Chapter 78: The Plea

"No, no, no! How can you go by yourselves? What if you can't beat him!"

Upon hearing that a demonic cultivator was playing tricks, Yiling Ke hurried to persuade Zora.

"Let's send a message to the sect first and have them send someone to deal with it!"

Zora didn't particularly care who killed the demonic cultivator: "Whatever."

Yiling Ke let out a massive sigh of relief. She was truly afraid that Zora and Vane, those two lone wolves, would go off to confront the enemy on their own without seeking help; it was too easy for things to go wrong.

"The commoners who emerged from the illusion have all appeared outside the city. Turi Qi has taken them in to move them away," Song Zhihuai said, looking down at his transmission talisman.

Although the Crystal Secret Realm was located within the city, its growth over the years had allowed it to cover a vast area. Now that the realm had shattered and spat the commoners out, Turi Qi was having a hard time stabilizing the situation.

Fortunately, she was used to handling such matters. It wasn't too difficult, and she soon contacted the nearest neighboring county, planning to move these people there for temporary shelter.

Several array masters also appeared outside the city. They were dazed for a moment, appearing still immersed in the secret realm, but once clarity returned to their eyes, they became frantic.

"How could it be...!"

"What is the state of the seal now?"

"No! I have to go back and check! You lot, hurry and inform the Sect Leader of Drunken Lu Bay!"

One array master was so anxious his face turned bright red. He hurriedly thanked Turi Qi and prepared to walk back into the city. Turi Qi didn't stop him; the Bright Mirror Sea arrays and seals were vital, and it was only right to deal with them first.

Unexpectedly, when the array master reached the city gate and charged forward, he slammed into a transparent barrier and went rolling across the ground.

"What is this!?"

He stood up and felt the barrier with his hand, his expression grim: "It's a boundary."

Turi Qi suddenly halted her steps, her gaze sharpening. With a wave of her hand, her sword unsheathed and pierced toward the city gate. The tip of the blade scraped against the boundary, creating a sharp spark of light, yet it didn't give an inch.

The fact that no one had noticed this boundary indicated that the culprit's cultivation was higher than everyone present.

Turi Qi was unable to break the boundary and felt an internal fire of anxiety. Her junior sister, junior brother, and senior brother were all inside, trapped like turtles in a jar. It was extremely dangerous.

"It's over... the seal is beyond saving..." The array master clutched his hair in frustration, looking utterly dejected.

"No! we must find Drunken Lu Bay! Let them come and break the boundary!"

"Right. The seal absolutely cannot be broken."

Another array master said to Turi Qi, "Fellow cultivator, why don't you come with us? Once you've settled the commoners, come with us. This place has been occupied by demonic cultivators and will know no peace. It is not something you or I can stop."

Turi Qi spoke in a heavy tone: "No. My friends are still in the city."

She bit her lip and stared at the boundary, then suddenly sheathed her sword and immediately turned back to settle the commoners. The array master watched her back and sighed, saying no more as he left with the others toward Drunken Lu Bay.

...Drunken Lu Bay. They hadn't been back in hundreds of years.

The array master dazed for a moment and shook his head. They weren't great masters, just ordinary cultivators who lived long lives. Back then, there were very few people capable of taking over the duty of guarding the seal—and even fewer willing to do so. Thus, a group of people like them, who weren't exceptionally powerful, came to guard it, staying for several hundred years.

The sealing array was created by the first Sect Leader of Drunken Lu Bay; he was the creator and leader of such arrays. Consequently, the seal was extremely complex. They had spent these hundreds of years studying it incessantly without eating or sleeping, yet they only managed to understand half of it.

He still remembered how it all started. As Drunken Lu Bay grew stronger, fresh blood could be brought in to guard the place alongside them—though some cultivators only stayed for a few years before leaving to pursue their own paths, some simply married and had children in Tao County, giving up on the Dao entirely, and some were killed by monsters while out. Only a handful stayed resolute.

Over a decade ago, there was a new disciple. Those who guarded the seal didn't leave easily, and everything in Tao County was unrelated to them. Aside from giving pills to those mortals at the very beginning, they were now strictly separated. Some mortals were even born and died of old age without knowing an array existed nearby.

That new disciple still possessed a heart of curiosity. He would occasionally stroll through Tao County, and it was then that he discovered Mu Qiong, who had fallen to her death in the woods. Three hundred years had passed since her death, leaving only white bones buried deep in the wilderness.

The array master had found her while practicing his formations.

"...Sigh." The array master was still young and couldn't bear to see the corpse. He gathered her bones and saw the cracks in her limbs; she had been exposed to the wilderness, battered by wind and rain day after day, until she was buried where she died without even a tombstone. Only the jade lock on her chest remained. Thinking she hadn't lived a good life, he placed a piece of crystal in the teeth of her skull.

"...This is a Crystal Secret Realm, a very weak illusion. If your obsession was deep and your soul hasn't completely dissipated, it can pull you into the happy illusion you desired most. When the illusion ends, your soul can be liberated."

He only wanted to give her a "beautiful dream," a lifetime within an "illusion."

Mu Qiong was not supposed to awaken within the illusion or recover her memories. But a demonic cultivator with a purpose came here, conceived a plan, and polluted her illusion. The Crystal Secret Realm expanded on its own, long since ceasing to be a low-level realm, gradually encompassing the commoners—and even those array masters—within it.

Did that demonic cultivator want to destroy the array? The array master’s expression tightened. ...But everyone knew the seal within Drunken Lu Bay was the primary one.

A wild wind surged, blowing the array master’s sleeves into the air. He looked ahead, seemingly able to see Drunken Lu Bay far on the horizon. ...So, what state was the current Drunken Lu Bay in, that no one had noticed the array masters here were replaced by puppet imposters?

Turi Qi forced herself to stay calm. After finishing the resettlement of the commoners, she rushed back to the December Sect at top speed.

December Sect.

Wanghua-jun had just emerged from seclusion. The stream gurgled and the cicadas chirped pleasantly. He stood by the stream, his light-colored pupils shifting slightly toward the end of the small path.

Turi Qi happened to land on her sword. The more anxious she was, the colder and more frozen her expression became—this was a habit she had developed over a long time after becoming the Chief of the Sword Gate.

The finger pads within Wanghua-jun’s sleeves moved slightly. Today was his birthday. Cultivators like him generally forgot their birthdays and wouldn't waste time celebrating them. But ever since Turi Qi arrived, she would send a small gift every year, to the point where he had grown used to her concern.

Turi Qi would always look at him with a gaze of admiration when giving gifts, her cheeks slightly flushed. Wanghua-jun had never paid it any mind, but this time he wanted to look closely. ...Though their relationship had cooled considerably lately, on his last birthday, Turi Qi had habitually given a gift as a matter of respecting her teacher—placing it directly at his cave entrance without seeing him.

Turi Qi came straight before Wanghua-jun and bowed respectfully, not looking directly at his face.

"Master, my friends are trapped in a demonic cultivator's trap in Tao County. I beg of you... to lend your aid."

"..."

The man's lips grew even more frozen. He only opened them after a long while to say: "...Friends?"

"Yes, friends."

"Is it that Song Zhihuai who came to find you last time?" His voice was flat, devoid of any ripples.

"Yes, and..." Before she could finish, she was interrupted.

"I believe I told you before," Wanghua-jun said, his chest inexplicably filled with a groundless anger, yet he had nowhere to vent it and didn't know how. He only said: "Do not do things that exceed your own ability. You all have been far too reckless."

The girl bowed her head and said no more, simply repeating: "I beg Master to help."

"Something has happened at Drunken Lu Bay. All Immortals of the December Sect must remain on standby; we cannot act at will."

Wanghua-jun's tone was stiff. But he could. As the Sword Sovereign, he held special authority. He could go save them; it would only take a single strike. Saving them before heading to Drunken Lu Bay wouldn't be too late. It was just that the elderly Immortals of the sect were afraid these powerful cultivators would meet with an accident or be delayed if they went out. They feared the one-in-ten-thousand chance, which was why they ordered everyone to stay on standby. After all, if the seal broke and wasn't suppressed in time, allowing the demonic cultivators to open the passage to the Demon Realm, it wouldn't just be a massacre... their own lives would be at risk.

If she just said one more thing. If she just said one more thing, or spoke a soft word. He would agree.

Wanghua-jun couldn't take back the harsh words he had blurted out due to his emotional fluctuations. He wouldn't slap his own face. He watched Turi Qi, waiting for her to speak again.

A long silence.

Time waited for no one. Turi Qi only felt regret and a sense of release, along with an even greater urgency. This was the Sword Sovereign. Not the person of her fantasies.

Turi Qi: "I understand... then, Master, I shall take my leave."

Wanghua-jun was stunned. Seeing her turn to leave, he instinctively took a small step forward, then immediately snapped back to his senses and stopped. The girl's back was resolute, and she soon disappeared at the end of the path.

"..."

The sound of the stream gurgled. Wanghua-jun's sword vibrated irritably within the cave. He looked toward where she had left. A slight bitterness inexplicably welled up in his heart.

No matter. Her soul lamp was still here. If anything happened to her, he would naturally have a way to know and rush there in time. He was not a person of chivalrous spirit to begin with; carrying the responsibility of the Sword Sovereign was already his greatest concession. Wanghua-jun never gave a thought to Song Zhihuai's life.

In his eyes, Turi Qi was still that girl who had a decent relationship with everyone in the sect but had no one closer to her. He had even felt a sense of pleasure because of that. Even if Song Zhihuai died, he didn't think she would be devastated.

...Whatever. In the end, when she encountered danger, he would go to save her. Wanghua-jun forced himself to focus on Drunken Lu Bay. He looked down at the clear lines on his palm. ...His cultivation had been stagnant for a long time, and now it was actually wavering because of the sword spirit and his state of mind.

Hall of Chasing Immortals.

Mist swirled. Over a dozen Immortals sat upon the seats, all white-haired and possessed of immortal grace. These were the people with the highest cultivation in the December Sect, managing various parts of the sect and gradually devouring the Sect Leader's authority in secret.

"You are saying Zora and the others encountered a demonic cultivator in Tao County and are trapped?"

Ling Zhihuan turned around, her long, wide sleeves falling across the steps.

"Yes. I beg the Sect Leader to send cultivators to assist. The opponent is likely a Golden Core stage demonic cultivator; Junior Sister Zora and the others cannot resist."

Just as Ling Zhihuan was about to speak, an old man with white hair and a white beard spoke first: "Haven't we said that our December Sect must reserve cultivators for the coming crisis? Cultivators with high cultivation are rare, and we have no spare help to begin with. You lot..." He sighed, as if lamenting their lack of potential: "Why did you have to go to such a dangerous place at this juncture?"

Turi Qi bowed respectfully with cupped hands, her eyes never lifting to look directly at them throughout the process. She knew these Immortals loved to be treated with respect, and she naturally wouldn't go against them: "We went there unaware that there was a demonic cultivator. We only thought Senior Brother Song was trapped in a secret realm."

Ling Zhihuan’s words had been cut off, and her expression faltered slightly. No matter what she thought in her heart, her face remained impassive. Once these Immortals finished their varied criticisms, she finally spoke leisurely: "Zora, Vane, and the others are the most outstanding disciples of our sect; it is only right to rescue them."

"The Sect Leader must not let a moment of soft-heartedness ruin the greater plan. If that happens, the whole world will not forgive us," an Immortal sneered.

Shu Ning never liked participating in such troublesome matters and was not among the seated Immortals. Occasionally, an Immortal with a sliver of conscience would speak up, saying it wouldn't hurt to send one person to save them, but they were blocked by another Immortal.

Cliques had long since formed within the sect. Most of those so-called high-cultivation cultivators had been won over by these Immortals; naturally, they didn't want their own people to meet with accidents. At the very least, they wanted them to make a grand showing at the Bright Mirror Sea of Drunken Lu Bay, where all eyes would be watching.

As for those under Ling Zhihuan, they had long since headed to Drunken Lu Bay to stand by. Her face grew slightly cold: "The sect relies on these young cultivators. If we see them in danger and do not save them, how can the sect develop?"

"The Sect Leader should not exaggerate. We naturally have a heart of great care for the young cultivators; it’s just that there are priorities, and the big picture must come first."

Ling Zhihuan’s spiritual power surged erratically within her. High-sounding words—they didn't care about the sect's development at all. These old, undying things, once they reached this position, they became master schemers, creating cliques and fighting for resources. Ling Zhihuan hadn't been skilled at such things before and had ignored this. Over time, it had actually become a trend. If high-level officials were like this, and cultivation often spanned hundreds or thousands of years, they would remain perched at the head of the sect, leaving the interior filled with invisible conflicts.

If Ling Zhihuan had some means or a bit more cultivation, she would surely sever their heads one by one to show the public. Unfortunately, she didn't.

Suddenly, the voices of the Immortals fell silent. Ling Zhihuan lifted her eyes. The girl in the hall had a resolute face and bright eyes, devoid of any indignation. With a sharp flick of her robes, as the beautiful hem fell, her back was straight and her knees touched the ground—she had actually knelt.

"I beg of you, Immortals, save their lives."