Chapter 379

Deafening explosions echoed through the clouds.

Piercing wails reverberated through the mountains.

Luo Chen withdrew his gaze from the Luoyun Sect side, with Facing Chu Kui's excited yet calm voice beside him.

"The first moment of close-quarters combat is when casualties are highest; you and I need not be anxious, let the Four Sects' vassals charge in front."

"Go to the flank first, and then look for a good opportunity to reap a harvest!"

Luo Chen gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

Following behind Facing Chu Kui, he rode the wind and clouds through the void, heading toward the flank of the battlefield.

The two maintained an incredibly calm mindset, remaining unmoved even as the shouting and killing ahead shook the heavens and spiritual energy surged and intertwined.

And as Luo Chen stepped forward.

In the night sky behind him, a gaze followed his back intently.

"Zhou Shijie, this little man you found doesn't seem to appreciate the favor!"

A voice as crisp as a bell entered her ears.

Fairy Jueqing did not look back, ignoring the mockery in her words, and just said coldly: "If he wants to achieve something, can you and I stop him?"

Yinyue was startled and curled her lips.

Luo Chen is now hired by the Ice Fortress as a guest elder; in terms of status, he is on the same level as them and is not subject to their conscription.

If he wants to go to the front line to fight, it is truly not easy for her and Jueqing to interfere.

"Still, pay more attention to this little fellow!"

"If he really suffers any damage, neither you nor I will be able to answer to the Supreme Elder when we return."

Fairy Jueqing said coldly: "No need for you to say more, I have it in mind. You had better manage the subsequent combat arrangements; if the disciples under your sect suffer too many losses, you won't be able to handle the consequences from your Sect Master Zhou Shijie alone."

Venerable Yinyue gave a hum, withdrew her spiritual sense, and no longer paid attention to Luo Chen's movements.

This battle is not as simple as just taking down the Seventh Mountain!

The Eighth Mountain is also their target.

While not saying it will be accomplished in one battle, at least they must occupy four mountains to regain a balance of power.

Otherwise, the Luoyun Sect side would not have decided to commit their entire army.

At the foot of the Seventh Mountain's flank.

On a patch of flowing sand, the color was pale gold.

This place is a rich source of the second-tier mineral material, Flowing Sand Refined Gold, so even on the relatively safe flank, it was still protected.

The Que Dao Sect was arranged to be stationed here.

Strictly speaking, the Que Dao Sect, which possesses one late-stage Foundation Establishment and three early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, is not a vassal of the Sword Sect.

Their backer is the Sword Sect vassal, the Tian Dao Sect.

After the war broke out, the Tian Dao Sect, which possesses one Core Formation Venerable, was conscripted, and then the Tian Dao Sect conscripted the Que Dao Sect.

This situation is quite similar to the Ice Fortress conscripting the Luo Tian Society, and then the Luo Tian Society sending Li Yingzhang, the head of the vassal Qin Flower Li family, to the battlefield.

The vassal of a vassal is not a direct vassal, but still a pawn indirectly controlled by others.

The only fortunate thing is that since the war began, although the Que Dao Sect has suffered many losses, they have remained intact in terms of high-end combat power, the true Foundation Establishment cultivators.

At this moment.

Ximen Wuhai, the Sect Master of the Que Dao Sect, surrounded by his three disciples, gazed at the world-shaking war erupting in the distance.

In his eyes, there was uncontrollable worry.

"Master, we..."

"No need to say more, if the situation looks bad later, we will break camp immediately. Yulang will take the people and leave first, while Dezhu and the main army will cover the retreat with me, fighting as we withdraw!"

"But, will this offend the Tian Dao Sect?" Jiang Yulang couldn't help asking.

Ximen Wuhai gave a cold laugh, "Tian Dao Sect? They can't even take care of themselves. Just now, when the Luoyun Sect puppets bombarded the Seventh Mountain, the first to bear the brunt was the Tian Dao Sect's position; why should we care about them?"

"It can even be said that if we win this battle and survive by luck, the Que Dao Sect might be able to annex the Tian Dao Sect and become a first-rate force!"

After these words.

He had both determined the current strategy and looked forward to the future.

He was certainly not a person of short-sightedness.

The three disciples behind him also praised him from the bottom of their hearts.

"Master is far-sighted!"

"Disciple will strictly follow Master's orders."

"If Master can exchange for the Core Formation secret technique brought out by the Sword Sect, perhaps our Que Dao Sect can also produce a Core Formation Venerable in the future!"

It was also at this moment.

Ximen Wuhai suddenly raised his head.

"Petty scoundrels, get out here!"

As he shouted sharply, his hand behind his back made a gesture.

Immediately, the three early-stage Foundation Establishment disciples understood and retreated behind him to prepare to activate the second-tier attack formation.

Under Ximen Wuhai's gaze, two figures stepped out from the night.

One held a Qitian Staff, his fighting spirit soaring.

The other held a long sword reversed behind his back, his eyes cold and sharp.

Seeing the two, Ximen Wuhai's expression changed drastically.

Ninth-level Foundation Establishment! Sixth-level Foundation Establishment!

"Fellow Daoist..."

In the sky, the two completely ignored him.

"You break the formation, I'll take that late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!" Facing Chu Kui said briefly.

Luo Chen gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

Without any nonsense.

The next moment, Facing Chu Kui held the Qitian Staff and smashed it down from above.

Ximen Wuhai was terrified, but gritted his teeth and did not retreat, sacrificing a large saber.

It erupted with dozens of meters of saber light, meeting the shadow of the Qitian Staff.

Boom!

With one strike, it shook the area for several miles.

In the flowing sand camp, many late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were directly stunned by the shock.

Seeing this, Ximen Wuhai shouted angrily.

"I will fight you!"

"Just what I wanted!"

Facing Chu Kui shouted excitedly, immediately waving his long staff and chasing after the flying Ximen Wuhai to kill him.

Raising his head to look at the two in the sky, Luo Chen's mind was crystal clear.

He walked step by step toward the flowing sand camp.

His gaze was fixed on the formation that was rapidly condensing a giant golden saber light.

As the intensity of the war deepened, both sides were rapidly evolving all means to increase their strength.

The most suitable defensive formations for guarding mountains are not easy to deploy.

But various lethal formations are everywhere.

At this moment, a golden saber nearly twenty zhang long rose from the center of the grand formation.

Heaven Que Saber Formation!

A second-tier metal-attribute attack formation, operated by the three of them together, is enough to quickly unleash a powerful attack comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"This person is only at the sixth level of Foundation Establishment."

"Quickly use the formation to kill him, and then we will go help Master!"

"Little Junior Brother, you are the most proficient in formations, you will be responsible for controlling the final strike later!"

"Yes, Qi Qi Shixiong!"

The rapid and compact conversation took place within the grand formation.

They were fellow disciples, cooperating seamlessly.

With preparation, in just a few breaths, the power of the formation condensed to the extreme.

Then, the giant saber light slashed down fiercely!

The target: the red-robed man!

Jiang Yulang's expression was extremely excited, with a sickly flush, controlling the saber light to ensure it did not deviate.

No matter if the opponent fled or resisted, there would only be one outcome!

That is death!

However, under his gaze.

The red-robed man opposite looked at the saber light coming to take his life, his face neither sad nor happy.

He neither fled nor sacrificed any defensive magic tools.

Instead, he slowly extended his palm!

"What is he doing?"

"Is he trying to resist the Heaven Que saber strike with his body?"

Under Jiang Yulang's surprised gaze, spiritual energy suddenly bloomed on the red-robed man's hand.

A patch of deep blue light surged out.

The next moment, a light screen resembling glazed glass suddenly formed in front of him.

The golden saber and the blue screen made contact in an instant.

Clang!

Under that blue glazed light screen, the saber light could not advance an inch.

Lacking subsequent force, the golden saber could not sustain itself and gradually dissipated.

Jiang Yulang was dumbfounded; what kind of technique was that, to be able to block a Heaven Que saber strike head-on.

It was also at this moment that his Qi Qi Shixiong's anxious voice came from beside him.

"Careful!"

A fiery red sword shadow, like a meteor from beyond the heavens, headed straight for the center of the formation.

Jiang Yulang's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly withdrew to escape.

The next moment.

The sound of paper tearing came, and the Heaven Que Saber Formation shattered inch by inch.

Outside the formation, Luo Chen watched this scene with satisfaction.

Attack formations are far easier to break than defensive ones!

Defense is from the outside in, with power contained within, leaving no traces to be found.

To break a defensive formation, one must either suppress it with overwhelming strength or destroy its formation veins and break its formation patterns in one go.

He had spent quite a bit of effort breaking Yang Wei's Thunder Prison Formation earlier, having to rely on his strongest means, "Mountain Collapse," to break it.

But this Heaven Que Saber Formation.

When it releases an attack, that is when its flaws are greatest.

With his keen eyesight and powerful spiritual sense, he found the flaw in just an instant.

Breaking the formation was as easy as turning over one's hand!

After breaking the formation with an unremarkable sword strike, Luo Chen held the Profound Xuan Xuan Huo Jian reversed, opened his mouth, and spat.

A sword pill flew out.

Spinning around, it flew toward the youngest of the three.

Seeing the sword pill, the three were terrified out of their wits!

"It's a sword cultivator, run!"

Sword cultivators are known for having the strongest combat power and being invincible among their peers.

The red-robed man possessed the powerful realm of the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, already stronger than them; if he fought with a sword pill, they would have no power to resist.

However, when the sword pill reached them.

Jiang Yulang discovered that the opponent's sword control technique did not seem particularly exquisite.

A flying saber intercepted it in mid-air.

Moving and shifting, retreating and leaping, it was quite spectacular.

Seeing this scene, the other two Senior Brothers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"This person doesn't seem to be an orthodox sword cultivator, just blood-refined a sword pill."

"Little Junior Brother, don't panic, I'll help you!"

Opposite, Luo Chen smiled and shook his head.

"You had better take care of yourselves first!"

As the words fell, a giant mountain peak smashed down from the sky.

Thousand-Fold Peak!

It immediately suppressed one person.

Not only that, Luo Chen pointed his left hand repeatedly, and seven thorn flower seeds flew out.

In the blink of an eye, seven giant vines rose from the ground, enveloping the last person.

Using one mind for three tasks, with varied means.

One person against three, walking leisurely!

In the sky, a furious voice came, containing hidden anxiety.

But under Facing Chu Kui's suppression, it became weaker and weaker, constantly suffering heavy damage.

Luo Chen glanced at it, then nodded secretly.

"Almost there!"

With a thought, the sword pill that was entangled with Jiang Yulang suddenly split its sword light, bypassing his flying saber like two spirit snakes.

Hiss! Hiss!

One in the chest, one in the center of the brow, two holes emitting blue smoke.

Jiang Yulang fell to the ground, dying with his eyes wide open.

"Little Junior Brother!"

"Yulang!"

Two sorrowful and angry roars rang out.

They were met only by Facing Chu Kui's wild laughter and Luo Chen's light chuckle.

"You had better take care of yourselves!"

He flipped his hand and pressed down, the Thousand-Fold Peak reappearing with surging giant force, and countless golden flowing sands from all directions were drawn by the terrifying suction.

In just a moment, the giant force pressed down.

The early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who was already struggling extremely hard widened his eyes, his face full of despair.

Boom!

The Thousand-Fold Peak smashed down with a roar.

The surging giant force instantly crushed him into a puddle of flesh.

Luo Chen nodded with satisfaction; using techniques through artifacts is not limited to the Profound Xuan Xuan Huo Jian.

The coordination between the Earth Mountain Technique and the Thousand-Fold Peak also complements each other perfectly.

Even when superimposed, it already has the attack intensity of an ordinary late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Dealing with mere early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators is just a matter of reaching out and capturing them.

Suddenly, he turned his head to look.

In that cage intertwined with seven vines, a bright saber light was about to rise.

"Quite a courageous one."

"In a desperate situation, trading injury for time, wanting to condense a magic treasure killing move."

"Pity..."

Luo Chen beckoned with his left hand, and the sword pill trembled instantly.

In a single breath, it pierced through the brain of the last person.

That magic treasure killing move that was about to be released suddenly lost its follow-up power, with no one to control it.

Its terrifying power exploded in the blink of an eye, blowing the owner's corpse into countless fragments.

All of this, it sounds long.

But with Luo Chen using one mind for three tasks, it happened extremely quickly.

In the blink of an eye, he killed three people instantly.

Ximen Wuhai watched helplessly as the three disciples he had taught since childhood died miserably at his feet.

He went mad!

He transformed into a saber dragon and rushed toward Luo Chen.

"I want you to die!"

To this, Luo Chen held the Profound Xuan Xuan Huo Jian reversed, motionless, watching him quietly.

Until he stepped within a three-zhang range.

A giant staff shadow suddenly smashed down.

Bang!

Ximen Wuhai lay on the ground, looking at Luo Chen with unwillingness, and finally took his last breath.

On his back was a long staff with a pitch-black body and pale gold ends.

Facing Chu Kui floated in the air, "Sorry, it took a bit more time."

Luo Chen shook his head, "No matter, he was an eighth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator after all; being able to kill him in such a short time is already not easy."

Facing Chu Kui gave a chuckle, not taking credit.

He could see that Luo Chen had made the greatest contribution in this battle.

Not to mention breaking the formation and killing people, he also distracted Ximen Wuhai's energy.

Otherwise, without using all his means, it would have taken more trouble to kill him.

"You seem to have become a bit stronger than before; you didn't even use your most proficient fire techniques and easily killed three early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Luo Chen smiled.

Fire techniques are his trump card, how could he use them casually.

His usual means, under the control of vigorous spiritual power, powerful spiritual soul, and perfect traction techniques, have already reached the late-stage Foundation Establishment level.

Since he can kill people easily, why use big moves.

"What about those Qi Refining stage people?" Luo Chen asked.

Under his gaze, the late-stage Qi Refining disciples of the Que Dao Sect were fleeing in panic.

It seems they ran very far, but with the ability of the two of them, catching up to these two or three hundred people is not a difficult task.

Facing Chu Kui was silent for a while, then said decisively: "Let them go, slaughtering too many low-realm cultivators will affect the merit assessment."

"Hmm, do it your way!"

Luo Chen nodded.

Then the two of them wandered on the battlefield, collecting spoils of war.

The merit value is determined by how many enemies you kill.

But how to judge if it was you who killed them depends on the spoils of war given at the end.

The best is the head, which can directly prove it!

Next are magic tools and magic treasures, which have the owner's spiritual power and spiritual sense imprint; once the owner dies, life and death can be easily determined through these imprints.

Finally, there is testimony from others.

If the battlefield is chaotic and you kill someone but don't have time to harvest the head and corresponding material evidence, you need others to help testify that you killed the enemy.

This judgment standard has many loopholes.

Some people even commit fraud.

But generally, it won't go wrong.

Moreover, not many people dare to commit fraud in front of a Core Formation Venerable.

Before long.

Luo Chen and Facing Chu Kui returned with the spoils of war.

For some Qi Refining stage cultivators who fainted on the ground due to the aftermath of the battle, they were not soft-hearted and killed them casually.

The corresponding magic tools and storage bags were also pocketed.

"Not poor at all, the storage bags haven't been cracked yet, but there are two flying saber magic treasures and three top-grade magic tools. Tsk, this cultivator you crushed to death actually has a top-grade defensive magic tool, and it's not damaged."

"Give it to me!"

Luo Chen did not decline and asked for it directly.

His Luo Tian Society has many cultivators; although these things don't count for much in front of late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, for the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the society, they are all first-class good things!

Facing Chu Kui is not greedy either.

This battle is for merit points, everything else can be given up painfully.

"So now?"

Luo Chen's expression became stern, and he joined his hands together to form a circle.

Then, he expanded slowly!

A blue water mirror unfolded slowly under his control.

"Spiritual energy fluctuations on the battlefield are intense, spiritual senses crisscross, and there is even Core Formation Venerable spiritual sense monitoring; using the Water Mirror Technique with my own strength alone is not enough."

"Give me a hand!"

Facing Chu Kui gave a grunt of acknowledgment and immediately helped Luo Chen expand the Water Mirror Technique.

Before long, a giant water mirror a zhang in diameter appeared in front of them.

The scenes of countless cultivators fighting were vividly displayed on it.

Using the water mirror to observe the overall situation and find good opportunities to strike.

Before long, Facing Chu Kui's eyes lit up.

"Nearby!"

"There is a group of routed soldiers coming toward us, five early-stage Foundation Establishment, three mid-stage Foundation Establishment, and one heavily injured seventh-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, who seems to be a sword cultivator."

"Luo Chen, shall we do it?"

Crack!

The blue water mirror shattered suddenly.

Luo Chen's face was filled with murderous intent, and he spat out a single word.

"Do it!"

(End of chapter)