Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Just as Li Yuebai was about to question the system, a commotion arose outside the door.
And a boy rushed in. He was dressed in black, with his hair tied in a ponytail, and looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old. He had a very handsome face, a carefree demeanor, and eyebrows that slanted upwards. He was clearly the type to be mischievous and playful. But now, however, he was frowning, looking anxious, and without greeting his fellow disciples, he rushed towards him. Seeing his strange behavior, his fellow disciples stopped what they were doing and began to discuss it.
It seemed that this boy was the “troublemaker” that Xiao Ai had just mentioned.
“Master, Master, something’s happened!” The black-clad youth rushed to Li Yuebai, then he turned and closed the door, collapsing to the ground, panting heavily. “It’s extremely urgent!”
Seeing the youth’s heavy breathing and travel-worn appearance, Li Yuebai guessed something serious had occurred, but he didn’t rush to ask questions. He first helped the youth up from the ground and handed him a cup of tea. Once the youth had caught his breath, he asked, “What is it?”
The youth took the water, gulped down two mouthfuls, wiped the dust and blood from his face, and hurriedly said, “The Demonic Sect! The Demonic Sect has already attacked the mountain gate! They’re clamoring to slaughter everyone on Kunlun Immortal Mountain!”
The Demonic Sect? Li Yuebai inwardly cried out in alarm.
Everything had been peaceful in the courtyard; he hadn’t expected such an emergency outside the mountain.
At the same time, the system displayed the black-clad youth’s information:
Jiang Shaoying, fifteen years old, the protagonist of this world, Mu Qingning’s disciple.
Naturally lively, active, and rebellious, he only showed great respect to Mu Qingning.
Today, Jiang Shaoying broke the rules and secretly slipped out of the mountain gate, wanting to cause some mischief. He then made his way to the edge of the barrier.
At the foot of Kunlun Immortal Mountain, there was a magical barrier, like an invisible city wall, protecting the entire mountain.
To prevent its destruction, ordinary disciples were forbidden from approaching the area around the barrier. However, Jiang Shaoying somehow managed to sneak past it and even peeked out.
This peek revealed a massive, dark army of demonic cult members standing on the plain at the foot of the mountain, a terrifying sight.
The demonic cult was no different from those common in other worlds; it was a newly emerging force in this world, numerous and powerful, practicing unorthodox methods and acting with extreme cruelty. It had already committed countless bloody massacres, and this time, it had turned its attention to Kunlun Immortal Mountain.
“How many demonic cult members have come?” Li Yuebai steadied himself and asked in a deep voice.
“They claim to have 100,000.” Jiang Shaoying clenched his fist in anger. He could see the banners in the distance and hear the clamor of the Demonic Sect leader, who boasted that the 100,000 demons would raze Kunlun to the ground overnight…
“Host, please don’t panic. In a battle, it’s common for both sides to exaggerate their numbers,” the system reminded him. “Often, 30,000 people claim to have 100,000. And since it’s the Demonic Sect, they must have included all the demons and monsters in their count.”
Although the Demonic Sect’s numbers might not actually be that many, and although there was a magical barrier preventing them from entering immediately, the barrier would eventually be breached. If they didn’t quickly send people to defend, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Jiang Shaoying was quite restrained; he didn’t panic or shout outside but instead came to report to his master first.
However… Li Yuebai thought about it again and realized something was wrong.
The Demonic Sect’s 100,000-strong army had reached the foot of Kunlun Mountain, and they were about to attack. Yet Kunlun Mountain was completely unaware? Completely unprepared?
Impossible.
The Demonic Sect was the Demonic Sect; but they were not invisible. Any movement of troops would inevitably cause a disturbance. Kunlun Mountain had eyes and ears everywhere, and they would surely report the Demonic Sect’s movements swiftly to the Immortal Lord, who would then carefully consider and deploy defenses.
Logically, Kunlun Mountain should be prepared for battle.
“System, please tell me how Kunlun’s preparations are going,” Li Yuebai ordered.
“Kunlun Mountain learned of the Demonic Sect’s movements a month ago. The Immortal Lord personally deployed the defenses, and all forces are in place. Just this morning, the Immortal Lord personally led several thousand immortals to the barrier to observe the enemy’s situation…” the system replied.
That’s practically impregnable!
“The Immortal Lord places great importance on defense…” Li Yuebai said.
For a moment, Jiang Shaoying’s expression became even more conflicted.
“Master, the Immortal Lord… something’s happened!” Jiang Shaoying finally managed to lower his voice before uttering these earth-shattering words.
The current Immortal Lord of Kunlun Immortal Mountain, Yu Pengze, had sat in that position for decades, possessing profound power. What could possibly have happened to him?
“Otherwise, why do you think I’m so panicked, Master?” Jiang Shaoying said, “I saw the Immortal Lord leading everyone towards us from afar, and hurriedly hid, fearing punishment. Then I heard a deafening explosion, flames shooting into the sky. When I looked back at the Immortal Lord and the others, I saw a huge hole blasted into the mountain, the ground charred black. The Immortal Lord and all the other immortals were nowhere to be found…”
Li Yuebai was speechless for a moment.
In the real world, this would be a bombing attempt to assassinate the highest leader.
But this was the world of cultivation… If someone had deliberately attempted murder, would the Immortal Lord’s power have prevented him from noticing?
“System, what happened? What happened to the Immortal Lord?” He didn’t have time for slow deduction; he’d just ask the system directly.
“Jiang Shaoying’s statement is correct.” The system paused. “The Immortal Lord is dead.”
“Dead?” Li Yuebai was taken aback.
“Yes, he died by self-destruction, along with thousands of cultivators around him, all of whom were completely wiped out.” The system said.
“This…” Li Yuebai felt this was too dramatic. Cultivators clearly pursued immortality and supreme magical power, yet he died so inexplicably?
“Kunlun Immortal Master Yu Pengze died from a cultivation deviation.” The system patiently explained, “Although his skill was profound, his greed was excessive. After becoming an Immortal Master, his ambition swelled even more. He was no longer satisfied with merely being the master of Kunlun Immortal Mountain, nor with his own lifespan. He only wanted to cultivate higher levels of skill, defy fate, and ascend to a higher realm… Logically speaking, this is quite normal in the cultivation world. However, Yu Pengze favored some alchemists whose skills were insufficient, consumed the wrong elixirs, and practiced evil and heretical spells, causing his internal energy to become chaotic, leading to his self-destruction and death…”
Li Yuebai recalled some scenes of Yu Pengze’s domineering power from his memories, and for a moment, he couldn’t connect this dazzling figure with the tragic end of a cultivation deviation.
But upon closer reflection, it made perfect sense.
In recent years, Yu Pengze’s temperament had become increasingly unpredictable and suspicious. He distrusted the other immortal masters but favored certain alchemists of dubious origin, frequently ordering them to prepare new elixirs. Even affairs on Kunlun Mountain were often entrusted to his favored alchemists.
All these signs made his self-destruction inevitable.
According to Jiang Shaoying’s description, when the Immortal Lord self-destructed, flames soared into the sky; it was impossible that he was the only one who witnessed it. Before long, the news would spread throughout Kunlun Mountain.
Perhaps even the Demonic Sect would become aware of this fact.
The vast Kunlun Immortal Mountain was now leaderless.
Aside from the thousands of cultivators who perished in the explosion, over forty thousand remained on the mountain, each possessing considerable skill. However, without unified command, they were merely a disorganized mob, incapable of confronting the Demonic Sect.
The most urgent task was to support the eldest son of the former Immortal Lord to succeed him.
The eldest son… his information immediately flashed through Li Yuebai’s mind.
Yu Pengze’s eldest son, named Yu Tianliu, was already an adult, having mastered both swordsmanship and Daoist arts, and was the undisputed choice for the next Immortal Lord in everyone’s eyes.
Now that Yu Pengze had passed away, the most pressing matter was to quickly place Yu Tianliu on the throne, stabilize the people’s hearts, and then lead the entire region to confront the Demonic Sect.
However, Yu Tianliu… was not currently on Kunlun Immortal Mountain.
Ten days ago, he had led five thousand cultivators away from Kunlun on a distant expedition to Jiuli.
Kunlun was located in the northwest, and Jiuli in the southwest; even traveling by sword and wind, it would take ten days to reach them.
Yu Tianliu should have just arrived in Jiuli. Even without considering the time needed to deliver the message, and even if he returned immediately, it would take at least ten days to get back to Kunlun.
The battle was like a raging fire; ten days was far too long for Kunlun, which was surrounded by the Demonic Sect.
….
The next morning, Li Yuebai was awakened by a disturbance.
This body had cultivated for many years, and its spiritual power was keen. Even without any real noise outside, he could sense that countless people had entered the courtyard. They were all holding their breath, seemingly afraid to disturb him, but he still detected their auras.
Li Yuebai slowly opened his eyes and got up.
He wasn’t alarmed. Judging from their auras, these people outside were from Kunlun Immortal Mountain, not the Demonic Sect. The Demonic Sect wouldn’t be attacking here anytime soon.
“Master,” came Jiang Shaoying and Xiao Ai’s voices from outside the door. “Master, someone requests an audience with you.”
These two children, usually so disrespectful, were now quiet and unusually serious.
“Who is it?” Li Yuebai asked in a deep voice.
The people outside remained silent for a long while before announcing their names one by one.
With each name, Li Yuebai’s heart tightened.
Today, those who had come to his door were all prominent figures from Kunlun Immortal Mountain, the Immortal Lord’s right-hand men, such as Priest Yun, Pavilion Master Su, Protector Li…
After all the names were announced, the door slowly opened after a long pause.
Outside, the courtyard was filled with people, each with an extraordinary bearing, some holding whisks, others with long swords at their waists, the courtyard instantly filled with jade trees and precious stones.
Li Yuebai slowly stepped across the threshold. Upon seeing him, the crowd exchanged glances, nodded, and then bowed deeply to Li Yuebai in unison.
“Immortal Master Mu, this is a critical moment for the survival of Kunlun Immortal Mountain!”
“Immortal Master Mu, we hope you will consider the greater good…”
“Immortal Master Mu, only you can shoulder this heavy responsibility.”
….
The scale of the gathering was overwhelming.
Li Yuebai felt a little dizzy for a moment.
He had seen and experienced many people coming to him for favors, but he had never experienced anything like this— an entire sect of immortal cultivators gathered in one place, all making the same request in unison. The oppressive feeling was simply too heavy.
“Gentlemen, what brings you to my humble abode?” he could only reply.
“Immortal Master Mu, please stop joking. You must already know the current situation— the Demonic Sect’s army has reached the foot of the mountain, the Immortal Lord has unfortunately passed away, Kunlun Immortal Mountain is in turmoil, and everyone is grieving…” one of the immortal elders said.
“Yes, now, only you can turn the tide,” another said.
“Although we hold important positions, we are incapable of shouldering the heavy responsibility. Only Immortal Master Mu can save our fifty thousand disciples from this dire situation!”
….
“I have been retired for many years and am illiterate in all affairs,” Li Yuebai sighed. “I’m afraid I will disappoint you all.”
The crowd’s faces stiffened, but they persisted in their plea, showering him with praise. One said Mu Qingning was a peerless genius, another said he was the progenitor of military strategy, as if they had suddenly realized this enormous truth.
Li Yuebai recalled— during Mu Qingning’s many years of retirement, these immortals had never mentioned a word about him. His military exploits had either been claimed or forgotten.
For so many years, Mu Qingning himself had been happy to hide away in peace and quiet, but now, with a crisis looming, he could no longer hide.
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