Chapter 242: Tang Court's Defeat and Fall

Rumble!

Under the cover of night, a silver-white, scripture-inscribed war chariot was fleeing down a wide street that could accommodate ten chariots abreast. Seven multi-meter-long spectral beasts pulled the chariot, while over five hundred scriptural inscriptions provided an impenetrable defense.

Under the assault of magical artifacts and runes from behind, the inscriptions gradually dimmed, until, with a thunderous roar, all defensive power shattered.

With the chariot destroyed, it violently overturned.

"Thump! Thump!" The seven severely wounded masters from the Snow Sword Tang Court aboard the chariot were all thrown to the ground, each covered in blood. They quickly rose, activated their magical artifacts, and scanned their surroundings.

Tang Wanqiu was the most severely injured, her body riddled with bloody wounds. Her five-foot long sword was chipped all over, and she leaned on it like a staff to support her tottering body.

Within two days, she had been successively gravely wounded by four top masters: Luansheng Linyou, Yin Suwen, Long Dian, and Qi Jin. The various magical energies that had permeated her body were extremely difficult to refine, and were coursing wildly through her meridians.

To have continuously engaged with four top masters and still be alive now was an unparalleled feat.

Alas, this Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival had been a complete defeat. The cultivators of the Snow Sword Tang Court had been routed, their defeated forces scattered in all directions, making it impossible to reorganize for a counterattack.

"Swoosh! Swoosh..." Above them, countless demonic figures flew past, all with wings.

Led by Yin Suwen, the demon cultivators from Yin Mountain either landed on the ground or hovered in mid-air, blocking the retreat of Tang Wanqiu and the other six.

The numerous demon cultivators quickly formed an array, completely blocking the long street leading to the inner city gate.

The six individuals surrounding Tang Wanqiu all glared with widened eyes. One person roared, "Yin Suwen, do you know what you're doing? Your Yin Mountain will not be tolerated in the Northern Territory, and will surely be trampled flat by the iron hooves of the Snow Sword Tang Court!"

As a disciple of the Demon King, Yin Suwen was an inheritor-level expert, ranked fourth among the Northern Territory's top cultivators. He paid no mind to the severely wounded Northern Territory masters.

He said, "Tuoba Butuo, how can you be so foolish? You still haven't grasped the true nature of the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. My willingness to act demonstrates that the world is about to change, and it will be a monumental change."

The Snow Sword Tang Court's defeat today was primarily due to the rebellion and sneak attacks by the demon cultivators of the Yin Mountain faction.

Tang Wanqiu secretly tried to regulate her breath and gather her magical energy, but as soon as her magical energy circulated, she immediately spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

A dense rush of wind approached, as pursuers from the Extreme West Cinder Region faction surrounded the entire street. Even the rooftops surrounding the street were crowded with figures emanating sharp, formidable aura.

"Thump! Thump!" Bloody corpses were thrown onto the street, landing around Tang Wanqiu and the other six.

These were all cultivators from the Snow Sword Tang Court who had scattered in an attempt to escape, but had been captured and summarily executed.

Qi Jin, holding a sword in one hand and keeping the other behind her back, walked out from among the cultivators with her graceful figure, a charming smile on her face. She asked, "Young Master Tang, where are you off to?"

Tang Wanqiu's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He sneered but remained silent, looking at the corpse of Tang Chen, the second inheritor of the Snow Sword Tang Court, on the ground. His fingers involuntarily clenched.

On a rooftop, a hearty chuckle rang out. "It must be an attempt to escape Qiu Prefecture City."

"To think of escaping now is too late!" Another voice chimed in.

Yin Suwen said, "Let's act. Once we deal with them, we still need to rush to the Pavilion of Seven Bright Moons. The Zuoqiu Clan and the Imperial Court are still two tough nuts to crack."

The seven members of the Snow Sword Tang Court contracted their defensive circle, standing back-to-back as they surveyed their enemies. Although their gazes remained resolute, there was a tragic sense of being at the end of their rope.

"Whoosh!" On a nearby city wall, a rapidly moving figure suddenly stopped.

Li Weiyi retreated, leaping onto the roof of a watchtower on the city wall, and shouted, "Old Tang, what's going on? Do you need help?"

This sudden voice broke the grim atmosphere on the street below.

Tang Wanqiu, who had originally given up all hope and had already communicated with his companions that even if they died, they would fight to kill the traitor Yin Suwen, was filled with overjoyed surprise by Li Weiyi's appearance. He exclaimed, "Brother Weiyi, how many people did you bring?"

"Just me for now."

Li Weiyi was incredibly fast, having left his swarm of insects far behind. He was taking this opportunity to wait for them to catch up.

The cultivators from the Extreme West Cinder Region faction, who had been on high alert as if facing a formidable enemy, couldn't help but let out a laugh.

Then, the laughter spread, echoing through the area.

Qi Jin had been searching for Li Weiyi for days, having assumed he had already escaped the city. Now that he had appeared, she naturally wouldn't let him leave. She cast a glance at Yin Suwen.

Yin Suwen, who was standing below the city gate, felt his magical energy surge out explosively. A pair of metallic wings unfolded from his back, and he shot into the air.

His hands transformed into eagle claws covered in fine metallic scales, and with a burst of his famed speed, he launched a close-quarters attack toward Li Weiyi.

Another seven or eight demon masters from Yin Mountain flew towards Li Weiyi from various directions, blocking his retreat. They unleashed their combat intents and deployed various magical artifacts.

Li Weiyi's figure blurred, and he vanished from their sight.

"Not good!" Yin Suwen, truly an inheritor-level master, instantly sensed the danger, but still had no time to react. Li Weiyi's palm strike pierced through his protective magical energy.

His eagle claws struck back, and his battle robes erupted with scripture inscriptions.

"Bang!" His claws clashed against Li Weiyi's palm strike.

Yin Suwen felt an overwhelming force, like mountains collapsing, bearing down on him. He couldn't stabilize his body at all and plummeted towards the ground.

His feet crashed down, shattering the bluestone street, and the flagstones continuously cracked.

Only then did a sense of pain surge through his claws and arms.

Before he could circulate his magical energy to recover, a whistling sound came from above him.

He looked up to see Li Weiyi's imposing figure. Divine light emanated from beneath Li Weiyi's feet, coalescing into a jade cauldron of magical energy, as if to crush him like an ant.

Yin Suwen's eyes were filled with horror. Magical energy surged rapidly into his legs, and he narrowly dodged the attack. As he rapidly retreated, he quickly opened his Ancestral Field.

From the Ancestral Field below his navel, his acupoints emitted bright radiance, and spatial ripples spread out in circles.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Three hundred-character scripture artifacts, enveloped in magical energy, unleashed immense power and flew towards Li Weiyi, who pursued them like a reaper of souls.

Magical energy glowed on Li Weiyi's palms. As he relentlessly pursued, he unleashed three consecutive palm strikes, sending the three hundred-character scripture artifacts flying.

He then surged forward and delivered a fourth palm strike.

The palm force erupted like a volcano, accompanied by a deafening roar. The air first boiled, then exploded.

"Boom!" Yin Suwen had just managed to activate his combat intent, pushing out with his claws, when he was sent flying tens of meters by a single palm strike. His protective battle robes shattered, and his body became a mist of blood, as he crashed into the crowd of cultivators from the Extreme West Cinder Region.

Unable to maintain his human form, he transformed into his enormous demonic true form, a Snow Mountain Silver-Feathered Hawk.

His claws were bloody, and his bones were broken. He struggled several times but couldn't get back on his feet. In just a few moves, he had been severely wounded.

"Rumble!" The seven or eight Yin Mountain demon experts, controlling their magical artifacts, ferociously attacked Li Weiyi to prevent him from pursuing Yin Suwen.

Using the Clear Void Cicada-Chasing movement technique, Li Weiyi darted between the ground and several meters above it. Screams of agony continuously rang out, as he either pierced through chests, shattered bones, or tore apart wings...

Blood splattered, and feathers drifted down.

The continuous thud of falling bodies resonated. More than half of the seven or eight Yin Mountain demon experts had fallen, and the rest were severely wounded and on the verge of death, lying scattered in pools of blood.

Li Weiyi, in his Daoist robe, drifted gracefully back to the ground like a falling leaf.

Although the vast army surrounded the street, watching him like tigers, he stood tall, looking down on everything, his eyes revealing an air of supreme confidence.

The exchange had been extremely swift, lasting only a few breaths of time.

Yet, the entire high-tier combat strength of Yin Mountain had been almost completely crippled, including an inheritor-level master ranked fourth among the Northern Territory's top cultivators.

Silence filled the entire scene, and everyone trembled in fear.

Tang Wanqiu, the number one in the Northern Territory, repeatedly scrutinized Li Weiyi from head to toe, confirming again and again, "Brother Weiyi, have you always been a peak master of the Five Seas Realm, disguising your strength since before last year?"

All the cultivators in the city believed that only Ge Xiantong, Luansheng Linyou, and Zuoqiu Hong were immune to the encirclement of Five Seas Realm cultivators.

Although the purity of Li Weiyi's magical energy was still only at the fourth-tier qi, and his physical body was not a Daoist physique, his combat power clearly still lagged behind those three top figures.

However, in Tang Wanqiu's discerning eyes, Li Weiyi already possessed a similar bearing.

Wanyan Xiaose, who was controlling a swarm of insects, her beautiful eyes fluttering, looked at Li Weiyi's outstanding and handsome figure. Her heart pounded, and she felt a sense of awe, as if gazing up at a towering mountain. She said pitifully, "Brother Weiyi, you once promised to save me. Today, it's time for you to repay that debt!"

"Sister Wanyan's help that day, I have always kept in mind."

Li Weiyi's gaze turned to Tang Wanqiu, and his brows furrowed. He asked, "Brother Tang, how did you get yourself into such a state?"

"It's truly a long story," Tang Wanqiu said. "But in short, there was a traitor among us... sigh, it's shameful to even say it..." He coughed. "Brother Weiyi, can you help us break through the encirclement? Tang is eternally grateful."

Tang Wanqiu cupped his hands in a respectful salute.

Li Weiyi scanned the approaching enemies. He said, "Since I'm here, I will naturally ensure your safety. But the rules... Brother Tang, you still remember them, don't you?"

Tang Wanqiu gave a wry smile and nodded, feeling helpless. He had everyone take out their invitations, collected them into a stack, and handed them to Li Weiyi with both hands. He said, "It seems the true heroes of this world are actually in the South."

The situation outside the Qin Garden back then was remarkably similar to tonight's predicament.

Li Weiyi had been forced, out of desperation, to proclaim, "All heroes of this world are already in the North!" and had only been spared by offering the invitations of Cang Li and Yin Jiu.

Today, everything that had once been lost was entirely reclaimed.

The cultivators of the Snow Sword Tang Court felt an ineffable mix of emotions. Indeed, times had changed dramatically.

Tang Wanqiu had no other choice. Wounded to such an extent, he had no way of contending for the rewards of the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. He only wished to lead the few remaining survivors away from Qiu Prefecture City as quickly as possible.

Li Weiyi flipped through the longevity pill vouchers, dragon seed vouchers, and dragon bone vouchers inside, and stowed them all into his spatial pouch. He took them with a clear conscience. Back then, Tang Wanqiu had intervened because he saw the exploitable value of the Jiuli tribe, and he had imposed various conditions, which undeniably involved an element of taking advantage of others' misfortune.

"Li Weiyi, aren't you being too overconfident? I am still standing here. Do you really think you can fight a hundred on your own?" Qi Jin smiled sweetly, yet her smile didn't reach her eyes, which held an air of sinister chill and murderous intent.

Behind her, more than ten Great Mind Masters unleashed spiritual flames from their glabella, activating a box-shaped ghostly flame artifact. It hovered in mid-air, unleashing an army of spectral spirits.

On the other side, dozens of Five Seas Realm cultivators activated a fourth-grade, book-like hundred-character scripture artifact.

Clearly, the combat power Li Weiyi had just displayed had made them treat him with utmost caution. Despite their numerical advantage, they dared not be careless.