Chapter 46: Night Raid

  When He Lian Qing left, Qin Zheng chuckled and said: "Will the fairy let He Lian Dao take away Shui Sheng just like that? Aren't you afraid of going through a lot of trouble only to end up with nothing?"

  Mei Ji chuckled and said, "Brother Qin, rest assured. He Lian may look cold as ice, but he is a man of his word. Besides, for a cultivator at the peak of the Yuan Ying stage like myself, how could I possibly dare to offend him easily? Unless, Brother Qin has some opinion about He Lian that doesn't sit well with you?"

  As a fellow middle-term cultivator, Mei Ji treated Qin Zheng and He Lian Qingchen with completely different attitudes. Qin Zheng secretly cursed in his heart, but still had a faint smile on his face as he replied: "How could I possibly have any opinions about Brother He Lian? It's just that this way, the attack on Yu Ding Gate will be delayed again!"

  "The Jade Cauldron Gate won't fly away, but the Four Treasures of the Universe are a different story. Brother Qin, don't tell me you're not tempted by these four treasures at all? Besides, according to the Three Sects Agreement, after taking down the Jade Cauldron Gate, the Jade Cauldron Mountain belongs to the Ice Seal Valley, and our two sects will only get a small share of the spoils. Since He Lian isn't in a hurry, why are we?" Mei Ji looked at Qin Zheng with a strange smile in her eyes.

  Qin's expression didn't change at all, and he slowly said: "The treasures of the world are possessed by those with virtue, how can they be forcibly taken? Even Baoli Daoist friends cannot get their hands on the Qiankun Four Treasures, what virtue or ability does Qin have to dare to have such an unseemly thought? It's just that the fairy's tone today has suddenly changed, and even the way she addresses me is greatly different from before, it's really making this old man feel honored!"

  "I just suddenly thought that Qin brother is also a mid-term cultivator of the Yuan fetus, like He Lian brother. If I have offended you in the past few days, please forgive me, Qin brother. I feel that I have made some new breakthroughs in my cultivation recently and want to go into seclusion for ten days. As for the matter of restraining the Jade Cauldron Sect, please trouble Qin brother to take care of it!" Mei Ji said, and also turned around and left.

  Qin Zheng's mouth twitched, and he cursed inwardly. Clearly, the three factions had joined forces to attack the Jade Cauldron Gate, and the four Nascent Soul cultivators had been eyeing the five great divine soldiers and many heavenly treasures of the Jade Cauldron Gate for a long time. Now, out of nowhere, the "Qian Kun Four Treasures" appeared, and they all turned their heads and went after them, suddenly changing their minds to snatch them away. As for Mei Ji's mention of "closed cultivation", he wouldn't believe it even if you killed him. He thought to himself that since those two were going to fight over the Qian Kun Four Treasures, why couldn't he secretly follow behind them? Besides, the news that the Qian Kun Four Treasures were in Wu Mu Dao Ren's hands should be true.

  One day later, in another location, Wu Mu Dao emerged from the ground, looking refreshed and revitalized. He stretched his waist and muttered to himself: "That 'Snow Ginseng Dan' of Dog Miscellaneous's really isn't bad for recovering spiritual energy! No wonder the high-ranking cultivators of Ice Seal Valley are endless, it seems the rumors of Liangzhou being rich in heavenly and earthly spiritual medicines aren't false!"

  Looking in the direction of Yuding Mountain, a complex expression flashed across his eyes. He took a deep breath and said: "Tiewing, you little scamp saved my life once, and I repaid that debt by ensuring your safety for twenty years. We were even, but then you got entangled with me again and lost your life. Don't worry, I'll help rescue your daughter's life!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, his right arm stretched out and a dark light flew out from his sleeve, falling in front of him and transforming into a five-foot-long black long sword. Wu Mu Dao Ren's body moved slightly, lightly landing on the long sword, shaking his hand to throw out a yellow talisman with gold edges, muttering incantations, his hands alternately pinching and striking towards the talisman. In the blink of an eye, the talisman swelled up countless times, pieces of golden characters flying everywhere, and the ground immediately stirred up gusts of yellow wind. For a time, within a hundred feet of space, sand and rocks flew about, the sky grew dark and the earth grew dim.

  "Wudang Dao's voice boomed out: 'The universe has no bounds, the Qiankun escape method, hurry!' As soon as his words fell, a yellow light column burst forth from his right hand and entered the talisman. The giant talisman, one zhang long and seven chi wide, rolled back from mid-air, enveloping Wudang Dao and the Qiankun divine sword beneath him. A sharp whistling sound pierced the air as the yellow light column swept up countless grains of sand and shot towards the sky. Initially as thick as a bucket, it became thinner than an arrow shaft after several li, finally transforming into a yellow thread of light. Although its speed couldn't compare to the 'Qiankun Divine Escape Talisman', it was several times faster than a Jindan stage cultivator flying with their magical tool."

  Under the Jade Cauldron Mountain, where the Huo Ling Sect was located, a red-robed man with an extremely ugly appearance said to Mei Ji: "Reporting to Master, Qin Zheng falsely claimed to be in seclusion and secretly left Jade Cauldron Mountain two hours ago!" Mei Ji's eyes lit up, saying: "This old guy really fell for it, thinking I used the excuse of seclusion to go down the mountain and seize the treasure. He didn't think that Wu Mu could kill Bai Li Mu so badly that even Yuan Ying couldn't escape. Since that's the case, Luo Lie, you'll proceed with the plan!"

  The man in the red robe, Luo Lie, hesitated for a moment before saying: "Master, currently there are only over 30 Golden Elixir stage cultivators left among the three sects. Apart from guarding this 'Re Guang Po Jin Array', they also have to be stationed at the other three peaks of Yu Ding Mountain to prevent the Yu Ding Sect disciples from escaping. At present, it is a critical moment in attacking Yu Ding Mountain. If we follow that plan, I'm afraid that in the end, we really won't be able to take down Yu Ding Sect."

  "Hmph, what do you know? If the Jade Cauldron Sect is so easily broken through, and the Five Great Divine Soldiers are so easy to seize, why haven't the other three sects made a move? The ultimate goal of the Ice Seal Valley is to unify the Nine States. Pingzhou and Yanzhou have already fallen into the hands of the Di people, and the Tianxin Sect has long since become an appendage of the Ice Seal Valley. If Zhongzhou and the Jade Cauldron Sect also become the second cultivation grounds for the Ice Seal Valley's cultivators, then after the Ice Seal Valley attacks Zhongzhou, the next unfortunate ones will be Yan Zhou and the Huo Ling Sect! Of course, if the Jade Cauldron Sect really can't hold on, we won't show any mercy when seizing the Five Great Divine Soldiers!" Mei Ji said coldly.

  Lu Lie nodded in agreement and was about to turn around and leave when Mei Ji added, "This matter is confidential, no one else can know besides you and me, understand?"

  That night, at midnight, the Yu Ding Gate cultivators suddenly launched a surprise attack on the three sects' cultivators stationed outside the east, west, and south peaks of Yu Ding Mountain. Xuan Guang Dao Ren personally appeared outside the east peak of Yu Ding Mountain, wielding the divine sword "Heaven-Cleaving" to break through the defensive formation of the Huo Ling Sect's cultivators, instantly killing two Huo Ling Sect Golden Dan cultivators and one Bing Feng Valley Golden Dan cultivator. If Mei Ji hadn't arrived in time, the four Huo Ling Sect Golden Dan cultivators and two Bing Feng Valley Golden Dan cultivators stationed there would have all fallen.

  The retreating Xuan Guang Daoist borrowed the Yu Ding Mountain's forbidden array, transmitted to the southern peak of Yu Ding Mountain, and killed three Tian Xin Zong Jindan period cultivators and two Bing Feng Gu Jindan period cultivators. He then calmly entered the valley within Yu Ding Mountain. Only one Tian Xin Zong Jindan period cultivator managed to escape with his life in the chaos. The two Qi Refining stage disciples of the two sects outside the southern peak of Yu Ding Mountain, having lost the protection of their Jindan period seniors, suffered heavy casualties, with nine out of ten being killed.

  As for the Western Peak of Yuding Mountain, the six Golden Core cultivators stationed here relied on the large array already set up and fought against the Jade Cauldron Sect cultivators with equal strength. The Ice Seal Valley cultivators even summoned nearly a hundred second-level demon beasts wandering within fifty miles of Yuding Mountain, as well as six third-level demon beasts comparable to Golden Core initial stage, to assist in the battle. This turned the tide, forcing the eight Golden Core cultivators of Jade Cauldron Sect to retreat. In the end, both sides lost two Golden Core cultivators each.

  When daylight broke, all the disciples of Yudingmen retreated back into the mountains and once again became turtles with their heads withdrawn.

  After the war, Bing Feng Gu, Tian Xin Zong and Huo Ling Zong lost five, three and two Jindan disciples respectively. The number of Qi Gong disciples who died or were injured in Bing Feng Gu and Tian Xin Zong was countless. Huo Ling Zong, which was stationed at the East Peak of Yu Ding Mountain, had only more than 20 Qi Gong disciples fallen because Mei Ji, a Yuan Ying cultivator, was present. Even so, Mei Ji was still furious, came to the residence of Tian Xin Zong, and rushed back to Yu Ding Mountain after hearing the news, Qin Zheng, who was in a hurry, was questioned by her about why he did not come out when the disciples of Yu Ding Men were attacked!

  Under the pressure of Qin Zheng, he naturally didn't dare to say much, and could only firmly claim that he was in a critical period of closed-door meditation and couldn't come out to fight against the enemy. However, in his heart, he was extremely depressed. After all, this time, the Yu Ding Gate suddenly launched an attack, and the number of deaths and injuries among the Tian Xin Sect disciples was the highest. In the two years since the siege of the Yu Ding Gate, the Tian Xin Sect had only obtained some not-too-precious spiritual medicine in a few caves of the Yu Ding Gate's cultivators outside the mountain, but hadn't obtained any other treasures. The twelve Jindan-stage disciples he brought with him had fallen seven people, and as for the injured Qi-training stage disciples, there were more than a hundred.

  For three years, the Ice Valley has lost fourteen Golden Elixir disciples and six third-level demon beasts, but for a sect with many Golden Elixir cultivators and several third- and fourth-level demon beasts, it's probably just one percent of their total strength.

  For two years, this was the first time that Yudingmen had launched such a large-scale attack. The three sects' monks all regarded this as Yudingmen's final counterattack before its death. Of course, although Yudingmen had gained an advantage, it would not abandon its sect and disperse in all directions. If that were the case, with Yuanying period cultivators from the three sects wandering outside the mountain, there might be even more casualties.

  After the discussion, the three sects of cultivators redeployed their troops. They withdrew a few Golden Dan period cultivators who were stationed at the north peak of Yuding Mountain after the previous failure to attack Yuding Gate and replaced them with others to guard the other three peaks. The number of Golden Dan period cultivators guarding the three peaks was reduced from six to five, and they only defended without attacking. The cultivators of Bingfeng Valley even recalled all the demonic beasts and ferocious wolves that were wandering within hundreds of miles outside Yuding Mountain back to the mountain, surrounding it tightly once again.

  In a secluded and rarely visited mountain valley, in a simple cave over ten zhang deep and three to four zhang wide, Shui Sheng slowly came back to consciousness once again. However, he felt an increasingly intense pain like needles piercing his limbs, and in his dantian, it was as if five or six sharp knives were simultaneously twisting and turning.

  After He Lian Qingchen took Shuǐ Shēng away, he didn't rush to find Wū Mù Dào rén. Instead, he found a secluded mountain cave and set up multiple restrictions at the entrance. Then, he took out a silver axe artifact and carved out a large flat area on the ground. He indicated for Shuǐ Shēng to sit cross-legged opposite him before starting to carefully "examine" Shuǐ Shēng.

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