The Traitor

A moment later, the group swiftly descended the mountain. This time, their expressions carried a hint of confidence and joy. Each cultivator employed their own techniques to conceal their aura and mask their presence, speeding toward Yucheng. Their route seemed as tangled as a ball of yarn, devoid of any discernible pattern, yet they made smooth progress all the way. They reached the outskirts of Yucheng without alerting a single soul. Outside Yucheng. Qin Sang and the others emerged from the shadows to observe the grand city. Seeing the chaos within, they dropped all pretense of concealment and charged straight into the Lotus Formation! *** Among the three Nascent Soul cultivators left behind to guard Yucheng, one was surnamed Qi. He had close ties to both Daoist Canghong and Old Man Tianzheng, the two revered figures of the righteous path, and was held in high regard. At this moment, the cultivator surnamed Qi stood atop the city wall, personally overseeing and directing the defense. The enemy's army had not yet arrived, but virtually all the Nascent Soul experts of the Two Domains Alliance were present. Even with the aid of the city's defensive formation, the situation remained perilous in the extreme. Anxious about the battle, he wore a deep frown. He had not expected his earlier words to become a prophetic curse. The intelligence of the Two Domains Alliance far exceeded their expectations; the enemy had descended upon them like divine soldiers from heaven, striking with lightning speed and catching them completely off guard. He glared fixedly at the figures outside the city, not daring to let down his guard for an instant. Fortunately, the Sin Abyss soldiers were battle-hardened veterans with flawless coordination. At a single command, waves of attacks surged forth, sinking into the great formation. Though Qin Sang and his companions possessed Nascent Soul cultivation, they were inside an enemy formation facing the concentrated fire of thousands. Not daring to be careless, they dodged and wove, their progress in breaking the formation slowed without them even realizing it. Witnessing this, the cultivator surnamed Qi showed little relief. Daoist Canghong had gone in pursuit of Old Demon Ye and had yet to return, leaving Yucheng at its most vulnerable. Lacking top-tier experts, all they could do was hold out defensively to buy time. They could not charge out to clash with the enemy, nor did they possess the means to threaten their foes' lives. As a result, the attackers had little to fear and brazenly rampaged through the formation. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before the defensive formation was breached. Just then, an urgent voice came from the distance. "Fellow Daoist Qi, the situation is grim! The previous defensive formation was constructed to work in concert with the Nether Crystal Pagodas. Now that the pagodas are destroyed, the defensive formation has been compromised, exposing flaws. They arrived too quickly for us to repair it! With only the three of us left in the city, we cannot seal every breach. Once they see through it, Yucheng is doomed!" The voice drew nearer. A moment later, a figure flew up onto the city wall. It was another Nascent Soul cultivator stationed in Yucheng, named Qu Huan. Seeing the critical state of the battle, Qu Huan had rushed over to confer with the cultivator surnamed Qi. Landing beside him, Qu Huan glanced at the nearby wreckage of the Nether Crystal Pagodas and let out a soft sigh. The pagodas' bases remained intact, but their towers were all in ruins—some riddled with cracks, others reduced to heaps of rubble. The crystal orbs at their apexes were nowhere to be found, having all been seized by Old Demon Ye. The cultivator surnamed Qi furrowed his brows. He understood the problem all too well, yet he could not think of any clever countermeasure on short notice and could only hold the line. Seeing that Qu Huan seemed to have an idea, he quickly asked, "Fellow Daoist Qu, do you have a plan?" "Abandon the outer city!" Qu Huan said decisively. "When the need arises, sacrifices must be made! If we wait until the outer city falls, it will be too late to pull back our forces. Please make your decision at once, Fellow Daoist! The inner city is the original site of Yucheng, and its protective formation was left behind by our forebears. It has withstood the test of time. Even if the Two Domains Alliance attacks with everything they have, they cannot breach it anytime soon. It will easily hold until Daoist Canghong and the others return." The cultivator surnamed Qi looked grave, a flicker of struggle passing through his eyes. Abandoning the outer city was not merely a matter of losing territory. The treasury vaults in the outer city were currently packed with supplies amassed for the great war, all of which would fall into enemy hands. Moreover, Sin Abyss had expended vast resources to erect the city's defensive formation. Without the outer city as a shield, they would have no retreat! "Fellow Daoist Qu..." After a moment of hesitation, the cultivator surnamed Qi parted his lips to speak. Suddenly, alarm bells blared in his mind as a glint of cold light flashed, shooting straight for his face. A sharp pang pierced between his brows. "You!" His face drained of color. With a furious roar, he threw himself backward as brilliant azure light erupted from his entire body. Within the azure radiance, the phantasmal outline of an armor emerged. The armor looked ancient and weathered. To put it bluntly, it seemed battered and decaying, as though crudely pieced together from slabs of old tree bark. Though battered in appearance, the armor spun rapidly around him, countless runes flashing across its surface with profound mystery, radiating a dense, heavy azure glow. *Clang!* A dark-gold flying sword the size of a thumb pierced through the azure light and struck the armor, ringing out with the clash of metal against metal. Seeing that he could not pierce the armor, Qu Huan recalled the golden sword, a look of surprise crossing his face. He had not expected his sneak attack to be deflected so easily. "Shameless cur! Have you forgotten your sect's grace in raising you? To think you would betray Sin Abyss and willingly become a lapdog of the Celestial Alliance!" the cultivator surnamed Qi bellowed in fury, utterly incredulous. Qu Huan hailed from Haotian Manor, a major righteous sect of Sin Abyss. He now held a status second only to the Grand Sect Master—above ten thousand, beneath only one. With such an illustrious future ahead of him, he was actually a spy. "What lapdog? I was born of the Celestial Alliance to begin with; everything before was merely playing along," Qu Huan said casually, devoid of shame. "In my youth, my talent was lacking and I was ignored. That I stand where I am today is entirely due to the Celestial Alliance's covert support, combined with my own efforts. Haotian Manor merely added embroidery to the silk; they never showed me much true benevolence." "What? The Celestial Alliance planted you in Haotian Manor?" The cultivator surnamed Qi was astounded. Both the Celestial Alliance and Sin Abyss knew full well that each camp harbored the other's spies, but for an infiltrator to attain standing like Qu Huan's was extraordinarily rare. "Impossible! If the Celestial Alliance had controlled you all along, there is no way you could have hidden until now!" Qu Huan sneered in disdain. "Controlled? Old Daoist Zhenyi certainly wanted to use his methods to control me, but unfortunately, I dismantled them in secret. Before today, even when we mobilized armies to attack the Celestial Alliance, I never once sent them a single message, nor did I ever do anything to wrong Sin Abyss. Naturally, your suspicions never fell on me! Which side I align with depends entirely on my mood; of course I would hedge my bets on both sides. Now that things have come to this, the situation is clear. After weighing the circumstances, I decided to take a gamble. I simply didn't expect you to have such skill, Fellow Daoist Qi. You were struck by my Formless Poison, yet your true essence remains completely unaffected, and you even managed to block my Chenxi Sword. With those two methods, I once slew a Transformation stage great demon!" Hearing this, the cultivator surnamed Qi dropped his facade and said coldly, "Did you truly believe your wits were matchless, and that everyone else was yours to manipulate? When you and Old Monster Feng volunteered to stay behind and assist me in defending the city, of course I remained vigilant against the unexpected. No matter how formidable your Formless Poison is, it is useless if it cannot seep into my body. Still, I was mostly guarding against Old Monster Feng, suspecting he was merely feigning his condition. I never imagined the rotten apple would be you!"