“I’ll be going.” Xu Yangyi waved his hand. For him to speak of this matter was quite formal. But just as he reached the surface, he was stunned. It wasn’t only him, however, the remaining sixty-seven people right now were all dumbly looking at the sky. 

There, in an extremely faraway place… it was unknown how distant it was, but everyone clearly understood that over yonder was bound to be Nanzhou!

Above the sky and below the moonlight, the White Tiger Hall was fully mobilizing amidst dark clouds! Spiritual light went through the sky, illuminating the heavens so that it was a little white! Rays of white qi gushed out from the fortress’s entire structure. Endless kaleidoscopic spiritual light scattered all around and opened fire!

Even here, the soundless explosions were still audible. The entire earth was faintly shaking.

Swish!

 A seemingly infinite white light jetted out from the aircraft carrier-like White Tiger Hall. Like razors, the light tore and sliced open the ground. It was as if one could see broken rubble swirling in the air from here. Although Nanzhou’s citizens had already been relocated, the city’s buildings were all annihilated into ash, under the strike of these beams of light!

But at the other side, two incredibly large demonbeasts flapped their wings and hovered in the air. From their backs, bombardments of qi flew out and clashed against the light that had come out from the White Tiger Hall.

Everyone clearly understood that both sides’ cultivators had already started total war! In the sky, they engaged in bloody combat while mounted on flying artifacts!

On the ground, there were a few hundred-meter-tall shadows standing tall. There was no shred of doubt that they weren’t buildings. The present Nanzhou had long since put a halt to all supply. Above the shadows, countless talismans twinkled.

“ROOOAR!!!” A thunderous snarl shook the surrounding fifty kilometers! It came from a grotesque shadow, its entire body covered in feelers. The thing seemed to grow several heads and eight arms, its lower body similar to a spider. It shot out rays of green light towards the sky and attacked the body of the White Tiger Hall, even more dazzling spiritual light rising off from the Linghu Clan’s fortress. However… this light was the White Tiger Palace’s qi barrier.

But such a massive shadow didn’t just have one head. On the contrary, it had a total of seven! All of them were aimed at the White Tiger Hall!

At the sides of these shadows, there were winged black tigers, black-armored riders saddled on them. In the night sky, these riders resembled pitch-black orbs, dozens of them making up a single squad. They tenaciously circled and flew around the giant seven-headed beast, dragging forth blood-red rays of light. This onslaught of spiritual brilliance was seemingly tireless, flaring out from these cultivators’ hands and hitting the behemoth, bringing an even more wretched howl! 

From time to time, another tidal wave of several hundred cultivators shrouded in violet light fired concentrated burst of sword rain at the White Tiger Hall. The entire situation was practically a Hollywood blockbuster!

“My god…” Zhao Wuye’s lips quivered as he looked into the sky. While he had made many, many mental preparations, he still felt immense shock in his head as he watched Nanzhou, at that place hundreds of kilometers away, the heart of the maelstrom where three great clans began all-out war against the Linghu Clan.

Those giants beasts… those carrier-like floating strongholds, and the lairs of the four major clans in the sky… This was what he actually wanted to go up against? 

This

 was a so-called quasi-apex clan? Could this… really be defeated?

If he felt like this, everyone else did as well. Their gazes trained on the sky were already lifeless. Every now and then, there was qi of all kinds of colors fluctuating above Nanzhou. It even spread to them, rippling towards an area over several hundred kilometers away and shining down upon their apprehensive faces.

In this moment, the morale and joy brought from prevailing over the Screaming Wind Legion tumbled down again.

Xu Yangyi took everything in before his eyes and remained silent. Instead, he clapped Chu Zhaonan’s and Zhao Wuye’s shoulders, using his gaze to hint at them to follow him.

The trio kept silent as they walked, traveling for about a couple dozen meters away. But while they were all placed in the same situation, different thoughts ran through their minds. Upon reaching the side of the gorge, Zhao Wuye gritted his teeth and said, “Branchmaster Xu… right now, the most key thing is how we’re going to enter.”

“The war situation is so intense… Perhaps Nanzhou has already become scorched earth. The White Tiger Hall’s indiscriminate assault is a huge vortex. As long as we go in… I fear that we’ll be crushed into skeletons without any chance at survival!”

Chu Zhaonan didn’t speak, but his eyes completely approved of Zhao Wuye’s words.

“Might as well.” Xu Yangyi brought the two of them and slid down to the bottom of the gorge, beckoning towards the cave entrance. Chu Zhaonan and Zhao Wuye were teeming with worry at the bottom of their hearts, filled with doubts as they walked in. 

But as they entered, the old man’s and gunslinger’s pupils saucered wide. They simply didn’t dare believe in what they were looking at!

“This is…” Zhao Wuye’s voice was shaking. In shock, he looked at everything around him. Even if he didn’t understand talismans, he could still see that this was a seriously huge formation!

“It was just built not too long ago.” Chu Zhaonan’s scope was much higher than Zhao Wuye’s. With a few mere glances, he made his confirmation.

“Oh?” Xu Yangyi was somewhat curious. “How do you know?”

Chu Zhaonan carefully took out a glove crafted from some unknown leather, and a layer of white light encased his left hand. He went and stroked the formation and then showed it to everyone. The white glove had specks of blue dust on it.

“Any talisman is forged and condensed from heavenly treasures. If it’s just recently formed, it’ll be just like paint. Before it hasn’t dried, a little trace will always be left behind.” He brushed an eye over Xu Yangyi, his meaning obvious. 

How are you number one? You don’t even know this?

Xu Yangyi chose to selectively ignore this minor jab about his grade in liberal arts. “So it’s still working?”

“No, as long as the power source is enough, how long it’ll run isn’t a problem.” Mo Yeyu pondered and mumbled. Afterwards, he cautiously took out a jade bottle and delicately gathered the fallen material. “If I study this for a bit, I’ll know what this stuff is. But I can’t say for sure that I’ll be able to push against the formation.”

“I advise you not to waste your mental energy.” Chu Zhaonan took the glove and put it in his storage ring. He said quietly, “The formation’s grade is very high. If we can deduce anything from it this way, then it wouldn’t be called a high-level array.”

Xu Yangyi nodded and said properly, “What I’ve invited everyone to come in for isn’t to talk about this.”

“Has everyone noticed that you couldn’t sense anything here at all from the outside?” Xu Yangyi surveyed the formation and continued, “The creator of this massive formation intentionally isolated the formation from other people finding it. Moreover, he needs the formation to show effect as soon as possible, so it wasn’t buried too deep. We can’t investigate its function now, but…”

“But we can use it to get to the main battlefield!” Zhao Wuye immediately said, his eyes shining. The experience of his years granted him the shrewdness to connect the dots.

A sudden ambush! This was a sudden ambush! His eyes were bright and full of vigor. The Xingtian Legion had already been judged to have entered the battlefield by a ruler, yet they would unexpectedly disappear before everyone’s eyes! What would the other forces think?

Moments ago, he was still nervous about whether to enter the battlefield, but now they had a glimmer of hope!

“The enemy won’t even find a hair…” He wanted to contemplate more, but the excitement brought by this possibility caused his heart to hammer wildly in his chest!

“Because we’re weak. We are too weak. As long as we hide here, we can calmly wait for the three days to come to an end. We’ll completely seize the Featherwood Guard’s territory!”

Xu Yangyi shook his head and waved. The command plate appeared in his hand. “I’m afraid it won’t be so easy.”

Everyone looked over and discovered that half of the golden light on the command plate had already receded, pure and sparkling jade exposed.

“This is?” Chu Zhaonan furrowed his brows and asked.

“This is the command plate you gave me. I’ve had it on me, and I’ve been paying attention to it ever since.” Xu Yangyi pinched the jade medallion and mumbled, “After each hour passes, it loses a fraction of golden light. My guess is that this is a schedule time. If we don’t hurry over to the Featherwood Guard within schedule…”

He didn’t finish speaking his words. There too many following theories, but immediate ejection was the most likely answer.

Zhao Wuye sighed in regret and smiled wryly. “As expected of a ruler… no gap for anyone to exploit…”

“So do away with your wishful thinking.” Xu Yangyi put the jade medallion in his storage ring and said calmly, “This is war. There are no flukes in war. Only chance and necessity. Since we accepted this command plate, we’ve already mentally prepared ourselves. I don’t want Zhao Wuye to tell the Zhao Clan that we’ve found an ‘invisible refuge’. I hope for this place be an ‘invisible support base’.”

“The two of you, please tell your forces to assemble in the cave, ten minutes from now.”

No one was aware that in this moment, in the heart of Nanzhou’s bitter war, in a place a thousand meters above where one could see a full and exact view of the battlefield, but also a place where qi just happened not to spread to, an azure lotus was blooming in the sky.

It was big, no less than a hundred meters across, but there was a strangely level area at the center of the lotus. The surface was entirely crafted from extremely rare Nightstar Stone. It was pitch-black, but twinkled with dots of starry radiance. A person walked on it, seemingly treading in the night sky.

The lotus heart was about thirty meters in size, and a sweet osmanthus tree was set on the Nightstar Stone lotus heart, wafting out with the aroma of bay leaves. From time to time, golden petals floating down seemed to take root in the night sky, appearing to be elegant and mysterious.

At this moment, below the sweet osmanthus tree, there was a small table. Daomasters Ancientpine, Titanspirit, and Hiddenscent were smiling as they sat upright.

“Fellow Daoist Hiddenscent is so refined and elegant.” Titanspirit looked at the surrounding arrangements and sighed again and again. Even the corners of the lotus flower were suspended with wind chimes. As the night wind rose, the sound of jingling bells echoed, akin to the sounds of nature.

“‘Tis nothing but a passing amusement.” Hiddenscent smiled demurely. “Fellow Daoist Ancientpine, what troubles you?”

Moments ago, Ancientpine seemed to be somewhat lost in thought. The jade goblet in his hand had actually been carelessly shattered. To Dao Masters, lifting weights could be said to be easy. Unless conscious effort was made, his action was otherwise almost impossible.

“Nothing.” Ancientpine regained his wits and laughed. “I was thinking about a few old matters. Only some deep feelings.”

He laughed as he waved his hand, a jade pot flying over. Ancientpine poured three cups up the brim, his expression as usual.

“Someone has entered!” As Titanspirit narrowed his eyes and tasted the wind, Ancientpine’s unperturbed spiritual sense echoing in his ears.

It’s the Xingtian Legion.

Titanspirit slowly pursed his lips and raised a brow. “Nice wine.”

Immediately, Titanspirit’s spiritual sense was heard with the utmost secrecy. 

My two great avatars are here. If you’re not going to act, old man… how about I do it instead?

No answer. Several seconds later, Ancientpine’s cold laughter echoed. 

This Dao Master has already said… it is too shallow, too likely to be discovered… On top of that, no one can be allowed to sense it. Even I can only detect it with extreme difficulty.

Then so what! 

Titanspirit’s spiritual sense contained a wisp of annoyance. 

If you want to be fast, it’ll be hard not to be discovered. You can’t expect a horse to run fast, but not let it graze! You can’t have your cake and eat it, too! I’ve already done my best! Are you gonna try? To kill or not to kill, just say the word.

Ancientpine’s two hands gathered around his wine cup. It was an extremely ancient gift. With his head raised back, he downed the cup. Surprisingly, his wine buried for decades had a faint bitterness.

Kill. 

He set down his wine cup, his icy-cold voice already echoing in Titanspirit’s ears. 

This war… is doomed to have sacrifices… Just let this old man… do it himself… 

But… not now. They can’t die now. They have to live until they reach the branch.

Titanspirit was dazed, his spiritual sense conveying shock. 

Your close friend… the last son of the Fang Clan is inside, as well.

Deathly silence. After a short moment, Daomaster Ancientpine made a long sigh through his spiritual sense. 

Then… allow me to personally send him on his journey…

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