Chapter 293: Entering the Night with the Wind

The injured members of the Divine Hidden Palace fled, and from a distance, the girl's furious shouts could still be heard. She seemed to be utterly enraged.

"That girl seems to be an elder's descendant from the Divine Hidden Palace," a Wind Flower Court member remarked, shaking his head with a wry smile. "She appears to be utterly spoiled."

To them, resorting to threats when defeated seemed childish. If harsh words were effective, there would be no need for cultivation. The two major factions had been irreconcilable for years; if they truly had the power to kill, no one would waste their breath.

Therefore, no one took the girl's vehement threats seriously.

However, just one day later, they received a message instructing them to return to their stronghold immediately, as a large number of cultivators from the Divine Hidden Palace were about to launch an assault.

They were instantly dumbfounded, remembering the girl's parting threats. They had dismissed them as empty boasts from someone unable to win, but it seemed she genuinely had the influence to make Gu Canyang lead an attack on their stronghold.

They all felt they had underestimated the girl's standing within the Divine Hidden Palace. Daring to conceal nothing, they promptly reported the previous events.

In response, Yue Mei, the Wind Flower Court's guardian, said little, merely replying with a concise "Understood."

One by one, Wind Flower Court cultivators who received the news rushed back to the stronghold. The atmosphere wasn't tense; they felt secure with the defensive formation in place. The Divine Hidden Palace had attacked before, but each time, they had arrived with aggressive intent only to retreat in disarray.

Soon, another piece of news circulated.

This time, it wasn't just the Divine Hidden Palace invading their stronghold; Lingyun Hall had also made a move. A group of their personnel was heading this way, suggesting the two factions had coordinated in advance.

Inside the Heavenly Machine Hall, Yue Mei, the Wind Flower Court's guardian, calmly reviewed the intelligence that had just arrived. The simultaneous assault by two Haotian Alliance factions was well within her expectations.

Like her junior disciples, she wasn't concerned that their defensive formation would be breached. Her current focus was whether these two factions were merely putting on a show or had a deeper motive. If it was the former, there was no need for much worry, but if it was the latter, they would need to respond cautiously, at least preparing themselves for a prolonged conflict with the enemy.

After a brief contemplation, she sent out several messages. Soon, nearby factions of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge were aware that the Divine Hidden Palace and Lingyun Hall had launched an attack on the Wind Flower Court.

Yue Mei's action wasn't a plea for reinforcements, as seeking aid at this moment held little significance. Instead, with the strongholds of the Divine Hidden Palace and Lingyun Hall currently vulnerable, she knew that once other Ten Thousand Demon Ridge factions learned of the situation, they would undoubtedly act. This would exert pressure on the Divine Hidden Palace and Lingyun Hall, hopefully prompting their early withdrawal.

The tactic of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" (attacking the enemy's base to relieve a siege) frequently occurred on the Spirit Stream Battlefield. Factions from the same alliance, located nearby, would always come to each other's aid in such circumstances.

After waiting quietly for half a day, by evening, two large, ship-shaped flying spiritual artifacts appeared side-by-side in the sight of the Wind Flower Court cultivators.

The bow of one ship bore the emblem of the Divine Hidden Palace, while the other was emblazoned with the mark of Lingyun Hall.

The two large ships hovered approximately three miles from the Wind Flower Court stronghold, and from within them, figures streamed out in a continuous procession.

Within the Wind Flower Court stronghold, Yue Mei, hovering in mid-air, activated her visual abilities to observe, her expression subtly turning grim.

She observed that the two Haotian Alliance factions had deployed a significant number of personnel, with each sending at least four hundred individuals.

Inner-circle sect strongholds typically housed around five to six hundred personnel. Deploying four hundred at once would leave only about a hundred to guard the stronghold.

Yue Mei immediately understood that this battle would certainly not conclude easily.

Could it really be true, as those disciples reported, that the Divine Hidden Palace elder's descendant instigated Gu Canyang to act this way? Is Gu Canyang truly that foolish?

She had a vague sense that something was amiss, but since matters had come to this, further contemplation was meaningless. With two Haotian Alliance cultivator forces at their gates, the Wind Flower Court had no choice but to engage in battle.

The cultivators from the Divine Hidden Palace and Lingyun Hall converged, their combined forces totaling approximately eight hundred — the maximum personnel the two factions could dispatch.

In contrast, the Wind Flower Court numbered just over four hundred.

The Wind Flower Court originally had around five hundred cultivators, but Chu Qing's team had suffered devastating losses in Xian Yuan City, with nearly a hundred wiped out. This direct reduction of nearly twenty percent of their personnel left Yue Mei sleepless many nights as she reflected on it.

Led by Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei, nearly eight hundred cultivators marched grandly towards the Wind Flower Court stronghold.

Without any prelude or verbal exchange, the attack began as soon as the eight hundred cultivators reached the outer edge of the grand formation.

Streaks of light from spells and activated artifacts began to fly, bombarding the grand formation's luminous barrier. It was as if pebbles were thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples to spread across the light barrier.

The grand formation hummed. Yue Mei stood before the Heavenly Machine Hall plaza, holding the grand formation's jade token and adjusting its defensive power.

Simultaneously, at each formation base, Wind Flower Court cultivators continuously replenished spirit stones, allowing the grand formation to draw power from them and sustain itself.

Although the grand formation normally stored a significant amount of spiritual energy, no one knew how long this attack from the Divine Hidden Palace and Lingyun Hall would last. Replenishing the formation's consumption with spirit stones would undoubtedly allow it to endure for a longer period.

Regardless of the faction, this was a standard procedure when their stronghold came under attack.