Red Toad Mountain, Destroyed!

By the time the moon hung high in the sky, two flying boats, over a hundred streaks of escape light, and galloping dragon horses rushed forward, kicking up wind and dust as they sped through the moonlight. "Fellow Daoist Nangong!" "Fellow Daoist Li!" At these calls, the forces on both sides slowed to a halt. Hunched over, his face ashen, Nangong Jin looked out across the Gaoling Plain battlefield. The stench of blood was so thick it was sickening. He offered a bitter laugh. "It seems you haven't fared much better either!" His words grated on the ears. Yet when Luo Chen looked at the Nangong family's flying boat and saw the mere dozen-odd late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators remaining, he could only sigh. Their plight was even more miserable than that of the Luotian Association! When they had arrived in Dahe Market with great fanfare back then, though not overwhelmingly mighty, they could still have been called a local overlord. Yet now, after repeated twists and turns, only these few pathetic remnants remained. "What do you plan to do next?" Luo Chen asked. Li Yixian answered without hesitation, "Now that we have offended the Huo family, we must naturally unite our efforts to face the great enemy together!" What a clever woman! Luo Chen glanced at her. Evidently, she had not told Nangong Jin everything he and Yu Rou had spoken about earlier. Had she revealed that Luo Chen had shouldered Huo Quan's wrath entirely on his own, Nangong Jin would certainly never have chosen to travel with them. But as it stood, they had all offended the Huo family and were marked by them. To avoid being targeted alone, Nangong Jin had only one viable choice. Sure enough. Nangong Jin said despondently, "Let us travel together! If Huo Quan gives chase, between the three of us, we might still be able to hold our ground for a bit." "Not just three—there is also Fellow Daoist Wang Yuan!" Li Yixian added. Clearly, though Wang Yuan had not yet reached Foundation Establishment, having fought above his cultivation realm twice had earned her full acknowledgment of his strength. Nangong Jin nodded, regaining a rare sliver of confidence. With four Foundation Establishment-level combatants, their odds of victory against a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator were already quite high. Even if Huo Quan truly attained the late-stage Foundation Establishment realm upon exiting seclusion and proved too much for the four of them, scattering in escape would still force the Huo family to treat them as a dire threat. That way, with Huo Hu as a bargaining chip, they would possess the baseline strength needed to negotiate with the Huo family! By then, the Luotian Association had already finished scouring the battlefield. Beneath blazing flames, all the corpses were consigned to ash. "Let's move. We travel through the night—we must leave the Gaoling Plain quickly!" Luo Chen said, stepping naturally into the role of commanding the joint forces. Neither Li Yixian nor the Nangong family raised any objection. In this battle, the Luotian Association had borne the brunt of the pressure: three Foundation Establishment cultivators, over a thousand Great River Gang members, and an array lying in wait. Under such exceedingly adverse conditions, Luo Chen had still led his people to carve out a path to victory. He was well entitled to lead the three factions. However... "I have a request," Li Yixian said, looking at the two with an almost pleading gaze. "Could you make some room on your flying boats...?" Nangong Jin frowned. Luo Chen looked behind her at the mortal martial artists of the Li family, who had only just hastily caught up. Seated atop towering dragon horses, their expressions were exhausted to the core. The Li family had lived and multiplied in Dahe Market for many years, seeing few wars, and had thus produced many mortals without spiritual roots. When leaving Dahe Market, Li Yixian had gritted her teeth and brought most of them along. In fact, the Nangong family had done the same. Their original plan had been simple: find a piece of spiritual land not far from Dahe Market and settle down. Mortals would be useful in many ways. None of them had expected matters to deteriorate to this point. Now, all the Nangong family's mortals had perished in their battle against the Bai family of Liuguang Market. Grief-stricken though they were, it meant they could travel light on the flight ahead. The Li family, on the other hand, had not faced a massive battle and had preserved their clansmen intact. What should have been a blessing had now become an impediment to swift travel due to sheer numbers. "If you can free up space to carry our mortals, the Li family cultivators can mostly fly on their magical tools," Li Yixian offered. "I am willing to pay a sum of spirit stones!" Nangong Jin opened his mouth, but Luo Chen cut in before him: "Spirit stones won't be necessary. It is not impossible to take them along. However..." Sweeping his gaze over the mortals, Luo Chen said coldly, "Once we reach safe territory, you must leave them behind. Otherwise, taking them to Tianlan Immortal City will only make them a burden!" Li Yixian considered it for a moment, then readily nodded. Seeing this, Nangong Jin refrained from saying anything further. Many people from both the Luotian Association and the Nangong family had fallen, so there was indeed plenty of space freed up on the flying boats. As for mortals, they needed no comforts; squeezed together, they could easily all be taken aboard. Before long, with the cultivators' assistance, the Li family's mortals were all brought aboard the flying boats. The remaining hundred-odd dragon horses were packed into the Li family's spirit beast pouches. Only then did Li Yixian breathe a thorough sigh of relief. With a wave of her hand, the flying boats slowly rose into the sky. Aboard the Nangong family's flying boat, Nangong Jin stood hunched over, leaning on a cane. Gazing into the distance toward Liuguang Market, he seemed to see that colossal Youbai tree. Gritting his teeth as if swallowing blood, he rasped, "Remember this humiliation! One day, our Nangong family will return and wash Youbai Mountain in blood! If I fail, Qin'er, it falls to you. If you fail, pass it down to our descendants. Never forget!" Behind him, the dozen-odd Nangong family cultivators bristled with burning hatred and answered with heavy nods. In his wheelchair, the pale-faced Nangong Qin wore a savage snarl: "This hatred shall endure without end! The Bai family—I will destroy them!" Meanwhile, atop the bow of the foremost giant flying boat, Luo Chen stood resolute. Sima Huiniang and Murong Qinglian stood behind him. The night wind blew, yet it could not extinguish the fury burning in their hearts. Looking down, he watched the Gaoling Plain engulfed in spreading flames, stone pillars lying scattered in ruins, and corpses reduced to ashes in the fire. The life of a friend had been left behind here forever. Luo Chen closed his eyes. "I do not cross others, yet they cross me. "In this world, the strong truly prey upon the weak. There is no room for wishful thinking!" Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked back the way they had come. Ten li, a hundred li, a thousand li... It was as though his gaze pierced the distance toward Red Toad Mountain, where toads croaked across the land. "Huo family! "A feud nine generations deep may still be repaid! "I will return!" Night owls wailed as the cold wind shrieked. All the dust and flames were cast behind as the flying boats hurtled forward into the night. ... "Danchenzi! "How dare you threaten me with the Yu family! I'll remember this!" Aboard the emerald-feathered white eagle, the palace-gowned young matron wore a sullen face, her anger surging uncontrollably. Yet the dread in her heart ran bone-deep. She was truly terrified! In that moment, the bone-chilling cold in Luo Chen's tone had been unmistakable. Carrying the terrifying momentum of having slain two Foundation Establishment cultivators, Tu Shan and Wang Haichao, Luo Chen possessed every right to speak such words. She had been powerless to refute him. That was why a chill lingered in her heart, leaving her able only to vent her dread through cursed muttering. After cursing for a while, she thought of Li Yixian. She had wanted to curse the wretched woman for actually helping Luo Chen, but then she remembered how she had threatened her with the Li family earlier. "Truly, what goes around comes around. Retribution never misses!" She let out a bitter laugh, steering the spirit beast beneath her toward Taishan Market. In her mind, she continued pondering how to deal with Huo Quan once he emerged from seclusion. Following Luo Chen's threat, she certainly could not speak of the battle's details on Gaoling Plain. "Wang Yuan's strength, that formation master's betrayal... "In that case, I'll direct all the blame onto Luo Chen! "Since you want to act so mighty, prepare to face the wrath of a grand Foundation Establishment cultivator! "Oh, no—that wretched Li Yixian shares the blame too. If she hadn't fought tooth and nail against me for hundreds of bouts, I would have already rescued Huo Hu. "Yes, that's exactly how it went!" With countless thoughts spinning through her head, she had already devised her entire story, planning to dump all the blame onto Luo Chen and Li Yixian while excusing herself as much as possible. "Should I inflict a few injuries on myself?" Sometimes, a self-inflicted ruse was the best way to earn trust. As she hesitated, the emerald-feathered white eagle came to a halt as well. "Huh? "Why has the white eagle stopped?" Just as she wondered, an immense aura gradually surfaced. Her eyes widened as she looked toward the endlessly surging Lancang River. A colossal toad slowly uncoiled its body from the water. Its cyan-blue frame stood over a hundred feet tall. The nodules across its back brimmed with unimaginable poison. Its sharp claws gleamed with bone-chilling menace, yet it had only three legs. Wherever it passed, the large magical-vessel ships docked at the wharf shattered like tofu. Yu Rou trembled all over, murmuring under her breath, "The Three-Legged Heaven-Swallowing Toad! It's that Heaven-Swallowing Toad from back then... It actually advanced to the mid-stage of the third tier! "Wait, what is it doing?!" In Yu Rou's sight, the direction the Three-Legged Heaven-Swallowing Toad was advancing toward was none other than nearby Taishan Market. Suddenly, it came to a halt. Raising its head, it looked into the distance toward Red Toad Mountain, its eyes blood-red. It was as though something there was exuding a fatal scent that drew it in. "Croak!" After letting out a muffled croak, it took a deep breath, its belly swelling several times in size. Then, bracing its three legs against the ground, it kicked off with tremendous force. Its massive bulk launched into the high heavens like a coiled spring. The river water swept up with it crashed down in a torrential deluge. Reaching its zenith, it began an angled descent. The landing point was unmistakably Red Toad Mountain, tranquil beneath the night sky. At the same time, someone within Red Toad Mountain seemed to sense something. Casting all caution aside, that person forcefully broke through seclusion. A white ruler shot out, rapidly expanding in size until it reached a hundred zhang across in the blink of an eye. This was a sign that its wielder had staked everything, driving it to its utmost limit. Yet against the seemingly gargantuan treasure, the Three-Legged Heaven-Swallowing Toad merely swatted a claw. The radiant glow of the hundred-zhang ruler dimmed instantly as it was flung backward. "Noooo—!" An aged, anguished howl rang out. The Three-Legged Heaven-Swallowing Toad crashed into the mountain with a thunderous roar. Thump! A deafening boom reverberated. Then, as if triggering a chain reaction, an immense torrent of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy burst forth like a breached dam. What was more, a pillar of fire erupted violently from the peak of Red Toad Mountain. Boom! The volcano had erupted! Countless pillars of fire shot straight into the clouds. Molten lava snaked down, reducing pavilions, towers, towering trees, and lush vegetation to ash. Outside Taishan Market, Yu Rou stood petrified, her mouth agape in utter disbelief. Red Toad Mountain was destroyed!