Chapter 653: Great Demon 16

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, Tan You’s hands flew through a series of seals. The Spiritual Power of heaven and earth was drawn in, transforming into one arcane array pattern after another. At the same time, over a thousand top-grade Spirit Stones flew from her sleeves, embedding themselves neatly into the Array.

The Nine-tailed Fox asked in surprise, "Don’t we need to break through their Mountain Protection Array?"

Tan You tilted her head back to look at the sky. "No need. This will only make them more terrified."

"They believed their Mountain Protection Array was indestructible, yet they can only watch helplessly as their little turtle shell is shattered. Just thinking about it... it’s truly delightful."

A grunt rumbled from Cang Long. "The way you talk, you don’t sound like a good person at all."

Tan You smiled. "Being a good person is too difficult. As long as I can act with a clear conscience, that’s enough."

The moment the Array took its final form, the Spirit Beast Garden erupted into chaos. The Array contained patterns for a reverse master-servant contract, and all the formerly contracted spiritual beasts simultaneously recited the incantation a little mouse had taught them.

Soon, after a sharp pain in their seas of consciousness, the spiritual beasts were astonished to find they had truly turned the tables and become the masters. The Cultivators who had once taken whatever they pleased from them were, in an instant, reversed into their servants.

With so much pent-up anger released in a single moment, some of the more hot-tempered beasts immediately killed the Cultivators who had once bound them. Others, more patient, weren’t in a hurry to settle scores and instead focused on escaping the Tianyuan Sect first.

In the vast Tianyuan Sect, the number of Cultivators who had contracted spiritual beasts was enormous, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the sect. Now that the master-servant contracts had been reversed, the Cultivators naturally sensed the change.

These Cultivators had always considered themselves superior beings, and now they had suddenly become the servants of spiritual beasts. Who among them could possibly accept such a fate? Disregarding the late hour, the main hall of the Tianyuan Sect quickly filled with Cultivators.

The weakest among these Cultivators were at the Foundation Establishment Stage, while the strongest were at the Mahayana Realm, just a single step away from ascension. Now, their lives were held in the claws of spiritual beasts—the very same creatures they had once so thoroughly despised. How could they possibly accept it?

The expressions of the several Mahayana Realm ancestors were grim. Weren’t they here for the very same reason—because they too had contracted spiritual beasts? With their ascension so close, they never imagined such a calamity would befall them.

One could say that with a single thought from these spiritual beasts, the Tianyuan Sect would instantly fall from its position as the top sect in the Cultivation World to a mere third-rate one. The master-servant contract was just that absolute.

"Speak. What in the world happened?" A wizened elder’s gaze burned like a torch as he stared at the Cultivators in the main hall. He had been the first to sense that something was amiss. He was considered an expert in the Array Dao, but even so, how could he have predicted this? Tan You simply refused to play by the rules.

A small mark had now appeared between the elder’s brows—the very sigil of a master-servant contract.

"How did the spiritual beasts manage this? I’ve never heard of them being capable of using Arrays."

"What are we going to do? Our lives now hang on the whims of these spiritual beasts?"

"Martial Uncle, Martial Ancestor, I don’t want to die..."

The main hall was a mess of emotions: some were fuming with rage, some were wailing inconsolably, some were trembling with anxiety, and others were simply sunk in despair. Those in despair were, of course, the ones who had once abused their spiritual beasts. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that with their positions now reversed, they were unlikely to meet a pleasant end.

Just as the panic reached its peak, a dense barrage of Heavenly Thunder descended from the sky, striking every corner of the Tianyuan Sect indiscriminately.

The moment the web of lightning descended, the sect’s grand array flared to life. Just as a glimmer of hope appeared in the Cultivators’ eyes, the Mountain Protection Array withstood only three waves of the Heavenly Thunder before dissipating into nothingness.

"Martial Uncle, the Mountain Protection Array has been breached!" The Sect Leader dug his nails into his palm, his face a mask of panic. ’Is today the day the Tianyuan Sect is destroyed? What terrible karma have we brought upon ourselves?’

"I see it... Who in the entire Cultivation World possesses such mastery of the Array Dao?"

"Such a complex Array, capable of harnessing Heavenly Thunder... and we are trapped inside it..." The old Cultivator stared at the Array suspended above them and muttered to himself, "I have a feeling that not even an Immortal Monarch could escape this."

"You’ve got a sharp eye to have figured that out." A cold female voice rang out as Tan You, Cang Long, and the other Great Demons appeared together. This time, they did not take human form, instead revealing their own massive, true bodies.

Only Tan You, clad in silver, stood among the Great Demons. Framed by their colossal forms, her figure appeared exceptionally petite. Yet she was so striking that she was impossible to miss.

"Demons? Why are there so many demons?"

"How did these demons find their way to our Tianyuan Sect?"

"Martial Grand-Uncle, help us!"

The Sect Leader forced himself to steady his nerves. He glanced at Tan You, his eyes sweeping rapidly over the Nine-tailed Fox, Cang Long, Red Flame Tiger, and the other demons at her side. Only then did he give a slight bow. "May I ask for what reason you Seniors have so abruptly entered our Tianyuan Sect?"

Tan You let out a soft laugh, her gaze sweeping past the handful of Mahayana Realm Cultivators.

"Over two hundred years ago, Cultivators from your esteemed sect abducted Bai Ze and laid an Array in its territory. For all these years, your sect has used a teleportation array to kidnap thousands of demons from the Ten-Direction Great Mountain, including no small number of plant spirits."

"If it weren’t for—"

Before Tan You could continue, she felt several hostile Divine Senses lock onto her. Moments later, a barrage of attacks flew her way. But just before they could strike, several more bolts of Heavenly Thunder descended from above, halting their assault in its tracks.

Tan You remained unflustered. "Cultivators will be Cultivators. As long as you have not ascended, you will not escape my God Trapping Array."

She looked mockingly at the Sect Leader and the other high-ranking Cultivators. "Hand over Bai Ze of my clan, and we can still talk."

Cang Long was not pleased. "What’s there to talk about? Let’s just kill them all and be done with it. We can tear this place apart to find Bai Ze afterward. I refuse to believe we can’t find him after we level the entire Tianyuan Sect!"

Tan You just smiled. "We are civilized demons, so naturally, we should act in a civilized manner. How could we be as shameless as them? Besides, not everyone here deserves to die. We can’t just go on a wanton slaughter. You know as well as I do, the powers that be are already biased."

As Tan You spoke, a bolt of Heavenly Thunder struck with pinpoint accuracy right beside her, merely singeing the corner of her robes. Unfazed, she continued, "So I’m not even allowed to speak the truth now? Your beloved Human Clan has committed such inhumane atrocities, and yet you still favor them."

"The Demon Clan retreated to the Ten-Direction Great Mountain. We minded our own business and stayed out of the Human Clan’s way, but what did they do? The young of my clan are forcibly separated from their families, while Human Clan Cultivators trample over the blood and tears of the Demon Clan. They suck the very marrow from our bones, and at the slightest displeasure, they grind our remains to dust."

"What kind of place is the Spirit Beast Garden? You’ve seen it. Is any of this fair to the Demon Clan?"

"We all live in this Cultivation World, so by what right do only humans get to use master-servant contracts? Why must the Demon Clan be forced to serve the Human Clan?"