Ch. 541 - Brother's Encounter

Boom—

On the snow-covered mountaintop, dark clouds gathered as hundreds of red lightning bolts fell.

"Get in formation!!"

Accompanied by a hoarse female voice, the seven wounded Snow Guards quickly used their spears to force the demonic cultivators in front of them away, retreated behind Xu Mulan, who was wearing silver armor, and infused her with spiritual power.

Xu Mulan stuck the silver spear in her hand into the ground and gritted her teeth while looking at the commotion in the sky.

What she saw was a demonic cultivator wearing a red ghost mask that had formed a magic array with ten Core Formation-stage demonic cultivators. The demonic aura attracted red blood thunderbolts, which caused strange changes in the surroundings.

She didn't know the name of this magic formation, nor did she know how powerful it was.

But she could feel that she and the seven middle-stage Core Formation Snow Guards around her couldn't resist or avoid it.

None of the cultivators from Cold Country who came to the Eastern Region could guarantee that they would be able to return to the Northern Region alive after the war between the Immortal Family and the demonic sects. 

When the Cold Country besieged the Ghost Spirit Sect, she watched many of the Seniors she once admired fall in front of her.

At that time, Xu Mulan felt that perhaps she would also be like those Seniors, returning to dust in the next battle with the demonic cultivators, and never be able to return to the mountains and rivers of the Northern Region where she was born and raised.

She always felt that she was mentally prepared for this.

However, now that she was really facing death, she realized that she was not as fearless as she thought.

—Her sister Xu Xiyue was still waiting for her triumphant return to the Northern Region...

—Those new recruits in the Qi Refining and Foundation Building stage were still waiting for her, the commander, to go back and teach them...

—And also Master Ye and the Lady of the Dragon House whom she had only known for a month. She had even promised Master Ye and Lady Li that when she was free, she would take Xu Xiyue to visit Dragon House and Hundred Lotus Sect in the Western Region...

… … 

The parents who gave birth to her, Chen Yin- the Imperial Adviser of the Cold Country, the Snow Guards she trained since childhood, Xu Xiyue, Li Longling...

And Ye Anping.

Countless faces flashed through Xu Mulan's mind and finally stopped at Ye Anping's face.

Xu Mulan remembered when she met the Physical cultivator in the Core Formation stage in the Northern Region.

When that person was about to shatter her golden core, Ye Anping rushed out from the forest behind her and blocked the fist armor of that Physical cultivator.

Looking at the demonic aura densely gathered around the ghost-faced demonic cultivator in the sky, Xu Mulan couldn't help but have some extravagant hopes in her heart. What if he could save her again… 

Unfortunately, this was just her wishful thinking.

How could Master Ye appear here?

"Huh..."

Xu Mulan closed her eyes and exhaled, then gritted her teeth and poured her spiritual energy into the Spirit Control Formation, trying to forcibly take on the formation spell of the ghost-faced demonic cultivator.

Seeing her determined appearance, the man wearing the red ghost mask had no mercy in his eyes as he whispered softly, "If you turn a blind eye and let us go, you won't end up dying. Don't blame me for being merciless, Commander Xu."

The man raised his hand slightly, and the demonic energy around him condensed into a huge blood spear that could break the mountain. The spearhead trembled, aiming at Xu Mulan and the seven Snow Guards wearing veils behind her.

However, just before the blood spear fell.

The man's eyes suddenly turned to the left.

Whoosh—

Boom—!!

A silver spirit sword exploded in the sky, breaking down through the clouds and hitting the blood spear's shaft accurately.

With just one strike, the demonic array formed by the ghost-faced man was broken.

The impressive demonic energy in the formation instantly turned into a ring of blood and exploded, causing him and nearly ten Core Formation-stage demonic cultivators around him to be pushed aside by their own spiritual energy.

"What?!"

Xu Mulan and the others who had already formed the Spirit Control Formation below looked at the silver spirit sword falling from the clouds in confusion.

The next moment, a young man with a bamboo hat on his head flew down from the clouds on his flying sword, hovering between them and the group of demonic cultivators. He raised his hand to bring the silver sword back and swung it to one side.

Buzz—

"Stop right now!"

Ye Anping glanced at Xu Mulan below, then turned his back to her and faced the man with the red ghost mask.

Xiao Tian, lying on his bamboo hat, pointed at the ghost-faced demonic cultivator and reminded him."Anping, the masked man is from the Heartbreak Palace. I just looked into his storage bag, and there is a token with ink characters inside."

Hearing this, Ye Anping gripped the hilt of his sword and lifted the front edge of his bamboo hat, revealing his face.

Just as he thought, after seeing his face, the ghost-faced demonic cultivator froze for a moment, but then immediately raised his hand to signal his men to put away their swords. He respectfully cupped his hands and saluted. "Young Master, why are you here?"

Seeing this, Ye Anping breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Mo Chi Ling should have warned him already.

If this man didn't recognize him, he would have to draw his sword and chop off Mo Chi Ling's men.

Ye Anping slightly loosened his grip on the sword hilt. He glanced sideways at Xiao Tian with a hint in his eyes. 

Xiao Tian raised her hand and touched her forehead, quickly scanning the surroundings for a hundred miles with her spiritual sense. "Anping, no one is spying on us, don't worry."

"Well... let's go down first."

Hearing this, the ghost-faced demonic cultivator looked at the group of Snow Guards below. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his hand and gave an order before landing on the snow below with his twenty men.

Xu Mulan and the others were also confused. They saw that the person who suddenly intervened was an immortal cultivator and thought they had met a helper, but now that person seemed to know the enemy demonic cultivator, and they became alert again in an instant.

A Snow Guard behind her asked in confusion, "Commander Xu, which side is this person on?"

Xu Mulan raised her hand to interrupt, staring at Ye Anping who had his back to her, and whispered. "I don't know, don't let your guard down, but don't take action for now..."

At this point, Ye Anping finally turned sideways.

When Xu Mulan saw his deep purple eyes and handsome profile, her eyes widened instantly. She thought she had seen it wrong, so she squeezed her eyes repeatedly and couldn't help but take a step forward.

But she immediately came to her senses and took back her steps.

Xu Mulan felt a little confused. She didn't understand why the demonic cultivators who had just surrounded and killed them would salute Ye Anping.

She and Ye Anping had only met once, and it had been several years...

Seeing that Xu Mulan was very wary of him, Ye Anping just shrugged slightly and glanced at the Snow Guards behind her. "Commander Xu, it's been a long time since we last met. If I remember correctly, it's been three years..."

"... Yeah." Xu Mulan nodded faintly and brought the silver spear to rest on her shoulder. "Young Master Ye, what on earth are you..."

Before she finished speaking, Ye Anping threw a jade slip.

Whoosh—

Xu Mulan hurriedly raised her hand to catch it, and the confusion on her face became even worse.

"This is..." 

Ye Anping did not explain and interrupted her. "Commander Xu, please pretend that you have not seen anything and have not encountered anything. You should go back directly, okay?" 

Ye Anping lowered his eyes and tightened his sword in his hand again, frowning. "Then, I will not be able to let you and the Snow Guards leave this place for the sake of our past encounter." 

After these words, the Snow Guards behind Xu Mulan stared at each other, and they tightened their grip on their spears again, increasing their alertness. 

However, Xu Mulan looked at the twenty or so demonic cultivators standing behind Ye Anping, and she raised her hand to stop the Snow Guards. "All Snow Guards, listen to my orders. We chased these demonic cultivators here and fought with them for several days, but accidentally let them escape."

Ye Anping nodded. "Thank you."

"...Yeah."

Xu Mulan bit her lip slightly. To be honest, she had a lot of questions to ask Ye Anping now.

Who were these people?

What was he doing?

… … 

However, she understood that now was not the time for her to talk to Ye Anping.

Xu Mulan nodded and spoke softly. "Young Master Ye..."

Ye Anping shook his head, interrupting her. "We'll see each other again. Commander Xu, I have another suggestion. Don't go to the Heavenly Demon Sect..."

"..."

Xu Mulan slightly frowned. She didn't say anything more, just nodded and waved her hand to order. "Return to the camp!!"

"...Yes, Ma'am."

Although the Snow Guards were very puzzled at the moment, they didn't dare to say anything after hearing Xu Mulan's order. They bowed and responded, then summoned their flying swords and flew from the top of the mountain toward the northwest.

Ye Anping looked up, watching their figures disappear into the clouds in the sky, then breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the ghost-faced man waiting behind him. "What happened just now?"

"My lord, we were instructed by our Lady to secretly help the Cold Country break through the upper reaches of the Blood River, but we accidentally exposed our tracks. After the commander of the Snow Guards found us, she thought we were enemies from a demonic sect and chased us with her people for nearly seven hundred miles. In desperation, I had to fight back..."

"I see..." Ye Anping nodded to show that he understood, then glanced at the demonic cultivators behind him. "Can these people be trusted?"

"These people are all our Lady's confidants, please rest assured. It's just that Commander Xu just now..." The ghost-faced demonic cultivator was silent for a while, and asked with a bow, "Although our Lady said that if we meet you outside, your orders will be the same as hers, I am still worried about that Snow Guard Commander..."

"I know. I thought of the overall situation first." 

"It's good then..."

Just as the ghost-faced demonic cultivator said this, Ye Anping suddenly clenched the sword in his hand and threw it.

Whoosh—

The silver sword wiped the mask on his face, passed by his ear, and went straight into the forest behind him, nailing a raven that had just landed from the sky, to the tree trunk.

"Eh?!"

The ghost-faced demonic cultivator looked sideways, and the moment he saw the raven, cold sweat broke out on his face inside the mask.

He didn't notice the raven at all. If they had gone back to look for Mo Chi Ling, then she would have been exposed to the eyes of Yu Yan and He Buqun.

Ye Anping walked over slowly, took back his sword from the tree, and put it back into the storage bag. "This place is only two thousand miles away from the Heavenly Demon Sect. You'd better be careful."

"Thank you, sir."

"It just so happens that I am also going to look for your master. Since we met, let's go together."

The ghost-faced demonic cultivator hesitated, then looked at the pierced raven, nodded, and cupped his hands in response. "Yes, sir."

...

On the other side, two thousand miles away.

Under a deserted mountain with no one around, a temporary cave was opened up by someone at some point.

Although it was a temporary cave, it had golden walls and a floor made of spiritual jade.

Sun Juehu, wearing a golden dragon robe, was lying on the couch bored, yawning from time to time. In front of the couch, Chen Yin, the Cold Country Imperial Adviser, was holding the jade slips sent from various sects of the Cold Country in his hands and read them to her.

"Your Majesty, according to the news sent back by the Snow Guards, the Western Region immortals led by the Black Star Sect are now close to the heartland of the Heavenly Demon Sect. The Southern Region Bright Star Sect moved a little slower but has reached the Quicksand Valley, seven thousand miles south of the Heavenly Demon Sect..."

"Hmm~ It's really fast." Sun Juehu raised her eyebrows and picked a grape from the fruit rack beside her, lazily licking it. "In the last war, from the time the immortals entered the Eastern Region, how long did it take to cross the Blood River?"

"Your Majesty, it took nearly two hundred years."

"What about this time?"

"One year..."

Hearing Chen Yin's answer, Sun Juehu suddenly showed a strange smile on her face.

To be honest, she didn't expect that this attack on the demonic cultivators would be so smooth.

She had experienced the last war between the immortals and the demonic cultivators.

She still remembered that it took the immortals several decades to break through the three gates in the north, middle, and south, and enter the Eastern Region.

But this time...

—The Brilliance City in the Central Region fell within one day.

—The Seven Star Pass in the Southern Region was breached by the Bright Star Sect within six days.

—It took the Cold Country only seven days to breach the Cold Snow Pass in the Northern Region.

The progress was so fast that it felt unreal.

It was as if there was a hand in the dark, pushing forward the immortals of the three regions.

Chen Yin saw through Sun Juehu's thoughts, nodded, and replied, "Your Majesty, I don't know who gave the map of the Eastern Region to the immortals. Moreover, when the immortals attacked the demonic cities, most of them were in civil strife, or the protective formations failed to activate smoothly."

"In other words, there is a mole in the demonic sects?"

"It should be so, and this person knows the movements of the demonic sects and the immortals like the back of his hand. It's as if he is looking at it."

"Any information about this person?"

"Not yet. I have sent people to look for him, but he hides very deeply and there is no clue so far."

Sun Juehu lowered her eyes slightly, waved her hand to take the jade slip from his hand, and looked at it with her spiritual sense. "Where is Ye Anping?"

"Uh..." Chen Yin was a little confused. "Your Majesty, are you talking about the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect?"

"Is there anyone else named Ye Anping in the world?" Sun Juehu looked at him in dissatisfaction. "Matriarch Red Moon values ​​him a lot. But why didn't I see his name in the battle reports from all over the Eastern Region?"

Chen Yin thought for a while. He understood what Sun Juehu meant and asked, "Your Majesty means that Ye Anping is secretly helping the immortals to capture cities and territories? But he is only a Nascent Soul cultivator and has just broken through not long ago. Even if he is a genius, isn't it too much to reverse the situation between immortals and demonic cultivators with just one man's strength..."

"Who knows?"

Sun Juehu waved her hand indifferently, and at this time, a Snow Guard walked in from outside the cave and knelt on one knee in front of the couch. "Your Majesty, Commander Xu returned with injuries, but the group of demonic cultivators who were exploring the cave abode escaped."

"Is that so… Well, let her recover well."

Sun Juehu lowered her eyes and thought for a while, then looked at Chen Yin. "What do you think of Xu Mulan?"

"She has been practicing martial arts since she was young, her background is clean, and her aptitude is also good. She only has one sister. In my opinion, she can be used in an important position."

"I see..." Sun Juehu lowered her eyes, thinking. "I remember that when I first met Ye Anping in the Northern Region, Xu Mulan was..."

"..."

Sun Juehu pursed his lips and thought for a while, then said, "Chen Yin."

"I'm listening."

"Remove Xu Mulan from the position of Snow Guards Commander and promote her to be my personal guard."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

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