Chapter 518

Inside Mount Tiexian Fortress, Ma Qiudie, who had luckily escaped back, looked at the elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator who had died tragically at the hands of Song Qingming outside the formation, and a trace of sorrow could not help but appear in her eyes.

If this Ma family elder had not risked his life to appear outside the formation just now to hold Song Qingming back for a moment for Ma Qiudie, she would likely have been in grave danger by now.

It was just a pity that this person only had a Foundation Establishment cultivation base after all. Although he successfully saved Ma Qiudie, he himself did not have the chance to escape back and still paid the price of his life.

The struggles between high-tier cultivators in the cultivation world are often just this cruel. Since the Ma family chose to betray the Xiaoyao Sect, these people had to be prepared to bear such terrible consequences at any time.

After Song Qingming rushed back to the battlefield, he immediately joined the battlefield on Jin Ziyuan's side and, together with him, began to besiege Ma Hongshan.

Seeing that Ma Qiudie had successfully escaped danger, Ma Hongshan also felt a sense of relief in his heart. Even when facing the combined forces of Song Qingming and Jin Ziyuan, the pressure on him suddenly doubled. However, as a veteran Jin Dan cultivator, Ma Hongshan's combat experience was far beyond what Ma Qiudie, who had only recently formed her core, could compare to. Although he had temporarily fallen into a disadvantage, he could still manage to cope for a short time.

But good times did not last long. Ma Qiudie had just escaped back to Mount Tiexian Fortress, and not even half a stick of incense had passed before another person from the Nine Yuan Sect was forced to withdraw from the battlefield.

A Nine Yuan Sect Jin Dan Elder who was fighting Chen Xuanxin only had a third-layer cultivation base, and his individual strength was far inferior to his opponent, Chen Xuanxin, who practiced the path of sword cultivation. After fighting for over a hundred rounds, this Nine Yuan Sect Elder gradually became no match for Chen Xuanxin and was caught by him, who took the opportunity to directly sever half of his left arm with a sword.

Having received a heavy blow and temporarily losing the ability to fight, this Nine Yuan Sect Elder hurriedly used an auxiliary spirit talisman, turned around, and retreated directly into the Mount Tiexian Fortress's protective mountain formation.

Seeing that many people on the battlefield had already fallen into a disadvantage, Nine Yuan Sect Master Yue Wuji, who was clashing with Bai Yuxian, also felt a bit anxious in his heart. He hurriedly used a secret technique to transmit his voice to the other Nine Yuan Sect cultivators who were fighting, gathering them all together and retreating to the location of the protective mountain formation.

Although the Nine Yuan Sect's Jin Dan cultivator strength was overall inferior to the Xiaoyao Sect's side and they suffered some losses shortly after the war began, with the Mount Tiexian Fortress's protective mountain formation as cover, they could still barely hold on, temporarily dragging the Xiaoyao Sect group outside the formation and not giving Song Qingming and the others too many opportunities to directly attack the protective mountain formation.

Just as both sides fell into a stalemate again, a sound of breaking through the air suddenly came from high above. A blue shield light suddenly flew from the high sky in the distance, and after a few flashes, it appeared in the middle of the battlefield, turning into a middle-aged man with a smile on his face.

Although the Xiaoyao Sect side held the advantage on the battlefield and had already wounded several of the opponent's Jin Dan cultivators, they had only brought Jin Dan cultivators this time to Mount Tiexian Fortress and did not have many low-tier cultivators accompanying them. Under the desperate containment of the opponent's multiple Jin Dan cultivators, they could not do anything about the Mount Tiexian Fortress's protective mountain formation for a time.

Before the Xiaoyao Sect group could make any moves, another green light flew over from not far away. Li Mufeng, who was half a step behind Wu Jiuyuan, had also arrived on the battlefield.

After watching Li Mufeng leave with the Xiaoyao Sect group, Wu Jiuyuan put away the relaxed look on his face and asked the few Nine Yuan Sect people beside him with a heavy expression: "Why are Ziheng and Qiudie not here?"

"Li Mufeng, I presume you have fought to your heart's content today. How about going back to recover your magic power and fighting another battle tomorrow?"

Upon seeing Li Mufeng's figure, the hearts of Song Qingming and the others, which had just been somewhat panicked, immediately settled down.

"We just had a battle with Yao Ganshu and the others, and our two junior brothers and sisters were accidentally injured by the Xiaoyao Sect people." Seeing that Wu Jiuyuan's expression seemed a bit unpleasant, Nine Yuan Sect Master Yue Wuji carefully stepped forward to reply.

On the other side, the Xiaoyao Sect group, feeling the powerful aura emanating from Wu Jiuyuan, also knew that the person who had arrived was a Nascent Soul cultivator. Their expressions changed one after another, and they hurriedly stopped their attacks.

"Haha! Uncle Wu has returned." Seeing Wu Jiuyuan appear, the Nine Yuan Sect group immediately revealed expressions of great joy and hurriedly moved toward him.

Hearing this, Wu Jiuyuan frowned slightly. After a moment, he waved his hand at the crowd and said, "Everyone, go back first!"

Facing Wu Jiuyuan's challenge, the cold-faced Li Mufeng ignored him. He looked at Yao Ganshu and the others beside him, directly spat out the word "Go," and led everyone away from Mount Tiexian Fortress together.

The person who arrived was none other than the Nine Yuan Sect's Nascent Soul Supreme Elder, Wu Jiuyuan.

Inside Mount Tiexian Fortress, as soon as Wu Jiuyuan returned to the fortress, he personally went to check on the injured Ma Qiudie.

In this battle, although Ma Qiudie was forced into a very sorry state by Song Qingming, most of it was just flesh wounds. Coupled with the excessive consumption of magic power during the battle, she had not actually received a heavy blow and only needed to go into seclusion for one or two years to basically recover.

Seeing that Ma Qiudie was not in any serious trouble, Wu Jiuyuan generously bestowed two healing elixirs upon her, smiled and comforted her for a good while before slowly walking away and arriving at another cave dwelling where Wang Ziheng was recuperating.

Compared to the injuries on Ma Qiudie's body, Wang Ziheng, who had lost half of his right arm, had injuries that were more severe. Although he could regenerate the severed limb through some high-tier spirit herbs, it would take about ten or twenty years to fully recover, and during this period, he could not rashly use magic power to fight others again.

Although Wang Ziheng's cultivation base was not high, only at the third layer of Jin Dan, he was also a cultivator who came from the Nine Yuan Sect like Wu Jiuyuan and could be considered a core elder currently in the Nine Yuan Sect.

Seeing Wang Ziheng, who had followed him for so many years to carry forward the Nine Yuan Sect, injured like this, a look of displeasure also appeared on Wu Jiuyuan's face.

"Didn't Ma Hongshan say before that Yao Ganshu's injuries were severe and he could no longer fight at will? Why did he come today? You have been in the Wei State for so long, why haven't you figured out such an important matter?"

"Uncle, please calm your anger. It is indeed true that Yao Ganshu was injured. Today, when Junior Brother Linghu fought him, he also saw some things. This person's injuries have not fully recovered; otherwise, with Junior Brother Linghu's cultivation base, it would have been impossible for him to struggle with him for so long and still retreat unscathed.

A few years ago, we also heard some news that during the last beast riot, Yao Ganshu forcibly took action at Purple Star Market and even took a Deer Soul Pill. We also didn't expect that his injuries would recover so quickly."

Just as Yue Wuji finished speaking, Linghu Jie, who was standing beside him, also chimed in: "Master Brother is right. Last time I went to the Wu Guo to attend the Star Assembly, I also saw Yao Ganshu. At that time, his injuries were indeed quite severe. Sigh, I don't know how that old fellow recovered so quickly."

After Linghu Jie finished speaking, his eyes glanced slightly at Wu Jiuyuan. Seeing that he did not keep his gaze fixed on him, he slowly felt relieved.

Although Linghu Jie's cultivation base had already reached the late stage of Jin Dan and he ranked second among the many Jin Dan elders of the Nine Yuan Sect, he originally came from another small sect and only merged into the Nine Yuan Sect after the Nine Yuan Sect unified the Yue State's cultivation world. His status in the sect was not higher than other elders.

When he went to the Wu Guo to attend the Star Assembly that day, he actually saw Yao Ganshu take down a Fog Snow Ice Lotus on the last day. It was just that he didn't guess at the time that after Yao Ganshu obtained this item, his injuries would recover by more than half all at once, so he didn't specifically inform Wu Jiuyuan and the others about this matter.

Although after a great battle with Yao Ganshu, Linghu Jie had some guesses in his heart that Yao Ganshu's recovery might be related to the Fog Snow Ice Lotus he obtained that day, at this very moment, he could only pretend not to know and did not dare to say it directly.

He had never been very trusted by Wu Jiuyuan in the sect, and if he came out to mention this matter at this time, Wu Jiuyuan might, in a fit of anger, push all the faults of today onto his head.

"I didn't reach an agreement with Li Mufeng today. After this guy goes back, he will definitely pour out his entire nest. Wuji, go and discuss with Ma Hongshan to see if they can withdraw in advance."

"Withdraw? Uncle, didn't we promise Ma Hongshan at the beginning that we would at least strive for another year for them..."

Wu Jiuyuan waved his hand and snorted coldly: "Hmph! You tell Ma Hongshan not to be too greedy. We are at this critical juncture, what else is there to be reluctant about regarding these few belongings? We helped him go to Mount Tuoyun last time to snatch such a large amount of spirit items, is he still complaining that he didn't earn enough?

Although the Xiaoyao Sect has retreated today, we are already at a disadvantage after this battle. Mount Tiexian Fortress is too far from our sect, and it is difficult for us to mobilize manpower. Once the Xiaoyao Sect's army arrives, we definitely won't be able to hold this place, so we must make plans early."

Hearing Wu Jiuyuan's angry rebuke, Yue Wuji hurriedly nodded and, without saying anything more, walked out directly.

——

Three days later, in the main hall of Guiyun Market.

Li Mufeng sat at the head with a calm expression, while Yao Ganshu and many other Jin Dan elders of the Xiaoyao Sect were seated below in order.

In the battle of Mount Tiexian Fortress, although the Xiaoyao Sect side had slightly occupied the upper hand, they had no way to break the Mount Tiexian Fortress's protective mountain formation with only a few Jin Dan cultivators. They could only helplessly retreat to Guiyun Market first, preparing to mobilize enough manpower before continuing to attack Mount Tiexian Fortress.

During the beast riot years ago, the Xiaoyao Sect did not send troops to support Mount Tiexian Fortress at first. On one hand, it was because Yao Ganshu was suddenly injured and the Xiaoyao Sect itself was short of manpower. On the other hand, Li Mufeng also wanted to use this beast riot to beat the Ma family and weaken their strength.

It was clear that Li Mufeng had not expected beforehand that Ma Hongshan would choose to defect to Wu Jiuyuan because of this, introducing the Nine Yuan Sect's power into the Wei State.

A Jin Dan family in his territory betraying the sect to defect to another power was something the Xiaoyao Sect absolutely could not tolerate. Even if they were to have a full-scale war with the Nine Yuan Sect next, Li Mufeng was already prepared to spare no effort at this moment.

"Uncle Li, yesterday I received a message from Junior Brother Guangling. In about ten days at most, the sect will be able to prepare five flying boats and arrive at Guiyun Market."

(End of chapter)