Demon, come and cultivate for me.

Xie Qi believed that the people trapped in the camp by the changgui were his sister and his subordinates, all of whom were his people.

He felt it was his duty to save these people.

Zhou Chu's willingness to come with him was entirely out of loyalty, not out of obligation.

Therefore, Zhou Chu had no reason to risk his life for this.

"What are you yelling about? I didn't say I wouldn't go to save them." Chen Xiangzi said, taking out two pieces of yellow paper from his satchel and quickly drawing runes on them with a jade pen.

He first stuck one of the cards on the back of his own neck, and then stuck the other one on Xie Qi's neck as well, instructing him:

"This talisman can conceal the life force within us, but it can only last for a short while at most. We must get out before then."

Xie Qi nodded and quickly walked into the cave.

"And me, what am I going to do?" The weasel hanging on Chen Xiangzi's body struggled and wriggled.

Chen Xiangzi tightened the rope and said, "You'll be fine as long as you stick close to me."

"..."

As soon as he entered the cave, a chilling aura swept over him, and Chen Xiangzi shivered, wrapping his thin Taoist robe tighter around himself.

This is a large passageway, high up and wide down.

Unlike the spiky stone walls outside, the walls inside the passageway are smooth and flat, revealing traces of human construction everywhere.

Xie Qi used his tracking technique but could not sense the location of the Mountain Lord. Only then did he realize that the Mountain Lord had hidden his demonic aura using the Thousand Corpses Gathering Yin Array in the cave.

Based on what the weasel just said, the Mountain Lord is undergoing tribulation at midnight tonight. This means that the Mountain Lord also wants to hide in the formation to avoid the Heavenly Tribulation.

Xie Qi had read in ancient books that the lifespan of beastmen is generally very short, but once they cultivate into demons, their lifespan will far exceed that of human martial artists.

For example, the mountain lord in this cave is a fierce tiger from the mountains, whose lifespan is only twenty or thirty years.

He gained some unknown opportunity, awakened his intelligence and transformed into a demon, and his cultivation broke through realms one by one until he became a mountain lord with the cultivation of the third realm.

The cultivation level of the demon race at the third realm is equivalent to that of a human martial artist at the peak realm, and their lifespan can reach four or five hundred years, while the lifespan of a human martial artist at the peak is at most one hundred and twenty years.

Correspondingly, those at the peak of the human race will not suffer from the Heavenly Tribulation.

Once a demon breaks through the three realms, a heavenly tribulation will begin and will accompany the demon throughout their entire cultivation career.

When breaking through from the third realm to the fourth realm, a heavenly tribulation of lightning descends. If one can dodge it, one will live as long as heaven and earth; if one cannot dodge it, one will die instantly, and not even one's soul will be left behind.

When one breaks through from the sixth realm to the seventh realm, yin fire descends from the sky to burn, reducing limbs, bones, internal organs, and even a thousand years of cultivation to ashes.

When breaking through from the ninth realm to the tenth realm, a calamity of wind descended from the sky, blowing into the internal organs and dantian through the seven orifices, until all magical power was lost, bones turned to dust and flesh disappeared.

If one can survive three tribulations by sheer luck, their path of cultivation will be smooth sailing from now on, without any further obstacles.

It's not that heavenly tribulations will no longer occur, but rather that demons who can survive three tribulations will basically possess the ability to resist heavenly tribulations or find a way to avoid them.

In other words, only those demons with the ability and resources can successfully overcome the three tribulations.

However, very few demons are able to safely survive the three tribulations and achieve the Great Dao.

A single tribulation of lightning was enough to keep ninety percent of the demon cultivators firmly trapped below the four realms.

Xie Qi estimated that it was close to 7 PM when he climbed up the mountain to the cave entrance, and he spent about half an hour in the cave.

There is only a little over an hour left until midnight.

If the Mountain Lord were to use the Thousand Corpses Gathering Yin Formation to escape the lightning tribulation and break through to the fourth realm, not to mention the fate of everyone in the camp, he, Zhou Chu, and Chen Xiangzi would all die at the Mountain Lord's hands first.

They were no match for the mountain lords of the three realms.

The great demons of the four realms killed the three of them as easily as crushing a few ants.

Xie Qi dared not think any further, and composed himself before saying to Chen Xiangzi:

"We must kill the mountain king before midnight, or we will all be dead."

Even without him saying it, Chen Xiangzi knew how urgent the current situation was.

But he believes that there's no use in rushing things at this point.

To defeat a powerful demon like the Mountain Lord, one must be extremely cautious, as if walking on thin ice, in order to have any chance of victory.

What Xie Qi and Chen Xiangzi could think of, Zhou Chu could also think of.

After being carried into the cave by the mountain spirit, Zhou Chu sensed something was amiss.

There was an inexplicable force in the cave that suppressed him, making it impossible for him to exert his normal strength.

The mountain lord was also suppressed by this force, and its movements were no longer as swift as before.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Chu realized that some kind of formation had been set up here.

The scene after exiting the tunnel confirmed that Zhou Chu's prediction was correct.

Outside the passageway, although still inside the cave, it is an extremely open space.

Piles of bones, resembling small mountains, were laid out on the ground, with eerie will-o'-the-wisps burning on them, slightly illuminating the originally pitch-black cave.

Zhou Chu clung tightly to the mountain lord's neck fur, refusing to let go. The mountain lord couldn't scratch or bite him, so it could only run wildly like a madman, trying to exhaust Zhou Chu's true energy so that it could throw him off its back when it was exhausted.

What the mountain lord didn't know was that Zhou Chu possessed a demonic soul within the Tai Xu Wu Xiang Diagram, which provided him with a continuous source of true energy.

These intense actions alone could not cause Zhou Chu any fatal damage.

Before long, the mountain tiger had explored almost the entire cave and was gradually becoming exhausted.

Zhou Chu, who was clinging to its back, had already gotten a pretty good understanding of the cave's environment as it ran.

The piles of bones on the ground, seemingly disordered, were, in fact, the materials for setting up an array, according to Zhou Chu.

Human ribs, thigh bones, hand bones, and foot bones are displayed on all sides.

At the center were rows of skulls, neatly stacked into a mound of skulls, more than ten feet high.

On the upper level of the Jingguan (a mound of corpses), there were even many heads with blood still wet on them, including men, women, and children.

How many people must have died to build such a massive mound of corpses? Zhou Chu couldn't help but feel horrified, and at the same time, extremely saddened.

Does that mean demons can indiscriminately kill innocent people?

Even if it was his nature, even if it was the law of the jungle, even if it was the law of nature, Zhou Chu still could not accept it.

This world shouldn't be like this!

Zhou Chu's gaze sharpened as he looked at the mountain lord galloping beneath him, a murderous intent washing over him.

While outside, Zhou Chu had already discovered that this mountain lord was thick-skinned and tough. Even using the full power of the Dragon Elephant Fist, he couldn't inflict fatal damage on it. At most, he only hurt it and made it even more ferocious.

Therefore, there is only one explanation that makes sense: this beast has already stepped into the fourth realm of cultivation!

Zhou Chu alone could not kill him, and even with Xie Qi and Chen Xiangzi by his side, it would be of no use.

There is only one way to eliminate them.

That would be to destroy the formation in the cave, leaving it nowhere to hide from the power of the Heavenly Tribulation.

Zhou Chu had memorized the formation's structure, but couldn't locate its core. The simplest and most direct method was to destroy the skeletons that formed the formation.

Many of these bone mounds are empty spaces; even if they are destroyed, they will not affect the formation.

Moreover, the formation has already taken shape, so even if a bunch of bones that are not just empty spaces are destroyed, the formation will not immediately lose its effect.

If the key point of the formation cannot be found, the only way to break the formation is to destroy all the piles of bones, regardless of whether they are real or not.

However, it would take Zhou Chu a very long time to destroy a pile of bones with his bare hands.

At this moment, there is only about an hour left until midnight, and there are thirty-six piles of bones on the ground.

At Zhou Chu's speed, he might not be able to finish smashing everything, let alone in an hour, even if he smashed until dawn.

Moreover, Shan Jun wouldn't just stand by and watch Zhou Chu destroy the formation.

Zhou Chu forced himself to calm down and think of a solution.

Given the current situation, seeking solutions externally will not yield any results.

Perhaps we should look inward; there might be a glimmer of hope there!