Chapter 60 – It’s a Trap!

  Jun De stepped carefully over a shattered stone walkway, his spiritual sense spread thin as he searched the wreckage of the Hollow Stream Sect’s Outer Training grounds. He could only extend his spiritual sense a few feet in either direction, but it was enough to detect if anyone was alive.

  The structures here had been torn apart with terrifying brutality, sword cuts had carved through the walls, and it was filled with the unmistakable smell of scorched flesh.

  He kept searching, but didn’t find any signs of survivors, only bones and ash.

  Jun De paused beside what might have once been a pill refinement hall, but now had been reduced to nothing but collapsed timbers and blackened stone. As he sifted through the wreckage for clues, he only found a few scattered fragments of cauldrons and cracked jade bottles.

  ‘No records or journals, no bodies with their blood essence intact. Elder Shen is right, this place has been stripped clean.’

  The Sect token that hung at his waist gave off a faint light and vibrated slightly, alerting him to return to the others who were regrouping in the central plaza.

  Jun De moved quickly, leaping over debris and ducking beneath collapsed archways, while the others emerged into the central courtyard from different directions. They all appeared to be empty-handed, and many of them had pale faces that spoke of the horrors they had seen throughout the Sect.

  Elder Shen was already waiting for him with his hands clasped behind his back and his face frowning as he scanned the ruins.

  Jun De had just stepped into the plaza when the sky suddenly changed. The air twisted around him, and a crushing spiritual pressure descended from above like a boulder falling from the heavens.

  He gasped and staggered forward. The Qi inside his Dantian flared wildly, then convulsed out of control. Pain knifed through his chest, and Jun De coughed violently as he spat blood onto the cracked stone beneath his feet.

  All across the plaza, Disciples cried out as they dropped to their knees or collapsed entirely. They were being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the oppressive spiritual energy. Even the Inner Sect Disciples in the Foundation Establishment Stage were helpless against it.

  Elder Mu’s voice shouted out over the chaos, her tone sharp and commanding.

  “Protect the Disciples! Form a barrier, it’s a trap!”

  But it was already too late.

  With a deafening thrum, a formation that had been hidden beneath the Hollow Stream Sect erupted. Scarlet light burst from the ground in a massive wave, encasing the entire area in a dome of blue-hued spiritual light.

  Intricate runes carved into the stone surrounding the Sect ignited one after another in rapid succession, binding to each other and sealing the area to keep those inside isolated from the outside.

  The Inner Sect Elders reacted instantly, their Core Formation cultivations flared as they threw up protective barriers around their groups. But, just as they did so, pillars of black fire rose from the perimeter of the Sect and sliced through the courtyard.

  Walls of demonic Qi were dividing the Elders from the Disciples.

  Jun De looked up in shock as a barrier surged upward between Elder Shen and himself. The Elder’s eyes widened in alarm, and he rushed toward Jun De but was halted by a wall of dangerous Qi.

  Shadows began to pour from the crumbled buildings around them, from the broken towers and even from holes in the ground. Hundreds of figures stepped into view, dressed in dark robes with their eyes gleaming with hunger.

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  Their Qi was twisted and foul, utterly demonic in nature.

  The crimson clouds churned violently, and another ripple of overwhelming pressure descended upon the ruins, heavier than anything Jun De had ever felt before.

  It pushed down like a mountain, threatening to grind his bones to dust, and he knew that the only reason he and the other Qi Condensation Disciples were still alive was due to his own Elders counteracting the harsh effects.

  From the sky above them, a single voice loudly echoed, cold and triumphant.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you would come. But I knew you would, the righteous Sects are nothing if not predictable.”

  A figure descended from the blood-red sky, his presence cloaked in a dense mist of Qi. He hovered above the Sect in black robes that had once been regal but had become tattered with time. His skin was shrivelled and paper-thin, stretched taut over his skeletal frame, but his eyes burned with unnatural vitality.

  He was beyond the peak of Core Formation, but not on the same level as a Nascent Soul Cultivator like the Sect Master of the Tranquil Mountain Sect.

  “Half-Step Nascent Soul Cultivation.” Elder Mu whispered to the Elders beside her, and their expression grew even more grim.

  Overcoming stages in cultivation was impossible, even with numbers on their side.

  While this stranger wasn’t yet in the Nascent Soul stage, he was infinitely close. Elder Mu’s mid Core Formation cultivation was highest amongst them, with the others being in the early Core Formation stage.

  But they had the advantage of having earned their cultivation through traditional methods, making their foundations better. Combined with their techniques and spiritual artifacts, the outcome of a battle between them was uncertain.

  “Who are you!?” Elder Mu replied, her expression dark as she felt the stranger's Qi clearly.

  The man gave a slight bow, mocking her elegantly before responding.

  “I am Xun Beiming. Once an Elder of the Black Briar Sect, before the Tranquil Mountain Sect wiped us out like weeds. But weeds always return.” Xun Beiming smiled to reveal his yellowed teeth.

  The Elders tensed. The Black Briar Sect had been an unorthodox Sect that had been destroyed decades prior.

  “Kindness to the enemy is cruelty to yourself. This time we will be sure to pull out the roots!” Elder Mu responded, and Xun Beiming laughed loudly.

  “It was your mistake for not being more thorough, and the result is the destruction of this Sect. A tragedy, yes, but their blood essence was useful to us. Quite useful.” Xun Beiming said, licking his lips.

  A faint crimson light flickered in his eyes.

  “And now, with the essence of a few more Core Formation cultivators, I will step into the Nascent Soul Realm.” He raised a shrivelled hand, and the air around him quivered.

  The pressure doubled, and even the Qi surrounding Elder Mu shimmered and dimmed under the weight.

  “You’re mad! Your foundation is corrupted and weak; your soul will never withstand the Nascent Soul Tribulation.” Elder Mu said, and she was already removing her sword from the storage ring on her right hand.

  “Perhaps, but the heavens have ignored me long enough! I will force them to recognize me.” Xun Beiming replied, and the madness was clear in his voice. He had long ago relinquished any grasp on sanity in the pursuit of higher cultivation.

  Pale blue light flared as Elder Mu raised her hand, and a glowing lotus of radiant Qi bloomed in her palm before expanding like a tide of energy that crashed against the demonic barrier enclosing the Hollow Stream Sect.

  The barrier wavered for a heartbeat before a small crack appeared large enough for a person to squeeze through.

  “Go! This is your only chance!” Elder Mu commanded the Disciples. They didn’t hesitate, and Jun De and the others burst into motion, sprinting across the ruined Sect grounds toward the breach.

  The sky behind him erupted into chaos, and he quickly stole a glance over his shoulder as he ran.

  Elder Mu and the other Core Formation Elders had taken to the skies, clashing with Xun Beiming. The demonic cultivator floated in the center of the carnage, his black robes billowing around him as Qi surged from his body like a storm.

  Xun Beiming held a wickedly barbed spear in both hands and was parrying Elder Mu’s strikes while laughing.

  “Such resolve! Good, the stronger your will, the richer your blood essence will be when I refine it!”

  Jun De’s heart pounded as he ran, and the sky above him glowed with explosive flashes of Qi and the thunderous concussions of attacks. He couldn’t make out the individual combatants anymore, just swirling lights.

  As he left the barrier, the chaos of the explosions caused the Disciples to become separated, and Jun De lost track of where he was in the confusion. He ran through the darkness for several minutes, using the Luminous Step to gain distance from the fighting Elders.

  The path ahead of him was blocked by five demonic cultivators in black robes, all emanating the spiritual pressure of the late-stage of Qi condensation.

  Jun De came to a halt and realized that he was standing alone in the wilderness with only the demonic cultivators in front of him.

  He inhaled slowly and tried to calm his racing heart.

  With no choice, Jun De removed the Warflag of Dominion from his storage bag and prepared to fight for his life.