Time passed little by little.
Mount Sumeru gradually fell completely silent, without a sound.
In the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
Over those three years, the Mystic Gate had used the great calamity to consolidate its hold over the entire East.
The Mystic Gate had risen to great prominence.
It commanded hundreds of millions of followers.
And at last, three years later, it began to advance beyond the East, pressing toward the West!
Hongjun raised the banner of the Heavenly Dao, intent on completely eradicating the evil Demon Cult!
Li Xuan simply waited, unperturbed.
It had only been three years. That was hardly worth mentioning.
On this day, the sky was gloomy, dark clouds blotted out the heavens, and it looked as though a torrential downpour was coming.
Then, on the eastern horizon, an endless black line suddenly appeared.
The line rapidly spread, turning into a black ocean.
It surged toward Mount Sumeru!
It was an ocean formed by hundreds of millions of living beings!
The Mystic Gate of the East had finally come to attack!
Li Xuan opened his eyes, a flash of light gleaming in them!
They were here!
Rumble!
As if announcing their arrival, the dark clouds boomed. Then the rain came pouring down in a roaring deluge.
Hongjun stood at the head of the Mystic Gate's army, white robes fluttering as he rode an Auspicious Cloud. A jade disc rested in his hand, its light shifting as it revealed boundless mysteries.
He gazed at Mount Sumeru ahead and spoke slowly. "Demon Cult! You defy Heaven's will! You slaughter the Primordial Wilderness! Your sins are grave! Today, I shall act on behalf of the Heavenly Dao! The Demon Cult must be destroyed... and so on and so forth..."
At Mount Sumeru, the defenders sprang into action.
The Mountain-Protecting Formation lit up, and hundreds of Demon Cult leaders appeared in unison.
They all stood within the mountain, coldly watching the Mystic Gate's forces outside the formation.
After Hongjun finished his righteous speech,
he gazed down and said calmly, "If you Demon Cult followers repent now and leave Luohu, the benevolent Heavenly Dao will merely cripple your cultivation and spare your lives! After some years, you may yet cultivate the Great Dao anew!"
His empty promises naturally weren't enough to make the several Grand Unity Golden Immortals and more than a hundred Grand Unity Golden Immortals abandon their resistance.
Spare our lives? Cripple our cultivation?
Wasn't that the same as killing them!?
And after their cultivation had been crippled,
they would be left for those ants to kill in humiliation!
The Mountain-Protecting Formation shone all the brighter. Mount Sumeri's resolve to resist was unwavering!
And Hongjun?
He had only been making a show of courtesy.
The Demon Cult had to be destroyed!
Its followers had to be slaughtered!
"In that case, you have brought this destruction upon yourselves. Today, the Demon Cult shall be destroyed!"
Hongjun's expression remained calm. He merely waved a hand.
"Destroy the Demon Cult!!"
Hundreds of millions of living beings, long consumed by hatred for the Demon Cult, roared in unison.
Then the boundless dark clouds, together with the torrential rain, became an ocean and crashed against Mount Sumeru's Mountain-Protecting Formation!
The great battle had begun!
The formation, reinforced by Wufawutian and Formless and Emotionless,
along with eight Grand Unity Golden Immortals, one hundred thirty-one Grand Unity Golden Immortals,
and several hundred Golden Immortals,
stood firm as an immovable reef!
Among the hundreds of millions of Mystic Gate followers were many Grand Unity Golden Immortals and Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
But they couldn't break through Mount Sumeru's Mountain-Protecting Formation in a short time!
Light flashed in every direction as spells clashed without pause.
They illuminated all of Mount Sumeru, making it look like a vast, dazzling display of fireworks!
But beneath that brilliant spectacle, countless lives were being lost!
How could the Demon Cult's Mountain-Protecting Formation lack ways to counterattack?
Bodies, blood, and torn flesh began piling up at the foot of Mount Sumeru.
Li Xuan watched, secretly clicking his tongue.
Hongjun really was ruthless.
He could have broken through Mount Sumeru's formation himself with his Quasi-Saint peak cultivation—or even the strength of half the Great Dao.
But he had chosen not to act.
Instead, he was making the Mystic Gate's followers wear themselves down through sheer force.
Wasn't he being a little too obvious about saving his strength?
Sure enough, after roughly half a day of battle,
the Mystic Gate had suffered no fewer than a million casualties.
Yet Mount Sumeru's formation remained as solid as ever.
At last, someone couldn't bear to watch any longer.
Willow rode an Auspicious Cloud over to Hongjun's side.
He asked calmly, "Daoist, why not break the formation yourself? Why let innocent lives be wasted in vain?"
Hongjun shook his head and answered frankly, "This formation is no ordinary one. If I act, I will have to expend a great deal of magic power. You and I must preserve our strength, or we may not be able to defeat Luohu. Just look, Brother Dao. Luohu hasn't acted either, has he?"
Willow had no reply for a moment.
Hongjun's words sounded heartless, but they made sense.
If they exhausted their magic power and still couldn't defeat Luohu in the end,
then all these hundreds of millions of living beings would be buried at Mount Sumeru!
For no one would be able to stop Luohu!
Another half-day passed.
The deaths of so many living beings finally began to slow the Mystic Gate's assault.
And with several million casualties, even though Hongjun remained impassive, Willow could no longer stand by and watch!
"How much magic power could breaking this formation possibly take? If you won't act, then I will!"
With a sharp shout, Willow suddenly stepped forward!
In an instant, a gigantic willow tree, ten thousand zhang tall, appeared above his head!
Boundless Chaos Qi swirled around it as countless willow branches hung down!
"Break!"
With a mighty shout, tens of thousands of willow branches converged, forming a spear-like branch ten thousand zhang long.
With such immense force that the void itself trembled and split into countless black fissures,
the willow branch slammed straight into Mount Sumeru's Mountain-Protecting Formation!
Rumble!
Mount Sumeru's entire formation shook. Then, with a deafening blast, it exploded into waves of energy that filled the sky!
Mount Sumeru was left without protection!
This immediately filled the hundreds of millions of Mystic Gate followers with excitement.
Each and every one of them surged with more than two hundred percent fighting spirit.
Howling, they charged toward Mount Sumeru!
With the formation gone, the Demon Cult followers within Mount Sumeru had no choice.
They could only roar and charge forward to meet them.
In an instant, waves of blood surged, and the most brutal hand-to-hand battle began in earnest!
Willow's face paled slightly, then returned to normal.
He calmly flew back to Hongjun's side and said, "It was only a little magic power. Nothing worth mentioning."
Hongjun chuckled. "Brother Dao, your righteousness is admirable."
With that, he looked toward Mount Sumeru and called out with a cold laugh, "Daoist Luohu! Are you still not coming out!? Your Devil Dao and your Demon Cult are doomed today!"
"You think you can do it!?"
As Hongjun spoke, a furious roar shook the heavens from within Mount Sumeru. "You think you can destroy my Demon Cult!?"
"Clang!!"
The ring of a sword resounded throughout heaven and earth. Boundless killing intent erupted from deep within Mount Sumeru!
Li Xuan saw this and finally felt a little excited!
The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation was about to appear!
Sure enough, accompanying that sword ring, so full of boundless killing intent,
the area within a hundred li of Mount Sumeru instantly became an ocean of sword intent!
Boundless white mist rose, and four voids appeared in the sky. From each void, countless wisps of white mist poured forth!
This was no ordinary mist!
Every wisp, every thread, every stream was killing intent and sword intent capable of annihilating everything!
In that instant, more than ten million Mystic Gate followers who had entered Mount Sumeru were turned into clouds of blood. Then they were pulverized until not a trace of ash remained!
The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation!
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