Similarly, there were many disciples who shared Feng Tao's view. These people were either inexperienced like Feng Tao, and had been misled by the old voice in the cave, which kept mentioning the word "mission," creating a preconceived notion that influenced their judgment. The other type of disciple was what one would call "single-minded." They might have good cultivation aptitude, but aside from being engrossed in cultivation, they were slow to react to other matters. People like them were easily trapped in a rut, unable to think their way out in a short time.
"If it's not to carry out a mission, then it should be..."
Just as Li Yan felt he had basically reached a conclusion, a thunderous voice suddenly rolled across the heavens and earth, echoing above Falling Star Valley.
"Tianxingzi, you run fast indeed! If you wished to be a guest at my Wind-Severing Clan, you should have come openly. Why be so sneaky and petty? Hahaha..."
Following this voice, several more voices came from different directions, their tones varying in strength.
"Brother Changfeng, since Fellow Daoist Tianxingzi passed by your door without entering, then we shall simply come and be his guests. Surely he wouldn't treat his guests poorly..."
"Brother Xue, you are quick indeed! If you're going to be a guest, you should have called me. I would also like to see how this world-famous Falling Star Valley treats its guests..."
"Hehehe, it seems little sister is not too late either."
In a mere instant, these voices had resounded throughout the sky above Falling Star Valley, causing Li Yan's heart to jolt in surprise. From the voices, he could tell that these were all individuals of profound cultivation. There were men and women, their voices ranging from boisterous to sinister to charming, but regardless of the distance, they all carried clearly into the valley.
As these voices rang out, the entire Falling Star Valley suddenly trembled, as if the very earth was awakening. The next moment, chaos erupted from every corner of the valley like a stirred-up chicken coop, with streaks of light shooting out in disarray.
"What is the cause for panic? All disciples, gather before the Technique Transmission Pavilion! All disciples!"
Just as the valley descended into chaos and confusion, a clear voice suddenly reached the ears of every cultivator in Falling Star Valley. Instantly, everyone's mind focused, and they calmed down in an instant.
At this moment, Li Yan had already swept the Snow Mosquito King into the "Earthen Patch" space, and he himself was now in the courtyard. The change had been too sudden. Since Li Yan dared not constantly keep his Divine Sense active within Falling Star Valley, he too was startled by the sudden disturbance.
By now, his Divine Sense had quietly extended outwards. In a flash, he sensed five extremely powerful auras rapidly approaching Falling Star Valley from three different directions, their speed astonishing.
'Golden Core cultivators!'
The moment he sensed them, Li Yan immediately retracted his Divine Sense, his heart genuinely shaken. It was only the fact that the five were still a thousand li away that gave him a slight sense of relief.
Before Li Yan could ponder the identity of the newcomers, he felt the earth tremble violently with a "rumble," followed by three-colored lights shooting up from the ground into the sky. The lights originated from a place far away in the valley and ascended into the sky in less than half a breath, where they quickly merged. Soon, a faint, three-colored light shield appeared over the valley, which then vanished with a flash. The trembling of the earth also ceased.
Just as Li Yan and the others looked up at the sky, a red figure appeared beneath the vanishing three-colored light shield. The illusory figure was rapidly solidifying. Li Yan focused his gaze and saw a youth in a red robe. He appeared to be a few years younger than Li Yan himself, but the aura emanating from him made Li Yan's heart pound with fear.
'This is a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator! No, he's more like an expert at the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm!'
Li Yan sensed a trace of the aura that only someone like Wei Zhongran could emit, which made his scalp tingle. At the same time, he understood what the trembling of the earth signified: the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation had been activated. Having witnessed the activation of different grades of formations on Windy Cool Mountain, Li Yan's knowledge far surpassed that of the other cultivators in the valley. From the simple activation of the formation just now, he could already tell that Falling Star Valley's Sect-Protecting Grand Formation was not something a second-rate sect should possess.
To be able to activate the sect's grand formation and possess such a high level of cultivation, Li Yan didn't need to think to know who the newcomer was. It was undoubtedly the mysterious Grand Elder of Falling Star Valley, who was as elusive as a divine dragon.
Li Yan immediately felt a sense of relief, glad that all his caution had been worthwhile. If he had carelessly revealed any clues, the other party might not even have given him a chance to explain before directly moving to erase him. Faced with such a powerful existence, Li Yan might not even have had a chance to escape. He would have truly died a wrongful death, as he genuinely had no ill intentions towards Falling Star Valley; he merely wanted to borrow their earth fire for artifact refining.
As the red-robed youth's voice transmission spread, a streak of green light shot out from the center of the valley, heading straight for him. With a single flash, it arrived by his side. The green light dissipated, revealing the figure of the Sect Master, Lin Xinghe, his face etched with anxiety.
"Martial Uncle, what happened? You are..."
The moment he landed, Lin Xinghe asked urgently. His eyes had already spotted a black mark on the youth's red robe.
The red-robed youth's Divine Sense had already spread out. When he detected the faint, almost undetectable aura of the white-robed elder, Xing Ming, still present somewhere in the valley, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
'Xing Ming is still a reliable person. Even under such circumstances, he has not revealed his presence.'
Seeing that the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation was activated, he finally relaxed. A moment later, he felt the qi and blood in his abdomen churn violently, and a metallic, sweet taste surged into his throat. The red-robed youth's expression changed, and he had to immediately circulate his qi to forcefully suppress it.
Lin Xinghe had been staring at the red-robed youth's face, disregarding all etiquette. When he saw the youth's face suddenly flush, his heart sank even further. But then he saw the youth's complexion return to normal, and his gaze shifted back to the black mark on the youth's chest. A faint smell of blood emanated from it, and he couldn't tell if it was the youth's blood or the enemy's. Today happened to be the night of the fourth day, and he and Senior Brother Xing Ming had been waiting anxiously.
"This trip to scout the four clans was not in vain, but I was discovered. I clashed with the enemy, and other Golden Core experts arrived later. I sustained some injuries, but they are not serious."
The red-robed youth first gave a simple account of the situation to calm Lin Xinghe's heart, using only voice transmission.
"Martial Uncle, you should take a medicinal pill and tend to your wounds first. Now that the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation is active, those who are chasing you won't be able to do anything for a while."
Lin Xinghe also switched to voice transmission, still deeply worried. The red-robed youth, however, waved his hand.
"Let's make this quick. The results of my investigation are not good. The four clans have a total of seven Golden Core cultivators, with no newly advanced ones. The bad news is that it's not the Cangyu Sect, the Snow Moon Wolf Clan, and the Wind-Severing Clan each having one Late-stage Golden Core expert. Instead, Lie Changfeng of the Wind-Severing Clan has somehow advanced to the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm. I was discovered by him because I was careless. The Wind-Severing Clan is a clan of black-feathered vultures, and their flight speed is extremely fast. I failed to shake him off in time and was tied down. Subsequently, another Mid-stage Golden Core expert from the Wind-Severing Clan arrived. I had no choice but to unleash my divine arts repeatedly to force them back. But I was still struck in the chest by the wing of Lie Changfeng's true form, though I managed to injure the other Golden Core cultivator from the Wind-Severing Clan in the process. I used that opportunity to escape at all costs, but these four clans have long been in contact and can react to each other in a very short time. The other three sects quickly closed in from different directions, but their cultivation was inferior to Lie Changfeng's, and because of the distance, they couldn't pinpoint my exact location. I managed to avoid them from afar and escape back here."
The red-robed youth transmitted his words rapidly, and his message was simultaneously sent to a certain location in the valley where Xing Ming was hiding. He didn't want to explain the same thing twice; there wasn't enough time.
"Martial Uncle, you've also reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm?"
The astonished voices of Lin Xinghe and Xing Ming echoed in the red-robed youth's mind one after another. Although they had long suspected it, they could never be certain as the youth never spoke of his cultivation. But his words just now had indirectly confirmed his realm.
"Alas, I just didn't expect that black-feathered vulture to have reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm as well. Fortunately, he has only recently entered the realm and cannot fully utilize its divine power. Otherwise, if he had held me up for just a little longer, I would have certainly perished there. I was too careless, underestimating these alien-race cultivators. I thought that with their aptitude, the strongest three would still be lingering in the Late-stage Golden Core. A miscalculation!"
"Martial Uncle, who are the five people who have arrived now?"
"The two Late-stage Golden Core experts from the Cangyu Sect and the Snow Moon Wolf Clan have both come. There is also the Mid-stage Golden Core Grand Elder of the Night Fox Clan, and another Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator from the Cangyu Sect. Apart from the Wind-Severing Clan's Golden Core expert whom I injured, the Night Fox Clan has also left one elder behind..."
Just then, several loud booms suddenly echoed through the heavens and earth. Lin Xinghe's expression changed.
"They're so fast! They've already reached the outer valley and are attacking the grand formation."
The red-robed youth, however, snorted coldly. "Hmph, pay them no mind. Now that the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation is active, they won't be able to break through it in a short time."
As long as the grand formation had enough Spirit Stones and wasn't operating at full power, it didn't require the assistance of the red-robed youth and the others to control it.
"We're going to the Technique Transmission Pavilion!"
...
At that moment, nearly a hundred li away from the inner valley of Falling Star Valley, in the outer valley where Li Yan, Feng Tao, and the others had once been sent, five cultivators stood in mid-air. Below them, bursts of immortal arts were gradually fading.
"Brother Changfeng, Tianxingzi has already activated the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation. Attacking it head-on like this will have very limited effect."
A cultivator in a shimmering blue-green robe spoke with a gloomy expression, looking up at a slender man across from him as he spoke. The man appeared to be in his thirties, dressed in tight-fitting black attire. His somewhat dark face was equally grim, and his hook-like eyes were staring down at a massive, rapidly dissipating black wind blade—an immortal art he had just cast. The aura surging from him was clearly the strongest among the group.
The black-clad man retracted his gaze from below and looked at the blue-green robed cultivator and another cultivator beside him dressed in the same colors. Both of them shared a distinct feature: long whiskers on each side of their cheeks. Any cultivator familiar with the Forsaken Continent would easily recognize their identity upon seeing this. The two cultivators were from the Cangzhen Sect of the Deep Sea Spike Fish Clan. The one who spoke had blue whiskers and wore a long robe. The one beside him was in a blue-green dress, her purple hair coiled up high. Her features were delicate with a hint of androgynous beauty, her chest was full, and her figure was graceful and curvaceous. The two long whiskers on her cheeks were purple. If not for these whiskers, one might even have associated her with the phrase "a feast for the eyes." But with her current appearance, in the eyes of a human cultivator, she had a rather incongruous look.