Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 84

Volume 6 Chapter 84: The Peak Battle (2)

As a powerful beast at the Earth level, Little Black was a king among birds, and its strength was unquestionable. In the world of demon beasts, it was a dominant force. Unfortunately, it had bad luck and was bound to the wrong master. With Xu Qingfan facing opponents stronger than it in every battle, Little Black hardly ever had the chance to show off its power. Having seen Little Black struggle around its opponents, it was actually a bit strange for Xu Qingfan to watch Little Black easily kill three high-level cultivators at the Fake Golden Core Stage.

"It has been a long time since I’ve faced an opponent of this level…"

Xu Qingfan slowly walked to the fallen black robe and wooden mask on the ground, shook his head with a bitter smile, and murmured to himself.

As the dark energy within Little Black grew stronger and purer, its power became even greater. He remembered when Little Black first fought against a few opponents at the Lingji Stage, and it took a long time for the dark energy to bring them down. But now, when Little Black struck again, just a single peck made three powerful enemies at the Fake Golden Core Stage instantly vanish, with not a trace of their bodies or souls remaining. This was the true demonstration of its strength.

Xu Qingfan reached out to touch Little Black, now back on his shoulder, as a sign of encouragement. Then, with a small gesture, the three black robes and wooden mask that had fallen to the ground flew into his hands.

"At this moment, Zhang Xusheng’s super experts have returned to the heart of the mountain, and many cultivators are inspecting everywhere in the mountain’s belly. It seems they already know about my presence, and I have missed the best chance to escape with the ‘Sky Escaping Talisman.’" A trace of regret flashed in Xu Qingfan’s eyes. His injuries had healed, and his Spirit Qi was full again. However, during these days, Xu Qingfan had been observing the battles between the demons and Mingluo, completely forgetting that he was in enemy territory and needed to escape.

After a moment of hesitation, with a slight sigh, Xu Qingfan began to wear the wooden mask on his face and put on the black robe. He recalled that these black-robed cultivators seemed to work in groups of three, so he summoned Xu Ying and Xu Zhiyuan, asking them to also don the wooden masks and black robes, disguising themselves as cultivators from the "An" organization. They quietly began to walk deeper into the heart of the mountain.

Since there was no chance to escape, staying hidden would only lead to being discovered by Zhang Xusheng’s followers eventually. Xu Qingfan decided to delve deeper into the mountain to see what plot Zhang Xusheng was currently hatching; perhaps there could be some turning point.

With this thought, Xu Qingfan, along with Xu Ying and Xu Zhiyuan, pretended to be on patrol, calmly brushing past several groups of black-robed cultivators searching for him, gradually making their way deeper into the mountain. Little Black, hidden in the shadows, silently followed not far behind Xu Qingfan. With Little Black’s abilities, it was unlikely to be discovered unless near a master like Mingluo.

Inside the mountain, towering walls and columns created many twists and turns. After going through several bends, a hall covering about ten acres suddenly appeared before Xu Qingfan. Inside the hall, there were over a hundred black-robed cultivators, each with varying levels of strength. The strongest among them had reached the Golden Core Stage, while others were still hovering around the Lingji Stage. At this moment, they were busy in silence, either transporting spirit stones and precious materials or hurriedly moving to other locations for support and arrangements.

Just as Xu Qingfan had guessed earlier, he was only on one layer of the entire mountain. In this great hall, there were two passages leading to the upper and lower layers. At this moment, the lower-ranked cultivators in black robes were hurriedly carrying many treasures down, while the higher-ranked ones were quickly heading up.

While others were not paying attention, Xu Qingfan called Xu Ying and Xu Zhiyuan back into himself and walked alone towards the passage that led up and down.

Looking at the scene before him, Xu Qingfan felt a stir in his heart. If the cultivators in black heading up were preparing for a great battle, then those going down with so many treasures must be getting ready to escape just in case. He deliberately suppressed his own strength to the Lingji Stage and followed the lower-ranked cultivators down the mountain.

If the masters of the Righteous Alliance truly gathered, Xu Qingfan was not worried about the outcome of the battle. After all, the difference in strength was obvious. No matter how Zhang Xusheng and his men defended, they would likely suffer defeat. Therefore, what Xu Qingfan was more concerned about was how Zhang Xusheng planned to escape if he lost.

It was unknown how deep the mountain had been dug. Each layer was about twenty feet high. Xu Qingfan mixed in with the group of black-robed cultivators and walked down for a good seventeen or eighteen layers to reach his destination. This did not even count the layers going up. After arriving, looking down, he found there were still stairs leading to lower layers, but those were guarded by four Golden Core Stage cultivators, their faces serious. The other black-robed cultivators dared not approach, fearing them greatly.

Faintly, Xu Qingfan felt several terrifying and violent auras coming from the even lower layers. Judging solely by the aura, the strength of those beings was not much weaker than that of the monsters. His brows furrowed, and his expression under the mask grew serious. He realized he had underestimated Zhang Xusheng’s hidden power; this battle likely wouldn’t be as simple as he thought.

Noticing that someone was looking at him while he kept glancing towards the passage to the lower layer, Xu Qingfan quickly pretended to be casual and turned his head to look at this layer of the mountain. After a long while, the suspicious gazes finally left him.

With the curious and doubtful gazes gone, Xu Qingfan breathed a sigh of relief and began to observe the scene on this layer. At first glance, it made his head spin a bit.

He saw that every black-robed cultivator, upon arriving at this layer, would place the spirit stones and treasures they were carrying on the ground in certain spots, sorted into categories: spirit stones, materials, or magic tools. There were heaps of them. Besides the treasures in their hands, they also opened their "Sleeve Space" technique, pouring out many precious materials and magic tools. In Xu Qingfan’s eyes, it was like several mountains of shimmering and colorful treasures.

Xu Qingfan did not know that the piles of treasures in front of him were not only Zhang Xusheng’s savings from thousands of years but also the riches passed down from the "Treasure Pavilion", as well as the bargains collected during the demon beast chaos from various secret bases of the "Ming" organization, which were truly astonishing.

Xu Qingfan felt a faint sense of regret; perhaps he shouldn’t have come here. He was going to lose money…

The group of black-clothed cultivators he was following was headed toward a huge pile of spirit stones. As each cultivator began to place a lot of spirit stones at the foot of this treasure mountain, when it was Xu Qingfan’s turn, he had no choice but to reluctantly use his "Sleeve Space" technique to pour out his collected spirit stones at the foot of the mountain, silently lamenting that this was his collection of many years gone just like that.

At this moment, Xu Qingfan wished even more for the Righteous Alliance to win the battle against Zhang Xusheng; gathering these spirit stones wasn’t easy…

Fortunately, he had previously brought Xu Ying and Xu Zhiyuan back into his body.

After donating all the spirit stones on him to Zhang Xusheng, Xu Qingfan followed the example of the other black-clothed cultivators, silently stepping aside, and like them, he received a jade bottle from a figure who looked like a commander. The jade bottle was clearly a spatial magical tool, and it seemed to contain something extremely mysterious and magical.

Before long, while Xu Qingfan was continuously pondering what was hidden inside the jade bottle in his hand, the black-clothed cultivators finally sorted out all of Zhang Xusheng’s treasures. In an instant, the vast mountain cavity was filled with towering treasure piles, and Xu Qingfan and the other cultivators were pressed tightly against the mountain wall, barely having any place to stand.

"Start releasing ‘Disaster Cloud.’"

The black-clothed cultivator who had previously distributed the white jade bottles said in a deep voice.

"At your command."

As the cultivators in black responded, the scene that followed left Xu Qingfan utterly astonished.

…

On the other side, as Mingluo and the others returned to the heart of the mountain, they did not rest at all after a long battle. They immediately obeyed Zhang Xusheng’s orders and began preparing the "Disaster Cloud" and the "Three Talent Formation" to face the strong enemy, becoming very busy.

"Mingluo, what is going on? Why is the boss being so careful, using both the ‘Three Talent Formation’ and ‘Disaster Cloud’? These are our last resort."

Diluo could not hold back his confusion and asked Mingluo. The others looked at Diluo after hearing his question.

Mingluo frowned slightly, and his expression became very serious and solemn as he said slowly, "Think about it. Why did that monster suddenly stop attacking? Its senses are probably much stronger than ours. It must have discovered something that is far greater than itself. What could make that creature so fearful? What could cause the boss to be so cautious?"

Upon hearing Mingluo’s words, everyone’s faces changed.

After a pause, Mingluo continued, "The ‘Ming’ organization doesn’t care about us right now. It must be that the masters from the Righteous Alliance have arrived. Everyone, get ready for a great battle."

Diluo, Jiluo, and others looked serious and solemn. They nodded slightly, but strangely, they did not seem to feel afraid of the Righteous Alliance’s attack; it was unclear where they got their confidence.

Suddenly, Mingluo noticed some black-clothed cultivators who were not doing anything but were patrolling in groups of three around the mountainside. Curious, he asked Diluo, "Diluo, what are those teams doing?"

Diluo told Mingluo about Zhang Xusheng’s orders.

Hearing that someone had actually sneaked into their base, Mingluo was slightly taken aback, but then thought of something and said to Diluo in a low voice, "Quickly call back those teams that are patrolling and tally the numbers. Right away!"