time the Demon Emperor had promised her two sects on the Tianjiang Plain, which had only added to his resentment.

"Look carefully, everyone. The people from the Four Great Sects seem to be constantly filling the installations with Spirit Stones. Although I do not know what use that installation has, placing such a large amount of Spirit Stones into it should mean it has considerable power!"

Ignoring Wang Ji's disdainful gaze, Fu Ling pointed down the mountain and spoke slowly.

"If they don't pay a heavy price, how could they lure us into the trap?"

With a light cold snort, Wang Ji did not take what Fu Ling said to heart at all.

"I think Fellow Daoist Fu makes sense! Why don't I go sneak a look when it gets darker?"

Gui Xiao highly agreed with Fu Ling's view. After all, they had abandoned their respective Demon Mountains to protect Qingnian Demon Mountain with all their might, and they did not want to lose the big for the sake of the small and destroy this last bargaining chip.

Since both of them said so, Wang Ji found it difficult to insist further. After hesitating for a moment, he agreed.

At midnight, on one side of Qingnian Demon Mountain, the Mountain Protection Restriction opened a small gap, and a streak of light immediately flashed out, rushing toward the direction of the things set up by the Nanxuan Sect disciples during the day.

The surroundings were empty, with not a single cultivator on guard. The person in the streak of light felt a bit surprised, but he still braced himself and flew over.

The installation was very close to the Demon Mountain; in almost the blink of an eye, the streak of light arrived. After the light faded, it revealed the appearance of Gui Xiao.

He stopped next to the installation, first scanning it with his Divine Sense and finding nothing unusual, then boldly reached out toward it. But at this very moment, a loud laugh rang out in mid-air.

"Haha! Thief of the Demon Sect! This old man has been waiting for you for a long time!"

The voice belonged to none other than Nanxuan Laozu! Before his hand could even touch the installation, Gui Xiao was so frightened that he shivered violently. A powerful pressure poured down from the sky. By now, he had no mind to care about any installation; he turned around and transformed into a black rainbow, rushing toward the restriction of the Demon Mountain.

At the same time, Nanxuan Laozu's figure appeared high in the sky. His face was gloomy, and with a seemingly casual movement of his eyelids, his two white eyebrows rapidly elongated, curling toward the fleeing Gui Xiao.

Do not be fooled by the fact that they were just thin eyebrows; in the hands of Nanxuan Laozu, they were extremely formidable things. Gui Xiao felt the evil wind behind him and felt a chill run down his spine. He immediately increased his escape speed by a few notches, while constantly transmitting his voice into the Demon Mountain:

"Fellow Daoist Wang! Quickly open a small part of the restriction and let me in!"

Just as Gui Xiao's voice transmission ended, the Mountain Protection Restriction in front of him immediately opened a small gap. He dove in without a second thought, and then the restriction closed back up, becoming perfect once again.

Just as Gui Xiao entered, Nanxuan Laozu's eyebrows arrived as well. After a muffled 'Boom—', both white eyebrows struck the restriction, and a ripple like water spread out. In the blink of an eye, it was as if nothing had happened.

Floating in mid-air, Nanxuan Laozu showed a look of annoyance on his face, as if he were very disappointed that this strike had not killed Gui Xiao. His figure flashed rapidly, and his silhouette disappeared from the sky.

"How is it, Fellow Daoist Gui? Were you able to see clearly what the Four Great Sects have set up?"

From the moment Gui Xiao left the Mountain Protection Restriction to the moment he was ambushed by Nanxuan Laozu, Wang Ji had seen it all. After a moment of thought, he concluded that the Four Great Sects were indeed engaging in a lure.

"That was close!"

Facing Wang Ji's mockery, Gui Xiao did not use any words to refute him. His mind was still stuck on the moment he was ambushed by Nanxuan Laozu; to be ambushed by a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage and still come back alive was fortunate enough.

"There is nothing strange to be seen in the installations of the Four Great Sects! However, the appearance of Nanxuan Laozu did surprise me!"

While still shaken, Gui Xiao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Perhaps it is because Nanxuan Laozu is guarding it personally that it shows the importance of this thing!"

Fu Ling still refused to believe it, lowering her head and muttering to herself.

"Even if the thing below is used to break the Mountain Protection Restriction, can you, Fellow Daoist Fu, go and confront Nanxuan Laozu?"

There was a slight hint of anger in Wang Ji's words.

"Since Fellow Daoist Wang has said so, this concubine will just have to listen to your arrangements!"

Fu Ling's pretty face changed, and she flicked her sleeves and turned to leave. Regardless, she was currently on someone else's territory, and acting as if she were the host was never a good idea. On the other hand, she had already lost the Wushuang Sacred Demon Mountain; the success or failure of the Qingnian Demon Mountain was not that important to her anymore! At worst, they would all become homeless people together!

Seeing Fu Ling leave in a huff, Wang Ji did not offer much explanation, only letting out a cold snort. His figure drifted away, leaving only Gui Xiao behind, still worried about what had just happened; he had been only a hair's breadth away from not coming back.

Above the sky outside the Qingnian Demon Mountain, Nanxuan Laozu and Zhuge An hid under the cover of night, watching everything that happened in the Demon Mountain, and both of them revealed smiles at the same time.

"Laozu, it seems our plan has succeeded!"

"Indeed! If I had gone all out, how could that brat Gui Xiao have escaped back?"

Nanxuan Laozu had deliberately let Gui Xiao go back just now, wanting the people in the Demon Mountain to mistakenly believe that the installations outside the mountain were a lure. In this way, their future affairs would be much easier to handle. This trick of 'crossing the sea under the cover of heaven' was used by Nanxuan Laozu just right, enough to pass off the fake as the real!

Sure enough, starting from the second day, no matter what the Four Great Sects did outside the Demon Mountain, no one came out to stop them again. More than ten days later, dozens of structures resembling small towers about a zhang high rose up around Qingnian Demon Mountain.

On the surface, these small towers looked gray and hazy, as if they were piled up from loose stones, but the powerful Spirit Power fluctuations emanating from within them could not be underestimated.

Nanxuan Laozu stood in mid-air, holding a white White Disc in his hand; the surface of the White Disc flickered with spiritual light, and occasionally, a cyan electric arc would emit from it.

"Tell the disciples of the Four Great Sects to retreat five hundred li!"

After turning his head to give the order to Zhuge An, Nanxuan Laozu slightly closed his eyes.

As soon as Zhuge An received the order, he immediately had it passed down, and before long, the cultivators who had previously surrounded Qingnian Demon Mountain began to retreat rapidly.

Inside the Demon Mountain, Wang Ji saw this scene, and a bad feeling arose in his heart; he began to suspect that the dozens of small towers around the Demon Mountain were truly built to break the Mountain Protection Restriction.

However, things had reached this point, and he had no other options; he could only meet all changes with constancy!

Zhang Nuo, who was a hundred li away from Qingnian Demon Mountain, saw that the surrounding cultivators had retreated so far, and after a moment of thought, he also retracted his Dharma Array and flew rapidly toward the distance.

Having waited here for so long without seeing Shi Liang appear, he felt somewhat discouraged, and even began to doubt the accuracy of the intelligence.

Zhang Nuo had just flown more than four hundred li away when a heaven-shaking and earth-shattering roar suddenly erupted from behind him; the sounds rose one after another, wave after wave, shaking the mountains and the earth until they trembled incessantly.

Countless birds and beasts flew out from the woods, some giant beasts even let out fearful roars, and the yellow dust rising from the ground reached as high as several dozen zhang; with Qingnian Demon Mountain as the center, the sky within a radius of three hundred li turned dark red, and tidal waves of immense Spirit Power fluctuations leveled the forests and small hills on the ground!

Sensing everything behind him with his Divine Sense, Zhang Nuo could hardly imagine it! This was an astonishing destructive power unleashed by human hands! It seemed that Nanxuan Laozu's breaking of the restriction had begun.