Chapter 516: Heavy Losses
The Spirit Boat rushed forth, but Xu Changle still felt its speed was too slow, yet he had no choice but to refrain from urging it on, only able to pace back and forth anxiously.
Li Zhirui cast a faint glance at him before lowering his eyes to think about the situation at the Spiritual Cloud Sect.
Li Zhirui hoped that the group of demon cultivators would show their true capabilities, breaking through the Mountain Protection Array and slaughtering a large number of Spiritual Cloud Sect disciples before they arrived.
Especially those Golden Core cultivators, even if they did not fall, that they would suffer foundational damage, preventing them from advancing any further.
After all, the Spiritual Cloud Sect was an ancient Golden Core power with a thousand years of inheritance and profound roots. Although they had never given birth to a Nascent Soul cultivator before, this calamity might stimulate someone to break through their constraints and become a Nascent Soul cultivator.
If such a case were to occur, the Li family would no longer be able to control the Spiritual Cloud Sect, and it might even become the master instead.
This was something Li Zhirui absolutely did not want to see!
What he wanted to see was a Spiritual Cloud Sect filled with wails of agony, devastation everywhere, with one in ten cultivators remaining, having its foundation halved, unable to recover for hundreds of years!
So even though the Spirit Boat was traveling at its fastest speed, in reality, it had been tampered with by the Artifact Refiner Li Chenghuo, and its speed was much slower than a regular third-tier Spirit Boat.
——
"The Spirit Vein is depleting too quickly. If this continues, in less than an hour, the grade of the Spirit Vein will fall!" announced the Elder of Array, who had aged ten years from presiding over the Great Array, delivering very bad news to everyone.
"After the grade falls, can the Mountain Protection Array maintain its current strength?"
"It cannot," the Elder of Array answered in a dry voice.
In fact, the other Elders had already understood the answer, they simply did not want to accept it.
"How many Spirit Stones are left in the treasury? How long can we last?"
After a mental calculation, the Elder of Array said, "If the demon cultivators maintain their current offensive intensity, plus the Spirit Stones in the treasury, the Mountain Protection Array can last at most half a day!"
Originally, the Spiritual Cloud Sect's treasury had more than just this amount of Spirit Stones, but in order to boost morale, they had taken out a large part to reward the disciples.
Moreover, because the demon cultivators arrived unexpectedly, they did not prepare enough strategic resources, so to recover Mana, they had to directly absorb from Spirit Stones.
Thus, when the Elder of Array spoke of "half a day," it was based on the existing Spirit Stones – in fact, it wouldn't last as long, because Spirit Stones were being consumed all the time.
"Put them all into the Formation! If that's still not enough, then borrow from the disciples," the Sect Leader Zheng solemnly said. "Elder Qi, I entrust this task to you."
The Elder of Array immediately stood up to acknowledge, and then departed in a hurry.
As the temple doors closed, the atmosphere once again fell into a heavy silence.
"Elder Seven has been gone for a day now, why hasn't he brought back reinforcements yet?! Could it be that he has already fled?" an Elder suddenly blurted out.
With his Life Token intact but still no return, this was the only explanation left.
Bringing up this issue at this time was merely a result of envy stirring in his heart, believing Xu Changle might be able to save himself while he could only stay at the gate and meet his death.
"Elder Xu is not that kind of person!" Despite not being certain himself, the Sect Leader, under these circumstances, absolutely did not allow such demoralizing words to be spoken!
"We've held on for so long already. Besides, I believe the demon cultivators' Mana must be running low once again, easing the pressure substantially. Arrange the disciples' rotations properly, Elder Xu will definitely return immediately!"
But they were unaware of the bloody and terrifying nightmare that awaited them next!
"A bunch of trash! Just a Golden Core Sect, and yet, even with the upper hand, you still haven't taken them down!" scolded an ordinary-looking middle-aged man, standing in front of Evil Ghost Tong and others, expressing his dissatisfaction.
At his words, everyone's bodies involuntarily shivered.
Not even daring to beg for mercy, they immediately knelt down, prostrated themselves to admit their mistakes, and awaited his judgment.
"If you weren't still of some use to me now, you wouldn't be before me at this moment," he said.
But before the crowd could catch their breath, they saw him extend his hand and tap, sending several streaks of black light into their bodies.
A pain that seemed to penetrate their bones exploded within them, contorting their faces in agony as their mouths filled with the taste of blood, yet not a single one dared to make a sound for fear of angering the Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator.
"Come with me, and let us take down the Spiritual Cloud Sect," he said.
"Yes!"
Despite the intense pain, the people forced themselves to their feet and staggered after him.
"Screech!"
Hovering in the air, he slapped his waist, and a gigantic black and golden eagle skeleton appeared out of thin air.
The giant eagle spread its wings, creating a terrifying hurricane as it aggressively pounced toward the Mountain Protection Array.
Crack-crack-crack—
Suddenly, a series of faint cracking sounds emerged.
"Attack!"
Dozens of Golden Core Demon Cultivators responded to the command. They dared not hold back, attacking the weak points of the Formation with all their might.
"Is heaven seeking to destroy our Spiritual Cloud Sect?!"
The commotion attracted the attention of all the cultivators, who then witnessed a horrifying scene.
The Mountain Protection Array that had always sheltered them completely shattered at that moment.
Even the Array Flags buried around Spirit Cloud Mountain were rendered useless.
"Kill!"
With a thunderous shout, the Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator flew towards the brightest treasure light in the mountain.
The Cultivators' Scripture Pavilion held little appeal for Demon Cultivators, as the nature of their cultivation techniques was fundamentally different. Instead of spending effort to alter techniques, it was more convenient to create an entirely new one.
It should be noted that his arrival here was not because Evil Ghost Tong and his group had failed to take down the Spiritual Cloud Sect, but rather because he had recently made a breakthrough and had depleted his previous accumulation, desiring to seize this opportunity for enrichment.
And that's why, as soon as the Great Array broke, he headed straight for the treasure vault.
Those Golden Core Demon Cultivators, however, did not have such ability, and as soon as they entered, they were targeted by Golden Core Cultivators.
Of course, not all cultivators had such courage. Most thought of fleeing as soon as the Formation broke, among them were many Golden Core Elders.
Therefore, even though the Spiritual Cloud Sect had the numerical advantage, they found themselves in an unfavorable position. Countless cultivators were slaughtered by Demon Cultivators, agonizing screams were ceaseless, and the stench of blood enveloped the entire Spirit Cloud Mountain, stripping it of any semblance of an immortal's blessed land.
The Sect Leader, with tears filling his eyes, murmured to himself, "The Spiritual Cloud Sect, with a thousand years of heritage, has perished in my hands!"
"Fool! To become distracted in the midst of battle!"
As the words fell, so did the head of this Spiritual Cloud Sect Leader.
"As expected of a Golden Core Sect with years of heritage, there are so many treasures!" exclaimed the Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator as he entered the treasury and quickly found his way to the inner layers.
The spiritual objects, glittering and flashing, were swept into his possession in an instant.
In just a quarter of an hour, he had completely plundered the entire treasury, filling his Space Artifact to the brim.
Without paying any heed to the Demon Cultivators still battling the cultivators, he merely cast a glance before flying away.