Junior Sister must ascend this time!

It took Si Mingche and Lu Xingzhou working together to hold Ye Xuan back. They didn't understand why he was suddenly so strong when he wasn't so difficult to fight just now.

Ye Xuan glared at them fiercely, sending a chill down their spines. They vowed never to upset a girl again.

After listening, Yun clapped her hands and stood up. She felt that the Immortal Alliance's conspiracy was not limited to these.

"Now that the questions are all asked, it's time to talk about cooperation."

"Impossible!" Su Han refused swiftly. "I will not cooperate with you, and I will never betray the Immortal Alliance!"

Yun Qing smiled, "Why don't you hear my conditions first and then consider it?"

"Don't worry, I won't let you do anything harmful to the Immortal Alliance. You only need to do two things: First, after you go back, don't mention what happened in the secret room to anyone."

Secondly, if your alliance leader suddenly takes any unusual actions against the Seven Sects, let me know. You don't need to steal anything; just tell me what you saw. And I promise you, as long as you're willing to cooperate, I will return your storage ring to you intact.

"real?"

Su Han was somewhat tempted. This way, he wouldn't be considered a betrayal of the Immortal Alliance, he could complete the task given by the Alliance Leader, and his junior brothers and sisters wouldn't be implicated.

He glanced hesitantly at his two junior brothers besides Ye Xuan. But they had grown up in the Immortal Alliance since childhood, and their loyalty to the alliance was no less than his. Wouldn't they despise his behavior?

Just as he was contemplating dying heroically, his two junior brothers kept their eyes downcast and their minds at ease. Finally, one of them said, "Junior brother, I think there's something wrong with my ears. I can't hear a lot of things being said."

Another chimed in, "Yeah, my memory's gotten worse too, I can't remember a lot of things. Let's get some pills after we leave the secret realm."

As for Ye Xuan, knowing about the Immortal Alliance's conspiracy, she naturally wouldn't expose Su Han.

She also nodded slightly to Su Han.

Seeing the three people's attitudes, Su Han understood everything. He said to Yun Qing, "I will only agree to this one thing. I will absolutely not help you with anything else."

"Can."

Yun Qing readily tossed the storage ring to Su Han.

Upon receiving the message, Su Han immediately probed the contents with his divine sense to confirm whether the items inside were still there.

Si Mingche opened his fan to block Su Han's view and whispered in Yun Qing's ear, "Junior Sister, are we really just going to return this core map of the spiritual vein to him like that?"

"Of course not." Yun Qing shrugged. "Where do you think Second Senior Sister went after disappearing for so long?"

Si Mingche understood immediately. "So the one you gave him was fake? Won't the Immortal Alliance Leader find out?"

Yun Qing shook her head, "No, because the one I gave him was genuine."

Si Mingche looked puzzled; he couldn't quite keep up with his junior sister's train of thought.

Yun Qing continued, "There's only one map of the spiritual vein's core, which is why it's so precious. What if one of the seven sects also possesses one?"

"I had my second senior sister make a copy. I will give it to the Seven Sects once we leave the secret realm. That way, if the Immortal Alliance wants to do anything with the Spirit Vein Core Map, the Seven Sects can take precautions."

Si Mingche gave a sincere thumbs up, "Brilliant, Junior Sister!"

Then, the ninth bell rang, and the celebration officially began.

Yun Qing and the others left the secret chamber. As they passed a pond, Yun Qing stopped. The aura seemed somewhat familiar…

At this moment, the law enforcement elder Shou'an walked towards them.

Yun Qing thought he had come to interrogate her, and was about to explain something when Elder Shou'an gently tapped her forehead with his whisk.

"You've been running around again! The celebration is about to begin. Come with me to the main hall to watch the ceremony. The ancestor's image will appear later to teach you cultivation techniques. Don't miss it."

He turned his head to look at Pei Shubai and the others, "You guys hurry up and catch up too."

Yun Qing was somewhat touched. She had indeed called him "Master" on a whim, but the old man truly regarded her as his disciple.

"Understood, Master! Thank you~"

Elder Shou'an chuckled and stroked his beard. "You're so sweet-talking."

The group stood at the back of the main hall plaza. The sect leader and the elders stepped forward one by one from the high platform of the main hall. The process proceeded step by step according to the steps of the celebration: offering sacrifices to heaven, displaying formations, and disciples performing martial arts. Everything was proceeding according to the predetermined rhythm.

At the end of the celebration, the sect leader walked to the high platform and said loudly, "Do you all know what the greatest mission of my Lingxu Sect is?"

A newly arrived disciple boldly asked, "Sect Leader! Shouldn't we strive to cultivate diligently and protect the cultivation world?"

The sect leader smiled and shook his head. "Yes and no."

She stood with her hands behind her back and said solemnly, "The first patriarch used himself as a guide to seal the Heavenly Demon into the earth veins of the Lingxu Mountain Range, and then used the entire mountain range as the base to set up layers of seals. The Lingxu Sect exists to guard this seal."

"Therefore you must remember, if the seal of the Heavenly Demon ever loosens, our Lingxu Sect will protect the cultivation world even if it means our sect's annihilation, understand?"

Yun Qing could hear the whispers of some disciples around her, which were kept very low, but they still reached her ears:

"This Heavenly Demon is a remnant from before the birth of the Heavenly Dao. It has no physical form and cannot be killed. If it breaks through the seal, can we really stop it with our power?"

"That's definitely not going to work! What will we gain besides losing our lives?"

"That's right, what was the sect leader thinking? Why send all the disciples of the Spirit Ruins Sect to their deaths? Is the Spirit Ruins Sect the only sect in the entire cultivation world? Why can't the other sects unite to resist?"

The murmurs in the square grew louder. The young disciples, who had initially been whispering, were now shouting:

"Sect Leader, we don't want to die in vain! Why should only our Lingxu Sect guard this seal?!"

The sect leader stood on the high platform, looking at the young faces below, and remained silent for a long time.

She didn't reprimand them; it was only natural. She remembered that when her master told her these things when she first entered the sect, she had the same reaction.

"You're right. This seal should have been guarded by the entire cultivation world."

"But if our patriarch had been like us and unwilling to stand up back then, where would the Lingxu Sect be? Where would this peaceful cultivation world of ten thousand years be?"

Though I am alone, I will go.

The square fell silent immediately; no one spoke anymore.

Just then, a black tide surged up the sky, turning the clear sky into ink, and a muffled sound like a heartbeat came from the depths of the earth, causing the protective mountain array to hum and wail.

The ground seemed to be forcibly torn open by thousands of hands, and wisps of black energy surged out from the cracks. Then, the black energy surged and gathered in the center of the square, like living things forcibly pulled out from the depths of the earth.

They twisted together in mid-air, gradually condensing into a blurry humanoid outline. It had no facial features, no physical form, only a constantly writhing mass of darkness, emanating a powerful pressure that enveloped everyone in the square.

The sect leader leaped to the front of the plaza, blocking all the disciples' path. "Not good! The Heavenly Demon has broken the seal! Shou'an, take the new disciples and leave!"

She thought of those innocent yet vibrant faces, and in the end, she couldn't bear it; they were all her children.

"They shouldn't have to bear this burden."

With that, she drew her longsword and thrust it toward the center of the Heavenly Demon.