Chapter 60: Full Cooperation

Su Che ran dozens of feet before stopping when he saw that Hua Lu and the other two weren’t chasing after him. Since they weren’t pursuing him, there was no need for him to run into the lair of the Outer Heaven Demons and seek his own doom.
“Kid, wait for me!” the man who had troubled Su Che at first shouted loudly.
Hua Lu, considering his status, wouldn’t scold someone like Su Che, a lower-ranked disciple. Instead, he turned and entered the teleportation array, persistently trying again and again.
Lao He, on the other hand, muttered, “Great, you with your sloping eyebrows, squinting eyes, flat nose, and toad-like mouth… I remember what you look like. One day, I’ll catch you and fix you properly—hundred times over!”
In truth, that disciple from Tianlu Peak wasn’t as terrible as Lao He described. His nose was indeed slightly flat, but otherwise, he had a fairly decent appearance.
Su Che didn’t care at all and stood there silently.
After waiting a while, he saw several figures running toward them in the distance. As they got closer, it became clear they were all inner disciples from the top ten peaks, in the later stages of Qi cultivation. They all looked panicked, clearly having encountered the same danger as Hua Lu and the others.
“What’s going on?”
“Can’t use the teleportation array?”
“What should we do?”
“Senior Hua Lu, what’s happening? Why is there such an anomaly in the Seal of Demons?”
Realizing the teleportation array was malfunctioning, they all started asking questions at once. After all, in their eyes, Hua Lu and the others were the first to reach the array.
Soon, more people arrived, and dozens of disciples gathered around the teleportation array, making the situation even more chaotic.
It wasn’t until Su Che saw Yu Qing and Linglong appearing in the distance that he finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was both because people who could back him up had finally arrived and because the siblings were unharmed, not fallen victim to the demons…
“Su Che, why are you still here?” Linglong asked first, from about ten feet away.
The siblings looked tired, but overall, their clothes were neat, and they weren’t injured—their condition was fairly good.
“Senior Yu Qing, Senior Linglong, two hours ago, I sensed something was wrong and tried to leave, but the teleportation array stopped working…” Su Che stepped forward and recounted what had happened, including how Hua Lu and the others from Tianlu Peak tried to capture him.
“They’re always this shameless!” Linglong cursed angrily.

“It’s good that nothing happened…” Yu Qing frowned deeply. What worried him now was that since the teleportation array had failed, how could they all get through this crisis? With Yu Qing and Linglong already here, Su Che could boldly follow them to the teleportation array. Hua Lu and the others were sensible enough not to bring up the idea that Su Che might be possessed by a heavenly demon. After all, this was not the time to argue such things, and a minor figure like Su Che wasn’t worth causing internal conflicts at such a critical moment.

After some time, over a hundred disciples who had rushed to this place arrived. Everyone had encountered the same situation: a massive army of heavenly demons led by a demonic general, with countless other demons as well…

“The heavenly demons from beyond the realms have launched a full-scale attack, breaking through all regional boundaries. They’ve organized themselves into numerous armies to surround us in an orderly manner. This is the first time in over two thousand years of the Sealing Demon Realm’s history that such a thing has happened. Such a crisis cannot be resolved by us disciples alone; we must quickly find a way to inform the masters at the main peaks.”

The speaker was a young woman who, like Yu Qing and Hua Lu, had reached the highest level of Qi cultivation. Yu Qing referred to her as “Sister Mu Yun.”

According to the information provided by Lao Hei, Mu Yun was 24 years old and ranked eighth on the inner disciple rankings. The Tianji Peak, one of the ten main peaks, specialized in the art of formations.

Mu Yun’s words were unanimously agreed upon. Yu Qing added, “I think the heavenly demon armies have forced us from various regions here to trap us all at once. They’ll likely arrive soon.”

Yu Qing’s speculation filled many people with panic, while those stronger, like Mu Yun and Hua Lu, nodded solemnly in silence.

“What should we do? Once the heavenly demon army arrives, aren’t we all doomed?”

“Yes, even if the elders from our sect come to rescue us, it will be too late!”

“It’s over! We’re finished. While fleeing earlier, we used up all our talismans. Now, with no way out, how can we resist the heavenly demon armies?”

Many were in a state of panic, completely losing their usual arrogance as inner disciples.

“Calm down!” Mu Yun’s delicate face turned cold as she snapped, “What’s the use of panicking like this? It’s unbecoming!”

She then pointed at Su Che standing among the crowd and said, “As inner disciples, each of you is at an advanced stage of Qi cultivation. Yet not one of you is as composed as that young junior disciple.”

With her words, everyone’s attention immediately turned to Su Che. Only then did they realize that indeed, this young guy at the second level of Qi Cultivation appeared extremely natural, his expression by no means stiff from forcing composure.

“How could an outer disciple at the second level of Qi Cultivation end up in the Demon Sealing Realm?” Many began to feel curious.

Under everyone’s gaze, Su Che appeared calm on the surface but secretly felt uneasy, as the anomalies in the Demon Sealing Realm were likely related to him. He certainly didn’t want to be the focus of attention.

Seeing everyone’s doubts, Yu Qing stepped forward to explain, “Junior Su was brought in by me. He is a disciple under special cultivation in my Xuanji Peak’s Spirit Herb Garden.”

“A disciple under special cultivation, yet you still bring him to the Demon Sealing Realm? Is this special cultivation or special murder?” Mu Yun glanced at Yu Qing indifferently. Her words sounded like an attempt to provoke, but her tone was rather subtle, even carrying a strange undertone.

Yu Qing shook his head with a wry smile, “Who could have expected such an incident to occur?”

Yu Qing’s popularity among women was well-known throughout the Tianxuan Sect. At this moment, Hua Lu could no longer suppress his jealousy and interrupted, “Stop talking about this now. Since we’ve guessed that the Heavenly Demon Army is approaching, we must hurry and make preparations for battle. Sister Mu Yun, I also ask the brothers and sisters from your Tianji Peak to quickly set up a defensive formation. With a formation to defend us, we can hold out a little longer, perhaps long enough for our elders to come and rescue us.”

“Okay.”

“Agreed.”

Several disciples from the Tianji Peak, including Mu Yun, nodded in agreement.

Over a hundred inner disciples immediately got to work. At this critical moment, everyone had to set aside their prejudices and work together. Only Su Che, due to his insufficient strength, couldn’t help much. He could only stand in the center of the teleportation array to avoid getting in the way of others setting up the formation.

After a while, Mu Yun’s clear voice was heard, “We need to set up an earth-type defensive formation. We require some earth-type defensive spirit talismans to strengthen key points of the formation. If anyone has such talismans, I hope they’ll contribute them. At a time like this, an individual’s limited defensive power is useless. Only collective strength can possibly withstand the attack of the Heavenly Demon Army. I hope everyone understands this.”

Mu Yun spoke clearly. At this critical juncture, everyone was now in life or death together. Keeping secrets would be the most foolish thing to do.

But though they all understood the logic, during the escape just now, everyone’s spirit talismans had been exhausted, especially the defensive ones. Fortunately, they had brought a few extra defensive talismans, which allowed them to survive and reach here; otherwise, they would have been devoured by the Heavenly Demon Army like those unfortunate brothers and sisters.

Mu Yun called out three times but only received a pitiful six earth-type defensive talismans, all of the weakest lower-grade kind.
“Sigh, with just these few, what use can they be…”
Mu Yun was sighing while holding the talismans when suddenly someone approached and whispered to her, “Senior sister, I have a few more. Do you think they can help?”
Looking up, she saw it was that junior disciple at the second level of Qi Cultivation—judging by his bone age, he was only fifteen. Mu Yun had thought such an outer disciple wouldn’t have anything good, at most a few lower-grade talismans. But when she took those talismans and saw them, she was stunned.
It was four mid-grade earth-type defensive talismans and one high-grade “Diamond Wall Technique” talisman.
“A high-grade talisman!” Mu Yun couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.
It wasn’t that she was overreacting or had never seen a high-grade talisman before. In fact, when entering the Seal of Demons Realm, she had also carried several high-grade talismans. But during the escape, she had used them all to protect herself and the other disciples. She never expected this junior disciple to still have some left. She wondered how many defensive talismans he must have carried to escape here under the pursuit of the Heavenly Demon Army…

Noticing her surprise, Su Che explained, “I didn’t go deep into the Seal of Demons Realm. I only trained around here, so I didn’t encounter the Heavenly Demon Army.”
“Oh,” Mu Yun nodded, thinking it made sense. Still, she said seriously, “At this critical moment, such a high-grade talisman can play a vital role in the entire formation. Junior disciple, you’ve done an incredible job! If we survive this crisis and manage to leave the Seal of Demons Realm alive, I and the others will definitely repay you tenfold.”
“Senior sister, you’re too kind,” Su Che said generously with a smile. “Just a few talismans—nothing much for me.”
“Alright,” Mu Yun nodded again, keeping Su Che in mind.
After that, Su Che retreated back into the teleportation array, quietly observing the chaos.

Some inner sect disciples who were busy in the vicinity learned that the most unremarkable Su Che actually made the greatest contribution, so they nodded in gratitude to him or gave him a thumbs up… Before coming here, Su Che had acquired more than a dozen mid-grade spirit talismans and three high-grade spirit talismans at Wuhua Peak. Adhering to the principle of putting survival first, he focused on defensive spirit talismans, with earth-type defensive talismans being the most common, as earth-type had the strongest defensive effects. He never expected that these talismans would win him so much goodwill and respect from the inner sect disciples—it was an unexpected bonus. After all, on the path of cultivation, connections are also extremely important.