The Lancang River rolled from east to west, surging in magnificent waves.
Along the way, brooks and streams merged into its flow, while offshoots branched away, tumbling into ravines and perilous hollows.
Yinma Shoal was just such an offshoot of the Lancang River.
Because of its flat terrain and lush waterweeds, the local Foundation Establishment clan—the Li family, whose main pursuit was breeding dragon horses—used it as their primary grazing ground.
Although they had not deliberately fenced it in, the vast majority of rogue cultivators in Dahe Market knew this was Li family territory.
Yet today, Yinma Shoal was dyed red with blood.
Mutilated corpses bobbed up and down across the shallow mudflats.
All around, cultivators clad in robes were excitedly gathering their spoils.
"Damn, they're filthy rich!"
"Indeed. The Mi family has barely existed for a hundred years, yet their clan cultivators are even wealthier than our Li family with our three-hundred-year heritage."
"A mere seventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator actually had a storage bag. That just shows how much wealth Mi Shuhua has hoarded through the Mountain Breaker Gang."
"Still, after this battle, the Mountain Breaker Gang will become the seventh rogue cultivator gang to fall in the history of Dahe Market."
"Haha! I hear the Mountain Breaker Gang's Beast Hall will belong to our Li family from now on?"
"Shh! Where did you hear that kind of news? Don't go spreading it around recklessly!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. By the way, where is Brother Li Ao? Why haven't we seen him?"
"Someone got away. Li Ao probably felt he lost face and went after him in person!"
***
The twilight faded, and a heavy dusk settled in.
Within the dense, airless forest, not a ray of light could be seen.
A lone figure stumbled forward blindly, unable to discern any direction.
"Flee!"
"I have to survive!"
"Father is still waiting for me, and Junpei is waiting for me too!"
Sikong Yuanhong was dazed and delirious, covered in countless wounds of all sizes, his body almost entirely drenched in blood.
Wherever he passed, glaring, chaotic tracks and the pungent stench of blood pointed unmistakably to his path.
Yet the enemy pursuing him came to a halt outside the dense woods.
"Jueyun Mountain!"
"It won't be wise for me to chase him in there."
A young man in resplendent garments, completely unsoiled by dust, stood atop the swaying canopy of a tree dozens of zhang high.
Li Ao recalled his ancestor's warning: the beast tide of the Guyuan Mountain Range had not yet dissipated, and there were several places one must never enter.
Jueyun Mountain was one of them.
"Of all the places you could have run, you had to head into Jueyun Mountain.
"Don't you know countless demon beasts dwell inside, including that Tier 2 demon beast, the Bloodthirsty Wild Crocodile?
"Ah well. In your battered state, death is only a matter of time. This is as far as I can see you off."
Li Ao gave a cold sneer, hesitated no longer, and turned to leave.
His mission was accomplished, and the Li family's task was essentially finished here.
After this campaign, the Mi family's backbone had been thoroughly annihilated.
One could say the spine of this newly risen Foundation Establishment family had been snapped.
No matter how capable Mi Shuhua might be, the Mi family would not be able to rise again for a hundred years.
And once the Mountain Breaker Gang was carved up according to plan, Mi Shuhua would be nothing more than a solitary leader with no one left at his side.
With his departure, silence returned outside the dense woods.
Long after, low growls and high shrieks echoed from Jueyun Mountain, brimming with bestial ferocity.
***
"Completely wiped out!"
"How is that possible?!"
Mi Junping collapsed into her seat, seized with panic.
Standing in attendance at the side, Mi Zifan also wore a look of lingering terror.
If it had been him leading the team to relieve Crescent Moon Valley, the one dead now would have been him.
"Grandfather..."
"What do you want to say?"
Mi Shuhua cast a cold glance over. The icy stare made Mi Zifan feel so stifled he nearly coughed up blood.
That was the pressure passively radiating from spiritual sense.
Mi Zifan hurriedly lowered his head. But from that fleeting glimpse just now, he noticed that his grandfather seemed to have aged decades.
"Has Qin Liangchen left the city?"
A questioning voice sounded beside his ear, and Mi Zifan kept his head lowered as he answered respectfully, "He has. The moment I told him Crescent Moon Valley was under attack, he set out without the slightest delay."
"Yet that is still not enough!"
Mi Zifan shuddered all over, feeling that gaze fix upon him.
Thud!
Mi Zifan fell to his knees. "Grandfather, for Crescent Moon Valley, for a single Luo Chen, we have already lost too many clansmen! It really isn't worth it!"
Useless!
Mi Shuhua took a deep breath, looking away from this disappointing third-generation genius.
It was not as though he could step in himself!
At present, neither the Great River Gang nor the Lianyun Merchant Alliance had deployed a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Everyone was still maintaining an unspoken understanding, letting only their subordinates clash just as before.
If he intervened, everything would change.
The Great River Gang was not frightening, but the Lianyun Merchant Alliance's power was something he could not withstand in the slightest.
"Ping'er, how is the situation with the other halls?"
Mi Junping raised her head blankly, her mind scattered as she answered, "The headquarters has retreated into the defensive formation and can only protect itself for now.
"The Battle Hall under Yang Wei is gone. Yang Wei was already severely wounded to begin with, so he likely couldn't escape either.
"No word has come from Zeng Wen yet.
"Qiu Wu fled, and his entire Battle Hall surrendered directly and was absorbed by the Great River Gang.
"No news from the Beast Hall.
"No news from the Mining Hall.
"The Flood Dragon Hall... I heard Lancang Pier was almost completely demolished. Wang Yuan and Broken Saber Xu Renke... wait, Xu Renke!"
As if remembering something, Mi Junping flew into a rage and cursed, "Xu Renke didn't die! He lost to Gao Tingyuan on purpose back then! That treacherous bastard—we must capture him later and torment him mercilessly!"
"I am asking you! What happened to Wang Yuan?!"
Mi Shuhua spoke word by word, his tone so sinister it seemed to rise from the Netherworld.
Mi Junping trembled all over and hurried to say, "According to the secret message, Wang Yuan forcefully slew two ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivators and then perished together with Xu Renke in the waters of the Lancang River. Not even their corpses remain."
Hearing this barrage of news, Mi Shuhua felt an icy chill seep through him.
How could the vast Mountain Breaker Gang suddenly have no one left to employ?
He had clearly nurtured so many talents, each capable of holding their own.
He pulled out his voice transmission jade token and saw its spiritual light flashing with frantic urgency.
"The Great River Gang launched an assault, bombarding the Shutu Formation five times with five-element spells."
"The Great River Gang launched a second attack; the Shutu Formation is in imminent danger."
"Our spirit stone reserves can only endure seven more attacks. We beg the Gang Leader for rescue!"
"Ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivators have joined the fray—it's Shan Xiu and Fu Zhang. Reporting to the Gang Leader: the Fu family is also taking part in this battle."
Message after message arrived like summonses from the underworld.
Mi Shuhua gripped the voice transmission jade token tightly. Only after a long while did he slowly rise to his feet.
He let out a faint, mournful sigh.
"It seems I must intervene myself."
He walked out of the Mi family ancestral grounds step by step. Behind him, Mi Junping and Mi Zifan hurriedly scrambled to their feet, hope returning to their eyes once more.
As long as Father—as long as Grandfather—took action, there was nothing in Dahe Market that could not be settled!
For all these years, it had always been so.
***
In the sky, an escape light tore through the dark clouds, streaking across the firmament at extreme speed toward Crescent Moon Valley.
Mi Shuhua's mind raced with calculations.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to intervene in a Qi Refinement dispute was already considered a breach of Dahe Market's taboos.
Yet Luo Chen could not be lost under any circumstances!
His alchemy skills were of immense value to him!
This was not merely a matter of spirit stones; it concerned future cultivation resources, the expansion of connections, and even his own Golden Core path.
So be it!
If a taboo must be broken, then let it be broken!
He would secure Luo Chen first, and then ask Miao Wen of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect to step in and mediate the matter.
Suddenly!
Mi Shuhua's figure came to a dead halt in midair.
He stood motionless against the night sky.
His plump, round face twitched violently.
His expression shifted rapidly, his pupils contracting sharply.
"No!"
"Encircling without attacking, drawing the bow without releasing, striking at multiple points yet leaving only Crescent Moon Valley... this is clearly a tactic to besiege a point and ambush the reinforcements!"
"Their target isn't Luo Chen, nor the Mountain Breaker Gang—it's me!"
"This deadly trap is aimed at me!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he wheeled around and flew in the exact opposite direction.
Not only that, he took out two jade tokens in rapid succession and infused them with spiritual sense.
Wind swept the clouds as a purple-gold flying wheel enveloped Mi Shuhua, vanishing like a streak of lightning.
Luo Chen, the Mountain Breaker Gang—all of it had long been cast to the back of his mind.
Soon, he returned to the Mi family ancestral grounds.
Under the night canopy, the remaining clansmen had already lit candles and lanterns.
Beneath the blazing lights, Mi Shuhua could not help but let out a long breath of relief.
As long as he remained within the clan grounds, relying on the Tier 2 formation he had laid down in his early years bolstered by magic treasures, he would fear no number of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
"The Fu family, the Li family, the Chen family—all three took part in the siege against the Mountain Breaker Gang. In that case, the Duan family and Nangong family surely wouldn't lag behind."
"Go on and gloat for now!"
"Once my injuries heal, what belongs to me will still be mine!"
His mind relaxing, Mi Shuhua muttered to himself as he was about to step into the Mi family ancestral grounds.
Yet in the very next instant, his spiritual intuition flared wildly, and his mind was struck by violent shock.
Without a second thought, he shifted bodily several hundred meters sideways.
Right where he had stood, a sword tip slowly emerged from the void like a phantom.
Upon the sword tip was a touch of crimson.
A sigh drifted out from among the blazing lights.
"Old friend, forgive me."
Chapter 139