After executing the Spiritual Aperture Shattering Star Grand Art, he only had twenty breaths. He gave Lin Xinghe ten breaths. If he could kill Ning Ying.
Including the one breath or so he had already used, that meant Lin Xinghe had about eight breaths left. They would still have some strength left to deal with Xue Qianzong.
After using the Origin Power of his Demonic Core, Xue Qianzong would soon be greatly weakened and exhausted as well.
If Lin Xinghe couldn't do it in ten breaths, he knew his Martial Uncle would resolutely self-destruct the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation, because any longer, and his Martial Uncle would lose even the strength to do that.
In this battle, if they did not win, then Falling Star Valley and the invaders would be buried here together, to perish together, erasing an eternity of enmity.
And just at that moment, a deep, powerful voice suddenly thundered in the sky.
"The Sect Gate is broken too! Yo, you've fought to this state already? Tianxingzi, has this old Daoist arrived too late?"
Li Yan was flying toward the area where he sensed the abnormality. Just as he was approaching a cave based on his senses, he suddenly felt the sky darken.
He was greatly alarmed and quickly used the Stealthy Night Art to hide behind a large tree.
A group of figures appeared in the sky, standing on a massive white feather from some unknown Demonic Beast.
In the lead was a middle-aged Daoist priest in a gray Daoist robe. His hair was tied up in a high topknot, his hands were clasped at his abdomen and tucked into his wide sleeves, and a horsetail whisk was stuck diagonally on his back.
Behind him stood ten other Daoists, each of them exuding a Foundation Establishment aura.
What shocked Li Yan the most was that this old Daoist could actually fly through the sky on a Magical Treasure. Although his speed was clearly suppressed, it was still extremely terrifying.
As the middle-aged Daoist approached the mountain, his eyes suddenly swept over Li Yan's hiding spot, but then his gaze fell on the cave at the foot of the mountain.
He muttered under his breath, "There's still a little Foundation Establishment cultivator from Falling Star Valley here who isn't afraid of death."
When he saw the green sect uniform of Falling Star Valley on Li Yan, he dismissed the thought of killing him.
In hiding, when Li Yan saw the Daoist glance in his direction, he instantly felt as if he had been targeted by a ferocious beast. His instincts screamed at him to flee immediately.
But the other party immediately looked away, and the sense of mortal danger vanished completely. Li Yan knew he had been discovered.
'This person's magical power is unfathomable. He knew someone was hiding here, and he saw through my illusion and my identity in an instant!'
Before Li Yan could think too much, he felt the suppressive force on the cave in front of him suddenly disappear. Red flames shot out of the cave, and the blaze surged.
Tianxingzi's weak and weary voice echoed between heaven and earth.
"Qing... Qingyu... cough cough... you old ghost, enough with the nonsense. Quickly help... help Xinghe kill... kill the two people in the cave..."
The middle-aged Daoist in the air chuckled. "You old fellow, in such a hurry. Have you lost even the magical power for a Voice Transmission?"
...
Half an incense stick's time later, in the main hall of Tianxingzi's courtyard deep within Falling Star Valley, Tianxingzi sat cross-legged, covered in blood. A pile of empty pill bottles lay on the floor beside him.
He had already walked out from the core of the formation. By not using the Spiritual Aperture Shattering Star Grand Art, he had managed to save his own life.
After scanning the area one more time and sensing that the aura of Yu Rong from the Cangyu Sect, who had been left outside, had also vanished, he was finally relieved.
There was no point in him staying in the core of the great formation anymore. So, after struggling back to his courtyard, without even changing his clothes, he began to swallow large amounts of medicinal pills to regulate his condition.
Falling Star Valley had a good number of fine pills, and as the Grand Elder, Tianxingzi had a personal stockpile accumulated over a thousand years.
As long as he did not recklessly use his magical power again, these pills would be enough to stabilize his injuries in time.
Suddenly, Tianxingzi's tightly shut eyes slowly opened. He pointed his only remaining arm into the void, and with a surge of mist, the courtyard gate opened silently.
Then, a gray figure flashed through the mist and entered. Once inside the courtyard, the person did not linger and went straight to the main hall.
The figure paused, revealing a middle-aged Daoist in a gray robe.
The moment he saw Tianxingzi, a gloating smile bloomed on the middle-aged Daoist's face. He then placed the person he was carrying on the ground.
"Tianxingzi, it's been forty years. How come your cultivation has decreased instead of increased? Tsk tsk tsk, if you don't go into seclusion for a few decades this time, you'll be regressing to the Late-stage Golden Core first..."
Before he could finish, a look of anger appeared on Tianxingzi's youthful face.
"Qingyu, shut your mouth! You're putting on airs now, are you? I sent disciples to your Green Wind Sect's gate several times, and you only arrive now. If you had been one breath later, I would have perished. Remember when you were being hunted by that Ba'er from the Black Demon Clan in the Secret Realm? If it weren't for me, you would have been reincarnated several times by now!"
"You old fellow, are you casting aside the one who helped you? I just helped you out, and you talk to this poor Daoist like this. That's not right. For you, Moru risked me suffering a backlash and forcefully woke me from my seclusion. This old Daoist didn't even have time to offer incense to the Three Pure Ancestors before rushing over, and you bring up old history like this. Moru is a cautious man, not one for words. He might have said he wasn't sure he could wake me, but he really went for it. Being forcefully interrupted by Moru's Divine Sense, I almost suffered a cultivation deviation. It ruined forty years of my hard-earned insights, all for nothing. And you're still babbling on, so annoying!!"
The middle-aged Daoist would not stand for it. He immediately pointed at Tianxingzi's face and berated him, nearly spraying him with spittle.
Tianxingzi turned his head in disgust, but his face had already switched to a kind and amiable smile.
But the middle-aged Daoist wasn't finished, continuing his complaint, "It's one thing not to thank this old Daoist, but you even have the gall to blame me first. By the way, when did you send more disciples to my Green Wind Sect? You only sent them once, not 'several times'!"
"Oh? So no more disciples from my sect came? It seems the ones I sent later haven't reached you yet."
Tianxingzi did some calculations. Only a few days had passed. Those three Foundation Establishment disciples really wouldn't have been able to reach the Green Wind Sect yet. It seemed this stuffy nose really did rush over as soon as he came out of seclusion.
But he still snorted coldly, "So you're saying I should offer you a stick of incense? To thank you for saving my entire sect."
Qingyu knew his friend had a rather extreme temperament and didn't want to dwell on the topic. He pointed at the unconscious Lin Xinghe on the floor.
"You've never been reasonable. Fine, I won't stoop to your level. If it weren't for me, you would have had to use the Spiritual Aperture Shattering Star Grand Art just like him!"
Tianxingzi rolled his eyes.
"If not for that technique, how could I have killed Ba'er of the Black Demon Clan back then? Would you still be standing here, spouting nonsense?"
Qingyu glanced at Tianxingzi's severely weakened state.
"You have a point. But speaking of which, that cultivation method of your Falling Star Valley is too vicious. It injures the enemy by a thousand while harming oneself by eight hundred. Lin Xinghe's vitality has been wounded by more than just a little..."
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Don't tell me that Xue Qianzong and Ning Ying both escaped."
Tianxingzi saw that although Lin Xinghe was unconscious, his Spirit Power showed no signs of weakening. He knew Qingyu had already treated him, which put him at ease.
Now, he was more concerned about the battlefront. He directly interrupted Qingyu's words. He was too weak to fight anymore and needed to know the specific situation to make his next plan.
"Just a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator. You only opened one exit in the cave. Under the shroud of that formation, it was a prison. He had lost any chance of escaping with secret arts, he couldn't even burrow into the ground. The advantage of a Golden Core was completely lost. After I cornered him, I killed him. That fox was also killed by Lin Xinghe!"
With a wave of his sleeve, there were two thuds, and a headless wolf corpse and a mangled fox corpse appeared on the floor.
Then, a strange expression appeared on Qingyu's face. He hadn't had a chance to ask Lin Xinghe before, as he had passed out right after killing Ning Ying.
"Tianxingzi, the strongest of these four sects are only three Late-stage Golden Core cultivators. Looking at the circulation of your Spirit Power, you should have reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul realm before you were injured. How did you get beaten into this state?"
Tianxingzi's face twitched, and he rolled his eyes.
"That Lie Changfeng from the Wind-Rending Clan also reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul realm. Although I entered it a little earlier than him, I was only a sliver stronger. They had more people, what could I do? However, without any cage to trap the enemy, not only did I kill Sang Dongxing, but I also beat Lie Changfeng until only his Demonic Core escaped. Otherwise, how could I have been pushed to this point by a mere wolf and fox?"
"What? Lie Changfeng broke through to the Pseudo-Nascent Soul realm? I think he only reached Late-stage Golden Core three hundred years ago. With his aptitude, how could he do it without another four or five hundred years? He must have had some other opportunity."
An expression of disbelief appeared on Qingyu's face, but he quickly figured things out. The matter of cultivation opportunities was the hardest to predict.
You could search a thousand mountains and rivers, spend your entire life, and never find one, but sometimes you could get a windfall from the heavens.
Immediately, his gaze swept over Tianxingzi, and then he chuckled.
"Even if you weren't injured, your current realm should only be a little higher than mine. You managed to kill Sang Dongxing and force Lie Changfeng to abandon his physical body at the same time? Stop bragging to me that you did all this with your own strength. For a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator, as long as you're not facing an initial or mid-stage one, it's extremely difficult to kill a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator or above, even if they're no match for you or me. You definitely used the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation and had Lin Xinghe's help to do it. Why are you exaggerating so much? Oh, I see, you're trying to act like you still have strength to spare. Hehehe, Tianxingzi, if this poor Daoist were to attack you now and take over your Falling Star Valley, what would you do?"
As Qingyu spoke, a sharp aura began to emanate from him.
Tianxingzi remained completely unfazed by this, merely rolling his eyes. "You can try. Do you think I'd let you get this close to me without thinking of suddenly pulling you with me as the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation blows us to the heavens?"
"You... you old ghost! No wonder you're so short. Your belly is full of wicked schemes, weighing you down so you can never grow taller!"
Qingyu's aura suddenly retracted. He pointed a finger at Tianxingzi, a look of indignation on his face.
Tianxingzi's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Alright, we have serious business to discuss. Who has time to joke around with you? Now, of those four sects, only Ning Qianying of the Night Fox Clan and Lie Changming of the Wind-Rending Clan are left. Ning Qianying only entered Mid-stage Golden Core a hundred years ago, so her realm is just barely stable. I also injured Lie Changming a few days ago. As for that Lie Changfeng, he's just a Demonic Core now, he can't stir up much trouble. This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. This news hasn't reached the other sects yet. With your strength, you should be able to take over the foundations of these sects. The resources of their four sects cannot fall into the hands of others. We'll split it fifty-fifty, how about it?"
As Tianxingzi spoke, the bloody scent from his body grew stronger.
Qingyu's eyes also grew brighter and brighter. But when he heard the end, a strange expression appeared on his face.
"Tianxingzi, I know about these sects too. Although that Yu Rong is only at the Initial-stage Golden Core, you can't just ignore her. Otherwise, if I really send a few Pseudo-Nascent Soul disciples with some men over there, won't she just slaughter them? Are you trying to set a trap for this old Daoist? What are your intentions!"
As he spoke, he took a step back, a look of vigilance on his face.