One day after the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony, Mo Qing and the others in the main hall of Lord Lao Peak received the battle report statistics from below. After passing around the jade slip, they all fell silent.
In this battle, both sides had suffered heavy casualties.
The First Sir's side had likely lost five Nascent Soul cultivators. In everyone's eyes, Li Yan had only killed Qi Jinghong, and Wei Zhongran had killed one Demonic General. The deaths of the other three enemy Nascent Soul cultivators were reported by Gu Jiuqi. He had likely seen through Li Yan's intentions, so his message said that Chan Master Dajing's Nascent Soul had been killed by him in passing while he was chasing the First Sir.
This made Li Yan feel somewhat grateful. He had always preferred not to expose his strength if he could help it, not wanting to attract others' attention. The message also stated that the First Sir had entered the Chaotic Flow Space and had managed to escape him.
As for the other two fallen enemy Nascent Soul cultivators, one of them was that Sixth Sir. His hatred for human cultivators was the deepest, even surpassing that of the two demon cultivators. So, after tearing the void and entering, he hadn't used the "Sand Star King Stone" to sense an exit, nor had he fled far using his knowledge of the Chaotic Flow Space. Instead, he had waited in place, intending to launch a surprise counterattack to kill some more people.
But his luck had run out. A frustrated Gu Jiuqi, after losing track of the First Sir, had also entered the Chaotic Flow Space to search. The position he entered was already near the Malevolent Spirit Sect. After flying for a while, he soon discovered a black-robed cultivator standing motionless in the Chaotic Flow Space.
He recognized him at a glance as the so-called damn Sixth Sir. Gu Jiuqi was already filled with pent-up rage. What was there to be polite about? He immediately concealed his figure and flew over. He knew that these foreign cultivators were very familiar with the Chaotic Flow Space, so to be safe, even though his opponent's cultivation had dropped to the Nascent Soul realm, he still chose to launch a sneak attack. He didn't want to see this person again; he wanted him to disappear forever to vent his anger.
When the Sixth Sir felt a sense of dread, his years of experience with danger made him lunge forward. However, Gu Jiuqi was already behind him. Even with his knowledge of the Chaotic Flow Space, the Sixth Sir's speed could not compare to that of a Spirit Transformation cultivator, let alone Gu Jiuqi.
He had only managed to dart out one step before Gu Jiuqi pointed a finger at the back of his head. His entire physical body instantly exploded into a mist of blood that filled the sky!
Afterward, although Gu Jiuqi obtained the Sixth Sir's Nascent Soul, it was no surprise that he found a restriction on the other's sea of consciousness. The technique was so profound that only Gu Jiuqi's main body's divine abilities could break it. Seeing this, Gu Jiuqi didn't think twice and directly performed a Soul Search. He would try to break it if he could; if not, the opponent's Nascent Soul was useless to him anyway. But it would be a pity to kill him directly; he might as well try and see if he could get any information.
But the moment his Divine Sense touched the restricted area of the opponent's Nascent Soul, with a "bang," the Sixth Sir, along with his boundless resentment and curses, was completely annihilated!
It was a pity. If he hadn't been so obsessed, with his knowledge of the Chaotic Flow Space, he would have been long gone. In the end, a single wrong thought cost him his precious life.
The other fallen cultivator was the cultivator surnamed Ye from the Twelve Dens. Although the news was still passed back by Gu Jiuqi, he was not the one who killed him.
While searching for the First Sir, Gu Jiuqi later saw the cultivator surnamed Ye also walking through the Chaotic Flow Space, as well as eight others further in the distance. One of the eight was holding up a "Sand Star King Stone," from which a brown, illusory wing emanated, enveloping the eight of them. Although the brown wing protected them from the astral wind, perhaps because these few were not familiar with the Chaotic Flow Space or for other reasons, they had deviated from their original route.
At this time, although the demon cultivator holding the "Sand Star King Stone" had found the correct direction again, the power in the stone was already mostly depleted and was not enough to support them to the exit. Among the eight were three demon lords and five human cultivators.
The one holding the "Sand Star King Stone" was the demon lord with the highest cultivation. Seeing that the stone's power was about to run out, boundless fear grew in the hearts of the three demon cultivators. The three of them immediately communicated via secret transmission and were about to fly off together, abandoning the other five.
In the previous great battle, during the chaotic fighting, they had been closest to these five human cultivators. Now that their own numbers were few, they had naturally thought of taking as many as they could with them. But they had taken a wrong turn in the Chaotic Flow Space. Now that they were in a desperate situation, the human cultivators had to be abandoned.
Those five who could cultivate to the Golden Core stage were all intelligent. They had been on guard against the Demon Clan all along, knowing that the gray stone was their lifeline. The five human cultivators tacitly surrounded the three demon cultivators, preventing them from escaping.
Just then, the cultivator surnamed Ye happened to pass by and saw this scene. Among the five human cultivators, four were his disciples from the Twelve Dens. Although he didn't know what had happened, he could see that the "Sand Star King Stone" was running out of power. So he flashed over to the side of the eight people.
Seeing this from a distance, a mocking smile appeared on Gu Jiuqi's face. He did not go over to pursue and kill them.
Then, a scene that the cultivator surnamed Ye could never have dreamed of occurred. The moment his figure appeared beside the eight people, a funnel-sized vortex suddenly appeared out of thin air. The moment the vortex appeared, the astral wind within a hundred-zhang radius suddenly became like a kite with a broken string, with no direction, pulling in all directions and swaying unstoppably.
That area of space collapsed before the terrified eyes of the cultivator surnamed Ye. He and the other eight cultivators only had time to let out a miserable cry. The nearby space completely caved in, and as countless meteorite fragments flew out, the nine of them were instantly minced into nothingness.
That vortex was not created by Gu Jiuqi. It was a floating, broken node in the Chaotic Flow Space, the nightmare of all cultivators. It was just that the cultivator surnamed Ye's luck was bad. Plus, seeing that his disciples were not too far away, he had flown straight over.
This kind of floating, broken node was something that even Gu Jiuqi, who was quite knowledgeable about the Chaotic Flow Space, hadn't discovered at first. It was only when the eight of them moved closer that he noticed something was amiss. Even though the cultivator surnamed Ye was a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, once he entered a broken node, he was as fragile as a baby being instantly crushed. This was also an important reason why all Nascent Soul cultivators desperately sought stable ascension nodes.
At the same time, Gu Jiuqi also explained the origin of those gray stone blocks in the message he sent back, which was how Li Yan learned the name "Sand Star Stone" and its function. He immediately thought of the storage ring and monk's pouches he had obtained.
As for the remaining Demonic General and Hang Lin, no one saw any trace of them. So after receiving Gu Jiuqi's message, Mo Qing and the others all believed that these two had escaped. The Chaotic Flow Space was terrifying, but as fellow Nascent Soul cultivators, they didn't believe these two could be as unlucky as the cultivator surnamed Ye.
But the fate of those Golden Core cultivators who fled into the Chaotic Flow Space was likely not much better!
After Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye exchanged opinions, they concluded that for those Golden Core cultivators trapped by the grand formation, their final escape method was a desperate measure. Even if they had the specially refined "Sand Star Stones," the vast majority of Golden Core cultivators had never entered the Chaotic Flow Space and severely lacked experience. It would be good if even half of them made it out alive.
The Golden Core cultivators who managed to survive were most likely led to escape by those foreign cultivators and the demon cultivators who had crossed the realm passage.
Under such circumstances, adding the number of people they had clearly killed, the number of enemy Golden Core deaths in this battle was about two hundred and thirty to forty. Of course, this number was just an estimate, mainly because the outcome of the cultivators who entered the Chaotic Flow Space was unknown.
On the Malevolent Spirit Sect's side, including the guest Golden Core cultivators, the death toll was reported at one hundred and thirty-one. Among them, nine were Golden Core cultivators from the Malevolent Spirit Sect. A small portion of these one hundred and thirty-one Golden Core cultivators were killed in the initial sneak attack, while the rest fell in battle.
The situation of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's core Golden Core cultivators could be considered not bad. Wang Tian had already woken up after taking the pills Mo Qing provided, and the rest of his time would be spent in long-term recuperation. Zuo Shengyan had lost an arm, but with her cultivation, it would not be too difficult to recover.
But Miao Wangqing was hanging on by a thread. Even after taking the sect's top-grade pills, she had not yet woken up and was still in a coma. Wei Chituo had been besieged by two foreign cultivators during the great battle. He ended up fighting one of them to a standstill, with both sides severely injured. Just as he smashed his opponent's head open with his pestle, a foreign cultivator on the other side seized the opportunity and commanded two "Meteorite Sand Beasts" to pounce on the barely standing Wei Chituo.
"Meteorite Sand Beasts" were a type of Chaotic Flow Space star-beast refined by foreign cultivators. Yan Feijun and the others had almost been devoured by them back then, and these were the spirit pets of two Golden Core cultivators. Just as Wei Chituo was about to lose his life, the nearby Zi Kun took a blow from a South Sea cultivator and forcibly crossed over to his side, instantly pulling Wei Chituo into his Spirit-Storing Pouch.
Fortunately, Zi Kun was a desolate beast from the barbaric lands with a tough physical body. Otherwise, he would have failed to save the person and ended up being a burden. But he was also hit so hard that he spat out a large mouthful of blood and suffered internal injuries. However, under Mo Qing's order to use the sect's top-grade pills on all Golden Core cultivators, Zi Kun's powerful physical body was on full display, and he recovered extremely quickly.
Qian Ji, however, was not so lucky. At the initial Golden Core stage, after fighting to the death with a late-stage Golden Core Demon Clan cultivator, he was also struck by the opponent's final, full-powered burst, and his internal organs were shattered. Fortunately, he had desperately protected his beast core. Although it had cracks, it did not shatter. But he showed no trace of it on his face, forcing himself not to show any sign of defeat. Coupled with the special nature of the extreme cold power he displayed, many cultivators were unwilling to face him. Having just crossed two minor realms to forcefully kill his opponent, Qian Ji's residual might was still there, and for a moment, no one dared to take the opportunity to ambush him.
So Qian Ji took the opportunity to fly to Li Wuyi's side with difficulty. Before falling unconscious, he said to Li Wuyi, "Have Master save me..." and was then taken into the Spirit-Storing Pouch by Li Wuyi.
Now, the seriously injured Qian Ji had been sent by Li Yan into the "Earthen Patch." The extreme cold on the mountain peak there was very helpful for his healing.
In this battle, basically everyone was injured. Both sides were fighting desperately, and in the chaotic battle, no one could remain unscathed. These were people Li Yan was familiar with. Fortunately, none of the people he was familiar with had died yet. Only Miao Wangqing's situation was unknown, as her injuries were the most severe. At that time, if she had been outside for a few more breaths, she would have certainly perished. Li Changting had managed to save her just in time.
The fallen Golden Core cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect were all from the other four peaks. Most of them had formed their cores within the last hundred years. Firstly, their combat power was indeed inferior to that of the veteran Golden Core cultivators. At the same time, veteran Golden Core cultivators like Yan Longzi and Peak Master Yi were basically in death seclusion. They didn't have much time to try and break through to the Nascent Soul stage. Similarly, Zhao Min and Zhao Zhi, who were also in seclusion, were not able to participate in this chaotic battle.
The fundamental reason was that the Malevolent Spirit Sect hadn't reached that point yet. Mo Qing hadn't summoned them. If even the cultivators in death seclusion had to come out to fight, then the sect would basically be on the brink of life and death.
Among the Four Great Sects, the Supreme Mystery Teachings' disciples had the most casualties. Not counting those who were seriously injured in the end, most of them had died at the hands of their own fellow disciples in sneak attacks. In the end, only Wang Lang and four others from the Ten-Pace Courtyard survived. Yuyuan was a Nascent Soul cultivator after all. After being unconscious for ten hours, she finally woke up thanks to her profound cultivation. Although she still couldn't use much magical power, she had survived. As long as she went into seclusion for another three to four hundred years to recuperate, she should be able to recover completely.
The monks of the Pure Land Sect were skilled in encirclement formations and had the fewest casualties among the Four Great Sects. Only four monks had fallen. However, Arhat Yiye had only brought ten disciples in total, so the death ratio was actually very high.
In fact, besides the Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, the casualties among the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators were also heavy. The final list reported sixty-four names. They were all caught in the crossfire of the great battle, including low-level cultivators from the Four Great Sects, as well as disciples from the guest sects and families.
Under such a grand event, they had hoped that their most elite disciples could come out and gain some experience. But no one had expected that this would be a road to ruin. This was the path of cultivation. Fortune and misfortune were intertwined. One moment, they were full of joy; the next, they were separated by life and death.
And in fact, the real battle losses were not limited to these. Some situations had not yet been reported, such as the number of deaths in the sects and families that were ambushed like Yuyuan.
According to Mo Qing and the others' estimates, apart from those who escaped from the ambush by the First Sir and his group, there were probably at least four to five more Nascent Soul cultivators who had fallen outside.
"In this battle, although we suffered great losses due to the opponent's meticulous planning, their vitality was also greatly damaged. The remaining forces they had on the Desolate Moon Continent were not many. This time, seeing the First Sir personally take action, it seems they have already gone all out."
In the main hall of Lord Lao Peak, Mo Qing said with a solemn expression. His aura was also somewhat weak. He was an initial-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and although he was not far from the mid-stage, the cultivator surnamed Ye had been unable to defeat him after a long battle. This was mostly due to the strangeness of Mo Qing's cultivation method, which made the opponent afraid to go all out. At this time, Mo Qing's internal organs were already injured. Although he had taken pills, he had not had time to refine and recuperate, so his complexion was not very good.
"Amitabha. This battle is the first head-on confrontation since the last decisive battle. Although it disrupted the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony of the two fellow Daoists, their trump cards have also been more or less exposed. Since they dared to attack the core of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they certainly went all out. How could they have reserved any strength? As Benefactor Mo said, the opponent's vitality is greatly damaged. It should be difficult for them to organize another ambush within the next four to five hundred years."
Arhat Yiye's aura was also unstable. He had fought against two people, one of whom was the Sixth Sir, who had once been an initial-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator. The fact that he hadn't perished in the end was already a blessing from the Buddha.