When Yu Rong of the Cangyu Sect had arrived, Lin Xinghe had already planned to seize the opportunity to strike. She was merely an Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator; he was confident he could slay her within ten breaths.
But just as he was about to make his move, a powerful pressure approached rapidly from the horizon, forcing him to halt.
Now, seeing that it was Xue Qianzong of the Snow Moon Wolf Clan, Lin Xinghe's heart filled with both regret and immense frustration. Why had these two arrived so close together? If Xue Qianzong had been just ten breaths later, he might have succeeded. That would have eliminated a major enemy for their side.
"I just arrived as well. Dongxing and the others are not here, and the formation restriction at the Falling Star Valley's mountain gate has not been broken," Yu Rong said, once again flicking a finger of Spirit Power towards the mountain gate. A ring of light rippled out again.
"Not here? How is that possible?"
Xue Qianzong immediately spread his own Divine Sense, casting it far and wide. His Divine Sense was far more powerful than Yu Rong's. But a moment later, he too retracted it with a strange look on his face.
"They truly are not here. Could something have happened? But with the two of them working together, unless a Nascent Soul cultivator was involved, they should have had no problem retreating unscathed."
Xue Qianzong mused, a flicker of fear flashing in his eyes. His cultivation was about the same as Sang Dongxing's. If he had been the one here yesterday...
The two of them quickly exchanged a glance, both seeing an ominous look in the other's eyes.
They had Ten-Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Talismans for locating each other, which Lie Changfeng had distributed among them. The Cangyu Sect's was with Sang Dongxing, the Snow Moon Wolf Clan's with Xue Qianzong, and the Night Fox Clan's with Ning Ying. Yet, Xue Qianzong had not received any message. At a time when a great battle was about to begin, this should absolutely not have happened.
Without any prompting from Yu Rong, Xue Qianzong immediately took out a gold voice transmission talisman, muttered a few words into it, and flung it out. This was a message for Lie Changfeng.
The two waited anxiously in the air for half an hour, but the voice transmission talisman was like a clay ox sinking into the sea. Yu Rong's anxious gaze kept darting towards the horizon, her expression growing more and more unsettled. The disciples of the two sects behind them stared at each other, unsure of what had happened. No one dared to ask, only able to communicate their unease through glances.
Although Yu Rong had no contact with the others, she and Sang Dongxing, as husband and wife, naturally had their own method of communication. She had been continuously trying to contact Sang Dongxing, but to no avail.
Just as the two were growing frantic, Xue Qianzong's expression suddenly shifted. A hint of joy appeared on his face. Yu Rong's cultivation was not as high as his, but seeing his expression, she naturally guessed the reason.
"Is there news?" she couldn't help but ask.
Xue Qianzong looked towards the horizon and nodded. He sensed a very faint line of fire flying rapidly towards him. The aura it carried was from the set of voice transmission talismans they all used, which put his mind slightly at ease.
Soon, the space above Xue Qianzong's head rippled slightly. Having been waiting for a long time, he snatched it from the air. Before he even retracted his hand, his Divine Sense had already immersed itself in the talisman.
Yu Rong watched Xue Qianzong with a look of anticipation. But when she saw him first stun, then his face grow increasingly unsightly, her voice began to tremble.
"Fellow Daoist Xue, what... what's wrong?"
Xue Qianzong didn't speak, merely silently handing the voice transmission talisman to Yu Rong...
More than eight thousand li north of the Falling Star Valley, Ning Ying of the Night Fox Clan was piloting a massive, hairpin-shaped flying magical treasure at high speed.
Nearly two hundred cultivators stood on the giant magical treasure, including not only dozens of Night Fox Clan disciples but also over a hundred disciples from the Wind-Severing Clan. Because she had first returned to the Night Fox Clan to gather her forces before heading to the Wind-Severing Clan, her speed towards the Falling Star Valley was much slower than the other two clans.
Ning Ying was pondering whether the Wind-Severing Clan's Mid-stage Golden Core Sect Master was truly too injured to come.
'Lie Changfeng is a deep schemer. It's not impossible that he has the same idea as me, wanting to leave his experts behind to guard the sect.'
So Ning Ying thought.
And just as she was pondering, a speck of yellow light suddenly appeared in her Divine Sense, flying rapidly towards her. Before she could even investigate, a voice entered her ears.
"Is that Fellow Daoist Ning ahead? Please halt!"
She was extremely familiar with this voice. The two of them had whispered countless sweet nothings in each other's ears on the bed. Ning Ying would never mishear it. It was undoubtedly Lie Changfeng. But what startled her was that as the voice arrived, a faint yellow speck of light had already reached the front of her flying magical treasure like a bolt of lightning.
The pale yellow light stopped five hundred zhang from the magical treasure, and then everyone saw a soybean-sized object appear there. The surface of the pale yellow light blurred, and a phantom image appeared above it. The image was semi-transparent, making its features appear somewhat indistinct.
But Yu Rong had already cried out in shock.
"Lie Changfeng!"
As Ning Ying cried out, a series of shocked gasps also rose from behind her. These voices all came from the Wind-Severing Clan.
"Great... Grand Elder!"
"Is that the Grand Elder?"
"Grand... Grand Elder... you... what happened to you..."
That pale yellow object was all too familiar to them. It was a very high-level Demonic Core. It was just that their own levels were too low, so the color of the Demonic Cores in their bodies was different.
Lie Changfeng's remnant image glanced faintly at the group of Wind-Severing Clan disciples who, with horrified faces, had already taken to the air, wanting to come over. He spoke in a deep voice, "No need to worry. I have some words for Fellow Daoist Ning. You all just stay put."
Some of the leading Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Wind-Severing Clan had already flown over. Hearing Lie Changfeng's words, they hesitated but could only fall back. The worry on their faces, however, was plain to see.
At this time, Ning Ying had already flown out from the magical treasure, heading towards Lie Changfeng's phantom. As she flew out, Lie Changfeng had just finished speaking to the Wind-Severing Clan disciples. In the next moment, as if he truly only wanted to speak to Ning Ying alone, the Demonic Core carrying the phantom image also flew off to the side.
Ignoring the crowd on the flying magical treasure, who were still immersed in disbelief, the two of them flew another thousand zhang away.
"Alright, Fellow Daoist Ning, let's stop here."
Lie Changfeng's phantom stared at the approaching Ning Ying and said in a deep voice. From beginning to end, he maintained a distance of about five hundred zhang from her.
A sharp glint flashed in Ning Ying's eyes, but she still halted her graceful figure.
"Fellow Daoist Changfeng, what... what on earth happened? How did you lose your physical body? And where is Fellow Daoist Sang?"
A string of questions, filled more with shock than anything else. After just a few dozen breaths, Ning Ying knew everything. There was nothing much to say. Simply put, Lie Changfeng and Sang Dongxing had fallen for Tianxingzi's venomous plot.
Although they had easily broken through the outermost restrictions of the Falling Star Valley's Sect-Protecting Grand Formation in the early stages, it was more likely that Tianxingzi had deliberately allowed it.
Afterward, Tianxingzi appeared, and a great battle ensued. At a critical moment, he used the isolating power of the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation to briefly separate Lie Changfeng and Sang Dongxing. Then, he and Lin Xinghe attacked together, causing Sang Dongxing to be killed almost instantly.
In the end, with no hope of escape, Sang Dongxing desperately detonated his Demonic Core, severely injuring Tianxingzi. Lin Xinghe was protected by Tianxingzi but was also badly wounded.
Lie Changfeng seized the opportunity to escape the restraints of the enemy's grand formation. Disregarding everything, he forcefully attacked and almost killed Tianxingzi. But at the last moment, Tianxingzi unleashed his hidden Shattered Star Fire, incinerating Lie Changfeng's physical body. Both sides ended up grievously wounded.
"That old man Tianxingzi is in a state not much different from mine. Although his physical body hasn't collapsed, he's definitely unable to use any major magic arts. His strength is at most that of an Initial-stage Golden Core. The kind that definitely can't last for more than fifteen minutes in a fight."
As Lie Changfeng recounted these events, mixing truth with falsehood, he deliberately emphasized that Tianxingzi's injuries were extremely severe.
"'Shattered Star Fire'... Tianxingzi actually refined 'Shattered Star Fire'... to think that Fellow Daoist Sang would fall just like that. This is too... too unexpected!"
At this outcome, Ning Ying was not only shocked but also felt a sense of fear. She naturally knew how vicious the Shattered Star Fire was, which was why they had repeatedly probed the Falling Star Valley from the start, being extremely wary of Tianxingzi.
Unexpectedly, although the man had not gotten any closer to the Nascent Soul realm, he actually possessed such a vicious divine ability like the Shattered Star Fire.
"Fellow Daoist Ning need not worry about that. He only managed to condense a single grain. Otherwise, I would have already perished. It is a pity about Fellow Daoist Sang, but at least he forced that old ghost Tianxingzi into a corner. We paid a heavy price, but he isn't far from death either!"
Lie Changfeng's phantom revealed a boundless hatred.
"For Brother Changfeng to be able to escape from the 'Shattered Star Fire' that can incinerate all things... that level of skill alone is beyond compare."
Ning Ying's heart trembled slightly, but the concern on her face grew even stronger. She couldn't help but take two steps forward through the air.
Lie Changfeng's phantom, however, let out a chuckle and nonchalantly floated back some distance.
"After he unleashed the 'Shattered Star Fire', his injuries were compounded, damaging his origin. I had to trade a physical body for that old ghost's trump card. Truly detestable. Fellow Daoist Ning, please quickly send a voice transmission talisman to Fellow Daoist Xue. They should be nearing the Falling Star Valley by now. We mustn't let them fall for the enemy's tricks again."
Seeing Lie Changfeng's caution, Ning Ying immediately stopped and took out a voice transmission talisman. After whispering a few words, she flicked it out.
Seeing that the talisman had been sent, Lie Changfeng's phantom nodded.
"Since the message has been delivered, I must return. Next, I need to find a body for seizure. As for how to deal with the Falling Star Valley, you and Xue Qianzong can discuss it. Whether to advance or retreat, it is up to you. However, this is definitely a good opportunity to take down the Falling Star Valley. If you and Fellow Daoist Ning can capture Tianxingzi, I hope you can hand him over to me. I will be eternally grateful."
As he spoke, Lie Changfeng was already grinding his teeth. After a pause, he continued, "You can still take my clan's disciples with you. If you continue to attack the Falling Star Valley, they will naturally have to contribute. Otherwise, I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Ning to escort them back. In my current state, I must hurry back."
"Brother Changfeng, your condition is extremely poor. It's a journey of nearly ten thousand li back. I think it would be better if I escorted you."
Ning Ying's eyes were already turning red, her body trembling slightly, her concern overflowing.
"No need. Although I have lost my physical body and many arts cannot be used, as long as I don't encounter a Nascent Soul cultivator, not many can hope to keep me here. You should all quickly decide on your next course of action. Otherwise, wouldn't Fellow Daoist Sang and I have paid such a heavy price in vain? To be indecisive now would be to waste such a long-term plan."
"Then... then I'll rendezvous with Fellow Daoist Xue and we'll discuss it. If it's truly as Brother Changfeng says, then the Falling Star Valley is now left with only Lin Xinghe holding the fort."
Seeing Lie Changfeng's extreme vigilance, Ning Ying could only give up.
A dozen breaths later, after Lie Changfeng had called over two Pseudo-Core cultivators from the Wind-Severing Clan and given them some instructions, he departed with his people.
After Ning Ying and her group left, Lie Changfeng immediately transformed into a streak of pale yellow light and vanished into the distance.