“Report! We’ve discovered a secret passage downstairs! There’s an aura of Demon Cultivators inside. The situation is suspicious!”
“Report! The Demon Cultivators inside the secret passage have revealed themselves. We’ve already engaged them in battle! Requesting reinforcements!”
“Report! We’ve secured the outer section of the secret passage. The Demon Cultivators are steadily retreating!”
“Report! We’ve discovered an inner secret chamber. We’re preparing to break in!”
Ever since the Dragon Roar Cultivators, led by An Lingran, had stormed Cloud Dance Pavilion for a surprise inspection, the Demon Cultivators hiding underground had been unable to remain concealed.
Like cats catching mice in their own nest, the Demon Cultivators guarding the secret chamber were forced into a steady retreat, while the Dragon Roar Cultivators gained an overwhelming advantage.
The Inner Gate disciples dispatched by Longyin Sect had engaged the Demon Cultivators in battle. They already had the advantage in numbers, and with the Primordial Saintess personally overseeing the operation, their opponents stood no chance unless a Demon Lord at the Tenth Stage or above appeared.
Although An Lingran was only at the Seventh Stage of the Spirit Realm, her Seventh Stage was nothing like an ordinary cultivator’s.
Anyone who knew about the cheat-like existence known as the Twin Holy Spirit Veins understood just how ridiculous it was.
Her Seventh Stage cultivation could freeze even Ninth Stage experts. With this kind of protagonist-level ability to defeat opponents of higher cultivation, who could possibly stand against her?
Therefore, once the Demon Cultivators hiding in Cloud Dance Pavilion were discovered and found themselves facing the Saintess in person, their defeat was practically inevitable.
However, what amazed everyone most in this scene was the inconspicuous white-robed youth standing at the back of the crowd: He Qiu.
During the previous tactical meeting, He Qiu had calmly declared that Demon Cultivators had to be hiding within Cloud Dance Pavilion.
At first, nobody believed him. His reasoning seemed illogical, and his conclusion appeared completely unreasonable.
Yet now, after storming Cloud Dance Pavilion for a surprise inspection, they had actually uncovered hidden Demon Cultivators.
And there weren’t just one or two of them. They had discovered an entire nest of Demon Sect strongholds!
This was outrageous. Even the most famous street detectives wouldn’t dare make such a deduction.
How exactly had Junior Brother He Qiu figured it out?
“Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, please stop staring at me and focus on the battle.”
Feeling the occasional, subtle glances from the cultivators around him, He Qiu sighed helplessly.
Even so, he didn’t forget to turn around and draw his sword, cutting down a Demon Cultivator who had attempted to stab him from behind.
His cool and handsome performance only strengthened the other cultivators’ conviction that he was a formidable expert.
“Junior Brother, you’re both wise and skilled in combat. Truly admirable~”
He Qiu: …
Meanwhile, while everything was proceeding smoothly on He Qiu’s side, Wan Caimei, the minor leader of the Demon Sect, could no longer remain calm inside the secret chamber.
The Righteous Path Cultivators of Longyin Sect had already discovered the entrance to the secret chamber and fought their way through most of the passage.
It wouldn’t be long before they broke into the chamber and destroyed the altar.
On top of that, Wan Caimei had just learned that a silver-haired woman of fairy-like beauty was leading the assault!
Silver hair, beautiful, fairy-like…
Who else could it possibly be? Was there even any need to guess?
Wasn’t she Longyin Sect’s signature figure, the martial world’s widely renowned “Anti-Demon Sacred Weapon”—the Primordial Saintess?
“Damn it! Why has even the Primordial Saintess been dragged into this?”
“How on earth did they discover that our secret base is beneath Cloud Dance Pavilion?!”
Wan Caimei bit her index finger, her black-purple nail pressing against her lips. Her beautiful eyes darkened, and her expression was filled with panic and fury.
The supposedly flawless plan she and her master had devised had been shattered so easily…
First, she couldn’t understand why the Righteous Path Cultivators had suddenly launched a nighttime raid on Cloud Dance Pavilion.
Second, she couldn’t understand why the Primordial Saintess herself would personally come to deal with a mere brothel.
This was simply catastrophic bad luck.
If either of these two circumstances hadn’t occurred, Wan Caimei wouldn’t have been so desperate. At the very least, she would have had some room to recover.
But if the Primordial Saintess discovered their secret base, it would be no different from reaching a dead end.
Under these circumstances, even if Wan Caimei led every Demon Cultivator in a desperate charge, they would probably only end up adding a few more corpses to the pile at the Saintess’s feet.
After all, that was the Primordial Saintess, a woman who could freeze everything with a mere wave of her hand.
She was practically a bug-like existence within the Spirit Cultivation Realm…
With matters having reached this point, Wan Caimei had no choice but to abandon the base and make an immediate decision.
“Everyone, the Primordial Saintess, An Lingran, is at the Outer Gate. We’re already in a desperate situation, but don’t panic.”
“Next, I’ll use my ultimate illusion technique to hold off the cultivators at the Outer Gate. Then, everyone will escape through the backup tunnel, scatter in different directions, and fend for yourselves!”
After issuing her cold orders, Wan Caimei suddenly widened her demonic eyes.
Endless demonic aura erupted around her as she formed a series of hand seals.
In an instant, a purple-violet illusion enveloped the entire Cloud Dance Pavilion and the surrounding hundred miles.
Inside the tunnel, An Lingran raised her hand and killed the last Demon Cultivator.
She casually froze the corpse to one side before continuing forward, controlling the icy spiritual energy swirling around her.
Soon, an entrance to a secret chamber appeared at the end of the tunnel.
An Lingran heightened her guard, stepped inside, and surveyed the surroundings, only to discover that not a single person was there.
“An ambush?”
Thinking this, the girl raised her hand slightly and froze the entire secret chamber.
She carefully observed her surroundings for a long while, yet still couldn’t detect the slightest trace of demonic aura.
Strange.
Lowering her hand, the girl unfroze the chamber and continued forward to investigate.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, she whipped her head around, only to find that nobody was behind her.
Even the fellow disciples who had followed her were gone, including the two junior disciples she cared about most.
For a moment, An Lingran stood rooted to the spot, her heart skipping a beat as she urgently tried to figure out what was happening.
Her junior brothers and sisters had been fine just moments ago… so where had they gone?
“It’s an illusion.”
After a brief moment of thought, the battle-hardened An Lingran understood her predicament.
However, after several attempts to break free, she found herself seemingly powerless.
The illusion surrounding her remained completely undisturbed.
With her Ice Spirit Vein, she could freeze countless things, but she couldn’t break an illusion that had already been cast.
Even if she froze the illusion itself, that wouldn’t change the fact that she was still trapped inside it.
Freezing could preserve something in a particular state, but it couldn’t reverse events that had already occurred.
Moreover, An Lingran couldn’t even determine whether this was a mental illusion, a dream illusion, or a dimensional illusion, much less figure out how to break it.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary illusions couldn’t trap An Lingran for long. She could sense danger in advance and find a way to avoid it.
But this time, she had spent quite a while exploring before finally realizing that she was already trapped in an illusion.
Such a sophisticated and precise illusion realm meant that its caster was certainly no ordinary person.
The culprit was most likely a Demon Cultivator who specialized in illusions.
For An Lingran, this was extremely troublesome.
To be honest, An Lingran had very little resistance to illusions and lacked experience dealing with them.
Although illusions could impede her movements, they couldn’t kill her directly. As a result, she had never taken them particularly seriously or made any special effort to study them.
But this time, while leading her junior brothers and sisters on a mission, An Lingran suddenly realized something.
When trapped in an illusion, she wasn’t afraid for her own safety.
She was afraid that something might happen to her junior brothers and sisters.
If she remained trapped, she wouldn’t be able to protect anyone else.
She recalled Master An Daosheng’s instructions before her departure, when he had told her to protect her junior brothers…
“Tsk.”
Clenching her jade-like fists, An Lingran felt the unease in her heart grow stronger.
She was becoming increasingly irritated and angry.
She hated this feeling of being exposed while her enemy remained hidden, of being toyed with by an illusion, and of being unable to sense the auras of her junior brothers and sisters.
If anything had happened to her junior brothers and sisters—
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