Just as he had flown a li in a single breath in his Black-Feathered Eagle form, a pitch-black long nail suddenly appeared above his head. That long nail, like a phantom, flashed past his wing. A long, bloody groove appeared on the black wing, which was as tough as refined steel.
Although it failed to penetrate his body, Gao Sha only felt his Hun and Po souls freeze for a moment, and his entire body paused right there.
In the distance, killing intent surged in Sect Master Wang's eyes. She let out a soft cry, "Go!" and her jade-like finger shot out swiftly. Then, a speck of silver light rapidly enlarged in Gao Sha's horrified eyes.
The next moment, the silver light pierced through his abdomen, bringing out a stream of blood from his lower back.
Gao Sha's Dantian's Purple Sea instantly collapsed. The corpse poison in his body could no longer be suppressed. Before he even hit the ground, he was already dead.
Sect Master Wang waved her jade-like hand and collected Gao Sha's corpse. Then she hung his storage pouch on her waist. The Feng Family Ancestor, who was beside her, had no objection to this. They would distribute the spoils later; now was not the time to divide the loot. The corpse or the enemy's token had to be handed over to the Falling Star Valley to report their achievements, which would be used to evaluate their merits and determine their rewards.
The most important thing now was to end the battle as quickly as possible, clean up the battlefield, and swiftly move to a new location to hide again. Their battle had lasted no more than thirty breaths from start to finish. Both sides had fought with all their might in the shortest possible time, but the spiritual power fluctuations here had definitely alerted others.
The Feng Family's Third Ancestor and the other two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Tingshan Sect directed the disciples to clean up the battlefield, while Sect Master Wang and the Feng Family Ancestor stood by the roadside, watching it all. Both had expressions of pain on their faces. In the battle just now, although they had annihilated the enemy, they had also lost eight disciples. And this was with the advantage of a sneak attack and the help of a large number of ghouls.
The two families had brought a total of just over thirty people this time, all of them elites of their sects with cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation or higher. Yet, in just the opening battle, eight had died. The rest were all injured and were quickly applying medicine and healing their wounds. To end a battle in such a short time, who wouldn't fight with their lives on the line?
At the same time, the Feng Family had also had six ghouls crippled—so thoroughly crippled that they could no longer be used.
"Thanks!"
Sect Master Wang said without reason, her eyes fixed on the scene before her.
"If we go on like this, I estimate we won't be able to withstand another one or two rounds!"
The Feng Family Ancestor gave a bitter smile and waved his hand. He knew what Sect Master Wang meant. If it weren't for the Feng Family sacrificing these ghouls, there wouldn't be so many of their disciples still standing. This was especially true for the disciples of the Tingshan Sect. With one disciple and one ghost, their own disciples could still gain a considerable advantage against opponents of the same rank. To fight these fearless ghouls until they could no longer be summoned, the Feng Family had truly staked everything, which had also invisibly reduced the casualties of the Tingshan Sect disciples.
Often, even if a ghoul was beaten down to its last mouth, it would still bite down on its opponent and not let go, injecting corpse poison or death qi with reckless abandon, allowing others to take the opportunity to kill the enemy. Just now, the Feng Family had used those ghouls to nearly wipe out half of the enemy cultivators. Before being completely smashed to bits, a single finger or a single tooth was a nightmare for the disciples of the Wind-Severing Clan.
"If we can't hold on, we'll retreat. What can the Falling Star Valley say? We've already staked everything to get this far. Do they expect us to self-detonate as well?"
A faint sadness appeared on Sect Master Wang's beautiful face. After cultivating for a hundred years, it was very common to have a heart as hard as iron. But she was still a woman. Watching the disciples who had just been cheerfully discussing how many cultivation resources they would get after the battle now separated by life and death, she couldn't help but recall her own youthful years, feeling a surge of emotion.
In the battle just now, thanks to the help of the Feng Family's Third Ancestor's ghost servant, he had quickly dealt with his opponent and then gone to assist the other Foundation Establishment cultivators. As a result, not a single one of their five Foundation Establishment cultivators had died. This was already a great fortune. Otherwise, for small sects like theirs, the fall of a single Foundation Establishment cultivator would definitely be a crippling blow, greatly damaging their vitality.
Soon, this desolate expanse of grass returned to its former appearance. No bloodstains, no corpses, no fallen reeds and thatch. It was as if nothing had ever happened, or as if a fierce beast had returned to the darkness, quietly lying in wait...
The river water was cold. It could be felt even through the protective light shield.
Huang Bingfeng carefully probed the river surface outside with his Divine Sense. Along the bank, a long stone path followed the river upstream. A place like the one they were ambushing from was nothing special; one could find hundreds of such spots along the river, so it was difficult to attract the enemy's attention.
Huang Bingfeng was the Sect Master of the Nine-foot Sect. The Nine-foot Sect was considered one of the larger sects attached to the Falling Star Valley, having reached the standard of a third-rate sect, something the Feng Family and the Tingshan Sect could not hope to achieve.
Thinking of the five Foundation Establishment elders and numerous disciples scattered throughout these few li of the river, Huang Bingfeng was very satisfied. The Nine-foot Sect was not like those small sects, so they didn't need to join forces with others.
"When we kill these foreign clansmen, whose merit will it be counted as? They really have some nerve."
Remembering the scene where some people had sent him voice transmissions asking to join forces, a disdainful smile tugged at the corner of Huang Bingfeng's mouth.
"These people just want to use me as a shield from the wind and rain, and then they'll want to take a slice of the pie. What a fine calculation..."
No enemies appeared in his Divine Sense, and Huang Bingfeng's thoughts began to wander.
Just as he was growing impatient, a team of about thirty people finally appeared in his Divine Sense, coming quickly along the stone path.
The blood in Huang Bingfeng's body instantly began to burn.
The great battle erupted three breaths later. A dense volley of water arrows suddenly shot out from the river. Huang Bingfeng, filled with bone-chilling killing intent, broke through the water and charged towards a Foundation Establishment cultivator...
This battle, which lasted only about fifty breaths, ended with the complete annihilation of the Nine-foot Sect and only four survivors on the enemy's side—a tragic situation where both sides were grievously wounded. The Nine-foot Sect could not be said to be weak, but they had run into the most ferocious of the four sects, the Snow Moon Wolf Clan, who were most adept at group attacks. Often, just two or three of them could quickly form a small formation that was both offensive and defensive. The physical bodies of demonic beasts were already tough. Such a small formation could effortlessly pierce through a ten-person team of the same rank in an instant.
But because the Nine-foot Sect had one extra Foundation Establishment cultivator, they also managed to drag this small team from the Snow Moon Wolf Clan into the abyss of death. The moment the two sides clashed, a large number of cultivators died. And it was the fall of these fellow disciples, who had been companions for years, that further enraged both sides. With reddened eyes, they attacked even more frantically. After only thirty breaths, by the time Huang Bingfeng and the others reacted, the two sides were completely entangled. The ferocious nature of the Snow Moon Wolf Clan had been fully unleashed. To think of scattering and fleeing now was undoubtedly a fool's dream.
If Li Yan had seen this result, he would have been dumbfounded. If this had happened on the Desolate Moon Continent, seeing that the situation was not good, they would have probably fled far away at the first sign of contact. The cultivators of the Forsaken Continent lived their lives in constant strife, especially between different clans. Once a fight started, it was often a life-and-death struggle to annihilate the other side.
And this kind of tragic battle where a large number of cultivators fell in just a few dozen breaths, starting from the Falling Star Valley's mountain gate and extending towards the inner valley, appeared in one place after another. Either one side was completely wiped out in a tragic victory, or only a few were left to flee in a sorry state.
In just under an hour, the total number of fallen on both sides had already exceeded four hundred. This was completely in line with the style of large-scale battles on the Forsaken Continent. This was also the reason why the Black Demon Clan's army had achieved victory with fewer numbers on the Desolate Moon Continent—for the sake of their clan, they were fearless in the face of death.
The Falling Star Valley had already made a do-or-die move. Whether it was the disciples within the sect or those vassals, they all knew full well what kind of miserable end awaited them once the Falling Star Valley was breached. On the Forsaken Continent, even for a second-rate sect like the Falling Star Valley, there were only a few that could stand for thousands of years without falling. Having lost this pillar of support, they would be devoured until not even bone dregs were left. For the sake of their descendants, those Foundation Establishment cultivators were also completely staking their lives.
It was just like the Feng Family Ancestor. Although many of his clansmen, under Feng Zaiyu's leadership, might eventually be able to escape far away, if they wanted to find another place like the Yin Mountain Tomb-Cavern in the future, with Feng Zaiyu's current cultivation, it was undoubtedly a fool's dream. To defeat the enemy and preserve this foundation, or to establish a new family foundation elsewhere—the choice was easy for them to make.
Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying were currently locked in a relentless struggle with Lin Xinghe. The time that had passed was worlds away from the time they had agreed upon with Yu Rong. But at this moment, Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying had calmed down, because they had already confirmed the result that Tianxingzi was heavily injured. Yu Rong had not sent out a distress signal, so it was appropriate for her to lead the attack on the other side.
At the very beginning, Lin Xinghe had been fleeing ahead. With the help of the grand formation, he would often disappear in just a few breaths. Just as Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying decided to retreat, Lin Xinghe would silently appear behind them and launch another sudden attack, but it was easily neutralized by the two of them.
While tracking him, Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying advanced almost shoulder to shoulder. In this way, an absolute safe zone had been formed between the two of them. If one was attacked, the other would immediately come to their aid, and a storm-like counter-attack would form almost instantly. On several occasions, Lin Xinghe had almost fallen into a trap set by these two, finding himself in a precarious situation. But at the most critical moments, the grand formation here would always launch a fierce attack in an instant, forcing Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying to turn back and defend. Otherwise, one of them would have surely perished together with Lin Xinghe. This allowed Lin Xinghe to escape by a hair's breadth several times.
But it was precisely because of this that the two of them determined that the person secretly controlling the grand formation was Tianxingzi. Otherwise, no one in the Falling Star Valley could drive the grand formation to pose a fatal threat to them. The same formation, if it were controlled by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even several Foundation Establishment cultivators at this time, would absolutely not display such power. It required a Divine Sense so powerful that it was terrifying, to allow these restrictions to unleash a blow that could heavily injure, or even kill, Xue Qianzong. He was a genuine Late-stage Golden Core cultivator, and a demonic beast type Golden Core with an incomparably tough physical body at that.
So, in that case, things were already very clear. The one controlling the grand formation now was Tianxingzi, and it could only be Tianxingzi. For Tianxingzi to have to rely on the grand formation, the result was that he was inevitably heavily injured. Otherwise, with their full strength exposed, whether Tianxingzi went to deal with Yu Rong or the two of them, he could have suppressed them with his own strength alone. But the other party had been reduced to relying on the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation and joining forces with Lin Xinghe to deal with them. This was already indisputable.
"He is so heavily injured that he can only use his Divine Sense to control the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation," Xue Qianzong said to Ning Ying via voice transmission in a low voice.
Ning Ying immediately agreed. As for why it couldn't be another hidden Golden Core cultivator controlling the grand formation, Ning Ying trusted the information she had gathered before. So far, no third Golden Core cultivator had come to reinforce the Falling Star Valley. This was intelligence her Night Fox Clan had repeatedly probed for over a long period of time.