Chapter 209.5: The Demonic Formation

Chapter 209.5: The Demonic Formation

Outside the Secret Realm

"Can

Heaven’s Divination

show me what's happening inside the secret realm?"

【Divination in progress… Due to the secret realm's independent heavenly laws, the player is unable to view its internal situation!】

【If you insist on seeing inside, your current balance and luck deficit cannot afford the cost!】

"...Alright then." Chen Huaian spread his hands in surrender.

He was

bored out of his mind.

How great would it be if he could watch what was happening inside? Like watching a movie.

His relaxed mood stemmed from the fact that under his main quest,

Baby Qingran’s survival rate

had reached 100%. The weight pressing on his heart had finally lifted. Even when it had been at

99.999%

, he hadn't felt secure.

"Should I just log off and take a break?"

Glancing around, he felt there was no need to stay here any longer.

After all, keeping his incarnation active was

burning money every minute.

Even with ten billion, he couldn't afford to waste resources like this.

Just as he was about to withdraw his incarnation, a

deafening explosion

suddenly echoed from the distant

Ten Thousand Mountains

.

The roar shook the entire area outside the secret realm, startling all the gathered cultivators.

Chen Huaian narrowed his eyes toward the disturbance, sensing faint traces of

demonic energy

.

What the hell?

This place was packed with

righteous sect cultivators

—who would dare cause trouble here?

But after a moment’s thought, he understood.

Right now, the

core disciples and young geniuses

of each sect had entered the minor secret realm.

The strongest members of each sect—

the sect masters and elders

—had all ventured into the

great secret realm

.

The only ones left behind, aside from the

three great Holy Lands

, were, to put it bluntly, the

old, weak, sick, and disabled

.

Well,

excluding himself

, of course.

If the demonic sects wanted to make a move,

now

would be the perfect time to catch the major sects off guard.

But would the

three Holy Lands

just sit back and do nothing?

Chen Huaian turned to glance at the sanctuaries of the

three great Holy Lands

, speculating in his mind.

Just then, something happened.

From within each Holy Land, a single cultivator took to the skies.

All of them were Nascent Soul stage powerhouses.

"The Ten Thousand Mountains are filled with demonic energy!"

The one who spoke was a white-robed elder from

True Martial Holy Land

. His expression was thunderous, his killing intent soaring as he projected his voice to all the cultivators present.

"With both the major and minor secret realms open, our sect defenses are at their weakest. This old man fears the demonic sects may be stirring up trouble! Any Nascent Soul-level cultivators present, come with me to investigate and bear witness! The rest of you remain here—our three Holy Lands have more than enough powerhouses to protect all disciples!"

Among the major sects, most had only left behind

one or two

Nascent Soul cultivators to guard their younger disciples.

Upon hearing the elder’s call, several Nascent Soul cultivators immediately responded.

But not everyone was foolish—those sects that had

only one

Nascent Soul protector remained where they were.

Chen Huaian left

Sheng Xuan

behind to stand guard and soared into the sky on his sword.

With all the

Sword Pavilion

disciples inside the secret realm, there was nothing left for him to protect.

Might as well go check things out.

Over in the

Azure Cloud Sect’s

camp, Daoist Qingxuan was about to take off when—

SMACK!

The

Azure Cloud Ancestor

swatted him down like a fly.

"What’s a

late-stage Nascent Soul

cultivator like you doing trying to join the fun? Stay here and guard the disciples!

I’M

going!"

Without waiting for a reply, the Azure Cloud Ancestor

vanished

in a blur, heading in the same direction as Chen Huaian.

Daoist Qingxuan lay sprawled in the crater he had created, staring blankly at the elder's

moth-to-flame

departure.

He looked like he was about to cry.

The True Martial Holy Land elder waited barely a breath’s time.

As soon as he had gathered

around thirty cultivators

, he led the force in a grand procession toward the demonic energy surging over the Ten Thousand Mountains.

"Daoist Chen, is that you ahead?"

Chen Huaian was leisurely flying through the air when suddenly, a sweet, saccharine female voice called out from behind him.

The sound sent a full-body shiver down his spine.

In his experience, only those

IRL

live-streaming hosts spoke with such an exaggeratedly coquettish tone.

But this was the Cangyun Realm.

This was the first time he had heard someone speak in such a way here—and it nearly killed him from sheer secondhand embarrassment.

He turned his head instinctively and was even more confused by what he saw.

A female cultivator he didn’t recognize.

Judging from her robes and the token at her waist, she was from the Azure Cloud Sect.

A Nascent Soul female cultivator, at that.

That shouldn’t be possible…

Wasn’t the Azure Cloud Ancestor the only Nascent Soul powerhouse in the sect?

What the hell was going on?

His eyes narrowed as he focused on the girl, and her basic information immediately surfaced before him.

【Azure Cloud Ancestor—Rong Qingyun】

【Cultivation Level: Mid Nascent Soul (Internal Injuries)】

【Age: 1,273 years】

...Wait. Sis, what?!

Chen Huaian was dumbfounded.

T-this is that old hag Azure Cloud Ancestor?!

But the person before him was clearly a petite, fair-skinned, delicate-looking loli cultivator barely over 1.6 meters tall!

Seeing Chen Huaian staring at her, Rong Qingyun’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she secretly delighted in his reaction.

She was pleased with the effects of her Youth Retaining Pill and even prouder of the beauty she had possessed in her younger days.

"Daoist Chen, do you still remember ol—

cough

—this humble girl?" she asked sweetly.

Chen Huaian looked at the

loli cultivator

flying beside him, his lips twitching as he stiffly replied, "You… you're the Azure Cloud Ancestor?"

"Aiya~ Don't call me that!" Rong Qingyun pouted. "Just call me

Rong Qingyun

~"

She clasped her hands in greeting, flashing him a bright, sweet smile.

"The other day at the Azure Cloud Sect, I had no choice but to appear in my older form. After all, I have to maintain a dignified image in front of my disciples~"

She giggled and batted her eyelashes. "Daoist Chen, you’re about my age—you should understand, right?"

"Ahaha… sure, I guess..."

Chen Huaian barely held back his urge to run.

He immediately sped up to put some distance between them.

But no matter how fast he went, Rong Qingyun stuck to him like glue, constantly trying to chatter and make conversation.

Chen Huaian didn't believe a single word she said.

One thousand years old

and still pretending to be young?

Even if she had appeared in her youthful form from the start, he wouldn’t have had any thoughts about her.

After all,

his

Baby Qingran was the real deal—a genuine, fresh-faced young maiden.

How could a Youth Retaining Pill-augmented, artificially freshened-up old hag possibly compare?

And beyond appearances, her behavior was even more off-putting.

She was supposed to be a highly respected, venerated elder, yet she was acting like some delicate young maiden—it was unbearably awkward.

It reminded him of those middle-aged livestreamers who relied on beauty filters and heavy makeup to pretend to be teenage girls while making cringey, low-quality content.

The cognitive dissonance was unbearable.

Thankfully, Nascent Soul cultivators were fast flyers.

Before long, they arrived over the mountain range where the demonic energy was emanating from.

The sight below was ghastly.

A dense, oppressive fog of demonic energy blanketed the forest.

Toxic miasma ate through the surrounding rock formations, exposing jagged, vein-like patterns of molten stone along the mountainside.

Within the blackened haze, hundreds of bronze pillars were driven deep into the earth’s fissures, and from those fissures, thick clouds of blood mist surged upward, condensing into a massive, upside-down blood-red cloud.

Around the blood cloud, countless nightcrows cawed in ecstasy.

Even the midday sun seemed to warp and twist as it passed through, turning the entire area into a sickening shade of rusty brown…

"Someone set up a high-level demonic formation around the secret realm?!"

The surrounding cultivators' expressions darkened.

With this much demonic energy, it was obvious that whoever had set up the formation was up to no good.

Their goal was most likely to slaughter all the cultivators outside the secret realm in one fell swoop.

The True Martial Holy Land elder looked especially grim.

Underneath his robes, his fists trembled, veins bulging from sheer rage.

"Everyone, this is urgent!" His voice rang out. "No matter what this formation is meant for, we must destroy it immediately!"