Chapter 46: The Leader of the Demon Cultivators

The envoy from the south, the envoy from the north, and Bai Yan each brought a thousand demon cultivators. Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, and Long Zhan also brought a thousand each. Qu Yi’s subordinates at the Qi Exit stage were divided into four groups and joined these four teams.
Within a day, the four teams reached the four cultivation peaks of the Nine Cold Sect. In an instant, the four peaks collapsed, blood flowed like rivers, corpses lay everywhere, and the four branches of the Nine Cold Sect were slaughtered.
Immediately afterward, the four teams headed to the other cultivation peaks of the Nine Cold Sect to continue their brutal massacres.
Of course, the five cultivation peaks under Jiao Ling’s control were spared from destruction.
Over the course of a month, the four thousand demon cultivators slaughtered the disciples of the Nine Cold Sect and plundered all the cultivation resources in the Nine Cold Mountain Range. Finally, they arrived near the Nine Cold Peak and completely surrounded it.
During this month, Qu Yi remained inside the Dimensional Sphere, focusing entirely on scanning the arrays.
Now, Qu Yi knew that his soul realm would soon reach the later stage of Yuan Ying, allowing him to advance further. As for Yuan Ying, he already possessed an excessive number of them—five in total, representing the elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Inside the Dimensional Sphere, there were thousands of these Yuan Ying, obtained by the demon cultivators when they killed the Yuan Ying stage cultivators of the Zi Yang Palace and took their Yuan Yings, all of which were later claimed by Qu Yi. Among them, there were also hundreds in the later stage of Yuan Ying.
Qu Yi estimated that after destroying the Nine Cold Sect, he would have another thousand Yuan Yings. By then, he would likely have ten of each type in the later stage of Yuan Ying—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—enough to satisfy his needs when advancing further.
The only thing left to prepare was his soul realm, so Qu Yi ignored the actions of the demon cultivators in the Nine Cold Mountain Range and focused solely on scanning the arrays to elevate his soul realm.
Bai Man and Wu Yuan stayed quietly by Qu Yi’s side, not disturbing his cultivation.
By now, Bai Man’s cultivation had also reached the later stage of Golden Dan, thanks to a bottle of Liu Jin Dan found during the massacre of the Zi Yang Palace, which helped her advance easily. However, Wu Yuan’s situation was dire—Qu Yi kept him inside the Dimensional Sphere, preventing him from devouring the essence of cultivators at the early Qi Exit stage during the attacks on the Zi Yang Palace and the Nine Cold Sect. As a result, Wu Yuan’s cultivation remained at the later stage of Yuan Ying.
…

The Instrument God suddenly appeared, revealing a baby-like body as it landed beside Qu Yi.
“Qu Yi, I have some news for you—the leader of those demon cultivators has arrived at the Nine Cold Mountains,” said the Instrument God, placing its delicate hands behind its back and speaking in a mature tone.
Immediately, Qu Yi, who was sitting by the lake, opened his eyes and smiled. “Instrument God, can you tell me more about that leader of the demon cultivators?”
The Instrument God moved its lips slightly before transmitting the information about the leader to Qu Yi through its spiritual sense.
“Such a robust build; such a gloomy appearance. His cultivation level is indeed at the early stage of Divining Spirit. The Southern Envoy and the Northern Envoy really didn’t lie to me…”
As soon as Qu Yi received the information about the leader, he began to evaluate it, speaking slowly. In short, this leader of the demon cultivators had the appearance of a tyrant.
“Qu Yi, shall we follow him?” asked the Instrument God, hands behind its back, standing on tiptoes with a smile.
“Why would I follow him? Can he escape my sight? As long as the Southern Envoy and the Northern Envoy are with me, that leader will eventually come here.” Qu Yi sneered, showing no regard for the leader at all. He then added, “I think he came to the Nine Cold Mountains to take a look at the situation of the demon cultivators. Once he realizes that everything is under the control of the Southern Envoy and the Northern Envoy, he’ll leave.”
The Instrument God laughed heartily and exclaimed happily, “Qu Yi, you’ve really become smarter! Good. Now focus all your efforts on scanning the formation and elevate your soul realm. Your own strength is the most important—put aside everything else.”
Qu Yi frowned again, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in scanning the formation once more.
…
Outside the Nine Cold Peak, all four thousand demon cultivators had gathered at the last cultivation peak of the Nine Cold Sect, waiting to be slaughtered.
Hundreds of miles away from the peak, another man stood atop a mountain, his presence outstanding—this was the leader of the demon cultivators. Though he was on the peak, his aura seemed to blend in with the surrounding wind. Even those Southern and Northern Envoys at the Soul Departure stage, despite having spiritual senses that spanned thousands of miles, could still not sense his presence.
The leader’s cultivation level had reached a point where he could fully merge with nature.
At that moment, he was sensing the situation on the Nine Cold Peak, waiting for his subordinates to give the order to attack the demon cultivators.
At the command, Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, and Long Zhan led the four thousand demon cultivators to take flight and descend upon the Nine Cold Peak.

On Jiuhan Peak, chaos had already ensued. It turned out that the death of Master Bai Zhi had been discovered, and all the disciples flew to Bai Zhi Pavilion, filled with wild guesses and anxiety. The arrival of four thousand demon cultivators only heightened the fear among the disciples on Jiuhan Peak. Fortunately, there was still a “Jiuyin Hanfeng Formation” on the peak. When activated at full strength, it equaled the power of twenty cultivators in the late Exit Stage, providing excellent protection for Jiuhan Peak. The simultaneous attacks from the four thousand demon cultivators were all repelled by the Jiuyin Hanfeng Formation. The disciples on Jiuhan Peak felt slightly relieved, though they still hoped the demon cultivators would leave as soon as possible. The mid-Exit Stage demon cultivators such as Nan Shi, Bei Shi, Bai Yan, Hai Gui Xin, and Jiao Ling saw the formidable defensive power of the formation on Jiuhan Peak and looked displeased. They exchanged glances and decided to gather all those in the Exit Stage to attack together. “Everyone in the Exit Stage, attack together to break this formation!” Bei Shi shouted angrily. Moments later, the nine Exit Stage demon cultivators including Nan Shi, the fourteen palace masters of Ziyang Palace, the five palace masters of the Nine Sects, and the ten demon cultivators who had reached the Exit Stage launched their attacks simultaneously, directing all their spells at the same spot of the Jiuyin Hanfeng Formation. Yet, to everyone’s disappointment, the formation only generated a fierce cold wind and remained unbroken. The demon cultivator leader, sensing the situation from afar, sneered. Suddenly, he teleported away and reappeared beside Bei Shi in an instant. “Ah…” Bei Shi tried to shout in surprise but was immediately silenced by the demon cultivator leader. Nan Shi also saw the leader and tried to shout, but was stopped by his telepathic message. Among those present, aside from Nan Shi and Bei Shi, the other demon cultivators were not familiar with the leader’s presence, and the demon cultivators didn’t even know he existed. Naturally, his arrival did not cause much commotion. “Nan Shi, Bei Shi, attack together. In no more than three rounds, we’ll break this formation. This defensive formation also requires the masters of Jiuhan Peak to control it effectively to counter your attacks. If everyone attacks together, the combined power of these demon cultivators will be equivalent to that of over five hundred Exit Stage masters. Those controlling the formation will surely not have time to deploy it to defend against attacks from all directions,” the demon cultivator leader said through telepathy, revealing the solution. “Yes, leader,” Nan Shi and Bei Shi replied simultaneously via telepathy.

Suddenly, the leader of the demon cultivators teleported away again.
Soon, the envoy from the south and the envoy from the north told Wei Yan about the leader’s plan, asking him to order the demon cultivators to work together with experts at the Outward Journey stage to attack the mountain defense formation from all directions at once.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
After receiving the order, the four thousand demon cultivators immediately soared like eagles to various locations on Jiuhan Peak, prepared their magical artifacts, and waited for the command.
“Attack!”
Wei Yan shouted loudly.
In an instant, over four thousand spells attacked the “Jiuyin Cold Wind Formation” simultaneously. The thunderous sounds and explosive forces were audible throughout the entire Jiuhan Mountain Range. At the same time, spells of various colors collided and exploded against the formation’s defense layers, generating waves of energy that created chaotic streams of energy.
The Jiuyin Cold Wind Formation had nine core points on Jiuhan Peak, each controlled by a cultivator in the late Yuan Ying stage. Upon seeing the actions of the demon cultivators, these nine realized they could no longer use the formation to defend against their attacks. No matter how strong the formation was, it could not withstand the assault of over four thousand spells.
The nine cultivators spat out their life force and exhausted all their spiritual energy, barely managing to keep the Jiuyin Cold Wind Formation intact against four thousand spells.
But all the disciples on Jiuhan Peak knew of the impending crisis. The mountain defense formation was now useless, and even those controlling it had been injured—how could the formation still serve any purpose?
“Disciples of the Jiuhan Sect, scatter now and prepare to flee!” a cultivator in the Yuan Ying stage shouted from Jiuhan Peak.
At that moment, the demon cultivators in the sky launched another collective spell attack, instantly destroying the Jiuyin Cold Wind Formation.
The disciples on Jiuhan Peak immediately tried to escape using their own magic. Unfortunately, the surrounding space was filled with chaotic energy streams, preventing anyone from teleporting away. Moreover, their speed was too slow when facing cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage; before they could even take off, the demon cultivators were already beside them.
Ah! Ah! Ah!
The disciples on Jiuhan Peak were easily overwhelmed by the murderous aura of the demon cultivators.
With the leader of the Jiuhan Sect still competing in the Immortal-Demon Sea aside, the sect was essentially destroyed.
From afar, the leader of the demon cultivators sensed the situation on Jiuhan Peak, smirked coldly, and murmured, “On the North Immortal Continent, none of the cultivation sects can stop this force. I’ll go near the Golden Cauldron Sect and wait for them to arrive.”
With that, the leader of the demon cultivators teleported away.