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Chapter 941: Chapter 939: Exposure_2
As he spoke, he unleashed his strongest divine power and attacked the nearby cultivators.
"You insolent fool!"
Utilizing the formation, Zhang Xuanqi, who enveloped the entire Immortal City with his divine sense, saw this scene and was furious to the point of exploding, bellowing loudly.
If casualties occurred within the Immortal City, it would severely damage the prestige of the Zhang Family, and what was worse, it would cause cultivators to lose faith in the safety of the Immortal City!
Safety, for any place engaged in commerce, is of utmost importance!
If they couldn’t even guarantee the safety of their customers, how could they dare to come and spend money?
Zhang Xuanqi immediately manipulated the formation, striking against the demon cultivators; before the mighty formation, the demon cultivators’ spells were ineffective, ensuring the safety of those cultivators.
"Hmph!"
The cultivational prowess of the demon cultivators had truly enraged a Combined Body Cultivator; with just a stifled grunt from Zhang Xuanqi, which echoed in their ears like the roaring thunder, the demon cultivators bled from all orifices and collapsed to the ground.
Then, beams of spirit light fell upon them, half entering their bodies, sealing their Dantians and spiritual souls; the other half transformed into ropes, controlling their bodies and conveniently hauling them to the City Lord’s Mansion.
"Sorry for the scare, everyone. Today, all spiritual objects at the Zhang Family’s shops are at a ten percent discount!" the City Lord stepped forward to reassure everyone.
He then hurriedly returned to the City Lord’s Mansion, feeling immensely relieved. It was fortunate he had reported a search for demon cultivators within the Immortal City; otherwise, if demon cultivators were to erupt inside the city later, he, the City Lord, would face the most severe punishment!
"How did you get here! What are your schemes? Are there any other demon cultivators? Where are they hiding?" Zhang Xuanqi questioned coldly.
Zhang Xuanqi employed his divine power to isolate the demon cultivators; they could hear his voice but not each other’s, ensuring the demon cultivators couldn’t collude and deliberately give false information to deceive him.
All the demon cultivators clenched their teeth, remaining silent.
"Hmph!"
A glint of murderous intent flashed in Zhang Xuanqi’s eyes and icy lights flew out from behind him, piercing into the demon cultivators’ bodies.
In an instant, an intense pain swept through their bodies; everyone fell to the ground, convulsing and twitching, wailing continuously. However, after a short moment, they lacked the energy to even make a sound, lying on the ground as still as corpses.
"Now, would anyone like to speak?" Zhang Xuanqi stopped his torturous methods and asked coldly.
"I’ll talk!"
Among them, a few demon cultivators could no longer endure such terrifying torture and used their hoarse voices to spill everything they knew.
They were not actually from the West Continent but were originally from the East Continent. They became demon cultivators because they were abducted by a Demon Sect in the Wanzhu State to the west during their childhood.
Their purpose in coming to Shanyuan State was to establish a branch of their Sect!
As for how many people there were, they were uncertain because their own ranks were low, merely Nascent Souls, considered cannon fodder in the eyes of the Demonic Tao.
Even Zhang Xuanqi, with his profound mental state, showed a drastic change in expression upon hearing this and paused momentarily before asking, "Where in Shanyuan State are you hiding?"
Shanyuan State, encompassing the Ten Thousand Miles Plain and Thousandfold Mountains to the north.
As the sole Combined Forces in Shanyuan State, the Zhang Family, in principle, ruled this state and all places belonged to the Zhang Family. However, since the mountains were far from the Zhang familial lands and were not rich in resources,
the Zhang Family did not pay much attention to them, consequently fostering numerous Void Refinement and Nascent Soul forces to establish there.
"In..."
One of the demon cultivators was about to speak, but in the next instant, he began convulsing in pain, and not long after, he was breathless.
"Silencing Prohibition!" n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
A high-level prohibition specifically for keeping secrets; not to mention speaking out loud, even harboring the thought of leaking information would cause unbearable pain.
The cause of the demon cultivators’ deaths was the recent torture endured from Zhang Xuanqi. Their bodies and spiritual souls were already in a critically injured state, and with the prohibition triggered, their entire beings instantaneously collapsed and perished.
Zhang Xuanqi frowned slightly, but in his heart, he already had a conjecture regarding the hiding place of the demon cultivators.
After all, in the plains, the Zhang Family controlled the majority of the Spirit Veins, and even though some low-ranking Spirit Veins were undeveloped, it was impossible that no traces of Demon Cultivators had been discovered until now.
Therefore, the Demon Cultivators could only hide in the mountains!
"Report this matter to the family immediately! Have them alert the small forces in the mountains, and also prepare to take action personally," Zhang Xuanqi ordered the City Lord with a grave expression.
Wanzhu State already had an established Demon Sect; what about further to the west? Was there another Demon Sect there?
Was the Demonic Tao attempting to invade the East Continent in a gradual, step-by-step manner?
Did those major forces, even the Immortal Realm Powerhouses, know about this?
In an instant, various thoughts flashed through Zhang Xuanqi’s mind.
Upon receiving the news, the Zhang Family acted immediately, functioning like a precise instrument, orderly yet very swiftly.
They also sent dozens of Nascent Soul Cultivators to the mountains, telling those small forces to prepare for battle.
As several Nascent Soul Demon Cultivators perished, the Elder Demon Cultivators hidden somewhere in the mountains understood at once what was happening.
"Damn! Discovered by the Zhang Family!"
If not for this reason, one could not explain why several disciples hidden in Xiao Yuan Immortal City suddenly perished explosively.
"What do we do now? If the Zhang Family takes action personally, I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay hidden!" an Elder expressed his worries.
Though they were all Elders, their strengths varied greatly; some like Elder Wen were in the Void Refinement Realm, but many were Nascent Soul Demon Cultivators.
The latter, due to inadequate strength, naturally feared a major battle with the Cultivators, especially with the Zhang Family that had several Combined Body Cultivators.
"If you ask me, we might as well start a large battle to preserve the lifeblood of the Holy Sect!" a Void Refining Demon Cultivator said with a sly chuckle, "As for surviving, it will depend on our individual skills."
Seated at the head of the table, Elder Wen, who had been silent until now, suddenly opened his eyes and looked aside, saying, "Elder Zhao, when you first proposed to incite the beast tide, was it to infuriate the Cultivators, thereby leading them to discover us?"
At this statement, silence suddenly fell over the room.
Was he suspecting that Elder Zhao was an undercover agent sent by the Cultivators!?
Spying between the Demonic Tao and the Immortal Tao was commonplace, but they did not understand why suddenly there was suspicion towards Elder Zhao.
"Elder Wen! My loyalty to the Holy Sect is profound, why would I collude with the Cultivators and betray the Holy Sect!" Elder Zhao protested loudly.
A chill flashed in Elder Wen’s eyes as he spoke coldly, "Is that so? Then why were the strategies you previously presented immediately seen through by the Cultivators? Not only did they not divert their attention, but it also led to the Zhang Family taking action."
"Please discern rightly, Elder Wen, I had absolutely no intention of betraying the Holy Sect!"
Elder Zhao defended himself, "When I made the suggestion, you, Elder Wen, agreed, and Elder Sun, Elder Zhou, and a few others also voiced their support. Could it be that they are all traitors?"
As the two Elders confronted each other, other Elders gradually realized that Elder Wen was trying to make Elder Zhao bear all the responsibility for the failure of setting up the branch of the Holy Sect!
After all, once the Zhang Family took action, with their current strength, they would not be able to resist and might even be eradicated entirely.
Even if they were lucky enough to survive and flee back to the Sect in Wanzhu State, they would still face severe punishments for the mission’s failure.
But if someone took on the main responsibility now, the punishments for the others would be reduced.
Thinking this, the other Elders quickly denied involvement; it was Elder Zhao alone who had been pushing it robustly.
Such was the base nature of Demon Cultivators!
When faced with any problem, their first instinct was not to find a solution but to shift the blame to others.
"You all!"
Elder Zhao’s eyes widened, and considering the Sect’s excruciating punishments that made life worse than death, he decided to risk his life now, as it might be his only chance to survive.
Seizing the moment while the others were still unresponsive, he flew out of the cave at top speed.
