Chapter 1077: You Are the Celestial Leaf King (Part 1)

As soon as their wounds were bandaged, the demonic music resounded once more. This time, the guqin's melody carried an alluring charm, causing everyone to involuntarily succumb to its influence and lose control of their thoughts.

"Oh no, it's a type of Confusion Music..." Zhang Xuan's expression instantly changed.

Demonic music, much like formations, is categorized into many types: Confusion Music, Illusion Music, Daze Music, Discord Music, and so on. While Confusion Music is just one category, it is among the most terrifying. Once immersed, even powerful cultivators become completely enthralled, unable to break free.

It works in a similar way to the Master Teacher's Impartation of Heaven's Will; once ensnared, it can compel individuals to perform actions beyond their control, even to the point of suicide! In the past, a Lute Demon once massacred an entire city using this demonic music, leading to the profession itself being dubbed "demonic."

As a 7-star Demonic Music Master, Zhang Xuan understood its terrifying potential. This particular melody, with its lingering charm, resonated deep within the heart, easily disorienting listeners. If a killing move were to be unleashed once they were fully intoxicated, they could all be annihilated here.

With no time to explain, he flicked his wrist, and a guqin appeared before him. He channeled his zhenqi and swiftly swept his five fingers across the strings.

Dong! Dong! Dong! Like the resonant peal of ancient bells or a sudden clap of thunder, a powerful sound exploded in everyone's ears.

Their current situation was different from the Boundless Realm. Back then, they hadn't noticed the wind's cry until it had already permeated their bones. With his strength, Zhang Xuan couldn't use sound to counter sound effectively, and forcing it would likely result in severe injuries or even death for everyone. However, since they had only just been affected, dealing with it would be much simpler.

As expected, shocked by the sound, everyone involuntarily swayed, with blood gushing from their mouths and noses. Though injured, they had all regained consciousness.

"If we stay here, everyone will die. Follow me..." Zhang Xuan declared decisively, pinpointing a direction and moving forward. Although he didn't understand the meaning of "one hundred and seventy-two gates," he knew that staying would only worsen their injuries. They might end up like the previous combat master, losing control, going insane, and ultimately being cut down by the chaotic sword qi. Even if the other portals were dangerous, the worst-case scenario couldn't be any worse than their current predicament. They had to escape first.

Everyone else realized this too and followed closely behind Zhang Xuan. Master Wu, President Han, and the others held their longswords, vigilantly observing their surroundings, ready to counterattack immediately if any more assaults appeared. Although Master Wu and President Han were only two individuals, they were both super experts at Saint 4-dan, having comprehended the power of the Primordial Spirit, which allowed them to completely block the incoming sword qi.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! After advancing for a while, the sword qi attacked again. The two grand experts simultaneously blocked it, allowing the others to shelter behind them and quickly move forward.

After passing through two wide corridors, Zhang Xuan glanced left and right, his brows furrowed. His body suddenly swayed, and he crashed into a wall. Everyone was filled with confusion, but then they watched as the wall collapsed, revealing a spacious courtyard before them. The fiercely intense sword qi from earlier seemed to have hit a boundary. The moment everyone entered the courtyard, the attacks immediately ceased, as if they had never existed at all.

"The attacks are gone, and the guqin music has vanished..." "Did we escape?" Two master teachers from behind Wu Tianqiong and the others couldn't help but ask.

"No, we are still within the formation," Zhang Xuan said, shaking his head. "It's just that this grand formation has been divided into countless smaller ones, and we've merely escaped from one to another..." Grand formations at Level 8 are terrifying, each more formidable than the last! If escaping were this simple, it wouldn't have left even him feeling helpless. Furthermore, outside the formation, Red Leaf King was still lurking, eyeing them covetously.

Understanding the explanation, everyone clenched their fists. They had thought they had escaped the danger, but it was clear now that the threat still persisted.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. At least for now, we are safe..." Zhang Xuan said, smiling when he saw their grim faces. He said no more and looked around the courtyard.

This courtyard was wider than the previous one, with a large gate on each of its east, west, south, and north sides. The wall they had just crashed through had now fully restored itself, blending seamlessly with the rest of the structure. Without careful observation, one wouldn't be able to tell where they had entered.

"Which way do we go?" They definitely couldn't go back through the wall they had just entered, or they would fall back into danger. How should they choose among the four gates?

"Master Zhang..." Everyone turned to look at him simultaneously. Having experienced multiple crises, all of which Master Zhang had resolved, everyone had developed a deep trust in him.

"I'm not quite sure either..." Zhang Xuan shook his head. Since the formation wasn't currently active, he couldn't form the corresponding book in the Path of Heaven Library. Naturally, he didn't know where its flaws lay.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan said, "You all wait here. I'll just go into one and try..." The most important thing now was to get the formation running so he could find its flaws. Just waiting there would certainly be useless.

"Alright..." Everyone nodded.

Zhang Xuan took a deep breath, chose a direction, and was about to walk towards it when he saw the large gate before him slowly open with a creaking sound.

Whoosh! The moment the gate opened, a wind blade shot towards the group, cutting the surrounding air like paper.

"Quick, get down..." Master Wu's expression changed, and he shouted urgently.

"Just a wind blade, watch me cleave it with my strength..." An elder from Cloud Vacancy Academy said dismissively, with a faint smile. A massive axe appeared in his palm, and he chopped it down fiercely.

Whoosh! The massive axe, despite its power, offered no resistance upon contact with the wind blade and was instantly cut into two pieces. Before the elder could even react, his palm and body were sliced in half.

"What..." Cold sweat immediately poured down everyone's faces. Wu Tianqiong, in particular, almost fainted. The weapon this elder used, while unknown to others, Wu Tianqiong knew very well was considered peak among superb spirit artifacts. For something so powerful to not even last half a breath against the wind blade was terrifying!

"It's cutting through space..." President Han muttered in a low voice, no longer daring to hesitate, and quickly lay down on the ground. After the wind blade cut through, although everything appeared normal, divine perception could not penetrate the affected area. This indicated that above and below the wind blade, space had been severed, creating two distinct realms.

Everyone lay down, and as the wind blade swept over their heads, they felt their skin crawl. Zhang Xuan's entire body stiffened; he didn't dare to move. Although his physical body had reached the level of a Saint artifact, it would likely still be vulnerable against such a bizarre wind blade. It was better to be careful.

Creak! The wind blade swept over their heads. Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had escaped the danger, they heard the large gate behind them open again, followed by a diagonal wind blade sweeping towards them.

"Oh no!" One wind blade alone had almost made them faint from fright. With two coming at once, how could they possibly defend? However, it wasn't over. The remaining two large gates opened again, and two more wind blades shot out from different angles, sealing off all possible escape routes for the group.

"No, if this continues, we'll all be killed eventually..." Master Wu couldn't help but exclaim. Although they could scatter and dodge the current wind blade attacks, as the number and power of the blades increased, they would eventually be cut down here. This meant... that this courtyard was even more terrifying than the previous one!

Understanding the danger, Zhang Xuan quickly found a flaw in the formation, shouted, and immediately rushed towards a particular direction. Everyone followed closely.

Before long, they entered another courtyard. This courtyard also featured a bizarre formation, but instead of wind blades, it contained traps. They narrowly escaped, but just like before, a master teacher elder was permanently left behind. They continued forward, rushing through two more courtyards, and losing two more people. They finally stopped in a small courtyard, and seeing no immediate mechanisms or traps for the time being, they gasped for breath, their faces pale.

Since entering the Celestial Palace, only a few minutes had passed, yet four combat masters and four elders had died in succession. This was more casualties than all previous trials combined, causing everyone to fall into stunned silence.

"If we keep going like this, there will surely be an endless succession of small formations," President Han couldn't help but say. "We might all die here..."

Everyone nodded. He was right. The numerous small formations before them were layered endlessly, with no end in sight. Continuing onward would only become more dangerous. If one or two people died in each trial, and they only numbered twenty-something in total, they would likely all perish here after just a few more trials.

"Then what do we do?" Everyone looked over.

"No matter how powerful a formation, it requires someone to control it," President Han explained. "Otherwise, it's like water without a source or a tree without roots! The reason we are so passive right now is because that Otherworldly Demon is controlling the formation. If we can find him and kill him, the formation will automatically break..." A formation without a controller, like the previous Boundless Realm and Black Extinction Sands, though dangerous, could be easily exited if the right method was found. However, this current formation, where every courtyard has a bizarre setup, means that blindly forcing their way through without a target would be like constantly falling into traps, with no possibility of escape.

"President Han is right," Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement. "The best way is to kill Red Leaf King!" They were in the open, while their opponent was in the dark. It was clear that the enemy was watching their movements and activating the formations accordingly. Remaining passive like this, they would eventually all be killed!

"Red Leaf King?" Everyone looked over.

"Yes," Zhang Xuan explained, "the one who just spoke is Red Leaf King, ranked second among the Top Ten Kings of Qingtian. He's even more terrifying than Jade Leaf King and Stone Leaf King!"

"I've read books about the Qingtian lineage," Master Wu said, his face twitching. "They are a branch of the Otherworldly Demons. Among their Top Ten Kings, the Heavenly, Red, Jade, Stone, and Fire Kings are revered as the top five... If it's Red Leaf King who has trapped us, it will be extremely difficult to escape... And even if we face him directly, we probably aren't his match!" As a Master Teacher from the Qingyuan Master Teacher Pavilion, Master Wu was very familiar with the Otherworldly Demons in the region. Each of the Top Ten Kings of Qingtian was terrifyingly powerful and not to be trifled with.

"Quite self-aware, aren't you... Hehe!" No sooner had Master Wu finished speaking than the ominous voice from before resounded again.