Counterattack! Night Raid on Ziyang Palace!

As soon as these words were spoken, the elders of the various peaks had a shift in expression! Immediately after, their figures transformed into streaks of light, shooting out in an instant. Suddenly! Thunderclouds abruptly gathered in the sky above the Great Xia Sword Sect! And more than one mass of them! The heavenly tribulation clouds formed with astonishing speed, coalescing into two terrifying tribulations spanning nearly three hundred zhang in almost the blink of an eye! Li Nanting froze slightly, then said in a deep voice, "Is Old Lei finally going to break through?!" "And the other one... is Gao Qiwen?" From Tianlei Peak and Tianzhu Peak, two figures abruptly soared into the sky! A young man and an elderly man, each brandishing a sword, charged toward their respective tribulations! Both seemed to be suppressing their roiling emotions, channeling all of their fury into the lightning of the heavenly tribulation. One man, one sword, cleaving into the descending lightning. Even though their bodies were soon drenched in blood and charred black, neither showed the slightest hesitation or retreated a single step. *Rumble!!* *Boom, boom!* The tribulations dispersed. Skin torn and flesh ripped open, the two stood tall in the firmament. Gao Qiwen's voice was weak, yet low and resolute: "Take me with you. I'm going too!" And the other elder with the goatee was none other than the Peak Master of Tianlei Peak who had not shown his face until now—Lei Yingze. At this moment, the elder's aura surged powerfully. His resolute face burned with wrath, and his fierce eyes turned to Lu Kangnian as he said in a heavy voice, "Sect Master, please punish me! This old man... was delayed by breaking through..." Lu Kangnian waved a broad hand and said deeply, "Naturally, there is no need for such talk." "Distribute resources to all disciples at once! Divide into ten-man squads and depart in half an hour!" Soon, Li Guanqi was assigned under Second Elder Xu Zhengjie. Their group consisted entirely of Core Formation disciples, totaling exactly five including the elder. The resources allocated to them were also more substantial; each person received over two hundred low-grade spirit stones. Li Guanqi gave his share of spirit stones to his senior brothers, saying softly, "I still have plenty of my own. It's better for my senior brothers to have them." Saying so, Li Guanqi even took out some of his own spirit stones to prove he truly had enough. In the end, he took several pills for recovering origin energy, as well as a blood-red Yuan-Detonation Pill! This item was meant for everyone to save their lives—or even to drag an enemy down with them in death. After all, the side effects of a Yuan-Detonation Pill were far worse than any Foundation Establishment medicine. While it could briefly raise one's cultivation by a minor realm, once the medicinal efficacy ran its course, the user would feel as if every bone in their body had shattered, leaving them immobilized and unable to channel a speck of origin energy. On an ever-shifting battlefield, once the pill wore off, it was no different from waiting for death. Yet every single disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect sewed this pill into the inside of their collar! In the main hall of Tianlei Peak, a colossal ballista roughly a zhang in size was carried out! Resting on the massive bow was a fluorescent arrow glowing purple from tip to tail! The arrow was as thick as a man's wrist and a zhang long, resembling a spear. Countless intricate purple talismans were inscribed along its shaft, while the arrowhead gleamed with a frigid light. Beneath the massive ballista was an octagonal base used to anchor the weapon. Seeing this colossal ballista, everyone was slightly taken aback. Xu Zhengjie spoke in a grave tone: "This is the Thunder Ballista from among the Eight Gods Formation-Breaking Ballistae! It is used solely for sieging cities and shattering formations!" "This arrow is the last one the Thunder Ballista has left. Combined with the giant ballista arrows from the other seven peaks, it will surely breach Ziyang's sect-protecting grand formation!" "Our mission is to anchor it at a designated position and fire the ballista before the hour of the Tiger!" Li Guanqi nodded slightly. It seemed that this time, the sect was iron-willed in fighting Ziyang Palace to the bitter end. *Buzz!* A profound ripple slowly radiated outward, and Lu Kangnian's voice abruptly echoed across the mountains. "Assemble! Depart!!" *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* *Whoosh, whoosh!* The disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect all mounted their swords and took to the sky, arriving at the summit of Tianjian Peak in just a few breaths of time. Dressed uniformly in blood-stained sect robes, every face was stern and solemn. Li Guanqi stood silently behind Xu Zhengjie. A full thirteen hundred disciples were divided into numerous ten-man squads. Ye Feng led Zhong Lin and the others as an independent squad. To avoid casualties among the Foundation Establishment squads, some were led by Core Formation disciples. As for Li Guanqi's group of five, their task was to escort the Thunder Ballista. *Flap!* Hundreds of sect banners were thrust upright, snapping wildly in the howling wind. On both sides of the banners were two massive characters: *Great Xia!* Lu Kangnian asked in a deep voice, "Do you remember what I said?!" With chilling determination in their eyes, all the disciples roared in response, "Before dawn, plant our sect's banner upon the ruins of Ziyang Palace!!" "That's right!! Move out!!" *Rumble!!* The fiery canopy blanketing the Great Xia Sword Sect remained in place! Yet the disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect had already stepped onto the teleportation arrays. When they reappeared, they were already in a mountain range a hundred li away from the sect! Immediately after, the elders of each peak tossed out their pre-prepared cloud boats, plunging into spatial rifts under the lead of the various Nascent Soul Peak Masters. In this battle, the Great Xia Sword Sect had truly burned their boats, bringing out almost every scrap of foundation they possessed. Ten cloud boats carried a staggering six hundred talisman array cannons! The Great Xia Sword Sect had even brought out the cannons normally kept at the foot of the mountain for sieging cities. Disciples aboard the cloud boats could only sit astride the cannon barrels, as there was simply no room left to stand. Within a thirty-li radius outside Great Xia Sword Sect's territory, nearly a hundred scouts from various sects and factions were watching. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the Great Xia Sword Sect, including scouts left behind by Ziyang Palace. A mirror-like magic treasure shimmered faintly, and the figure of 'Ling Daoyan' abruptly manifested above the fiery canopy. His gaze swept coldly around him, and radiating surging pressure, he bellowed in a heavy voice: "Any who approach within a thousand zhang of the Great Xia Sword Sect shall be executed without mercy!!" With that, his eyes surveyed the surroundings. Sure enough, numerous figures emerged from the mountains below, fleeing frantically into the distance. 'Ling Daoyan' gave a cold scoff, then turned and re-entered the sect. Afterward, quite a few disciples moved in and out of the fiery barrier, sweeping the battlefield. In the pitch-black void, the man-sized mirror before Ling Daoyan gradually dimmed. Turning his head to look at Lu Kangnian, who was recovering his origin energy, Ling Daoyan said softly: "This trick should deceive plenty of them." *Feigning in plain sight, striking in secret!* At this moment, Ziyang Palace was dead silent. Aside from Han Tiange's furious roars within the grand hall, only the shattering of jade bottles echoed through the palace. "Scram! Useless! All of you are useless trash!" "Guan Youzi, that vile scoundrel! Ahhh!!" "Great Xia Sword Sect!!" Suddenly! "Palace Master! Palace Master! Disaster!!" *Slap!* With a vicious backhand slap, Han Tiange sent the Ziyang Palace elder tumbling to the floor, roaring in fury: "What are you panicking for?! Speak!" The middle-aged elder knelt on the ground, not daring to lift his head. Trembling all over, he blurted out in utter terror: "The... the people of the Great Xia Sword Sect are here!!" *Flap, flap!* Over a hundred banners fluttered and snapped in the sky. Treading empty space, Lu Kangnian pointed his sword at Ziyang Palace a thousand zhang away and roared: "Bombard them!!" Instantly, the dark muzzles lining the ten cloud boats all blazed with beams of myriad colors! Eight Core Formation squads dropped silently into the mountain ravines, racing at full speed toward their designated positions! *Buzz!* "Lu! Kang! Nian!!"