Chapter 277: Chapter 171: Who is the Sect Leader?

In his current state, only Gu Zheng could forcibly suppress Tang Qiyun. No one else was a match for him. If he broke free, every general present, Sima Kaite included, would die.

SWOOSH!

In a blur, Gu Zheng grabbed Tang Qiyun and vanished on the spot.

Sima Kaite and the others stood stunned for a moment before they came to their senses.

"Quick, activate the array!"

Sima Kaite’s voice boomed with Divine Wondrous power. "Activate the array! Defend against the enemy!"

"Yes, sir!"

The panicked soldiers scrambled into position, following their drilled procedures.

Several Array Banners began to wave.

SWISH~ SWISH~

A faint radiance emerged. The Array Banners drew upon the vitality of the generals and soldiers, weaving them together to form an invisible Array Dao Power.

Of course, this Array Dao Power relied on Marvels.

The Array Banners were all Marvels.

And the power a Marvel could unleash was tied to the Power of Heaven and Earth.

If there wasn’t a single trace of the Power of Heaven and Earth, the Marvels could hardly exert any of their strength.

The vitality of Mortal Bodies alone was not enough to activate the Array Dao Power.

...

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Gleams of cold light danced and shot through the air.

PSH~ PSH~ PSH!

The sickening sound of sharp blades slicing through flesh echoed throughout the camp.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +21]

[Demon Points +19]

...

Divine Slaves!

The source of the chaos—the beastly roars and the eruption of slaughter—was a few dozen soldiers. They had suddenly transformed into Divine Slaves.

Carrying Tang Qiyun, Gu Zheng flew through the air. His three hundred and sixty blades shot out, swiftly slaughtering the Divine Slaves one by one and reaping a harvest of Demon Points.

As Tang Qiyun, who was still conscious, watched this scene, his pupils dilated in utter terror.

Whether they were Divine Slaves or Divine Attendants made no difference; before Gu Zheng’s flying blades, they were all the same.

’They can’t even take anyone down with them!’

SHING SHING~!

PSH~ PSH!

The whistling of blades continued.

Three breaths later, the roaring stopped.

The fifty-some soldiers who had transformed into Divine Slaves were all slaughtered.

Gu Zheng reaped a little over a thousand Demon Points.

"Thank you, Grand General Gu!"

Sima Kaite hurried over, bowing to Gu Zheng from the ground. "If it weren’t for you, Grand General Gu, our casualties would have likely surpassed a thousand."

In just that short time, the Divine Slaves had already caused over a hundred casualties.

One could only imagine that without Gu Zheng, casualties would have easily surpassed a thousand by the time they managed to activate the array and wear down the enemies.

"It was nothing."

Gu Zheng raised a hand and said nonchalantly, "We’ll test the military array’s power next time. Let’s stop here for today; treating the wounded is the priority."

With that, he grabbed Tang Qiyun, soared into the sky, and sped away from the camp.

"Farewell, Grand General Gu!"

Sima Kaite shouted his farewell.

He waited until Gu Zheng’s figure had completely vanished from sight before looking away and taking a deep breath.

"See to the wounded!"

Sima Kaite’s expression was grim as he waved his hand.

’A general under my command actually defected to the Evil God and became some kind of Evil Cult Guardian!’

’And there were dozens of Cultists hiding in the barracks!’

’Yet I, the General, hadn’t noticed a thing.’

’Thank goodness Gu Zheng showed up today to expose Tang Qiyun, forcing the other Cultists to reveal themselves.’

’Otherwise, given a little more time, the entire camp might have fallen!’

Sima Kaite was inwardly furious. ’I have to investigate! I must vet every single person, starting with the generals!’

...

On a nameless mountaintop, Gu Zheng slammed Tang Qiyun into the ground with a THUD, creating a deep crater.

As dirt and stone flew, Gu Zheng released a Nether Heart Slave Seal straight into Tang Qiyun’s brain.

"Haha, aren’t you going to kill me... Ugh~!!"

Tang Qiyun, laughing with a morbid, crazed glee, suddenly went rigid. His eyes widened and bulged from their sockets. A look of horror, struggle, and madness flooded his gaze, but it soon vanished. In its place was only submission, reverence, and clarity.

"Huuu..."

With a long exhale, Tang Qiyun’s body cracked and popped as it shrank back to its normal size.

He then knelt on the ground, faced Gu Zheng, and declared, "Tang Qiyun pays his respects to Master!"

"Rise."

Gu Zheng said impassively, "Take me to the strongholds you know of. And I don’t mean the one west of Qianshan Prefecture."

"Yes!"

Tang Qiyun rose respectfully.

Excluding the three strongholds that had already been wiped out, Tang Qiyun knew of two more.

They went to the first one. With Tang Qiyun leading the way, Gu Zheng entered easily. His three hundred and sixty blades flew, and in less than three minutes, he had slaughtered every Cultist in the stronghold, reaping over six thousand Demon Points. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

At the second stronghold, Tang Qiyun once again led the way for an easy entry. Amidst a flurry of flying blades, every Cultist inside was slaughtered, yielding seven thousand Demon Points.

Finally, they made for the Cult of Evil’s Main Altar!

As a Dharma King Protector, Tang Qiyun naturally knew the location of the Main Altar.

The Main Altar was located in Huaiyang Prefecture, hidden within a remote mountain manor less than three miles west of the Prefecture City.

It was originally a private manor, and it covered a vast area.

The Manor Master was also a Cultist. He had once been a powerful figure in the Martial World, but was now a Divine Envoy for the Cult of Evil.

The Main Altar was located underground, built into a converted natural cavern.

With Tang Qiyun taking the lead, they first eliminated the Cultists in the manor before storming the underground.

Once inside the underground cavern, however, they found very few Cultists.

"Where did the others go?"

Wreathed in black miasma, Tang Qiyun grabbed a Divine Attendant and snarled, "Speak! Where did everyone else go!?"

"The Sect... the Sect Leader took them away."

Coughing up blood, the pale-faced Divine Attendant answered weakly, "Two days ago, the Sect Leader took most of our people and went to..."

"Went where?" Tang Qiyun pressed.

"He went... to Nanyun Prefecture. As for where exactly... I don’t know." As the words left his mouth, his head lolled to the side, and he died.

Before he died, his eyes held a lingering look of disbelief.

It was as if he couldn’t comprehend how Tang Qiyun could possibly betray the Sect Leader.

’They went to Nanyun Prefecture?’