Chapter 215 – Betrayal by the Righteous Path

Something was wrong. These demonic cultivators were completely different from those encountered before.

Cui Chengyun of the Demon Suppression Division watched Hong Hua and the others below with great astonishment.

He had already attacked multiple times, holding almost nothing back.

Yet despite this, he hadn’t managed to capture a single one of the seven individuals.

What was even more bizarre was that his righteous Qi had actually struck Hong Hua and the others earlier.

But these attacks hadn’t produced the expected results.

If only one or two had been like this, Cui Chengyun could have explained it away as those individuals being exceptionally talented among demonic cultivators.

But every single one being like this was undoubtedly extremely strange.

Not to mention, these fellows started running toward a specific location the moment they saw him.

Even a fool would know they were trying to lure him into some kind of trap.

Regarding this, Cui Chengyun wouldn’t arrogantly let them escape just because he was a Three Realms Gu Cultivator.

At the very least, he needed to eliminate a few of them first.

With this thought, Cui Chengyun immediately got serious.

A special power began to manifest on his right hand.

“Thunder technique!”

Hong Hua seemed to have grown eyes on his back, immediately noticing Cui Chengyun’s change.

Boom!

Accompanied by a dull thunderclap, a thick purple lightning bolt shot forth from Cui Chengyun’s body.

This purple thunder seemed to be just a catalyst.

Immediately after, more lightning bolts began raining down toward them.

Facing this terrifying thunderstorm, Hong Hua and the others had no choice but to use their signature techniques.

Otherwise, they would be killed by Cui Chengyun’s lightning before they could reach the sword formation Lu Chen had prepared.

It was at this moment that Hong Hua and the others truly understood the difference between Three Realms Gu Cultivators and other Gu Cultivators.

Upon reaching the Three Realms, Gu Cultivators could begin fusing other Gu insects with their lifebound Gu, enabling their Gu insects to possess more powers.

In this aspect, it shared similarities with Golden Core Stage cultivators imprinting their Dao as patterns on their Golden Cores.

However, if Golden Core Stage cultivators failed, they would simply be unable to further develop their potential.

But if Gu Cultivators failed, they would suffer backlash from their Gu insects.

At best, their cultivation would severely regress; at worst, they would die on the spot.

And Cui Chengyun was among the rare few who had successfully fused multiple Gu insects.

The thunder technique he was currently using came from an Earth-Grade Gu insect he had obtained earlier—the Violet Lightning Gu-worm.

Although only an Earth-Grade Gu insect, Purple Lightning’s offensive power even slightly surpassed that of his Heaven-Grade lifebound Gu insect.

“Roar!”

Hong Hua roared furiously, his body instantly transforming into a Blood Qi Tiger.

He then turned around and swiped a claw at the approaching purple lightning.

Bang!

The thick purple lightning was instantly shattered by Hong Hua’s claw, dispersing into dancing electric arcs.

While these arcs struck Hong Hua’s blood Qi form and shattered parts of it upon contact,

this illusory form wasn’t Hong Hua’s true body.

Therefore, it didn’t actually cause him significant harm.

The other two Immortal Fiends from Giant Spirit Gate also employed similar techniques at this moment.There was no doubt that what they were currently executing was the “Reverse Life Nine Transformations” once used by Martial God Mountain.

However, unlike Martial God Mountain’s simultaneous transformation of appearance and Qi-blood, the “Reverse Life Nine Transformations” displayed by Hong Hua and the others only involved changes in Qi-blood.

This was either due to Hong Hua and his companions’ inadequate cultivation, or because they dared only to execute it to this extent due to certain concerns.

Meanwhile, the Cultivators from Formless Valley and Seven Mysteries Sect also responded to Cui Chengyun’s lightning techniques by employing their respective signature skills.

Formless Valley utilized a method resembling deity invocation. They each donned a faceless mask, then employed a secret technique to allow a mysterious power to descend upon themselves. Afterwards, their originally blank masks would manifest the corresponding “deity’s” visage, granting them abilities similar to that “deity” for a short period.

On the other side, Seven Mysteries Valley employed Puppetry. However, their Puppets differed from ordinary ones, being half-corpse, half-Puppet entities. Though slightly inferior in physical strength compared to typical Puppets, they surpassed them significantly in both agility and technique.

Standing atop the thunderclouds wreathed in Purple Lightning, Cui Chengyun coldly snorted upon seeing the seven below block his first wave of attacks. “Let’s see how long you can hold out,” he said, launching another assault.

This time, Cui Chengyun seemed to have infused the Purple Lightning with the power of Righteous Sword Qi, elevating the thunderbolts’ potency yet another level. Consequently, Hong Hua and the others found themselves in immediate peril.

Under the relentless thunderous onslaught, even the strongest among them, Hong Hua, could only evade passively, resorting to defense only when unavoidable, and dared not engage with the lightning excessively.

Amid such attacks, the once lush Bamboo Forest lay in disarray. Numerous plants and trees ignited by the lightning spread to the surrounding bamboo groves, transforming the area into a sea of flames.

Strangely, the bamboo in the Jade Bamboo Forest was no ordinary vegetation and shouldn’t have been so easily set ablaze. This instinctively struck Hong Hua as highly unusual.

Sure enough, when the surrounding flames reached a certain intensity, Cui Chengyun produced a peculiar Gu artifact resembling a feather. “Rise,” he commanded.

Under Cui Chengyun’s control, the chaotic flames began to converge systematically, swiftly forming massive fiery whirlwinds around Hong Hua and the others. These fiery cyclones even contained sharp strands of Righteous Sword Qi—this was the power of Cui Chengyun’s third Gu Insect… the Three Flames Gu.

With Purple Lightning descending from above and the terrifying “Three Flames Fire” threatening from all sides, Hong Hua and the others momentarily halted, gazing at the colossal fire tornadoes exceeding thirty meters in height.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to flee, but if they continued to focus solely on escape, they would inevitably be defeated one by one by Cui Chengyun. Moreover, they were now close to the Sword Formation set up by Lu Chen. Surely, the commotion here had already caught Lu Chen’s attention. As long as they held out a little longer, Lu Chen should arrive soon.Given the strength Lu Chen had displayed at the Heroes’ Gathering back then, coupled with the assistance of these seven individuals, eliminating the Three Realms Gu Cultivator before them would be no difficult task at all.

As for the possibility that Lu Chen knew but chose not to come, Hong Hua and the others had considered it, but they quickly dismissed the idea. Such a scenario seemed entirely unnecessary.

In the eyes of Hong Hua and the others, Lu Chen was, like them, genuinely from the Ancient Fiend World. All of them were Cultivators, and although in the Ancient Fiend World, Cultivators often devoured each other alive over the slightest disagreement, here in the vast new world of the Central Province, they not only had no conflicts of interest but also many opportunities for collaboration.

After all, the Central Province was so expansive that even a small share would be more than enough to satisfy them. Under such circumstances, what purpose would infighting serve?

Thus, their trust in Lu Chen even surpassed their trust in others. It could be said that aside from Meow King and Shangguan Yunmeng, they were the group that trusted Lu Chen the most.

However, there was one thing they hadn’t considered: if they could disguise themselves as Cultivators, why couldn’t Lu Chen pretend to be a “Cultivation Practitioner”?

Hong Hua surveyed the area engulfed by the Three Flames Fire and, after a moment of thought, shouted, “Stop hiding! Let’s figure out how to deal with this predicament first!”

With that, Hong Hua was the first to reveal his true form. As his flesh writhed and twisted, his body transformed into a half-human, half-tiger being. A savage aura erupted from him without restraint.

Seeing this, the other two Immortal Fiends from the Giant Spirit Gate employed similar methods. One grew wings from his arms, becoming half-human, half-bird, while the other’s lower body transformed into a serpentine form, his head taking on a triangular snake-like appearance, resembling a serpent-person.

With the members of the Great Thousand Gate dropping their disguises, the two Immortal Fiends from the Valley of Non-Appearance·Black Lotus Sect, the one from the Seven Mysteries Gate·Corpse Immortal Cave, and the final Rogue Cultivator Immortal Fiend all revealed their true abilities.

The masks of the Black Lotus Sect seemed to fuse completely with their faces, making them appear not as mere vessels for divine possession but as deities themselves. The effect was that their bodies underwent varying degrees of mutation, their original two arms now replaced by four.

As for the Cultivator from the Corpse Immortal Cave, he directly summoned a coffin, releasing the Corpse Fiend he had been hiding all along.

The final Rogue Cultivator Immortal Fiend showed little change. The only thing he could boast of was a peculiar Human-Faced Drum. Without a doubt, that drum was also an Ancient Fiend Magical Artifact.

Watching the seven reveal their true forms, Cui Chengyun’s gaze grew even colder. If he had harbored even the slightest hesitation about killing them before, it was now completely gone.

These creatures, neither human nor ghost, were clearly practitioners of the Evil Path! And when it came to the Evil Path… everyone had the right to eradicate them!

“The Evil Path is the Evil Path—the deeper their Cultivation, the more twisted they become. Truly repulsive,” Cui Chengyun said coldly, his eyes fixed on the seven below. Without delay, he directed his ‘Purple Lightning’ and ‘Three Flames Fire’ to surge toward them.Hong Hua was the first to charge forward, throwing a punch at the nearest Three Flames Fire tornado.

Screech!

The Three Flames Fire tornado collided with Hong Hua’s fist, producing a piercing metallic friction sound.

Sparks erupted in abundance from Hong Hua’s fist.

It was as if the fire tornado had struck not flesh and blood, but solid metal.

To Cui Chengyun’s slight surprise, the Three Flames Fire—which should have been capable of seriously injuring a Three Realms Gu Cultivator head-on—was now being held back by Hong Hua alone.

Meanwhile, the other Three Flames Fire tornadoes from different directions were also temporarily blocked by the other Immortal Fiends.

Although their strength didn’t match Hong Hua’s, two of them working together had no trouble dealing with one Three Flames Fire tornado.

But Cui Chengyun’s attacks weren’t limited to just the Three Flames Fire.

The purple lightning surrounding him still remained.

Boom!

Just as Hong Hua shattered one Three Flames Fire tornado, a bolt of purple lightning struck him with precision.

At that moment, an infant’s head suddenly emerged from Hong Hua’s shoulder and let out a sharp shriek at Cui Chengyun’s lightning.

In the next second, an invisible barrier enveloped Hong Hua, blocking the deadly lightning strike.

But just as Hong Hua was about to catch his breath, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

“I didn’t want to dirty my hands with you lot, but it seems if I don’t hurry, you might actually escape.”

Before Hong Hua could react, a sword light swept across his back.

Squelch!

This sword strike not only pierced through Hong Hua’s tiger body but also sent him flying back, crashing heavily to the ground.

Just as Cui Chengyun prepared to continue his assault, he suddenly found his feet trapped by something.

Looking down, Cui Chengyun saw several spectral ghosts—emerging from who knows where—clutching his ankles.

Though these ghosts weren’t particularly powerful, only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, their numbers were overwhelming.

It was hard to imagine how many people Hong Hua had devoured to command dozens of Foundation Establishment Stage spectral ghosts.

While Cui Chengyun wasn’t afraid of these ghosts, their presence successfully delayed him for about a second.

In that split second, Cui Chengyun immediately realized this was all Hong Hua’s scheme.

Hong Hua had anticipated that Cui Chengyun would target him first, so he used himself as bait to lure the attack.

Almost simultaneously with Cui Chengyun being trapped, the surrounding Immortal Fiends—as if prearranged—instantly launched their assaults.

Corpse Fiends from the Corpse Fiend Cave, special Divine Abilities from the Black Lotus Sect, and ancient Cultivator artifacts from rogue Immortal Fiends.

Without exception, all these attacks reached the Peak of Foundation Establishment Stage or surpassed it.

For a moment, Cui Chengyun’s figure was completely engulfed in the smoke raised by the magical techniques and Divine Abilities.

Moments later, just as everyone thought this should teach Cui Chengyun a lesson, a figure suddenly went flying backward.

The one sent flying was none other than the Corpse Fiend from the Corpse Fiend Cave.

The Corpse Fiend’s chest was sunken, its mouth filled with black blood, clearly severely injured.

The Corpse Fiend Cave cultivator connected to it through mental link immediately suffered backlash, his face turning pale.As the smoke cleared, Cui Chengyun’s eyes had now become one purple and one blue, with a white vertical eye growing in the center of his forehead.

The original Purple Lightning and Three Flames Fire had now been completely absorbed into his body, transforming into mysterious patterns that covered his entire form.

If the previous Cui Chengyun had only made Hong Hua and the others feel somewhat troublesome, the current Cui Chengyun genuinely made them sense the threat of death.

Witnessing this scene, Hong Hua completely lost his Battle Intent.

Their only thought was: why hadn’t Lu Chen appeared by now? Could it be that he hadn’t noticed the situation here, or was he being held up by someone?

What Hong Hua and the others didn’t know was that Lu Chen had not only arrived but had been here for some time.

He simply hadn’t rushed to act, instead coldly observing everything from the sidelines.

Not only that, Lu Chen had even quietly deployed his own Sword Domain.

This Sword Domain wasn’t just meant to deal with Cui Chengyun—it was also to restrict Hong Hua and the others, preventing them from leaving this place.

To Hong Hua and his companions, this was undoubtedly an act of betrayal.

This… was a backstab from the Righteous Path.

When dealing with these Immortal Fiends, why would Lu Chen bother with principles?

(End of Chapter)