A Family of Hopeless Romantics, Except for the Evil Little Junior Brother

At this very moment, Mount Shushan.

The Shushan Sword Formation, which strikes fear into the hearts of all evil cultivators across the realm, seemed to suddenly lose its effect at this crucial moment.

Faced with the overwhelming demonic aura, the Shushan Sword Formation showed no reaction at all.

“Sect Leader, it looks like the Shushan Sword Formation has been hijacked!”

The Vice Sect Leader said.

Daoist Lingxu raised an eyebrow: “What, the Shushan Sword Formation’s now some brothel girl? Anyone can just butt in?”

“There’s definitely a traitor!” said the Vice Sect Leader.

Lingxu said darkly, “Just like picking a girl at a brothel—always comes with a little surprise.”

“Sect Leader, could you not use brothel girls for analogies?” the Vice Sect Leader snapped.

This rolling demonic aura seemed to have a life of its own, surging, roaring wildly through the air, its oppressive force enough to chill the soul.

Now, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner hovered high above Mount Shushan, spinning at an astonishing speed.

As it spun, the thick black aura spread rapidly like an enormous black curtain blotting out the sky, slowly descending to envelop Mount Shushan below.

From afar, this black aura looked like an insurmountable barrier, tightly sealing off the entire mountain.

The Peak Masters of Little Qiong Peak and Little Bamboo Peak tried to act in tandem to seize the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

But they were forced back by the demonic aura.

“You two, stand down!!”

“Sect Leader Senior Brother!?”

A figure shot up from the ground.

In almost an instant, it pierced through the demonic aura and reached just below the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, hand reaching out to grab it.

The Old Emperor’s mouth twitched slightly.

“Lingxu......”

The Old Emperor often felt that Lingxu guy wasn’t even on the same plane of existence.

As if he himself existed in a low-martial world, and the other was in a high-martial one.

If not for that guy’s existence, he wouldn’t have to be so sneaky and secretive.

He couldn’t afford to lose yet—not now. He had to stall for time.

The Old Emperor silently chanted an incantation.

Lingxu thrust his hand into the thick demonic aura surrounding the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

In that instant, a brilliant golden light burst from his palm.

It surged forward like a mighty flood, plunging straight into the pitch-black, eerie wave of demonic energy.

With the intrusion of that golden aura, the demonic energy reacted like it had been provoked, thrashing and churning madly.

It resembled giant black pythons, baring fangs and claws, lunging at the golden light.

For a moment, golden and black lights twisted and clashed in the air, colliding in violent bursts.

Each impact erupted in dazzling sparks, with deep booming roars that felt like they’d rip the space apart.

Yet Lingxu stood firm where he was, arm unmoved, letting the demonic aura rage against him.

The golden light in his hand remained solid as a rock, completely unyielding.

Just as he was about to seize the Ten Thousand Souls Banner—

The banner suddenly shot off into the distance.

“Trying to escape!”

Lingxu gave a low shout and took off after it.

The Vice Sect Leader suddenly remembered something and pulled a silk pouch from his storage ring.

Opening it, the first slip of paper inside was the Sect Leader’s secret message.

Strangely enough, the Sect Leader had recently decided to change the secret code.

But since it was an order from the Sect Leader, the Vice Sect Leader had followed through right away.

Normally, designing a code that’s hard to crack isn’t easy.

But the Shushan Sect Leader's secret message was oddly easy to update.

Because the Old Sect Leader had created a magical wooden cat carving.

You just had to write the instructions for the code on paper and feed it to the carving.

The carving would then spit out the corresponding encoded message automatically.

So the Vice Sect Leader had fed the code request to the carving.

Not long after, a new code was generated.

Only then did Sect Leader Lingxu leave with peace of mind.

“........”

At this moment, the Vice Sect Leader opened the message.

If a major crisis occurs, immediately issue the order: all disciples below the Golden Core Stage must return to the Sect Gate at once—no delays!

If the Shushan Sword Formation fails to deploy for any reason, dispatch many disciples to the base of the mountain to protect the common people.

The Five Great Immortal Sects Grand Tournament is currently being held at Shushan, and all sorts of powers have gathered.

These powers are complex, and the forces behind them are absolutely not to be underestimated.

Therefore, under no circumstances should all of Shushan’s forces be sent into battle.

A portion of elite forces must be left to monitor these sects, to prevent secret collusion or united betrayal against Shushan.

Additionally, a large number of disciples must immediately be dispatched to guard Shushan’s most critical internal locations, such as the Scripture Repository, the Herb Garden, and so on.

Furthermore, each mountain peak must activate its respective Protective Formation to safeguard those Shushan disciples still in training.

“As expected, Sect Leader thought of everything!” the Vice Sect Leader thought to himself.

“...........”

Outside the Demon Suppression Tower.

Shushan Sword Formation—activate!!

Xue Yun stared at Li Xuanxiao in astonishment, as if seeing him anew.

“The old man even taught you the Shushan Sword Formation?”

He chuckled softly.

“Little Junior Brother, is there anything else I don’t know about you?”

Li Xuanxiao suddenly pointed his longsword at Xue Yun, and an invisible pressure instantly spread through the air.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his aura surged, and streams of ancient, mysterious Sword Intent poured out from all directions.

These Sword Intents seemed alive, weaving and swirling in the air, merging into solid strands of Sword Aura.

The Sword Aura whistled fiercely, slashing through the void with sharp, screeching sounds.

Xue Yun didn’t dodge or retreat, facing the Sword Aura head-on.

He pressed two fingers to his brow. “Come!”

Several sword lights fell like starlight, weaving a cage of Sword Aura around him.

This was the Shushan mountain-guarding formation’s killing move: Starfall Demon Suppression. Each strand of starlight was compressed from tens of thousands of Sword Auras, cutting even the air into jagged cracks.

In an instant, Xue Yun’s tattered robe was shredded by the Sword Aura.

Yet he stood firm.

A faint yet incredibly tenacious thread of Sword Aura surrounded him, resisting the countless Sword Auras nearby.

Within the Sword Pavilion, the swords once carried by Shushan cultivators through the ages broke free from their sheaths.

A sword tide so vast it blocked the sky—these ancient swords, each holding a different Sword Intent, formed into a formation in midair, as heavy as a mountain.

Li Xuanxiao held up the Shushan Sword Formation.

At the same time, a clone of Li Xuanxiao was pressing a talisman to his forehead.

His feet followed a unique footwork: “The sun sets behind the western hills, the sky goes dark. Every household closes its doors, gentlemen travelers head for the inn. Birds flee to the woods, the tiger returns to the mountain.”