These generals mostly studied military strategy deeply, even if there was something they didn't understand, a hint from Xu Qing would immediately enlighten them.
Only some dull-witted officers could not learn no matter how much Xu Qing guided them.
Xu Qing had never seen such dull-witted people. It wasn't like asking them to perform the complete Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation, just selecting the simplest cooperative formation, yet they still couldn't grasp it?
Can't even learn to deduce the most basic array?
In the end, Xu Qing could not bear it any longer, and had to take out the Saint's Ruler to tap on these few blockheads' heads.
Being generals, when had they ever suffered such humiliation in front of the troops?
But seeing that Shang Shaoyang, who had earlier led the cheers for the Holy Master, was also tapped, the other generals got in line, listening earnestly like schoolchildren.
Once the array was taught, each general took command of his own unit, using flags as signals, to begin practice and integration.
These soldiers were all seasoned veterans, and in less than ten days, the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation, lost for a millennium, reappeared in the world.
On the high ground of the camp, Wang Liang and Shang Shaoyang were conversing with Xu Qing.
"Sir, why risk yourself alone to deal with that demon? If according to the Celestial Master's Mansion's words, my army of a hundred thousand is sufficient to suppress that demon again..."
Xu Qing looked up towards the direction of Baiyun Cave, and said with a gentle smile:
"I did not come here to suppress the demon."
"Not to suppress the demon?" Wang Liang was puzzled, Shang Shaoyang was also taken aback.
Xu Qing turned back, smiled and said: "Mobilizing such a large force to set up this heavenly net isn't easy, and if your hundred thousand troops are just for suppressing a demon, you overestimate it."
"What do you mean, sir?"
Xu Qing collected his thoughts and said seriously: "The demon, suppressed in Baiyun Cave for a thousand years, could still beguile others and practice blood sacrifice. If it's not eradicated this time, who knows what disaster it might provoke in the future."
"Moreover, it has unresolved grudges with me over the years; if I don't seize this opportunity when everyone is united, to destroy it completely, how can I face these soldiers?"
The suppression will eventually fail, and these one hundred thousand soldiers will have descendants. Once the celestial fox, which learns the Earth Fiend Law from the Nine Heavens Secret Scripture, escapes, it will surely go on a killing spree, refining the Ghost Head Divine Saber to make up for the years of interrupted cultivation.
Xu Qing, whether for himself and Xuan Yu's enmity or on behalf of the generals who fought in the array for him, must put forth his utmost effort and cannot allow the old vixen any chance to recover.
Seeing Xu Qing about to take his leave, Shang Shaoyang hurriedly asked, "Brother Xu, wait!"
Seeing Xu Qing turn back, Shang Shaoyang finally voiced the doubt that had been troubling him for a long time.
"Brother Xu, are you truly a cultivator? Is it possible that immortals truly exist in this world?"
Xu Qing laughed and asked, "Doesn't the Celestial Master's Mansion claim to have cultivators? Why do you ask me."
Shang Shaoyang frowned and shook his head: "In my eyes, those filled with the stench of money aren't true seekers of immortality, not even comparable to some of the rogues I know from the martial world. If anyone seems most like a person who truly seeks immortality, in my eyes, it would only be Brother Xu."
"..."
Xu Qing chuckled and shook his head.
"There's no such thing as immortals or deities in this world. Even if there were, can you abandon your family to seek the immortal path alone?"
Shang Shaoyang was speechless.
He had always valued affection more than anything. If he were to abandon all his own emotions to pursue an unattainable immortal path, it would be impossible.
"Indeed, if you don't seek immortality, why persist in asking about it?"
Shang Shaoyang smiled with relief. Yet just when he thought he had seen through everything, he watched Brother Xu suddenly leap dozens of feet in a single bound...
When he widened his eyes and looked up, the figure of Brother Xu had already vanished among the layered mountains.
"..."
Beside him, Wang Liang was equally stunned and bewildered.
This leap, without any internal energy fluctuation or Gang Qi leakage, could only be accomplished by sheer physical strength.
Even a Celestial Person shouldn't do it so effortlessly...
Could it be that Mister Xu is truly a cultivator?
...
Three days later, outside the Illusion Heaven Great Array.
Bai Qiuyu was staring as if facing a great enemy, at the constantly trembling entrance of Baiyun Cave.
"Sect Leader..."
Xu Qing raised his hand to stop him, his face solemn, his right hand quickly calculating. When the Qimen Dunjia showed a large ominous symbol, he immediately looked up.
Before White Cloud Cave, the hill, riddled with holes, once again collapsed, and a rush of sinister demonic energy, suppressed for a thousand years, erupted.
Xu Qing heard the eerie laughter coming from deep within Baiyun Cave.
Even across the prohibition, Xu Qing could feel the shadowy smile of the old demon woman within the cave.
This truly felt like a reversal of fortune after hopelessness, allowing rampant actions.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, deciding to take the initiative.
With one hand, he placed the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword at the center of the array disc, serving as the core of the demon-locking array, while simultaneously drawing the Shouyang Axe with both hands. He turned his head towards the meditative black-clothed girl nearby and said, "Xuan Yu!"
The little girl's face was tense, having always suppressed her realm with the Dharma Realm. Xuan Yu could no longer hold back.
Eight clouds of black mist abruptly erupted around Xuan Yu. After intersecting and spiraling several times overhead, these black mists transformed into eight dark cat incarnations, before eventually returning to Xuan Yu.
At this moment, Xuan Yu's entire figure clothed in black robe and skirt billowed fiercely, her long hair bound by rope also broke free, cascading like a waterfall!
The soaring demonic energy shrouded White Cloud Cave, and the next moment a layer of scarlet gossamer colored the green-white sky, as if the clouds in the sky had gathered like cotton, set ablaze by someone.
As the fire spread to cover a ten-mile radius, countless fire dragons wove a massive net of flames that swiftly enveloped down towards White Cloud Cave's direction.
Ten miles outside at the foot of White Cloud Cave, commanding the Dayan Army, Wang Liang finally understood why the Mister instructed them to form a heavenly net formation rather than entering the mountain to vanquish the demon.