Longevity Chronicles

Meiling Mountain, still within the narrowly carved temporary cave.

Before an ancient mirror transformed by a Demon, four heads huddled together, watching the scenes unfolding at the Meiling Boundary Stele.

When the Joyful Demon manipulated, Tao Qian didn't forget to cover the eyes of Little Age and Lian Jing'er.

Sensing something, he turned his head only to see Master Xiao staring at him with an extremely strange, suspicious look.

Although Master Xiao did not speak, Tao Qian easily understood the meaning in her eyes: "With so many Demons assisting you, do you still claim you are not a Secret Demon Dark Child?"

Tao Qian smiled, then transmitted his voice:

"True Master, please do not misunderstand. It is merely a coincidental chance that I acquired some Heterodox Magic Skills, which happen to restrain these low-level Demons, making them serve me."

"And to approach that boundary stele depended entirely on True Master's life-or-death situation, making many hesitate to act. Without such conditions, no matter how many flashy spells I have, I wouldn't withstand the devastating erosion of the Ten Extreme Array."

"Moreover, whether this cunning method succeeds depends on whether the Thunder Infants you provided possess sufficient power."

"The Demon-suppressing Soldiers are manageable, as long as they are prevented from gathering strength to form an array, a few Joyful Demons can handle them all."

"The most troublesome are those shameless Transcend Mortality Cultivators. The Heart-Residing Demons can discover their deepest desires, and the Demons I summoned can confuse them, but only for a brief moment, at most a few breaths."

"Within this time limit, if the two Substitute Demons impersonating you and me fail to destroy that boundary stele and halt the Ten Extremes Array, True Master will likely still not escape."

Tao Qian's words were complicated, but it was just a transmission.

At the same moment, changes occurred at the boundary stele again.

Taking advantage of several Transcend Mortality Cultivators and Demon-suppressing Soldiers being confused, the Substitute Demon impersonating Tao Qian chuckled suddenly.

He then reached into his chest and directly took out three delicate Thunder Infants sucking on their thumbs.

Then, he placed them on the boundary stele, and as he withdrew, he forcefully pulled their thumbs out of their mouths.

This caused great trouble.

"Wow!"

"Wow!"

"Wow!"

Three cries in succession, the delicate infants who occasionally had lightning snakes flashing across their surfaces, turned entirely into thunder in an instant.

Without giving anyone time to react, three Thunder Infants exploded simultaneously, their endless thunderous aura even merging together, triggering an even more terrifying reaction.

Many mortals and Cultivators were shocked to see "Mei Pass" completely enveloped in the brilliance of thunder.

In the midst of the night, it was exceedingly conspicuous.

If these thunders were allowed to explode outward, they could at least kill one or two of the Transcend Mortality Cultivators in the area.

But Tao Qian did not do so. He had a clear sense of priorities.

Under his remote control, all the thunderous aura transformed into at least a million lightning snakes, emitting a piercing screech that made everyone in Meiling cover their ears. Shortly after, they saw these serpents of thunder madly burrowing into the tall boundary stele.

A moment later, the Meiling Boundary Stele, which had existed in the mountains for a thousand years and witnessed countless major events of the Mortal World, silently turned into dust and vanished.

Half of the remaining Xuanpin Pearls inside also vanished into nothingness.

Boom!

A tremendous boom, audible throughout Meiling, arrived belatedly.

The remnants of thunder and infant cries then splattered in all directions.

Without the stele, it meant the core of the Array Point was directly destroyed. Shortly after, they saw the extremely terrifying and brutal "Xuanpin Heavenly Gate Ten Absolute Array" surrounding Meiling flicker a few times and then come to a complete halt.

Inside the cave, before the mirror.

Both Tao Qian and Master Xiao excitedly rose to their feet.

"It worked."

"We succeeded."

Tao Qian simply uttered a phrase, while Master Xiao, unable to contain her excitement, leapt up, her chest heaving with joy as she shouted, her youthful face showing elation.

Although he felt an urge to tease, Tao Qian knew time was of the essence and not a moment could be wasted.

In the instant the Ten Extremes Array halted, Tao Qian already had a thought.

At that moment, out of his body leaped three Demon children clad in blue.

Apart from the lead one showing reluctance, the other two newcomers were quite obedient.

Seeing this scene, Master Xiao knew what was to come.

Her demeanor returned to her youthful days, her actions and words somewhat peculiar, as she slapped Tao Qian's shoulder seriously adding:

"Having accomplished such a feat, in my many years of cultivation, I have never seen a junior like you. Spirit Treasure Sect truly found a treasure."

"I must convince the Sect Master upon my return to head to Spirit Treasure Sect, and no matter what, I intend to snatch you away..."

As she openly declared her intention to poach him, Tao Qian was dumbfounded.

The youthful state of the True Master, indeed, was not as lovely as when she was composed.

Without paying heed, he immediately commanded the three little demons.

"Command you to deliver True Master to Guanyin Temple with utmost speed. On your return, each of you will receive an unaltered Heavenly Demon Blood Transformation Pill."

"Understood!"

As the word fell, the narrow cave suddenly filled with dazzling Star Dust.

The three Star Zha Demons disintegrated their Demon Bodies, wrapping around Master Xiao's body, and then the sky above Meiling trembled, revealing the long-concealed stars, with brilliant starlight bursting forth, swiftly passing over the land and entering Fumin territory, then disappearing without a trace.

Gazing ahead, Master Xiao's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Inside the cave, Tao Qian finally let out a deep breath.

"This time, it truly succeeded."

When he uttered these words, it was the first time Tao Qian revealed an expression of relief on his face.

Although there hadn't been any intense fighting or dangerous entanglement, the enemies he faced now were far more perilous than any he had encountered before.

The giant troll baby demon was quite powerful; it was a Transcend Mortality Realm demon wielding an Exotic Treasure. Tao Qian had exerted a great deal of effort to escape. Right before leaving, beheading it only served to let out some pent-up resentment and could hardly be considered a real victory.

But that infant demon was nothing compared to the enemies within Meiling at this moment.

There were those shameless, brutal Transcend Mortality Wanderers, nearly ten thousand Demon-suppressing Soldiers, and most terrifying of all, the Ten Absolute Array.

Fortunately, he was only tasked with sending someone away. If it had been required for Tao Qian to confront them directly, he would have turned and fled.

Facing the Ten Absolute Array, even if he summoned a hundred, a thousand demons, it would still result in his death and the obliteration of his Daoist path.

Tao Qian had just managed to maneuver and move quickly, acting through demons, also playing some psychological games using his prior notoriety, and finally relied on the power of the Thunder Infant to successfully send Master Xiao away.

It sounds straightforward, but even a minor mistake during the process would have led to a tragic outcome.

Now that the objective was achieved, it was no wonder Tao Qian was somewhat discomposed.

He directly and relaxingly seated himself on the ground, enjoying through a mirror the continuous howls of frustration from within Mei Pass.

Within two or three breaths,

The Boundary Stele exploded!

The Ten Absolute Array stopped!

Those callous and greed-ridden Transcend Mortality Cultivators, along with nearly ten thousand Demon-suppressing Soldiers, all came to their senses simultaneously.

Then they saw what had happened, also recalling what they had done after being misled by the demons.

At this moment, the followers of Ji Xianxian and Qin Wuxiang seemed as if they were going mad.

They howled, prepared to wantonly slaughter these demons.

Except for a Joyful Demon that coveted the essence blood of the Demon-suppressing Soldiers, and a Power Desire Demon whose body seizing had failed, the other demons, particularly clever during the explosion of the Thunder Infant, had already fled, especially the two "Substitute Demons" that had disguised themselves as Tao Qian and Master Xiao—it was the most risky division of roles.

Had it not been for the effects of the Corpse Evil Brain God Elixir they ingested, those Substitute Demons wouldn't have agreed to such a plan given their nature.

Thus, as soon as the thumb of the Thunder Infant was plucked, the two demons flipped and dove into the Void, returning to the Outer Realm.

Meanwhile, the demons also encouraged each other to delay responding if summoned again in the future, deciding it was far too dangerous to work for him.

...

At the pass of Meiling, unable to slaughter the demon heads and vent their rage, the group of cultivators and Demon-suppressing Soldiers thought to directly slaughter the common folk and solitary cultivators but soon realized the Ten Absolute Array had been destroyed.

Not a single Xuanpin Pearl was captured, and even the mission they were all but certain of had failed.

Each person's face twisted in torment.

"Ha ha ha."

Inside the cave, Tao Qian reveled in their incapability and raging howls, his face breaking into an uncontrollable smile filled with delight, which echoed immediately within the cave.

Although building his joy on others' pain wasn't ideal,

at this moment, Tao Qian wanted nothing more than to experience it several more times.

He didn't laugh for long, however, as he soon abruptly realized something.

Affected by the "second disaster", his Divine Soul, which had been trembling continuously, had not ceased even after sending Master Xiao away.

On the contrary, it had become even more intense.

Tao Qian abruptly sat up straight, an incredible thought flashing through his mind:

"How is that possible?"

"Could it be that the second disaster wasn't about sending Master Xiao away? Or was sending her away just the beginning of the second disaster?"

"Boom,"

Just as Tao Qian pondered, his mind trembled violently once again.

A tremendously intense throbbing sensation came at that moment.

This time, there was no need for guesses.

"This is bad, a powerful being, whom I absolutely cannot resist, is personally coming here."

"Who could it be?"

"Qin Wuxiang?"

Though it was a guess, Tao Qian strangely felt he had hit the mark precisely.

Not daring to delay even for a moment, Tao Qian rose to his feet.

Not even having time to retrieve the Demon Gourd sent back by the Empty Demon, he directly moved his mind to summon a demon.

A Substitute Demon that had just done some dirty work was forcibly summoned by Tao Qian.

To avoid waste and for a more perfect and realistic disguise, Tao Qian paired it with a Star Zha Demon.

He inserted a Heavenly Demon Blood Transformation Pill into each, then commanded, "Take my form, spread my qi, and then start running, the farther the better."

After these preparations, Tao Qian then looked at Sui and Lian Jing'er.

Although the two youngsters had always concealed their true appearances, it was clearly not wise to take risks now, so he reassured them directly, "Someone dangerous is coming soon, I must inconvenience you for a while."

Having said that, Tao Qian took out a magic artifact that could contain living beings and secured the two youngsters inside.

He himself then stumbled, unexpectedly transforming into a handsome young cultivator wearing a green Daoist robe, one hand holding a sword, the other grasping a Jade Ruyi.

Merely in terms of appearance, he came across as somewhat frivolous.

Yet Tao Qian was quite satisfied with this, and abruptly stamping his foot at the mouth of the cave, a cloud of auspicious light immediately appeared under his feet.

Then, carried by the Spirit Treasure Sect's special "Auspicious Cloud Skill", Tao Qian silently flew to an ancient path in a mountain cove nearby.

As the cloud dispersed and he appeared, blending naturally with the night, Tao Qian seamlessly merged into a group consisting of common folk, numerous cultivators, and other species.

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