"Escape?" Guo Xingyue chuckled and said, "Demonic cultivators don't just appear out of nowhere. If I'm not mistaken, the public teleportation arrays have already been taken over, and the small teleportation arrays within our sect can only transport a few people at most. Besides, for demonic cultivators to be bold enough to attack a righteous sect, it's likely the nearby star regions have already been ravaged. Using small teleportation arrays would only lead us into a trap. We have no way out—our only chance is to fight to the death."
What Guo Xingyue didn't say was that escaping alone posed no problem for him. Even bringing along one or two people would be manageable. But to lead everyone to safety was impossible. To boost morale, he simply declared there was no escape, forcing everyone to face the situation head-on.
The members of Yixin Sect were silent for a moment after hearing there was no escape. Then, Gao Tianhe spoke up, "Since there's no way out, we will fight to the death! Brother Guo, please lead us into battle." The others echoed in unison, "Fight to the death! We will fight!"
Once the excitement had calmed, Guo Xingyue raised his hand to signal for silence and then carefully explained his plan. After hearing his strategy, everyone went to make their preparations while Guo Xingyue soared into the sky on his sword, heading off into the distance.
Demonic cultivators were natural enemies of orthodox cultivators. While orthodox cultivators cultivated Nascent Souls, demonic cultivators cultivated Demon Souls. The cultivation stages were similar, but the major difference came after ascension. Orthodox cultivators sought to improve themselves through meditation and alignment with natural forces, while demonic cultivators believed cultivation itself was an act of defying the heavens. They used slaughter as a means of advancement, seizing others' cultivation to strengthen themselves. To demonic cultivators, an orthodox cultivator's Nascent Soul was a potent resource. This inherent conflict made peaceful coexistence impossible. The relative peace of the past tens of thousands of years was merely the result of compromises made after the Four Realms War.
Guo Xingyue flew in the direction from which Yusheng had come. His intuition told him that the demonic cultivators had been able to quickly track Yusheng to the Xuanki Sect because of the black energy surrounding his Nascent Soul. Though Guo Xingyue had removed it while healing Yusheng, the demonic cultivators would likely follow the trail Yusheng had left behind. Sure enough, after only half an hour of flight, Guo Xingyue saw a dark mass of figures approaching in the distance. He quickly turned around, feigning panic as he fled back toward Yixin Sect.
The demonic cultivators, seeing Guo Xingyue fleeing in haste, sped up to chase him. Yet none of them used teleportation to intercept him, clearly intending to follow him all the way back to locate Yixin Sect. Guo Xingyue did not exert his full strength to escape but instead lured the army of demonic cultivators toward the sect. Both sides had similar plans, and so they advanced toward Yixin Sect's mountain gate at a steady pace.
Guo Xingyue's powerful spiritual sense allowed him to monitor the demonic cultivators as he flew. Though there were three to four hundred of them, most were low-level, with only a dozen or so above the Nascent Soul stage. The strongest among them was at the late Nascent Soul stage. Guo Xingyue's thoughts stirred: for demonic cultivators to launch such a large-scale invasion, this force was far too weak. This must be only the vanguard; the real powerhouses must still be behind them. With that in mind, Guo Xingyue adjusted his strategy and sent word to Gao Tianhe and the others via communication jade.
The original plan had been for Guo Xingyue to lure the demonic army to Yixin Sect, where the disciples would briefly engage them before feigning defeat, leading the enemies into the Golden Lock Killing Formation to wear them down. If the formation was breached, they would then activate the Kan-Li Killing Formation to finish them off. The key to the plan lay in luring the enemy into the formations. While the Golden Lock Formation didn't need a host, its killing intent was immense. Even though Guo Xingyue had set up multiple layers of illusion formations to conceal this, it would still be difficult to hide from skilled opponents. They would need to fight the enemy first to mask the formation's aura. The Kan-Li Formation, on the other hand, was undetectable before activation but required a host. If it were broken while Guo Xingyue was controlling it, he would be rendered powerless. As the most powerful cultivator among them, if Guo Xingyue lost his strength, the entire group's morale would collapse, and they would be at risk of total annihilation. Therefore, he was reluctant to rely on the Kan-Li Formation immediately. The plan was to use the Golden Lock Formation to weaken the enemy first and then rely on the Kan-Li Formation to finish them off.
Now, however, Guo Xingyue saw that this vanguard force was not strong enough to breach the Golden Lock Formation. To break through, they would need at least three Nascent Soul-stage experts working together at full power. Unless someone among them recognized the formation—an unlikely scenario—Guo Xingyue was confident it would hold. The three great killing formations had been lost to history for millions of years, and even within the cultivation world, few knew of them. Guo Xingyue doubted any demonic cultivator could decipher it. He decided to use the Golden Lock Formation to wipe out this vanguard and reserve the Kan-Li Formation for the more powerful enemies to come.
Guo Xingyue led the demonic army toward Yixin Sect. Upon arriving, the Nascent Soul-stage disciples of Yixin Sect had already ascended into the sky to join Guo Xingyue, while the weaker disciples hid in the illusion formations. Faced with hundreds of demonic cultivators, the small group of orthodox cultivators did not hesitate and charged forward.
Demonic cultivators were known for their physical strength, comparable to the beasts of the demonic realms, but their skills in artifact crafting were far weaker. Among the hundreds of demonic cultivators, only a few possessed high-grade magical artifacts. The disciples of Yixin Sect, on the other hand, wielded powerful artifacts crafted by Guo Xingyue himself. Their superior equipment allowed them to swiftly cut down dozens of demonic cultivators, with Guo Xingyue's golden sword alone felling over ten. However, the sheer number of enemies soon overwhelmed them. As the demonic cultivators closed in, Guo Xingyue recalled his flying sword, transforming it into a giant blade in his hands. With a mighty swing, he unleashed a powerful technique, "Unity of Heaven and Man," drawing a perfect arc in the air and temporarily halting the enemies' advance. He then led the disciples toward the Golden Lock Formation.