Chapter 118: Return to Huoyun Mountain

Following Lu Demiao and his party, walking east for about three days, and encountering several small-scale beast harassments along the way, Song Qingming finally returned to Huoyun Mountain.

Seeing Song Qingming return safely, the Song family members who had returned to Huoyun Mountain a few days earlier all stepped forward to care about his experience these past few days. The old patriarch Song Gushan also felt relieved, revealing a long-lost smile.

Since fleeing from the Jin Shan Market, he had been running for his life for several consecutive days. Only now, having returned to Huoyun Mountain, did Song Qingming slowly learn about the series of events that happened after the evacuation of the Jin Shan Market.

On the day of the evacuation from the Jin Shan Market, because the time was somewhat rushed, Huoyun Mountain lost many cultivators afterward. In this battle, less than seventy percent of the cultivators finally returned to Huoyun Mountain, and even several Foundation Establishment cultivators died in battle.

Until now, there are still many cultivators like Song Qingming who were separated by beasts and took a detour back to Huoyun Mountain.

The Xiaoyao Sect's Jin Dan Chen Chen Laozu, Lu Boyang, also damaged some vitality after fighting two beast kings, and after returning to Huoyun Mountain, he soon returned to the Xiaoyao Sect to go into seclusion to heal his injuries. Now, the one presiding over the defensive affairs of this battle line on Huoyun Mountain is another Xiaoyao Sect Jin Dan Elder who came to support, Chu Fengping.

After the Jin Shan Market was defeated again, the Xiaoyao Sect also began to attach importance to this defensive line in Pingyang County. In these few days, they have dispatched many cultivators from nearby to Huoyun Mountain for support, and Chu Fengping also brought many Foundation Establishment experts from the Xiaoyao Sect.

In this beast unrest, there are four battlefields with beast king attacks near Wei Guo. Besides the Guiyun Market and Huoyun Mountain, there are also Tuoyun Mountain and Tiexian Valley west of the Guiyun Market.

However, the main battlefield is still on the Guiyun Market side. There are nine beast king armies attacking the Guiyun Market, and the Xiaoyao Sect side, Sect Master Yao Ganshu, personally brought five Jin Dan powerhouses to sit here.

Although the beast side's number of beast kings is dominant, the Guiyun Market side has Yao Ganshu, the number one Jin Dan expert in Wei Guo with ninth-layer Jin Dan cultivation. After several great battles, the beast side not only did not take advantage but was caught by Yao Ganshu and killed a beast king, making it difficult to threaten the Guiyun Market again.

Tuoyun Mountain is the cave dwelling of the Wei Guo Jin Dan rogue cultivator Chen Jinliang. The beasts attacking there are relatively weak, with only one Jin Dan early-stage Liu Yunhe beast king, which is far from Chen Jinliang's opponent. The beast army had not yet reached the vicinity of Tuoyun Mountain when it was already repelled by Chen Jinliang, and even that Liu Yunhe almost died in his hands.

Tiexian Valley is located in the northwest of Wei Guo, and the one who controls this place is a Wei Guo Jin Dan family—the Ma family. The Ma family has controlled Tiexian Valley for five or six hundred years, and there is also a Jin Dan Chen Chen Laozu in the family. On the surface, although they are also considered a vassal family of the Xiaoyao Sect, the Xiaoyao Sect basically does not interfere in their affairs. For so many years, they have never issued a conscription order to them.

There are relatively many beasts attacking Tiexian Valley, with three beast kings. However, the Ma family and Chen Jinliang of Tuoyun Mountain have always had a good relationship. After Chen Jinliang repelled the beasts on the Tuoyun Mountain side, he immediately took his disciples to support Tiexian Valley, and both sides were temporarily in a stalemate at Tiexian Valley.

Among these four battlefields, except for Huoyun Mountain, the other three battlefields can be considered settled, and there will not be much change. On the Huoyun Mountain side, due to the fall of the Jin Shan Market, the cultivator side lost many people, and even Lu Boyang, the Jin Dan True Person, was injured. The beast army in the Jin Shan Market now still has a great advantage and may launch an attack again at any time.

When the Huoyun Mountain cultivators retreated from the Jin Shan Market that day, the ones who lost the most were the local cultivators of Pingyang County. Many of them were somewhat reluctant to give up the spiritual objects in the Jin Shan Market and retreated slightly late. Many cultivators were entangled by beasts and could not escape from the market. The cultivators from the three counties outside retreated relatively early after receiving the order, and most of them ran out safely.

The Song family side was relatively better. The old patriarch, who had cultivated for a hundred years, was also a decisive person. At that time, after receiving the order to retreat, he decisively chose to retreat immediately following the Huang family cultivators, without waiting for Song Qingming to converge in the market. This point was somewhat heartless, but in that critical situation, in order to ensure the safety of most of the clansmen, he could only make this difficult decision.

Having been here on Huoyun Mountain for less than a month, after two great battles, of the fifteen people who came down from Funiu Mountain, one had already died in battle, and four were seriously injured. It can be seen how cruel this war is to low-tier cultivators. The beast unrest is far from over. Song Qingming does not know who among them can return to Funiu Mountain safely.

For the convenience of carrying, the old patriarch had already decided to cremate the remains of the eleventh uncle, and wait until returning to Funiu Mountain to take out his ashes for burial.

After the beast army re-occupied the Jin Shan Market, it soon headed south again and has now reached a plain less than twenty miles away from Huoyun Mountain.

After the Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon detected that a large number of cultivators were stationed on the Huoyun Mountain side, this cunning beast king did not rashly attack here, but directly concentrated the main force of the beasts near Huoyun Mountain, and then continuously sent out the low-tier beasts under its command to attack other spiritual veins around Huoyun Mountain, wanting to besiege this place first.

Soon, basically the entire north of Pingyang County fell into the hands of the beasts. Many cultivation families could only temporarily abandon their family spiritual lands and migrate to the south of Huoyun Mountain, dispersing most of the mortals in the family into the mountains and forests.

The main target of the beasts is the spiritual veins that cultivators rely on for survival. Mortals who have lost the protection of cultivators and remain near the spiritual veins will undoubtedly all become blood food for the beasts.

Wanting to migrate them on a large scale is also very easy to be discovered and chased by beasts. They can only disperse them into the mountains and forests far away from the spiritual veins to hide. Although doing so for a long time will inevitably lead to some people being discovered and swallowed by beasts, some mortals can still escape this disaster.

After Huoyun Mountain discovered the beasts' attempt, the tactic chosen was still to strengthen the walls and clear the fields. Basically, all the first-tier spiritual veins near Huoyun Mountain were abandoned, and only the two relatively important second-tier spiritual veins, Long Tengshan and Jiu Mountain, were held.

In this way, Huoyun Mountain and the beast army were in a stalemate for several months without any large-scale war breaking out again. Both sides only fought a few small battles around those two second-tier spiritual veins, and the Huoyun Mountain cultivator army also gained several months of rest time.

After several attacks on Long Tengshan were frustrated, the beast side finally could not hold back anymore. The two beast kings divided their troops into two paths. One path, led personally by the white lion beast king, with an army of over a thousand beasts, killed toward Tenglong Mountain again in a magnificent manner. The remaining beasts and the Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon beast king stayed around Huoyun Mountain, preparing to block the reinforcements from this side.

After Huoyun Mountain received news of the beasts' large-scale attack on Long Tengshan, Chu Fengping immediately organized a large number of cultivators to go for rescue. Not only did he send out three ninth-layer Foundation Establishment experts, but he also used the only third-tier puppet beast of the Xiaoyao Sect, while he himself personally took action to contain the Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon.

Both sides fought a great battle on Long Tengshan. This battle was also very tragic, and both sides suffered heavy losses. On the Huoyun Mountain side alone, seven Foundation Establishment cultivators died on the spot. The white lion beast king also lost over a dozen second-tier beasts, and even its own tail was cut off by a section. Ultimately, the white lion beast king still failed to breach this second-tier spiritual vein.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 119 =====