Heavy Losses

The sudden appearance of an expert who immediately suppressed the strongest enemy injected a glimmer of hope into the otherwise desperate Mount Hua camp.

Following closely, the Mount Hua disciples from the rear joined the fray; although they were a bunch of novices, they were, at the very least, a fresh force.

The most immediate benefit of these hot-blooded youths joining the battle was that the numerical disparity between the two sides was leveled. The lopsided battle gradually fell into a stalemate.

Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief. This was Mount Hua, after all; the longer the battle dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for them.

Although the Mount Hua Sect had deployed its main force, it did not mean they were without power. The Huayin region was filled with retired disciples and members of the Mount Hua Sect; now that trouble had struck the mountain, these people could not simply sit by and watch.

Furthermore, the security firms, martial arts schools, and martial arts families in Guanzhong could mostly trace their ties back to the Mount Hua Sect.

The current Mount Hua Sect was far from declining. If these people did not want to drag their families along to defect to the Demonic Cult, they had to step in and provide aid, otherwise, they would face a reckoning later on.

If the battle could not be resolved quickly, the only fate awaiting these Demonic Cult villains was total annihilation.

Without any reservations, Li Mu fought with increasing ease. The Nurturing Self Sword Technique, which usually possessed only average offensive power, was wielded with such vigor in his hands that it carried a monstrous, righteous aura, slaughtering his way across the field.

Elder Jia, dressed in purple, had begun to panic. Had he known there was such a troublesome character on the mountain, he would never have taken this risk.

The fact that someone several minor realms below him could suppress him was a complete challenge to his perception, and it immediately made Elder Jia think of Feng Qingyang.

The mere mention of that name made his heart turn cold. Feng Qingyang's reputation as a Sword Saint was built primarily by trampling over their Sun Moon Divine Cult.

To intercept and kill this rising star of the Mount Hua Sect, they had taken action more than once, but the final result was always Feng Qingyang soaring to new heights while the experts sent to intercept him suffered heavy casualties.

It was too late for regrets now; Li Mu had locked onto him. No matter where he ran, Li Mu pursued him relentlessly, finding the spare energy to kill a few Demonic Cult lackeys along the way.

In the exchanges just now, at least thirty Demonic Cult members had been taken out by Li Mu in passing, leaving Elder Jia afraid to engage him head-on.

He dodged and weaved across the field, constantly baiting Li Mu into using his ultimate moves, hoping to exhaust him with his own deep internal energy.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Li Mu had indeed unleashed many powerful moves over the long struggle, yet he showed no signs of fatigue; instead, it was Elder Jia who ended up in a wretched state, with several new wounds on his body.

While Li Mu held a massive advantage, it was a different story for the others. The sect elders holding the line on the mountain were, after all, advanced in age. Though their combat experience was rich, their stamina was far inferior to the younger generation.

By now, many were exhausted, relying entirely on sheer willpower to hold on.

The battle among the disciples was even more tragic. As casualties mounted, many young disciples lost their heads, engaging in reckless trades of injury for injury and life for life, completely forgetting Li Mu's prior instructions.

"Reinforcements are here!"

Someone shouted, and the situation on the field shifted instantly.

The elite members of the Demonic Cult could still hold their ground, but the members of the Guanzhong Branch collapsed. Having lived in the Guanzhong region for so long, they had always harbored a deep-seated fear of the Mount Hua Sect; had it not been for the strict rules of the Demonic Cult—where one must advance and never retreat—they would have abandoned the fight long ago.

Everyone had been uneasy about the sneak attack on Mount Hua from the start, and now that the battle was going poorly and the enemy's reinforcements had arrived, it was impossible for their morale not to shatter.

Regardless of how strict the Demonic Cult's rules were, they could not suppress the human instinct to survive. Since the "Three Corpse Brain-Spirit Pill" had not yet been administered, everyone still clung to a sliver of hope.

The Jianghu was vast; if they hid in a place where no one knew them, the Cult might not be able to find them.

Besides, being hunted by the Cult was a future concern; if they didn't run, they would die today. The choice between the two was obvious.

Seeing that the situation was lost, Elder Jia stopped tangling with Li Mu, abandoned his followers, and turned to flee.

Just as Li Mu was about to pursue, he thought of his fellow disciples still struggling in the heat of battle and immediately dropped the tempting idea, turning instead to join the fray.

While hunting down a Demonic Cult leader was important, compared to the lives of his fellow disciples, the latter was far more significant.

The Mount Hua Sect had already suffered heavy losses in this battle. Even though they had repelled the Demonic Cult, the Mount Hua Sect had still lost.

To trade the future of the sect for the cannon fodder temporarily gathered by the Demonic Cult—for the Mount Hua Sect, they were destined to be the losers from the very beginning.

By a rough estimate, no fewer than a hundred disciples had fallen in this battle, and the actual casualties would only be higher.

Li Mu dared not imagine how furious the sect's upper echelons would be when they received this tragic news. He wouldn't be surprised if this sparked a full-scale war between the righteous and the evil.

This was the result of his own intervention on the scene; without this butterfly effect, the Mount Hua Sect's losses would have been even greater, perhaps even total annihilation.

Analyzing it from this perspective also solved a mystery from the original story.

With the junior brothers and sisters dying in droves during the Demonic Cult's sneak attack, the seniors perishing in the Sword-Qi conflict, and the disciples outside the mountain gates being hunted down by enemies, it made sense why only Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze remained of the Qi Sect.

It was even possible that this Demonic Cult sneak attack was one of the catalysts for the Sword-Qi conflict. After all, with so many disciples dead, someone had to take the blame.

With the failure of the external expansion and the foundation of the sect severely damaged, Ning Qingyu, as the leader of this plan, would certainly see his prestige plummet, potentially even shaking his position as Sect Leader.

If someone continued to fan the flames behind the scenes, the Sword Sect would certainly seize the opportunity to strike, intensifying the internal strife.

In the original story, Yue Buqun was always extremely sensitive about this issue; clearly, there was some dark history involving the Qi Sect, otherwise, the likes of Feng Buping would not have held onto their grudges for decades.

While organizing his thoughts, Li Mu continued to intercept the slower-reacting Demonic Cult members, multitasking with ease.

At this moment, he truly understood why the Five Mountains Sword Sects held such "deep-seated hatred" for the Demonic Cult. Any Mount Hua disciple who had experienced this battle would have only one word for the Demonic Cult in the future—kill!

Witnessing so many fellow disciples fall, even Li Mu had only one thought: slaughter those bastards to take revenge. And this was merely one blood feud between the Five Mountains Sword Sects and the Demonic Cult.

To suggest letting go of hatred was purely the talk of someone standing on the sidelines. At this point, there was no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides unless one was completely wiped out.

After finishing off the last enemy, Li Mu approached the only surviving sect elder, intending to channel his energy to help treat his wounds.

"Don't waste your internal energy; this old man won't die just yet. The people of the Demonic Cult are insidious and cunning; there is no telling if they might launch a counter-attack.

The affairs of the sect will require you to preside over them from here on out. No matter what means you use, you must root out the traitor as quickly as possible."