Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

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Sometimes, the onset of great chaos can be triggered by a seemingly insignificant spark.

With the three branches of the Demon Cult mobilizing their forces, pressing hard on Shushan's periphery, news quickly reached the ears of the high-ranking members of the Eastern Emperor Path in the Southern Border and the Eastern Emperor Path in the Western Regions.

The initial response of both paths was simple: to curl up like hedgehogs, pull back all their forces, and prepare for defense and counterattack.

It is known that among the Six Paths, besides the Hell Path, which regards itself as the "direct heir of the Intercepting Cult," the relationship between the Heavenly Demon Path and the Nether Ghost Path, both originating from the Intercepting Cult, is the best. The Mortal Life Path, due to its mixed heritage, often has no choice but to cling tightly to the coattails of the former two.

The Eastern Emperor Path and the Asura Path, being considered "stepchildren" from outside, therefore often receive news somewhat later.

Thus, upon receiving the news, the first reaction of these two sects was "let's stabilize first," followed by "then report and investigate further."

Regrettably, although everyone had planted spies in the other sects, this time the issue concerned the treasured Myriad Avatar Absolute Immortal Sword of the Intercepting Cult, and the information was always controlled by the upper echelons and even the old ancestors. Many of the lower-tier disciples were completely clueless, not to mention the spies—

"In any case, since the other three paths have mobilized their troops, we cannot fall behind," the Asura Path decided quickly after the deliberations of the water and land Dharma assembly, "Organize a counterattack immediately!"

Thus, Iron City Mountain was once again in action, with a mass of red-robed monks sweeping across the plateau like a flock of vultures, chasing down the Shushan Sword Immortals who had not managed to evacuate in time.

In the Southern Border, the recently returned Elder Mad Dragon from the Eastern Emperor Path issued a very simple command:

Tear them apart!

I want to see rivers of blood! Wahahaha...

Consequently, the number of Demon Cult Cultivators on the outskirts of Shushan continued to increase, even surpassing the scale and ferocity of the previous "hundred thousand demons and fiends attacking Penglai."

At this time, Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian were still training their divine sense in the secret domain of the Divine Flame Path, while Kunlun had also quickly received the news.

To assist or not?

Penglai has never been known for its combat strength, and having suffered heavy losses last time, it certainly wouldn't be able to offer timely aid from afar this time.

On Kunlun's side, the high echelons were inclined to render assistance, after all, as the Clarity Cult's Three Pure Ones are branches from the same origin, but...

But Shushan has not asked for help, and we simply can't take the initiative to get involved—it would seem too eager and undignified.

Thus, the Ziwei Master decided directly: do not make any major announcements for now, wait for Shushan to send a request for help before doing anything.

This Sect Leader was indeed cunning and farsighted, because Shushan indeed had no plans to ask for help at that time.

"This mobilization of the Demon Cult is quite peculiar," the peak masters and elders discussed in unison at the Emei Golden Summit's ancestral hall, "firstly, it's extremely hasty, they are fighting separately, and there aren't any signs of a unified command like last time when they besieged Penglai."

"Secondly, they not only failed to jointly set up the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation but even their ordinary formations were set up separately, showing that they had not coordinated with each other before coming to attack, but rather it was a spur-of-the-moment decision."

"I see," the Jade Capital Sect Leader looked around at the various peak masters and elders, "Have all the true persons from your peaks been brought back?"

"They've been brought back," the peak masters nodded in unison.

In fact, not everyone had been recalled because evacuations had been so rushed, and in this world, there was nothing like mobile phones. It was quite normal for some people not to receive the message in time.

The Nascent Soul Elders had only ensured that the elite Golden Core True Persons from their own sectors had each returned to their sects; as for those True Persons who were not informed in time or couldn't evacuate, they could only hope that they would embody the fighting spirit of the Shushan Sword Immortals and keep themselves alive out there.

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"Very good," the Jade Capital Sect Leader nodded, then suddenly sensed something was amiss.

Hmm?

"Where are the people from Qingluo Peak?" He abruptly remembered something and exclaimed in alarm, "Where are the True Persons Jiao Xiao and Qing Heng from Qingluo Peak?"

All the Peak Masters and Elders looked at each other perplexedly, their first thought being: Why ask us about the people from Qingluo Peak instead of asking the Peak Master of Qingluo Peak?

Then they remembered: Oh, Qingluo Peak doesn't have a Peak Master. Su Jian is in closed-door meditation.

Finally, they were struck with fear: Does this mean that neither of them has returned?

This was a grave matter!

To be fair, everyone disliked those two from Qingluo Peak, for several reasons: the feud with Su Jian, the heterodoxy of the Sentiment Inquiry Path, the attitude of the Long Eyebrow Immortal... the list goes on.

If they were merely ousted in internal competition, it would be one thing, but now that True Person Jiao Xiao had formed a Second Grade Golden Core, if they were ambushed and killed by the Asura Path, the outside world wouldn't see it as Jiao Xiao's own fault. They would say the Shushan Shangqing Faction had fallen so far as to not even be able to protect their own promising Second Grade Golden Core True Person.

At that time, Shushan's reputation would be utterly ruined. Forget competing with Kunlun for first place; they might even be spoken of in the same breath as Penglai for a very long time!

"We must rescue them!" the Jade Capital Sect Leader immediately declared.

Thus, they faced a second problem: Who should go for the rescue?

Keep in mind that at this point, the Demon Cult's members surrounded the outside, and if the rescue team's overall strength wasn't strong enough, rashly venturing out would certainly lead to being encircled and devoured by the Demon Cult.

But if they sent out a sufficiently powerful rescue team, it would inevitably weaken the defensive forces at Shushan's main base.

While the Shushan high echelons were in great turmoil, Ling Yunpo on the highland had yet to sense anything was wrong, merely strolling through the rainforest with Senior Sister An.

To the south of the mountains at the edge of the highlands, the altitude dropped sharply, and a vast expanse of rainforest quickly came into view.

The rainforest teemed with miasma, and ordinary cultivators could easily fall prey without preparation, but An Zhisu and Ling Yunpo had experience in dealing with miasma and were inherently vigorous, so even while traveling through the rainforest, they could still move with ease.

An Zhisu even encountered a group of monkeys in the rainforest... The monkeys incessantly plucked wild fruits and hurled them down, which Senior Sister An skillfully deflected with her Immortal Sword, emerging unscathed.

However, the monkeys threw the fruits with even greater zeal as if they had found an amusing toy.

It was not until Ling Yunpo wielded his Sword Dao Techniques, using Water System Sword Qi to chop down all the surrounding trees, sending branches flying, that the group of monkeys scattered in fright.

"Let's go!" An Zhisu pursued relentlessly and exclaimed cheerfully, "We're going to steal the wine they've brewed!"

They quietly followed the monkeys and upon finding their habitat, Ling Yunpo cast the Green Mist Veil Over the Mountains, and the surrounding rainforest was immediately enveloped in thick fog that reduced visibility to nil.

An Zhisu took the opportunity to search every tree and managed to find a hollow of wine in a hollow tree... She stole all of it like she had found a precious treasure, filling her wine gourd to the brim.

The two slipped away under cover of the thick fog, and once they had completely escaped the rainforest, they burst into hearty laughter.

But their laughter soon faded.

Because standing before them were dozens of blood-robed monks from the Asura Path, all harboring ill intent, brimming with a murderous aura.