Yuan Chengdun's reputation had been forged strike by bloody strike of his staff. Back when demonic cultivators ran rampant across Xunlin Plain, the number of them who perished at his hands reached triple digits. Even when three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators ambushed him together, he had forcefully battered his way through their formation and departed unhurriedly.
In comparison, though Xiao Yongling, the Elder of Mount Yu, had likewise fought three foes at once, he had been gravely wounded in the process; his fame was nowhere near Yuan Chengdun's.
"You!"
Recognizing him, Fu Daimu felt terror seize his heart and cried out, "Fellow Daoist Yuan! I also have backers within the sect—do not bring ruin upon yourself!"
Li Tongya's fame had resounded across Jiangnan after striking down the Maha and slaying Yu with a single sword strike, an astonishing feat that placed him at the very pinnacle. Yuan Chengdun's reputation with his Fuqingshan ranked among the top ten newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivators of the past century. It was no wonder Fu Daimu lost his composure in an instant.
Yuan Chengdun did not deign to reply. Shaking his head with a half-smile, he found it absurd; the Yuan family possessed far more connections within the sect than the Li family, so how could he fail to see through such posturing?
'Fuqingshan excels in offense and restrains malevolent evils, and this man's staff techniques are of notable caliber...'
Fu Daimu's face darkened as magic power surged within him. The urge to flee had already taken root. Yet trapped within the grand formation, whether he could escape was one matter; his Dao companion was still in seclusion at Dajueting attempting a breakthrough. The monk might flee, but the temple remained—today was truly perilous.
Li Yuanjiao and his companions gave him no breathing room. Spells and sword qi rained down indiscriminately. Zhe Ledai brandished his chipped twin swords to ward off the blows, whispering, "Senior Brother! Where did Fei Luoya find so many hands? I fear we won't fare well today..."
Fu Daimu's spiritual sense swept the surrounding air over and over, trying to pinpoint Fei Luoya, who had vanished from sight. Black mist churned in his palm as he shattered an incoming surge of sword qi with a slap. His face grew grimmer, his teeth clenched in fury. "I underestimated that cur! Groveling and begging for mercy on one side while setting an ambush to kill me on the other... Had I known, I never would have trusted him!"
Concentrating with everything he had, Zhe Ledai raised flares of spell light. Turning his sword sideways, he lodged one blade into the maw of a pouncing water serpent and transmitted his voice urgently with magic power: "Senior Brother! Things have come to this; neither of us will walk away if we linger. You possess the Xuanming Escape Art—please flee at once! I will cover your retreat!"
Zhe Ledai had originally been Fu Daimu's attendant. Composed by nature and exceptionally talented, he had only been admitted to Mount Wu thanks to Fu Daimu's patronage and recommendation. Bound by unwavering loyalty, he was already prepared to die.
Fu Daimu gritted his teeth and shook his head. On the other side, Yuan Chengdun's blows were already pounding the Human Head Mountain until it groaned under the strain, teetering on the verge of collapse. Just as Fu Daimu opened his mouth to speak, a crimson flash burst before his eyes, shocking him so fiercely his soul nearly took flight. Bringing his palms together, he reacted on instinct.
His Dao foundation, Jianghunwen, activated instantly. Black light erupted across his entire body like a drifting veil of mist. A piercing shriek rang out, causing several early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to freeze momentarily in a daze.
Clang!
Dark light gushed from Fu Daimu's hands as he clamped down on Fei Luoya's sword. Red radiance coursed along the blade, scorching his hands until black smoke billowed from his flesh. Spitting out a blast of dark light to force Fei Luoya back, he finally exhaled.
Though gifted, Fei Luoya was ultimately an unorthodox cultivator. Apart from Mount Wu's sorceries, the few second-rank spells he had learned were not especially powerful; it was solely the profundity of his Dao foundation that kept Fu Daimu on edge. Fei Luoya felt no disappointment at the failed strike, merely withdrawing and vanishing once more into thin air.
Zhe Ledai parried an attack from Li Wushao and let out a hurried breath, urgently sending another voice transmission: "Senior Brother, wait no longer!"
Fu Daimu knew he could delay no further. Forming hand seals to cast his art, he caused the Human Head Mountain to unleash a burst of dark light, briefly smothering Yuan Chengdun's golden radiance. At the same time, he cast out three talismans that blazed with brilliant golden light and began channeling his sorcery.
As Fu Daimu unleashed this flurry of methods, a bloody sheen rose from Zhe Ledai as well. Burning his lifespan and essence blood, the light upon his twin blades blazed dazzlingly. Abandoning his defensive posture, he charged forward aggressively like a ravenous beast.
Fei Luoya reappeared suddenly, his sword whirling amidst surging red light as he bellowed, "He's using an escape art! Don't let him get away!"
Years ago, during the Li family's disaster, a demonic cultivator had also employed an escape art, vanishing as a beam of red light while the Li family stood helpless, unable to impede his flight.
Escape arts differed from escape methods. Most escape methods merely provided a boost in speed, whereas escape arts primarily transformed one's state to traverse distances, allowing passage even through perilous domains and grand formations. They were exceedingly difficult to master.
Seeing Fu Daimu deploy talismans for protection, Li Yuanjiao had arrived at the same suspicion at nearly the same moment. Pressing forward, he commanded in a deep voice, "Keep Fu Daimu here first!"
If a late-stage Foundation Establishment Shanyue from Mount Wu were allowed to flee, the Li family would know no peace in the days ahead. The other Shanyue fought with nothing to lose, but Li Yuanjiao and Yuan Chengdun had deep roots and clans to protect; the two were the most anxious, unleashing their full might to intercept him.
Yuan Chengdun let out a furious roar, forcibly overturning the Human Head Mountain that weighed down upon him. His face flushed slightly, yet without pausing for even a heartbeat, he rode the wind in hot pursuit.
Li Yuanjiao drew his sword and advanced, hurling a Foundation Establishment talisman without hesitation. Jing Dragon King surged into action, sending a grayish-green horned serpent crashing forward recklessly, kicking up a succession of magic-power sprays.
Fu Daimu possessed considerable skill in talisman craft, and the three Foundation Establishment talismans he had deployed were remarkably resilient. The barrage of strikes from Li Yuanjiao and Fei Luoya managed to strip away only two layers, while Fu Daimu remained completely motionless, racing against time to finish casting.
Fei Luoya's face paled. Clenching his jaw, he bit off a piece of his own tongue, puffed his cheeks, and spat a jet of bloody arrows with a wet hiss. It struck the golden barrier with sizzling crackles, pushing it to the brink of collapse.
Seizing the opening, Li Yuanjiao sprang forward with the Qingchi Sword, thrusting ferociously.
Rumble!
A sphere of bloody light exploded out of nowhere. Through sheer desperate resolve, the early-stage Foundation Establishment Zhe Ledai had fought off both Li Wushao and Zhu Xian, yet still found the strength to turn back. Bringing his twin swords together, he drove them toward Li Yuanjiao's back with all his might.
Having finally seized this chance, Li Yuanjiao refused to back down. Behind him, the Six-Stone Cloud Plate materialized instantly, its earthy yellow radiance swirling as the Mystic Pattern Bottle lent its support, releasing Mystic Pattern Spirit Mist to intercept the twin blades.
Clang!
The Qingchi Sword effortlessly pierced the talisman barrier, its green-and-white sword light surging aggressively toward Fu Daimu's face.
Squelch!
Fu Daimu caught the blade barehanded. The razor-sharp sword qi punctured through the back of his hand, impaling his palm completely. The old Shanyue's eyes went bloodshot with fury as the spell gathering in his other hand broke apart.
Li Yuanjiao fared little better. All of his true essence and magic power had been channeled into the Qingchi Sword, leaving the Six-Stone Cloud Plate and Mystic Pattern Bottle powered only by an offhand effort. The magic power surging from Zhe Ledai's twin blades jolted him so severely that he spat a mouthful of blood.
Fu Daimu was consumed with rage, but in that brief delay, Yuan Chengdun had already arrived after overturning the Human Head Mountain. Radiating murderous intent, he brought his pair of golden staffs crashing down in a relentless assault.
'The outcome is decided.'
Li Yuanjiao retreated on the wind, swallowed a healing pill, and watched quietly.
Under the combined assault of Li Wushao and Zhu Xian, Zhe Ledai was already struggling to parry from all sides. Fu Daimu, meanwhile, was forced back repeatedly under Yuan Chengdun's increasingly savage blows while still having to remain vigilant against Fei Luoya. His defeat was already written.
'Still, we must guard against a deathbed struggle.'
Li Yuanjiao stepped forward with sword in hand, shrouded in Mystic Pattern Spirit Mist. Hovering at the periphery, he threatened Zhe Ledai with thrusts of his blade, quietly waiting for the two to exhaust their strength.
Having relied on a secret technique, Zhe Ledai's aura was plummeting steadily. Besieged by three opponents, he was soon riddled with wounds and bloody punctures, his energy spent. Li Wushao revealed his true form and crushed Zhe Ledai's lower body with a swipe of his tail, while Zhu Xian snapped his whip-like vine, tearing off the attendant's snarling head.
"Junior Brother!!"
Having shared a bond of over a century with him, Fu Daimu wept tears of blood, driven half-mad. He pushed his spells and Dao foundation to their limits in a desperate struggle, yet could not break free.
Yuan Chengdun grew ever more ferocious, each strike stacking the evil-vanquishing power of his Fuqingshan Dao foundation. Unable to complete a single hand seal, Fu Daimu's face twisted into an expression of frantic despair.
Seeing Fu Daimu's expression shift repeatedly as if preparing for a suicidal strike, Li Yuanjiao hovered high in the air, quietly praying that the old Shanyue would not shatter the formation in his madness. The Li family could not afford to replace it.
This formation plate from Kong Tingyun was remarkably durable. Originating from the Yuzhen lineage, it held steadily at the middle Foundation Establishment level whether deployed in water, fire, sky, or earth. Over the entire battle, it had consumed merely five or six spirit stones and a dozen pieces of jade. Li Yuanjiao found himself deeply fond of it, craving such a treasure for himself.
'I wonder how many spirit stones it would cost to purchase a formation plate like this. If it were destroyed, it would truly bankrupt the family.'
While these thoughts crossed his mind, Fu Daimu had already erupted in a cloud of bloody mist for a final gamble. Li Yuanjiao pulled farther away, concealing himself within the Mystic Pattern Spirit Mist and waiting through the hazy clash. After a blast of bloody wind swept by, the old Shanyue's head had already been smashed to pieces.
"Brother Jiao, are you well?"
Though the battle had drained a great deal of his true essence, Yuan Chengdun rode the wind over with evident concern. Li Yuanjiao shook his head slightly, offered his thanks, and retrieved the formation plate.
The grand formation sealing the interior from the outside was deactivated. Outside, white insects blanketed the mountains and wilderness in numbers so dense that there was nowhere to step. Fei Luoya nodded.
"He is indeed dead. Such an anomaly is the phenomenon that occurs when Jianghunwen collapses."
Li Yuanjiao drew his sword and said in a heavy voice, "Evil must be purged thoroughly. We have been fighting here for some time, and there are still remnants at Dajueting. We must move quickly to eradicate them before word spreads and brings retaliation."
Fei Luoya nodded and tossed over Fu Daimu's storage bag. Li Yuanjiao caught it and said, "Once this matter is settled, we shall divide the spoils."
***
Dajueting was an ancient, majestic city. At its height, it had held a population of a hundred thousand. Yet after decades under Fu Daimu's rule, fewer than ten thousand remained, most of them women kept solely for breeding, leaving the city desolate and cold.
The soil and waters of Jiangnan were rich; seeds sown today would sprout on the morrow, and a single mu of land could feed an entire household. People sprang from this earth crop after crop, and Fu Daimu had reaped immense benefits over his decades of cultivation here.
The great stone blocks of the city were polished smooth and flat. A sparse scattering of Shanyue soldiers stood atop them in bleak silence. When the Foundation Establishment cultivators swept overhead on the wind, not a single Qi Refinement practitioner rose to meet them; there were only throngs of mortals kneeling and kowtowing.
Reaching the royal court of Dajueting, they found hundreds of large bronze pillars erected across the grounds. People were bound to them here and there—most already desiccated corpses, with only a few still clinging to their last breaths, all of them Embryonic Breathing cultivators.
Li Yuanjiao and the others flew straight into the palace halls. Shattering the formations, they searched through several secret chambers, unlocking them one by one. Deep within, they finally found Fu Daimu's Dao companion—an elderly woman. Fei Luoya stepped inside and cleanly twisted off her head as she sat cross-legged.
Fu Daimu had been exceedingly meticulous; the shielding formation within the chamber was so exquisite that the woman remained oblivious even as they stood before her, a smile still resting on her face, having reached a crucial point in her cultivation.
Before her lay an array of sinister, blood-tainted items. Li Yuanjiao cast a cool glance over them, and Zhu Xian collected the lot.
The group searched separately for a time. Fu Daimu had possessed no intention of establishing a lineage, keeping all his sorceries and secret arts locked in his mind, which drew endless curses from Fei Luoya. Only in Zhe Ledai's secret chamber did they recover a few spells, which was better than nothing.
Opening the two Shanyue cultivators' storage bags, they dumped the contents across the ground. Being Shanyue, neither man carried anything extraordinary, with one exception: five precious herbs in total, gleaming in five jade boxes that drew covetous gazes.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered once more. First, they traded and recorded the minor secret techniques. Setting the spoils before them, all eyes turned to the Human Head Mountain, which had reverted to its original form after suffering severe damage. Now roughly the size of a human skull, it was densely pitted and pitch-black, exuding a chilling aura.
Though Fu Daimu's talent in artifact refinement was middling at best, his lifelong cultivation had been poured into tempering this item, costing eighty to a hundred thousand lives. It naturally commanded the attention of every Foundation Establishment cultivator present.
'Even when pitted against Fuqingshan, its direct counter, it still held out for an entire incense stick of time... It truly is a formidable weapon.'
Yuan Chengdun took the item without ceremony and said, "This thing should not be used again. I will take it back to my clan to be reforged."
Yuan Chengdun had contributed the most in the ambush, so no one objected to his taking first pick. Fei Luoya merely clasped his hands and said, "Brother Jiao, after you!"
Li Yuanjiao did not decline either. Sweeping his gaze across the pile, he spoke first: "I must take several precious herbs to maintain connections with Fuchen Peak within the sect. Should that peak master require precious herbs in the future, I will have to trouble you two Daoists."
"That is only natural," Zhu Xian and Fei Luoya agreed, while Yuan Chengdun looked on thoughtfully.
Li Yuanjiao collected three precious herbs, indicating they were meant for greasing wheels, and then took a Qingyun Elk Fruit, a treasure capable of solidifying true essence and regrowing severed limbs.
Watching Li Yuanjiao take the fruit, Li Wushao, who had been staring eagerly, finally let out a quiet breath of relief. Bound to pick last, he knew he would never receive a precious herb on his own. He thought to himself, 'As long as this fruit is in the master's hands, there is at least hope I might obtain it... Perhaps I won't need to spend decades just repairing my tail hook...'
Fei Luoya took the final precious herb as a matter of course: a Bishan Origin Flower, which aided cultivation and bolstered magic power. The remaining sundries were divided equally between Li Wushao and Zhu Xian; though of modest value, the haul ensured they had not made the trip in vain.
Aside from those two, Yuan Chengdun had obtained a Foundation Establishment dharma artifact, and Fei Luoya's territory had effectively doubled. Both were in high spirits.
Riding the wind outside, Yuan Chengdun clasped his hands with a smile and took his leave. Fei Luoya gazed with immense satisfaction at the furnishings and layout of Dajueting. Fearing he might follow in Fu Daimu's footsteps, Li Yuanjiao cautioned him, "Fellow Daoist... if you intend to maintain our cooperation, do not emulate Fu Daimu. That... one in my family detests such practices above all else. Mind you take heed."
Fei Luoya froze for a moment, then answered hastily, "Of course! Of course!"
Chapter 391