I have the face of a great demon.

Without thinking twice, Liu Xingchen leaped into the crevice.

Upon entering, the world before my eyes underwent a dramatic transformation in an instant. The dilapidated Taoist temple vanished, replaced by a space shrouded in mystery.

The space was a vast expanse of white, only half the size of a room. In the center of this space, the most striking thing was a huge sword.

The sword was planted straight into the ground, its blade emitting a ghostly blue light. A radiant spirit stone was inlaid on the hilt, and mysterious runes flowed along the blade, as if it contained endless power.

A vortex of spiritual energy swirled around the sword, forming a powerful energy field that deterred anyone from approaching easily.

On the opposite side of the giant sword, Old Master Hua was looking at him with a smile.

Tie Zhu excitedly circled around the giant sword and hugged Liu Xingchen tightly, almost making Liu Xingchen breathless.

"Brother Xingchen, I've finally found you. Don't worry, you're safe here. Those bad guys can't hurt you."

Liu Xingchen was still a little confused. He rubbed his shoulder, which was a little sore from Tie Zhu's hug, and asked in bewilderment:

"You... no longer consider me a great demon?"

Hua Laodao blushed, a rare occurrence for him.

"Although I am a bit senile, I am not an old fogey. The fact that you did not kill me that day proves that you are not a great demon."

Liu Xingchen raised an eyebrow and said with a playful tone, "What if I spared your life just to deceive you and make you think I'm not a great demon?"

“Xingchen, you are a kind child, I saw it all.”

"You risked your life to save that little girl in such a dangerous situation just now, which speaks volumes."

"I'm sure the big devil would never do such a thing."

Liu Xingchen stood there, overwhelmed with emotion. He thought he would lose his brothers and master and be left to wander alone. But things took an unexpected turn, and his master and Tiezhu ultimately chose to believe in him.

However, as touching as he was, this was not the time for tears, reminiscing, or idle chatter. Old Master Hua said solemnly:

"This formation was set up by the Tianhe Sect. They think you're a great demon and want to trap you here. I reckon they have reinforcements on their way. We must leave here quickly, or things will get complicated!"

"Tianhe Sect." Liu Xingchen murmured the name, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, silently memorizing the name of this enemy.

Then he turned to look at Hua Laodao and Tiezhu, and asked curiously, "Then what are you doing here?"

"It's a long story. The Heavenly River Sect probably discovered your whereabouts and mistook you for some great demon. So, they came up with the idea on the spur of the moment to set up this formation to deal with you. However, they didn't have enough manpower, so they had to recruit people from all over the place."

"We just happened to be passing by and were recruited by them to take charge of one of the key points of the formation."

"They eventually realized they were after you, so they rescued you."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xingchen felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He knew that these two had risked their lives to save him.

The people from the Tianhe Sect would never listen to Hua Laodao's explanation; they believed he was just someone who looked very much like the Great Demon.

Once they discover that these two dared to save the great demon they were about to deal with, they will definitely not hesitate to regard them as the great demon's accomplices and kill them mercilessly.

Master is right, we must escape immediately.

"Master, how do we escape?" Liu Xingchen asked Hua Laodao.

Old Master Hua stroked his beard and said confidently:

"Elder Yun asked me to oversee one of the key points of the formation and gave a brief explanation of the formation's key points."

"This formation has eighteen key points, and each key point is controlled by someone. To break this formation and escape, we must first break these key points."

Upon hearing this, Tie Zhu's eyes immediately lit up. He pointed to the giant sword beside him, which gleamed with a cold light, and said excitedly:

"If we destroy this sword, we can break the formation, right? Okay, let me do it."

As he spoke, Tie Zhu spat on his hand and raised his large iron mace, ready to strike.

"Wait!" Old Hua was quick-witted and grabbed Tie Zhu's arm.

"Your impatience is really a headache. Although this formation requires eighteen array eyes to activate, the formation may not collapse immediately if only one array eye is lost."

"It might take destroying several, or even half, of the array's cores to break the array."

"If you destroy this key point of the formation, they will know immediately, and it will be difficult to break other key points of the formation."

Liu Xingchen and the other person asked in unison, "Then what should we do?"

"It seems we'll have to use our identities and Tie Zhu's to work together from the inside and outside."

Yun Wulu squinted at the great demon in the light screen, watching him wander around the formation like a headless fly, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Suddenly, the great demon's figure flickered and disappeared. Yun Wulu's smugness instantly turned into vigilance; he sensed something was wrong.

At this moment, Qingfeng's voice came through the sound transmission stone, carrying a hint of panic.

"Elder Yun, the great demon has disappeared. These rogue cultivators can't even keep an eye on one person."

Yun Wulu frowned and said in a deep voice, "No, I'm afraid it's not as simple as just being unable to keep an eye on him. I suspect the worst has happened. There's a formation eye near where the Great Demon disappeared, and he might have gone inside."

"What? The great demon has entered the core of the formation?" Qingfeng's voice was full of surprise.

"I thought the Great Demon would destroy the array after discovering its core. He actually went right in. It seems the Great Demon's mastery of arrays isn't as low as we thought."

"Of course. The Great Demon is an old monster from a thousand years ago, capable of striking fear into the hearts of the entire cultivation world. His mastery of formations wouldn't be lacking either; at most, he might not be very proficient."

"Elder Yun, what should we do now?" Qingfeng's voice was tinged with urgency.

"No rush," Yun Wulu waved his hand, signaling Qingfeng to calm down.

“As long as he doesn’t enter the main array eye, he can’t control the array. At most, he can only destroy the array eye. Whether he enters it or not doesn’t make much difference.”

"Our formation is very sturdy. Destroying one or two key points won't cause any problems. Just stay calm and observe the situation."

As they were talking, they saw Hua Laodao and Tiezhu run out from the center of the formation.

Yun Wulu let out a soft "Eh," a smile playing on his lips.

"These two rogue cultivators are quite shrewd; they ran away as soon as they saw the great demon. The great demon's mind is focused on the array's core, so he probably won't pay any attention to them. They're lucky."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the entire formation rippled violently, and the invisible light screen covering the Taoist temple rippled violently, but quickly returned to calm.