“What was that red light?”
“Heaven preserve us! It scared me half to death!”
The cultivators all looked up at the sky. The red light appeared and vanished swiftly, disappearing completely after striking the core of the array.
“Quickly look at Master Huikong!” one of the sect disciples shouted in alarm.
Huikong, seated on a bronze pillar at the entrance of the ruins, had collapsed there, his seven orifices oozing black blood and he was unconscious.
Not only were the eighty-one eternal lamps serving as secondary array cores extinguished, but demonic flames also began to burn atop them.
With Huikong unconscious, the purification array should have dissipated, but it did not.
Another force was sustaining the array, though its operation had become severely distorted.
Originally, Huikong’s array was meant to purify demonic energy and suppress the power of the demon cultivator remains.
Now, however, dark demonic energy surged from the core of the array, causing the remains to be drenched in demonic aura, their aura surging. A foundation-building remnant instantly advanced to the Golden Core stage, mid-stage Golden Core ascended to late-stage Golden Core, and late-stage Golden Core could even reach the pinnacle.
In contrast, the sect disciples noticed that the flow of spiritual energy around them had become sluggish.
The amount of usable spiritual energy around them dwindled — now they were being suppressed!
If this were the case, the disciples would not have been so panicked.
Until a disciple fell to the ground, his wails piercing the dead silence within the array: “My… my spiritual energy is drained! This array… it’s not only suppressing our spiritual energy, but it’s absorbing our spiritual energy and converting it into demonic energy!”
“My spiritual energy is dispersing too!”
“Huh? My spiritual energy seems fine…”
The Sword Pavilion disciples remained relatively calm. Duan Feng, Xu An, and Zhen He quickly interrogated each Sword Pavilion disciple, reaching a conclusion.
“Only those below the Golden Core stage will have their spiritual energy drained; those above the Golden Core stage are unaffected, merely suppressed.”
Duan Feng slashed down a demon cultivator remnant with a casual strike of his sword, then surveyed the area with a stern expression: “There are only fifteen Sword Pavilion disciples above the Golden Core stage, while others range from Foundation Establishment mid-stage to peak. There are too many demon cultivator remains here; the situation is dire… We won’t pursue resources any longer. All Sword Pavilion disciples, retreat from the array!”
At Duan Feng’s command, none of the Sword Pavilion disciples hesitated to fight; they repelled or killed the demon cultivator remains and immediately withdrew from the array.
Meanwhile, the direct disciples covered and supported the other Sword Pavilion disciples.
The Spirit Intuition Valley and Danzong disciples followed suit behind the Sword Pavilion disciples.
The reason for their unified action was that before entering the small secret realm, their elders had instructed them—do not conflict with the Sword Pavilion. If the Sword Pavilion avoided certain areas, they would too; if the Sword Pavilion charged into areas, they could explore a bit but not compete for resources, as they couldn’t win against the Sword Pavilion.
Now that the Sword Pavilion was retreating, it indicated an urgent situation, so they had to follow suit.
Spirit Intuition Valley and Danzong were renowned major sects in the Cangyun Realm.
Especially Danzong, which had connections with many other sects, and its disciples often visited other sects.
Seeing Danzong disciples fleeing, other sect disciples also withdrew from the battle and retreated together.
Suddenly, half of the sect disciples abandoned combat with the demon cultivator remains and withdrew together.
This withdrawal trend continued to expand.
A Sword Pavilion disciple reached the edge of the array first and took a step out, only to have his head collide with the barrier.
“Senior Brother, we can’t get through this barrier!”
“What?!” Duan Feng walked up to the array and slashed at it. Seeing it remain unmoved, his face changed dramatically. “What is Huikong doing?! Why set up such an array that can only be entered but not exited? Has he gone mad?”
Boom, boom, boom!
Upon hearing that the array was inaccessible, the sect disciples panicked and bombarded it recklessly.
Yet, the array showed no signs of breaking and even seemed to strengthen by absorbing the spells and spiritual energy.
“A bunch of cowards!” a voice came from above. Everyone looked up to see Song Chiyue standing on a canopy of blooming vines, her expression cold. “Only a little setback and you want to run away? It’s just backlash from the array. I’ve already arranged for disciples to heal Master Huikong. Just hold on for another half an hour. In half an hour, Master Huikong can reverse the array, and these demon cultivators will be nothing then.”
Some felt a glimmer of hope again.
Though the demon cultivator remains were reinforced, enduring for another half an hour shouldn’t be a problem.
Song Chiyue lightly stepped on the vine, and the hanging tendrils instantly condensed into thousands of jade steel needles that rained down, shattering the demon cultivator remains.
This wave of attacks boosted the morale of the cultivators.
Song Chiyue added, “I, a mere woman, stand at the forefront. If you still feel insufficient, I’ll invite Daoist Friend Qin to assist us… Let’s unite. Once Master Huikong awakens, we can fully reverse the array!”
“Miss Song is right. We cannot give up like this!”
“Listen everyone, there’s a reversal principle in this array. Pouring spiritual energy into it turns it into demonic energy. So instead of attacking the array, let’s hold off the demon cultivator remains and buy time for Master Huikong!”
“Let’s go, kill the demon cultivator remains!”
…
In a few words, the retreat halted.
The cultivators turned around and continued fighting the demon cultivator remains, teaming up two or three against one.
Song Chiyue smiled and said, “That’s the spirit of a Cangyun Realm cultivator! Today, we’ll drive back the demon cultivator remains and open the sect ruins. Each of you can choose two treasures. If you need more resources, come find me!”
Hearing this, the sect disciples became even more frenzied.
Song Chiyue glanced at the Sword Pavilion disciples, pursed her lips, and continued fighting at the forefront.
…
“Senior Brother, what do you think? They’re all fighting the demon cultivator remains. What about us…”
The Sword Pavilion disciples eagerly looked at their three seniors.
They wanted resources, and it was also embarrassing to hide behind.
Before Duan Feng could speak, Zhen He, the most prudent direct disciple of the Hidden Sword Peak, opened his fan and fanned himself in front of his face. “We should retreat behind all the sect disciples and wait near the array!”
“Zhen He Senior Brother, what do you mean?” Xu An asked hurriedly.
Zhen He shook his head mysteriously, “Watch this!” He pointed towards the tall bronze gate inside the sect ruins, where demonic energy surged, and six blood-red shadows were vaguely visible, sitting within. They were clearly six demon cultivator remains, but not the ordinary ones outside the gate.
“As the strongest sword cultivators in the Cangyun Realm, we should act in times of crisis. Wasting effort on killing these demon cultivator remains is futile. It’s better to wait until these cultivators are exhausted and then reap the benefits? That way, we gain both resources and face!”
The Sword Pavilion disciples all nodded in understanding.
“That makes sense. Our Sword Pavilion disciples’ sword intent is extraordinary. How can we casually draw our swords?”
“Exactly, when we draw our swords, we must slay powerful enemies! These demon cultivators are decent, but not worth our personal involvement!”
“Zhen He Senior Brother is insightful! Let’s wait at the edge of the array~”
The Sword Pavilion disciples ignored the various curious looks around them and sat down to meditate at the edge of the array.
Zhen He fanned himself and smiled silently, exchanging frequent glances with Xu An and Duan Feng, whispering telepathically: [Something’s amiss! Something’s wrong with the Jade Pool Sacred Land!]
[You noticed too?] Duan Feng raised his eyebrows. He thought Zhen He really intended to make the final move.
[Whether or not this is a setup by the Jade Pool Sacred Land, the three of us must wait for the right moment.] Xu An placed his hand on the array’s barrier.
He was the one with the highest proficiency in arrays among the Sword Pavilion disciples.
At this moment, he had discovered that the more demon cultivator remains died, the weaker the array barrier became.
Compared to the bombardment from other sects’ spells,
the sword intent and sword qi of sword cultivators were the only forms of attack that did not nourish the array.
He turned to look at Duan Feng and Zhen He and said coldly via telepathy: [I’m starting to secretly set up a sword array with us three as the array eyes. When the demon cultivator remains suffer heavy casualties, the six inner demon shadows will surely emerge. That will be the weakest point of the array. At that moment, we’ll activate the sword array to break the demon array, thus securing a chance of survival for our fellow disciples!]
