Fire was set aflame everywhere.

Swords danced across the hot temperature, with flames wildly reflected on the blade. Light flashed from several angles, shining a brilliant scenery to the mountain.

Several bodies of the demons collapsed.

Blood splattered all over the ground, painting the mountain a vivid colour.

"How many more demons left to go?" Wei Wuxian asked. His back touched Xie Lian's, who was naturally dodging bodies after bodies. The latter answered, "We've eliminated approximately fifty demons. There should be about a hundred left."

They separated, then attacked the demons.

Wei Wuxian unsheathed Suibian, showering the demons with his sword's glare. With three consecutive strikes, the demons fell onto their knees. Meanwhile, Xie Lian only needed one punch of spiritual energy to send his opponents flying. His weak figure did not look like it could possess much of his true power.

On the other side was Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. The couple seemed inseparable.

They frequently slashed their swords, light fraying off from their blades.

Unwilling to be left behind, Lan Zhan and Hua Cheng fought as well. The two husbands exuded of manliness as they wore stern expressions on their face. Blood stained their blades, but that did not bother them at all. With another swing, the blood was eventually swung off.

The one hundred left of demons gradually decreased to eighty.

The fire that was once set aflame had gradually diminished thanks to the viscosity of the blood.

The mountain that used to flourish in greens and nature... had resulted into a burnt crisp.

As the three couples continued to slash down the demons standing before their way, fatigue finally began to show itself. Wei Wuxian felt his ankles pulling himself down. He was unable to move any further...

By his side, Lan Zhan quickly propped him up before they could get clawed by a demon.

"This is a lot more work than I expected." Wei Wuxian huffed. His breathing was unstable, so he had to catch up on his breath.

"Don't worry, Wei-xiong." Xie Lian piped up from behind. "There are only fifty more to go."

In the background, Shen Qingqiu was panting while clutching his stomach. He could barely continue slashing. Any normal cultivator wouldn't have lasted as long as them. "Shizun." Luo Binghe was protecting his lover from the demons, slashing his sword wildly at those who stood before his way. "Take a break, will you? I can handle the rest."

Beads of sweat slid off from Shen Qingqiu's forehead. His eyesight fell onto afar, where Liu Qingge and Qi Qingqi were. The two Peak Masters did not give up. They still fought till the very end.

Wearing a self-deprecating grin, Shen Qingqiu stood up.

Brandishing his sword to the sharpest point, he attacked the hoard of demons again. There was no way he'll lose to his fellow martial siblings!

The horizon was a beautiful colour of sunset. Warmth was grouped up at the centre point, where the sun remained lifelessly settled. Rays of heat collectively spread out its wings, welcoming the battle going on below. It was like the gods had accepted all that happened, and decided to add fuel to the fight.

On the other side, Hua Cheng mercilessly slashed the demons remaining. His stoic face did not give away a single reign of his emotions.

Holding onto his scimitar, E-Ming, Hua Cheng did not even blink as blood gushed out before the demons. Stepping away, he slashed at the others attacking from behind. A circle of twenty demons began to surround him. They then pounded, their claws flying in midair. A tint of amusement played in Hua Cheng's remaining left eye. His tongue clicked on the roof of his mouth.

Abruptly, an explosion of blood concurred.

The demons had all been exploded from inside to out. Their flesh and blood collapsed onto the ground, and their skin could hardly be recognized.

Hua Cheng did not even need to move his sword. He sidestepped out from the pool of blood.

Approaching his beloved, Xie Lian, he smiled seductively. "Gege, there are thirty demons left."

Innocent and gullible, Xie Lian nodded. "Thank you for the reminder, San Lang."

He punched an incoming demon, sending it to collapse at Wei Wuxian's feet. The latter scrambled to unsheathe his sword, and stabbed directly into the demon's head. Another enemy had lost their life.

"Twenty-nine!" Wei Wuxian hollered.

Suddenly, it was like the tides of the battle was theirs to control.

Bodies of even more demons had been shed on the battlefield. Demons collapsed, their endurance output had already reached maximum. They fell, with life fading from their eyes.

Shen Qingqiu sighed. "We'll have to clean up the mountain once more."

Luo Binghe huffed. "What's with the demons attacking Cang Qiong Mountain? It's not like they've got a grudge on us, right?"

He sharpened his sword, then decapitated another demon's head.

As time progressed, the sun began to set. Darkness shrouded at the edges of the sky, with the clouds beginning to fade away. The orb of light was centred where the sun remained, nearby the horizon.

A light breeze shuffled in the wind. A few leaves tousled to the harmonious temperature.

The last demon fell.

Tired, Shen Qingqiu and Wei Wuxian collapsed onto the ground. They tried to catch their breaths, while Xie Lian fanned them with Shen Qingqiu's accessory fan. The three husbands watched in the background, a silly grin plastered over their faces, because they would smile as long as their wives were in their sight.

Baffled at how they could last so long, Liu Qingge and Qi Qingqi had toppled onto the ground.

Their hands were bruised and full of splinters from wielding their sword for such a long time. The skin of their finger knuckles had already began to peel apart.

Seeing that the bodies of demons were rotting on the mountain, the two Peak Masters did not bother anymore. They quickly scurried back to the formation that protected the disciples, hoping to inform their Sect Master and the remaining Peak Masters of the great battle they've won.

"We did it." Wei Wuxian panted.

By his side on the ground, Shen Qingqiu huffed. "No shit, Dora."

Nobody questioned the strange word he just spat out. They were too focused on their victory to even care-

Abruptly, Xie Lian's golden eyes thinned. He could sense a sudden presence that was way more powerful than the demons from before. And that presence was exuding a scary killing intent at himself.

Without an explanation, he quickly broke a branch off from the tree beside.

Naturally, everyone else noticed.

Hua Cheng wanted to ask what was up. He couldn't feel it, after all, the killing intent wasn't directed at himself. Otherwise, the Ghost King would've squashed the pesky fly in mere seconds.

"I'm really unlucky to be targeted first." Xie Lian muffled out a short gasp.

Hurriedly flowing his spiritual energy into the branch, he was ready for the incoming attack. Suddenly, a sharp clang arose in the atmosphere. The force was enough to snap the entire hemisphere into half. The sturdy hard branch full of Xie Lian's spiritual energy had a crack broken into it.

Surprise and shock filled everyone's mind.

Their attention settled on the attacker; a demon wielding a longsword.

The figure of the demon was sturdy. He wore black tight robes, with a white belt carved of a illustrious dragon on the cover. The clothes had enunciated his muscles, showing off a finely ripened body shape, permeating of absolute masculinity. His skin was a tanned tone, darker than normal cultivators, yet made him appear even more ravishing.

Underneath his large and refined hands were many streams of veins, squirming from the intense pressure and strength. He held his longsword, which had its blade extended longer than normal swords'. The hilt of the sword was a demonic colour of crimson red.

A sword tassel of fine black and white silk had been attached on the hilt. It flew around and clung onto the longsword, going crazy from the strongly riled up wind.

"You're strong." The demon spoke. His voice was deep and sturdy, while rid of emotions.

He sounded as if he was completely unaffiliated with society.

Then, he withdrew his longsword. It revealed a long crack from the branch, which then shattered into crisps and dust.

Xie Lian stepped backwards, watching the demon before him carefully.

He asked, "Were you the one that planned this attack?"

The demon arched an eyebrow. "Yes." His face was devilishly handsome, with a scar of a star etched on the left side of his forehead.

He then positioned his longsword again, ready for another attack.

Xie Lian dropped the broken branch, grabbing another one from the nearby tree. Another attack came, and he blocked the astonishing strength with the spiritual-energy-filled-branch.

Another crack exposed itself.

The branch broke into smithereens, so Xie Lian grabbed onto another branch.

The same attack and block happened over and over again. However, the speed used to perform those actions were out of the world! Xie Lian and the demon's figures could barely be followed with the naked eye! All Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Zhan saw were the brief collisions and separations of the two figures. Hua Cheng's left eye thinned dangerously.

Sparks flung off from the broken branch and longsword.

Gradually, the tree nearby started to bald of its branches. Xie Lian was running out of options, so he just began to dodge the incoming attacks.

As they continued the combat, a mad smile fell on the demon's face.

He withdrew from attacking any further. "I suppose I can give you my name for entertaining me."

Xie Lian arched an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt.

"I am the Five Strikes Demon, Bo Fan." The demon wore a composed smile, which made Hua Cheng have a great itch to punch directly at it. "I only need five strikes to kill you."

Xie Lian's lips curved upwards. "Oh really?"

He stepped backwards a bit. "So far, you've been already slashing at me twelve times already. It's been over five times, how come I'm not dead?"

Bo Fan frowned. Dark lines ran across his face. "I meant five slashes. Not five times."

Xie Lian nodded. "I can see that, since I'm still standing before you."

The frown on Bo Fan's face had only deepened. "Talk less, fight more." He raised his longsword again, intending to pour in superb strength once more. However, his focus was cut off by an earth shattering sound, enough to alert any animal from a mile afar.

"What is it!" Bo Fan scowled.

He shot a glare at Wei Wuxian, who had already stood up from the ground. The red-clothed cultivator held his black bamboo flute, Chengqing underneath his mouth. He blew a sharp cry, which echoed from several miles away from him.

The sound wasn't melodious. It contained a dark atmosphere, heavy enough to beguile a person's chest into collapsing. Melancholy filled the tragic melody, narrowing down until the sound finally faded away.

"What was that for?" Bo Fan snapped. His eyes held a dangerous glint of violence.

Wei Wuxian shrugged. He smiled, "It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, would it?"

Ignoring Wei Wuxian, Bo Fan continued to advance. He charged at Xie Lian, who effortlessly dodged every attack with furrowed brows. They were so fast that not even one of them could go in and help! Instead, they could only rely on Xie Lian!

Annoyed at the fact of gaining no deaths, Bo Fan slammed his longsword against the ground.

Time seemed to stop at the collision.

Then, the backlash occurred.

A humongous quake shuddered through the ground, growing no littler than an earthquake. It was like the mountain came alive, with its stomach growling in starvation. The rocks quivered, and the roots of several large trees snapped. An enormous crack formed on the ground, reaching to the depths of almost touching base upon lava!

Xie Lian instantly understood that Bo Fan; the demon was dangerous.

In reality, he doesn't even need five strikes to kill someone. Five strikes was only being generous.

"Afraid?" Bo Fan met Xie Lian's eyes. The latter smiled back, unwilling to back down without trying. His golden pupils flashed a brilliant light. "I've seen worse."

They continued their one-sided fight, not slowing down even a single bit.

Suddenly, another rumble came from under the ground. The two figures abruptly stopped fighting, looking at one another in confusion. Bo Fan was puzzled. "What is this shaking?" Don't tell him that Cang Qiong Mountain was about to collapse!?!

Contrary to his expectations, Wei Wuxian began laughing. "You have a new opponent. Make sure to greet each other well."

Then, a giant tremor passed.

The figure of a well-built masculine man popped out from underground, breaking several rocks and ground roots in return. His skin was unnaturally pale, while the blue veins underneath were convulsing from exuding pure strength and adrenaline. The pale man wore garments and robes that were torn so badly, they looked like cheap rags.

By his wrists were thick black metal chains, dangling down to connect with the chains on his ankles. The man's hair was sprawled over his back messily. However, he was a corpse. There was no reason to tidy himself up and behave like an alive being.

The fierce corpse jumped up and down, throwing the dirt off of himself.

He was the Ghost General, Wen Ning!

In Wen Ning's hands was an object; a signal firework! Without further ado, Wen Ning threw the cylinder-shaped object into Wei Wuxian's hands.

The latter caught it effortlessly. A silly smile fell on Wei Wuxian's lips.

He smiled softly. "I'm calling for backup. I hope he sees this."

Lighting the signal firework on fire, a burst of light shot up into the sky. The light began to take form, shattering into a stunningly divine shape. It was as if the light grew wings, taking flight, and flying straight into the pitch-black sky. The firework took form into a lotus, with a glamorous colour of amethyst purple. Fragments of the beauteous light began to lose its luminosity, falling down like a shooting star.

Night came. Would help come as well?

Standing with his back ramrod straight, a young man stared out in the distance.

His eyebrows curved sharply like swords. With a stern face, his forehead wrinkled from a tint of anger. That young man wore harmonious violet robes, showcasing off his sturdy figure. By his waistband and belt hung a clarity bell, sometimes swinging from side to side.

In the young man's hands held a whip. As anticipation rose in the young man's chest, the whip began to give off a magnificent shine. Violet-coloured electric sparks had collectively snapped.

Looking outside, the young man caught the sight of his sect's symbol; a purple lotus.

It flowed brilliantly, like a phoenix spreading its wings and setting the sky aflame.

Jiang Cheng sneered. "So it seems like I'm finally needed."

Hua Cheng: I am so angry! Why is my Gege being attacked? Attack me instead!

Xie Lian: I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! QWQ

Wei Wuxian: Where have I heard that line before?

I'm so sorry I took so long to publish! Fun Fact! Every time I finish writing a draft, I publish an already-written chapter. Therefore, the latest draft I've written, I... seriously have no more motivation left! Does anyone have any music to recommend? Weirdly, my motivation runs off from music. I am starving 😅