Chapter 159: The Ambush

Just as the Wu family cultivators were searching the town, a smiling old man in green robes suddenly arrived at the town’s protective array.

The two Wu family cultivators guarding the array bowed and saluted immediately upon seeing the newcomer.

"Third Elder, why have you come here?"

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

Seeing this, the two nodded and agreed. After the old man in green robes stepped forward to inspect the array, he nodded with satisfaction at the two.

Just as the two were gradually relaxing, one of them suddenly let out a miserable shriek, and a green flying sword had emerged from their chest before they knew it. The other companion guarding the array, 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 that the Wu family Third Elder, who had been kind-faced not long ago, was now looking ferocious. He used the spiritual power gathered in his hand to forcibly break the restriction protecting the core of the array. Immediately after, the white light shield above the entire town vanished in an instant; the protective array had been shut down by this Third Elder.

"Third Elder, what are you doing? What on earth happened?" The person still lying on the ground asked sternly, shocked to see the Third Elder suddenly shut down the protective array, questioning the elder of the clan whom they had always respected.

Seeing that the array had been shut down, the Third Elder revealed a strange smile and left the place quickly, not bothering with the former clansman lying on the ground.

It was already late at night, and the Wu family members had searched most of the area within the array, yet they still hadn't found a single trace of a demonic cultivator.

Just as they were about to head to the next location to search, they saw the sky suddenly darken significantly. Looking up, the protective array that had been open all along had suddenly vanished.

At the same time, at the boundary of the original protective array, as the array vanished, several black shadows suddenly leapt up from a rice field and quickly passed through the area that had just been controlled by the array.

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

"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 immediately charged toward this group of demonic cultivators.

Demonic cultivators were too ruthless in their actions. In order to practice their techniques and refine magic tools, they often left trails of blood for miles. The threat they posed to ordinary mortals even exceeded that of demonic beasts. Since the introduction of demonic sect techniques into this realm, the number of shocking incidents they had caused was countless. They had always been the common enemy of righteous cultivators in the entire cultivation world.

After receiving the Song family’s mobilization order to crusade against the demonic cultivators, the several vassal Qi Refining families did not dare to be negligent, each dispatching more than half of their clan’s experts, all for the sake of completely eradicating the demonic cultivators here. Once this battle failed to eliminate the demons, 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.

With the large number of cultivators from various families surrounding them, these demonic cultivators were soon blocked there. Seeing that they had lost the chance to sneak away, the tall old man’s eyes flashed with ruthlessness, and he shouted, "If you want to keep us, you’ll have to see if you have the ability!"

As several firelights shot into the sky, both sides soon engaged in battle. Although the righteous cultivators led by Song Changfeng were 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 this side. Facing the siege of numerous cultivators, not only did he feel no pressure, but he even appeared to have energy to spare during the battle. The black smoke released from the black banner magic tool even carried a 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 this demonic magic tool in the tall old man’s hand that could disturb one’s mind, several people were momentarily at a loss and panicked.

Seeing that the magic tool in the old man’s hand was tricky and difficult to deal with, Song Changfeng hurriedly led 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 as well. This tall old man holding the black banner was none other than Gu Liangshan, the second disciple of Yang Wuqi, one of the demonic cultivators who had fought a great battle against their Flying Cloud Guard in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range many years ago.

In that great battle back then, Gu Liangshan had relied on the "Soul-Gathering Banner" magic tool in his hand to hold off three late-stage Qi Refining experts of their Flying Cloud Guard 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 spiritual lights lighting up not far away, Gu Liangshan thought that reinforcements must have arrived for the other side. After coming up with a plan, he secretly transmitted his voice to several fellow disciples fighting not far away: "Junior brothers, the other side has reinforcements again. Prolonged battle will surely 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! 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 were somewhat suspicious, not knowing what powerful method Gu Liangshan had. But at this moment, they couldn't care about that. After all, it was a life-or-death moment, and for them, if there was hope of escaping, they would certainly have to fight with all their might.

As they spoke, the three of them used several desperate methods, fighting to the death to force back their opponents and gathering toward Gu Liangshan, surrounding him in the middle.

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

Song Changfeng and the others who were besieging them, seeing that Gu Liangshan seemed to be about to use a powerful method and unable to break through the obstruction of the three for the moment, hurriedly directed everyone to retreat to the side first, lest everyone be caught off guard and suffer together. After all, demonic cultivators had quite a few powerful methods.