Chapter 1074
Battle of Gale Mountain, Encounter with the True Demon Again
"Hmm! It seems that over the years, you have indeed gained a very good understanding of the human cultivators in the vicinity."
Upon seeing the person before him, whose words were full of confidence, the black-robed man standing beside him quickly revealed a smile as well.
".."
At the foot of "Gale Wind Mountain", tens of thousands of human cultivators had already surrounded the mountain, and countless more figures were rushing towards it from behind.
On a flying boat in the very center of the human cultivator army, Song Qingming stood at the bow, his gaze fixed on the high mountain shrouded in black mist.
The black mist array before him gave Song Qingming a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen a similar array before.
After thinking for a long time, Song Qingming still couldn't be sure, and his gaze fell into deep thought.
Just then, a Golden Core cultivator came from not far behind to report that Lü Yue and the others invited him to discuss the upcoming mountain attack. Only then did Song Qingming turn around and leave with a hint of doubt.
Back in the cabin, nearly thirty Nascent Soul cultivators had already gathered.
Apart from the twelve members of the "Dangmo Palace" who came to provide support not long ago, the remaining dozen or so are basically native Nascent Soul cultivators from the "Qiyun Immortal Cultivation World".
Those seated at the head of the table were the three Nascent Soul stage cultivators with the highest cultivation levels among the group.
Besides Lü Yue, the fourth elder of the Demon-Slaying Palace, the other two are Qingyu Zhenren, the first elder of the Jade Spirit Sect, and Gu Xuanhe, a Nascent Soul ancestor of the Heavenly Talisman Sect.
Among the three great cultivators who command the human army, the one with the highest cultivation level is Qingyu Zhenren, the Grand Elder of the Jade Spirit Sect.
Like Lin Tianrong, the Grand Elder of the Heavenly Dao Sect, this person is also a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator who has successfully completed the tempering of Yuan Qi.
In terms of both cultivation level and magical power, he is three points stronger than ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators like Lü Yue.
A hundred years ago, at the previous "Eastern Phoenix Sword Tournament," it was precisely because of the presence of "Master Qingyu," a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, that the "Jade Spirit Sect" was able to defeat all the other contenders at the tournament and become one of the top ten sects.
Previously, "Master Qingyu" was in seclusion to heal his injuries, which is why he did not come out to receive Song Qingming and the others.
At this crucial moment in the decisive battle against the demons, "Master Qingyu," the number one expert in the Qiyun cultivation world, also appeared on the front lines of the battlefield.
Although Gu Xuanhe, the Grand Elder of the "Tianfu Sect," appears to be older than "Qingyu Zhenren," who has the highest cultivation level, his cultivation level is the lowest among the three, only at the seventh level of the Nascent Soul stage.
However, in addition to being a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, Gu Xuanhe is also a rare fourth-grade high-ranking "talisman maker" in the cultivation world.
To win this battle, he also brought two top-grade level four spirit talismans treasured by his sect, showing that he was well-prepared.
Meanwhile, Lu Yue of the "Demon-Slaying Palace" also brought a set of high-grade level four formations from his sect to deal with demonic cultivators.
With nearly thirty Nascent Soul cultivators present, they were confident they could fight even a Deity Transformation level demon.
Under the arrangement of "Master Qingyu", the cultivators present quickly received their respective tasks and prepared to concentrate their forces to attack "Liefeng Mountain" from the east, west and south.
As soon as "Master Qingyu" gave the order, countless cultivators below began to rush straight towards the high mountain shrouded in black mist in the distance.
At the same time, hundreds of streaks of light rose into the sky, each casting a spell to release a beam of white light that struck the black mist array in front of them.
Faced with such a large number of high-level cultivators attacking, the black mist formation in front soon began to churn and shake uncontrollably.
Seeing that the army of cultivators had begun to activate the great formation, "Master Qingyu" immediately spoke to the many Nascent Soul cultivators beside him:
"Fellow Daoists, the core of this formation is located on the east side of the mountaintop. Next, Fellow Daoist Lü, Fellow Daoist Gu, and I will be responsible for breaking the formation's core."
"Please help protect us and buy us some time to break the formation."
After saying this, "Master Qingyu" led everyone into streaks of spiritual light and headed straight for the summit of "Liefeng Mountain".
Having had experience attacking the mountain several times, "Master Qingyu" and others also had a certain understanding of the great formation on the mountain and knew the location of the key points of the formation.
Before the battle, "Master Qingyu" and the others had already discussed that the three great cultivators would work together to directly break through the array's core.
Meanwhile, Song Qingming and the other Nascent Soul cultivators were responsible for holding off the high-level demons that came to block their way.
If we can buy them enough time to destroy the key point of the formation on the mountaintop, we can break through this "mountain-protecting formation" that is blocking them in one fell swoop.
Once the great formation is no longer in place, the numerous demons will be unable to stop the human cultivators' army below the mountain, and the recapture of this sacred mountain will be just around the corner.
Just as Song Qingming and the others approached the mountaintop, they saw countless black shadows shooting out from the black mist. Suddenly, hundreds of demonic creatures appeared and rushed towards them, trying to stop them from getting closer.
However, these shadowy figures, whose cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stages, were clearly no match for so many Nascent Soul cultivators.
In a short while, the demons were killed in mid-air by the group's magic, and soon the group successfully reached the key point of the formation on the eastern mountain peak.
"Fellow Daoists, please use your magic to break the formation!"
Looking at Lü Yue and Gu Xuanhe who had arrived in front of him, "Qingyu Zhenren" took the lead in casting a spell and released several sword lights, which directly cleaved through the black clouds below.
Soon, a black stone platform hidden beneath the clouds appeared directly in front of the three of them.
Just as the three were about to fly down and destroy the stone platform, more than a dozen dark figures emerged from the black mist and attacked the location of "Qingyu Zhenren" and the other two.
These dozen or so dark figures were different from the low-level demons that had appeared before. Their auras were all above the Nascent Soul stage, and they quickly stepped forward and entangled the three "Qingyu Zhenren".
At this moment, countless black shadows also shot out from the black mist beside Song Qingming and the others, surrounding them.
Although most of these demonic creatures were at the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment level, only a few had reached the Nascent Soul level.
However, the demons had the advantage of sheer numbers and were extremely ferocious. For a time, many Nascent Soul cultivators were entangled by them and unable to escape from the battlefield.
Seeing that so many of their own people were entangled by demons before they even got close to the array's core, the faces of the many Nascent Soul cultivators present also looked rather grim.
"Five Thunder Spell!"
At that moment, Yu Zifang, who was in the middle of the battlefield, first unleashed a white light from his magic weapon, directly activating his powerful thunder magic that he had cultivated for many years.
As lightning crackled nearby, it instantly annihilated dozens of demons around him.
"Everyone, we must help Senior Brother Lü and the others to hold off these demons."
Having just escaped, Yu Zifang shouted to the crowd and then used magic to rush forward, quickly joining the battlefield where "Qingyu Zhenren" was.
Song Qingming and the others, who were still entangled with the demons, also knew that the most important thing at the moment was to help "Qingyu Zhenren" and the others break through the array's core.
Seeing that Yu Zifang had already rushed out of the battlefield, the others also used their powerful supernatural abilities, and soon several more people broke free from the entanglement of the demons and joined the battle.
Having fought against the demons for several months, Song Qingming had also gained some understanding of them. After using the "Devouring Heaven and Controlling Thunder Technique" to kill more than a dozen demons around him, he also managed to break free from the surrounding battlefield.
The next moment, Song Qingming's feet flashed with light, and he broke free from the numerous demons, joining the battle ahead.
Including Song Qingming, eight people had already arrived ahead of time, and these people were basically all at least at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
The remaining dozen or so Nascent Soul cultivators, due to their weaker cultivation and supernatural abilities, were unable to escape for the time being.
Seeing that Song Qingming and others had arrived to provide support, they had successfully tied down most of the enemy's forces.
"Qingyu Zhenren" and Lü Yue beside him exchanged a glance, then decisively broke away from the battlefield and headed straight for the location of the array's core below, quickly arriving at the stone platform.
Just as the three were about to cast a spell to destroy the stone platform in front of them, a green-robed figure suddenly appeared in mid-air, and then threw out a black sphere.
Upon seeing the suddenly appearing green-robed figure, "Master Qingyu" and Lü Yue's expressions immediately changed.
Just as the two stopped casting their spells and were about to turn around and knock the sphere away, the black sphere suddenly disappeared in mid-air.
The next moment, before the three could react, they were plunged into darkness.
"Qingyu Zhenren," who had just been trapped in darkness, quickly cast a spell to release a beam of spiritual light. He saw that the stone platform below had already disappeared, and the three of them were now in a black cloud.
Seeing this, "Master Qingyu" waved his hand and released several sword lights again, which were then merged into a giant golden sword, which was then slashed directly at the sky above his head.
They wanted to cleave through the black clouds in front of them and escape from this dark place.
But as soon as the golden giant sword touched the black clouds above, it was immediately entangled by the surrounding black mist and could not move. It quickly turned into golden light and disappeared in front of everyone.
"Oh no! This guy let us in on purpose; we've fallen into his trap."
Seeing how powerful the black mist was, "Master Qingyu" couldn't help but become somewhat solemn.
Only then did he realize that the other party seemed to have known all along that they would come for the core of the formation, and had already laid an ambush here.
Upon hearing this, Gu Xuanhe, who was standing to the side, changed his expression slightly. He took out a talisman from his body and then cast a spell to release a golden flame.
On Lü Yue's side, he also used magic to activate the silver iron pen in front of him, releasing several beams of spiritual light.
However, these attacks were immediately entangled in mid-air upon reaching the vicinity of the black mist, unable to break through the barrier in front of them. Seeing this, the group members all wore grim expressions.
Unseen by the black mist, two figures gazed at the three trapped individuals, both revealing expressions of joy.
"Heh! You really predicted these guys would come here. I didn't expect them to fall for it so easily."
Now that the three ringleaders have been captured, once we successfully deal with them, we won't need to expend much more effort.
"There are quite a few of them this time, so don't get too excited too soon."
Next, I'll focus on dealing with these three inside. You can handle the others outside for now. Just make sure they don't disturb my spellcasting.
Otherwise, if all our efforts are in vain and those people inside escape, they'll be a real problem to deal with.
As the man in the green robe spoke, he rapidly cast spells with both hands, his face showing a hint of solemnity.
The other man in red robes standing next to him nodded dismissively and said, "Haha, don't worry."
There isn't a single late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator among those outside right now; with me here, there's no way they'll be able to get in.
At this moment, Song Qingming and the others, who were still fighting with the Nascent Soul demons beside them, noticed that after the three "Qingyu Zhenren" went down, the stone platform was suddenly completely shrouded in a black mist, and they quickly realized that something was wrong.
However, everyone was already struggling to deal with the numerous Nascent Soul demons in front of them, and for the time being, they were unable to extricate themselves from going down to investigate.
Fortunately, not long after, several more Nascent Soul cultivators who were entangled by those low-level demons in the distance broke free from their opponents and came to their aid, and everyone's situation improved considerably.
Having managed to free himself, Yu Zifang suddenly turned around and came to Song Qingming's side, helping him fight off the two Nascent Soul demons that were entangled beside him.
“Fellow Daoist Song, Senior Brother Lü and the others haven’t come out yet. Something’s probably wrong. Why don’t we go down and check what’s going on?”
Upon hearing the suggestion, Song Qingming, who also had a bad feeling, immediately nodded and then followed Yu Zifang away from the battlefield.
Just as the two were about to reach the black mist, a sudden flash of light appeared ahead, and a figure in red robes appeared in front of them.
The next moment, Song Qingming and his companion stopped and sensed an extremely powerful aura of demonic cultivation emanating from each other.
"Oh no, it's a late-stage Nascent Soul demonic cultivator!"
Upon seeing the person before him, who was clearly different from the other infected demons beside him, and whose aura had already reached the late Nascent Soul stage, Yu Zifang's face immediately turned ugly.
Standing beside him, Song Qingming looked at the person in front of him with the same expression of shock.
His shock wasn't due to the other party's powerful cultivation, but rather because the aura emanating from the red-robed man gave him a very familiar feeling.
There's no mistake, although this demon has changed his appearance, the aura he carries is one that Song Qingming will never forget in his life.
It was the Crimson Origin Saint Demon who escaped from Taiyue Lake, fought several battles with Song Qingming and the others, and then fled from the cultivation world of Fuyun Mountain Range.
Decades ago, when Song Qingming was trading spiritual items with cultivators from the Mingyue Sect at the "Guyuefang" in Wuzhou, he sensed an aura similar to this demon in the vicinity.
Unexpectedly, after so many years, this demon has actually hidden himself in the "Qiyun Immortal Cultivation World".
It seems that the "demonic calamity" turmoil here is most likely related to this true demon from the upper realm, otherwise it would not be possible for him to appear here by such a coincidence.
Upon suddenly seeing this very familiar demon, Song Qingming also had a bad feeling. However, being on the battlefield, he didn't have time to think about and analyze these things carefully.
Before Song Qingming could speak, the "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" standing opposite him seemed to sense that the person in front of him was somewhat familiar, and couldn't help but smile and say:
"Hahaha, I was wondering why you looked so familiar. Turns out you were one of those people from the Floating Cloud Mountains back then."
"I'm really lucky today; I actually have a chance to vent my anger from back then."
As soon as "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" finished speaking, a burst of spiritual light appeared in front of him with a movement of his magic power, and then a crimson banner magic weapon appeared in his hand.
The "Crimson Cloud Holy Demon" holding the banner trembled, and the next moment, bursts of blood mist immediately emerged from the crimson banner, gathering in mid-air to form a huge skeleton several meters tall, consisting only of the upper body.
Although the blood-red skeleton looked rather ugly, its aura was not to be underestimated by Song Qingming and his companion; it had at least reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
After the crimson skeleton appeared, it vanished from the spot in a flash.
The next moment, Yu Zifang, who was still standing in mid-air, felt a sudden fluctuation of spiritual energy in front of him, followed by a streak of blood-red light rushing towards his location.
Seeing the enemy's aggressive approach, Yu Zifang quickly dodged away from his original spot and then used magic to activate his magical artifact to resist the blood mist chasing from behind.
Seeing that Yu Zifang was already entangled by the "blood-red skull", the "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" then shifted his attention to Song Qingming.
Six figures appeared before Song Qingming, quickly forming a "puppet array" that caused his aura to surge several times over, approaching the late Nascent Soul stage.
Back then, in order to deal with the "Crimson Cloud Holy Demon," the Floating Cloud Mountain Range mobilized almost half of its Nascent Soul cultivators, and the "Taiyue Lake" demon clan also helped.
Finally, the group managed to severely damage the demon's primordial spirit, forcing it into the Illusionary Sea Desert.
Now that Song Qingming had to face such a formidable opponent alone, he dared not be careless and immediately activated the "Myriad Spirit Puppet Array".
Now, after multiple upgrades, Song Qingming, empowered by the "Myriad Spirits Puppet Array," has magical power that is not far from that of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Once the magic array was activated, before the opponent could even make a move, Song Qingming cast a spell to retrieve a cyan jade tower. He then enlarged it dozens of times and pressed it directly down on the "Crimson Cloud Holy Demon" below.
This "Azure Jade Pagoda" magic weapon was a mid-grade fourth-level magic weapon that he seized from Yuan Yushan when they were "competing in swordsmanship and magic" in the East Sea.
After the "White Jade Halo" was damaged in the Tower of Babel, Song Qingming has recently turned to refining this magical artifact with similar functions.
Facing the towering blue pagoda pressing down from above, the "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" looked on with disdain. With a slight lift of his hand, he released a giant hand of blood-red light, which lifted the pagoda above his head and kept it suspended in mid-air.
Of course, what it didn't expect was that the moment the blood-red hand grabbed the "Azure Jade Pagoda", bursts of white lightning suddenly emanated from around the pagoda, shattering the giant hand that it had been supporting.
Seeing that the cyan jade tower was about to crush him, "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" still did not choose to dodge Song Qingming's attack, and once again cast a spell to forcefully lift it up with his two blood hands.
At this moment, Song Qingming's hidden lightning magic in the "Azure Jade Exquisite Pagoda" had been almost exhausted, and he was at a loss as to what to do with the magic treasures that were surrounded by the blood hands.
Seeing that Song Qingming was somewhat helpless, just as he had expected, "Red Cloud Saint Demon" immediately revealed a look of joy.
He then cast another spell, releasing a burst of blood mist that transformed into several blood-red spears, which attacked Song Qingming's location.
Seeing this, Song Qingming had no choice but to put down the trapped "Qingyu Linglong Pagoda" and cast a spell to release a golden bronze mirror in front of him.
Several loud impacts were heard, and Song Qingming was knocked back more than ten steps by the blood-red spear. He then dodged to the side to avoid the opponent's next attack.
At this moment, "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" seemed to have anticipated his movements. Just as Song Qingming dodged the remaining blood spears, his figure also quietly disappeared from the spot.
The next moment, Song Qingming, who was still in mid-air, felt a dangerous aura coming from behind him.
Before he could turn around to check, a cloud of blood mist appeared in the void, and then the figure of "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon" materialized out of thin air, reaching out to stab Song Qingming in the back not far away.
Just as the other party was about to succeed, unexpectedly, at the last moment, a bronze mirror suddenly blocked Song Qingming's path.
With a loud "bang," Song Qingming and the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror" were both thrown aside.
The "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon," who remained standing, showed a hint of disappointment on his face.
I originally thought that Song Qingming had only temporarily increased his magical power by using a secret technique, and that his spiritual sense and combat experience were far inferior to those of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Unexpectedly, Song Qingming was able to detect his movement in advance, which surprised "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon".
Back when Song Qingming first fought him, his cultivation was only at the early Nascent Soul stage.
Only a little over a hundred years have passed, yet the person before us has already possessed strength no less than that of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, which is truly rare among human cultivators.
"Good lad, I didn't expect you to have improved so much over the years. It seems your nascent soul is even more delicious than I imagined."
"Your physical injuries back then were enough to allow you to escape, which I truly admire. I wonder if you'll be so lucky this time."
Faced with the verbal threats from "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon," Song Qingming, who already knew him quite well, naturally had no fear of the other party.
Before the other party could speak again, Song Qingming patted his storage bag again and released the Ice-Fire Dragon.
Through their recent exchange, Song Qingming had already experienced the current strength of "Crimson Cloud Saint Demon." Although he was slightly weaker than before, he was still a late-stage Nascent Soul expert.
Although he could fight the opponent to a standstill by relying solely on the "Myriad Spirits Puppet Array" to enhance his strength, it would still be quite difficult to defeat this demon in a short period of time.
Right now, all I can do is hold off the enemy for the time being, and I need support from other forces to increase my chances of breaking this deadlock.
The reason Song Qingming summoned the "Ice and Fire Dragon" was to have it help Yu Zifang, who was still fighting with the blood-red skeleton.
(PS: For the past year or so, I've been writing every day and I feel like I've become disconnected from society. I almost forgot that today is Qixi Festival.)
Here, Xiaomeng wishes all fellow Daoists a happy festival and that you may all find your Daoist partners for life. (End of this chapter)