The current situation did seem a bit ridiculous. When the thick fog had first appeared, the cultivators of the Earthly Camp in the city had been keeping a close eye on it. With a crescent moon hanging high above it, the greenish fog grew denser and denser, looking quite eerie.
Especially after a disciple of the Jingyuetian Sect arrived and exclaimed that the crescent moon was the natal weapon of the supposedly injured Yan Xuan, everyone became even more vigilant.
—No matter how downfallen Yan Xuan was after his injury, his reputation as a genius was indeed well-earned. He had gradually risen to fame through countless bouts with his peers, becoming the undisputed number one talent of his generation across the Three Thousand Worlds.
But now, looking at the green fog blocked outside the city by the curtain of light… watching the fog seemingly lay softly against the barrier as if it were acting coy, many people couldn’t help but laugh. Even the previously tense atmosphere seemed to lighten a bit. Some of the Earthly Camp cultivators even smiled and waved at Meng Qi, who stood in place after the fog floated away.
Although they stood on different sides on what was called Ten Absolutes Mountain Battlefield, for now at least, there was no display of desperation and ruthlessness that comes with life-or-death combat.
Meng Qi’s expression remained unchanged as she kept focusing intently on the fog. Her Five Spirits Cauldron was within it, a natal weapon attuned by nature to its owner’s mind. With her current level of medical cultivation, though she couldn’t precisely control every bit of poison sent into the fog, she could sense the subtle changes in the defensive array through the Five Spirits Cauldron.
“You can draw arrays on the ground,” Yun Qingyan suddenly said, “so you can also use arrays within the fog.”
“Eh?” Meng Qi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, “You mean…”
“Try it,” Yun Qingyan nodded at her.
“Okay.” Meng Qi no longer hesitated. She took a deep breath and began to focus on her spiritual sense. The connection between her and the Five Spirits Cauldron was intricate and profound; a natal weapon would naturally obey its owner’s every command. She had just never thought of doing it this way before.
Now, Meng Qi closed her eyes, drawing her spiritual sense inward. The Five Spirits Cauldron seemed to appear right before her eyes. She could sense all its movements and was acutely aware of the fog’s presence. Every bit of the poison she had sent into the fog earlier became vividly clear as if she was looking at it with her own eyes.
With a soft buzz, Meng Qi’s Five Spirits Cauldron suddenly moved. The dark green fog that had become so thick and dense was torn apart in an instant, leaving trails wherever the cauldron passed. Its movement was so quick that Qin Xiumo and Yan Xuan, standing right beside Meng Qi, had barely noticed it when the fog seemed to be instantly split apart by a complete array. The pattern looked somewhat eerie, yet it was so precise and beautiful.
“What are they doing?”
“I have no idea.”
“Seems a bit weird.”
“Haha… w-well, maybe they are frustrated because they can’t break in, so they’re just drawing for fun?” someone half-jokingly said.
But no one laughed at his joke. There wasn’t even a single extra laugh on the city wall. On the contrary, as soon as the man’s voice fell, the wall became extremely quiet. The fog that had seemed to lie softly against the city’s defensive barrier, almost coyly, had now completely transformed. The green fog began to burn fiercely, as if it could turn into a blaze at any moment, ready to devour the entire barrier.
“So you chose Lihuo…” Yun Qingyan nodded slightly. With a wave of his hand, seven or eight crystal-clear spirit stones, emitting a brilliant spiritual light, flew from his palm toward the array.
“Earth-grade spirit stones!!!” This time, the cultivators inside and outside the city exclaimed in unison. Especially the Earthly Camp cultivators, who had not paid much attention to the white-robed man standing beside Meng Qi. Initially, their attention was almost entirely drawn to Ling Ji, who had suddenly appeared in the Ten Absolutes Mountain, and then to Yan Xuan, who seemingly had recovered his power. Moreover, none of them had ever actually seen Yun Qingyan before. They could hardly believe that apart from Ling Ji, the Heavenly Camp could find such a powerful ally.
And now, that mysterious white-robed man finally made his move. Although he wasn’t directly launching an attack, those were earth-grade spirit stones!
If they had been profound-grade spirit stones, the Earthly Camp cultivators would not have been so surprised—among the provisions their sect had equipped them prior to their departure to the Ten Absolutes Mountain, there were plenty who had also brought some profound-grade spirit stones.
But not earth-grade spirit stones! The value of a single earth-grade spirit stone was so immense that even the treasured disciples from the top ten sects didn’t know how to measure it. In their sects, the value of a treasure or a rare material was measured using profound-grade spirit stones at most, which already indicated extreme rarity. Occasionally, they would hear elders mention items sold for earth-grade spirit stones in the Heaven Auction House, but such prices were far removed from their experience and involved items powerful enough to be an important addition to a sect’s legacy.
Now…
On the city walls, the Earthly Camp cultivators could only stare blankly, their emotions turbulent. In the blink of an eye, the earth-grade spirit stones had flown from the white-robed man’s hand and embedded themselves into the thick fog. For a moment, they even forgot they were supposed to defend the city and should have been stopping the Heavenly Camp. Deep down, some were even secretly eager to see what would happen next. What kind of technique required the use of earth-grade spirit stones, anyway?
And they were not alone—even Meng Qi’s own comrades outside the city were somewhat taken aback. Especially Ling Ji, who glanced back at Yun Qingyan. Unlike the distant Earthly Camp cultivators, he heard every word of Meng Qi and Yun Qingyan’s conversation and knew that this guy was genuinely teaching Meng Qi. Ling Ji quickly concluded that this kind of interaction seemed completely natural to them. One teaching, one learning—the trust and tacit understanding between them were so deep that no one could intervene.
Though Ling Ji loathed to admit it, he could also see that Meng Qi’s trust in Yun Qingyan far exceeded her trust in him. He cast a strange look at Yun Qingyan, then glanced at the thick fog. Earth-grade spirit stones… he could procure them, too. As a long-renowned sword cultivator and now the sect leader of the Duankong Sect, he of course possessed earth-grade spirit stones. But to casually throw out seven or eight? Even he would hesitate.
All this happened in a flash. In that brief moment when everyone was frozen with astonishment, the thick fog outside the city wall’s curtain of light began to boil more intensely. No longer just a thick fog, the spiritual aura bursting from the embedded earth-grade spirit stones made the entire fog seethe. Green flames soared into the sky, burning fiercely, with tongues of fire lashing out at the light formed by the defensive array.
“Hurry!” The Earthly Camp cultivators on the city walls snapped back to reality. “Stop her!”
In an instant, four or five natal swords whistled through the air, rushing toward the fog. At the same time, three or four spells targeted the thick fog, aiming to halt it.
“Heh—” Yun Qingyan chuckled softly, “It’s too late.” His tone was certain, his gaze bright as he stood calmly beside Meng Qi, gazing upon the Earthly Camp cultivators on the city wall. Despite the fact that they were on the wall and he was below it, those who met the man’s eyes felt as if he was the one looking down on them.
“Ah…!!!!” Inside the city, near the southern city wall, a few muffled groans mixed with screams suddenly echoed. At the same time, the curtain of light created by the defensive array, which had been protecting the defenders until now, gradually dimmed.
“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
“What is it?”
“Is this…?”
The Earthly Camp cultivators quickly sensed something was amiss. At this moment, someone suddenly leaped onto the wall and shouted, “Medical cultivators! Where are medical cultivators?! Some people have been poisoned. We need three medical cultivators over here!”
Several people recognized this person—he was responsible for safeguarding the cultivators who were continuously infusing aura into the defensive array.
“What happened?” someone immediately asked.
“I don’t know, they suddenly got poisoned. Where are the medical cultivators? Come with me to check on them.”
Several medical cultivators on the wall immediately followed the cultivator toward the array. The remaining cultivators looked at each other with a mixture of shock and doubt, then turned to look at Meng Qi outside the city. Ultimately, everyone’s eyes fell on the green fog. With the defensive array gone, the entire wall was exposed to Meng Qi and her fellow Heavenly Camp attackers.
The Earthly Camp cultivators were still curious about how their comrades had been poisoned. But as they looked at Ling Ji and the others outside the city, their expressions suddenly changed—
“Not good!” someone exclaimed in shock. They had been too careless—distracted by the strange green fog!
Outside the city were Ling Ji, Yan Xuan, Qin Xiumo… each one was a formidable opponent. They were not foes to be easily underestimated.
They had been careless! With the defensive array’s help, this small city was easy to defend and hard to attack, not to mention how their numbers overwhelmingly surpassed the Heavenly Camp by more than tenfold. From the start, they were confident of victory, believing that no matter what, the Heavenly Camp wouldn’t be able to break their defense. Even when Ling Ji suddenly appeared and took down two of their members, causing some panic, they quickly regrouped and activated the defensive arrays. With a strong barrier that could repel even Ling Ji’s attack, they quickly felt safe again.
But now, the defensive array was suddenly gone.
And outside the city were the menacing figures of Ling Ji, Yan Xuan, and Qin Xiumo. There was also the white-robed man who had thrown out a few earth-grade spirit stones but had yet to make a move. Some cultivators among the Earthly Camp reacted swiftly and immediately summoned their natal weapons. Though not as strong as Yan Xuan and the others, these cultivators were still among the more talented of their generation. In an instant, the air was filled with endless buzzing sounds as various swords and weapons hovered around their respective owners.
—Even without the defensive array, they could still defend the city!
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What a fantastic read! Thank you so much for translating. I’ve been on the edge of my seat.