Chapter 520: Leaving a Way Out

To the west of Mount Tiexian Fortress lies a massive mountain range stretching for ten thousand miles, known as the Skylark Mountain Range.

Like the Cloud Mist Mountain Range to the east of Qinghe County, this mountain range is a place rarely trodden by human feet. There are no paths through it, and it is infested with venomous snakes and demonic beasts. Not to mention mortals without cultivation, even ordinary Qi Refining cultivators would find it as difficult as ascending to heaven to pass through here.

This time, when coming to support Mount Tiexian Fortress, the Nine Origin Sect specifically brought two large flying boats to ensure that if they could not defeat the Xiaoyao Sect, their side could evacuate the fortress at any time.

The large flying boats used by the Ma family and the Nine Origin Sect are specifically used by major sects in the cultivation world to transport supplies. Their flight speed is only slightly faster than that of Foundation Establishment cultivators. It would take at least seven or eight days to successfully cross the Skylark Mountain Range, and their evacuation speed is far inferior to the small flying boats used by Li Mu and the others.

Although the Nine Origin Sect had prepared in advance and used magic treasures to conceal the tracks of these two flying boats, less than three days after departing from Mount Tiexian Fortress and entering the Skylark Mountain Range, they were quickly discovered by Li Mu and the others who had been pursuing them.

Seeing a green light rapidly catching up from behind and knowing they could no longer hide, Wu Jiuyuan immediately led all the Jin Dan cultivators under his command to meet them, intending to stall the Xiaoyao Sect's pursuers and buy time for the two flying boats to evacuate.

"Li Mu, I have already returned Mount Tiexian Fortress to you. There is no need for your Xiaoyao Sect to keep pestering us, is there!"

"Hmph! If you voluntarily hand over Ma Hongshan, I can give your Nine Origin Sect a chance and no longer hold you accountable for interfering in the affairs of Wei Guo. I am too lazy to waste words with you today, Wu Jiuyuan. You had better think this through!"

Wu Jiuyuan replied with a calm face: "Fellow Daoist Li, I will say it again: the Ma family has already joined my Nine Origin Sect. It is impossible for me to ignore their affairs. I hope you will show Wu some respect and not be too overbearing!"

"Overbearing? Fellow Daoist Wu, how can you even say such a thing? You brought people to Wei Guo to interfere in the affairs of my Xiaoyao Sect's subordinates; is that not being overbearing?"

After the demonic beast turmoil, facing the Xiaoyao Sect whose strength had already declined, the Nine Origin Sect was also somewhat restless. Faced with the Ma family's voluntary defection, Wu Jiuyuan did not think much and agreed directly. He not only promised the Ma family many benefits but also helped support Ma Qiudie in successfully forming her Jin Dan.

Wu Jiuyuan had not expected that in the battle for Mount Tiexian Fortress, even with the two Jin Dan cultivators of the Ma family defecting to their side, the Nine Origin Sect still could not defeat the weakened Xiaoyao Sect. Only then did Wu Jiuyuan helplessly choose to voluntarily evacuate Mount Tiexian Fortress.

He had originally thought that with the Ma family defecting this time, the Nine Origin Sect would have the strength to compete with the Xiaoyao Sect.

The Yue Guo where the Nine Origin Sect is located was originally a small country without a Nascent Soul sect. Wu Jiuyuan was only able to break through to the Nascent Soul stage by relying on the support of the Wan Ling Sect behind the scenes.

After unifying the Yue Guo cultivation world, although the Nine Origin Sect had become a Nascent Soul sect, it still nominally submitted to Qin Guo and had not completely shaken off the influence of the Wan Ling Sect. This point was also what the other Nascent Soul sects in the Floating Yunshan Range looked down upon them for the most.

Although they failed to hold onto the territory of Mount Tiexian Fortress, it was impossible for Wu Jiuyuan to voluntarily give up the Ma family cultivators they had worked so hard to recruit. Otherwise, the Nine Origin Sect would have completely wasted all the effort they had put in this time.

Hearing Li Mu mention the Wan Ling Sect, Wu Jiuyuan's expression changed, and his face immediately became somewhat unpleasant.

"Wu Jiuyuan, if it weren't for the sake of the Wan Ling Sect, today here, it would not just be you handing over the Ma family!"

The Wan Ling Sect mentioned by Li Mu is located in Qin Guo to the west of the Floating Yunshan Range. There are three Nascent Soul cultivators in the sect, and its strength is even a bit stronger than the Star Fall Gate of Wu Guo. It is also currently recognized as the most powerful sect among the dozens of countries in the Floating Yunshan Range cultivation world.

The reason for voluntarily coming to Mount Tiexian Fortress in Wei Guo was also because the Nine Origin Sect wanted to annex the Ma family, a Jin Dan family, to enhance its own strength.

"I will stall Li Mu. You are responsible for blocking the other Jin Dan cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect. Do not entangle with them; just contain them. I have already arranged for Yu He to lead people to meet us in front. As long as the flying boats cross the Skylark Mountain Range, they should be safe."

Seeing that Wu Jiuyuan had not opened his mouth to reply to him, Li Mu did not entangle with them any further. With a command, he led the Xiaoyao Sect crowd and charged directly over.

It is just a pity that the Nine Origin Sect has only been a Nascent Soul sect for less than a hundred years. Its foundation is still far inferior to an old-established Nascent Soul sect like the Xiaoyao Sect.

In recent years, he has led the Nine Origin Sect to expand its territory everywhere and enhance its own strength, just to shake off the influence of the Wan Ling Sect on them as soon as possible and allow the Nine Origin Sect to truly rank among the top-tier sects of the Floating Yunshan Range.

The two Nascent Soul cultivators flew voluntarily into the high sky, and soon a heaven-shaking sound of spell-casting came from the horizon. Seeing this, the Jin Dan cultivators on both sides were also on the verge of breaking out, and soon they were entangled together.

Although this time the Nine Origin Sect side was clearly unable to defeat the Xiaoyao Sect in a head-on fight because Wang Ziheng was injured and could not fight, having returned to Yue Guo in advance, and they were missing one Jin Dan cultivator.

However, under the leadership of Yue Wuji, the Nine Origin Sect side learned from the lessons of the last time. They did not continue to fight alone but chose to gather together to face the enemy. This way, they could support each other at any time and would not give the other side too many opportunities to heavily injure or kill their companions.

Both sides fought for half a day. Although the Xiaoyao Sect side occupied the upper hand, they did not gain much advantage and were unable to break through the defensive formation formed by the few people of the Nine Origin Sect, unable to break the stalemate on the battlefield.

Just at this moment, a golden light flew from the distant horizon. It was none other than Zhao Menglian, a Jin Dan Elder who had been in seclusion in the sect not long ago.

Seeing that another Jin Dan cultivator had come to their side, Yao Ganshu's face showed joy, and he immediately transmitted his voice to Chen Xuanxin on the side: "Junior Brother Chen, you take Junior Sister Zhao and go together to pursue those two Nine Origin Sect flying boats. Uncle Li has ordered that we must not let the Ma family people go. If it is any later, I am afraid they will cross the Skylark Mountain Range."

After receiving the instructions from Sect Master Yao Ganshu, Chen Xuanxin immediately withdrew from the battle, retreated to the side to meet up with Zhao Menglian who had arrived at the battlefield, and directly bypassed the crowd to pursue toward the west.

Seeing the Xiaoyao Sect dividing their forces to pursue the flying boats in front, Ma Hongshan and Ma Qiudie also secretly thought it was bad in their hearts. They also withdrew from the battlefield, wanting to catch up and stop Chen Xuanxin and the other.

However, Ma Hongshan and his companion had only just withdrawn from the battlefield and had not run very far before they were quickly intercepted by the joint efforts of Song Qingming and Jin Ziyuan.

The strength of the two Ma family members was not stronger than that of Song Qingming and Jin Ziyuan. The two of them desperately used many divine abilities, wanting to shake off Song Qingming and Jin Ziyuan, but they were unable to get their wish. Instead, because they were too anxious, they were slowly forced back by Song Qingming and the others.

"Fellow Daoist Song, the Ma family is facing a disaster today, all of which was a forced and helpless act. I hope you can raise your hand high and make things convenient for us. The Ma family will definitely repay you in the future."

Just as the few were fighting, a secret voice transmission from Ma Hongshan suddenly reached Song Qingming's ears, begging Song Qingming to let them pass.

Seeing that Song Qingming did not pay attention to him and still had no intention of going easy, Ma Hongshan said with a sorrowful tone: "Think of my clan, with over a hundred years and more than a dozen generations of cultivators, having gone through fire and water for their Xiaoyao Sect and paid so much blood, yet we still cannot get their trust.

Fellow Daoist Song, your Song family is still weak now and cannot threaten the Xiaoyao Sect. When the Song family becomes strong in the future, you will definitely end up in the same situation as our Ma family. I advise you to leave a way out for yourself first!"

Hearing Ma Hongshan's earnest words, Song Qingming was only slightly stunned for a moment. He did not choose to clear the way for the two Ma family members, and his face remained expressionless, as if he had not heard Ma Hongshan's voice transmission at all.

Regarding this long-planned rebellion of the Ma family, although Song Qingming was very surprised at first, after knowing some of the situation later, he also slowly understood some of Ma Hongshan's motives in his heart.

Although the Ma family in Ma Hongshan's hands seemed to be developing very rapidly on the surface, the rift with the sect had also been growing larger and larger over the years, and the Xiaoyao Sect had long had the intention to suppress them.

Having guarded Mount Tiexian Fortress for hundreds of years, many people in the Ma family had already become accustomed to the days when the family dominated one side. They even dared to reach out and touch the interests of their superior sect, the Xiaoyao Sect, and bargain. They had long since selectively forgotten their status as a vassal cultivation family.

The cultivation world is always dominated by the strong, and the weak will not have much room for choice. Even if the Ma family had guarded the northwest of Wei Guo for the Xiaoyao Sect for hundreds of years and made great contributions, in the eyes of the Xiaoyao Sect, they would always be a pawn of the sect and would not be qualified to be a chess player.

When this pawn, the Ma family, became more and more powerful and even a bit disobedient, then being suppressed by the sect was definitely an inevitable result. As long as the Xiaoyao Sect still exists in the Wei Guo cultivation world, whether there is a Ma family or not will not have much impact.

What the Xiaoyao Sect needs is a pawn that can help them guard one side and deal with the invasion of demonic beasts, not a Ma family that has broken away from the sect's control and wants to contend with the Xiaoyao Sect and compete for cultivation resources.

Whether it is the Ma family today or the Song family tomorrow, as long as they are low-tier cultivators in the cultivation world, they will all be oppressed by high-tier cultivators to a greater or lesser extent. To get rid of this fate, only by being strong enough oneself can one do so.

The Ma family's choice to betray the Xiaoyao Sect was both a helpless act and also because they were too greedy themselves.

If they had chosen to defect to a sect more powerful than the Xiaoyao Sect, which could make the Xiaoyao Sect voluntarily make concessions to them, perhaps the Ma family could have had a better result. But choosing a Nine Origin Sect whose strength was not as good as the Xiaoyao Sect led to today's situation. Ma Hongshan's choice at the beginning was indeed a bit too impatient.

Seeing that Song Qingming remained unmoved, Ma Hongshan gritted his teeth and directly sacrificed a yellow spirit talisman. After the spirit talisman was activated by his magic power, it turned into an earthy-yellow crescent blade in Ma Hongshan's hand, rapidly heading straight for Song Qingming in front of him.

"Junior Brother Song, be careful!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 521 =====