Chapter 157: Open Assault

"Is the Qian family's Foundation Establishment cultivators holding back because they fear being worn down and then surrounded and killed?" Mo Hua asked.

"Yes, but not entirely," Elder Yu said. "On one hand, the Qian family's Foundation Establishment cultivators do fear being worn down—if I step in to hold him off, he won't escape and will surely be killed."

"So in such chaotic battles, Foundation Establishment cultivators usually balance each other and rarely strike first. When they do strike, it's either to deliver a decisive blow and end the fight, or to achieve some other vital objective capable of tipping the battle's outcome."

"On the other hand, the Qian family doesn't have just one Foundation Establishment cultivator…" Elder Yu chuckled lightly.

Mo Hua frowned. "Isn't that an advantage for the Qian family?"

Elder Yu didn't answer directly. Instead, he said:

"One monk has water to drink; two monks carry water; three monks have no water to drink."

"Oh," Mo Hua understood. "They all want others to take the risks and do the fighting, while they reap the benefits."

Elder Yu nodded approvingly.

"The Qian family is this ruthless in their infighting?"

"Even brothers keep strict accounts; how much less so these ones? Though they're one clan, their bloodlines have branched too widely, their interests tangled—when they turn on each other, family ties mean little."

Mo Hua nodded.

No wonder Elder Yu always called the Qian family a nest of heartless, soulless Bai Yanlang.

If they treat their own kin this way, how much worse would they treat other cultivators?

"What if all the Qian family's Foundation Establishment cultivators come together?" Mo Hua asked.

"I'd actually hope they all come," Elder Yu raised an eyebrow. "If they all come, no one's left to guard their family holdings—if enemies find out, they could loot everything, slaughter every direct heir—it'd be a feast."

Elder Yu's expression was gleefully malicious.

Mo Hua's mouth hung open. "Does that actually happen?"

"Of course it does. You're still young—wait a few centuries, and you'll learn: in this world, nothing's impossible, only unimaginable."

Mo Hua was deeply shaken. "Then Dao Ting Si would intervene, right?"

"By the time they've looted and slaughtered, what use is Dao Ting Si to intervene?"

Elder Yu almost swore, but restrained himself, remembering Mo Hua was watching.

"If all the direct heirs are dead but the Foundation Establishment cultivators remain, it's just an empty shell—strong on the outside, rotten within. The generational gap will leave them stranded, eventually pushed out of their place entirely."

"And if the Qian family's key external holdings lack Foundation Establishment guards and suffer losses, that's when the real damage hits—"

"Great wealth, great responsibilities—hard to protect. So they dare not send their Foundation Establishment cultivators to battle too soon."

So that's why…

Mo Hua understood.

Seeing Mo Hua lost in thought, Elder Yu assumed he was still worried and said:

"Don't worry—the Qian family's Foundation Establishment cultivators look fierce, but they're all cowards. One comes, I'll easily drive him off. Even two or three, I've got ways to handle them."

Mo Hua was stunned—Elder Yu was this powerful?

"Are you very high in cultivation, Elder?" Mo Hua asked.

"It's not that my cultivation is high," Elder Yu sighed, smiling bitterly. "It's just that I'm willing to risk my life. They're not."

Mo Hua looked at Elder Yu.

On Elder Yu's thin arms and neck, numerous faint, crisscrossing scars crisscrossed—his dark skin made them hard to notice unless you looked closely.

These scars must have come from fighting to the death…

Mo Hua thought silently.

With the Qian family not attacking, the Hunter Corps focused all their strength on mining the spirit ore. But Elder Yu knew the Qian family wouldn't give up so easily.

Several days later, at night, the Qian family returned again.

This time they had reinforcements: several sturdy earth-element cultivators, fully armed and clad in iron armor.

This was Qian Zhuang's painstakingly devised solution.

The Earthfire Array wasn't overly powerful—he'd gathered tough earth-element body cultivators, clad them in iron armor, and simply walked through the array.

Once the Earthfire Array was gone, the path ahead would be clear.

So he used his connections to borrow, requisition, or beg for several earth-element cultivators who had trained earth-element cultivation arts and possessed formidable physical bodies.

He nearly drained his savings to buy or borrow several sets of forged iron armor and some fire-resistant spirit artifacts.

Tonight, he would break the Earthfire Array!

The situation unfolded exactly as he'd planned.

The earth-element cultivators, clad in iron armor and armed with fire-resistant artifacts, marched straight across the seven-pattern Earthfire Array, triggering bursts of explosive fire.

The mountainside filled with explosions and blazed with firelight.

The fire-element spiritual energy from the explosions struck the iron armor, but most of its force was negated; some heat was neutralized by the fire-resistant artifacts; the residual damage that reached the armored earth-element cultivators caused little harm.

After several passes, the iron-armored earth-element cultivators had completely trampled through the Earthfire Array across the mountainside.

Several sets of armor were damaged; one was completely destroyed.

Qian Zhuang was heartbroken, but the cost was worth it!

He had finally broken the Earthfire Array!

Qian Zhuang straightened his back, triumphant and exultant.

Leading the Qian family cultivators, he finally crossed the mountain slope—the very area once blocked by the Earthfire Array, where he'd suffered repeated setbacks and carried deep psychological scars!

The Qian family cultivators now stood before the mine entrance, directly confronting the Hunter Corps.

Then Qian Zhuang suddenly realized—he'd forgotten the most crucial question:

Their original tactic had been a surprise attack…

Now, row upon row of Hunter Corps members, clad in vine armor, stood ready and waiting—indeed, rested and prepared—staring at them for minutes on end.

And they, after enduring the Earthfire Array's destruction, had finally reached the Hunter Corps' front.

But… can this even be called a sneak attack?

The demon hunters' gazes were laced with mockery, as if they were looking at a fool.

A flash of anger crossed Qian Zhuang's face, but his heart went cold.

What to do next, he suddenly had no idea…

Fight?

It seemed he couldn't win.

Run?

Then what on earth had they come here for? And why had they gone through so much hardship just to cross the Earth Fire Array?

While Qian Zhuang was doubting himself, Yu Chengyi had already drawn his blade.

Immediately, the blades of the demon hunters slid from their sheaths in response.

The night was pitch black; the demon hunters' blades flashed out a sheet of white light.

"Kill!"

Yu Chengyi roared in a low, heavy voice, and the demon hunters behind him surged forward with overwhelming momentum, sweeping toward the Qian family cultivators.

And so, the Qian family cultivators who had painstakingly crossed the Earth Fire Array were, in less than a moment, beaten back in utter disarray.

Qian Hong struggled all the way back to camp and, covered in dust and grime, summed up the battle.

Casualties among the disciples were unavoidable, and several sets of iron armor had been seized as well.

There was nothing to be done about it—the demon hunters' primary target was the iron armor; the people themselves came second.

Demon hunters spent their lives hunting yao, their teamwork was seamless, their skills practiced and deft; a few of them working together only needed a few exchanges to directly drop the Qian family cultivators who wore the iron armor.

Then, in a few quick moves, they stripped the iron armor off and made off with it.

For demon hunters, skinning a yao beast was child's play, let alone stripping iron armor off someone's body.

Qian Zhuang's heart ached with Jun Jiuxin, and at the same time he found it absurd.

If he hadn't been thrown into a dizzy spell by the Earth Fire Array, single-mindedly focused on breaking the array, he wouldn't have forgotten their original intent.

Turning a sneak attack into an open assault.

And letting the enemy rest while they toiled, catching them completely off guard.

Qian Zhuang hated it to the bone.

Just who the hell drew this Earth Fire Array?!