Chapter 159: Ambush

Just as the Wu family cultivators were searching the town, a smiling old man in green clothes suddenly arrived at the town's mountain-protecting formation.

The two Wu family cultivators guarding the formation immediately bowed and saluted upon seeing him.

"Third Elder, why have you come here?"

The old man in green said calmly, "Demonic cultivators are exceptionally cunning. The Patriarch is somewhat worried about this place and asked me to come and help guard the formation. You don't need to worry about me; just do your own work."

The two nodded and agreed. After the old man in green stepped forward to inspect the formation, he nodded with satisfaction at the two.

Just as the two were gradually relaxing, one of them suddenly let out a miserable scream, and a green flying sword had appeared from his chest. The other companion guarding the formation, not knowing what had happened, hurriedly wanted to step forward to check, but was slapped away by the Third Elder on the side, landing directly on the ground five or six zhang away.

The person looked up in confusion, only to see the Wu family's Third Elder, who had been kind-faced just a moment ago, now wearing a ferocious expression. He used the spiritual power gathered in his hand to forcibly break the restriction protecting the core of the formation. Immediately after, the white light shield above the entire town vanished without a trace; the mountain-protecting formation had been shut down by this Third Elder.

"Third Elder, what are you doing? What on earth is happening?" The person still lying on the ground asked sternly in shock at the elder of the clan whom he had always respected, seeing him suddenly shut down the mountain-protecting formation.

Seeing that the formation had been shut down, the Third Elder revealed a strange smile and quickly left, paying no heed to the former clansman lying on the ground.

It was already late at night, and the Wu family had searched most of the area within the formation, yet they still had not found a single trace of a demonic cultivator.

Just as they were about to head to the next location to search, they saw that the sky had suddenly darkened significantly. Looking up, they saw that the mountain-protecting formation, which had been open the whole time, had suddenly vanished.

At the same time, at the boundary of the original mountain-protecting formation, as it vanished, several black shadows suddenly leaped up from a rice field and quickly passed through the area that had just been controlled by the formation.

Just as this group of demonic cultivators thought they had escaped, several rays of light from magic tools suddenly lit up on both sides ahead. The tall old man leading them hurriedly stopped and shouted.

"Not good, there is an ambush here."

"Everyone attack together! Don't let these demonic brats go!" Following Song Changfeng's order, the twenty or thirty cultivators from various families mobilized by the Song family on both sides immediately rushed toward the group of demonic cultivators.

Demonic cultivators act with extreme ruthlessness. In order to practice their arts and refine magic tools, they often leave trails of blood for miles. Their threat to ordinary mortals even exceeds that of spirit beasts. Since the introduction of the Demonic Sect's arts into this realm, the number of shocking incidents they have caused is countless. They have always been the common enemy of all righteous cultivators in the entire cultivation world.

After receiving the Song family's order to crusade against the demonic cultivators, the affiliated Qi Refining families below did not dare to be negligent, each dispatching more than half of their clan's experts just to eradicate the demonic cultivators here completely. Once this crusade failed to eliminate them, it was highly likely to leave a hidden danger for the entire Qinghe County. After all, none of them wanted to be targeted by these cruel demonic cultivators like the Wu family today.

The number of cultivators from various families surrounding them was large, and these demonic cultivators were soon blocked. Seeing that they had lost the chance to escape secretly, the tall old man's eyes flashed with ruthlessness as he shouted, "If you want to keep us here, it depends on whether you have the ability!"

With several flashes of fire, the two sides were soon engaged in battle. Although the righteous cultivators led by Song Changfeng were much more numerous than the demonic cultivators, several among the demonic cultivators had very impressive methods.

In particular, the tall old man leading the demonic cultivators used a black banner magic tool that released a thick, pitch-black smoke, instantly blocking several late-stage Qi Refining experts on the righteous side. Facing the siege of numerous cultivators, he not only felt no pressure, but even appeared to have energy to spare while fighting. The black smoke released from the black banner magic tool also carried the terrifying sound of ghosts crying and wolves howling, forcing the four or five cultivators facing him to retreat repeatedly.

Because demonic cultivators rarely appeared in Qinghe County, everyone knew very little about their methods, and very few had actually fought against them. Facing the demonic magic tool in the tall old man's hand that could disturb one's mind, several people were momentarily flustered and lost their footing.

Seeing that the magic tool in the old man's hand was somewhat tricky and difficult to deal with, Song Changfeng hurriedly brought two other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators to join the siege, and only then did they manage to suppress the tall old man.

If Song Qingming were here, he would likely be shocked. This tall old man holding the black banner was one of the demonic cultivators who had fought a great battle against their Flying Cloud Guards in the Fuyun Mountain Range many years ago—Gu Liangshan, the second disciple of Yang Wuqi.

In that great battle years ago, Gu Liangshan had relied on the "Soul-Gathering Banner" in his hand to hold off three late-stage Qi Refining experts of their Flying Cloud Guards single-handedly. Now, nearly twenty years later, not only had this demonic cultivator's cultivation and methods become much stronger, but the "Soul-Gathering Banner" in his hand also contained many more wronged souls, making its power even greater than it was back then.

After the two sides fought for a while, two demonic cultivators with lower strength had already died on the spot. Seeing several more rays of spiritual light lighting up not far away, Gu Liangshan thought that reinforcements must have arrived for the other side. A plan formed in his mind, and he secretly transmitted his voice to several fellow disciples fighting nearby, "Junior brothers, the other side has reinforcements. Prolonged fighting will definitely be unfavorable for us. I have a powerful treasure bestowed by our Master; I ask everyone to help me so we can drive them back first."

"Damn it! Second Senior Brother, you actually hid a powerful method from us? Why didn't you use it earlier?"

Upon hearing Gu Liangshan's voice transmission, the three late-stage Qi Refining demonic cultivators who were also in a predicament felt some doubt, not knowing what powerful method Gu Liangshan had, but they could not care about that now. After all, it was a life-or-death moment, and for them, if there was hope of escaping, they had to fight with all their might.

As they spoke, the three of them used several desperate methods, forcing their opponents back and gathering around Gu Liangshan, surrounding him in the middle.

Seeing this, Gu Liangshan was overjoyed and hurriedly sat cross-legged on the spot, taking out a pitch-black small jade tablet, and began to chant incantations.

Song Changfeng and the others surrounding them, seeing that Gu Liangshan seemed to be about to use a powerful method and unable to break through the obstruction of the three, hurriedly directed everyone to retreat to the side to avoid everyone suffering a disaster due to a moment of carelessness. After all, demonic cultivators had many powerful methods.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 160 =====