Chapter 295: Occupation of Fenghuayuan

With a soft crackle, the jade token shattered. Without its control, the Wind Blossom Courtyard's protective formation hummed, and the spiritual energy flowing on its light screen ceased. Although the formation hadn't broken yet, it could no longer replenish its energy.

After a fierce assault by eight hundred cultivators from Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall, the grand formation covering the stronghold shattered with a crash.

Under the night sky, large streaks of glowing light scattered outwards, like fireflies dancing across the sky.

"Kill!" Gu Canyang roared, leading the charge as he led his forces into the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold. At that very moment, the cultivators of the Wind Blossom Courtyard had only managed to run less than fifty zhang!

Hearing the commotion behind them and looking back, the Wind Blossom Courtyard cultivators were all scared out of their wits, running even faster. Though most were female cultivators, no enemy would show them mercy just because they were women.

A crowd rushed into the Heavenly Secret Hall, using the Heavenly Secret Pillar to return to their main sects in Kyushu one after another.

However, the Heavenly Secret Pillar was only so large, and nearly four hundred people returning would inevitably take time. By the time the cultivators from Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall arrived, nearly a hundred people hadn't managed to return.

The trailing group resisted fiercely, but outnumbered, their defenses were instantly breached, and they fell into pools of blood.

After a dozen moments, the fighting subsided. Dozens of bodies lay scattered in the Heavenly Secret Hall, all cultivators from the Wind Blossom Courtyard.

These dozens of unlucky souls ran the slowest and suffered the most gruesome deaths, perfectly illustrating the truth that when danger strikes, you don't need to outrun the enemy, only your companions.

"Satisfying!" Gu Canyang burst into laughter.

As neighboring forces, Divine Concealment Palace and Wind Blossom Courtyard had long-standing grievances and a mutual dislike. In the past, neither possessed the means to decisively defeat the other, and so they were at an impasse. Yet, who would have thought that today, a divine blessing would allow them to utterly crush the Wind Blossom Courtyard.

His only regret was not killing more Wind Blossom Courtyard members. From beginning to end, there was very little direct combat in this battle; the dozens who died were simply those who hadn't managed to return to Kyushu in time.

Nevertheless, it was enough!

Occupying the Wind Blossom Courtyard's stronghold meant they could strip the blessings from its Heavenly Secret Pillar. This was the accumulation of generations for the Wind Blossom Courtyard, and the merit they would acquire from it would undoubtedly be substantial.

"Everyone, quickly clean up the battlefield! You have the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn. Gather after that!" Zhou Pei yelled, his face flushed with excitement.

According to the plan, if the Wind Blossom Courtyard could be successfully breached, then Radiant Sun Mountain would be next. Radiant Sun Mountain and Cloud Soaring Hall were neighbors, and their animosity was comparable to that between Divine Concealment Palace and the Wind Blossom Courtyard.

When Gu Canyang had discussed this plan with him earlier, their greatest concern was whether Lu Ye could successfully infiltrate and then achieve their objective.

As it turned out, all their worries were unnecessary. Lu Yiye of the Jade Blood Sect proved even more reliable than they had imagined!

Hearing his call, the cultivators of both sects immediately sprang into action. With little time to spare, their priority was naturally to collect what they could.

"Where's Brother Yiye?" Gu Canyang called out.

"Here," Lu Ye said, walking in from outside the Heavenly Secret Hall, followed by Yiyi, who was checking if he was injured.

After emerging from Immortal Origin City, Yiyi had fallen into a deep sleep, only waking half a month prior. Compared to before, she had undergone tremendous changes. The most obvious was that now, to anyone who looked at her, she appeared no different from an ordinary person; even her Second Senior Sister might not notice any flaws.

Previously, it wasn't possible; those with profound cultivation like her Second Senior Sister could instantly discern Yiyi's true nature.

If the benefits Lu Ye, Ju Jia, and Amber received from the Soul Cleansing Pond were considered a unit of 'one', then the benefits Yiyi received were four or even five times greater. This was because the pond was originally a place where many spiritual entities from Immortal Origin City slumbered, and a spiritual entity like Yiyi entering it gained far more profound advantages than Lu Ye and the others.

If not for her identity as a subordinate spirit, which prevented her cultivation from surpassing Amber's, her cultivation would likely be far ahead of Lu Ye's by now.

"Brother Yiye, please!" Gu Canyang said with a smile, gesturing with his hand.

Now that the Wind Blossom Courtyard's stronghold was taken, it was time to divide the spoils. According to their previous agreement, the blessings on the Heavenly Secret Pillar would be equally divided among the three parties.

Lu Ye didn't stand on ceremony. He raised his hand and placed it on the Heavenly Secret Pillar, activating his battlefield imprint and beginning to plunder.

He had done this once before at the Qingtian Sect, so he was quite familiar with the process.

As the various blessings on the Heavenly Secret Pillar were stripped away, the concentration of spiritual energy in the Wind Blossom Courtyard's stronghold steadily began to decrease, and its radiating range also started to shrink.

When he felt it was enough, Lu Ye withdrew his hand. Gu Canyang continued, and Zhou Pei was the third to take his turn.

After the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn, everyone gathered in the square in front of the Heavenly Secret Hall, boarded their ships again, and set off for Radiant Sun Mountain.

Halfway there, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei simultaneously received news that a considerable number of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators were attacking their two strongholds. This was a common tactic used by both sides; the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge faction was attempting to force Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall to withdraw and lift the siege on the Wind Blossom Courtyard.

In the past, the two sects would have had no good solution to this. They couldn't have taken the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold in a short time, and forcibly attacking the enemy's grand formation would only deplete their own strength, weaken them, and give the enemy an opportune moment.

But currently, those Ten Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators probably didn't know that the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold had already fallen, and that Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall had already finished their business and were marching on Radiant Sun Mountain.

The operation had been so swift that even the Wind Blossom Courtyard itself hadn't fully reacted, let alone the other Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces.

Therefore, despite receiving messages from their own sect's cultivators, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei paid them no mind. They simply instructed the personnel guarding their strongholds to reinforce the grand formations and await their victorious return.

After another stick of incense's time, more news arrived: for some unknown reason, those Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces had all withdrawn. Judging by their hurried manner, they seemed to be retreating very urgently.

On the large ship, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei met, realizing that the news of the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold's capture must have leaked. Otherwise, those Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces wouldn't have retreated so quickly.

This was indeed the case. When Yue Mei had ordered the Wind Blossom Courtyard cultivators to retreat to Kyushu earlier, she hadn't had time to send messages to the friendly Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces nearby. After returning to Kyushu, she immediately tried to contact the stronghold guardians of those forces.

After some difficulty, the message was finally conveyed.

Kyushu and the Spirit Stream Battlefield couldn't transmit messages directly; they required relay. For instance, Yue Mei first sent messages to the cultivators of those forces in Kyushu, who then relayed them to their respective sects' people on the Spirit Stream Battlefield.

With messages relayed this way, they were naturally not very quick.

The stronghold guardians were all dumbfounded when they received the news. The reason they had dispatched troops to attack Divine Concealment Palace or Cloud Soaring Hall was primarily to relieve the siege on the Wind Blossom Courtyard, forcing Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall to send reinforcements back. As long as those reinforcements returned, the Wind Blossom Courtyard's crisis could be resolved.

But how long had it been? The Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold had actually been captured!

If they hadn't been temporarily unable to contact her, they would have truly wanted to ask Yue Mei if the Wind Blossom Courtyard's protective formation was made of paper. No other protective formation had ever been breached so quickly.

With the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold captured, it was meaningless for them to continue attacking Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall's strongholds. What terrified them even more was another piece of news from the Wind Blossom Courtyard.

That Lu Yiye of the Jade Blood Sect actually possessed a method to infiltrate protective formations without detection!

The reason the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold fell so quickly was because Yue Mei was ambushed by him; she lost the jade token, leading to the formation's breach.

The stronghold guardians of several Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces panicked, realizing the core of the problem.

The Wind Blossom Courtyard's protective formation wasn't the issue; the problem was Lu Yiye of the Jade Blood Sect.

To silently infiltrate a protective formation with a cultivation of Spirit Stream Eighth Realm was unprecedented.

The power of their protective formations was similar to the Wind Blossom Courtyard's. Since Lu Yiye could infiltrate the Wind Blossom Courtyard's formation, then their own formations certainly couldn't stop him either.

Radiant Sun Mountain, in particular, had already formed some personal grievances with Lu Ye due to the Immortal Origin City incident. Now that the Wind Blossom Courtyard stronghold was gone, would Radiant Sun Mountain be next?

In this situation, who would dare to linger outside? Naturally, they all retreated; if they didn't go back, their homes would be gone.

As the cultivators of Radiant Sun Mountain hurried back under the leadership of their deputy envoy, a message came from the direction of their stronghold.

People from Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall had indeed gone to their stronghold and were currently frantically attacking the grand formation.

The deputy stronghold guardian almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He quickly ordered his subordinate cultivators to speed up, while secretly cursing his senior brother, the stronghold guardian, for his unrepentant lust. When Yue Mei had previously sent a message that their stronghold was under attack, his senior brother had made him lead over three hundred people out to assist.

Radiant Sun Mountain currently had only a total of over four hundred people, and only a hundred remained in the stronghold. If Lu Yiye breached the grand formation, what strength would they have to resist?

Rushing back to outside the stronghold, he saw colorful lights flickering and streaming in the distance, feeling incredibly stifled and frustrated. Yet, he only dared to watch from afar, not daring to advance.

There was no other reason: he had over three hundred people, while the enemy had eight hundred. Charging in like that would be no different from committing suicide.

Meanwhile, outside Radiant Sun Mountain's grand formation, there was a thunderous din. Divine Concealment Palace and Cloud Soaring Hall cultivators continuously attacked the grand formation in waves, displaying an intent to breach it.

Inside the grand formation, Radiant Sun Mountain's cultivators formed small teams under their stronghold guardian's arrangement, patrolling everywhere to prevent Lu Yiye from infiltrating without their knowledge.

Furthermore, several people formed a circle around the stronghold guardian, guarding all directions.

According to the message relayed from Yue Mei, although Lu Yiye was only at the Spirit Stream Eighth Realm, his strength was extremely formidable. He had only struck her twice: one blow had almost decapitated her, and another had severed one of her arms. That was how the formation's jade token had been lost.

This stronghold guardian of Radiant Sun Mountain was originally just a deputy envoy. After the original stronghold guardian, Qi Ming, died in Immortal Origin City, he took over Qi Ming's position. He had also interacted with Yue Mei and knew her strength.

If Yue Mei couldn't even block two of the opponent's strikes, he had even less confidence. Therefore, even if the current situation was a bit awkward, he had to face this crisis with the utmost caution.