Chapter 2015: Reinforced Still Can't Surpass the One in the Capital

Qiu Honglei, smiling sweetly, held onto Zu An's arm. "Uncle Chifuzi, have you lost your mind from losing? How could my master, such a beautiful woman, possibly be that old man Yan Xianggu, right here in front of you?"

Hearing her praise his beauty, Zu An felt a chill, but he couldn't refute it at the moment, so he remained silent.

The other cult members around them also burst into laughter, mocking Chifuzi and Lu Sanyuan for being sore losers. They claimed the person before them was clearly Cult Master Yun; mistaking him for Yan Xianggu was simply blindness.

A few high-ranking members, however, were puzzled. It was unlikely that Lu Sanyuan and Chifuzi would play such a trick, and this Cult Master Yun did seem a bit off. At the very least, the Cult Master Yun in their memory shouldn't have been able to defeat Lu Sanyuan so easily. Yet, this person's appearance and weapon were identical to Cult Master Yun's. They couldn't imagine anyone imitating him so perfectly, so after much thought, they could only conclude that Cult Master Yun's cultivation had advanced rapidly during his recent seclusion.

At that moment, Chifuzi said in a deep voice, "I indeed underestimated you, but do you truly think you've won?" As he spoke, an array disk appeared in his hand, and flashes of light shimmered nearby. Immediately afterward, he vanished from the spot with Lu Sanyuan.

"That's the Qimen Dunjia technique of the Way of Guiyin!" someone recognized. This evasion technique usually involved pre-setting a safe location, allowing for instant teleportation upon activation. It was truly a life-saving move; how could an enemy find them quickly?

Many secretly sighed. The techniques of the Way of Guiyin were endless and impossible to guard against. With such a dangerous enemy escaping, not only Cult Master Yun and the Saintess, but even they themselves wouldn't know when retaliation might strike.

Just then, a ripple like water suddenly appeared in the sky, and two figures immediately fell from above.

It was none other than Chifuzi and Lu Sanyuan. Chifuzi burst into laughter. "I mock that Yun Jianyue for her lack of wisdom. She had every advantage but wasted so much time with words, giving me the chance to activate the array. If she had attacked directly from the start, where would we have..."

Mid-sentence, he suddenly noticed Lu Sanyuan's horrified gaze. He also sensed something was wrong and quickly looked around, his face turning pale. "How is this possible? How are we still here?"

Even the Heaven and Earth Venerable and the Xiaoyao Venerable were stunned. What in the world was Chifuzi doing? He never had such a comedic talent on ordinary days.

Zu An smiled faintly. "Didn't expect that, did you? When I disrupted your array earlier, I also made some spatial restriction arrangements."

To rescue Yun Jianyue this time, he naturally had to ensure everything was foolproof.

Of course, he had learned lessons from Mount Zi, where the world's top experts personally demonstrated how arrays could be used to plot against an invincible entity.

Chifuzi's face turned purple like an eggplant. He never imagined his words would be thrown back at him so quickly, sounding particularly grating.

He took out his array disk, just about to set up the proud formations of his life, when a sigh suddenly echoed in his ear: "Do you think I'd still give you a chance?"

To his horror, he found that Yun Jianyue had appeared beside him at some unknown moment, pointing a finger at him. Although the finger seemed to move slowly, he couldn't evade it at all.

Struck by the single finger, all his vital energy was sealed, leaving him utterly powerless to resist.

However, Zu An's face showed no joy. Instead, he retreated rapidly with a grave expression.

Almost simultaneously, a crimson light appeared where he had just stood. In that instant, the air itself tore open, faintly revealing endless void within.

If struck by a move of such power, one would be severely wounded even if not killed.

"Are you alright?" Qiu Honglei rushed to Zu An's side, her face filled with worry as she examined him from head to toe.

Zu An shook his head, his gaze fixed solemnly on the other side. Gasps of shock echoed through the field.

For in everyone's eyes, a bizarre scene was unfolding.

Lu Sanyuan, who had been lying on the ground incapacitated, stood up again. The flesh at the sites of his severed arms began to surge wildly, forming two fleshy tumors that grew continuously at a visible rate.

Everyone's scalps tingled. High-level cultivators indeed possessed regenerative abilities, but depending on the severity of the injury, it typically took months to several years.

Regeneration at such speed was simply unheard of, appearing both grotesque and terrifying.

"What is this? What are you? Get out, ahhh!" At that moment, Lu Sanyuan let out a pained shriek.

As the Sect Master of the Heartless Dao, he was known for his detachment and indifference, rarely showing any emotional fluctuations in daily life.

Yet, in that instant, everyone saw pure terror in him.

"Hehehe, do not resist me. I can let you experience a higher level of life." A sinister voice emerged from his mouth, accompanied by grating buzzing sounds that didn't sound human, but more like a swarm of strange insects.

"No, you can't do this to me! We're allies, you can't break our agreement!" Lu Sanyuan's face contorted in agony.

"You were the first to fail to uphold our agreement. A waste like you is no longer worthy of being my ally," the buzzing voice replied from his mouth again.

Seeing two distinctly different voices alternating from the same person, the surrounding cult members felt their scalps prickle. They retreated further away, watching Lu Sanyuan in the arena with caution.

Qiu Honglei was also somewhat afraid. She didn't fear combat, but she feared such unknown, bizarre things.

Zu An's eyes narrowed slightly. Could it be...

At this point, Lu Sanyuan seemed to realize his fate and asked in despair, "How did you get inside my body? I never took the pills you gave me!"

As a cunning schemer, he wouldn't easily trust others. Even now, he couldn't figure out when he had been infected.

The buzzing voice chuckled. "Did you think we tampered with the pills? Oh, foolish humans, how could your pathetic intelligence foresee our plans? In reality, we placed our substance within the magic treasures we gave you. Coveting their powerful functions, you naturally couldn't bear to keep them sealed away. As long as you carried them, we had a chance to usurp you."

"Of course, if you hadn't been utterly defeated this time, with your arms severed, it wouldn't have been so easy for me to enter your body."

As it spoke, Lu Sanyuan's muscles all over his body began to writhe and ripple, as if something was transforming and reorganizing within him.

His face swelled, and layers of black and white stripes emerged upon it, gradually making him look less human.

He finally turned his head to Zu An: "Senior Sister, my master was harmed by your master back then, and the Cult Master position was seized. I swore to avenge him, but I never imagined I'd end up paving the way for this thing. Kill me quickly, I'm in so much... pain, ahhh!"

With a heart-wrenching wail, black bone spurs erupted from his arms and thighs. His back directly split open, revealing two pairs of carapace-like armor. The muscles beneath the armor twisted continuously, followed by the emergence of several pairs of fleshy tendrils.

Those fleshy tendrils swelled at a visible rate, forming pairs of wings as thin as cicada's wings.

By this point, his entire head was unrecognizable from its original face. It had been replaced by a monstrous head with a pair of huge mouthparts on either side.

They gleamed with a cold light, resembling two reapers' scythes.

"What kind of monster is that?!" Even though the demonic cult members were accustomed to fighting and hunting fierce beasts, they had never seen anything like this.

The sight of their usually majestic Vice Cult Master transforming directly into a giant insect-like being was truly a shocking visual impact.

"Indeed, it's those demons!" Zu An's expression turned cold. He had suspected as much moments ago; who else but demons from another world would possess such abilities?

Unfortunately, the imperial court's myriad defenses had failed to account for the demonic cult.

Chifuzi, who was closest to Lu Sanyuan, finally regained his senses and instinctively tried to flee. Unfortunately, spatial teleportation was forbidden here, and his personal movement technique wasn't his strong suit.

Just as he took a step, the giant demonic insect caught up to him. Its scythe-like mouthparts clamped down, and Chifuzi screamed as he was instantly severed in half at the waist.

The Heaven and Earth Venerable and the Xiaoyao Venerable quickly retreated. Although Chifuzi's strength lay in rune arrays and his physical body was a relative weakness, as a Venerable, his body shouldn't have been that fragile. Yet, he was instantly cut in half by the opponent...

At this point, Chifuzi's upper body was still conscious, and he instinctively crawled away, his face filled with terror. "Save me... save..."

The next second, the giant insect's chest suddenly opened. Its original ribs had transformed into two rows of hard teeth, and with one gulp, it swallowed Chifuzi's body whole.

Everyone was speechless.

Didn't its mouth grow on its head? How did it have another mouth on its chest?

But no one cared about such details anymore; they desperately ran outwards, wanting to get as far away from the monster as possible.

At that moment, the demonic insect vibrated its wings, emitting shrill buzzing sounds.

Many soldiers on the outermost perimeter suddenly clutched their heads in pain. Then, bone spurs began to emerge from their shoulders and limbs, and their entire bodies rapidly started to transform into insects.

They lacked Lu Sanyuan's strong resistance and almost instantly transformed into demonic insects, nearly identical to the larger one, except for their much smaller size.

The fleeing cult members ran directly into them. With a snap of their mouths, streams of corrosive acid were sprayed out.

"Ah!"

Piercing screams rang out as those in the front, caught off guard by the spray, began to dissolve instantly, turning into puddles of green slime.

Immediately afterward, the insects began to attack wantonly, and many more cult members quickly lost their lives.

In truth, most of those present were elites of the demonic cult; if they had faced a direct enemy, they wouldn't have been so thoroughly defeated.

But having just witnessed the horrific transformation of Lu Sanyuan into a demonic insect, the instantaneous killing of the Venerable Guiyin, and now seeing these soldiers also turn into those creatures, their courage was completely shattered. How could they possibly organize any decent resistance?

Although there were steadfast individuals like Li Feiqing and Hu Pangzi calling for their companions to resist the enemy together, their side was already a disorganized mess, utterly incapable of resisting the unified will of the demonic insects.

Just then, a silvery moonlight enveloped the ground, and in everyone's eyes, a beautiful crescent moon seemed to appear.

The next second, the demonic insects all stopped moving. Then, their upper halves slowly slid off their bodies, splitting directly into two, with incredibly smooth cuts.

In an instant, all the smaller demonic insects were annihilated, except for the largest one!

"Long live Cult Master Yun!" Everyone paused, then began to shout excitedly. Even those who had previously belonged to Lu Sanyuan's rebellious faction were now genuinely roaring their support.

Zu An coldly scanned the surroundings. "Hua Feihua, Shen Taogong, take the other elders and organize your respective sect disciples. Don't let such a disorganized situation happen again."

"Yes!" The two instinctively bowed, then paused, wondering why obeying her felt so natural. Still, it was a blessing in disguise that she wasn't pursuing their past actions.

At that moment, the large insect stared intensely at Zu An. "Human, you are strong, but no matter how strong, you cannot surpass that person in the capital. You are destined to become my nourishment today."