Chapter 380

Chapter 380: Picked a Day Swarming with Experts

As Immortal Yuan Hao’s hammer shattered the eerie, barren meteor crystal into a sky full of glittering fragments, a razor-sharp screech burst from deep inside it. The sound carried a terrifying force, sweeping across the sea of clouds around Cloud Viewing Terrace in a single wave and erasing most of the space rifts closest to the terrace.

That sudden surge briefly suppressed the flood of demons and strange entities escaping the Demon Suppression Tower. It also eased the pressure on the Mountain-Guarding Disciples, who had been fighting a brutal series of delaying actions along the mountain paths near the Parted Clouds Palace.

Outside the Parted Clouds Palace, Xuan Che led a defensive line of cultivators, locked in a fierce battle with whatever crawled out of the rifts.

Over the past few hours, a staggering number of demons, vicious beasts, corrupted cultivators, and runaway entities had spilled from the Demon Suppression Tower into the open world. More than ninety percent of the rifts had formed in the sea of clouds near the main peak, and the escapees poured downhill like a black tide, smashing through almost every obstacle in their way. Early on, they had nearly broken the hurried line the Spirit Mountain Guard threw together.

But the monsters were a chaotic mob. More than half of them barely had any reason left, and the rest couldn’t form anything resembling teamwork in such a short time. Even the breach itself had caught them off guard. In their panic, most simply fled downhill in a daze—no tactics, no coordination. Once the Mountain-Guarding Disciples stabilized and followed the emergency protocols, the situation finally began to come under control.

Now, with the shockwave rolling out from Cloud Viewing Terrace, the pressure along the paths eased further. Xuan Che finally had time to lift his head and look across Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain.

The black rifts that had filled the sky were steadily shrinking in number, and the stream of escapees was thinning fast. Part of that was the burst of power from Cloud Viewing Terrace. The rest was likely his Master sealing the passages from inside the Demon Suppression Tower.

At the far edges of the mountain range, a massive translucent barrier rose between heaven and earth. A hazy curtain of light stretched from the sea of clouds all the way down to the mountain’s base, enclosing the entire Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. The mountain-protecting grand formation had switched into a sealed state. Martial Uncle Yuan He was controlling the array core at the Mountain Guard Pass. As long as that barrier held, stray demons wouldn’t be able to slip out through remote rifts and bypass the front lines to reach the cities of ordinary people.

Beyond the main peak, pillars of light flashed among the forests. Under each beam, faint shields rose like domes. Those were the key facilities scattered across the mountain. Disciples from Spirit-Nurturing Peak, Divine Armament Peak, and Beast Taming Peak had responded quickly. While the fighting raged here at the Parted Clouds Palace, the defenses across the rest of the mountain had activated in time. The damage likely wouldn’t spread much further.

A thunderous roar shattered stone.

Xuan Che snapped his attention back to the mountain path.

Even as the breach was being brought under control, small groups of demons still broke free from weakened seals. Several rifts tore open in midair again. From one of them crawled a grotesque giant serpent with seven heads, each a different form—snake, jackal, tiger, leopard, and more. One head even looked like a beautiful woman.

The tiger head threw back its jaws and roared, blasting the Mountain-Guarding Disciples backward. The snake head spewed poisonous smoke, keeping anyone from closing in. The leopard head’s eyes crackled with lightning, drawing thunder down in constant strikes. The human head lifted and fixed on Xuan Che with burning hatred.

And the dog head—stretching the farthest—craned toward a nearby fruit tree, trying to bite the hanging fruit.

“Xuan Che!” the woman head screeched. “Your grandma crawled out of the Demon Suppression Tower! You, your Master, and that old bastard Yuan He—all of you are going to—”

Her glare snapped sideways. “You useless piece of trash, can you stop eating for one second?!”

In the next instant, she raised the tiger head, opened its jaws, and bit the dog head clean off.

Almost immediately, another dog head regenerated on the other side of the serpent’s body. This time it didn’t go for fruit. It picked up a roadside rock in its mouth and tried to play throw-the-stone with the Spirit Mountain disciples scrambling to reform their ranks.

“Xuan Che!” The serpent’s body whipped wildly across the path. Every head—except the dog head, panting happily while hunting for a playmate—let out furious roars. “Where the hell is that scruffy old man Yuan He?! Today I’m going to eat him alive!”

The scene was bizarre—almost ridiculous—but Xuan Che’s face was tight with tension. He stared at the seven-headed serpent as if facing a mortal enemy, quietly gathering spiritual power as he spoke. “Serpent Princess. Back then, you brought calamity upon the land. My Martial Uncle spared your life only because, before you fell into the demonic path, you received incense offerings for years and even served properly as a Mountain God. He pitied how hard cultivation is. All these years, we’ve tried to help you break free of corruption. If you have even a shred of sense left, you should be able to see our goodwill—”

“Goodwill my ass!” The serpent surged higher, rock cracking beneath her coils. “Today, even if we die together, I’ll repay this debt—”

She lunged.

The leopard head called down thunder, blasting straight toward Xuan Che.

He had no choice but to strike out. Spiritual power surged from his palm, turning into a gale-wall of qi that slammed forward like bronze and iron, colliding with the earth-shaking lightning. Even then, he forced one last warning through clenched teeth. “Serpent Princess! Stop! Today is chaos, but you have no chance of escaping. You know the strength of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. And besides—there are experts stationed here today—”

“Experts my ass!” she shrieked. “I want to see how you survive—”

Heavy footsteps smashed into the stone slabs outside the Parted Clouds Palace.

A column of flame dropped from the sky and detonated between several of the serpent’s heads. Serpent Princess cried out, whipping around in shock. Before she could even see who had struck, an immense force grabbed her tail and flung her across the path.

Then she saw it: a giant more than ten meters tall, clad head to toe in flaming armor.

“What the—”

Another thunderous boom cut her off. Lightning, frost, and a storm of weapons slammed into her from every direction at once. Titans appeared as if conjured from the air itself, charging in from all along the mountain path. They pinned her down and beat her senseless.

In moments, seven Thunder Titans had smashed her to the edge of blackout. Gritting her teeth, she spat blood and screamed at one of them, “Seven of you beating one of me—this is how righteous sects fight?!”

A bright, excited girl’s voice rang out from atop a titan’s shoulder. “Against wicked demonic trash like this, we don’t need chivalry—everyone, pile on!”

Serpent Princess nearly choked on her own blood. Half-conscious, she caught sight of her dog head—still attached now—crawling toward the grass at the roadside, determined to chew. She hacked up another mouthful of blood from the human head. “I fucking swear, can you stop eating already—”

Then she passed out.

Princess Snow White stood on the Thunder Titan’s shoulder, so excited her face seemed to glow. She turned and shouted to the King perched on the titan’s other shoulder. “I’ve wanted to say that line forever!”

Kitty didn’t answer. She only lowered her head to lick her fur. When she was satisfied, she lazily raised her gaze, flicked a paw, and said, “Meow.”

One teleportation gate after another opened outside the Parted Clouds Palace. Countless battle mages in star-patterned robes swept out of the spatial vortices. They formed formations along the mountain path and began chanting strategic-level resonance spells.

Engine roars rolled down from the clouds. Dark silhouettes emerged from nowhere—heavy bombers blotting out the sky as they dove to drop their payloads on the densest clusters of rifts. The lumbering propeller planes looked outdated, but the summoning was so sudden that demons and beasts barely had time to react.

Across the distant sea of clouds, above Beast Taming Peak, a red dragon drifted down from the sky. Even as it descended, it sprayed acid and flame, bombing the demonic creatures trying to flee down the paths.

From the direction of the Spirit Herb Garden, a gigantic beanstalk surged upward, piercing the mist halfway up the mountain and spearing through the clouds at the summit. Twisting vines hung from it like lashes, skewering demons clean through.

Somewhere between the peaks, a stirring BGM kicked in.

Xuan Che stood on the plaza before the Parted Clouds Palace, spiritual swords floating behind him, while the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters in formation around him exchanged stunned looks.

This was the first time Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain had ever seen scenery like this.

After a long moment, Xuan Che let out a slow breath. He looked at Serpent Princess—now tied into several dead knots by the Thunder Titans—and sighed. “I told you there were experts stationed here today. I told you, and you still didn’t believe me.”

A low, heavy hum rolled through heaven and earth, like hundreds—no, thousands—of voices chanting a profound, obscure incantation at once. It was also like the mountain itself was trembling, echoes surging between peaks.

In the direction of the Demon Suppression Tower, the sea of clouds began to churn violently.

Xuan Che lifted his gaze. Within the roiling mist, a towering figure slowly condensed, shape sharpening bit by bit into the form of Immortal Yuan Ling.

A second immense figure appeared across from him, condensing into Elder Qian Ji.

“I’m here to help you!” Elder Boss Qian Ji laughed.

The two mountain-like dharma bodies spread their arms, then slowly pressed down toward the Demon Suppression Tower.

Around them, countless Mountain-Guarding Disciples flickered in and out, hands raised in synchronized incantation gestures.

Countless voices merged into one, deep and imposing, echoing across heaven and earth:

“Seal—”