The jade tablet shattered with a crashing din. The defensive ward of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost gave off a sonorous groan, a deafening death rattle that portended its inevitable passing as the shield of light ceased its ripples. The shield was still standing as staunchly as it was helpless with all sustenance cut off from it.
All eight hundred Cultivators of the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court delivered one concerted attack, smashing the shield at last.
The barrier of light burst into thousands of glittering shards of energy dregs, standing out in the night sky like millions of tiny fireflies that gradually dissolved into nothing.
“Charge!” Gu Canyang bellowed a fierce one-syllable battle cry. Leading at the front, men in their hundreds peeled after him, pouring into the entrances of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost. But in the meantime, the defenders of the outpost had barely made it far—most of them did not even make the two-hundred-yard line.
The House of Wintry Blossoms acolytes jerked their heads around at the commotion. To their horror, the invaders had reached the inner alcoves of the outpost! There was no need for any more spurring; all of them bolted ever faster as if they were being chased by a pack of bloodthirsty hyenas. Most of them were females, but none of them would dare to wait around and bet that their enemies were in a merciful and forgiving mood.
The entire mob of desperate-looking escapees swarmed into the Sanctum of Providence. The Divine Opportunity Column was their only hope of salvation if any one of them hoped to return safely to the real world of Jiu Zhou.
But the Divine Opportunity Column could only work so fast. To transport almost four hundred people would require time which they did not have. By the time the invaders stormed the Sanctum of Providence, there were at least one hundred House of Wintry Blossoms acolytes who did not manage to escape in time.
The stranded escapees did all they could to resist the invaders, but there was little that they could do. Being so heavily outnumbered, it wasn’t long before they were all cut down and left lying in morbid pools of slick red.
The slaughter ended quickly. In less than a minute, dozens of dead bodies sprawled over the blood-mottled floors of the Sanctum of Providence, all of them House of Wintry Blossoms acolytes.
The ones who were the slowest died the worst, showing how it’s not only important to be faster than one’s enemies during imminent peril, one needed to beat one’s own friends and comrades in the race for dear life.
“That was great!” Gu Canyang exclaimed excitedly.
Gu Canyang and the rest of the Hidden Light Sanctuary acolytes had been enemies with the House of Wintry Blossoms for as long as they could remember. But without having anything to tip the scales, both sides have been at each other’s throats without being able to do anything significant—until today.
If there was anything to complain about, that would only be the fact that there were just too few enemies to engage. There was hardly any real fight up until now and the few House of Wintry Blossoms that died here were just the ones who had failed to make it back to Jiu Zhou in time.
Nevertheless, it was enough. A victory was still a victory.
Defeating the House of Wintry Blossoms and capturing the outpost would mean that the Blessings on the Divine Opportunity Column—the legacy of the many generations of the House of Wintry Blossoms—here was theirs to plunder. The Contribution Points must be many.
“Clear the place! You have a quarter of an hour! We will assemble again after that!” Zhou Pei bellowed, his face alight with anticipation of more triumph.
Not without reason; Lu Ye’s plan included Sunlit Mountain if conquering the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost was a success. As a neighbor and a rival of Lofty Plume Court, their animosity mirrored the feud Hidden Light Sanctuary and the House of Wintry Blossoms shared in every way.
The success of the plan hinged on two parts: whether Lu Ye’s infiltration was a success and whether he was able to pull off securing the jade tablet that controlled the defensive ward of the enemy outpost.
But this triumphant victory had proven that whatever reservations he formerly had about the chances of this working were unnecessary; Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect has turned out to be more dependable than he had ever imagined!
Acolytes from both orders busied themselves with the task at hand. Time was pressing and everyone hurried around looting and clearing the dead bodies.
“Where’s Brother Yi Ye? Has anyone seen him?” Gu Canyang cried loudly.
“Here,” Lu Ye responded curtly, stepping out of the Sanctum of Providence with Yi Yi beside him, meticulously going through every inch of him to make sure he was unhurt.
Yi Yi had gone into a deep slumber since coming back from the Lost City of Xianyuan.
She had experienced many changes since then and now looked no different from anyone around her. Anyone could see her and they would think she was just another living person—even Shui Yuan herself.
Prior to the enrichment they experienced at the Lost City, Cultivators more powerful would have been able to tell the difference.
That was the difference between the good that she and the rest enjoyed. What Yi Yi enjoyed was four to five times better than what Lu Ye, Amber, and Ju Jia had gotten from the Pool of Divine Purification for the Pool itself doubled as the resting site of the horde of apparitions that resided in the Lost City. That allowed spectral beings like Yi Yi to attain greater advantage as juxtaposed against the others.
In fact, her power and strength would have outstripped even Lu Ye, if not for the fact that she was a spirit attached to Amber. It was this bond with the tiger that prevented her from becoming stronger than him.
“Come, Brother Yi Ye,” Gu Canyang beamed at Lu Ye broadly, flourishing an arm magnanimously.
They had succeeded in capturing the outpost. It was time to split the spoils as agreed; the Blessings of the Divine Opportunity Column were to be divided into three equal portions.
There was no need to be coy; Lu Ye placed a hand on the Divine Opportunity Column and channeled his power through his Battlefield Imprint.
He should be familiar with the process by now, after what he had done at the Sky Pillar Sect outpost.
The ambient Spiritual Qi that pervaded the atmosphere of the outpost’s vicinity thinned at a noticeable pace as layer after layer of Blessings on the Divine Opportunity Column were removed. But that was not all; even the range of the emanation itself was shrinking…
Once Lu Ye was done, Guy Canyang stepped in, after which, he gave way to Zhou Pei for his turn.
The quarter of an hour passed swiftly enough. Everyone regrouped at the plaza outside the outpost’s Sanctum of Providence before they boarded the flying ships. It was time for their next target: Sunlit Mountain.
They were halfway there when both Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei received transmissions simultaneously, informing them about attacks on their respective strongholds.
It was the same old trick again—nearby Thousand Demon Ridge orders had dispatched enough men to make up two separate forces that had marched to attack the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court outposts in their bid to get both Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei to retreat. Obviously, the enemies were unaware that the battle at the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost was over.
Under usual circumstances, the maneuver would have worked. Both the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court forces would have been compelled to retreat since capturing the House of Wintry Blossoms would have taken longer time, effort, and not to mention, losses. Just losing men during the course of an ordinary assault would have put both Grand Sky Coalition orders in positions much weaker than before and thus making them vulnerable to counterattacks.
But no one other than the invaders knew that the battle had been won and the outpost fully sacked and vacated.
It was just too fast. Too incredibly and inconceivably fast. The defenses of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost were brought to heel with such lightning-speed alacrity that not even its acolytes could fathom how everything had happened so quickly. Neither would the rest of their allied sects and orders who were now launching assaults of their own on the Hidden Light Sanctuary and the Lofty Plume Court outposts. None of them knew that the invaders had homed in on another prey and were sailing there now.
For this reason, Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei disregarded the messages they received. They left instructions that the strength of their outposts’ defensive wards was to be activated to the fullest while the invaders maintained their advance on Sunlit Mountain.
Minutes later, word came again from their respective outposts, reporting about the Thousand Demon Ridge forces retreating—very hastily too.
Gu Canyang and Zhou Pei had a quick discussion where both of them unanimously concluded that the fall of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost must have leaked out. How else would the sieges by the Thousand Demon Ridge forces at their respective outposts be lifted so soon?
That was true; though Yue Mei had not been able to warn the rest of the Thousand Demon Ridge during the chaotic evacuation from the outpost. When she finally got to safety, she had been trying hard to transmit her warning.
It took her a long time and a huge effort until her warnings finally got through.
Messages between the real world of Jiu Zhou and the Spirit Creek Battlefield could not be transmitted directly. Yue Mei had to deliver her messages to the main strongholds of the ones her warning was intended for, where the acolytes there would pass them onto the Battlefield in her stead.
Naturally, that would mean that the messages needed time before they could reach the intended recipients.
When the legates received Yue Mei’s warning, all of them were flabbergasted.
The purpose of attacking the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court outposts was to pressure the Grand Sky Coalition forces to retreat. It was to help lift the siege of the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost.
But none of them could believe what they just heard: the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost had fallen before everyone could do anything!
If only these legates could communicate with Yue Mei directly. The foremost question looming in their mind was: [What on earth went wrong?! Is there something wrong with your outpost’s defensive ward?!]
With the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost already taken, the attacks on the Grand Sky Coalition outposts had become pointless. But what drove the Thousand Demon Ridge orders to quickly recall their forces was something else: the second part of Yue Mei’s warning.
It said of another unbelievable news, that Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect had developed an ability to slip through a defensive ward’s shield with stealth!
That was how the House of Wintry Blossoms had lost their outpost! Lu Yi Ye had managed to infiltrate the outpost and in his sudden attack on the legate Yue Mei, he somehow secured the jade tablet that controlled the defensive ward and undid its magic.
If the Thousand Demon Ridge legates had never before feared Lu Yi Ye, they did today.
There was nothing wrong with the defensive ward that guarded the House of Wintry Blossoms outpost. It was Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect.
An Eighth-Order who now possessed the ability to slip through defensive wards. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
There was little difference between the strength and capabilities of the House of Wintry Blossoms defensive ward and those of the defensive wards of their outposts. If Lu Yi Ye could enter the House’s outpost unimpeded, then they would surely have to expect that he would encounter little to no difficulty in getting through theirs.
The legate of Sunlit Mountain was the one closest to panicking. He knew how his men had crossed Lu Yi Ye during their exploration of the Lost City of Xianyuan—a mistake that the House of Wintry Blossoms was guilty of as well. So if the House’s outpost was sacked, something told him that his outpost would be next in line.
Knowing that shoring up their defenses was now the pressing matter at hand, every Thousand Demon Ridge order recalled its members. They needed to prepare for the defense against another Grand Sky Coalition invasion unless they wished to follow in the House’s footsteps.
The prolegate of Sunlit Mountain and his men were hurrying in the direction of their outpost when more news arrived.
Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court had come and they were launching fierce attacks on the shield of the Sunlit Mountain defensive ward.
The prolegate was astonished to hear that. He ordered his men to pick up the pace, all the while muttering a long, endless string of curses under his breath at how the legate of the outpost—and his senior brother too—had once again succumbed to the charms of another member of the opposite gender. As soon as he had received Yue Mei’s message for help in the first place, the legate of Sunlit Mountain had made the ill-advised decision to dispatch a force of three hundred men to assist.
Sunlit Mountain outpost had about four hundred men. But with more than three hundred stranded outside, that left barely a hundred men manning the defenses. If Lu Ye could undo the magic of the defensive ward and dispel its shield, the meager force won’t be able to resist the collective might of the Hidden Light Sanctuary and Lofty Plume Court forces.
Even from a distance, the Sunlit Mountain force could see many-hued beams and rays bashing at the phosphorescent shield that guarded their outpost. They stood their ground and watched; none of them dared to press any closer.
With just three hundred men, stampeding straight into a force of more than twice their number was tantamount to suicide.
They cowered and observed from their hidden positions, not wanting to attract any attention.
The outside of the Sunlit Mountain outpost was pandemonium. The invaders fired and attacked relentlessly, trying to whittle down the shield’s integrity by force.
Inside the shield was wholly different altogether; the acolytes and associate independents of Sunlit Mountain were divided into smaller squads that patrolled the area non-stop, making sure that no one—not even Lu Yi Ye—would slip through.
The legate himself was surrounded by a ring of his own men who never stopped flinching at every little noise and bump.
And that was only because of Yue Mei’s warning about Lu Yi Ye. He might be just an Eighth-Order, but he displayed prowess far beyond anyone of his rank. The two blows that he delivered: the first nearly lopped off her head while the second severed an arm, which cost her the jade tablet.
The current legate of Sunlit Mountain was formerly the deputy of his predecessor Qi Ming who was killed in the Lost City of Xianyuan. He had been in contact with Yue Mei before, after his promotion, and he knew how powerful she could be.
So, if Yue Mei was defeated with just two blows, he knew he would fare no better himself. Hence his caution in facing this crisis.
