Chapter 697: The monster army retreated, recovering lost territory (Happy Holidays)

"The Ancestor is right! Those people from Red Cloud Mountain are all fickle turncoats. As soon as they saw the situation turn, they immediately fled. If it weren't for Cang Long and the others running away early today, we wouldn't have lost several fellow Daoists."

Upon hearing the angry rebuke of the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," the "Flame Tiger Demon King" on the side hurriedly followed up with a complaint. Afterward, it cautiously asked, "This... the Red Cloud Mountain monster army has all run away. Ancestor, what should we do now? Should we continue to attack Guiyun Market?"

"Hmph! We have fought for so long, and the Carefree Sect is now at the end of its rope. This is our final chance to conquer Guiyun Market; how can we give up so easily?"

"Pass on my order: tomorrow morning, continue to attack the market's grand formation with full force. I don't believe the Carefree Sect can hold out any longer!" After the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" roared, he gave an attack order with a solemn expression, swearing to take down "Guiyun Market."

At this moment, a hundred miles away from "Guiyun Market," the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor," who had already led his monster army to retreat northward, sat on a flying carriage, watching the direction of Wei State, which was getting further and further away, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Ancestor, are we really just retreating like this? If the Ink Dragon Ancestor pursues this matter in the future, how should we answer? Moreover, White Wolf and Golden Toad both fell in Wei State this time. After we leave, if Golden Feather Mountain really conquers Guiyun Market, wouldn't we have gained nothing and lost so many monsters for nothing!"

The "Cang Long Demon King," who was guarding on the side, cautiously looked at the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" before also muttering with some reluctance.

"Hmph! When we were there, the two sides couldn't take it down together. How could Golden Feather Mountain occupy Guiyun Market alone? You are also underestimating the Carefree Sect."

"If I haven't guessed wrong, the Carefree Sect's reinforcements are probably arriving soon. If Ink Dragon is unwilling to give up, he will definitely suffer a loss. Sigh! Anyway, this is a matter between Golden Feather Mountain and the Carefree Sect; we shouldn't get too involved."

"Moreover, the woman who injured me shouldn't be a cultivator from near the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. Her background is likely quite significant. It is best not to provoke such people without cause, otherwise, it will easily bring us great trouble."

"Ancestor, are you saying that there is a Nascent Soul great cultivator behind that woman?" Hearing what the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" said, the Cang Long Demon King on the side asked curiously.

"A person who can set up such a method should have a cultivation base that has reached at least the late Nascent Soul stage. Although we, the demon race, don't need to fear a human late Nascent Soul cultivator, if we really provoke them, I'm afraid we won't have a peaceful life in the future. Let that guy Ink Dragon have a headache!"

After the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" finished speaking, he slowly turned around and withdrew his gaze, then closed his eyes and began to circulate his energy to heal his wounds.

In the previous battle, facing the spiritual light sword energy unleashed by Li Xuanyi, although the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" relied on the defensive magic treasure on his body to luckily save his life, his entire left shoulder was severely injured by the opponent, and he could no longer exert half of his strength at this time. This was also the most important reason why he decisively chose to withdraw his troops.

Having cultivated for thousands of years and finally breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm to become a hegemon demon emperor, although the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" was also keen on expanding his territory and increasing his own power, he did not want to put himself in danger because of it.

On the third day, seeing the monster army surging like a tide appearing outside the market's grand formation, the people of the "Carefree Sect" standing on the city wall did not show any surprise on their faces.

Although they successfully repelled the monster army yesterday, the "Guiyun Market" side also suffered heavy losses. True Person Guangling fell, and Zhao Mengling, Hu Qingyun, and Li Xuanyi were unable to come out to participate in the battle due to healing. Just counting Golden Core cultivators, the "Guiyun Market" side was short by four people.

However, this time, because there was no "Red Cloud Mountain" to help, the strength of the monster army led by the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" was also greatly weakened. Even if they tried their best, they only fought to a draw with the "Carefree Sect" side and could not take a step forward to conquer the "Guiyun Market" mountain-protecting formation.

Seeing that the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" and the monsters of Red Cloud Mountain did not appear all day, the people of the "Carefree Sect," who did not know that they had already retreated, thought that the other party was lying in ambush somewhere. They were nervous for a whole day, but in the end, they did not see the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" come out.

By the evening of the third day, shortly after the battle ended, a cyan spiritual light suddenly flew quickly from a distance and landed outside the "Guiyun Market" mountain-protecting formation, turning into a cyan flying boat.

A Daoist in green clothes standing at the front of the flying boat looked at the "Guiyun Market" mountain-protecting formation in front of him, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Hehe! The Guiyun Market mountain-protecting formation has not been broken yet. It seems that Li Mufeng and the others did not choose to retreat!" After the green-clothed Daoist muttered to himself, he reached out and took out a red sound transmission talisman and threw it directly into the formation.

Before long, the people of the "Carefree Sect," led by Li Mufeng, came out from inside to welcome him.

Seeing the middle-aged Daoist in front of him, Li Mufeng hurriedly smiled and took the initiative to cup his hands: "Hehe! Fellow Daoist Yang, you have finally come. You have really made us look forward to it, and we have been waiting very hard!"

In the Floating Cloud Mountain Range cultivation world, every time there is a monster riot once every hundred years, although every country will face the attack of the monster army, after having the ability to solve their own troubles, the major sects with better relationships nearby will often support each other.

In the past, every time the "Carefree Sect" repelled the monster army in Wei State, they would also send a cultivator army to support other countries that were at a disadvantage in the face of the monster army.

Previously, after discovering that the "Red Cloud Demon Emperor" and the Golden Feather Mountain monster army had jointly attacked Wei State, Li Mufeng immediately sent a letter to the nearest Nascent Soul sect, the "Heavenly Extreme Sect," for help. This middle-aged Daoist was the Nascent Soul Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Extreme Sect, Yang Fengyu, who came to support.

The "Heavenly Extreme Sect" is located in Shangyang State, which is located in the southeast of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, tens of thousands of miles away from Wei State. After receiving the emergency help letter from the "Carefree Sect," Yang Fengyu immediately traveled light and brought four Golden Core cultivators to support.

But because the two places were far apart, even if Yang Fengyu took turns urging the flying boat to hurry, it still took several days to reach "Guiyun Market."

Seeing the arrival of the reinforcements from the "Heavenly Extreme Sect," the morale of the many city-defending cultivators in "Guiyun Market" was greatly boosted. After Li Mufeng and Yang Fengyu discussed it that night, they quickly set a plan to counterattack the monster army together.

At this time, the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," who was still holding a glimmer of hope to conquer "Guiyun Market," did not know that reinforcements had arrived at the "Carefree Sect" side. Early the next morning, he led the monster army to surround and attack the market formation.

Shortly after the great battle began, while the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" was entangled with Li Mufeng, Yang Fengyu and others, who were hiding in the mountain-protecting formation, took the opportunity to kill their way out and besieged the unprepared "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" together with Li Mufeng.

Although the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor's" strength was not weak, facing the siege of two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators at once, he immediately suffered a secret loss. Although he finally escaped the pursuit of the two, the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" was also injured by Li Mufeng's magic treasure and no longer had his previous arrogant momentum.

After defeating the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" head-on, the "Guiyun Market" cultivator army immediately entered a counterattack state. As one Golden Core demon king after another fled in panic, the monster army surrounding "Guiyun Market" also began to turn around and flee north one after another.

At this time, a cultivator army that had been prepared in advance, led by Li Xuanyi and Song Qingyu, suddenly killed out from the side behind the monster army, catching these monsters off guard, and the scene immediately became a scene of rout.

"The monster army has been defeated and retreated, everyone follow me to kill the enemy and make contributions!"

Following the order of the Golden Core cultivator above, the cultivator army outside the market immediately took advantage of the victory and pursued, killing until the monster army was defeated a hundred miles away before stopping!

In this battle, the "Guiyun Market" cultivators not only defeated the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" but also beheaded four demon kings and many low-level monsters of the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining stages, totaling five or six thousand, severely damaging the invading monster army in one battle.

Although the "Guiyun Market" cultivators also paid a certain price in this great battle, the "Carefree Sect" successfully defeated the monster army that had besieged "Guiyun Market" for more than half a year, relieving their imminent crisis, which could be considered a great victory.

The Golden Feather Mountain side, led by the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," fled hundreds of miles north before slowly stopping. Looking at the monster army that had suffered heavy losses in front of him, the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" finally recognized the facts at this moment and led the remaining monster army to retreat directly north back into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

After defeating the monster army under the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" in one battle, a look of relief finally appeared on the faces of the people of the "Carefree Sect."

Since the monster riot more than half a year ago, the "Carefree Sect" had been suppressed by the monster army for almost the entire time during this riot. They faced crises several times, not only losing "Tuoyun Mountain," "Iron Immortal Castle," and the entire northwest of Wei State, but also almost having "Guiyun Market," the most important market in the north of the sect, conquered by the monster army.

This time, they finally repelled the monster army head-on, which also allowed the Wei State cultivators who had been suppressed for a long time to finally feel proud. After returning to "Guiyun Market," almost all the "Carefree Sect" disciples had a bit more joy on their faces.

In this monster riot, although it was extremely dangerous at the beginning, the entire Wei State cultivators also showed a rare unity on the battlefield in order to keep "Guiyun Market." Just the "Carefree Sect" lost thousands of disciples outside "Guiyun Market," which was also a bone-deep loss for the entire sect.

However, although the war was fought very tragically, fortunately, the "Carefree Sect" persisted desperately, and finally waited for reinforcements from all sides, turning defeat into victory and repelling the monster army.

A few days after the battle of "Guiyun Market" ended, seeing that the monster army had retreated north and showed no signs of returning, the cultivators of the "Heavenly Extreme Sect" and "True Yang Sect" also bid farewell and left Wei State one after another, returning to their own sect territories. After the cultivators of the two sects left, the next day, Li Mufeng immediately sent an order to summon all the many Golden Core cultivators in "Guiyun Market" to the market's discussion hall.

Song Qingming, who had just arrived after receiving the sect's order, saw that the core cultivators of the sect were basically all present, and even Zhang Rong and others appeared here. He probably guessed Li Mufeng's intention in summoning everyone here, which should be to prepare to recover other lost territories in the north of Wei State that were still in the hands of the monsters.

"I have already received news from Zheng State, confirming that the monsters of Red Cloud Mountain have left our Wei State, and the Golden Feather Mountain side has also retreated back to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. Now there are not many monsters left in our Wei State, which is the best time for us to send troops to recover the northwest territory."

"The army is fast, I have decided to organize a cultivator army in two days to attack Tuoyun Mountain and Iron Immortal Castle, and recover these two spiritual mountains in one fell swoop. I summoned everyone here today to discuss this matter with you all."

"This battle must be fought quickly, otherwise, once the Ink Dragon Demon Emperor reacts and makes a response, it will not be as easy as before for us to recover these two places."

After Li Mufeng greeted everyone, he quickly entered the main topic of this discussion. Sure enough, as Song Qingming thought, Li Mufeng's move was to recover the northwest territory of Wei State.

Hearing the news that the sect was determined to recover the lost territory, everyone present was also very excited and nodded in agreement with this matter, especially Zhang Rong, who was already homesick and eager to recover "Tuoyun Mountain," and the joy in his heart could no longer be hidden on his face at this moment.

Seeing that no one present raised any objections, Li Mufeng also announced on the spot the candidates to participate in this expedition and the specific time for sending troops.

Chen Xuanxin and Song Qingming were responsible for leading a cultivator army to recover "Tuoyun Mountain" together with the loose cultivators of "Tuoyun Mountain" under Zhang Rong's jurisdiction, while Bai Yuxian, Jin Ziyuan, and Zhang Tieyang were responsible for recovering "Iron Immortal Castle" and the nearby lost territory.

Hearing that Li Mufeng actually arranged for Zhang Tieyang to participate in this action, many "Carefree Sect" Golden Core Elders present were also a bit strange in their hearts, not understanding why Li Mufeng would specifically arrange for him to help recover "Iron Immortal Castle," and they all cast a somewhat puzzled look at Zhang Tieyang, who was standing on the side with a smiling face.

Zhang Tieyang, like Li Xuanyi, was invited to help guard the market of "Guiyun Market." Now that the sect had repelled the monster army, logically speaking, his task had been completed, and he just needed to stay and wait for the celebration and rewards. There was no need to continue to intervene in the "Carefree Sect's" recovery of lost territory.

Now that Li Mufeng specifically named him to help the sect take back "Iron Immortal Castle," it was clear that there was a different intention, but the people present did not know the specific situation yet.

Seeing this, Sect Master Bai Yuxian, who was standing on the side, immediately explained: "Everyone may not know that Fellow Daoist Zhang has already accepted our sect's invitation not long ago and became a guest elder of the sect. However, due to the urgency of the war, there was no time to announce this to the public. Now it is a good opportunity to take this opportunity to greet everyone in advance."

"After the northern war ends, the sect will find time to hold an initiation ceremony for Junior Brother Zhang and announce this to the public."

As soon as Bai Yuxian's words fell, Zhang Tieyang on the side immediately piled up a smiling face and cupped his hands to everyone in the hall: "Hehe! Thank you, Senior Sister Sect Master, for your guidance. Zhang is a newcomer, and I hope all senior brothers and sisters will take care of me in the future."

"Congratulations, Junior Brother Zhang!"

After hearing Bai Yuxian's explanation, the people who were still a bit surprised hurriedly returned the salute to Zhang Tieyang.

Learning that Zhang Tieyang was going to join the sect and become a guest elder, Song Qingming was also very surprised at this moment. At first, seeing Zhang Tieyang come to support "Guiyun Market," Song Qingming thought that he, like Li Xuanyi, was moved by some precious spiritual objects offered by the sect to help them fight against the monster army.

Unexpectedly, in order to win over this person, the "Carefree Sect" would actually agree to let him join the sect and become a guest elder. This point really made Song Qingming not expect it.

You know, a major Nascent Soul sect like the "Carefree Sect" is very strict in recruiting disciples. Those who can join the sect halfway and become guest elders are basically cultivators with a clean background from Wei State like Song Qingming or Hu Qingyun. Generally, they will not easily accept the joining of foreign Golden Core cultivators.

This is also to prevent some hostile sects from sending people to infiltrate the interior and steal sect secrets, as well as some unknown bandits or demonic cultivators. Once they are mixed into Guyang Mountain, this is also a very dangerous thing for the sect.

Although he was a bit surprised, thinking that the "Carefree Sect" had been forced to a dead end by the monster army and was pulling cultivators everywhere to help guard "Guiyun Market," it was indeed understandable that they would break the rules and agree to Zhang Tieyang's joining the sect.

However, Zhang Tieyang joining the "Carefree Sect" should not be just for a guest elder.

Decades ago, Zhang Tieyang came to Wei State to seek a third-level spiritual vein to live in. At that time, in order to obtain "Tuoyun Mountain," he specifically took the initiative to visit Song Qingming, but because of the obstruction of the former Sect Master Yao Ganshu, he did not get his wish.

This time, taking the risk to come to Wei State to help the "Carefree Sect" resist the monster army, it is estimated that he may still be holding this purpose. As for what conditions the sect promised Zhang Tieyang, Song Qingming does not know very clearly at present.

"Tuoyun Mountain" and "Iron Immortal Castle" have only been in the hands of monsters for a month. Although the main spiritual mountains have been swept by the monster army, there are still many mortals and low-level cultivators hiding in the nearby barren mountains.

At this moment, they are facing the threat of monsters at all times. In order to minimize some losses, the "Carefree Sect" must hurry up and drive the monster army out of the two places.

After receiving the order from Li Mufeng, sect elders such as Song Qingming, Bai Yuxian, and Li Wutong immediately began to prepare. Two days later, they took a large flying boat and split into two paths to head straight for "Tuoyun Mountain" and "Iron Immortal Castle," taking advantage of the fact that the monster army in the north had not yet reacted, and launched this action to recover the lost territory in the northwest of Wei State.

Because the main force of the monster army went to the front line of "Guiyun Market" to help attack the market formation, at this moment, only a "Cloud Crane Demon King" with average strength and many low-level monsters under its command were left in "Iron Immortal Castle."

This demon has always been relatively slippery in dealing with human cultivators. From afar, seeing several Golden Core cultivators of the "Carefree Sect" such as Bai Yuxian surrounding the spiritual mountain of "Iron Immortal Castle" with great momentum, the "Cloud Crane Demon King," seeing that the situation was not good, immediately chose to abandon the many low-level monsters beside it and fled north alone.

"Cloud Crane Demon King" has practiced a very powerful escape supernatural power. When displayed, even ordinary late-stage Golden Core cultivators find it difficult to catch up. Seeing the figure of this demon king quickly disappear into the sky, Bai Yuxian and others, who were eager to recover the spiritual mountain, did not choose to pursue it and directly commanded the cultivator army to kill their way into "Iron Immortal Castle."

In less than two hours, the remaining beast forces in the "Iron Immortal Fortress" were cleared out, and this spirit mountain in the northwest of the Song Guo, which had been occupied by the beast army not long ago, was recaptured.

The situation over at "Mount Tuoyun" was also very smooth. Led by Chen Xuan, Song Qingming, and Zhang Rong, they quickly defeated the beast army entrenched there and drove all the beasts off "Mount Tuoyun," allowing the human cultivators to reclaim the place.

The early-stage Core Formation beast king occupying the area had rather mediocre strength; under the siege of the three Core Formation cultivators, it died under Chen Xuan's sword before it even had a chance to escape.

After reclaiming "Mount Tuoyun," Song Qingming immediately took the dozen or so second-tier formation masters he had specifically brought along to repair the mountain-protecting array that had been damaged by the beast army.

Compared to when the Ma family broke through "Mount Tuoyun" and only looted the many spiritual items in the market without causing much damage, this time, after the beast army broke through the spirit mountain, almost the entire mountain had been devastated, with losses far greater than the last time.

The third-tier mountain-protecting array that Song Qingming had previously reinforced also had several of its formation eyes severely damaged. Everyone worked together for nearly a month and spent quite a few high-tier materials from the sect before they could barely repair the array.

Looking at the severely damaged "Mount Tuoyun," Zhang Rong and the others who had lived there for years could not help but feel immense grief, yet they were helpless. They could only lead the "Golden Cloud Pavilion" cultivators to rebuild the houses and residences on the spirit mountain while searching for the low-tier cultivators and mortals who had been scattered in the surrounding wild mountains.

It was a pity that of the hundreds of cultivators and mortal martial artists who had stayed behind to break out with Lin Yutang, only a small portion were lucky enough to break through the beast encirclement and survive; most of them had essentially died on the road during the breakout and never had the chance to return to "Mount Tuoyun."

Fortunately, the beast army had not occupied the vicinity for long, and those mortals who had been evacuated in advance by Zhang Rong and the others had not been discovered by the ferocious beasts. They had survived tenaciously and were already beginning to gradually return to "Mount Tuoyun," where they had lived for years, to start rebuilding their homes.

Compared to "Mount Tuoyun," which had been severely damaged by the beast army, the overall losses of the "Iron Immortal Fortress" were even more massive. This place had been developed for many years by the "Carefree Sect" and the Ma family; its internal markets, mineral veins, and other resources were very rich, and the number of mortals was also significantly higher than in the northeast of Song Guo controlled by the Song family.

After being occupied by the beast army, the "Iron Immortal Fortress" was now filled with broken walls and ruins everywhere. The numerous mineral veins, markets, and the spirit mountains of the hundreds of large and small cultivation families scattered around were almost all swept through by the beast army. The overall losses had already exceeded those of the Gaoyun Commandery back then.

I am truly sorry; Xiao Meng's computer suddenly broke down yesterday. I am writing this on my phone today, and I am not very used to it. There might be some issues with punctuation and ordering, so I ask for everyone's understanding. Once the new computer arrives in a couple of days, I will immediately make corrections.

Today is the Qixi Festival. Xiao Meng wishes everyone a happy Qixi Festival here. PS: This is a sincere blessing to all my readers, not filler text.