That night, as Ye Tinglan appeared to stop Gu Zhanting, Yuan Muyu watched the bloody altar from afar and took out her communication talisman to send a message to all the Ghost Emperors: “Initiate it.”

Situ Yue’s voice came from the other side: “Think twice. A surprise assassination would suffice; deploying a killing formation is inappropriate.”

Yuan Muyu said calmly, “What’s inappropriate about it?”

“It’s not the right time at all. If you rashly initiate it prematurely, it won’t be enough for you to break through Qianyuan. It means four years of planning will be wasted. Do you still want your cultivation path?”

“No, I don’t,” Yuan Muyu said.

Situ Yue: “?”

“If I don’t even have him, what do I need these for…?”

Situ Yue: “…”

Ji Wenchaun, listening to this, also had a string of ellipses in his heart.

You lost him for these things. Now you no longer want your so-called cultivation path… What if you give up your path but still can’t get him back? Wouldn’t you have nothing left?

If you have such determination, what were you doing before?

Dong Chengbi, the Northern Ghost Emperor, also couldn’t help but say, “The previous plan, Old Lu also told us that an assassination would be enough; he said there was no need to use our formation.”

This thing wasn’t of much use to them; it was just the Yama King’s business. For them, it just meant one more Qianyuan boss. There were benefits, of course, but they weren’t that important. But, after all, it was something they had been working on for many years, so it was normal to be reluctant to let all that effort go to waste. Even Ji Wenchaun was a bit reluctant, let alone the others.

Yuan Muyu shook her head slightly: “Xingzhou has been gone so long, he wouldn’t know our current arrangements. But don’t you? It’s clear that a simple assassination isn’t enough; its efficiency is questionable, and success isn’t even guaranteed. But if we can’t completely nullify Gu Zhanting’s sacrificial effect quickly, he might genuinely break through. The safest method is to directly activate the killing formation.”

This was true, and everyone understood the reasoning.

Are they really going to assassinate one by one?

The only ones who could truly guarantee success were a few of the Ghost Emperors, but how vast was the world? What about other regions? It was hard to say whether even the high-level assassins of the Yama Palace could achieve a one-hit kill. What if they failed, or if there was a stalemate and delay, leading to Gu Zhanting’s success? Who would be responsible then?

Only by activating the killing formation was the most secure plan.

Situ Yue said, “But he didn’t ask for this. If you insist on doing it, it’s just self-gratification. What if he even thinks you’re trying to morally obligate him?”

Ji Wenchaun frowned: “Don’t talk nonsense. Old Lu isn’t that narrow-minded.”

Situ Yue was about to say more, but Gu Zhanting and Ye Tinglan had already begun to fight.

Yuan Muyu shouted sternly, “Stop arguing! This is an order!”

Ji Wenchaun was the first to respond: “Understood.”

The others remained silent for a moment, then sighed: “Alright.”

The next moment, people in many prefectures found that a bloody light appeared from nowhere, as if the Nine Underworlds had suddenly stirred. Yama’s ropes sought souls, and Impermanence pursued spirits. Those officials who had transformed, with long hair and exposed fangs, suddenly began bleeding from their foreheads and dropped dead on the spot.

Some powerful ones seemed able to evade the killing formation, but assassins swiftly swept past, and wherever their blades passed, the transformed officials’ throats sprayed blood, dead beyond revival.

A peculiar situation of widespread demonic transformation across the land was instantly resolved, as if it had been precisely targeted.

The Yama Palace’s Blood Slaughter Grand Formation truly revealed its fangs to the world at this moment.

Yuan Muyu stood silently, feeling the surge of killing intent integrate into her body.

Her cultivation, which had fallen to the edge of the super-grade, grew again, returning to its original mid-stage and even slightly expanding, reaching the cusp of the late-stage.

Yuan Muyu, however, paid no attention, looking at her delicate hands and muttering, “The second person said this was self-gratification… Is it so hard to want to treat him better, to make up for the past? Then what isn’t self-gratification?”

“Bang!” The sound of Ye Tinglan and Gu Zhanting clashing once more exploded in the sky. Yuan Muyu snapped out of her thoughts, no longer dwelling on irrelevant matters, and rapidly approached.

—To say the killing formation completely shattered Gu Zhanting’s arrangements was not entirely accurate. Yuan Muyu’s preparations had only spanned three or four years, beginning only after Lu Xingzhou was marginalized, and the true focus of her arrangements was in the two years after Lu Xingzhou left. Many areas were still unreached.

Gu Zhanting’s arrangements, however, had begun ten years ago.

Fortunately, throughout those ten years, Ye Tinglan’s various constraints prevented Gu Zhanting from acting too overtly; otherwise, he might have initiated his plan much earlier. Now, however, Yuan Muyu’s arrangements had largely countered his. Key prefectures had been subjected to a complete “assassination elimination game” for all their personnel, and the demonic energy he needed to absorb was suddenly reduced to mere fragments.

His Mountain and River Sacrifice abruptly stalled.

His rapidly surging cultivation now crawled along like a snail. At this rate, he wouldn’t even reach the tribulation in ten days or half a month.

Zhao En, on the side, also gaped. He was responsible for helping to obscure the heavenly secrets when the heavenly tribulation arrived, but he never expected that even this step seemed unattainable… But what was going on with Ye Tinglan’s current state? Had she undergone tribulation or not? How did she do it?

Regardless of how it was achieved, since something unforeseen had occurred, the contingency plan had to be activated. After his initial shock, Gu Zhanting wasn’t flustered. He said in a deep voice, “She hasn’t broken through; one person alone can’t do much. Let’s work together to isolate her and activate the second set of formations.”

As he spoke, five streams of energy were once again combined by the formation, overwhelming Ye Tinglan in mid-air.

At the same time, the demonic creatures held around the altar wailed and roared in pain, clutching their heads and writhing.

The previous formation had only absorbed demonic energy; it could not absorb the power of the entire world.

But at this moment, the formation contracted, beginning to plunder the power of these demonic creatures.

Strands of demonic power flowed through the altar, not only increasing Gu Zhanting’s power but also boosting the power of Zhao En and the others at the four corners.

Ye Tinglan was obstructed in mid-air by the five-person formation’s attack. Even if she was strong, it was difficult to spare any power to stop all of this.

But at this moment, a gleam of sword light approached from afar, heading straight for Zhao En within the formation.

Jiang Duxu!

Another phantom-like slender figure silently appeared beside the demonic creature with the nether ghost fire. With a flip of her delicate palm, she struck its crown.

It was an ethereal flame, yet in Yuan Muyu’s hand, it felt as if she had struck a physical entity.

The ghost fire rustled down, and a hoarse voice full of surprise asked, “Who are you… to be able to turn the ethereal into solid, to be born against death?”

“She is the Yama King,” Gu Zhanting continued to strike at Ye Tinglan in the air, responding coldly, “So that’s it. The so-called Yama Palace is merely a branch of Tianyao Sacred Land, a facade. Ye Tinglan, with such schemes, you falsely claim to be a pure cultivator.”

Ye Tinglan responded calmly, “Whether I am a pure cultivator is not important. Someone who disregards the nation and falsely claims to be emperor seems more critical.”

Just as Jiang Duxu and Yuan Muyu entered the fray, hurried footsteps were heard from outside the altar. Sheng Qingfeng led the fierce warriors of the Zhenmo Division, bursting in and directly hacking at the surrounding demonic creatures with their swords.

He also shouted, “Your Majesty, it is our dereliction of duty that these demonic creatures escaped from the Demon Subjugation Domain and disturbed Your Majesty. We have failed the duty of the Zhenmo Division. Gentlemen, do not hesitate to protect His Majesty and slay the demons!”

The other members of the Zhenmo Division had no idea about the hidden complexities here. The scene they witnessed was indeed a group of demonic creatures surrounding the altar, and His Majesty seemed to be casting a spell to suppress them, making them wail.

Seeing this, they all bravely rushed to His Majesty’s aid, drawing their swords and slaying demons with more zeal than anyone else.

Gu Zhanting was stunned.

His biggest problem was that this kind of act truly made him a false emperor, completely unpresentable. The altar’s defenses this time didn’t even include his own army; he dared not let it be known. He had only instructed Huo Xingyuan to lead his forces to block various crucial paths, but what was Huo Xingyuan doing? How did Sheng Qingfeng manage to bring people here?

What now? Could he, in front of so many fierce warriors of the Zhenmo Division, say that these demonic creatures were released by him, were his sustenance for advancement, and they must not be touched?

At this moment, the scene was disrupted by Jiang Duxu and Yuan Muyu, and Ye Tinglan’s fierce suppression outside caused chaos within their five-person formation, leaving no one able to spare attention to stop Sheng Qingfeng for a while.

In that brief moment of distraction, more than half of the demonic creatures were chopped down by Sheng Qingfeng and his men.

Gu Zhanting reacted, shouting sternly, “All of you, retreat! You are not needed here!”

Sheng Qingfeng bowed: “Yes, Your Majesty. We have been derelict in our duties; we shall ask for punishment later.”

After saying that, he led his men away, appearing for no more than ten breaths.

Gu Zhanting choked on a mouthful of old blood, almost spitting it out, looking at the sparse remaining demonic creatures. What now?

His telepathic message reached the retreating Sheng Qingfeng’s sea of consciousness: “Sheng Qingfeng, how much have I promoted you along this path! My so-called loyal official, for the sake of a son-in-law, you rebel against me!”

Sheng Qingfeng’s steps paused slightly, but he did not turn back. He replied calmly, “Your Majesty, I am not doing this for my son-in-law… My so-called loyalty is to Daqian. Using demons as sustenance, cultivating fiends to form arrays, the world is in turmoil, demonic aura reaching the skies—this is not the path of a demon. The demons that the Zhenmo Division subjugates are precisely these. Since I command this division, I have no regrets even unto death.”

“Crack!” A thin curtain suddenly rose around the altar, encompassing all members of the Zhenmo Division, as well as Ye Tinglan, Yuan Muyu, and Jiang Duxu, like a sealed formation.

It was Zhao En, the one presiding over the formation, who activated the third contingency plan: “Your Majesty, now that the sustenance is gone, they shall be the new sustenance. We cannot let them go easily.”

Sheng Qingfeng suddenly turned, looking coldly at Gu Zhanting on the platform.

Gu Zhanting’s eyes were cold. He said indifferently, “Since you’ve rebelled, why such an expression?”

Sheng Qingfeng looked at the platform: five super-grade experts, and Gu Zhanting’s state was hard to determine whether it counted as Qianyuan.

On their side, there were only three super-grade experts. Ye Tinglan’s state was at most slightly better than Gu Zhanting’s, not possessing absolute dominance.

The opponent also had the advantage of the formation.

To truly turn everyone into sustenance seemed not impossible.

Gu Zhanting again said coldly, “Where is Huo Xingyuan? Why didn’t he stop you? Could it be that he, too, has become a traitor like you?”

Huo Liancheng hastily said, “Your Majesty, that is impossible.”

Lu Xingzhou’s voice came from afar: “Huo Xingyuan is here.”

As he spoke, a head flew like a projectile, whistling into the thin curtain, heading directly for Huo Liancheng’s head.

Huo Liancheng instinctively swung his hand to swat it away, and the head was instantly smashed to pieces.

But in the instant it was shattered, Huo Liancheng still saw the head’s appearance.

It was his own son, his eyes wide open in death.

Huo Liancheng also nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, forgetting that he was in the midst of fierce battle. He trembled as he pointed at Lu Xingzhou, his roar echoing throughout the scene: “Lu Xingzhou! You dare to commit patricide!”

“My apologies,” Lu Xingzhou appeared at the edge of the field, bowing in greeting. “I haven’t introduced my true name. I am Huo Qing, son of a hunter from Danxia Mountain. Greetings, Your Majesty, greetings, Grand Tutor.”