When Gu Baiqing rushed over following the master-disciple bond, he saw cultivators and demons fighting in a chaotic melee outside. Some people tried to enter the fog-shrouded area, but were continuously blocked by the demon race.
But the moment Gu Baiqing flew past everyone and entered, the demon race outside seemed to receive some kind of instruction, suddenly stopped fighting, and retreated.
And at this time, when the others wanted to enter again, they were already blocked by the barrier.
Everyone instantly felt that something was wrong, immediately realized that there must be something inside, and hurriedly gathered their forces to concentrate here.
And the moment Gu Baiqing entered.
A new task arrived.
【Fifth Quest, Task 2: Destroy the Six Elements Formation, smoothly advance to mid-stage Immortalization. Key reminder: the formation’s power is immense, requires multiple people to assist, time is urgent, execute immediately】
Gu Baiqing roughly understood what the Six Elements Formation was. He had to quickly find the people, his current points couldn’t withstand the deductions for mission failure.
On the other side, because of Half-Step Mad’s one sentence, Mo Xuanli was directly provoked. Even Three Bean bristled and lunged over to scratch someone.
“What nonsense are you talking about!” Mo Xuanli stepped forward instantly.
Li Xiuran blocked Mo Xuanli for a moment and also said seriously to Half-Step Mad, “Senior, you can’t say such things lightly. I remember you being a very open-minded person. Could it be that you too are listening to hearsay about matters of the cultivation world and arbitrarily pinning blame on people?”
Half-Step Mad glared at Li Xiuran with a sorrowful expression, then looked at Mo Xuanli and shook his head. “Can’t you feel it yourself? You’re about to fall into demonic cultivation.”
Mo Xuanli’s expression changed slightly. His eyes, one black and one red, which had never changed, flickered for a moment. “When we last met, Senior, I was already in a half-demonic state. It’s just that now… it’s indeed more serious. But because my body has stabilized, I have better control.”
“With the origin bone returned to its place, even if you control it well, a single slip could lead to complete demonic transformation. Once you fall into demonic cultivation, your master will…” Half-Step Mad had just finished speaking when suddenly a rumbling sound came from the sky.
Everyone was startled. Although thick fog filled the place and they couldn’t see the sky when they looked up, they could hear the sound.
When they turned back again, Half-Step Mad was already clutching his head, looking as if he was preparing to dodge lightning.
“Y-you… what did you just say?” Mo Xuanli frowned and asked.
Half-Step Mad frowned and said, “Anyway, you’re very dangerous right now. I can only tell you this: before reaching the Tribulation stage, absolutely do not let yourself lose control and fall into demonic cultivation, otherwise… otherwise…”
Half-Step Mad held it in for a long time, not daring to say it in detail. But Mo Xuanli seemed to understand something, if he fell into demonic cultivation, it would certainly cause substantial harm to his master.
“How is that possible… Even if I fall into demonic cultivation, what does that have to do with Master? Master told me before that he didn’t mind if I fell into demonic cultivation.” Mo Xuanli immediately grew anxious.
If Half-Step Mad hadn’t once made some kind of prophecy, and if he didn’t seem very familiar with Master, Mo Xuanli wouldn’t have believed a single word of Half-Step Mad’s mysterious ramblings. But now, Mo Xuanli was truly a little panicked.
“Your master was comforting you. He just didn’t want to give you pressure. If you were to… then he would…” Half-Step Mad spoke in a way no one could understand. Mo Xuanli suddenly raised his head and looked upward, listening to the occasional rumbling sound, as if he understood something.
It was the Heavenly Dao stopping Half-Step Mad from saying something he shouldn’t say.
At Zixiao Sect, the sect master who was skilled in observing celestial phenomena would occasionally be struck by lightning as well.
So did Half-Step Mad really know something?
“What you say, I can’t easily believe. But I also won’t…” Mo Xuanli wanted to express that he would also do his best to prevent himself from falling into demonic cultivation.
But Half-Step Mad wanted him to realize the seriousness of it, because this was something that offered no chance for regret.
Half-Step Mad clicked his tongue and suddenly said, “You know about the fact that your master has no spiritual power, right?”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. They had always thought that Gu Baiqing’s occasional weakness was due to injuries or something else.
“He only has spiritual power when he comes into contact with you. Don’t you find that strange?”
Mo Xuanli’s face completely changed.
Half-Step Mad actually knew… Could his falling into demonic cultivation really have some… connection with his master’s spiritual power situation?
Mo Xuanli’s mind began desperately trying to piece together a reasonable explanation. Because the information Half-Step Mad provided was too little, his deductions went completely astray.
“Is it because if I fall into demonic cultivation, without spiritual energy, Master will completely lose his supply of spiritual energy, and then he will…” Something will happen… something will happen?
Half-Step Mad thought about it and felt it could be explained that way, so he said directly, “Thinking of it in the most severe way is correct.”
Half-Step Mad had just finished speaking when he suddenly saw Mo Xuanli straighten his body, his expression solemn. “Everyone… help me.”
Everyone looked at Mo Xuanli. When they heard what Mo Xuanli was saying, they were all shocked, shaking their heads repeatedly.
And when Gu Baiqing arrived, he saw Mo Xuanli’s arms bound by two spiritual artifact chains, with Li Xiuran and Jingzhan pulling on either side.
And Ao Heng was standing behind Mo Xuanli, his hand transformed into a dragon claw, about to grab toward Mo Xuanli’s back.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Gu Baiqing thought he was dreaming.
But he still reflexively transformed into a streak of lightning and flashed over, knocking everyone aside and pulling Mo Xuanli into his arms.
“What are you doing!” Gu Baiqing shouted in shock and anger. What he was holding was a real person, this was all real. It was simply inconceivable.
Ao Heng withdrew his claws and also released the restrained Three Bean. Three Bean pounced over and angrily bit Ao Heng.
Ao Heng placated Three Bean and said to Gu Baiqing, “Don’t look at me. I was following orders.”
Li Xiuran and Jingzhan also wore awkward, uneasy expressions. They too were following orders.
“Master!”
Seeing his master appear so suddenly, Mo Xuanli immediately hugged Gu Baiqing tightly, filled with joy, Master had come.
They hadn’t seen each other for a long time. If he hadn’t been forcing himself to stay calm these past few days, he would have wanted to rush to his master’s side immediately. But now the situation has become extremely complicated because of him. He knew he couldn’t drag things down anymore, so he could only endure the longing and focus on proper matters.
But when he caught that hint of cold plum fragrance, all of Mo Xuanli’s grievances vanished, leaving only a full sense of ease and lightness, as if more than a dozen stones pressing on him had instantly turned into bubbles.
With Master by his side, everything truly felt fine.
“What’s going on?” Gu Baiqing pushed Mo Xuanli away, frowned as he looked at them, “What are you doing?”
Mo Xuanli stiffened as he wrapped his arms around Gu Baiqing’s body, not quite daring to speak.
The moment Gu Baiqing saw Mo Xuanli like this, he knew he must have done something that would make him angry.
Then with a sweep of his gaze, he saw Half-Step Mad standing there.
Half-Step Mad said awkwardly, “I… I was just here to remind him that if this keeps up it’ll be dangerous. I didn’t expect him to directly ask everyone to help him dig out his origin bone again.”
Gu Baiqing’s pupils shrank at once. He looked at Mo Xuanli in shock and anger and said, “Are you crazy!”
Mo Xuanli had originally been lowering his head, but at this moment he suddenly lifted his eyes and looked at Gu Baiqing firmly and said, “I’ve thought it through carefully. Having the origin bone in my body increases my demonic nature, and it might really lead to the worst possible outcome. Since that’s the case, why not dig it out? Wouldn’t that make things safe? They went to such lengths to reinstall it for me, I can’t let them succeed.”
Gu Baiqing directly scolded him, “Tell the truth!”
Mo Xuanli choked immediately.
Three Bean immediately jumped over to complain, pointing at Half-Step Mad and chattering as he told the whole story.
Gu Baiqing hadn’t expected that Half-Step Mad, who was so afraid of being struck by lightning, would actually come and say this to Mo Xuanli.
Half-Step Mad also hadn’t expected Mo Xuanli to be so resolute, and said awkwardly, “I was just worried about your situation, so…”
Half-Step Mad more or less knew what the final objective requirement was, so by analogy he could figure out what the worst-case scenario would be.
“Master!” Mo Xuanli suddenly called out to him. Gu Baiqing looked up, and his heart trembled when he met those deep eyes, one red and one black, the deep affection inside seeming as though it could turn tangible and coil around him. “Although I don’t know the exact situation, my demonic nature increasing is bad for you, right? I’m fine. I can do it.”
How could he be fine?
“Idiot, doesn’t it hurt? Didn’t you say it hurt a lot?” Gu Baiqing couldn’t help reaching out to touch Mo Xuanli’s face. Mo Xuanli rubbed against Gu Baiqing’s hand and smiled with relief, saying, “It doesn’t hurt.”
For the one he loved, making a small sacrifice, what pain was that?
But Gu Baiqing had seen it with his own eyes. How could that kind of pain possibly let Mo Xuanli endure it so many times?
Gu Baiqing couldn’t help reaching out to touch Mo Xuanli’s spine.
“You can, but I can’t. Don’t listen to his nonsense. I’m the one who’s really fine.”
But this time, Mo Xuanli didn’t listen to Gu Baiqing’s coaxing. His eyes looked at him quietly.
Gu Baiqing had no choice. He directly put on a stern face and said seriously, “If the origin bone is dug out, how long do you plan to rest? Without the origin bone, your recovery ability will also weaken, and you won’t be able to participate in battle at all. When that happens, even if all of us join forces, we might not be able to protect you. Do you think taking that kind of risk is reasonable? And digging out the origin bone won’t affect the demonic nature you already have, and it also won’t…”
The origin bone was merely a symbol of the Primordial Demon; it didn’t mean the origin bone absolutely had to remain in the body. It was just a matter of advancement strength and differences in talent. That was why, back then, the cultivation world didn’t take digging out the origin bone as the standard for stopping the extermination of a clan.
Mo Xuanli said, “I’m different. I can move.”
As he said this, Mo Xuanli’s gaze flickered. Perhaps this also proved his special mixed-blood identity. Even after having his origin bone dug out, the recovery ability that allowed him to move was not something ordinary people possessed.
“Although my combat strength will be a bit worse, I’ll recover very quickly.”
“But there’s a Six Elements Formation here. We must break it immediately and rescue the hostages.”
“But…”
Suddenly, Gu Baiqing cupped Mo Xuanli’s face and said, “Mo Xuanli, listen to me. I know what I’m doing. Listen to me. If you dare lay a hand on yourself without permission, I won’t care about you anymore.”
Mo Xuanli panicked instantly.
“I promised you, I would never abandon you.” Gu Baiqing said seriously.
Mo Xuanli froze, then suddenly hugged Gu Baiqing, kissed him hard, and then said hoarsely, “Mm, okay.”
Mo Xuanli compromised. Because Gu Baiqing arrived in time, he could be considered to have stopped an accidental disaster. Because of this matter, Gu Baiqing directly dragged Half-Step Mad off to the side and almost beat him up.
“What’s your situation like right now?” Gu Baiqing asked suspiciously.
Half-Step Mad stroked his beard and said, “I know what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, I haven’t received any similar task. For now it’s just rescuing people and advancing breakthroughs. What about you? You’re really fine? Actually, digging out the origin bone isn’t that big of a deal, right?”
“You say that only because you want the big boss to be easier to deal with. Don’t even think about it. He’s also your son, and you don’t feel any heartache at all. Look at how much grievance he’s suffered.” Gu Baiqing said fiercely.
Half-Step Mad said aggrievedly, “I feel heartache too, but there’s nothing I can do. He’s already much better than in the original text. So good that I don’t even feel that heartbroken anymore. I’m just eating dog food.” After saying that, he shot a sidelong glance at Gu Baiqing.
“Forget it. I also need to rescue people and break the array. Let’s take it one step at a time. But you have to promise me one thing.”
Half-Step Mad looked at the suddenly serious Gu Baiqing in confusion and asked, “What?”
“If that task is released, you must, must, must tell me the very first moment.” Gu Baiqing emphasized with all his might, “Must.”
Seeing Gu Baiqing’s pupils trembling from seriousness and agitation, Half-Step Mad knew this was something that absolutely had to be done.
“Alright, I promise you.” Half-Step Mad nodded firmly and said, “But I still hope it won’t come to that.”
Gu Baiqing didn’t echo Half-Step Mad’s words. He only said thank you.
Seeing Gu Baiqing heading to the front, Half-Step Mad couldn’t help pulling him back and said, “We’re all outsiders. If there’s a chance…”
“No.” Before Half-Step Mad could finish speaking, Gu Baiqing left firmly.
Half-Step Mad froze slightly, and in the end could only sigh.
Gu Baiqing walked forward and almost tripped over something. Mo Xuanli at his side reacted quickly and steadied him.
Gu Baiqing lowered his head to look and saw that it was human bones.
Mo Xuanli frowned slightly, directly squatted down, and said, “Master, here… it’s full of corpses. I’ll carry you.” In truth, he simply didn’t want Master’s feet to step on this land at all.
Gu Baiqing patted Mo Xuanli on the head and said, “Focus on finding the formation, time is tight.”
Mo Xuanli was a little unwilling, but could only obey. He stepped forward half a pace, doing his best to clear away the obstacles hidden in the dense fog for his Master.
Within the dense fog, spells were restricted. All around, sinister winds gusted in waves, the feeling actually even more uncomfortable than the demon realm. Everyone could vaguely sense a strange power, but couldn’t say exactly what it was. Even Ao Hang was unable to fully manifest his true form and fly out of here, unless they returned the way they came.
“Big Brother Gu, why do you keep saying time is tight?” Jingzhan asked worriedly. “Did you sense something? Qingrong and the others…”
“I didn’t sense that much, just felt that…” Gu Baiqing was just about to think of an excuse to say.
Suddenly, a wave of spiritual power surged over. There was no need to find an excuse anymore.
A formation so powerful it was hard to imagine appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Looking out, blood-red formation patterns floated in midair, flashing with eerie light as they slowly extended outward. It looked like it was in the preparation stage. Once the extension was completely finished, it would probably be the moment the formation activated.
As for whether this formation could truly serve as a substitute for the spirit-gathering formation as the incubus had said, that remained unknown.
In any case, stopping it was the only option.
With Li Xiuran and Mo Xuanli acting at the same time, there were basically no problems that could stump them.
After carefully observing what was before them, they quickly found the pattern of the Six Elements Formation. Based on their previous conjectures and research, there should be six directions here releasing different powers of the six elements. Each had a formation eye, and each formation eye had someone suppressing it. And among the six elements, there should also be one special person suppressing the formation in the center. After their analysis, the most likely candidate was Ji Chuling.
They needed to find these seven people and drag them all out of the formation’s eyes at the same time in order to destroy the formation.
However, during this process, the backlash from the formation’s power would be very strong. Everyone could only prepare themselves.
Counting heads: Gu Baiqing, Mo Xuanli, Li Xiuran, Jingzhan, the incubus, Half-Step Mad, plus Ao Hang and Three Bean counted as one as well, it turned out to be just about enough.
But this meant everyone had no choice but to split up. Fortunately, according to calculations, the formation eyes in each location would not be too far apart.
Very quickly, Mo Xuanli transformed God Nine Transformations into eighteen nails, sending out seven to follow everyone to ensure they acted at the same time, with the rest distributed around the surroundings to monitor and guard.
Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli exchanged a glance and nodded, then, together with the others, each headed into the dense fog.
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