As everyone arrived in front of Litian, Concubine Mingyue didn't act immediately.
Her beautiful face, graceful as a blooming peach blossom, curved into a smile. She let out a soft giggle.
"It's been hundreds of years. I didn't expect Senior Brother to still remember this humble concubine."
Hundreds of years ago, when Litian first served as the town guard, he discovered traces of the Demon God Cult in the region.
Through a long investigation, he eventually uncovered the involvement of Concubine Mingyue.
Of course, it wasn't this exact Concubine Mingyue. While the two looked completely different, their auras were nearly identical.
Monks recognize auras, not appearances.
Ordinary changes in appearance have little effect; if one truly wants to disguise themselves, altering their aura is essential.
Concubine Mingyue made no attempt to disguise her aura—she was merely one of the many incarnations of the Demon God Sect Master.
There were numerous such incarnations.
Seeing that Concubine Mingyue wasn't rushing to attack, Litian glanced toward Zhang Yuhe.
He saw formation flags waving out from Zhang Yuhe's hand and instantly understood his intentions.
He hadn't expected Zhang Yuhe to be not only a fast cultivator but also highly proficient in formation arts.
Zhang Yuhe carried a large number of formation flags with him, which eased Litian's tension.
Everyone understands the principle of breaking a formation with a formation, but mere understanding isn't enough. One must have both skill and tools.
Clearly, Zhang Yuhe was someone who possessed both.
Litian realized that all he needed to do was stall Concubine Mingyue and the others long enough for Zhang Yuhe to dismantle the formation in peace.
As long as the defensive array of Mirror Sky City was broken, they would naturally find a way to destroy the altar within.
Looking at Concubine Mingyue's enchanting smile, Litian decided to buy more time through idle chatter.
With thinly veiled disdain, he said to her:
"Zhao Mingyue, do you only dare to send your incarnation? Is your true body too afraid to appear?"
"Hehehe, this humble concubine indeed doesn't dare. If I were caught by one of the old monsters from your Dao Holy Sect, the consequences would be... unpleasant," she said with a playful glint in her eyes.
"What? Does Senior Brother wish to see my true body? After I break through to Mahayana, I'll come visit the Dao Holy Sect. How does that sound?"
"In your dreams. Just relying on that incarnation technique—you'll never break through to Mahayana."
Litian's words struck a nerve. Concubine Mingyue's smile froze, and her face turned grim.
He had touched upon her greatest pain.
Roughly 10,000 years ago, Zhao Mingyue had stumbled upon a powerful supernatural ability that allowed her to create external incarnations. At the time, it was a miraculous discovery.
The technique was immensely powerful, capable of producing numerous incarnations.
Each incarnation possessed significant strength—just two major realms below that of the true body.
This power defied the conventional understanding of cultivation.
However, what she hadn't realized at the time was that this incredible ability came with a fatal flaw.
Cultivating this power consumed enormous time and resources.
Worse still, each incarnation required a fragment of her soul to sustain it.
If an incarnation was destroyed, that fragment of her soul would be lost—forever.
And with each loss, her soul became increasingly incomplete.
An incomplete soul meant she could no longer break through in her cultivation.
She only realized this devastating flaw after her first incarnation was destroyed by the Dao Holy Sect.
At the time, Zhao Mingyue had already reached peak cultivation.
But over the past 10,000 years, her progress had stagnated completely.
She tried countless methods to restore her soul, but none were successful.
This failure drove her to madness.
She began using her incarnations to stir up chaos throughout Yufantian, drawing the attention of the Dao Holy Sect.
Her real hope lay with the demon race—particularly the Demon Gods, whose power rivaled that of true immortals.
Only they might possess a way to mend her broken soul.
Each of her attacks was meant to serve as a distraction.
While the Dao Holy Sect pursued her incarnations, Zhao Mingyue planned to act in secret, using her true body to reopen the passage between the two realms and summon a Demon God.
A hundred thousand years ago, when the demons last invaded, the Dao Holy Sect had repelled them and sealed the inter-realm passage.
But even sealed, the passage could potentially be reopened—and Zhao Mingyue had never stopped searching for that opportunity.
Unfortunately, the original passage was hidden in the mountain behind the Dao Holy Sect itself.
The area was heavily guarded—not only by elders but by Mahayana ancestors as well.
If she could lure one of those ancestors away, she might sneak into the back mountain and reopen the gateway.
The entire arrangement in Mirror Sky City had been crafted with this in mind.
…
Litian's words had been a dagger to her heart.
Ten thousand years of stagnation had pushed Zhao Mingyue to the brink.
Her face darkened. She cast another glance at Zhang Yuhe in the distance, who was still busy arranging his formation.
Zhao Mingyue had always been wary of this new town guard.
She couldn't see through him—he was cloaked in mystery, like a figure lost in fog.
Seeing him continue to deploy formation flags with confidence, her expression grew cold.
She raised a slender hand, pointed toward Zhang Yuhe, and ordered sharply:
"Go kill him. Do not let him complete the formation. As for this Senior Brother from the Dao Holy Sect—I'll handle him."
"Yes, Landlord!" the group responded.
The ancestors of the He and Li families, along with four God-Transforming cultivators from the Hyacinth Tower, soared into the sky, heading toward Zhang Yuhe.
"Hmph, don't even think about leaving."
Litian had been content to stall, but now that they dared move against Zhang Yuhe, he could no longer stand by.
His voice rang out, and his palm struck forward.
A massive flame-infused palm phantom surged toward the seven attackers, enveloping them in searing heat.
No one dared underestimate a senior brother from the Dao Holy Sect.
Concubine Mingyue waved her right hand, summoning a golden bell that floated above Litian's head.
She formed a hand seal, and the bell rapidly enlarged, descending to trap him within.
Litian clenched his fist and hurled it upward, the shadow of his punch striking the bell with explosive force, knocking it away.
The others launched their own attacks, spiritual treasures gleaming as magical techniques rained from the sky.
With a cold snort, Litian raised his hand, summoning a flaming wall that blocked their combined strike.
At the same time, a massive axe appeared in his hand, pulsing with fiery energy.
It was a low-grade Heaven-Spanning Spirit Treasure—the Vermilion Fire Axe.
Channeling his spiritual power into the axe, Litian sent it crashing down toward Li Jiangxiong, the ancestor of the Li family.
Panicking, Li Jiangxiong pulled out a yellow shield to defend himself.
But the axe, blazing with Vermilion fire, smashed into the shield with overwhelming force.
Crack!
The shield, a top-grade magical artifact, shattered instantly under the blow.
Li Jiangxiong coughed up blood and was sent flying.
With a single strike, Litian had severely wounded him, fully displaying the power of a Dao Holy Sect senior brother.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yuhe continued arranging the formation while watching the battle unfold.
Seeing Litian holding off seven cultivators and even injuring one, Zhang Yuhe couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"As expected of the Dao Holy Sect's senior brother... he really is something else."