A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 95
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Chapter 94 The Pursuit, the Yan Family’s Disaster, and the Only Opportunity to Turn Black into White
“Was it really necessary?!”
Wang Chan felt like vomiting blood from frustration.
His Blood Spirit Great Art of Escape Technique, while not the best among the six demonic sects, was certainly in the top five.
Even with his shallow cultivation, having only reached the second level, his speed was still unmatched among his peers.
So why did this unknown Foundation Establishment cultivator from Huangfeng Valley possess a similar Blood Escape Technique—burning his essence blood to enhance his escape skills?
And was there some irreconcilable hatred between them? Why would he be willing to sacrifice his essence blood to pursue him?
What kind of deep-seated grudge, what kind of resentment?
“Damn it.”
He desperately wanted to escape, but his body was completely empty; he had no more blood to vomit.
If he vomited again, he wouldn’t even be able to maintain his Foundation Establishment cultivation.
“Heh heh, young sect leader, you can’t escape. Even if I, Wang, can’t capture you, the Core Formation stage experts of my Yue Kingdom won’t just stand by and let you go. If I, Wang, capture you, you’ll still be in good health, but if those Core Formation stage seniors take action, you’ll likely be in serious trouble,”
Han Li threatened.
He wasn’t sure of the Ghost Spirit Sect’s current condition, but he was certain that Wang Chan’s condition was extremely bad.
The attacks he brought with dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators, though blocked by the numerous blood ghosts, hadn’t been without cost.
To entangle the remaining dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators, he had decisively abandoned most of the blood he had cultivated using the Blood Spirit Technique, suffering a severe loss of cultivation. The loss caused by abandoning that large cloud of blood mist alone was enormous, a kind of extraordinary depletion of vital energy.
Moreover, he had subsequently burned two drops of essence blood.
He definitely didn’t have much strength left.
“You, surnamed Wang, should show some mercy. You probably don’t know that my Six Demonic Sects have already conquered the cultivation worlds of Jiang and Cheqi Kingdoms, and are now preparing to attack Yue Kingdom at any time, right? If you harm this young master, my father and my second uncle will not let you off. My Ghost Spirit Sect’s Wang family will slaughter your entire clan,”
Wang Chan threatened.
With a Nascent Soul stage father and a Nascent Soul stage uncle standing behind him, the intimidation was considerable.
Han Li was indeed slightly alarmed.
Perhaps sensing Han Li’s hesitation, the Ghost Spirit Sect leader immediately changed his tone:
“Fellow Daoist Wang, as long as you let this young master leave, when the seven sects of Yue Kingdom are defeated in the future, my Ghost Spirit Sect will definitely open the door to your convenience. At that time, I will even ask my father or second uncle to take you as a disciple, so that you will have the honor of becoming a Nascent Soul disciple under my father’s tutelage, becoming a core member of my Ghost Spirit Sect, and enjoying immense glory.”
“Future prospects, cultivation, status, women, you can have whatever you want then…”
“…What do you think?”
In the eyes of this young sect leader of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the conditions he offered were full of sincerity, and 99.9% of Foundation Establishment cultivators would be tempted.
However, Han Li refused very decisively:
“I don’t think so.”
He not only refused quite decisively, but his tone and gaze also became increasingly unfriendly.
“Young Sect Master, I’m used to being free and independent; I’m not used to being someone’s dog.”
If the other party hadn’t mentioned the Nascent Soul disciple of the Demonic Path, hadn’t asked him to become a disciple of a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Demonic Path, he might have hesitated for a moment.
Just a tiny bit.
But Wang Chan, this scoundrel, insisted on being a Nascent Soul disciple of the Demonic Path—a huge temptation, a source of profit, a sign of respect and admiration?
Didn’t the cultivators of the Demonic Path know how dangerous it was to be a disciple of a Nascent Soul elder?
Under the tutelage of Ancestor Linghu, a Core Formation cultivator was at least someone of importance, without any restrictions placed upon them. But on the Demonic Path, Nascent Soul cultivators would place all sorts of restrictions on their disciples! They would also hold back some, even several, techniques! Core Formation cultivators under the tutelage of Nascent Soul cultivators were merely cattle and horses raised by those old monsters, living worse than dogs, constantly trembling in fear.
And because of the various restrictions placed upon them, any attempt to resist was futile.
Those restrictions and techniques could even hinder the formation of
the Nascent Soul stage if not handled properly. Take the one from the Falling Cloud Sect, for example
. Even though he was at the peak of the Core Formation stage, even though he was in the Pseudo-Nascent Soul stage, even though he hid in an extremely secluded place within the Cloud Dream Mountain to tend the Spirit Eye Tree, wanting to live a life of seclusion, what was the result? He was unable to form a Nascent Soul.
The problem is, with his talent, he clearly had a high probability of forming a Nascent Soul.
However, he was severely restricted by his techniques,
becoming a major “backup plan” for True Monarch Heavenly Fiend.
When faced with an item sent by his former master, True Monarch Heavenly Fiend, he immediately triggered the restrictions within his body and was subsequently enslaved by the Spirit Possession Technique, becoming powerless.
That was a peak Core Formation stage
cultivator! He was completely ruined on the spot!
During this time, he had no power to resist whatsoever.
This shows how dangerous it is to be a disciple of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator in the demonic path.
It’s practically a variety of ways to die.
This bastard Wang Chan wanted him to become a slave to Wang Tiansheng’s sect? This was truly going too far! He
was taking advantage of his ignorance, thinking he was as ignorant as the other Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.
Therefore, he was very angry.
Next, not only did he use Blood Escape Technique to chase after them, but the frequency of the flapping wings of the golden-backed mantis on his back also increased significantly, causing his speed to surge.
This scene, viewed by two pairs of eyes in the shadows, was extremely satisfying.
But to Wang Chan, it was utterly incomprehensible.
“What’s going on?”
Why was he suddenly provoked?
In response, Han Li took out the Invisible Needle Talisman and silently recited the incantation, preparing to activate it for a fatal blow. He didn’t want anything to go wrong.
As for the consequences? At
worst, he could kill Wang Chan and then go to the Yue Kingdom’s palace.
Besides, judging by the time, Xin Ruyin was almost finished repairing the ancient teleportation array. Once the teleportation array was fully repaired, what worries would he have?
“Kill!”
Sensing the increasingly intense danger behind him, Wang Chan, covered in cold sweat and utterly bewildered, felt a sense of foreboding.
His keen intuition told him that the talisman in the opponent’s hand was very dangerous!
Extremely dangerous!
Once activated, he would be in grave danger:
“How could you have such a dangerous talisman?”
The intense sense of crisis he felt was almost comparable to the one his father had bestowed upon him.
Damn it.
The talisman bestowed upon him by his father was used twice to deal with Core Formation cultivators from a sect in the Jiang Kingdom.
With that talisman, he and the Li brothers successfully launched a series of counterattacks.
The feeling was truly exhilarating, and
the final gains were substantial.
However, the price was that the talisman’s power was exhausted after only two uses,
leaving him without any powerful means to counter the killing intent behind him.
“What to do?”
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him: he had an idea.
Immediately, Wang Chan made a surprising move: he removed his storage pouch and scatter various items onto the ground.
In short, everything he scattered was valuable to Foundation Establishment cultivators.
He finally understood that Huang Feng Valley was after his entire fortune. No matter how grand or tempting the promises he made, nothing beated reality.
But to Wang Chan’s surprise, Han Li showed no sign of stopping.
He meant it.
Anyway, after killing Wang Chan, wouldn’t all the spoils of war be his? Han Li understood this perfectly.
Seeing this, Wang Chan was utterly desperate.
On Han Li’s side, the Invisible Needle magic weapon was already activated and about to be fired.
But at this moment, a blinding white light rapidly approached from behind, and a voice echoed in Han Li’s ears:
“Junior Nephew, don’t kill him. This boy is best used as a bargaining chip.”
The white light was incredibly fast; upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bolt of lightning several dozen feet long. This bolt of lightning caught up with Han Li in just a few breaths, then flashed towards the blood cloud ahead.
“Senior Uncle Lei?”
Han Li’s eyes flickered slightly, and he slowly reduced his speed, quickly retracting the Invisible Needle talisman in his hand, which was almost invisible.
Because the person who came was none other than Lei Wanhe.
With Lei Wanhe’s speed and strength, there was no reason why he couldn’t deal with Wang Chan, who was severely injured and seemed to lack explosive methods.
Sure enough.
Not long after.
A flash of lightning dispersed the blood-red cloud, revealing a panicked figure within.
“This Blood Spirit Technique is indeed extraordinary, but unfortunately, you haven’t mastered it yet,”
Lei Wanhe praised, a hint of mockery in his voice.
In his view, if this little fellow from the Ghost Spirit Sect could reach the Core Formation stage and master the third level of the technique, his escape skills would be three or four times faster than ordinary Core Formation cultivators. At that point, even he wouldn’t dare claim a guaranteed victory in terms of speed.
“A dignified Core Formation cultivator bullying a Foundation Establishment cultivator like me? Are all Core Formation cultivators in Yue Kingdom this shameless?”
Wang Chan gritted his teeth.
“Sharp tongue. If it weren’t for me, you would already be dead at the hands of my nephew. Kid, you should thank me.” The
chubby Lei Wanhe delivered a powerful slap
to the back of Wang Chan’s head.
Wang Chan was slapped so hard he was seeing stars and feeling dizzy:
“Hmph, besides, when you had those Li brothers deal with the disciples of my Seven Sects, why didn’t you say it was unfair and unethical for two Core Formation cultivators to bully some Foundation Establishment cultivators? Your Ghost Spirit Sect can bully the weak, but you won’t allow the cultivators of my Yue Kingdom to retaliate in kind?”
“You think you’re right? You think you’re so capable?”
Lei Wanhe continued with several more powerful blows ,
leaving Wang Chan’s head buzzing.
When the Ghost Spirit Sect member raised his head again, his eyes were much clearer:
“Senior, please stop. I know I was wrong. Thank you for saving my life.”
A true man can bend and stretch.
At this moment, all his petty thoughts were suppressed in Wang Chan’s heart. His half-crying appearance made him look exactly like a wronged little wife.
He might even be thinking of his parents.
Han Li, meanwhile, sucked back the burning essence blood he was consuming.
Thank goodness, thank goodness, Uncle Lei arrived in time.
Thank goodness only half of this drop of essence blood was burned.
Otherwise, the loss of vital energy would have been significant, and the aftereffects would have been much greater.
…
Over at Yanling Fortress.
Before Han Li and Wang Chan met, the red-haired patriarch of the Yan family suddenly stood up and looked towards the south of Yanling Fortress, towards the dozen or so streaks of light flying towards them in the distance.
Immediately, his expression became extremely solemn and grim.
“Those are, the Core Formation cultivators from the Seven Sects?”
“And, how come there are more than a dozen of them all at once?”
“This, this…”
A bead of sweat appeared on the old man’s forehead, and he felt his vision blurring.
Had the people from the Seven Sects received some advance warning?
When Hong Fu stopped concealing her aura and broke through the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Yin Fire Formation with an exceptionally sharp crimson sword light, this time, not only did the patriarch of the Yan family experience a moment of dizziness, but the rest of the Yan family members also felt a wave of fear wash over them.
“This aura…”
“It’s late-stage Core Formation!”
A late-stage Core Formation cultivator from one of the Seven Sects of Yue Kingdom, lurking right under the Yan family’s nose, witnessed firsthand the Yan family allowing the Ghost Spirit Sect to ambush dozens of Core Formation cultivators from the Seven Sects. Now, even if they wanted to exonerate themselves before the Seven Sects, they had little leverage.
It’s over.
It’s all over.
The Yan family has gambled on the wrong horse today.
“Could it be that my family is going to be wiped out?”
The Yan family patriarch felt a dizzying sense of disorientation.
His chest tightened.
No.
No.
Something had to be done.
“Quickly, immediately inform the elites of the Martial Arts Hall and the core members of the Life and Death Hall to leave Yanling Fortress through the secret passage! Let them escape! Every one who can escape is a chance!”
Their escape would at least distract the Seven Sects’ cultivators.
“Right, quickly tell Yan’er to escape, escape immediately! Hurry! Tell her to take the most secluded secret passage northwards! Escape to the northernmost Xi Kingdom, and never return to Yue Kingdom! Tell her to hide her identity, and it would be best if she could find her cousin…”
The Yan family patriarch instructed the three elders beside him.
“Patriarch, what exactly happened?”
The members of the Yan family’s decision-making team all looked tense.
For their patriarch to be so alarmed, something must have changed.
“Seven sects have sent Core Formation stage cultivators, more than ten of them!”
The Yan family patriarch’s words fell to a deathly silence, almost so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Before anyone could recover from their shock, the red-haired elder turned to a middle-aged scholar:
“Xuan Ye, you and Yan’er are traveling together; you two will have each other’s company. From now on, you will assist Yan’er and offer her advice. Whether the Yan family can continue, whether it can rise again, depends on Yan’er, Xuan Hao, and you, Xuan Ye.”
Yan Xuan Hao, Yan Ru Yan’s cousin, was a hidden genius with a unique spiritual root. He
had faked his death years ago
and traveled to some countries in the far south, living as a rogue cultivator.
He was a brilliant move for the Yan family.
Now, his cultivation was at the same level as the Yan family patriarch, at the mid-Core Formation stage.
“But Ancestor, what about the restriction left on Yan’er by the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect?”
Xuan Ye asked anxiously.
With that restriction in place, Yan Ruyan and Wang Chan were practically bound by life and death.
If one of them died, the other would also die before the restriction was lifted.
And the method to lift the restriction was only in Wang Chan’s hands.
“We can’t worry about that now. I just hope that the Wang family’s boy can be reliable and escape using the profound escape technique of the Blood Spirit Great Art.”
A hint of helplessness flashed in the ancestor’s eyes:
“Take this storage bag and give it to Yan’er. If anything happens to Yan’er, give it to Xuan Hao. And you three, give your storage bags to Xuan Ye.”
The Yan family ancestor handed over his storage bag, then looked solemnly at the three pseudo-core stage elders who were almost two hundred years old.
This storage bag of his belonged to the Yan family’s Nascent Soul ancestor hundreds of years ago.
It contained most of the Yan family’s precious items.
The Qiankun Tower talisman and various cultivation materials were inside.
Over the years, most of the cultivation materials inside had been consumed. For a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, it was nothing; but for the vast majority of Core Formation cultivators, the wealth inside was enough to save them from taking a hundred years of detours.
As for the storage bags of the three elders before them?
They all represented the foundation of the Yan family branch.
The wealth inside was considerable.
“Ancestor, this…”
“There’s no time.”
Upon hearing this, one of the three hesitated for a moment, but the other two elders did not hesitate any longer and took off their storage bags and handed them to the middle-aged scholar:
“Xuan Ye, let’s go, take our share and live on.”
Seeing this, the elder who seemed slightly hesitant no longer dragged his feet, and handed over his storage bag with red eyes:
“Go quickly.”
When the Yan family unanimously agreed to choose the Ghost Spirit Sect, they had anticipated this possibility.
They just didn’t expect the backlash to come so quickly.
They also didn’t expect that more than ten Core Formation stage cultivators from the seven sects would come to launch a purge.
Their Yan family had no chance of winning at all.
Go.
Go quickly. Every one of them
who could leave was one more.
Since they had made the wrong choice, they had to pay the price for their mistakes.
“The rest of you, activate the fortress’s protective formation and prepare for battle,”
the red-haired elder commanded again.
“Prepare for battle?”
“Will it even work?”
Several elders murmured, their minds reeling.
Meanwhile,
outside Yanling Fortress.
Before the dozen or so members of the seven factions of Yue Kingdom could arrive, the elder of the Li brothers was severely wounded by Hong Fu Fairy’s sword. Then, in a fleeting moment, she effortlessly severed the elder’s head, a head filled with astonishment and resentment.
The Crimson Cherry Sword, which had slipped from his grasp moments before, flew back, returning to his hand, its blade trembling, a few drops of blood dripping from its tip.
“Second brother,”
the child-like Li brother cried out in sorrow.
However, there was no time for grief.
Taking advantage of the moment Hong Fu was dealing with the elder, he had already created some distance.
Then, with a burst of light, he fled.
Kill Hong Fu to avenge his brother?
This dangerous thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before being replaced by the will to survive.
After all, even when he and his brother were together, they couldn’t defeat her, let alone on his own. Now it wasn’t a matter of revenge, but how to escape, how to survive.
“This Hong Fu, although not among the strongest late-stage Core Formation cultivators, is still a formidable expert…”
The difference in cultivation level was obvious.
They, the brothers, were only at the early stage of Core Formation. They
had just tried to join forces, using powerful secret techniques and various vicious methods to deal with Hong Fu, but to no avail. Not only were they useless, but their offensive was easily dismantled by the top female Core Formation cultivator of Yue Kingdom, who then countered them.
Especially his brother, who had tried to capture two Core Formation disciples from the Seven Sects as hostages to force Hong Fu to release them.
Then, instead of capturing the hostages, his brother was outmaneuvered and killed.
Otherwise, they could have held out a little longer.
There was no other way.
Escape.
Escape quickly.
“Trying to leave?”
Hong Fu glared coldly, a hint of contempt flashing in her eyes.
The Crimson Cherry Sword hummed softly, the blood that had just stained its blade flying away.
The next moment, she moved, transforming into a fiery red streak of light and giving chase.
Before leaving, she specifically instructed the disciples of the seven sects to immediately head southwest and rendezvous with their respective sect leaders.
The Yan family was powerless to stop her. If
they acted now, even their last shred of hope would be gone.
Furthermore, if they attacked the disciples of the seven sects, Hong Fu would definitely abandon the pursuit of the other Li brother and target the Yan family directly.
At that point, the Yan family would have no room for excuses.
“You all guard Yanling Fortress.”
After a moment’s thought, the Yan family patriarch leaped into the air and shot diagonally towards the children who were trying to flee eastward from near Yanling Fortress.
The children among the Li brothers were overjoyed to see the Yan family patriarch.
“Fellow Daoist, help me!”
If the Yan family patriarch could assist him, even just delaying Hong Fu for a moment or two, he could find an opportunity to escape.
However, what responded to him was a pagoda that the Yan family patriarch ruthlessly summoned with a wave of his hand.
This was not the Yan family patriarch’s natal magic weapon, but a magic weapon left behind by the Yan family’s Nascent Soul ancestor hundreds of years ago: the Qiankun Pagoda.
Because it had been used to refine talismanic treasures, its power had been reduced by one or two tenths.
It was rumored that the Yan family patriarch had obtained three Qiankun Pagoda talismanic treasures.
In fact, the rumor was false.
The truth was that the Yan family patriarch himself had refined a Qiankun Pagoda of the heavy weapon level.
But to prevent his descendants from being incompetent and unable to protect this treasure, before his death, he claimed that the Qiankun Pagoda magic weapon he had refined was a Qiankun Pagoda talismanic treasure. Thus, he evaded the spying of the seven Nascent Soul stage sects.
Now, summoning it was clearly a display of martial power.
It was also a demonstration of his own value.
Sure enough, as soon as
this treasure appeared, the air within a radius of seven or eight miles seemed to freeze, and the speed of flying objects dropped sharply. The closer something got to the Qiankun Tower, the faster its flight speed decreased. The Li family child’s original escape technique, which allowed him to travel at a thousand feet per second, was reduced to only three or four hundred feet per second under the interference of the Qiankun Tower’s field.
Sensing his condition, the child’s expression changed drastically, then he looked at the Yan family patriarch with a mixture of shock and anger, screaming,
“Old man Yan, are you insane? What good will this do for the Yan family? Once you’re on my Ghost Spirit Sect’s ship, do you think you can get off?”
“Nonsense!”
the Yan family patriarch sneered. He
immediately activated the Qiankun Tower with all his might. With
the full force of his mid-stage Core Formation mana, the tower rapidly expanded from a tiny inch to a hundred feet in size, then shook violently, and beams of yellow light shot out from its base, drawing the unsuspecting child, who had plunged headlong into this stagnant space, into the tower.
At this moment, the child’s eyes were filled with terror and despair.
“Fellow Daoist Yan, let’s talk this out. If we join forces, we can escape…”
But the Yan family patriarch showed no pity, only intense anger: “I said, you’re really annoying.”
The Yan family’s current predicament was entirely caused by the troublemakers from the Ghost Spirit Sect.
He wouldn’t be satisfied until they were killed.
“Die.”
Inside the Qiankun Tower, a section of space suddenly contracted, and the child’s head instantly shrunk like a watermelon.
The hundred-foot-tall tower shrank to only a foot in size in the blink of an eye.
A storage bag and a golden core floated out.
Killing a Core Formation stage cultivator didn’t seem to be a difficult task for the Yan family patriarch.
Of course, the premise was that one shouldn’t be locked onto by the Qiankun Tower, nor be locked onto by the Qiankun Tower while injured, and certainly not get too close to the Qiankun Tower. If one didn’t get close, with the full power of a Core Formation stage cultivator’s flight, the Qiankun Tower might not be able to forcibly hold them back.
The eldest of the Li brothers was so easily killed largely because he tried to shift the blame, hoping the Yan family patriarch would take the fall for him. Instead, he was conveniently killed by the Yan family member who was too close.
“The magic treasure Qiankun Tower?”
Not a talismanic version of the Qiankun Tower?
The appearance of this treasure shocked everyone present. Hong Fu
, who had stopped her escape light not far away, looked grave:
“I didn’t expect your Yan family to possess such a treasure?”
Even though the Qiankun Tower hadn’t been tempered by the Infant Fire or nourished by the magic power of a Nascent Soul cultivator for many years, its power had diminished.
Even though the Core Formation cultivator’s inner fire and magic power could only barely stabilize the magic treasure’s spirituality and slow down the decline in its power,
and even though the Yan family patriarch, although a direct descendant of the Yan family, was not the original owner of this magic treasure, it could only unleash a little over 70% of its original power.
However, even with these factors, the power of this treasure was beyond her ability to directly confront.
Fortunately, her reinforcements were arriving soon.
“Fellow Daoist Hongfu, please forgive my predicament. It’s all my fault for listening to the instigation and slander of those villains from the Ghost Spirit Sect, which led to this disaster. The Yan family is innocent; all the blame lies with me alone. Fellow Daoist Hongfu, if I atone with my death and offer this Qiankun Tower, would you spare my family?”
The Yan family patriarch pleaded, his eyes filled with longing.
He didn’t even care about his own survival, only that more members of the Yan family could live.
“Fellow Daoist Yan is quite willing to part with it,”
Hongfu said calmly, though inwardly she was somewhat tempted.
If the Dong family could acquire another powerful heirloom, it would greatly narrow the gap between them and the other three major families of Huangfeng Valley.
Therefore, it was impossible for her not to be tempted.
“What do you think of the previous proposal, Fellow Daoist?”
the Yan family patriarch asked urgently.
The rest of the seven sects were about to arrive, and he had to secure this last glimmer of hope as soon as possible.
He suspected that only Huangfeng Valley knew about the secret deal between his Yan family and the Ghost Spirit Sect. As long as this person from Huangfeng Valley speaks on behalf of the Yan family, all problems can be solved.
The original deadlock will naturally be untied.
“Let’s talk about this later.”
After a moment of contemplation, Hong Fu neither refused outright nor agreed.
She knew very well that if she pushed this person too far, she would most likely get nothing.
However, the fate of the Yan family was entirely in her hands.
“Alright, please consider the pros and cons carefully, Fairy Hong Fu.”
The Yan family patriarch did not insist further, but instead tossed out one of the Li brothers’ storage bags and a golden pill as a gesture of goodwill.
He knew very well that Hong Fu was still angry about the Yan family’s betrayal.
At this time, he could only let her make her own choice and
weigh the pros and cons herself.
All he could do was express his intentions and slightly adjust the scales.
…
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
“Senior sister, I’m here to help you.”
Li Huayuan’s voice came from afar.
Before he arrived, his voice, transmitted through divine sense, arrived first.
Immediately afterward, a magical ruler over ten zhang long shot towards them, seemingly intent on severing the Yan family patriarch and the Yanling Fortress behind him in two.
“Junior brother, stop,”
Hong Fu called out, spreading her divine sense to a distance of several miles.
Before long, a dozen figures, accompanied by dozens of disciples from the Seven Sects, arrived above Yanling Fortress with unfriendly expressions.
Among these dozen or so, those with higher cultivation levels, such as the grandmother of the Twin Heroes of the Hidden Moon, were at the mid-stage
of the Core Formation realm. Those with lower cultivation levels were all at the early stage of the Core Formation realm.
Most importantly, a disheveled old man, carrying a middle-aged man, also silently appeared among the group:
“You’ve come quite slowly.”
Upon seeing the disheveled old man, everyone bowed:
“Senior Brother.”
“Senior Qiong…”
“Elder Qiong…”
This person was none other than Elder Qiong of the Hidden Moon Sect.
Originally, he was nearing the end of his life and was preparing for his funeral within the sect.
Upon receiving the invitation from the three from Huangfeng Valley, he immediately rushed to the Yan family to see this so-called treasure-hunting event. To be precise, he wanted to gamble a little before he died.
After all, this was one of his few pleasures.
With his escape techniques, he should have been the first to arrive here, leaving the other two from the sect behind. However, he encountered Li Huayuan and two others halfway there. The four chatted for a while and waited for the remaining Core Formation cultivators.
Then, unable to sit still any longer, he came here alone.
However, when he passed by Qingliang City on the outskirts of Yanliang Mountain, he sensed a familiar fluctuation of cultivation technique. He immediately followed the aura and luckily found a Hehuan Sect cultivator who was, well, “unlucky.”
Moreover, it was a Hehuan Sect elder at the mid-Core Formation stage.
This was truly an unexpected delight.
He loved encountering Hehuan Sect cultivators.
Dealing with this person, especially considering that he needed to capture him alive, took him a little longer to toy with him.
Otherwise, he would have liked to experience the power of the Qiankun Tower.
He wanted to see if the Yan family’s Qiankun Tower could suppress his Invisible Needles!
The appearance of Old Monster Qiong made the lone Yan family patriarch on the other side feel uneasy, and all hope vanished. He was confident that he could handle almost any Core Formation cultivator from the seven major sects with the Qiankun Tower magic treasure left by his ancestors, except for Old Monster Qiong.
“Eh? Old Monster Qiong, who is this person you’re holding?”
Someone noticed the middle-aged man in the old man’s hand who was not young but had a youthful appearance.
“I just took a stroll around that mortal town outside Yanliang Mountain and casually grabbed this Core Formation cultivator from the Hehuan Sect.”
“A person from the Hehuan Sect?”
The grandmother of the Twin Heroes of the Moon frowned.
The cultivators from the other sects also raised their eyebrows.
Old Monster Qiong ignored them and looked at the Yan family patriarch:
“Your Yan family is quite interesting, very interesting indeed. This treasure hunt in Yanling Fortress is truly unexpectedly exciting. Not only did it attract people from the Ghost Spirit Sect, but it also attracted the trash from the Hehuan Sect.”
Qingliang City is only a few dozen miles away from Yanling Fortress, not far.
The divine sense of a Core Formation cultivator can cover that area.
“There is actually a Core Formation cultivator from the Hehuan Sect hidden in Qingliang City?”
Hong Fu raised her eyebrows.
She hadn’t noticed the other person before, and the other person hadn’t noticed her and Junior Brother Lei either.
The Yan family patriarch’s brows twitched wildly.
Why was there more than just the Ghost Spirit Sect here? There was also the Joyful Union Sect in secret? Just how badly had the demonic path infiltrated their own Yanling Fortress?
Just as he was getting angry, he suddenly remembered the invitations sent to the Immortal Sects in the Jiang and Cheqi Kingdoms for their Core Formation stage cultivators.
The Joyful Union Sect members, like the Ghost Spirit Sect, had most likely infiltrated Yanling Fortress using those invitations.
Hiss… He’d been careless.
“Hmph, regardless of what these Joyful Union Sect cultivators are like, let’s talk about what’s going on with the Yan family first,”
a middle-aged cultivator at the peak of the mid-Core Formation stage from Tianque Fortress said in a deep voice.
He had already heard about what had happened at Yanling Fortress from his disciple Ma Yunlong, so his expression was extremely unfriendly when he looked at the Yan family patriarch. He, a disciple who was very likely to enter the Core Formation stage, had almost perished at the hands of the Yan family. Was this going to ruin the future of Tianque Fortress for the next few decades?
The entire Tianque Fortress was counting on Ma Yunlong to become the new Core Formation cultivator, breaking the sect’s eighty-year drought of no new Core Formation cultivators.
“That’s right, the Yan family owes us an explanation.”
The other Core Formation cultivators also spoke up coldly, their faces cold as they all attacked. They
looked at the Yan family patriarch with utter disdain.
They had all learned from their own disciples that the Ghost Spirit Sect had nearly wiped them out, and that Hong Fu had saved them.
No one here was a fool.
The Ghost Spirit Sect’s blatant slaughter of seventy or eighty disciples from the seven major sects clearly indicated that the Yan family was providing cover, condoning the attack, or even outright colluding with the Ghost Spirit Sect.
However, they had just witnessed the Yan family patriarch’s killing of a Ghost Spirit Sect Core Formation cultivator, which raised considerable doubts.
They needed to ask Hong Fu to find out what had happened.
It seemed that only Hong Fu and Lei Wanhe of Huangfeng Valley knew the truth.
As for the Yan family? “
If we can’t give everyone a satisfactory answer, then let’s just exterminate the entire clan.
” “Let’s discuss this later, after Junior Brother Lei returns, shall we?”
Hong Fu said with a smile.
Now, the initiative was entirely in Huang Feng Valley’s hands.
If Huang Feng Valley said the Yan family was evil, then the extermination of the Yan family was inevitable. But if Huang Feng Valley said the Yan family was good, there was room for maneuver. It all
depended on how much benefit the Yan family could offer Hong Fu, Junior Brother Lei, and Junior Brother Li.
If the benefits offered far exceeded the spoils after the Yan family’s extermination, the Yan family could naturally continue to exist. Hong
Fu saw through the intricacies of this situation perfectly.
The Yan family patriarch also realized this, and a strong glimmer of life suddenly appeared in his gloomy eyes.
“Alright, let’s find a place to sit first.”
Old Monster Qiong nodded.
“How about that mountain to the west?”
Hong Fu pointed to the mountain where the Ghost Spirit Sect had previously set up the Yin Fire Array.
“Okay.”
“Let’s go and see the Ghost Spirit Sect’s layout. We’re sure to find something.”
“…”
The group of Core Formation cultivators, along with many Foundation Establishment disciples from the sect, quickly returned to the top of the earthen hill.
The Yan family patriarch, remaining where he was, pondered for a moment before summoning three elders from Yanling Fortress:
“Take my identity token and quickly bring Xuan Ye back. As for Yan’er, let her hide outside for a while…”
Just then, a flash of white light appeared in the distance, and a bolt of lightning over ten zhang in size appeared on the western mountain peak, revealing three figures: Lei Wanhe, Han Li, and the captured Wang Chan. Upon
seeing Wang Chan, whose legs and arms were broken and who was unconscious, the Yan family patriarch immediately changed his mind:
“Never mind, call Yan’er back too.”
Since Wang Chan hadn’t escaped, Yan Ruyan, bound by a special restriction, wouldn’t be safe either.
If Wang Chan died, Yan Ruyan would also die from the backlash.
Rather than die silently outside, it was better to return and exchange sufficient benefits for an opportunity with Huangfeng Valley.
Who knows how much the Yan family would be crippled this time?!
Touching the Qiankun Pagoda that had been with him for two hundred years, the red-haired old man sighed inwardly.
This treasure was likely lost forever.
…
The seven sects, each with approximately two Core Formation stage cultivators, had arrived.
The Hidden Moon Sect and Yellow Maple Valley each had three.
The reason they arrived almost simultaneously was mainly because the agreed-upon time, sent a few days prior, was today—the day of the treasure-hunting competition.
Adding to this was Li Huayuan’s interception halfway.
This Uncle Li, in his quest for a large profit, had gone to great lengths and exhausted every means to finally stop these Core Formation stage experts from discussing the upcoming duel.
Only Old Monster Qiong had arrived a moment earlier.
The group gathered, a total of sixteen Core Formation stage cultivators.
One could imagine the pressure the Yan family was facing.
After the Core Formation stage cultivators from the seven sects casually chose futons to sit on, they immediately summoned their disciples to inquire about the previous details. Others examined the array materials buried underground.
“It really is the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Yin Fire Grand Array, but it’s only temporary, less than a tenth of the full version’s power. Otherwise, it would pose a considerable threat to us Core Formation cultivators,”
commented a Core Formation cultivator skilled in array formations.
“No wonder Fellow Daoist Hong Fu was able to break it with a single sword strike; I thought your supernatural abilities had greatly improved,” said
the grandmother of Duobao Nu from the Hidden Moon Sect, somewhat sourly.
She was a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, and like Hong Fu, she had been stuck at the peak of the mid-stage for thirty or forty years.
However, Hong Fu had stepped into the late-stage Core Formation before her, becoming the top female Core Formation cultivator among the seven sects of Yue Kingdom.
She, on the other hand, was still stuck in the same place,
only at the mid-stage.
People fight for pride, and she, from the most prestigious sect in Yue Kingdom, had lost to Hong Fu of Yellow Maple Valley.
This had caused her great frustration and depression over the past few years.
The two had been competing openly and covertly for nearly two hundred years, and she had ultimately been left behind.
No one present responded to her words.
Everyone kept their eyes down, chatting amongst themselves.
Master Hongfu, however, didn’t take the words of the person from the Hidden Moon Sect to heart. Instead, she opened the soundproof barrier and asked Lei Wanhe and Li Huayuan via telepathy,
“Junior brothers, what should we do with the Yan family next? Should we expose their heinous acts and have them wiped out? Or…?”
Her telepathy was very discreet, and with triple soundproofing, even Old Monster Qiong couldn’t eavesdrop.
Lei Wanhe and Li Huayuan fell into thought.
After a short while, Li Huayuan, who already knew the situation, spoke first:
“The Yan family has malicious intentions; keeping them alive is a disaster. Besides, in recent years, the Yan family has aligned themselves with the Hidden Moon Sect, not our Yellow Maple Valley. If we protect the Yan family, we’re helping the Hidden Moon Sect protect that promising talent with the Heavenly Spirit Root. Therefore, in my opinion, Junior Brother, we should take this opportunity to destroy the Yan family and divide them up.”
He, Li, was very covetous of the Qiankun Tower talisman.
As for the Qiankun Tower itself…
He hadn’t contributed much, so there was no point in expecting anything from him.
Hong Fu didn’t comment on this, but instead looked at Lei Wanhe.
Soon, Lei Wanhe finished thinking and spoke up:
“Senior Sister, I don’t think it’s necessary to destroy the Yan family. Instead, we should preserve them.”
“Why?”
Li Huayuan raised an eyebrow.
“Because the continued existence of the Yan family can bring greater benefits to Huangfeng Valley, and also to the three of us.”
Lei Wanhe said confidently.
“Senior Brother Lei, what do you mean by that?”
“Junior Brother, just look at the present. If we save the Yan family and turn black into white, the Yan family will have to give us a lot in return, right?”
Li Huayuan nodded upon hearing this.
That made sense.
Lei Wanhe continued:
“You see, as long as the Yan family can offer more than the seven sects could share if they destroyed the Yan family, wouldn’t you and I have made a profit? After all, even if we share the Yan family with the other six sects, what we end up with might not be as much as the Yan family is willing to give us.”
In the case of everyone getting a share, the other major sects also consider how much they contributed when dividing the spoils.
“That makes sense.”
Li Huayuan stroked his chin and nodded slightly,
understanding Lei Wanhe’s meaning.
“Secondly, by saving the Yan family, they owe Huangfeng Valley a tremendous favor. If we ever need anything in the future, the Yan family will certainly not refuse us easily.”
“Furthermore, let some of the core members of the Yan family join Huangfeng Valley. We will treat them all equally. As for that Heavenly Spiritual Root, we haven’t even seen it yet. If this woman doesn’t die today, she will definitely become a late-stage Core Formation cultivator or even reach the Nascent Soul stage in the future. If we are the enemies who destroyed the Yan family, the Yan family woman will definitely not let it go peacefully. But if we are the benefactors who saved the Yan family, even if the Yan family woman doesn’t repay us, she will at least take care of Huangfeng Valley out of consideration for protecting her clan and her own direct descendants in Huangfeng Valley.”
At this point, Lei Wanhe couldn’t help but sigh:
“Senior Sister, Junior Brother Li, don’t forget the Ancestor’s current lifespan.”
“A major sect relies entirely on Nascent Soul cultivators to maintain its prestige. Yet, my Yellow Maple Valley only has one late-stage Core Formation cultivator, Senior Sister, who only recently broke through. If our ancestor fails to break through his cultivation level and gain more lifespan within two hundred years…”
“And if you, Senior Sister, haven’t reached Nascent Soul stage even after a hundred years…”
“My Yellow Maple Valley will be left without a lineage!”
A sect without a Nascent Soul cultivator is nothing in Tiannan, utterly unqualified to acquire land and spiritual veins. The destruction of our lineage hinges on a single thought from the surrounding Nascent Soul sects.
(End of this chapter)
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