Exiting the cave mouth, spiritual qi rushed to greet them, along with other chaotic auras.
Mo Tiange raised her head to look around. The surroundings were overgrown with weeds and tangled vines. The air was filled with a fog-like miasma, and the daylight was dim.
This Carefree Valley didn't seem particularly special at first glance, yet the chaotic nature of the auras made everyone frown. Leaving aside the miasma—which was merely troublesome for cultivators, requiring constant spiritual qi protection—the most deadly element was the miasma mixed within it.
Miasma was a relatively unique type of aura that existed in the cultivation world. No one knew exactly how it was produced, but it could indeed be found in certain places. It could erode magical treasures and physical bodies, causing treasures to lose their spiritual energy and living creatures to lose their vitality and die. Its very existence seemed to be for the purpose of destruction. All cultivators in this world avoided it like the plague, whether they were Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, or demonic cultivators.
However, the spiritual qi in this Carefree Valley was indeed extremely dense. Mo Tiange sensed it and thought to herself that this place being called a blessed land since ancient times was no exaggeration. If not for the addition of this demonic qi, miasma, and miasma, the spiritual qi here would be even denser than that in her Void Heaven Realm.
Unfortunately, for present-day cultivators, it was impossible to exclude these chaotic auras and only absorb the spiritual qi here. Thus, this blessed land could only become a dangerous place.
"Everyone..." Ling Yunhe was about to speak when he suddenly frowned. The crescent-shaped jade blade had already appeared in his hand as he assumed a defensive posture.
In that instant, everyone except Ling Yunfei entered a state of alert.
"Huh?" Ling Yunfei stared blankly at them, somewhat at a loss.
"The situation has changed!" Ling Yunhe shouted at him, swinging his jade blade which lit up with a silvery moonlight-like radiance.
Only after Ling Yunhe spoke did Ling Yunfei finally notice something surging toward them like a tide. He hurriedly shook his sleeve, and two flying swords—one large, one small—flew out from within his body.
Mo Tiange's frown deepened. Among the six of them, it could be said her divine sense was the most powerful. Even suppressed by the restrictions here, she could clearly sense the state of their surroundings. The things charging toward them were definitely not ordinary spiritual creatures; they carried a heavy miasma—what kind of bizarre things were these? Miasma aimed to destroy. If they were living creatures, how could they still be alive after being contaminated by it?
Soon, more and more people in the group of six had their expressions change drastically. They were all outstanding individuals among Core Formation cultivators; even if their divine sense was inferior to Mo Tiange's, it wouldn't be by much.
"Fellow Daoists," Ling Yunhe said with a meaningful glance at Mo Tiange, "it seems the situation in Carefree Valley has changed. Be careful."
No reminder was needed; everyone was prepared for battle. Which among them hadn't experienced countless hardships and dangers? Even the seemingly most immature Ling Yunfei now wore a solemn expression, his two flying swords circling around him on guard.
As those things drew closer, the looks on everyone's faces grew increasingly grave. They had all discovered that the monsters charging at them numbered at least in the hundreds, and each one possessed strength exceeding the fourth rank.
With a "hum," Ling Yunhe's jade blade was the first to fly up, slashing fiercely into the grass.
"Meow!" An extremely large mountain cat tumbled aside, blood seeping from its lower abdomen as it cried out in pain.
"Meow! Meow!" Immediately after, numerous mountain cats leaped over the grass and charged forward.
"These are demonic creatures!" Yang Chengji shouted, extending his arm. A black banner appeared in his hand, its surface embroidered with a fierce ghost baring its fangs, looking extremely vicious. Demonic qi churned around this banner; it should be his lifebound magical treasure.
The others also realized these mountain cats had eyes as red as blood, glowing faintly, their bodies shrouded in dark qi—truly terrifying. They were clearly not ordinary spiritual creatures, nor merely demonic beings, but mutated demonic creatures.
"Brother Tian, fall back. Yunfei, provide central support. Fellow Daoist Yang, Fellow Daoist Qin, and Fellow Daoist Tian Can—each of us will take one direction," Ling Yunhe immediately made the decision.
The other five hesitated not at all, quickly taking up their assigned positions. Although Tian Zhiqian was at the mid-stage of Core Formation, he was a cultivator from the Five Elements Valley, essentially a formation master, making his combat abilities slightly weaker than those of ordinary cultivators. As for Ling Yunfei, among those present, he was the most immature, less steady than the other three. Having these two stand at the rear was indeed a relatively prudent arrangement.
However, Mo Tiange couldn't help but think: among the five, Tian Zhiqian and Ling Yunfei were Ling Yunhe's good friend and younger brother. Having these two take the central position—could it be that he was deliberately conserving strength in case of a falling out? If so, this Ling Yunhe's scheming could be considered cunning. If not, then why did he choose Tian Zhiqian, a formation master, and Ling Yunfei, a still somewhat immature brother, as his helpers, while inviting Yang Chengji, Tian Can, and herself—three individuals who were both capable fighters and decisive in action—to join the expedition? Wasn't he afraid that if interests became uneven and they turned against each other, his side would be at a disadvantage? In her view, Tian Zhiqian definitely couldn't defeat her or Tian Can, and Ling Yunfei was simply no match for Yang Chengji.
Unable to find an answer to this question immediately, Mo Tiange shook her head, pushing it to the back of her mind to focus on the enemy.
Positions set, facing the onslaught of hundreds of cat demons, the six of them began killing the demons in an orderly manner.
Once Ling Yunhe's crescent jade blade left his hand, it flew up and down, weaving through the air. Under his control, it immediately carved a path of blood through the cat demon horde. But these cat demons, smelling the blood, grew even more excited, each one seemingly throwing itself forward without regard for its life.
Mo Tiange frowned. She did not summon the Heaven and Earth Fan, instead taking out Perfected Lord Jinghe's flying sword magical treasure. Similarly manipulating the flying sword, she killed her way into the cat demon group.
Yang Chengji unfurled his Ghost-Face Banner. A sound like the shriek of a fierce ghost seemed to echo in their ears as demonic qi swept toward the cat demon horde. Any cat demon touched by his demonic qi immediately let out a sharp cry and soon seemed to have its life force drained, ceasing to breathe.
As for Tian Can, he held a claw spike in each hand. Any cat demon that came near was immediately cut down by his sharp claws.
The two flying swords beside Ling Yunfei—the smaller one continuously circled around him, while the larger one flew out from time to time to exterminate a few cat demons.
Only Tian Zhiqian held a jade plate in his hand, constantly monitoring the battle before him. Mo Tiange glanced over and saw the jade plate was engraved with the Five Elements, Yin-Yang, and the Eight Trigrams. It seemed to be a magical treasure related to formations.
These cat demons' cultivation wasn't particularly high, but neither was it low. Their average strength was a bit greater than that of fourth-rank demon beasts, yet weaker than fifth-rank. Among them, a few cat demons occasionally appeared that were comparable to fifth-rank, but since all of them were experienced Core Formation cultivators, they still couldn't pose a threat and were quickly slain.
Soon, more than half of the hundreds of cat demons were dead or injured, the smell of blood in the air growing increasingly thick.
Ling Yunhe felt something was amiss, frowning in thought. Suddenly, he thought of something, immediately recalling his crescent jade blade and taking out the God-Restricting Bead from his robe. He called out, "Yunfei, cover me! Everyone, be careful! After these demonic creatures die, the miasma on them disperses. The miasma around us is getting thicker and thicker!"
Hearing this, everyone was startled. Sensing it, they found Ling Yunhe was indeed right; the miasma had almost surrounded them.
"Second Brother, what should we do?" Ling Yunfei took over Ling Yunhe's position, blocking one direction, while Ling Yunhe retreated to the center.
"We'll fight while retreating," Ling Yunhe said. "Fellow Daoist Qin, you and Yunfei take Brother Tian and lead the way. Fellow Daoist Tian Can, Fellow Daoist Yang, I'll trouble you to guard the rear. I'll stay in the middle and use the God-Restricting Bead to restrain the surrounding auras and restrictions."
The other five said nothing, quickly adjusting their positions and doing as Ling Yunhe said.
Although these cat demons were numerous, they weren't very difficult for them to deal with. What was deadly was that after they killed the cat demons, the miasma on their bodies would disperse, surrounding them. Therefore, everyone quickly assessed the situation: they couldn't kill the cat demons, they could only repel them.
This brought some practical difficulty. These cat demons, having smelled blood, were ferocious beyond measure, charging forward completely disregarding life and death. Although their strength was slightly weaker, they came in hordes. Having to block them all without killing any was truly troublesome.
The most constrained was Tian Can. He was a martial cultivator, and judging by his moves, each strike was lethal. Faced with the current situation, he could only use his aura to block.
Ling Yunhe noticed this and sighed, saying, "Brother Tian, I'll trouble you."
Tian Zhiqian chuckled. "Since I've come, how could I do nothing?" So saying, he walked to the center, raised the jade plate in his hand, formed a hand seal, and softly shouted. A stream of spiritual qi was injected into the jade plate, which lit up with a faint glow. The Five Elements, Yin-Yang, and Eight Trigrams on it began to operate.
Mo Tiange's eyes brightened. She could be considered half a formation master and could tell Tian Zhiqian's move was setting up an array. But his method of array formation was different from those requiring array disks, array flags, spirit stones, and other aids. It was based on the changes of the Five Elements and Yin-Yang around him, using his own spiritual qi to create restraints to achieve the effect of an array.
Calling it an array, yet it was formless; saying it wasn't an array, yet it could indeed achieve the effect of one. Therefore, formation masters called it a Formless Array. A Formless Array couldn't compare to some grand arrays; it couldn't achieve the effect of subduing the enemy and deciding the battle. But its advantage lay in flexibility. As long as the formation master had an array deployment disk in hand, they could set up an array at any time to create restraints.
The ability to deploy a Formless Array was a hallmark of a formation master. Mo Tiange considered her array skills not inferior to the vast majority of formation masters, but she still couldn't deploy a Formless Array. Ultimately, her focus remained on cultivation. Although her knowledge of formations was extensive, compared to a specialized formation master, her array deployment techniques were still somewhat lacking. This Tian Zhiqian hailed from the Five Elements Valley and had already reached the mid-stage of Core Formation. His combat methods were quite ordinary; it seemed all his skills lay in formations.
Discovering this, Mo Tiange understood that Ling Yunhe's invitation to Tian Zhiqian was not at all rash. With Tian Zhiqian's Formless Array, even if Ling Yunfei was slightly inferior, the combined strength of their trio was not inferior to that of her, Tian Can, and Yang Chengji.
Finally, the array deployment disk emitted a piercing white light. Tian Zhiqian shouted, "Go!"
The moment he spoke, Mo Tiange felt the surrounding spiritual qi stabilize. An invisible defensive array enveloped the six of them. The cat demons immediately seemed to crash into an invisible wall; with each pounce, they were sent flying back.
"This way!" Ling Yunhe, holding the God-Restricting Bead aloft, pointed in a direction. Without a moment's pause, the six of them flew away.