Chapter 337: Golden Cloud Tower

On Spirit Peak of Wolong Mountain, the Sect Master, having just received another message from Lu Ye, looked utterly exasperated. "This is mutiny! Utter mutiny!" he fumed. "That boy is going to turn everything upside down!"

Pang Zhen quickly interjected, "Elder Tang, please calm down. What happened?"

The Sect Master replied, "That boy actually told me to give him three days because he intends to breach and destroy the Golden Cloud Tower's outpost, otherwise, he won't achieve inner clarity in the future! What utter nonsense! He completely disregards his superiors. Alas, our Jade Blood Sect hasn't taken in disciples for decades, and I've forgotten how to teach them. It's my negligence in discipline."

He feigned deep distress, but anyone with a discerning eye could easily see through his intentions.

Pang Zhen found it awkward to respond; he couldn't very well play along with the act. After all, as the Vice Alliance Leader of the Vast Heaven Alliance, he also had his pride to maintain.

The old man from Ten Thousand Demon Ridge wore a grim expression. After a long silence, he finally squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Tell him to go directly to the Golden Cloud Tower. If, along the way, he dares to touch any other outpost of my Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, then my Ten Thousand Demon Ridge will fight the Vast Heaven Alliance to the bitter end. Let the Heavenly Secret bear witness to these words!"

Pang Zhen's expression instantly turned solemn.

The Sect Master nodded. "I will make it clear to him," he said, "and tell him to prioritize the bigger picture."

On the Spirit Creek Battlefield, Lu Ye checked the message from the Sect Master. He knew that things had reached a point where they could no longer continue.

Since his re-emergence from the Sky Splitting Sect, he had, in just over a month, assembled two Vast Heaven Alliance allied armies, successively conquering over a hundred Ten Thousand Demon Ridge outposts. Their side had gained immensely, while Ten Thousand Demon Ridge had suffered heavy losses.

Now, the Divine Sea realm cultivators from both sides were engaged in peace talks and had basically reached some agreements. If this continued, the situation would become unmanageable.

Indeed, with his methods and abilities, he could still open up more battlefields and capture more Ten Thousand Demon Ridge outposts. However, truly doing so would only force Ten Thousand Demon Ridge to fight their side to the death.

Taking this opportunity to withdraw at the height of success, and incidentally extracting some benefits from Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, would be a sound strategy.

Having considered this, Lu Ye had Luo Fu summon the various garrison envoys for a meeting.

These garrison envoys had clearly already received messages and instructions from their respective sect elders, so Lu Ye barely needed to explain much before everyone understood the current situation.

There was some regret, but also a sense of helplessness.

The confrontation between the two factions had always been this way: even if one side held a significant advantage and could severely cripple the other, they couldn't allow the other side to lose all hope, because a hopeless side would disregard any consequences.

The lesson from over thirty years ago had taught the Vast Heaven Alliance a bitter lesson. At that time, under Feng Wujiang's leadership, the Vast Heaven Alliance had aimed to utterly annihilate Ten Thousand Demon Ridge. However, things didn't go as planned, and the Jade Blood Sect subsequently declined, with the Vast Heaven Alliance also suffering significant losses in strength.

A moment later, everyone dispersed, preparing to gather their respective sect's cultivators and head back.

A little while later, the allied army departed, returning the way they came.

In the captured Ten Thousand Demon Ridge outpost, only Lu Ye, Hua Ci, Ju Jia, and Yi Yi remained.

"Fourth Senior Brother," Lu Ye suddenly turned and called out softly.

Hua Ci and the others looked astonished.

What astonished them even more was that a moment later, someone truly flashed out from that direction. He had a face like fine jade, starry eyes, and sword-like eyebrows. His luminous white hair was accentuated by his form-fitting long robe, which was white with red cloud patterns. A gourd hung at his waist. Who else could it be but Li Baxian?

"How did you know I was here?" Li Baxian was somewhat surprised. He was certain he hadn't revealed his presence, yet he hadn't expected Lu Ye to see through him.

"Senior Brother joined the allied army as a rogue cultivator half a month ago," Lu Ye explained, "and has been following all the way from Weishui to this place. If I still hadn't noticed, wouldn't I be a fool?"

As early as when Lu Ye led the first allied army on its campaigns, Li Baxian had secretly arrived. He had simply kept his presence hidden and not revealed himself.

Calculating the time, it was after Lu Ye had been ambushed by those several Heaven Ninth-level ghost cultivators.

He was clearly worried about Lu Ye's safety, which was why he had rushed to protect him.

Not revealing his presence wasn't because he didn't want to meet Lu Ye, but rather because he felt it was more convenient to act while hidden.

Lu Ye had used the Heavenly Secret Pillar to teleport from Weishui to Silverlight Island, and Li Baxian had hastily followed. During this period, he had secretly killed quite a few powerful cultivators from the core region.

"Good!" Li Baxian exclaimed.

That Lu Ye possessed such keen perception undoubtedly pleased Li Baxian. He also finally understood why Lu Ye dared to let the allied army retreat first, leaving only a few Jade Blood Sect members behind. It turned out Lu Ye had known he was nearby all along.

With the third-ranked cultivator on the Spirit Creek Ranking protecting them, as long as they didn't encounter too many enemies, there would basically be no danger.

Moreover, at this point, no one should attempt to assassinate Lu Ye. Ten Thousand Demon Ridge was currently desperate for him to stop, so who would dare to cause further trouble?

"To the Golden Cloud Tower?" Li Baxian asked.

He had clearly received some specific intelligence.

Lu Ye nodded.

"Let's go." Li Baxian raised a hand and pointed, and a broad spiritual sword appeared before them. He leaped onto it, and as he exerted his power, the spiritual sword rapidly grew much larger.

Lu Ye and the others swiftly stepped onto it.

The next instant, a sword light shot into the sky.

If Little Ash were still here, everyone could naturally ride it to the Golden Cloud Tower outpost. However, Little Ash had always obeyed the command Feng Wujiang had given it years ago, to guard the Jade Blood Sect's outpost. While using it for travel on ordinary days was no problem, it would never linger outside for long. Therefore, after the previous battle, Little Ash had already flown back to the Jade Blood Sect's outpost.

The surrounding scenery rapidly receded. Lu Ye was inwardly amazed. He had long heard that sword cultivators were incredibly fast, but only now, experiencing it firsthand, did he realize the rumors were true.

Of course, this also had a great deal to do with Li Baxian's own formidable cultivation.

While flying on his sword, Li Baxian faced the strong winds, drinking wine and humming softly, appearing to be in excellent spirits.

Although he was no longer a disciple of the Jade Blood Sect, he was, after all, originally from there. With a talent like Lu Ye emerging from the sect, he also felt a sense of pride.

Along the way, they occasionally encountered cultivators flying through the air, but upon seeing Li Baxian's sword light from a distance, they all hastily avoided it. They had clearly sensed that the owner of the sword light was not to be trifled with.

What would originally take three days of travel, with Li Baxian's sword-riding technique, took less than a day to reach.

At the Golden Cloud Tower outpost, a protective grand formation's light barrier enveloped it. Hundreds of Golden Cloud Tower cultivators were gathered within, and every one of them had a grim expression.

They had already received messages from their sect, informing them of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge's decision: they were to abandon their outpost to appease Lu Yiye's wrath.

However, how could they willingly accept such a decision?

Everything within the outpost had been painstakingly built by generations of Golden Cloud Tower's Spirit Creek realm cultivators, forged with the blood and lives of their ancestors.

Therefore, even though their superiors had repeatedly ordered them, the Golden Cloud Tower cultivators had not withdrawn before the deadline arrived.

No one had expected that Lu Yiye, who was supposed to arrive here in three days, would arrive in just one day.

As the news spread, the group of Golden Cloud Tower cultivators were all shocked and enraged. Soon, hundreds of cultivators gathered inside the protective grand formation, facing Lu Ye, separated by a layer of light barrier.

Not seeing the Vast Heaven Alliance allied army, and only a few people led by Lu Yiye, made the Golden Cloud Tower cultivators suddenly feel a surge of impulse. If they acted now, they might be able to kill this Lu Yiye.

However, after seeing the white-haired young man beside Lu Ye, their impulsive thoughts immediately subsided significantly.

Who didn't know Li Baxian, ranked third on the Spirit Creek Ranking? His distinctive white hair and the wine gourd at his waist clearly indicated his identity.

Outside the grand formation, Lu Ye's gaze swept around, finally settling on a man in black.

"Will you open the formation yourself, or shall I break your grand formation?"

The man in black was undoubtedly the Golden Cloud Tower's garrison envoy or vice-envoy, as the jade token controlling the grand formation hung at his waist.

Hearing Lu Ye's question, the man in black merely gazed at him expressionlessly.

Lu Ye said no more. He raised his hand and conjured several formation flags, sending them flying towards the nodal points of the grand formation.

As he performed his art, spiritual energy began to surge. In just over ten breaths of time, a small breach was torn in the solid, sturdy grand formation.

When he had previously captured the Sunlit Mountain outpost, he had used this very method. Now, his mastery of formation arts was immeasurably superior to what it was then, so tearing open such a small breach was incredibly easy.

Under the shocked gazes of the Golden Cloud Tower cultivators, Lu Ye led the few people behind him and walked through the breach into the grand formation.

The breach behind them quickly closed, as if it had never existed.

The atmosphere instantly became tense. The sound of spiritual weapons slowly being drawn from their sheaths echoed intermittently. Cultivators from all directions secretly channeled their spiritual energy, ready to strike.

Li Baxian grabbed his wine gourd, took a deep swig, let out a satisfied burp, then surveyed his surroundings with a smile on his lips.

His sword-sharp gaze swept over the vital points of one Golden Cloud Tower cultivator after another. Every cultivator he looked at felt their bodies grow cold. Death, like an invisible beast, clung to their necks, licking at their souls, causing their bodies to tremble.

Under the silent pressure, cultivators slowly began to buckle under the torment. Their faces started to flush, and their hands holding spiritual weapons trembled violently, on the verge of eruption.

The man in black suddenly spoke: "Li Baxian, if you dare to kill even one person from my Golden Cloud Tower, we will fight you all to the death today!"

No sooner had he spoken than a transparent short sword, barely a foot long, suddenly pressed against his forehead. No one had seen how Li Baxian had made his move.

The transparent short sword had silently appeared before the Heaven Seventh-level cultivator, its blade slightly flickering as it pierced the black-clad man's skin.

Dark red blood trickled down his forehead, splitting at the bridge of his nose, leaving two crimson streaks on his face.

"Threatening me?" Li Baxian said, tilting his head to look at him. "Try saying one more word."

The man in black's face turned ashen, but he truly dared not speak again.

Because he knew that sword cultivators would never tolerate threats; if he dared to speak again, he would be a corpse the next moment.

He wasn't afraid of death, but if he died, a major battle would be unavoidable. At that point, countless Golden Cloud Tower members would perish, as the destructive power of a top-tier sword cultivator was no joke.