Dai Mengfan had once been first senior brother Lin Xuan’s junior sister. She had been through the horrific battles before, so she understood their severity. She sat solemnly. “How many Demon Sovereigns are there?”
“There should be twelve.” Due to the existence of the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous, this was basically the convention.
“Sure enough.” Dai Mengfan’s complexion became even worse. She had spent all these years as the third senior sister, refusing to compete for the position of first senior brother or first senior sister, exactly because she did not want to set foot on the battlefield again.
A charming, rosy-cheeked female cultivator fiddled around with her slender fingers and smiled. “There are more than twelve of us, and we have the Formation of Black Clouds and Roaring Thunder, so how do these demonfolk even stand a chance against us?”
There were over a dozen direct disciples gathered here. Coupled with their mounts, there were over thirty existences that had undergone the fifth heavenly tribulation. They had far surpassed twelve Demon Sovereigns.
As a result, apart from the few people who had been through major battles like Le Tian, Dai Mengfan, and so on, the other direct disciples were all doubtful over what Li Liehuo had said. They even thought he was beating around the bush and just refused to talk about Chao Tianjiao.
Dai Mengfan asked, “Where’s Tianjiao?”
“I don’t know. The greatest possibility is that she’s ended up in the hands of the Demon domain. We have to guard against this.”
Ruan Yaozhu could not help but say, “Then we…”
Dai Mengfan shook her head. “Don’t say anything more, Yaozhu. If Tianjiao really has ended up in the hands of the Demon domain, we can only hope she perishes.” If she became a Demon Sovereign, it would be far too terrifying.
Ruan Yaozhu lowered her head in dejection.
Then Dai Mengfan asked, “Can we seek reinforcements?”
Li Liehuo answered with a question, “Seek reinforcements from whom?”
Dai Mengfan was unable to answer him. She let out a great sigh.
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance never left the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes. Unless the Myriad sect faced destruction, he would never take action. The two sect masters were both beyond the Nine heavens, following the grand sect master. They had their own duties to handle too.
The Myriad sect was unlike a traditional sect that was built up from the relationship between master and disciple. Instead, it was managed autonomously by the direct disciples, cooperating and sharing their duties freely. There were basically no restraints on them.
But as a tradeoff, the greater the authority, the greater the responsibility. There was no such thing as being able to cultivate peacefully when nothing happened yet abandoning their duties when something did.
Or in other words, defending the region was the Myriad sect’s responsibility. Why would other sects bleed in their place for them?
As for the Desireless Heavenly Palace, that was even more out of the picture. By mobilising twelve Demon Sovereigns to attack the city, holes would appear in the other war zones. They would only order the local sects to use this opportunity to regain their lost territory, not embark on a lengthy expedition and be led around by the nose by the Demon domain.
Then Dai Mengfan asked, “Then do we abandon the city? Tianjiao is not around, so the Xuanwu army can’t be used. This situation is just too disadvantageous.”
Li Liehuo said, “I’m aware, but that’s impossible. The military law cannot permit retreat without putting up a battle!”
“Yeah, I know.”
Dai Mengfan smiled wryly. Something like deserting the battlefield would definitely anger the Desireless Heavenly Palace. They would order them to take back Black Cloud city, and that would come at ten times the price. The entire Myriad sect would suffer tremendous losses.
Currently, they needed to put up a fight until both sides sustained heavy losses. They had to slay a few Demon Sovereigns and force back the demonfolk.
The Desireless Heavenly Palace would obviously award them for their efforts, supporting the Myriad sect through the form of resources.
And thus, new direct disciples would appear. They had never been lacking geniuses. It had been no different in the past either.
This was how she made it to the position of “third senior sister”. She was simply afraid she would not be so fortunate this time, and she would not be able to witness the arrival of that day.
It was not a result of cowardice or ignorance. She had made it so far after so much difficulty. She did not want to risk her life any further.
The two of them conversed like no one else was around. The rosy-cheeked female cultivator could not help but interrupt them. “Hey, what are you on about? Isn’t it just twelve Demon Sovereigns?”
Dai Mengfan smiled sorrowfully. “You’ll find out very soon, junior sister Ke Xin.”
Wan Jianfeng suddenly stood up and drew his sword from its sheath. He said coldly, “Senior brother and sister, you’ve been far too disappointing. You feed the might of the enemy and weaken the morale of your own people. If the demonfolk want to take Black Cloud city, they’ll have to ask my sword first!”
He practised the Heavenly Tome of Sword Control. He was a sword cultivator, most skilled in battle. He did not believe twelve Demon Sovereigns with a crowd of ragtags could be particularly powerful.
“Hahahaha!” Le Tian slammed the table. He laughed so hard that he swayed back and forth. “I really can’t help it. Who wants to gamble on whether we can defend Black Cloud city or not with me? Oh right, you can increase the odds too and gamble on how many of us will die.”
It immediately earned him the wrath of everyone. They all began to berate him. Before long, the direct disciples had devolved into a dispute, just like in the Direct Disciple hall.
Pi Yangqiu shook his head. If Lin Xuan was around, they would have reached an agreement a long time ago. Lie Liehuo was not the true “first senior brother” after all. He was fine usually, but when it came to moments of life or death like right now, he truly struggled to keep the situation under control. The battle really was becoming more and more pessimistic.
“Senior brother, I’m skilled with formations, so let me control the Formation of Black Clouds and Roaring Thunder!”
“Alright!” Li Liehuo said, “I still need someone to lead the Xuanwu army.”
The hall fell quiet. No one answered.
Even the direct disciples that had not been through major battles still possessed some common sense. Leading the army was leaving the city and facing the enemy on the battlefield, or even leading the charge against the enemy formation.
Not only would they lose the protection of the Formation of Black Clouds and Roaring Thunder, but it was even very easy for them to be trapped by the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous as well. Under a situation like that, it was extremely easy to die.
Le Tian burst out laughing, while Li Liehuo furrowed his eyebrows even further.
At this moment, Ruan Yaozhu raised her hand firmly with a blank expression.
Li Liehuo directly ignored her. “Then we have nobody! Very well!”
Rumble!
The sounds of thunder rang out in the distance.
“Spring thunder?”
However, when everyone looked over, they could not see any lightning at all.
“How can regular thunder reach so far? Don’t tell me someone is undergoing a tribulation?”
The slight incident did not draw too much attention until the thunder became louder and louder without any signs of ending. The entire city shook gently.
“What heavenly tribulation is this?”
The fifth heavenly tribulation!
Splash! A spirit turtle raised its head from the marsh, gazing at the tribulation clouds that rapidly gathered in the air, surging around like a swirl. Thunder boomed.
Li Qingshan had broken through to the sixth layer of the spirit turtle very quickly. He did not encounter any bottlenecks or obstacles. All these years of accumulation made it all smooth sailing.
As his cultivation grew abruptly, it immediately triggered the heavenly tribulation.
The tribulation clouds grew heavier, and the surroundings became pitch-black. Visibility was at an all-time low. Only the flashing lightning would illuminate the mountains momentarily, like slumbering giants watching the spirit turtle in the marsh.
Strangely enough, not a single bolt of lightning fell during all this time. The tribulation clouds continued to amass until they hung so low that they almost touched the top of the mountains.
Armaments of tribulation lightning were gradually taking shape one by one in the centre of the great swirl.
A blade, a spear, a sword, a halberd, an axe, a battle axe, a hook sword, and a fork condensed without dispersing, sizzling with lightning as they hung over Li Qingshan’s head.
The scale of the heavenly tribulation was so large that it actually matched Chao Tianjiao’s sixth heavenly tribulation.
At the same time, the skandha-māra began to stir in his heart. The demonic thoughts and endless affiliations sprang forth. His five skandha began to blaze.
It just happened to resemble Black Cloud city. Inside, the people were unconvinced, while they had an army looming outside. They faced trouble both internally and externally on the verge of disaster.
Li Qingshan assumed the physique of the demonic and divine, standing in the marsh with the mountains, welcoming the tribulation clouds with open arms.
“Come!”
