The Immortal Alliance now needed great powers of high virtue like Lan Shuying to charge into battle,
and elders like him to stabilize the rear.
This placed an even heavier burden on Lan Shuying.
The day the Demonic Sect forces breached Supreme Harmony Sect was when they received intelligence and arrived just as Lan Shuying hurriedly went back into seclusion for her breakthrough.
Mu Daoying could not join the front lines. Instead, he and two other young talents were stationed outside the sect master’s hall to guard Lan Shuying.
Demonic soldiers quickly killed their way into the front square. Looking up, a verdant peak pierced the sky like a sword. Immortal Alliance cultivators held the peak’s summit, firmly guarding the final defensive line.
The air carried the salty, hot scent of sea wind. On the mountain and below, black and white tides converged.
The sea waves stilled as the two sides faced off.
Word spread that Mu Daoying guarded that hall door atop the mountain.
One demonic general sneered lightly. “You lot—Mu Daoying is nothing but Our Old Mother’s former skirt-chaser, kneeling to lick her feet. And now he’s leading troops?”
“Pathetic! If I were you, with a commander like that, I’d be so ashamed I’d kill myself!”
The other Immortal Alliance cultivators showed anger.
“You scaled and armored beasts, shameless wretches—shut your filthy mouths!”
The demonic general raised his voice mockingly, his tone booming like thunder as he challenged the hall door atop the mountain.
“Mu Daoying! Are you coming out or not?! Are you even a man? You groveled beneath Our Old Mother back then, and now you’re playing turtle?”
“What’s the point of fighting here?” the demonic general taunted. “Why not go compare with Our Old Mother in bed?”
Laughter erupted from the demonic soldiers and generals behind him.
Seeing their commander so insulted, the Immortal Alliance cultivators gritted their teeth, faces flushed with rage.
In front of Supreme Harmony Sect’s sect master hall.
“Ning Xia.” Zhao Yange looked at Mu Daoying with deep worry.
He had been assigned here today as well, to guard Lan Shuying. The demonic general had infused his voice with demonic qi, carrying it clearly, which worried Zhao Yange.
But Mu Daoying remained calm and indifferent. “No need to worry. I’m fine.”
Zhao Yange said, “Don’t hold back on our account. That demonic scum’s mouth is foul—even I want to shut him up hearing it! Go teach him a lesson if you want; we’ll hold the line for the sect master!”
Mu Daoying was momentarily speechless. He truly felt no shame.
His only concern was that letting the general keep shouting might shake the troops’ morale.
As he thought about it, he looked up and met the gazes of his colleagues—some sympathetic, some worried, all cautious.
Their eyes treated him like a fragile glass figure.
Mu Daoying:
“…”
Letting that demonic general keep yapping about his affair with Liu Qiao’e was no solution either.
After a silent moment, he finally accepted his colleagues’ good intentions and nodded lightly. “I’ll go take a look.”
He fully understood their worries.
When he had first returned to the Immortal Alliance, Shen Chengyin, Zhao Yange, and the others thought he was heartbroken and never dared mention Liu Qiao’e’s name in front of him.
Liu Qiao’e—
Mu Daoying silently recited the name. Once, just thinking of it felt like breathing in shards of glass. Now, he could discuss it calmly in council halls, plotting with others how to deal with her.
He still remembered that intense, heart-wrenching state of mind back then.
Times changed. He had seen the Demonic Sect’s cruelty and brutality, witnessed colleagues die miserably on the battlefield.
Clinging to that bit of romance—how could he face his fallen comrades?
He still thought of her every day, but now it was about how to defeat her, eliminate her, drive Encounter Spring into her heart, and win this battle between righteousness and evil.
As he pondered, he had already arrived at the outskirts of the mountain peak.
Looking down, black banners fluttered like a sea. The demon leading this ocean of troops was still mocking his scandalous affair with Liu Qiao’e.
Mu Daoying walked over and asked the young commander, “How is it going?”
His appearance drew the gazes of all the Immortal Alliance soldiers onto him.
Yet his face remained calm and refined, ignoring the crowd’s unusual stares. He stood firm on the mountaintop and gazed intently at the demon general.
The young commander replied, “They didn’t dare act rashly. They only shouted some… shouted some… filthy words.”
As he spoke, he grew indignant. “Do they really think they can shake our morale?”
He glanced at Mu Daoying, thought for a moment, then said something to his subordinates on either side.
His personal guards immediately shouted back in unison toward the base of the mountain.
“Our commander has come out! Where is your Old Mother? Does she dare show herself?!”
Mu Daoying was momentarily stunned. Before he could stop them, he heard them shout again:
“Perhaps your Old Mother is so debauched that she once lusted after the Jade Sword’s beauty and begged for his love in every way, only to be discarded by our elder like a worn-out shoe!”
“A mere discarded wife! What now? You spineless soldiers led by this discarded wife dare to come here and make a scene?!”
He frowned, feeling that continuing this slander was truly inappropriate. Just as he was about to intervene, a brilliant meteor streaked across the daytime sky and suddenly plummeted into the black ocean below the mountain.
With a boom, the black sea surged with waves.
Even the white sea atop the mountain grew restless.
The two stagnant oceans suddenly flowed anew, all because of one person’s arrival!
That person landed gracefully beside the demon general, robes fluttering.
A hearty laugh rang out. “Well said!”
Hearing the crowd slander her bedroom affairs, Liu Qiao’e showed no anger. Instead, a mocking sneer curled at her lips.
Her black hair whipped in the wind, her brows and eyes fierce. She surveyed her surroundings, looking down arrogantly on the masses, exuding utter wantonness!
“Keep talking! This Seat enjoys listening!”
Her gaze shifted like lightning.
Mu Daoying met her eyes!
The two locked gazes across the void!
Liu Qiao’e flicked her wrist, and the Blood Rakshasa turned into a blood-red line. In a flash, it shot dozens of zhang away, crossing between the two armies!
Another flash, and it was already at the throat of the Immortal Alliance cultivator who had shouted the loudest!
“Talk! Why stop now? Let the whole world hear how Mu Daoying used to serve me in bed back then!”
“Jade Sword True Heart, nothing but a male pet.”
The Immortal Alliance cultivator’s face changed drastically as he barely suppressed the urge to turn and flee.
At that moment, a snow-white sword light shot into the sky.
It clashed with the red line, producing a clang and a shower of sparks!
“E-Elder Mu.”
The Immortal Alliance cultivator’s eyes widened slightly. Amid the flashing sparks, he glimpsed a pale, sickly face.
Mu Daoying frowned slightly, his expression thick with disapproval.
Due to the lingering illness from having his bone dug out back then, the young commander was wrapped in a thick fox-fur cloak. His brows were faint, his eyes faint, and his lips nearly bloodless.
He sheathed his sword, coughed once, then spoke. “This is a clash between two armies. How can we treat it like child’s play? Do not speak such frivolous words again.”
His voice was thread-thin, sounding weak and feeble.
Yet no one present dared interrupt him.
It was precisely because everyone knew of the scandal between the two commanders that their reunion now plunged the surroundings into an eerie silence.
Seeing his calm and detached demeanor from afar, serene and aloof, Liu Qiao’e felt a slight pang in her heart, like it was stuffed with a huge clump of cotton—uncomfortable.
He had clearly grown a great deal. The look in his eyes toward her held neither sorrow nor joy, neither anger nor desire.
Though she had been the one to drive him away back then, on the battlefield reuniting with her old flame after so long, she still harbored some hope deep down that he would show agitation or complexity, that he still pined for her.
However, Mu Daoying’s calm gaze, devoid of any emotion, made her face darken. A flash of sour, complex feelings surged in her heart.
Love or hate, fine—but how could it be like this?!
Could it be that their past love and hate were all fake? To him, it was merely an experience for tempering his Dao heart, something he could see through with ease?
But before she could grow angry, Mu Daoying in the distance slowly frowned and clutched at his chest over his robes.
His face instantly turned deathly pale, as if enduring immense pain.
The cultivators around him grew tense. “Elder Mu!!”
Liu Qiao’e was stunned. Suddenly recalling something, her heart eased like spring winds melting rain. She burst into laughter, which grew louder and more unrestrained, filled with the thrill of vengeance!
“Back then, I planted a Life-Death Talisman in you. After returning to the Immortal Alliance, they should have removed it for you.”
“But why, Elder Mu, does your heart still ache upon seeing me?”
Mu Daoying’s expression changed drastically. He could no longer feign indifference.
His smooth chest bore no trace of the ephemeral flower pattern.
He had thought himself enlightened by now—without love or hate, without emotion or desire. Facing Liu Qiao’e, he would feel no stirrings at all.
Yet amid this clash of armies under countless eyes, the moment their gazes met, his heart still throbbed with sharp pain!
The righteous and demonic cultivators alike were stunned by her words.
“Do not listen to her nonsense,” Mu Daoying endured the pain and slowly stood. He said lightly, “Merely remnants of the Life-Death Talisman.”
He turned to instruct his subordinates, emphasizing, “Alliance Leader Lan is in a critical phase of secluded cultivation. We absolutely cannot let the demons breach. Please join me, everyone.”
He loosened his clenched fingers on his robe and met Liu Qiao’e’s gaze. Slowly and deliberately, he declared, “We will carve out peace.”