Chapter 108: Chapter 43: One Hundred Thousand Gods and Demons Attack Penglai
Shi Liuli meticulously cleared her way, soon reaching the stone chamber she had discovered before.
Above the stone chamber’s ceiling, the crack split open by thunder remained starkly visible, casting down large swaths of clear sky light.
There was also a spring trickling down the crack, resembling strings of pearls.
Green vines hung down alongside the water, like a folding screen.
In the center of the stone chamber, there was a stone bed—that was where the Myriad Laws True Person from the Intercepting Cult had transcended physical form, only now it had been scorched black by the lightning.
Surrounding it were pools of accumulated water, dotted with stars of lotus flowers, with delicate leaves gently bobbing and petals strikingly beautiful, much to the delight of Shi Liuli.
“This place must have been the dwelling of an immortal.” She declared with absolute certainty, her expression extremely serious and solemn, “The immortal is gone, so henceforth this place shall be my cave abode!”
What else could Luo Yan say? He could only agree repeatedly.
“Junior brother, you help me set up a formation outside to cloak it, so passing cultivators won’t detect anything,” Shi Liuli instructed.
Luo Yan really wanted to say that in the depths of the East Sea, there wouldn’t be any cultivators passing by casually.
But seeing Miss Shi in such high spirits so rarely, he just laughed, shook his head, and left to arrange the formations.
He set up a few simple illusion arrays outside, then interlocked them with each other and added a deeper recursion—it was perfect.
Studying arrays at the entrance to the Wuzhi Island ruins had greatly increased Luo Yan’s experience, especially in interlocking two arrays.
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Nobody understands arrays better than I do.
Nobody.
After arranging the formations, as Luo Yan was admiring his handiwork, he suddenly heard the Kunlun Mirror panicking in his sea of consciousness:
“The fragment of the Heaven-Mending Stone from Yuqing View has just left Penglai Immortal Island!”
“What?” Luo Yan was startled but quickly calmed down, “Which direction is it moving?”
“South.”
“Can you be more precise, Ah Jing?”
“We’re now a hundred and eighty thousand li from Yuqing View, how can I be precise? Being able to sense their movement at all is pretty amazing, okay?”
“Alright alright, my Ah Jing is the most amazing.”
“You don’t have to praise me like that… anyway, you better head back to Yuqing View quickly and find out who has left Penglai Immortal Island recently.”
“Of course, but what about Miss Shi?”
“Don’t worry about her for now, just go!” Kunlun Mirror urged, “It’s rare that we’ve detected the location moving. If we don’t confirm their identity now, once they return, it will be impossible to do so!”
Luo Yan then fell silent for a long while before finally saying:
“That won’t work, Ah Jing.”
“I can’t just leave Miss Shi here all alone. She’s so foolish; what if she encounters danger while she’s out here alone?”
Kunlun Mirror: ……..
To say that this guy had a despicable character, well, he didn’t seem all that despicable.
At least he remembered that he had come out here with Shi Liuli, so he felt responsible for her.
But to say that this guy was loyal and righteous, that didn’t seem quite right either.
Would he dare to say “She’s so foolish” to Miss Shi’s face?
“Fine then, you bring her back quickly,” Kunlun Mirror had no choice but to compromise, saying anxiously.
Luo Yan turned to leave when suddenly he saw two streaks of sword light landing on the open ground in front of the crevice. It was a man and a woman, two mysterious cultivators.
“There’s no one around. You can speak now,” the male cultivator said.
The female cultivator, still cautious, simply swept the area with her divine sense.
Luo Yan immediately hid within the crevice. Thankfully, one of the interlocked formations he had set up was designed to shield against divine sense, so he managed not to get exposed by the female cultivator’s scanning.
After confirming there was no one around, the female cultivator then began to speak:
“Have you ever heard of the ‘Hundred Thousand Deities and Demons Attacking Penglai’?”
Luo Yan, who was eavesdropping: !!!
“I’m not aware,” the male cultivator said with a wry smile, “but it sounds interesting.”
“Iron Fan Daoist, we know you have a grudge with Yuqing View, so we wanted to invite you to join us,” the female cultivator said coldly. “If you keep playing the fool, there’s no need to continue this conversation.”
“Don’t rush, Madam Liu.” Iron Fan Daoist quickly said, “Actually, no one has told me about this, but I have also noticed something recently.”
“Let’s not talk about anything else. Just consider how Madam Liu has been visiting along the way, always picking those sects with conflicts against Yuqing View. Even the most obtuse cultivator could see the implication, right?”
“Nonsense,” Madam Liu sneered. “Which sect in the East Sea doesn’t have conflicts with Yuqing View?”
“Penglai Yuqing View prides itself on being the direct lineage of the Clarify Cult and behaves arrogantly without restraint. Every item produced in the East Sea is hoarded by them alone, and the other sects have been holding back their anger for years. Who could be the exception?”
“Just take the previous opening of the East Sea Pavilion. Out of the thirty-six Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands of the East Sea, whose disciples were allowed to enter the secret realm for training?”
“Instead, it was the Kunlun Taiqing Sect who sent their elite disciples from thousands of miles away… It’s as if the East Sea Pavilion did not belong to the East Sea but to the Clarify Cult themselves!”
Iron Fan Daoist fell silent for a moment and then said through gritted teeth:
“That’s right! The East Sea belongs to the cultivators of the East Sea, not just to Yuqing View alone! What Clarify Cult direct lineage, the ancient Clarify Cult has long perished. How can Yuqing View continue to dominate arrogantly!”
“Iron Fan Daoist,” Madam Liu’s tone softened as she continued, “This operation, named ‘Hundred Thousand Deities and Demons Attacking Penglai’, isn’t entirely a bluff.”
“I can reveal to you: among the thirty-six Cave Heavens of the East Sea, twenty-four have already agreed to join; from the Demon Cult’s Six Paths, both the Heavenly Demon Path and Mortal Life Path will also partake.”
“As for the loose cultivators willing to assist from all over, there are at least seventy to eighty thousand.”
“When the wall falls, everyone pushes. Even if we can’t completely destroy Yuqing View, we will make sure their vital energy is greatly damaged, so they can no longer pose as the hegemony of the East Sea!”
“Madam Liu,” Iron Fan Daoist said sternly. “If it’s just a matter of lacking people and resources, my Iron Wire Mountain would of course be willing to support.”
“But you have to be clear with me: if ‘Hundred Thousand Deities and Demons Attack Penglai’, will Shushan and Kunlun come to aid?”
“If the Three Pure Orthodox Sect truly is as united as they claim to be, then we’re not only dealing with Yuqing View alone, but we’re also facing three sects at the same time… Even if all the paths of the Demon Cult gathered here, victory wouldn’t be possible.”
“You worry too much,” Madam Liu chuckled again, but a cold look flashed in her eyes, “As far as I know, Kunlun Taiqing Sect has recently discovered a new secret realm.”
“All of their Golden Core True Persons are in that secret realm, exploring the mechanisms. Who would have the time to come all the way to support the East Sea?”
“A secret realm,” Iron Fan Daoist’s eyes also glinted with greed.
Secret realms, to the cultivators of the outside world, were blessed lands brimming with Daoist Techniques, Flying Swords, Magical Treasures, and Elixirs, offering trialists whatever they sought.
But the vast majority of these secret realms in the world were either controlled by the Three Pure Orthodox Sect or dominated by the Six Paths of the Demon Cult. It was extremely difficult for sect cultivators to enter a secret realm and gain its benefits.
What to do? There’s only one solution: Kill.
For instance, was the “Hundred Thousand Deities and Demons Attacking Penglai” just about resisting the hegemony of Penglai Yuqing View? At least the majority of the Demon Path cultivators and loose cultivators must have come with the intent to kill and seize treasures — and Iron Fan Daoist himself was no exception.
“What about Shushan?” Iron Fan Daoist continued to inquire.
“Shushan,” Madam Liu pondered briefly, then sneered, “If all goes well, Shushan will likely be greatly injured soon enough, so there’s no need for concern.”
“Oh?” Iron Fan Daoist’s eyes brightened, “Go on.”
“It’s okay to disclose the details,” Madam Liu said, looking around with furrowed brows, “But let’s not discuss it here. What if someone passes by suddenly? Let’s go above the sea with Sword Control to talk in detail.”
The two of them then mounted their Sword Light and left. After a moment of silence, Luo Yan turned to look for Shi Liuli down below.
And then he saw Miss Shi walking back and forth in the passageway with a face full of panic.
Luo Yan: ………
Only now did he remember that even before those two had landed, he had already activated the Array in the tunnel.
The result was that people outside could not discover the crevice, and those inside could not find the passage; Miss Shi, affected by the Array, had her senses confounded and was now spinning around in circles on the spot.
Trying to hold back laughter, Luo Yan deactivated the Array and was about to speak when he was suddenly wrapped around the neck from behind by an angry and embarrassed Shi Liuli.
Ah, so soft…
Snap!