Post-Mythical Era: I don't want to die in the third reincarnation

Ding Huan?

Meng Zhongqi was taken aback, the Merit Array Master who had blocked the Stealing Immortal Worm was his Hundred River Immortal Path's Lu Hai.

Apart from Lu Hai, numerous Array Masters from the Hundred River Immortal Path, including Bi Qingjian, had joined forces and come up with an external trapping and killing method, which finally resolved the rampage of the Stealing Immortal Worm.

What does this have to do with Ding Huan?

And who is Ding Huan? Meng Zhongqi was still not responding when a steward rushed over, panicked and frantic:

"Sect Master, this is bad. The Stealing Immortal Worm has broken through the Protecting Array and is now spreading within the Immortal Sect..."

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhongqi didn't dare to ask anything else and was the first to rush over, shouting loudly at the same time:

"All disciples and elders of the Sect, kill every Stealing Immortal Worm that has entered the Immortal Sect.

Peak Master Yi, you must immediately take people to seal all the Immortal Spirit Springs in the Sect. Elder Gu, you pile up Immortal Crystals outside the Protecting Array right away and arrange a Gathering Spirit Immortal Array to draw the Stealing Immortal Worms away from the Immortal Sect..."

Meng Zhongqi had clearly encountered such a situation before and handled it with extreme speed.

Every time the Immortal Sect's Protecting Array was breached by the Stealing Immortal Worms, this was more or less the way to handle it.

However, this method had a significant downside: the Immortal Spirit Spring Eyes possess sentience, and every time they are sealed and then reopened, the Immortal Spiritual Energy expelled would drop a level.

Some Immortal Spirit Spring Eyes ended up drying out after being sealed too many times.

In fact, everyone knew it wasn't that the Immortal Spirit Spring Eyes had dried out, but rather that they had shifted to another place.

That was one issue, another was that luring all of the Stealing Immortal Worms inside the Immortal Sect out would require an immense amount of Immortal Crystals.

As for eradicating all the Stealing Immortal Worms that had entered the Immortal Sect, that was virtually impossible.

Firstly, once the Stealing Immortal Worms reached a certain extent, it was impossible to kill them all.

That was not even the most critical point. The peculiar thing about Stealing Immortal Worms was that, while they were being killed, they could still devour the Immortal Spiritual Power of the cultivators.

This was not just about excessive depletion of Immortal Essence that could be recovered later, but about the permanent loss of Immortal Spiritual Power that could only be reclaimed through re-cultivation.

So, if one killed too many Stealing Immortal Worms, it was normal for their own cultivation to regress.

Because of this, very few people would rush out of the Protecting Array to hunt Stealing Immortal Worms. Those that had entered the Immortal Sect, they were dealt with only when there were no other choices, toughing it out and killing them.

The Immortal Sect Masters and Peak Masters who had come to visit and assess looked at each other in bewilderment.

Wasn't this a bit too ridiculous? They had come to witness how the Hundred River Immortal Path dealt with the Stealing Immortal Worms, only to see such tactics?

These tactics, they knew them too.

"It seems I know this as well," a Sect Master said, unable to hold back a sarcastic remark.

Fortunately, no one at this moment was saying they could do the same thing.

Some Sect Masters and Peak Masters from other Sects turned to leave, joking aside. Why should they deplete their own Immortal Spiritual Power to help exterminate Stealing Immortal Worms, when they could be killing more in their own Immortal Sects?

Only a few Sect Masters who could not afford to lose face stayed to help eliminate the Stealing Immortal Worms.

By the time all the Stealing Immortal Worms were lured into the trapping array, the Hundred River Immortal Path was already in shambles.

Those Sect Masters who had helped were all leaving one after another, everyone aware that it was no longer appropriate to stay.

Meng Zhongqi sat in the Sect Master's seat in the main hall of the Sect with a face as dark as iron. The Sect had lost nearly ten million Immortal Crystals in driving out the Stealing Immortal Worms, and all the Immortal Spirit Spring Eyes had been sealed.

The loss from the sealing of the Immortal Spirit Springs was immeasurable.

"Lu Hai, is this how you took control and handled all the Stealing Immortal Worms?" Meng Zhongqi slammed the tea table in front of him. If looks could kill, he would have slain Lu Hai thousands of times over.

He had just received the message that the Hundred River Immortal Path had vanished from the Ascension Arena ranking board, dropping once again beyond the thousandth place.

This was a colossal joke.

The Hundred River Immortal Path had first located an Immortal Spirit Spring Eye, then achieved excellent results in stopping the Stealing Immortal Worms, bringing its overall Sect ranking to just over four hundred.

Yet before the ranking could even settle, in less than half a year, the Hundred River Immortal Path had once again disappeared from the rankings.

Aiming for the fifth Immortal Domain? Heh, what an irony.

Lu Hai had a pale face but couldn't utter a single word.

Not only Lu Hai, but a dozen Array Masters in charge of the Defense Array Cores, all trembled like chaff in the wind.

Array Masters were among the most revered and highest-earning individuals in the Immortal Sect. But if something went wrong, they also faced the heaviest punishments.

High rewards were synonymous with high risks.

"Speak, what's the exact reason that a perfectly fine Protecting Array collapsed all at once?" Meng Zhongqi's tone softened a bit, but his towering rage grew even more intense.

Bi Qingjian hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to speak: "Sect Master, I know the reason."

He knew very well that even if he didn't spill the beans now, it'd be investigated eventually.

When there's no trouble, everyone's happy, but once trouble arises, certainly someone has to take the blame. Since I'm the one in trouble, no one else should think of getting off lightly.

Some Array Masters saw Bi Qingjian step forward, all beginning to regret.

If they had known, they would have spoken out first. The one who first stepped out and explained the reasons would certainly face reduced punishment.

"Speak," Meng Zhongqi said coldly.

"Yes," Bi Qingjian replied with a shout, carefully organizing his words before tremblingly saying:

"Our Immortal Sect recruited an Array Master, who was very strong. At that time, Lu Hai saw that his Protecting Array could not hold up and was about to be breached by the Stealing Immortal Worms.

He saw the new Array Master and wanted to hand over the Array Core to him, so he could wriggle out of responsibility.

I saw Lu Hai even recorded a Crystal Image Ball, which was probably intended for scapegoating..."

At this point, it's every man for himself; why would Bi Qingjian cover for Lu Hai? Besides, Lu Hai didn't offer him any benefits.

Moreover, if it hadn't been for that bastard Lu Hai dismissing Ding Huan, how could they have fallen to today's state?

Upon hearing this, Lu Hai's face turned even paler.

"What happened after that?" Meng Zhongqi's tone became completely calm.

Everyone who knew Meng Zhongqi understood that he was preparing to kill someone.

Bi Qingjian's heart trembled even more, and he dared not hide anything: "Lu Hai didn't expect the new Array Master to have such formidable array skills; with just a few casual Array Flags, he controlled the Stealing Immortal Worms.

Not only that, but he also set up a Strangling Array with Void Array Patterns outside the defensive formation, specifically to strangle the Stealing Immortal Worms.

Seeing how powerful the Array Master was, Lu Hai wanted to make amends again. The Array Master had a bad temper and told Lu Hai to get lost directly.

I recognized that this Array Master was talented, so I came over to make amends as well and invited him to help set up a Strangling Array for my Array Core too.

The truth is, I wanted to keep him, but since he was assigned under Lu Hai, I had no reason to do so.

Later, other Array Masters also asked him to help set up Strangling Arrays to kill the Stealing Immortal Worms outside the Array, and from that day on, the Stealing Immortal Worms were no longer a threat to our Immortal Sect..."

"What's the name of that Array Master? Where is he? Call him here immediately," Meng Zhongqi said icily.

Bi Qingjian quickly explained: "His name is Ding Huan. Seeing how powerful he was, Lu Hai feared he would overshadow him, so he simply dismissed him from the Immortal Sect..."

"Slap!" Meng Zhongqi slapped the teacup in front of him into fragments and suddenly stood up: "Very well, Lu Hai, even tearing you to pieces will not quell the hatred in my heart."

Meng Zhongqi was truly enraged to the extreme. Such a powerful Array Master, whom other Immortal Sects could not even hire, had been dismissed by Lu Hai. Killing him would not be enough to extinguish the fury in his heart.

At this moment, Meng Zhongqi suddenly remembered what Xin Chuan had said earlier and quickly asked, "Is Steward Xin Chuan here?"

"Reporting to the Sect Master, your disciple is here," Xin Chuan stepped forward and bowed.

Truth be told, Xin Chuan was also disappointed; he had instructed Elder Kong before he left to make good use of Ding Huan. Yet, these idiots drove away such a formidable Array Master.

"You told me before that it took a lot of effort to recruit Ding Huan to our Immortal Sect; is that him?" Meng Zhongqi asked.

Xin Chuan said: "Sect Master, it's him. I had just recruited him back when I met Elder Kong, who asked me to represent our Immortal Sect at the Great Immortal Sect Conference.

Yes, it was the auxiliary meeting before the Immortal Sect Conference, and I had just returned..."

"That should have been about half a year ago, right? Why was Ding Huan sent to the Immortal Sect Protection Array Hall only recently?" Meng Zhongqi asked.

Xin Chuan shook his head: "I don't know about that; I left right after bringing Ding Huan back to the Immortal Sect. I even specifically instructed Elder Kong that Ding Huan was talented and needed to be well-placed."

"Elder Kong," Meng Zhongqi looked towards Kong Zhangji, who was sitting at the side.

Kong Zhangji stood up and bowed, saying: "That is true, I was the one who informed Xin Chuan to attend the Great Immortal Sect Conference's auxiliary meeting.

I had Gu Yuan take Ding Huan to do a task. As for where exactly Gu Yuan took him, I am not very clear."

Kong Zhangji felt somewhat helpless inside; he had clearly instructed Gu Yuan to take him to the Immortal Spirit Spring Eye.

But he couldn't admit it, he had to let Gu Yuan take the blame, otherwise, he would face punishment as well.

"Bring Gu Yuan here," said Meng Zhongqi, his hands turning slightly pale with anger.

What the Immortal Sects lacked the most now were talents. Even though many talents existed within the Immortal Sect,

those within the Immortal Sect were being cultivated and rarely sent to repair Arrays, refine ore or search for Immortal Spirit Springs. After all, such tasks depleted one's life, and who would send their geniuses away?

Gu Yuan was quickly brought in, aware that the Immortal Sect had encountered a serious problem.

But what did it have to do with him? Why was he being summoned?

"Gu Yuan, when I instructed you to take Ding Huan to the Array Protection Hall, where did you take him? Why did Ding Huan only appear in the Array Protection Hall three months ago?"

Without waiting for the Sect Master to speak, Kong Zhangji sternly interrogated.

Gu Yuan was stunned; these were matters from half a year ago. How could the breaching of the Protecting Array by the Stealing Immortal Worms be related to Ding Huan's situation from half a year ago?

What was the connection?

Moreover, it was not Elder Kong who instructed him to take Ding Huan to the Array Protection Hall at that time, but to search for the Immortal Spirit Spring Eye.

But having been in the Immortal Sect for such a long time, he quickly grasped the situation: Kong Zhangji was making him the scapegoat.

Gu Yuan, as it happened, was quite aware of the situation. After all, taking someone to the wrong place was not a huge issue; being a scapegoat would suffice.

The worst he could expect was a fine in Immortal Crystals, something Elder Kong would surely compensate him for.