Chapter 229: Protective Clan Formation

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Returning to their stronghold with Lu Ye, the hundreds of cultivators chatted and laughed along the way, making for an extremely lively journey.

For every cultivator, the experience of this expedition felt somewhat dreamlike. First, they dealt with the insect nest at their own stronghold. Then, they pushed north into the Heavenly Fiend Hall's stronghold, wiping out hundreds of their cultivators and capturing their base.

Afterward, they shifted their focus southeast, taking down the Feng Clan's stronghold and killing hundreds of their members.

Their current location was about sixty miles east of their own stronghold, not far.

Thus, in less than half an hour, the hundreds of individuals returned to their stronghold. From a distance, they saw an overwhelming swarm of insects flooding the Heavenly Mystery Hall plaza.

The insect tide from the Heavenly Fiend Hall had clearly spread to their location.

Amidst the boundless swarm of insects, Xiao Hui's massive figure was particularly striking. It occasionally flapped its wings, leaping from one spot to another. With a single peck, an insect would die instantly; another peck, and another insect would perish. Occasionally, it would also raise its claws and scratch a few times.

The entire plaza was littered with insect corpses, showing no one knew how long it had been killing there.

Seeing this scene, Lu Ye's heart was greatly reassured.

The reason he dared to take all the cultivators from the Bloodplain Sect out was because Xiao Hui was guarding the stronghold. If any shortsighted individual dared to intrude, Xiao Hui would certainly teach them a lesson.

Lu Ye had anticipated the current situation. He had been delayed outside with hundreds of cultivators for too long. The Heavenly Fiend Hall's insect nest was only dozens of miles away. If left unchecked, the swarm would certainly spread to their location.

On the way back, Lu Ye had already arranged for the handling of affairs. The insects here were generally stronger, many were in the third or fourth layer, and not a few in the fifth or sixth layer. However, no seventh-layer insects were present; this was, after all, the outermost edge of the insect tide. Stronger ones were either in the insect nest or had been lured by Lu Ye to the Feng Clan's stronghold earlier.

Because arrangements had been made in advance, as soon as everyone returned, they acted in an orderly manner. Small teams were closely linked, constantly pushing forward, eliminating the insects in the plaza. As soon as spiritual energy fluctuations appeared, more insects were drawn in.

In front of the Heavenly Mystery Hall, Lu Ye pressed his hand to his saber hilt. A streak of light flashed before him, instantly slaying any insect that dared to approach the Heavenly Mystery Hall with his spirit artifact.

Inside the Heavenly Mystery Hall, Hua Ci was pressing her hand against the Heavenly Mystery Pillar. The buffs plundered from the Heavenly Fiend Hall and the Feng Clan could now be converted into merit and transferred to their own Heavenly Mystery Pillar.

Lu Ye didn't know exactly how much merit was gained from converting those buffs, but the amount certainly wouldn't be less than his gains in the Chess Sea. Although there would be significant losses during the process of plundering buffs, the Bloodplain Sect had plundered from two factions this time. Even if the buffs from the Feng Clan were split evenly with Boundless Pavilion, both the Heavenly Fiend Hall and the Feng Clan had been operating for at least several decades. Could their Heavenly Mystery Pillar buffs be scarce?

Shortly after, Hua Ci emerged from the Heavenly Mystery Hall.

"I bought it."

"Was it expensive?"

"Very expensive!" Hua Ci said with a pained expression.

"There's no other way. What others have, we must also have. We can't always stay like this. Although we have Xiao Hui, it's better to be prepared. Do you know how to set it up?"

"She knows," Hua Ci said, pulling Feng Yue, who was standing beside her.

Although Feng Yue seemed distraught, as if her body and mind had been violated, she was still a stronghold guardian, far more capable than the half-trained Lu Ye and Hua Ci.

Meeting Lu Ye's inquiring gaze, Feng Yue's mouth twitched, as if she tried to force a smile, but recalling Lu Ye's saber thrust into her palm, she couldn't smile, her expression becoming extremely stiff.

"Let's go!"

Lu Ye called out, leading Hua Ci and Feng Yue in one direction, ignoring the battle on the other side. The situation there was stable. Through repeated battles, the combat experience of the disciples had sharply increased. Even without Lu Ye, dealing with the insect tide was no problem.

The three of them arrived at a corner of the stronghold's perimeter. Hua Ci took out a basin-sized, square box from her storage bag. It was neither wood nor metal.

The box was carved with various intricate patterns. If one looked closely, they would notice that all these patterns were spirit runes.

This was a formation base, the foundation for setting up the stronghold's protective grand formation.

Basically, every sect had its own stronghold formation, either for protection or attack. Like the previous Heavenly Fiend Hall and Feng Clan, they had them. However, when the grand formations were breached, their formation bases were also destroyed simultaneously, so these items were basically impossible to seize from others.

In the Spirit Creek Battlefield, only Spirit Creek Realm cultivators could move freely. With the skill level of Spirit Creek Realm cultivators, they couldn't refine such formation bases or set up a formation large enough to cover a stronghold.

Where did the formation bases come from? The answer was that they were bought from the Heavenly Mystery Treasury using sect merit, and this item was not something a single cultivator could afford alone.

"How much merit was this one?" Lu Ye casually asked.

"Eight hundred and eighty-eight!"

Lu Ye's heart twitched.

"How many in total?"

"Sixteen!"

Lu Ye did a quick mental calculation and found it to be a very large number.

Fortunately, their gains this time were substantial, and the more they spent, the stronger the formation's power would be, so it was always worth it.

"Just leave it here like this?"

"We don't have time to deal with it now. When we have time later, we can bury it or disguise it."

"No, someone needs to watch it."

This was merit. Lu Ye sent out a message, and soon, a group of cultivators, covered in insect blood, ran over from the Heavenly Mystery Hall.

"You two stay here and guard this thing. Don't let anyone get close."

"Yes!"

"The others, follow me."

Under Feng Yue's guidance, Hua Ci placed the formation bases in various locations around the stronghold. Lu Ye left two cultivators to guard each spot.

After a busy period, the setup was finally complete. By this time, the disciples had also finally cleared the insects within the stronghold. More were still outside, continuously swarming in. But to eradicate them, they would have to push into the Heavenly Fiend Hall's insect nest and retrieve the Vitality Core, solving the problem at its source. Otherwise, this insect tide would be endless.

This was no longer something outer circle cultivators could handle. Even Lu Ye would absolutely not dare to enter the insect cave right now.

Hua Ci held a palm-sized jade plate. Streaks of light flickered on the plate, and small spirit runes flowed within it. This was the control array plate for all the formation bases, the core of the grand formation. Even if a few of the formation bases were destroyed, it would only affect the formation's power, but if this array plate were destroyed, the entire formation would be useless.

Chen Yue explained to her from the side, and Hua Ci nodded repeatedly. As her spiritual energy surged, a hum suddenly resonated from various parts of the stronghold. Where the array plates were placed, spiritual energy surged, as if creating a wondrous resonance between them.

Immediately after, wave-like spiritual energy emerged from the sixteen array plates, spreading in all directions, merging with each other, and gradually gathering in the sky.

A stick of incense later, a semi-circular light screen, enveloping the entire stronghold, took shape, shrouding the stronghold within it.

The grand formation was complete!

It isolated the inside from the outside.

With the protection of the grand formation, there was no need to worry about insects attacking the stronghold at any time. Although the insects' gnawing had a strong destructive effect on the grand formation's light screen, as long as their numbers didn't accumulate to a certain extent, the light screen could self-repair. The light screen was essentially a flow of spiritual energy.

Under Hua Ci's control, the Bloodplain Sect's grand formation light screen was not completely sealed off; a gap several people wide was left open. So, insects could still rush in through this gap, but with cultivators blocking the entrance, no matter how many insects came, they would only be sending themselves to their deaths.

Doing this could alleviate the pressure on the grand formation.

The disciples spontaneously began to clear the battlefield, recuperate, and take turns guarding the formation's opening. Everything was orderly.

Many people were injured in the great battle, so Hua Ci and her assistants began to treat the wounded. Originally, she was the only medical cultivator in the stronghold, and she was quite overwhelmed.

Now, there was an additional Feng Yue...

Feng Yue didn't want to. Her mind was in turmoil at the moment, full of thoughts of colluding with the enemy and betraying hundreds of her own cultivators. How could she have the inclination to help people heal?

Lu Ye pressed his hand to his saber hilt and had a very "friendly" conversation with her. Feng Yue was deeply impressed by his "personal charm" and couldn't help but dedicate herself to the glorious and great cause of saving lives and healing injuries.

The injured cultivators quickly received proper treatment, then went to the training rooms to recuperate, and ate a hearty meal, instantly becoming full of vigor.

Led by Chen Yu, along with several sixth-layer cultivators from the sect, they spontaneously organized several counterattacks against the insect tide after consulting Lu Ye, achieving fruitful results.

However, it was all for naught...

Not long after, new insects once again broke into the stronghold through the formation's opening.

While the Bloodplain Sect was living peacefully, the outside world was in turmoil.

First, the surviving cultivators from the Heavenly Fiend Hall and the Feng Clan spread news, claiming that the Bloodplain Sect, during this natural disaster, did not deal with its own insect nest. Instead, it launched an all-out attack on other strongholds, causing the Heavenly Fiend Hall and Feng Clan strongholds to be successively breached, with countless casualties among their disciples. This then led to the insect tide erupting to a degree where outer circle cultivators were helpless, causing endless devastation.

As the news spread, the Myriad Demons Ridge faction naturally united in common hatred. While expressing sympathy for the Heavenly Fiend Hall and the Feng Clan, they spared no effort in verbally attacking and maliciously slandering the Bloodplain Sect and its guardian, Lu Yiye. Before Lu Yiye, this small patch of land had been fine. Even if there were some skirmishes, they were normal faction confrontations. But with Lu Yiye, the area within a hundred miles had become a chaotic mess. Now, the insect tide had even reached the gates of many factions, implicating several factions from the Vast Heaven Alliance. Lu Yiye of the Bloodplain Sect must pay with his life!

The Vast Heaven Alliance faction naturally celebrated. It was rare for outer circle sect strongholds to be breached, let alone for one individual to breach two strongholds in succession. The key was that even if the strongholds were breached, it was said that few cultivators from the Heavenly Fiend Hall and the Feng Clan survived; the Spirit Creek Realm level was almost completely wiped out.