A Trap and a Slaughter!

Tang Wei glared at the man and said coldly, "Li Yuan, if you're not happy, you can leave right now." The man sneered. "If the Pavilion Master weren't here, do you think I'd want to stay here with you?" Qian Ze leaned back in his chair, his eyes lowered as he listened to their bickering. His voice was soft. "Enough." Hearing this, Li Yuan was instantly silenced. He held his tongue and sat sideways. Qian Ze narrowed his eyes, a chill glinting in his slender gaze. "For that Li Guanqi to anticipate this much, his wit and shrewdness are truly remarkable. Tang Wei, if we handle everything this time without mishap, I'll leave the matter of cooperation between Treasure Pavilion and Guanyun Pavilion to you." Hearing that, Tang Wei quickly stood and agreed. Qian Ze rested his chin on his left hand while his right slowly turned the teacup before him. His eyes flickered, his thoughts unreadable. He had been in secluded cultivation for a long time, ignoring worldly affairs. Now turmoil gripped the Six Domains, and Abyss Demons ran amok. It seemed even he could not stay detached. The entire world... seemed to have become far more exciting than before. The corner of Qian Ze's mouth curled upward slightly. He raised his head toward the door and whispered, "If that is truly the case, how will you respond?" *** In the Taiqing Domain's Qilian Mountain Range! Tens of thousands of cultivators had already gathered here. It had been barely half an hour since the news spread, yet wave after wave of cultivators continued to fly in through the air. Demon beasts roared as many cultivators rode atop them, their faces full of excitement. Spatial rifts opened in the void, and dozens of magnificent cloud boats appeared in midair one after another. Most of the cultivators disembarking from them wore opulent clan robes. Their leaders were elderly, their auras as deep as abysses, compasses in hand. By now, the Qilian Mountain Range, stretching across hundreds of li, was completely packed with cultivators. Everyone was searching for the spatial fluctuations of the Sha organization's hidden domain. Li Guanqi watched the black demonic flames continually converging on the Tianji Chart, and a bad premonition seized him. But he was still missing one final thing, so he could not afford to give the enemy the slightest opening! He could not leave Great Xia Sword Sect territory. At that moment, Lu Kangnian, along with Qin Xian and Ling Daoyan, stood inside a mysterious space. Several jade slips before them were glowing brightly. Ling Daoyan said in a deep voice, "Sect Master, are you certain you want to bring out all of these items?" Lu Kangnian nodded, his expression grave beyond measure as he spoke heavily. "Keeping these things serves no purpose anyway. Great Xia's rise is imminent, and we must protect Ye Feng, Guanqi, and the others. Use them!" With those words, the others urged him no further. In an instant, several thick pillars of light shot into the sky within Great Xia Sword Sect territory! Ye Xuan, seated atop Tianjian Peak, raised a brow, surprise flickering in his eyes. He frowned and murmured, "Why was a sect possessing such dharma artifacts completely unknown in the past..." Several massive altars rose into the air. Three colossal altars stacked together, and rippling halos spread outward. A cyan array barrier descended like a massive overturned bowl, cloaking the entire Great Xia Sword Sect within. The commotion drew the attention of many clan factions, yet not one dared pry recklessly. The Great Xia Sword Sect of today was nothing like before. At the same time, the Three Pavilions' covert operatives stationed in the Taiqing Domain leaped into the sky, their voices carrying across dozens of li as they channeled primal energy: "Everyone leave immediately! This is a trap set by the Sha organization! Get out!" "Everyone leave immediately! This is a trap set by the Sha organization! Get out!" In an instant, the unified shouts of over a hundred cultivators reverberated throughout the Qilian Mountain Range. All the cultivators gathered in the mountains looked up, stunned where they stood. For a moment, they did not know who these people were or what their words meant. The entire Qilian Mountain Range fell into absolute silence. Yet right then, wisps of demonic qi seeped from the earth, burrowing into the bodies of over a dozen cultivators. The pupils of the infected cultivators turned pitch-black and fathomless, and several immediately shouted one after another: "Leave? Leave for what?!" "Aren't you people from the Three Pavilions?" "Telling us to leave now? Is it because you don't want to pay the bounty???!!" Hearing this, many cultivators thought it made sense. Fury surfaced on their faces, and they spoke coldly: "Could the renowned Yanluo Sword Venerable, Li Guanqi, be so devoid of credibility?" A man in a brocade robe flew into the air to confront the operatives. Pointing down at the mountain range, he shouted, "We've searched for seven full days to finally get some leads! There are at least tens of thousands of cultivators in this Qilian Mountain Range, and you want us to withdraw just because you say there's danger? Bah! Why should we leave? So that once we're gone, you people from the Three Pavilions can find Sha's main hall for yourselves? Going back on your word like this—aren't you playing us for fools?!" The cultivators who had been watching from the sidelines nodded upon hearing his reasoning. Even those who had trusted the Three Pavilions' reputation wavered at that moment. The timing of these people's warning was simply too suspicious. If there had been no news that Sha's main hall was in the Qilian Mountain Range, a warning would have been fine—they might even have felt indebted to the Three Pavilions. But now that reports had confirmed Sha might be here, these people jumped out telling them to leave... Wasn't that far too fishy?! "Hmph, if you ask me, that billion spirit stones was total bullshit! They just don't want to pay up!" "There are so many of us here, and more keep arriving. Can a hundred thousand cultivators fail to find a single Sha domain?" "Trash Three Pavilions! To join forces and pull a trick like this on us!" Fury erupted among the crowd, and many even secretly struck out against the Three Pavilions disciples. Scattered in different locations, the hundred-plus operatives could only desperately hold up primal energy barriers, their expressions turning utterly grim. Helpless, the leaders among the Three Pavilions exchanged glances. They had no choice but to conceal their figures for now and report the situation upward. Li Guanqi put down the jade slip in his hand, his expression shifting. He pulled out another jade slip and said heavily, "Senior, please intervene!" As the spatial fluctuation of the jade slip faded, Li Guanqi let out a breath of relief, frowning as he spoke with a cold edge in his voice. "What a scheme! So ruthless... Are you really that sure you have me cornered?" Boom! The instant the Three Pavilions' operatives concealed themselves, before they could depart... The sky abruptly darkened. Cultivators in the mountain range looked up one after another. They saw pitch-black storm clouds churning into a massive vortex. A suffocating atmosphere spread through the air, and many Void Refining and Body Integration Realm cultivators sensed danger. "Quick! Board the cloud boats! We're leaving!" "Not good! It's demonic qi! Run!" "Aaaagh!" Agonized screams rang out. Only then did the crowd realize that at some unknown point, towering demonic qi had surged all around them! A pitch-black formation covering the entire Qilian Mountain Range flickered with runes... Amid the black clouds, a face seemed to coalesce, staring down at the tens of thousands of cultivators with mockery in its eyes. Boom! In the span of a single breath, a terrifying boundary suppressing a hundred li snapped into place! From within the dark vortex, red-robed powerhouses teleported out one after another. The mountains trembled as pitch-black rifts, each spanning a thousand zhang, were torn open, and colossal torrents of demonic qi spewed forth. Roars and shrill shrieks rose without end. Panicked cries pierced the heavens! "Ah! Abyss Demons! So many Abyss Demons!" Sha curled his lips into a faint smirk and whispered, "Since you've all come, every last one of you will stay... Hahahahaha, hahahahaha!"