Chapter 534 - 531: Ku Mu Appears

"In other words, that kid Xiao Zhang likely went behind the Demon Sect’s leadership, acting first and reporting later. He must have used a summoning order to call in all these masters." The speaker was an elderly man with a gaunt, withered face.

He had already lived for over nine thousand years, not far from the ten-thousand-year limit of an Immortal. He was practically a living fossil in the Hall of Envoys.

As such, he knew many things others did not.

"So, how should we handle this?" someone asked.

The elder contemplated for a moment, then said, "Our target is Mo Qi. I doubt the Demon Sect wants a large-scale conflict with us, so as long as we don’t harm Xiao Zhang, they won’t fight to the death."

"We outnumber them. We’ll dispatch a group to hold back the Demon Sect, while the rest of us shatter the array as quickly as possible and capture Mo Qi!"

"Excellent! A viable plan!" The elder’s proposal was unanimously approved.

Inside the array, Mo Qi was just preparing to alter its formation to meet the Northern United Army’s attack when Xiao Zhang appeared with his Demon Sect army.

"Well now, I never expected this oddball to actually be the Young Master of the Demon Sect." Mo Qi rubbed his nose and thought, ’Seems like taking him as a disciple might not be a bad idea. Hmm... I’ll give it some thought.’

The Pig Emperor and Scab Chicken were also completely dumbfounded.

"That buck-toothed guy who’s always dropping to his knees, yelling about becoming a disciple... he’s the Young Master of the Demon Sect?"

Scab Chicken felt as if his entire view of the world had been shattered.

"If a piece of work like him can be a Young Master, then shouldn’t I, the Chicken Ancestor, be able to become a saint!"

The Pig Emperor shot Scab Chicken a look. "Baldy, you weren’t much better when you surrendered to Mo the kid."

Scab Chicken froze, not realizing for a moment who "Baldy" was.

By the time he processed it, the Pig Emperor had already leaped onto Mo Qi’s shoulder.

"My name is Mo Tu, not Baldy!" Scab Chicken protested.

"Okay, Baldy," the Pig Emperor replied without turning his head.

Scab Chicken: "..."

Outside the array, the Northern United Army secretly conferred via voice transmissions and quickly assigned their roles.

"Go!"

The army split into two. One contingent bypassed Xiao Zhang to engage the Demon Sect directly, and the battle was joined.

The other group began to power up the Array-breaking Killing Devices, preparing to blast the formation to pieces.

As planned, the group tangling with the Demon Sect focused on stalling, not fighting to win. They avoided landing any serious blows, their sole purpose being to keep the Demon Sect experts from breaking away and interfering with the array-breaking.

The North District was affiliated with the Immortal Realm’s Divine Master Valley, and most of the experts from its Sub-Palace were either Alchemy Masters or Artifact Refiners. In truth, they were not particularly skilled in combat.

Compared to the Demon Sect members, who lived life on the edge of a blade, the gap in their abilities was enormous.

However, because the Desperate Mountain Range restricted one’s Cultivation, and because it was only a stalling tactic, the Demon Sect members truly couldn’t do anything to them for the time being.

From the sidelines, Xiao Zhang naturally saw through the Northern United Army’s plan. He tried to move forward and stop them but was "attended to" by a dozen Immortals from the North District, unable to get close.

"Stop! If you dare to harm a single hair on my master’s head, I, Xiao Zhang, swear to the heavens that I will one day lead the Demon Sect to trample the North District flat, annihilate all of your clans, and leave no one alive—not even your chickens or dogs!"

The expressions of the North District members changed dramatically.

Cultivators could not swear oaths lightly.

The higher their Cultivation and the deeper their comprehension of the Ultimate Truth of Heaven and Earth, the more tightly they were bound by the laws of the world.

For someone like Xiao Zhang, who already had one foot in the Immortal Level, breaking such an oath would surely invite karmic sanction and backlash from the heavens.

"What should we do? Should we just kill him now before he grows any stronger?" someone asked, a vicious light in their eyes.

"Absolutely not!" the living fossil of an elder hurriedly interjected.

"He’s only the Demon Sect’s Young Master; there’s no guarantee he’ll become the Sect Leader. His oath may never come to fruition. But if you kill him, the Demon Sect will certainly avenge him. Then, our North District will truly be plunged into an era of death and devastation."

"Let’s focus on dealing with Mo Qi first!"

"Right!"

The Array-breaking Killing Devices were accumulating power, and the tyrannical waves of Energy made Xiao Zhang both frightened and furious.

But his hands were tied. The Demon Sect experts were already giving it their all, but they couldn’t be in two places at once and were unable to spare any attention.

Inside the array, Mo Qi watched the Array-breaking Killing Devices with curiosity, his face completely devoid of fear.

He called out, "You all had better think carefully. There are no second chances for some things. And if there are, they come at a terrible price."

"Are you scared, kid?" Gu Weitian sneered. "Too bad. It’s too late!"

"Stop with the cheap tricks. Just wait for death!" Feng Gong said as he channeled energy into an Array-breaking Killing Device.

Mo Qi couldn’t be bothered to argue with them. He turned to look at the half-finished batch of Purple Sky Wine and sighed.

"A pity about the Purple Sky Wine. Once they attack, the array is bound to shake violently, and the wine will be ruined."

Mo Qi had no idea that because of his soft murmur, a certain unscrupulous old man, who had been planning to stand by and watch the show, shot up as if his pants were on fire.

"What?! The wine is going to be ruined? No way, absolutely not!"

At that same moment, outside the array, the Array-breaking Killing Devices finished charging.

"Hahaha! Mo Qi, your time has come! Fire!"

All the great killing devices simultaneously unleashed a dazzling light. The terrifying waves of energy merged, roaring as if to tear the array asunder.

"Stop this instant!"

Elder Ku Mu could no longer be bothered with putting on an act. He materialized in his true form and, with a great wave of his hand, caught all the energy in his grasp.

He gave it a gentle squeeze.

FZZT—

Like a soap bubble, the terrifying energy burst and was crushed into nothingness in his hand.

Other than kicking up a violent gust of wind, the killing devices failed to cause even a shred of damage.

The array remained just as it was, completely unshaken.

"Phew... that was close." Elder Ku Mu wiped the sweat from his forehead. He finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the Purple Sky Wine inside the array was safe and sound.

The Northern United Army stood dumbfounded, and their battle against the Demon Sect ground to a halt.

The power of the Array-breaking Killing Devices was comparable to a blow from an Immortal, yet the old man before them had crushed it to dust with one hand.

Clearly, the old man had used a level of Cultivation surpassing the Void Realm, yet he remained completely unscathed.

What was going on?

Mo Qi and the Pig Emperor exchanged a glance. ’Why is it him?’

’Didn’t this old man put a bounty on my head?’

’Why would he step in to help me?’

"He... He’s the Master of the Doomed Mountain Range!" someone recognized Elder Ku Mu’s identity by his voice.

What?!

Everyone’s faces fell in astonishment.

The members of the Northern United Army looked especially grim, their expressions a mixture of confusion and terror.

Why would Elder Ku Mu intervene to stop them from breaking the array?

Could Mo Qi be one of his men?

That didn’t make any sense!

Hadn’t Elder Ku Mu publicly put a price on his head?

No one could make heads or tails of it; they were all completely bewildered.

"On my territory, using all this miscellaneous junk is forbidden. If you want to fight, you do it based on your own abilities!"

As he spoke, with a mere thought from Elder Ku Mu, all of the Array-breaking Killing Devices disintegrated on their own.

Then, under everyone’s astonished gaze, Elder Ku Mu ignored the array and walked right up to Mo Qi’s side.

"How much longer until this wine is ready?" Elder Ku Mu asked, staring intently at the container of Purple Sky Wine and gulping audibly.