The Liro Kingdom is one of the major powers on Lingyan Star, and its royal palace, as a symbol of the kingdom's authority, covers a vast area. The northern district of the city is almost entirely within the palace's bounds, featuring towering palaces, pavilions, and high walls that are brightly lit, with patrolling soldiers frequently traversing the ramparts.
Guo Xingyue stood under a large tree not far from the palace wall, releasing his spiritual awareness to carefully search for the location of the demon cultivators within the palace. With his level of spiritual awareness, it took only a moment to discover their positions: there were three demon cultivators in the palace—one at the early out-of-body stage and two at the mid-primordial stage. These three demon cultivators were not grouped together; the one at the early out-of-body stage was to the south, while the two mid-primordial ones were located in the central area of the palace.
After retracting his spiritual awareness, Guo Xingyue considered his options while standing in the shadow of the tree. He decided to target the early out-of-body demon cultivator. Although the two mid-primordial cultivators might be easier to deal with, Guo Xingyue's goal was to obtain the techniques of demon cultivation, not to exterminate demon cultivators. The early out-of-body cultivator would likely possess a more comprehensive understanding of demon cultivation techniques.
Guo Xingyue did not plan to infiltrate the palace directly; if a fight broke out, it would create too much noise and risk exposing his identity, potentially attracting the pursuit of powerful demon cultivators. Standing by the tree, he released his spiritual awareness to confirm that no one was nearby, then began to set up an array using his true essence. As Guo Xingyue gestured with his hands, several strands of pale golden true essence rapidly arranged a triple-layered illusion array beneath the tree to block the sight of ordinary people. He then took out four flag treasures acquired from the Blue Water Star's underwater labyrinth and cast a series of hand gestures to set up a four-flag killing array within the illusion.
Since Guo Xingyue's cultivation had yet to recover fully, the true essence he could mobilize had nearly been exhausted after setting up the two arrays. He quickly took a return essence pill, sat down, and meditated for a moment to regain his strength, inwardly chuckling at his current situation: his level of true essence could only manage to set up these two small arrays. Sighing, he hoped to gain something from this endeavor; otherwise, he would be stuck here forever on this demon cultivation planet. Guo Xingyue then released his spiritual awareness to locate the early out-of-body demon cultivator, carefully controlling the intensity of his awareness to probe the cultivator, who was meditating with his eyes closed, displaying a level of awareness equivalent to that of the mid-primordial stage.
The demon cultivator was immediately alerted, sensing someone spying on him. Detecting that the intruder's cultivation was not high, only at the mid-primordial level, he chose not to alarm anyone else and quickly rose to fly toward the source of the disturbance.
Guo Xingyue stood quietly in front of the illusion array, expressionless, watching the demon cultivator fly out of the palace. The demon cultivator suspiciously scrutinized Guo Xingyue, who had seemed to possess a cultivation level only at the mid-primordial stage. However, when he scanned Guo Xingyue with his spiritual awareness, he found nothing, unable to ascertain his true cultivation level. Confused, he did not dare to let his guard down and quickly summoned his magical weapon—a black flying sword—preparing to defend against any potential attack.
Guo Xingyue merely smiled without responding. The demon cultivator grew frustrated with Guo Xingyue's silence and barked, "If you won't speak, then I'll have to take action!" As he spoke, he readied himself to strike.
Seeing the cultivator about to make a move, Guo Xingyue swiftly retreated. The demon cultivator, noticing Guo Xingyue's escape, chased after him, but as soon as he charged forward, he fell into the illusion array. At this moment, Guo Xingyue's spiritual awareness was incredibly powerful. He had positioned himself at the entrance of the array specifically to use his awareness to block the demon cultivator's detection. This strategy was a result of his insights gained while meditating on his mind calming techniques after being injured and unable to cultivate his true essence.
Once the demon cultivator entered the array, he quickly realized something was amiss: the surrounding scenery vanished, replaced by a fog that obscured his vision. His spiritual awareness was hindered, rendering him unable to perceive beyond a few feet. This array was definitely not one that a demon cultivator could set up. As he recalled certain matters, he quickly pulled out a jade talisman and crushed it with his magic essence.
Guo Xingyue, now in the array, sensed the danger when he saw the demon cultivator shatter the talisman, realizing that the cultivator was sending a distress signal. He was about to intervene but was too late. Thinking, This could be troublesome; I need to leave quickly, he observed the cultivator who, after breaking the talisman, stood in place, deploying his magical weapon and remaining on high alert. Guo Xingyue silently cursed the cultivator's cunning and reluctantly released his flying sword, executing a hand gesture that transformed the sword into a golden beam, shooting toward the demon cultivator.
The demon cultivator's awareness, impeded by the array, couldn't detect the incoming flying sword until it was nearly upon him. He hurriedly released his magical weapon in an attempt to block the sword. Though his cultivation was two levels higher than the true essence Guo Xingyue could currently summon, he was unable to mobilize his magic essence to its fullest extent in a hasty defense. His magical weapon was merely a mid-grade artifact, significantly inferior to Guo Xingyue's treasure-grade flying sword. In this clash, the demon cultivator suffered a small setback; his black sword was immediately knocked away by Guo Xingyue's golden sword, which continued on its path, unyielding, aimed directly at him.
Seeing the ferocity of the approaching sword, the demon cultivator quickly dodged to the side in an effort to avoid the attack. However, as he attempted to evade, he suddenly realized the gravity of the situation—four beams of golden light shot out of the fog without warning, striking him. This was the deadly four-flag killing array that Guo Xingyue had set up earlier. The array's power was immense, and with no warning before activation, it was designed to catch opponents off guard. Even a skilled practitioner at the spirit division stage would be injured by such an ambush, let alone the early out-of-body cultivator, who was unable to withstand the onslaught of the four flags, immediately vomiting blood and collapsing, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
Guo Xingyue approached the fallen demon cultivator, performing a hand gesture to use the imprint technique on his head, and after a moment, he extracted all the information from the cultivator's mind. Standing in the array, Guo Xingyue pondered briefly, then waved his hand, directing the flying sword as a golden beam struck through the demon cultivator's magical essence, piercing through to his core. Following that, he executed another hand gesture, summoning a three-flame true fire to incinerate the cultivator's body to ashes.
After dealing with the demon cultivator's remains, Guo Xingyue stored his magical weapon in his storage bracelet, intending to study the crafting of magical weapons when he had time. He then swiftly dispelled the four-flag killing array and the illusion array, turning to make his way back to the Martial Arts Hall.