Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 370 - 370 369 Outburst in Adversity

370: Chapter 369: Outburst in Adversity 370: Chapter 369: Outburst in Adversity Half a moment later, the worst-case scenario unfolded; a Daoist from the Yue Sect, slain in midair by Huang Qigong, the fourth leader of the Cang Pirates.

“Clearly, the Cang Pirates are aiming to crush our confidence with such tactics, and the worst part is, they have the strength to do so.

Now that both the fifth and fourth leaders have appeared, the next will surely be another leader among them; they intend to push this deterrence to the very end.

By the way, who is the third cultivator arranged by the tour group?”

Old Cai stammered, “It is, it’s the Fairy Zi Xia from the Qi Sect.”

Hou Niao clicked his tongue, “Good arrangement, if a peerless beauty is beheaded, perhaps it might awaken something?”

A slight disturbance had already started within the tour group.

Clearly, the sudden downturn in the demonstration had caught almost everyone off guard; they needed time to digest this tragedy and assess what might happen if they themselves were to go up.

Everyone has their own scale in their heart; when faced with life and death, no one would respond without caution.

Fairy Zi Xia was slowly floating forward, evidently struggling within her heart; her strength was no greater than the two Daoists who had gone before her.

The deployment of forces was merely based on the strength of their respective sects’ backing; they had not anticipated such a change in the situation.

Some were persuading her to give up, while others, with bravery, were willing to take her place; everyone was struggling.

The dignity of cultivators and the preciousness of life were testing everyone’s inner resolve.

Pull through, and vast seas and skies await; feign ignorance, and live with lifelong regret.

Seeing the young woman’s brows slightly furrowed as she struggled forward, Old Cai was rather dissatisfied with the sword cultivator beside him,

“Daoist, shouldn’t you step forward and make a gesture?

If not out of pity for beauty, at least for the dignity of a sword cultivator.”

Hou Niao remained indifferent, “Sword cultivators have no dignity, only life and death!

I cannot help her, nor is it my place; she now represents a major Daoist Sect, not just an individual; I’ll bet that in the end, she’ll maintain her own pride, and no one will take her place.

This is the mess you and Old Peng have made; I told you earlier, rather than being killed off like this without spirit, it would have been better to have charged all at once at the start; even with casualties, it wouldn’t have been so shocking.

Once blood fills the eyes, all else becomes insignificant.”

Old Cai clenched his teeth, “Are you sword cultivators so heartless?

If this were your comrade, what would you do?”

Hou Niao snorted, “Such a scenario doesn’t exist.

Had it been a group of sword cultivators, they would have caused chaos long ago.

Why bear such humiliation?”

Old Cai’s mind raced, realizing their plan had failed.

Just continuing the demonstration like this would result in fatalities he and Old Peng couldn’t bear; for some reason, he held a special expectation for the sword cultivator before him, unable to articulate precisely why.

Was it because the Shan Sect is the strongest in the Southwest Demon Sect?

Or something else?

“Is there any way to remedy this?”

Hou Niao gave a cold smile, “Yes, but I fear you wouldn’t dare!”

Old Cai took a deep breath, “We’ve come to this point, what’s there to fear?

Please, Daoist, enlighten me!”

Hou Niao revealed a cruel smile, “Fairy Zi Xia is more likely to meet with misfortune than fortune.

What we need to do is use her death to rally everyone once more!

You and Old Peng could secretly collude.

I reckon many in the tour group are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, and what you need to do is to break the promise, to rise as one upon the Fairy’s death.

This is the only chance, while not too many from the tour group have perished.

If we wait until six or seven have died, we won’t even have the theoretical advantage in numbers anymore, and that would be a complete and utter failure!”

Old Cai hesitated, “A person without credibility cannot stand…”

Hou Niao ruthlessly countered, “You are an insignificant guide; what credibility can you speak of?

Besides, isn’t a contract made to be broken?

Talking about credibility with pirates; you’ve really wasted your years at sea.”

“The cultivators of Bamboo Island won’t agree; they’re very conservative…”

“Pah!

What does Bamboo Island have to do with it?

It’s an issue for both of your travel groups now!

It’s about the safety of the twenty or so guests!

It’s about your future and Old Peng’s future!

Once you make your move, would the Bamboo Island cultivators still side with the pirates?

The worst outcome is that they get dragged down with us and they can’t escape either!”

“Can we win?”

“Are you stupid?

What does winning and losing have to do with it?

Only when the melee begins can people take the chance to run or scatter in the chaos.

You have to give the guests an opportunity to escape, right?

If everyone just stands here holding onto their pride, no one will have the guts to run.

Only if we create chaos, in the midst of pursuit…

If there’s hope of winning, we fight on; if the situation is bad, then everyone’s on their own.”

Old Cai understood completely now.

It was shameless and had no bottom line, but he had to admit it was a clever strategy that could make escaping seem natural.

Once the melee began, everyone would scatter across the sky.

Who would notice someone deserting in the heat of battle?

He couldn’t help but hate himself for not thinking of this solution earlier.

It would satisfy the guests’ craving for novelty and killing without the need to die unnecessarily in a hopeless battle for all to see.

“Fine, I’ll go notify Old Peng right away, pass down the plan.

To hell with saving face; given how things have turned out, it’s likely we can’t continue in this line of work anyway.”

As he was about to look for Old Peng, Hou Niao cautioned him, “Don’t mention anything about fleeing to the travel group members; just say we all share the same hatred for the enemy and must exterminate the pirates.

That way, things won’t fall apart from the start.

As for fleeing, don’t worry.

You don’t need to say anything; every cultivator knows their limits and when it’s time to run, they’ll run.”

Hurrying to discuss with Old Peng, Old Cai knew they didn’t have much time.

They needed to make a quick decision and inform every group member.

Meanwhile, just as Hou Niao had predicted, the Fairy of the Purple Mist ultimately chose to face the reality head-on.

It was her responsibility, and under the watchful eyes of dozens, she couldn’t back down, not even as a woman.

Her opponent was Yuan Xizhi, the second-in-command of Black Star.

Knowing the disparity in strength, the Fairy of the Purple Mist abandoned the aggressive tactics of the previous two Daoists and chose to defend from the outset, aiming to buy time and hope for a change in the situation.

This was a feature of her cultivation technique, as well as a result of her mentality; life was precious, and no one wished to lose it casually.

Yuan Xizhi wasn’t in a hurry either.

He needed a shocking kill, a way to completely crush the wills of these people; at the same time, he wanted the cultivators of Bamboo Island to understand just how courteously they had been treated before.

In the solid defensive array centered around the Fairy of the Purple Mist, the core of her life essence was the Purple Mist Barrier.

It was a legacy from an elder who had captured the purple mist from the Nine Heavens through a special method and then passed it to her.

After nearly a decade of her own refining, it had reached its impressive potency today, and it was her trump card that gave her the courage to stand up against the ferocious pirates.

However, during the battle, she felt something was off, but couldn’t put her finger on what exactly it was.

She couldn’t see it herself, but the cultivators outside could see it very clearly!

The Purple Mist Barrier, under everyone’s gaze, was unconsciously changing its shape.

What was initially a misty cloud started to morph into an irregular five-pointed star, becoming clearer and more distinct with each moment.

Accompanying the change in shape was the change in color; from light purple mist to ever-deepening shades, red-purple, black-purple, until it turned completely black!

As her core life essence transformed into a standard large Black Star, life began to drain rapidly from her body.

In an instant, she went from the freshness of youth to middle age, and finally, to a visage of ancient decrepitude…

The Fairy of the Purple Mist finally noticed the transformation in herself and couldn’t help but cry out in involuntary horror.

The entire sky was filled with her cries of despair…