Chapter 400: The Lord of the Illusion Demon Sect
The entrance to the Illusion Demon Sect resembled that of the Tianxuan Sect—surrounded by endless mountains of unknown extent. However, since most of its disciples were women who disliked living in cave-like cultivation chambers, numerous exquisite and beautiful buildings had been constructed on each mountain peak. Their styles were meticulously chosen to ensure harmony and avoid clutter, with each building complementing the others…
Before coming, Su Che had wondered if the sect’s leader might have anticipated his arrival and fully activated the protective array, preventing even flies or mosquitoes from entering. The defensive power of such a supreme sect’s array was extremely formidable; even if dozens of Yuan Ying cultivators attacked together, it would be impossible to break through. Typically, it would take hundreds of thousands of people to attack relentlessly until all the spirit stones defending the array were exhausted, rendering it ineffective.
Yet today, everything outside the sect’s entrance seemed normal. The protective array was only partially activated, allowing people to come and go as usual. This meant Su Che could disguise himself and sneak in, or, if necessary, directly surround the sect leader’s sacred hall. Since the sect was dominated by women, it would be difficult to capture a male cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage or above. After waiting for a while, he still didn’t find a suitable target…
Lao He laughed and said, “Master, our top-level disguise technique can turn you into a woman without any problem. Since this is a woman-dominated sect, I guess male disciples aren’t allowed near their sacred hall.”
Su Che snorted inwardly. Of course he could guess that—Lao He was teasing him, wanting to see what he would look like as a woman. That was absolutely out of the question! Turning into a flamboyant, coquettish woman was something Su Che simply couldn’t do. Just thinking about it made his skin prickle.
Not bad. After waiting some more, he finally encountered a male disciple at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Su Che followed him for hundreds of miles to a secluded wilderness, then suddenly sped up and used a weak Soul Capture technique to knock him out, trapping him in the Immortal Prison.
After questioning him briefly, Lao He learned that this man was an inner sect disciple serving as an officer in the sect’s external affairs department. The Illusion Demon Sect favored women over men; no matter how talented male disciples were, they could never become true disciples. At best, they would be given a decent position, such as an outer sect elder, but they would never reach the level of a core elder.
“As expected, male disciples are not allowed to ascend Mount Holy Scripture, where the Holy Patriarch’s temple lies,” reported Lao Hei. “If our master refuses to disguise himself as a woman, we’ll have to launch a forced attack from a hundred miles away.”
“Let’s go in first and see!”
Su Che would never disguise himself as a woman; he would rather go through the trouble of launching a preemptive attack.
Thus, under the guise of an official from the Foreign Affairs Hall, Su Che successfully infiltrated the entrance of the Illusion Demon Sect. After flying over a thousand miles, he saw Mount Holy Scripture in the center, towering high into the sky.
The entire mountain was shrouded in an ethereal aura, resembling a small fairyland on earth. At its peak, the magnificent Holy Patriarch’s temple could be faintly seen.
Su Che continued onward when another beam of light arrived—a female elder at the Golden Core stage. Seeing a male disciple like Su Che heading straight for Mount Holy Scripture, even if just passing by, she felt compelled to stop him.
“Which sect are you from?” she demanded sternly. “Men are not allowed to desecrate Mount Holy Scripture. Do you intend to violate the sect’s rules?”
“That’s right, I intend to desecrate it,” Su Che replied with a smile.
This answer stunned the Golden Core elder, who instinctively thought, “Is this guy crazy?”
If it were an ordinary male disciple making such a mistake, he would have immediately knelt to confess and repent, trying to turn back before causing greater harm. But this man responded in such a way…
Soul Capture!
Su Che showed mercy and did not use his most powerful soul-capture technique. He only knocked her out without taking her soul or killing her.
Whoosh! Her figure disappeared, sent to the Immortal Prison.
“Men are not allowed to approach Mount Holy Scripture, or it’s considered desecration?” Su Che laughed. “This rule needs to change. Why shouldn’t men be allowed to approach? How dare they discriminate against us men?”
Huh…
Suddenly, Mount Holy Scripture glowed with a radiant light, instantly covered in a colorful, shimmering barrier that looked stunning.
Clearly, someone on the mountain had detected Su Che’s actions through the surveillance function of the mountain protection array and promptly activated the internal defense barrier to protect the Holy Patriarch’s temple.
“The Illusion Demon Sect’s Holy Patriarch must have been prepared and guessed that I would come for her,” Su Che thought to himself.
If that’s the case, then…
Whoosh!
Forty-two subordinates at the Nascent Soul stage were released. Each was fully armed, with at least one top-grade spiritual treasure for offense and defense. Those at the later stages of the Nascent Soul phase, like Tai Xu and Wan Gui, even possessed one lower- or middle-grade Dao artifact.
Including Su Che, there were a total of forty-three Yuan Ying cultivators. Scattered across the sky, they rushed toward Holy Religion Mountain at high speed, radiating fierce killing intent and an astonishing momentum. It was a once-in-a-thousand-years occurrence for dozens of Yuan Ying cultivators to jointly attack a super sect. The most recent instance in history had been thousands of years ago, with the downfall of the Giant Wealth Palace.
Uuuu…
A deep horn sound echoed inside the gates of the Illusion Demon Sect, issuing an alarm to over a hundred thousand disciples—this was an extremely high-level alert. Many lower-ranked disciples had never heard such a sound before and were filled with confusion, unable to react promptly to what was happening…
A mere hundred miles was nothing for Su Che and the others; they could cover it in the blink of an eye. Yet as they moved forward, they could clearly sense a thick, powerful resistance surrounding them. Clearly, the enemy had fully activated their mountain protection formation, using its power to hinder their movement to some extent.
However, the Illusion Demon Sect’s mountain protection formation, unlike the Tian Xuan Sect’s, was not blessed by the Upper Ancient Town Mountain Talisman. Its power was not sufficient to completely suppress Yuan Ying cultivators, nor could it teleport enemies at the Yuan Ying stage out of the mountain gates.
At present, aside from the Tian Xuan Sect, the mountain protection formations of other super sects all had similar effects, which was why the power of the Upper Ancient Town Mountain Talisman became so remarkable.
The restraining force they faced now did not pose a significant threat to Su Che and the others. In a one-on-one fight, they might be at a slight disadvantage, but with their superior numbers, it wasn’t a concern.
Charge!
Despite the resistance, their flying speed remained extremely fast—just the difference between one blink and two blinks.
Huh…
The forty-three Yuan Ying cultivators kept a distance of thirty zhang between each other, scattered high in the sky, as they arrived before the defensive barrier surrounding the sect leader’s sacred temple.
Su Che and the others knew full well that this defensive barrier was far inferior to the entire sect’s mountain protection formation. With the combined strength of their group of over forty people, it would not take long to break through it.
At that moment, four graceful figures could be seen standing in front of the gates of the sect leader’s sacred temple—none other than the leader of the Illusion Demon Sect and the three elders.
“Tai Xu, Wan Gui, Jun Sha—why have you three broken our alliance oath by gathering numerous Yuan Ying cultivators to invade our sect?” The leader’s delicate voice spread through the barrier.
Tai Xu replied coldly, “An envoy from the Spirit Realm issued a summons, ordering the leaders of seven sects to gather at Tai Yi Gate to await an audience. Everyone else went, but you, Illusion Demon Sect, have disdained the envoy’s authority and defied orders. Today, we are here to hold you accountable!”
“Whether the summons from the envoy is true or not, we both know well.” The Demon Illusion Sect’s leader snorted coldly, “Tai Xu, don’t think that without your Tai Yi Gate and Wan Gui Sect, I’ll be unable to communicate with the Spirit Realm. The true strength of my sect is far beyond what you can comprehend.”
“Yes,” Tai Xu nodded. “The Demon Illusion Sect is not only one of the supreme sects in the cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star but also the most mysterious. No one has ever been able to lift this veil of mystery. So today, let us truly see the true strength of the Demon Illusion Sect.”
The Demon Illusion Sect’s leader’s face was still covered by that misty veil—what Lao He called ‘smoke rising from her head’—so that no one could see her true appearance. One could only make a rough guess through their own spiritual senses. At this moment, her gaze seemed to sweep back and forth over the crowd.
“You must be Tian Yu, disguised as a disciple of my sect,” she suddenly said.
Without a doubt, her gaze must have fallen on Su Che at that moment.
“That’s right,” Su Che replied calmly, then his expression changed instantly, returning to his true appearance.
There was no longer any suspense in this question; there was no need to stubbornly deny it.
“Tian Yu, you truly live up to being the greatest genius in the cultivation world. You can control so many Yuan Ying cultivators to serve you willingly, and even force Tai Xu and the others to change their minds, making them willing to go to war with the Spirit Realm.”
The Demon Illusion Sect’s leader spoke with deep emotion, even tinged with a hint of admiration, “I think even the legendary identity of a reincarnated immortal is an understatement when applied to you. Perhaps your past life was that of some ancient demon god beyond true immortals…”
“But Tian Yu, no matter what your background is, right now you’re still in the Yuan Ying stage, which is relatively weak. Why do you insist on standing completely against those powerful figures in the Spirit Realm? Why go to such extremes to stop our plan to create chaos in the cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star?”
Su Che remained silent; he could only refuse to answer such questions.
“If you don’t want to say, I can still guess some things,” the head of the Han family smiled faintly. “The answers are basically the same. Excluding the possibility that your past life had a grudge against the Spirit Realm, it’s because you don’t want those people from the Spirit Realm to succeed in descending to this world. You don’t want them to come down, right?”
Su Che’s heart skipped a beat. He wished he could instantly break through that barrier and silence her. Unfortunately, breaking through the barrier wasn’t something that could be done easily.
The Demon Lord continued, “The purpose of the Spirit Realm messengers coming to the mortal world is to find a treasure. Since you don’t want them to go down, that means… Hehe, do I still need to spell it out?”
She had already guessed it!
Su Che sighed inwardly, “I never thought this woman could be so terrifying, able to analyze things to such a degree…”
“This woman must not be kept alive!” Lao He gritted his teeth in the Immortal Prison. “Capture her! Today, we’ll even sacrifice some of our Yuan Ying servants to bring her in and silence her.”
“I’m afraid it might be too late,” Su Che replied in his mind. “She said just now that it seems possible to communicate with the Spirit Realm without going through the Taiyi Gate or the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sect.”
It seems the situation is getting worse and worse…