C1775 A Bird That Was Shot by a Spear!
The Ethereal Void Sect.
"What?"
Lingxu, the Sage with an air of transcendence, shot up from his meditative pose, exclaiming in alarm, "Foolishness! Has Xu Ke lost his mind? How could he dare cause trouble in Thylethlume?"
Huanmiao, with a wry smile on his face, understood the gravity of the situation. He sighed, "Jiang Xingwen of the Abyssal Dawn Sect is involved as well. Xu Ke, Wen Yueshan, and members of the Abyssal Dawn Sect concealed their affiliations and masqueraded as independent cultivators."
"Independent cultivators?"
Anger contorted Lingxu's features. "Their charade is laughable to Yu Yuan! Even Han Miaoyuan wouldn't dare cross Yu Yuan now. Wen Yueshan, that wretched woman, is seeking her own demise. Why involve Xu Ke from our sect?"
"Send a message to Xu Ke immediately, telling him to return at once!"
Lingxu was visibly rattled.
He had been cooperating with the Starmoon Sect, Forgeroses, and Colddeath under Han Miaoyuan's directive. Now that Han had vanished, Lingxu had only dared to return quietly with Huanmiao after learning of Tan Xiaotian's emergence.
He had hoped Tan Xiaotian would help keep Yu Yuan and the Boulderdawn Sect in check. Instead, the unreliable Tan Xiaotian had collapsed the Shadow's Keep and become entangled with Jihui.
Lingxu remained in the Everlands to uncover Tan Xiaotian's intentions and to ascertain whether the figure at Skyreach Peak was indeed the once-known Jihui.
Yet before he could unravel these mysteries, he was living reclusively, dreading Yu Yuan's attention. To his dismay, someone from his sect had been lured into causing trouble for the Yu family, compounding his frustrations.
"Understood!"
Recognizing the dire situation, Huanmiao hurried off to take action. But shortly after, he returned, breathless with urgency, "It's too late! Xu Ke, Wen Yueshan, and the Abyssal Dawn's people have all been slain by Yu Yuan in the Serpent Spine Mountains!"
"It's bad!"
Feeling utterly doomed, Lingxu urgently issued an order, "We must leave at once and escape the Everlands as quickly as possible! We cannot return to the Everlands before Yu Yuan departs! That kid is vengeful and now that he has an excuse, he won't rest until he's settled the score!"
"I'll go and inform the others!"
Huanmiao was also scared, knowing Yu Yuan's current combat strength was formidable. Xu Ke had been lured into causing a major disaster for the sect, and they were bound to face Yu Yuan's wrath.
At that moment, the serene sound of a flute echoed through the night.
With the flute's melody, tiny meteors in the sky transformed into sword lights, hurtling straight toward the Ethereal Void's Spiritual Treasure Hall.
"Jun Chen!"
Lingxu and Huanmiao's faces turned pale with shock.
...
"Star Sword."
Ji Ningshuang was instructing Chen Qingyan and her disciples on cultivation matters atop the frigid summit of her divine mountain. She warned Du Yuan, who had been experiencing a series of setbacks, to ensure that nothing went awry with the extraterrestrial Sword Prison.
Suddenly, she noticed streaks of dazzling starlight turning into a sky full of sword lights over the Ethereal Void Sect.
"What's happening?"
She looked at Du Yuan, bombarded with questions.
"The Ethereal Void Sect, in collusion with remnants of the Thunder Sect and the Abyssal Dawn, disguised themselves as rogue cultivators to target the Yu family in the Serpent Spine Mountains," Kong Banbi hurriedly arrived to report, "Several have been slain by Yu Yuan. After the merchants informed Shi Jing'er, Jun Chen immediately made his move!"
"Jun Chen is lashing out. His father is still confined in the extraterrestrial Sword Prison, and since he can't touch the Sword Sect, he's found a pretext to attack the Ethereal Void Sect," Du Yuan insightfully exposed the true motive behind Jun Chen's actions, "Besides Jun Chen, Zhou You and Feng Zhong are likely involved as well."
As they conversed, the Ethereal Void Sect became engulfed in the glow of starlight sword light.
"Haha, the Ethereal Void Sect enjoys their underhanded schemes, so let's give them a taste of their own medicine!"
Accompanied by Tong Laoqian's maniacal laughter, a lavishly detailed and ornate building rose into the air above the Ethereal Void Sect.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A cascade of golden copper coins and jade seals burst forth from the Jade Tower, expanding a hundredfold before crashing into the buildings of the Ethereal Void Sect.
Thousands of spell symbols and arrays materialized on the walls, coalescing into a massive defensive formation.
Yet, before the spells and arrays could fully activate, Jun Chen manipulated the Star River, altering the path of extraterrestrial meteorites, directing them to rain down upon the Ethereal Void Sect.
"Should we intervene?"
Du Yuan, Kong Banbi, and Chen Qingyan all turned to Ji Ningshuang for guidance.
Unexpectedly, a meteor shower had veered through the Everlands, drawn by Jun Chen's influence, and was now bombarding the Ethereal Void Sect.
The sect's grand formation stood no chance against the celestial onslaught.
In that moment, the only one capable of altering the meteorites' course, and who was allied with them, was Ji Ningshuang, the wielder of the Stardust Blade, freshly returned from the Ashlands.
"Leave it be," Ji Ningshuang declared with an icy tone.
"The Ethereal Void Sect might face utter devastation," Du Yuan said with a wry smile.
"Not at all. It's only the grand formation and Lingxu and Huanmiao inside that will bear the brunt," Ji Ningshuang replied, her expression unflinching.
Hearing this, Du Yuan's tension eased considerably. "Well, that's a relief!"
As expected.
Moments later, the meteor shower pummeled the sect's formation to rubble, forcing Lingxu and Huanmiao to spit blood as they shielded their disciples.
...
In the Serpent Spine Mountains, Yu Yuan wielded spiritual energy like a chisel, inscribing various alchemical recipes and herbal cultivation methods onto jade emblems.
Each emblem encapsulated the insights into medicinal theory he had gleaned while concocting remedies for Hong Qi.
Upon completing the emblems, he presented them to his mother, Jin Rourou.
Within the stone hall, Jin Rourou's face beamed with maternal warmth. "My aptitude for alchemy may rank highly in Sacred Hands, but I'm hardly top-tier compared to those in the Order of Healing. Why burden me with so many secret pill formulas? These rightfully belong to the Order of Healing, not to me," she said, her tone tinged with mild reproach.
"Accept his gesture of filial devotion," Yu Jue said tenderly.
Jin Rourou's aptitude for cultivation was average, but she possessed an exceptional gift for alchemy. She also enjoyed the practice of medicine-making and currently held the position of Sect Master of the Sacred Hands. Moreover, the Serpent Spine Mountains had recently seen an influx of individuals from the Order of Healing.
Yu Jue was well aware that the abundant spiritual energy in the Serpent Spine Mountains would only attract more herbalists from the Order of Healing and elsewhere in the future.
For his wife, as the Sect Master of the Sacred Hands, lacking a signature pill would make it challenging to produce high-quality medicines. The formulas etched into the emblems were precisely the treasures she needed most, akin to sending charcoal in snowy weather.
"I don't plan to devote much energy to the art of alchemy going forward," Yu Yuan said as he passed another emblem to his mother, smiling. "Our family has always been involved with spirit herbs and pills; it's essential that someone understands the principles of medicine and can craft a respectable spirit medicine."
"Fine, fine, I'll put in the effort," Jin Rourou reluctantly accepted the emblem.
"There are a few more formulas that won't take long to use. I'll have them inscribed shortly."
Yu Yuan placed his finger on the new emblem, and his spiritual energy transformed into a swift sword light, skillfully tracing the surface. In mere seconds, he etched hundreds of tiny characters into it.
Simultaneously, he was adeptly multitasking, extending his soul to encompass the entirety of the Serpent Spine Mountains within his perception.
He could see clearly where the spiritual energy was most dense, which herbs were rare, and where peculiar creatures lurked.
Since the remnants of the Thunder Sect, the Ethereal Void Sect, and the Abyssal Dawn had been dealt with, he had been quietly surveying the Serpent Spine Mountains, intent on uncovering any other ill-intentioned individuals.
"Hmm?"
While inscribing the formula, he noticed a meteor shower plummeting from the heavens toward the domain of the Ethereal Void Sect.
The path of the meteor shower was unmistakably manipulated.
"Skyreach Consortium, Jun Chen."
He smiled effortlessly, not needing to summon anyone to confirm his suspicion. It was Jun Chen from the Skyreach Consortium, seizing the chance to visit the Ethereal Void Sect, likely seeking vengeance for his father, Duan Yisheng.
He reveled in the warmth of family life, experiencing an extraordinary sense of tranquility within.
In Thylethlume, spending time with Yu Cen, his parents, and his siblings, Yu Feifei and Yu Lili, brought a sense of peace to his once tumultuous heart. He began to understand that what he had lacked in his past life was now being restored in this one.
The familial bonds he had long avoided and didn't know how to confront turned out to be one of life's most invaluable treasures. Perhaps this realization wasn't exclusive to his life as Hong Qi; maybe he had never fully appreciated it in his first life either.
"Jiang Xingwen!"
Time seemed to stand still until, suddenly, a malevolent figure emerged within his Mindscape. He observed it for a few seconds, his expression subtly shifting as the Lunar Spirit burst forth.