Chapter 15: The Demonic Cult's Plot

As they went deeper into the cave, the noise grew increasingly clamorous. By the time they reached the depths of the cave, one could see over a hundred Demonic Cult Disciples in the vast cavern, each busy with their own tasks, seemingly constructing some kind of Array.

Su Zhangqing was very curious as to why they were constructing an Array here on Jiuyin Mountain.

However, before Su Zhangqing could think of how to figure this out, he heard a fellow comrade beside him call out: "Lao Chong, why are you standing there like a fool? Hurry up and come over to work!"

"Oh, right!"

After responding, Su Zhangqing walked over and began to busy himself, imitating the methods of the others.

"Lao Chong, you kid are usually the sharpest; do you think the Kui Ox will appear here on Jiuyin Mountain?"

While the two were working, this comrade asked Su Zhangqing.

"How could I possibly know that?"

Su Zhangqing smiled silently, tactfully refusing to answer.

It must be said, although Su Zhangqing did not know how the current story would develop, based on his familiarity with the story, Su Zhangqing was certain that the Kui Ox would absolutely not appear on this Jiuyin Mountain, but rather on Liubo Mountain in the East Sea.

"That's true, if even the Sect Masters and the others can't guess it, could a kid like you guess it?"

This Demonic Cult Disciple laughed and didn't give it any more thought.

Just at this moment, a man in black walked in from outside the cave. His attire and robes were different from those of these ordinary Demonic Cult Disciples, and he was followed by several sycophants.

"Qiu Men of the Ghost King Sect is here, get back to work!"

Upon seeing this Qiu Men appear, the crowd of Demonic Cult Disciples worked even more diligently to construct the Array.

"Golden Core Realm?!"

Su Zhangqing secretly observed this man in black who had suddenly appeared and quickly judged his cultivation realm; he was actually a member of the Demonic Cult at the Golden Core Realm.

He felt a slight sense of unease in his heart; it seemed the thing he least wanted to happen had occurred.

No matter how heaven-defying his Heaven-Deceiving Art was, it was difficult to compensate for the suppression of cultivation levels. If a Golden Core Realm cultivator were to investigate carefully, they would certainly be able to detect that he was hiding his cultivation, and then his identity would be exposed.

However, this was Su Zhangqing overthinking things. Although this Golden Core Realm Qiu Men had appeared here suddenly, it was only to supervise the work. He had never imagined that anyone would be lurking within their Demonic Cult ranks, so naturally, he would not use his Qi to carefully investigate their identities.

Qiu Men was seen pacing, supervising the work of this group of Demonic Cult Disciples while walking toward a platform in the cave.

"Come! Everyone stop what you are doing for a moment!"

As soon as Qiu Men's words were spoken, everyone stopped their work and turned their gazes toward him in unison.

"My Ghost King Sect Sect Master has ordered all fellow Disciples to construct an Array here on Jiuyin Mountain. At the same time, your comrades are doing the same work on several other mountain ranges."

"If you can be the first to complete the Array on Jiuyin Mountain, besides the rewards from your respective sects, our Ghost King Sect will also reward you handsomely."

Qiu Men was seen smiling as he spoke to the crowd.

"The Sect Master is wise! The Sect Master is wise!"

Upon hearing about the rewards, these Demonic Cult Disciples were instantly fired up and shouted in unison.

That Qiu Men waved his hand to signal them to stop cheering, the smile on his face turning somewhat gloomy, and then he said to the crowd: "Of course, don't get happy too soon."

"As the saying goes, where there is reward, there must be punishment. If you are the last to complete the Array, what awaits you will not be any reward, but punishment from your respective sects."

"Hmph! Don't say I didn't warn you beforehand when the time comes." The crowd, who had just been cheering passionately, instantly went cold again.

It turned out that Qiu Men had only come to inform everyone of this reward and punishment system. He came quickly and left quickly, and after saying those two things, he left again.

After he left, the heavy stone that had been hanging in Su Zhangqing's heart finally dropped.

"Phew! Finally gone, that fellow is terrifying!"

As Su Zhangqing vented the pent-up feelings in his heart, he heard several Demonic Cult comrades beside him let out long sighs and pat their chests to catch their breath.

What is this? Why are you all so nervous? Could it be that you are all righteous path members lurking here like me?

"Why are you all so nervous?"

Su Zhangqing found it amusing. This group of Demonic Cult Disciples reacted even more fearfully to the appearance of Qiu Men than he did. Could there be some inside story hidden within? He asked them out of curiosity.

"Lao Chong, you only just arrived today, so you don't know what kind of person this Qiu Buping is."

That Demonic Cult comrade Lao Li smiled bitterly and explained to Su Zhangqing: "Yesterday, this Qiu Buping also came to Jiuyin Mountain to supervise the work. Relying on his status as a Ghost King Sect Sect Master, he saw a Longevity Sect Disciple slacking off and killed him on the spot. Now we are all terrified of him."

Only then did Su Zhangqing understand; so you are all afraid that this fellow is temperamental.

"By the way, Qiu Men just said that there are other mountains where Arrays are being built. How come I haven't heard of this? Tell me about it in detail."

Su Zhangqing suddenly thought of what Qiu Buping had just said—that besides Jiuyin Mountain, there were several other mountain ranges where Arrays were being built—and decided to take this opportunity to fish for information.

When Lao Li heard Su Zhangqing ask this, he immediately frowned.

"Don't mention it. The Ghost King Sect Sect Master doesn't know where he got the news that the ancient beast Kui Ox is about to appear, but the information is inaccurate and he doesn't know where it will appear at all, so he chose several potential locations to build these troublesome Spirit-Trapping Arrays in advance."

Lao Li waved his hand and explained to Su Zhangqing with a helpless expression: "Besides the Jiuyin Mountain where we are, there are other Disciples on Baijing Mountain, Bore Mountain, Congqing Mountain, and six other mountain ranges. They even sent many sect Disciples to Liubo Mountain on the East Sea to build Arrays."

"Liubo Mountain?"

Su Zhangqing asked Lao Li with a strange look, emphasizing the name.

"Yeah, they sent many Disciples to travel by boat across the sea just for some ancient beast. It's fortunate that we were lucky and weren't sent to that Liubo Mountain."

Lao Li pouted and continued to say to Su Zhangqing.

Su Zhangqing nodded noncommittally. Now that he had more or less understood the intentions of this group of Demonic Cult members, he did not continue to ask.

It turned out that this group of Demonic Cult members had already received news in advance that the ancient beast Kui Ox was about to appear, but they did not know where exactly it would manifest, so they specially set up Arrays in advance at several potential locations in order to be the first to subdue this beast, whose strength was not to be underestimated.

Jiuyin Mountain was one of the potential manifestation sites, and they had also sent people to the true manifestation site of the Kui Ox, Liubo Mountain.

It seems their plot is not small!

Things having reached this point, Su Zhangqing had already obtained the information he wanted. Now, the most urgent matter was how to escape.

Fortunately, after Qiu Buping left, this group of Demonic Cult Disciples became very lax. He used the excuse of needing to relieve himself to easily leave the cave, and cautiously found a deserted place to prepare to change his clothes and leave this place.

"Hmph! I noticed you were acting suspicious a long time ago!"

Just as Su Zhangqing was about to leave, he heard a cold snort from behind him.

(End of chapter)