It's just a case of being blind to what's right under one's nose.

Boom!

An invader, unable to dodge in time, was struck head-on by the lightning. Before he could even let out a grunt, his entire body instantly turned into a charred husk and flew backward, fine arcs of electricity still flickering across his body.

However, Daoist Gong Zheng's heart sank.

At the exact moment he channeled his lightning magic, three even faster shadows had already split into three directions, circling behind him like ghosts.

"A Daoist who can wield lightning magic is quite rare. He's a tough one."

A somewhat frivolous voice sounded from behind.

Daoist Gong Zheng retaliated with a sweeping backhand sword strike. The sword wind was fierce, but it only hit empty air.

It was as if the opponent simply did not exist there.

"Watch your step, old Daoist."

Before the voice faded, the ground beneath Daoist Gong Zheng's feet suddenly turned pitch black. Dozens of tough black vines burst from the soil, tightly wrapping around his legs like venomous snakes. Sharp barbs instantly pierced his flesh, sinking deep within.

"Death Entanglement!"

Daoist Gong Zheng let out a muffled groan, feeling an extremely cold and sinister power emanating from his lower body, causing even the flow of his mana to stagnate.

He was completely locked down!

"Hehe, first we slaughter you, old man, and then we'll take a nice stroll up the mountain."

Another voice rang out, filled with a morbid excitement.

Daoist Gong Zheng struggled to turn around, but the vines wrapped tighter and tighter, rendering him immobile.

He could only watch helplessly as two points of eerie pink light emerged from his own shadow.

Squelch!

Two short blades radiating a pink glow accurately stabbed into the center of his back, piercing straight through his entire chest. The tips of the blades, dripping with fresh blood, emerged from his front.

Daoist Gong Zheng's body trembled violently as he slowly lowered his head.

He looked at the two bizarre blade tips protruding from his abdomen. In his eyes, there was no shock, but rather a cold understanding.

Blood dripped continuously from the tips of the blades onto the ritual altar.

"Is that it? The old geezers of Longhu Mountain aren't that hard to kill after all."

A foot viciously kicked Elder Gong Zheng's back. The attacker forcefully pulled out the twin blades, bringing with them a shower of blood.

Elder Gong Zheng's body fell heavily forward, collapsing onto the ritual altar he had been guarding, his life force severed.

"You shouldn't say that. It's not that he was weak, but that we are too strong." A man wearing a pure black mask walked over. With a wave of his hand, the vines entangling the corpse retracted back underground.

He didn't look at his two companions who had already begun licking the blood off their blades. Instead, he crouched down and carefully inspected the corpse on the ground.

Ten gatekeeping Daoists, killed in a single strike.

An inner sect elder, besieged and killed in their very first encounter.

He pinched a corner of Elder Gong Zheng's Daoist robe, feeling the fine material and intricate embroidery, then looked at the ritual sword dropped nearby, which still held the lingering aura of lightning magic.

Everything indicated that this was absolutely a master of Longhu Mountain.

"This is entirely too simple."

The man in the pure black mask stood up, his voice carrying a trace of doubt that even he hadn't noticed.

"Could it be that Longhu Mountain, rumored to suppress all evil in the world, is truly just a silver-coated spearhead that looks impressive but is actually useless?"

He scanned the dead silence of the passage entrance, feeling that something was off.

It was so quiet here, like a meticulously arranged stage.

And they were the cast of characters who couldn't wait to step onto it.

Before he could figure it out, the others waved at him.

"Let's go. We can't kill every Daoist on Longhu Mountain. Speed is essential in war!"

"Yeah! Got it."

With that said, the group transformed back into black smoke and scattered.

Three minutes later, the corpses of the Daoists lying on the ground suddenly emitted white smoke.

When the smoke cleared, only straw dummies remained.

Including Elder Gong Zheng, who had died with his eyes wide open on the ritual altar.

System: Scene Transition!!!

At a ritual altar less than three kilometers away from the entrance.

Gong Zheng opened his eyes, the night sky reflecting in his cloudy pupils. He gently exhaled a breath of stagnant air, and the heaving of his chest finally steadied.

Although he had used a straw dummy substitute, his consciousness had still been attached to it.

He turned to look at his equally disheveled disciples beside him. The young men were pale, clearly not having recovered from the recent danger.

"Is everyone alright?" his voice was somewhat hoarse.

A disciple patted his chest with lingering fear. Although there were no marks on his Daoist robe, he still felt as if his heart had been pierced.

"Elder, we are fine. Fortunately, we prepared substitute straw dummies in advance, otherwise with that strike just now, we would probably have gone to see our ancestors."

"Learning the Dao is not about being rigid."

Gong Zheng's gaze swept over the crowd. "When facing situations, you must know how to adapt. Don't be like those stubborn mules who smash their heads against a brick wall. Truly throwing your life away is the greatest unfilial act, understood?"

The disciples nodded in succession, their expressions serious.

Gong Zheng said no more. He stood up and took out a yellow talisman covered in cinnabar runes from his robes.

With a surge of mana, the yellow talisman spontaneously combusted without fire. With a flick of his wrist, he violently threw it toward the night sky.

With a swish, the yellow talisman became a streak of golden light, trailing a long tail of flame. It tore through the night sky, carried by an invisible force, and shot accurately toward the depths of the Longhu Daoist grounds.

After doing all this, Elder Gong Zheng sat back down cross-legged, his voice returning to its usual steadiness.

"Alright, immediately adjust your breathing and recover your condition. In fifteen minutes, you will protect me as I cast."

A flash of cold sternness passed through his eyes.

"It's time to let those ignorant bugs in the mountains take a good look at the thunderous methods of our Longhu Mountain's Celestial Master Mansion."

The main hall on the mountain.

Meanwhile, at the summit of Longhu Mountain, in the main hall of the Celestial Master Mansion.

A burning golden streak of light passed through the window lattice and silently landed in the palm of Daoist Gongyue.

The firelight extinguished, leaving only a pinch of warm ashes.

Elder Gongyue opened his palm, letting the ashes scatter in the wind. He slowly opened his previously half-closed eyes. There were no ripples in his gaze; he merely waved his hand nonchalantly.

"The tribulation of the Longhu Daoist grounds is coming. Is everyone ready?"

His voice was not loud, but it clearly spread to every corner of the main hall.

"Everyone, act according to the plan!"

"Yes!"

A uniform response rang out. Over a hundred previously quietly meditating Daoists instantly stood up. Their movements were swift and silent, like a precisely operating machine.

They quickly dispersed. Several paths leading to the back mountain's Celestial Master Tower and Pill Tower, which were originally heavily guarded, unexpectedly became completely unobstructed.

Of course, the people from the Mask Society did not know this.

They did not choose to force their way into the heavily guarded main hall, but simply bypassed it.

Within the black smoke, a skinny man couldn't help but mutter in a low voice, "What is this? This is way too easy. It's even easier than the time I sneaked into that American military base in Japan to steal a document."

A burly man beside him sneered, "When you live a life of comfort for too long, even the sharpest blade will rust. Longhu Mountain's reputation is too loud, so loud that they believed it themselves, thinking no one in the world would dare pluck the tiger's whiskers."

This was also normal. After all, it was their own base; who would have thought someone would sneak into their home.

"That's right. Who would expect their own lair to be infiltrated? It's just a blind spot right under their noses."