The doors of the Cloud Ladder Tower opened, and the nearest cultivators instinctively surged forward a few steps, only to halt in unison, their eyes filled with wariness towards each other.

Everyone wanted to be the first to rush in and seize the opportunity, but what exactly lay inside the tower, whether unknown dangers lurked, no one knew. If one were to encounter a malicious formation and become trapped, it would be a dire situation with no help from heaven or earth.

Thus, letting others take the lead and scout seemed the most logical choice. However, if there were no dangers and the rewards were easily obtainable, wouldn’t that just be handing others an advantage for nothing?

Amidst their hesitation, a large number of cultivators stood frozen in place, eyeing each other, each wanting to be the first to enter yet hoping others would go ahead.

“…Brother Long, after you!”

“No, no, no, Brother Lin, please, you go first!”

“Our group is small and weak; we’ll pass on this commotion. Everyone else, please go ahead!”

“Why all this pushing and shoving? Why don’t we all go in together and share the benefits?”

“There’s no rush, we’re still waiting for a few fellow daoists to join us before we enter. Everyone else, please feel free to proceed!”

…

While thousands of cultivators were still trying to coax each other into going first, a milky white cloud swiftly skimmed across the ground from a great distance. Before anyone could react, it plunged straight into the radiant doorway and vanished.

“Damn it! Someone got in first?”

The crowd was shocked and, like a swarm of bees, they all followed suit, a strong sense of regret bubbling up within them. If they had known it would be this simple, why had they been so polite before?

Within the cloud were Qing Muling and two others. His sisters had been worried about potential dangers, but with his intuition for crisis, after confirming that the trouble inside was not fatal, he decided to take decisive action.

As the light and shadows shifted before their eyes, and when their vision returned to normal, Qing Muling found himself in a vast space of over a thousand miles, with his two sisters by his side. The area was empty, with only a faint mist drifting around. Above them, at a height of three thousand yards, was a thick layer of egg-white brilliance, completely opaque.

The doorway was still there, standing upright about ten miles away.

“Is this it?”

Yu Binghua looked around in confusion, while Cheng Yulan summoned a plain-colored cloud brocade formation flag, and the rolling mist once again concealed their figures.

Qing Muling spoke, “Let’s head to the innermost area and leave this place to them.”

He was concerned that there would be trouble soon. Those guys hadn’t fought outside, but once inside, anything could happen, so it was better to avoid them for now.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

Cheng Yulan had no objections, so the three of them continued deeper until they reached the deepest part of the space.

Qing Muling pulled his sisters close, activating his innate stealth ability, and a faint chaotic light emerged, forming a circle of light and shadow that enveloped the three of them along with the formation, erasing all traces.

Even cultivators proficient in the Heavenly Secret Art, regardless of their efforts, could not deduce Qing Muling’s whereabouts, unless they were several major realms higher in cultivation. However, those above the Nascent Soul Realm could not fully utilize their powers in this secret realm, so he was almost absolutely safe now.

Moments later, the distant doorway shimmered with rainbow light, and numerous cultivators, protected by their treasures, rushed in, quickly clogging the entrance.

“…Why is it empty? There’s nothing here?”

“Where did the person who entered first go?”

“Could this just be the outer area? Is there another world inside? Did they go to the next layer?”

“That must be it…”

The cultivators discussed noisily, their powerful divine senses sweeping around, but when they touched the thick light above, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, with no return.

Gradually, more and more cultivators entered, filling the entire space.

Some of the earlier arrivals could no longer hold back and began to attack with treasures and divine spells, with thunder and sword light flashing alternately, to see if they could stir up some action.

Suddenly, a series of muffled thunderous sounds echoed from the void. Before anyone could react, the doorway vanished in a flash of intense light.

“Are we trapped?!”

Voices of shock and anger rose as many cultivators frantically surged towards the previous entrance, but there was no trace of the doorway to be found.

Then, strands of rainbow light emerged from nowhere, spreading like quicksilver and quickly filling every corner, transforming the place into a dazzling, mesmerizing world.

Some cultivators accidentally touched the rainbow light and were struck as if by lightning, their reactions becoming sluggish and unresponsive, unaffected by their fellow disciples’ calls.

The rainbow light was pervasive, no treasure or divine spell could resist it, and before the cultivators could devise a countermeasure, it had already enveloped everyone present, including Qing Muling and his sisters hidden in the corner.

The surroundings quietly changed, and the figures of tens of thousands of cultivators faded away, leaving only an endless golden desert, with rolling sandstorms obscuring the sky.

Qing Muling’s expression turned solemn as he looked around and found that his sisters had disappeared. However, the special sensation from the innate Harmony Spirit Seed told him they were still close by, not having moved at all.

Before he could understand what was happening, the dark line emerging on a distant dune instantly made his face change.

It was the offspring of the Magic Clan, surging like a tide. They didn’t seem very strong, mostly in the realms of Understanding Mystery, Condensing Elixir, and Nascent Soul, but their numbers were astonishingly vast, and the fierce aura almost dispersed the clouds in the sky.

How could there be offspring of the Magic Clan in this secret realm of the Daoist Master of Mystery? And in such a terrifying scale, could it be him…

Qing Muling had no time to ponder as chaotic starlight emerged from his body, spreading over a range of ten yards. Wherever it passed, space shattered like soap bubbles, and Cheng Yulan and Yu Binghua reappeared by his side, their dazed eyes quickly regaining clarity.

But the dense army of the Magic Clan’s offspring was already close at hand. Cheng Yulan didn’t have time to speak; she waved her hand and summoned twelve large formation flags and a radiant main formation disk. In a breath, a deadly formation took shape, covering a thousand-yard radius.

As she manipulated the formation, a thunderclap erupted from the ground, and billowing red clouds appeared, concealing the trio’s tracks.

“We can’t avoid a bloody battle this time!”

Qing Muling frowned. With so many offspring of the Magic Clan, it wouldn’t be easy to kill them all.

Cheng Yulan was unconcerned: “No worries, those outside will have it harder than us. If I’m not mistaken, once the number of people decreases to a certain level, the Magic Clan’s siege will likely stop.”

“That’s a relief.”

Qing Muling breathed a sigh of relief. After all, his sisters had been adventuring and encountering fortunes for many years, and their experience in such matters was far richer than his own.

As they conversed, the first wave of the Magic Clan’s offspring charged into the formation. Suddenly, the wind howled, and lightning filled the air. Countless bolts of violent thunder fell from the sky, mixed with burning meteors that exploded upon impact, shaking the earth.

Continuous screams echoed as hundreds of the Magic Clan’s offspring were struck down by the thunder and meteors, their bodies turning to dust.

The formation, being of superior treasure rank, unleashed terrifying power close to that of an ultimate treasure when combined. It was effortless to deal with these lower-strength beings.

But this did not deter the ferocity of the others. More offspring of the Magic Clan roared strangely, charging into the formation fearlessly, wave after wave, as if they had an undying enmity with the three inside.

Qing Muling and Yu Binghua were also busy, wielding their flying swords to slash at the stronger individuals of the Magic Clan. The hundred-yard-long brilliant sword light moved like a dragon or a startled swan, weaving in and out of the formation, leaving a trail of severed limbs and dark blood splattered everywhere.

In less than half an hour, more than a hundred thousand offspring of the Magic Clan had perished within the formation, their bodies incinerated to ash. Yet, from the sea of sand outside, countless more poured in, seemingly endless.

Moreover, their average strength was gradually increasing. Initially, they were only in the realms of Understanding Mystery, Condensing Elixir, and Nascent Soul, but soon, individuals of the Spiritual God and True Person realms began to appear, increasing in number.

Cheng Yulan continued to manipulate the formation at full power. From beneath the ground, clusters of dark red flames, shaped like lingzhi mushrooms, emerged and quickly connected, forming a thick layer of molten lava hell. Any offspring of the Magic Clan that touched it were instantly turned to charred ash, without exception.

One hour passed, then two…

By the third hour, the number of Magic Clan’s offspring attacking the formation had not decreased, but their average strength had reached the True One Realm, with individuals of the Heart Demon and Destiny realms occasionally appearing.

Although the formation was still lethally powerful, Cheng Yulan’s consumption of magical power was noticeably faster. Her actual cultivation was at the peak of the Elemental Immortal, far more profound in magical power than ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators, but she still felt the pressure increasing. Yu Binghua, whose cultivation was only at the Ascending to Immortality realm, was even more strained.

Fortunately, they were supported by the Dao Rhyme from their Junior Brother, which allowed them to recover much faster than their peers, so they were not yet at their limit.

The offspring of the Magic Clan in the Heart Demon and Destiny realms had scales on their bodies as tough as treasure-grade armor. Unless hit in vital areas, it was not so easy for Qing Muling’s treasure-grade flying swords to kill them.

“I wonder how the others outside are doing?”

Qing Muling muttered. With his special trump card and his sisters’ strong cultivation, they still had some strength to spare, but the situation for the other cultivators outside was uncertain.

And how long would this slaughter last? Out of the tens of thousands of cultivators, if even one percent survived, wouldn’t that be fortunate?

At this moment, the cultivators inside the Cloud Ladder Tower were indeed in a dire situation.

Most of them were only at the True One or Heart Demon realms, and under the endless assault of the Magic Clan’s offspring, even if they fought with all their might and banded together, how long could they last?

Moreover, just breaking through the illusion and joining forces with their fellow disciples was not something everyone could do.

Many cultivators were actually fighting alone, and by the second or third wave of attacks, they had already been eliminated, disappearing from the Cloud Ladder Tower. Those who were still struggling were doing so with all their might.

“…Where did these creatures come from? They’re going to be the death of us!”

In a circular battle formation, Su Zhengji’s face was grim as he stared at the Magic Clan’s offspring attacking furiously outside. Occasionally, he would wave his hand and scatter dark blade lights, which seeped into the densest areas of the creatures like smoke and then spread lightly.

Where the blade light passed, the offspring of the Magic Clan stiffened, and countless fine wounds appeared on their bodies, with dark blood spurting out rapidly, followed by their bodies breaking into countless small pieces and falling to the ground.

The circular battle formation, composed of over a thousand disciples from the Shadow Kill Hall, followed the orders of the sealers, coordinating seamlessly and advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, coldly and efficiently reaping the lives of the Magic Clan’s offspring.

The corpses in the outer area were piled up like mountains, and occasionally, they had to use powerful divine spells to incinerate and clear them to avoid affecting the battle.

The other two thousand or so disciples of the Shadow Kill Hall, due to their low cultivation and limited talent, were unable to break through the illusion and join them, so they had to fight on their own. By now, they were probably exhausted and eliminated.

As for how severe the punishment for being cleared out was, it was still unknown. However, Su Zhengji knew that with the Shadow Kill Hall’s notorious reputation, once any injured and isolated disciples were discovered outside, survival was nearly impossible.

“Senior Su, we can’t go on like this.”

A sealer beside him frowned and spoke. If these creatures continued their endless siege, everyone would eventually perish, and no one would be able to escape unscathed.

Many disciples were already showing signs of physical and magical exhaustion, and it wouldn’t be long before they suffered massive casualties, with predictable consequences.

Su Zhengji’s face was ashen: “Then what should we do?”

“Perhaps we can try to find another way, study and break the restrictions of this tower? Once we understand the mysteries of its formation, the problem can be easily solved,” the sealer suggested.

Su Zhengji’s expression changed, but after thinking, he shook his head: “There’s no time, and we don’t have a master of formation here. What chance do we have?”

“Whether it works or not, there’s no harm in trying.”

“Fine, do as you see fit.”

Su Zhengji said impatiently. He had a life-saving jade talisman, so he wasn’t worried about the risk of death. If things got too bad, he could just leave. But as for his subordinates, it was hard to say. If they were really wiped out, how would he explain it to the Lord of the Shadow Kill Hall when he returned?