There was a loud whoosh, but the green fog had not dissipated yet. Without the defensive array, the green flames grew even more aggressive, sweeping toward the cultivators on the city wall. Assisted by the earth-grade spirit stones, Meng Qi raised her hand, and her Five Spirits Cauldron flew out from the fog, floating alongside the crescent moon above the thick fog.
Inside the Five Spirits Cauldron, several green-colored spiritual herbs transformed into a medicinal liquid and quickly began to boil. The mist slowly rose from within, merging with the green flames below, creating an overwhelming atmosphere that seemed to obscure the sky.
Yan Xuan cast a swift glance at Meng Qi. The next moment, he waved his hand and a gust of wind blew, making his sleeves flap loudly. The crescent moon flickered a few times, suddenly disappearing and then reappearing. If one hadn’t been watching the crescent moon closely, they wouldn’t have noticed its subtle changes. After the third flicker, the crescent moon shone even brighter than before. The green mist, which had been covering the crescent moon, was now veiled in a layer of silver moonlight.
Meanwhile, Ling Ji’s lips curled slightly. The tip of his natal sword suddenly tilted up, transforming into a bolt of lightning that shot straight toward the city.
Qin Xiumo’s gaze deepened. He lightly tapped his fingertips, a dark green glow emanating from his fingers and wrapping around his sword. The green light, expanding from his natal sword, slowly formed a net that floated above the sword, looking rather eerie. This was characteristic of Anyun Summit—the dual practice of sword and spell cultivation. With a flick of his finger, Qin Xiumo sent his sword hurtling toward the city wall.
The cultivators on the wall had been so confident that Meng Qi and her group, being overwhelmingly outnumbered, could never break through. But in an instant, the advantage seemed to reverse. The green flames continued to burn wildly above the wall, with the Five Spirits Cauldron suspended high above it. Meng Qi’s expression was very serious; her natal weapon was in perfect sync with her mind, allowing her to clearly perceive the direction of every wisp of green mist.
…
The defensive array of the wall was activated by four cultivators working together. The four stood at each corner of the array, their expressions solemn as they continuously infused spiritual aura into the array. Seated cross-legged in meditation nearby were four more cultivators who had exhausted their aura and were now resting. After the Earthly Camp had entered the city, they had carefully calculated that eight cultivators of equivalent cultivation levels rotating shifts were just enough to keep the defensive array running continuously.
These four had just replaced the previous group of four. The wall was in chaos, which they could see clearly from their position. However, no one was overly worried, let alone leaving their post. Even if the opponents were strong, their numbers were far greater, and each one of them was an elite disciple of the top ten sects. Their opponents might be hailed as geniuses, but they were not far behind either. With almost twenty times in number, and the actual gap in strength not being too wide, plus the aid of the city’s numerous arrays… well, as long as there were no major mistakes, they could easily defend the city until the time limit.
As such, despite maintaining serious expressions, the four were fairly calm. Spiritual aura flowed continuously into the array, while the resting cultivators meditated to recover their energy. Their task was to maintain the array, not to assist the battle on the wall. Compared to the chaos over there, the area around the array was so peaceful it belied the tension of a battle already underway.
“Ugh—” At that moment, one of the cultivators infusing spiritual aura into the array suddenly groaned. The four sitting cross-legged on the ground immediately looked over to see the cultivator, who was at the peak of the Spirit Severing stage, clutching his chest and falling backward.
“Fellow Daoist!” One of the resting four quickly jumped up to support the falling cultivator. This shouldn’t be happening! He was puzzled. All eight of them had similar cultivation levels, and these four had just recently replaced the previous group. By all rights, they shouldn’t be exhausted of spiritual aura so quickly.
Despite his thoughts, the cultivator quickly caught the groaning one, preparing to take his place and continue infusing aura into the array.
“Ugh—”
To everyone’s surprise, another groan sounded, and another cultivator suddenly fell backward. Before anyone could react, the remaining two cultivators—one clutching his chest, the other letting out a scream—both collapsed to the ground.
“Poison!” the screaming cultivator fell with a thud. Clutching his chest with one hand, he raised the other, tremblingly pointing at the array. “Poison…”
“Poison?!” The four cultivators recovering their aura were stunned. “The array is poisoned?!”
They couldn’t comprehend what exactly was happening here, but the fallen cultivators’ lips had turned black, clearly showing signs of poisoning. “Call for help,” one of them decisively flicked his fingers, releasing a small firework with his aura. This was a prearranged signal the Earthly Camp had prepared in the beginning; the city was small, and their people were spread throughout. If a particular area was in trouble, those in charge would use these spiritual fireworks as distress signals.
As the four released the spiritual firework, they laid the poisoned cultivators flat on the ground. The battle on the southern wall was intense, and they couldn’t delay. They quickly moved to take the place of the fallen four, intending to maintain the wall’s defensive array.
“No!” One of the fallen cultivators suddenly raised his upper body, gasping for breath, and urgently warned, “The array… it’s poisoned!”
“Huh?” The four were stunned. The next instant, they no longer had to guess what was happening—as soon as they infused their spiritual aura into the array, an extremely chilling sensation rushed through their meridians to their spiritual sea. The icy aura, clearly coming from the array, froze their spiritual seas in an instant.
“Ah…!!!” Their puzzled exclamations turned into screams. They fell backward and collapsed to the ground just like the previous four, their lips turning black. One of them, a medical cultivator, struggled to lift himself and reached shakily into his storage pouch, trying to retrieve an antidote.
…
Back on the southern city wall, Ling Ji and Qin Xiumo’s swords had already re-launched their assaults. The Earthly Camp cultivators on the wall were a bit nervous, but they were not overly fearful. After all, regardless of the strength of Ling Ji and Qin Xiumo’s swords, their power was restricted at the Spirit Severing stage, while the defensive array on the wall was powered by four Spirit Severing stage cultivators. It was more than enough to block their attacks.
Instead, it was the flame-like green fog under the crescent moonlight that made them uneasy. Yan Xuan was behind the crescent moon, and the green fog released by the earth-grade spirit stones was witnessed by everyone on the wall. They watched Meng Qi nervously, then glanced at Yun Qingyan. The sword cultivators had their natal swords floating beside them, their tips aimed at Meng Qi, ready to strike at any moment. The spell cultivators also didn’t lag behind—they all had their natal weapons at the ready, glowing faintly, ready to unleash a barrage of spells on Meng Qi and her companions at any second.
They hadn’t acted yet because the defensive array was still in place. They were conserving their strength, preparing to launch a powerful attack on the Heavenly Camp.
Just then, a spiritual firework flashed in the sky, blinking three times before exploding and disappearing.
“It’s from the array side,” someone immediately said.
“What happened over there?”
“Is it a sneak attack?”
“They only have five people here, where are the other four?”
The wall defenders had noticed there were only five attackers on Meng Qi’s side. Initially, they were shocked by Ling Ji’s sudden appearance, followed by Yan Xuan’s natal weapon drawing their attention. Only now did they realize, somewhat belatedly, that only five people were attacking the city, with four others still unaccounted for.
Among those four was Pei Mufeng, the young Pavilion Master of Xingluo Pavilion and a prominent sword cultivator of their generation—a formidable opponent not to be ignored.
“It’s done.” Meng Qi lightly waved her hand, and the Five Spirits Cauldron spun in the air. She exhaled, feeling her spiritual sea almost depleted.
However…
“The defensive array!” someone on the wall suddenly shouted, “The defensive array has disappeared!”
Yan Xuan’s crescent moon flickered again, its moonlight becoming brighter, illuminating the wall. At that moment, Ling Ji and Qin Xiumo’s swords, like leopards finally sighting their prey, transformed into two streaks of cold light and shot in the direction of the city wall.
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Translator’s Note:
There are some plot inconsistencies in this chapter. Some of you may have known, but THDP has entered a semi-hiatus mode since around chapter 153 (way back at the end of 2020). It took months, sometimes almost a year, before a new chapter was released or new content added to an already-published chapter, which explains why the plot isn’t consistent at times. At present, the latest chapter is 179, released this January. Chapter 178 was released August 2023 and chapter 177 also in August… 2022.
I will continue translating THDP regularly until the latest chapter available, after which I will move it out from regular schedule to ‘Hiatus’ status and translate as the chapter comes out (Daughter of the Dao and Devil Venerable is in a similar situation, though unlike THDP, the author still consistently update about once a month). I will translate as best as I can, but since I have to stay faithful to the raw, there is nothing I can do if the plot goes inconsistent.
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