At the same time, in a cave within Falling Star Valley, Xing Ming remained hidden in the void, watching the people below. In the cave were over forty disciples, their faces filled with confusion and terror, unaware of what awaited them. There were now many more Foundation Establishment disciples here, cultivators who hadn't come before but were vaguely aware of the inside story. These Foundation Establishment cultivators had somewhat wooden expressions. Some of them had already taken on disciples of their own, but their disciples were not among the thirty or so who had been summoned earlier.
As Xing Ming was lost in thought, the red-robed youth's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"Xing Ming, as soon as the fighting starts outside, you will find an opportunity to lead the people away and disperse immediately! Be discreet, and be quick! I will do my best to make a big commotion and hold back the two of them with all my might. With your junior brother controlling the grand formation to assist, there might be a chance to kill them both. If... if there's a chance, I will also let Xinghe leave at the appropriate time. Hehehe..."
As the laughter echoed in his mind, the voice transmission ended, and there was only silence.
And in the void, old tears streamed down Xing Ming's face. He knew his Martial Uncle's personality was fierce and unyielding, and his feelings for Falling Star Valley were deeply rooted. This place, in particular, had been his home for over a thousand years. He would never flee. He wanted to establish his authority in one battle, to deter all forces in the future when he re-established the sect, and at the same time, to defend his final dignity with his own life.
Li Yan quickly returned to his courtyard. With a face devoid of joy or sorrow, he entered the secret cultivation chamber and immediately began activating the formation restrictions.
'A Golden Core mid-stage or higher old monster is truly terrifying!'
Li Yan thought about the sudden turn of events that had caught him completely off guard. He had only been summoned once, and his identity had been easily seen through. And here he thought he had been acting without anyone noticing. At the same time, Li Yan secretly rejoiced that he hadn't acted recklessly. If he had rushed and snuck into the underground "Shattered Star Chamber," he would probably be a dead soul by now. Under those circumstances, the other party would certainly not have listened to half a sentence of his explanation. His consistent caution had, for the time being, saved his life. Of course, a part of this was because he had killed Fang Guangjun and had not done anything to the souls of Tang Tian and the other.
'This is forcing me to fight for my life for Falling Star Valley!'
The red-robed youth had not mentioned when he would remove the restriction planted inside Li Yan's body, and Li Yan had not asked. It was obvious that if the red-robed youth perished in this great battle, then Li Yan would have to be buried with him. How could the red-robed youth allow someone who might pose a threat to the sect to escape his control? No one knew when misfortune would strike, and the red-robed youth was no exception. His life and death also depended on luck and strength. However, he would definitely not remove the restriction in Li Yan's body before the great battle was over.
If Li Yan were to ask such a question, he would be a complete idiot. It would be strange indeed if the other party were to let him go without any means of controlling him.
Li Yan quickly sent his Divine Sense into his body, all the way to his Dantian's Purple Mansion, and looked at the flickering deep blue point of light hovering above the middle of the lake. After observing it carefully for a while, he suddenly condensed a large black net of Spirit Power from the lake below and carefully moved to cast it over the deep blue point of light above. His Divine Sense was locked onto the Spirit Power net. Just as the net was about to close and envelop the deep blue point of light, the center of the light suddenly brightened, as if an eye had opened in an instant.
As the blue light flared, an expanse of deep blue radiance spread out. The black Spirit Power net melted away like snow in an instant, completely clean. And the Dantian lake below was also affected by the spreading blue radiance. In a flash, it was as if it had been evaporated by a scorching sun, and in the space of a breath, it had lost about ten percent of its Spirit Power.
At the same time, outside, Li Yan let out a muffled grunt. Two streams of blood mist shot out from his nostrils like two bloody arrows. Li Yan, with his eyes closed, slowly opened them. His face was extremely ugly. When this restriction erupted, it should have forcibly devoured the Spirit Power in his body. At the speed just now, it could have drained Li Yan into a dried corpse in ten breaths.
When Li Yan was startled just now, the blue radiance from the deep blue point of light above his Dantian lake had already disappeared, leaving only it flickering alone above the lake. But the size of the deep blue point of light remained unchanged. He didn't know where that ten percent of his Spirit Power had gone. Ten percent of Li Yan's Spirit Power was more than three times that of an ordinary Pseudo-Core cultivator. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was vast and mighty, yet it had just vanished into thin air.
'To drain a cultivator's Spirit Power dry, what a vicious restriction!'
Li Yan slowly calmed the churning qi in his body, then formed a seal with his hands. A ball of red flame the size of a washbasin was condensed by him. He then gently tossed it forward, and his Divine Sense immediately locked onto his Dantian's Purple Mansion. The red fireball, carrying a violent and destructive force, whistled and struck the wall. But the moment it made contact with the wall, it disintegrated on its own into countless red dots and dissipated, not harming the wall in the slightest. Then, Li Yan unleashed a series of other techniques, but they were all dispersed by him just before their power could erupt.
"It is indeed as he said. As long as I don't proactively touch that restriction, my cultivation is not affected in the slightest, and my magical power will not disappear for no reason."
With a wooden expression, Li Yan once again slowly closed his eyes.
And just as the deep blue point of light in Li Yan's body suddenly erupted with a large expanse of deep blue radiance, a faint, almost invisible shadow flying through the air of Falling Star Valley paused for a moment. A sneer appeared on the red-robed youth's lips, and then he once again transformed into a shadow and sped away.
The fact that Zhang Ming wanted to break the restriction planted in his body did not exceed his expectations. If he were in the same situation, he would also try every means possible. He didn't care about this. As long as Zhang Ming wasn't afraid of his Spirit Power drying up and dying, he was welcome to try. After suffering this setback, he would immediately become obedient. And indeed, he could no longer feel any fluctuations from the restriction.
'This kid is sensible enough. Otherwise, if he tried a few more times, he would have killed himself before he even faced the enemy!'
Now that he had placed the restriction on the other party, if he wanted to kill Zhang Ming, it would only take a single thought. He naturally wouldn't dwell on such matters. With the strength of the Wind-Severing Clan and the other three sects, there was still no one who could instantly annihilate him. In the instant before his death, he had more than enough time to kill Zhang Ming a thousand times over.
In the outer valley of Falling Star Valley, an extremely complicated set of hand seals from Lie Changfeng covered a section of green vine hanging down from a cliff. This section of vine was only as thick as a little finger. Lie Changfeng had found it among the tens of thousands of vine clusters hanging down from the top of the cliff. In the two hours prior to this, Lie Changfeng and Sang Dongxing had already broken seven outer restrictions. Sang Dongxing's long robe had also lost a large section of its hem because of it. If not for his profound cultivation, he would have been sliced in two at the waist.
"Brother Changfeng, did it work?"
Looking at the cliff that had been motionless all this time, the moment Lie Changfeng's hand seal landed on that section of vine, the stone wall in front of them began to twist. It also emitted powerful Spirit Power fluctuations. Sang Dongxing's perpetually gloomy face finally began to thaw.
Lie Changfeng didn't answer. He continued to move his fingers in a flurry, and one by one, runes shimmering with white light flew towards that section of vine, like a flurry of snow. Finally, with a loud "rumble," the cliff that spanned across heaven and earth suddenly turned into points of green light and collapsed with a crash.
Then, a range of mountains appeared before Lie Changfeng and Sang Dongxing. Peering through the gaps between the mountains, they could vaguely see half of a massive mountain gate in the distance, piercing straight into the clouds.
Only then did Lie Changfeng finally retract his Spirit Power, a smile appearing on his face.
"Falling Star Valley's Sect-Protecting Grand Formation is only barely approaching the third rank. Fellow Daoist Sang, let's go!"
"Brother Changfeng's skill in formations is truly profound. I'm impressed, truly impressed! Let's go! Tianxingzi, Lin Xinghe, how long are you going to hide like turtles? Why not come out and meet an old friend?"
Sang Dongxing's qi was like a rainbow. With a flick of his wide sleeve, he had already soared into the air, flying rapidly towards the mountain gate. And within Falling Star Valley, there was surprisingly no reaction to this, as if it were a valley of ghosts.
After another two hours had passed, looking at the mountain gate towering into the clouds, a smile appeared on Lie Changfeng's lips.
"Fellow Daoist Sang, we might be able to open the passage to the inner valley before Fellow Daoist Ning and the others arrive. Hahaha!"
As his voice fell, a large hole suddenly opened in the mountain gate of Falling Star Valley. And further in, only the final restriction leading to the inner valley remained.
Just as Lie Changfeng's arrogant laughter faded, a long cry pierced the sky, shaking the heavens for a thousand li, like the roar of a dragon and the cry of a tiger. Amidst the shock of the Falling Star Valley disciples, a streak of red light shot up from somewhere in the valley. The next moment, a violent explosion came from the mountain gate in front of Falling Star Valley. Several dazzling rays of light lit up the dark night like half a day. The entire Falling Star Valley trembled violently, causing all the disciples who heard the sound and moved to feel their minds sway and their qi become unstable. The disciples with lower cultivation were already dizzy and had fallen to the ground.
At the same time, another fierce shout echoed through the heavens and the earth. "Tianxingzi, you finally dare to come out! If you didn't, I would have netted you, you old turtle!"
Li Yan sat cross-legged in his room, silently observing everything outside with his Divine Sense. The red-robed youth's strength was truly formidable. He was actually fighting against two Golden Core experts and faintly seemed to have the upper hand, which surprised Li Yan greatly. He hadn't expected the Grand Elder of Falling Star Valley to be so powerful. The weaker of the two was also at the Late-stage Golden Core cultivation. This person's appearance was very peculiar, with a long whisker on each side of his cheeks, and he wielded a long, emerald-green fork. He was clearly an alien-race cultivator. The other cultivator in tight black clothes, with Li Yan's cultivation, he couldn't determine his specific realm at all, but his aura was not much weaker than the red-robed youth's.
Such powerful experts were being suppressed by the red-robed youth's storm-like attacks, forced to constantly dodge and let out a series of strange howls. Li Yan didn't recognize either of these two, but knowing which four sects were invading Falling Star Valley, he could vaguely guess that the cultivator with two long whiskers on his cheeks should be from the Cangyu Sect.
Li Yan knew that Golden Core cultivators had heaven-defying means, and although he didn't know what powerful hidden divine arts these three had, based on the current situation, although the red-robed youth was able to suppress the two, he had also taken the initiative in a surprise attack. If he wanted to take the opportunity to kill either of them, it would be extremely difficult. Especially that cultivator in black, whose speed was unbelievably fast, so fast that even Li Yan's Divine Sense couldn't keep up.
So, every time the red-robed youth forced him back and wanted to focus his attack on the whisker-faced cultivator, in less than half a breath, the black-robed cultivator would swiftly close in again, his momentum as fast as lightning, coming and going like the wind. Under these circumstances, although the whisker-faced cultivator's strength was far inferior to the red-robed youth's, he didn't have to worry about his own safety. And he only needed to hold back the red-robed youth for a brief moment, preventing him from attacking the black-clothed cultivator with his full strength.
'Once a cultivator reaches the Golden Core stage, to kill them again, it's only possible if one has absolute suppressive strength.'
Li Yan sighed in his heart. He could see that in this great battle, the red-robed youth would at best end up with a slight upper hand. To be able to injure the other party would already be considered a good result.