Chapter 7

### Chapter 7: A Hard Battle

"Up ahead is Wind and Thunder Mountain. Each team should act according to the plan. Does anyone have any objections?"

In the boat, Lin Feifeng spoke calmly, giving Feng Rui a faint glance.

"I, my opinion matters? I'll follow the captain's arrangements."

Feng Rui opened his mouth, glanced at everyone, and helplessly shook his head. Some people shook their heads, others nodded, but it was unclear whether they had no objections or were pleased by Feng Rui's self-awareness.

"Then let's proceed as planned. We'll meet back here in three days. Be careful, and try not to provoke the thunder eagles on the mountain."

Lin Feifeng found the term "captain" in Feng Rui's mouth somewhat grating. This guy usually didn't call him captain, how insincere. After some thought, he unusually added a few more words.

On that day, Feng Rui's magical cultivation had greatly improved. Later, he easily dealt with the Red Fire Bees, and after half a month, successfully transplanted five Thousand Illusion Flowers into the Immortal Mansion. Not daring to stay long, he quickly flew back to White Water City. Before leaving, he had a sudden idea and also collected dozens of Red Fire Bees into the Immortal Mansion. He didn't know what use they had, but he felt there was something peculiar about the relationship between the Red Fire Bees and the Thousand Illusion Flowers. He decided to try it out, as there were no precious medicinal herbs in the Immortal Mansion.

The five Thousand Illusion Flowers showed no signs of being uncomfortable with the environment inside the Immortal Mansion. A few days later, they took root and grew even more luxuriantly than on Red Fire Island. The dozens of Red Fire Bees also caused no trouble, busily working on the Thousand Illusion Flowers. After a few days, they even built a small beehive, planning to settle down. Feng Rui could only smile wryly, but fortunately, perhaps due to their small numbers, they showed no desire to expand their territory and coexisted peacefully with the ordinary bees. They also didn't provoke Feng Rui, who didn't bother with them. He didn't know if the Thousand Illusion Flowers would bloom, and there was no point in rushing it.

Days passed quietly in ordinary cultivation.

During the resumed patrol mission, at the two locations where they needed to split up, Feng Rui suggested acting together. It was less efficient but safer. Although the others were somewhat skeptical, they didn't object in the end. They patrolled the several key points of the warning array, and everything was normal, with no incidents.

Afterward, seeing Liu Yingying muttering discontentedly, Feng Rui knew exactly what she was grumbling about, even without thinking. He could only touch his nose and look at Zhu Yubei with a wry smile. After the Dugu Feng incident, everyone's attitude toward him had become more natural, but his influence in the team hadn't fundamentally changed.

"In the end, it's still a matter of lacking strength! I hope I'm overthinking this time."

Feng Rui thought with a hint of helplessness. He had no real evidence, just a feeling that as an outstanding core disciple of the Spirit Control Sect, Dugu Feng's capture would not be taken lightly by the sect. It was better to be cautious. However, splitting up was more efficient, and the gains in spiritual herbs and materials were more substantial. As the slowest in flying speed, Feng Rui understood Liu Yingying's thoughts. Others might think the same, just not as obviously as Liu Yingying.

The Wind and Thunder Mountain area had three array points. Feng Rui's team consisted of Lin Feifeng, Liu Yingying, and Li Qi, four people in total. Li Qi was a sword cultivator from the Jade Sword Sect, known for his sharp attacks, suppressing opponents with powerful strikes, and focusing all his cultivation on a flying sword, making him the fastest flyer among the four. Lin Feifeng and Liu Yingying's flying swords were also high-quality magical artifacts, while Feng Rui's green bamboo sword was far behind, so he had no choice but to increase his spiritual power output.

This green cloud sword, though only a low-grade magical artifact, was quite suitable for Feng Rui. Made from a 3,000-year-old green cloud bamboo combined with materials of metal, water, fire, and earth attributes, it had good affinity with the five elements. It was a gift from the old ancestor of the Feng family after Feng Rui reached the Foundation Establishment stage. However, due to the emphasis on affinity with the five elements during its creation, other aspects were mediocre, with both attack power and flying speed inferior to single-attribute low-grade flying swords, let alone high-grade ones.

Feng Rui had heard of a Five Elements Sword Formation, which required five flying swords of different attributes to form a powerful array, ideal for cultivators who cultivated all five elements. Unfortunately, he had only heard of it and could only imagine the grandeur of controlling five flying swords simultaneously. Such top-tier techniques were far beyond the reach of the Feng family.

The Spring Rain Technique also contained a secret method for refining a life-bound magical treasure after reaching the Core Formation stage, claiming great power. However, Feng Rui didn't dare to hope much for the Spring Rain Technique's attack power, to avoid greater disappointment. Moreover, it was of no immediate help.

He had also been looking for a suitable flying sword but never had the opportunity. Flying swords were already the most popular among cultivators, and those suitable for him and available on the market were even rarer. As for preparing five flying swords, not only did he lack the extra spirit stones and financial resources, but even if he had them, a magical artifact wasn't something that could be used to its full potential easily. It required refinement, nurturing, and adaptation, and more wasn't always better.

Therefore, a cultivator usually refined one offensive and one defensive magical artifact. Sword cultivators, in particular, refined only one flying sword for life, using it for both attack and defense, earning a fearsome reputation in Huaxia and never to be underestimated. Moreover, unless a cultivator had learned techniques like sword formations or special sets of mother and child swords or flying needles, they could control at most three magical artifacts simultaneously, more being of no use.

"You're just being alarmist. Even your flying sword is like this. Tsk tsk. If you keep opposing us, you'll see what it's like. Senior Sister, go faster, tire him out, hmpf."

Seeing Feng Rui's狼狈样, Liu Yingying felt greatly relieved and said to Lin Feifeng half-jokingly.

"Alarmist? What alarmist?"

Lin Feifeng seemed to be thinking about something and repeated it subconsciously. Suddenly, he remembered the conversation with his uncle, slowly stopped, and landed on an open ground. He spread his divine sense, found nothing suspicious, and tapped his storage bag. A seven-petaled lotus appeared in his hand. Without any visible action, the small lotus floated in the air, gradually growing larger until it was about ten feet in diameter. The petals were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, shimmering and colorful under the sunlight, slowly rotating and exquisitely beautiful.

"Everyone, come up."

Lin Feifeng called to the three who had landed.

"Seven-colored flying lotus, so beautiful! I wish I could have one someday." Liu Yingying was the first to jump onto the flying lotus, looking around with envy.

"Thank you, Captain."

"Thank you, Immortal Lin."

"You're welcome, let's go."

Lin Feifeng cast a spell, and the seven-colored flying lotus slowly rose, flying higher and higher until it reached 300 feet, then stopped and moved forward. Lin Feifeng changed the spell, and white mist began to rise from under the lotus. The mist grew thicker but did not disperse, eventually enveloping the entire lotus in a dense white fog. The fog changed constantly, making it look like a cloud floating in the wind from a distance.

"Such excellent concealment, your sect's seven-colored flying lotus is truly well-deserved."

Feng Rui's divine sense tested the white mist and found it could also block divine sense detection, making him greatly envious. At such a height, with the mist blocking divine sense, ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators would definitely not detect the flying lotus. Most Foundation Establishment cultivators flew no higher than 100 feet because the higher the altitude, the stronger the wind, and the more spiritual power consumed.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Feng. It's not very useful against Golden Core cultivators, and it sacrifices some speed, just a unique feature."

Clearly, Lin Feifeng was very proud of the seven-colored flying lotus, even smiling a bit.

"Talking about Golden Core, that's the difference in perspective, can't help but admire."

Feng Rui sighed inwardly but said nothing more. Li Qi was naturally quiet, and for a moment, the flying lotus was silent as the four focused on restoring their spiritual power.

"Let's get off, we're almost there."

Three hours later, with only about 50 miles left, Feng Rui looked at Lin Feifeng, feeling a bit apologetic, and spoke.

Lin Feifeng didn't look at Feng Rui but cast a spell, slowing the flying lotus. The white mist slowly returned to the lotus, and when it was completely gone, everyone followed Lin Feifeng out. After Lin Feifeng put away the flying lotus, they quickly descended to about 100 feet and flew toward the target.

Soon, the four arrived above a small, circular valley. The valley was small, only five miles in diameter, surrounded by mountains. A small waterfall flowed down from the eastern mountain, forming a small pond, and a shallow stream about a foot deep meandered out of the valley. The stones in the stream were clearly visible, and the banks were lined with clusters of green bamboo. The valley was filled with colorful flowers, and the sound of water falling into the pond added to the tranquility. Such small valleys were common in the Qishan Mountains, with no peculiarities.

The four arrived at the edge of the pond. Lin Feifeng took out a round magical artifact and was about to cast a spell when six sword lights descended from the sky. Three of them headed straight for Lin Feifeng, and the other three attacked Feng Rui, Liu Yingying, and Li Qi.

"Bad, it's an ambush!"

Feng Rui ignored the sword lights attacking him, only trying to avoid vital areas. He simultaneously cast two Wind Blade spells, intercepting the two sword lights heading for Lin Feifeng from the side. He felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, hearing the sound of metal clashing and Liu Yingying's cry of pain and the sound of water splashing.

Feng Rui, ignoring his injuries, shouted in pain, "The three of us will hold them off, Lin Feifeng, set up the array quickly."

His voice no longer lazy, it had a touch of authority. As he spoke, three shields appeared, growing to over a person's height in the blink of an eye, circling Lin Feifeng. He then spat out a green flying sword, which didn't fly out but hovered in front of him.

The blackwood shields were Feng Rui's prized magical artifacts, with average defensive power but the advantage of being a set of three. Although they were difficult to control, they excelled in tight defense. Amid the clashing sounds, the three flying swords could not break through.

Lin Feifeng saw Li Qi's flying sword entangled with a green and a red sword light, Liu Yingying's right leg bleeding profusely but still fiercely controlling her flying sword to battle a yellow sword light, and the three shields under Feng Rui's focused control gradually dimming but still very agile. Although the situation was urgent, they showed no signs of defeat.

Lin Feifeng's mind calmed, and she wiped her hands on her waist, revealing two small flags and a white disk. Without looking, she threw the flags to the ground, and a flash of spiritual light appeared, making the flags disappear. She continued casting spells on the white disk, and soon, a white light flashed on the ground, forming a circular spiritual barrier around the four. The six flying swords, seeing the situation, flew back, and the blackwood shields let out a mournful sound, falling to the ground and shrinking back to palm size, clearly damaged in the short but intense battle.

Feng Rui put away the blackwood shields, pressed his right hand on his left shoulder to stop the bleeding, and swallowed a blood-replenishing pill. He then looked around and saw six black-robed cultivators, their faces covered with black masks, making it impossible to see their features. Five men and one woman, two were at the middle Foundation Establishment stage, and four were at the early stage, forming a three-sided encirclement about 20 feet away. They used various techniques to attack the spiritual barrier but did not approach further.

Feng Rui had a sudden idea and sent a sound transmission talisman, a red light flashing and disappearing.

"Bad, that kid sent a distress signal. Everyone, hurry up. They just finished a long flight, their spiritual power must be low. Get closer and attack, don't give them time to recover. A small Four Elements Array supported by an array disk won't last long."

A tall black-robed cultivator recalled his flying sword and summoned a brick-shaped magical artifact, slowly flying into the air, growing to the size of a house, and viciously pressing down on the spiritual barrier, looking extremely powerful.

The tall black-robed cultivator was clearly the leader. One of them stepped forward and summoned a small, earth-colored tower, while the other four continued to control their flying swords, slowly advancing, getting closer to the spiritual barrier.

Liu Yingying and Li Qi's flying swords struggled to intercept the various magical artifacts, feeling the pressure increase.

Feng Rui, however, put away his flying sword and used small spells to deflect the opponents' flying swords, preventing them from accurately attacking the array's weak points. The opponents' flying swords could still hit the spiritual barrier, but their effectiveness was greatly reduced, easing the pressure on Lin Feifeng, who was focused on controlling the array.

Although Lin Feifeng was curious about the red light Feng Rui had sent, she had more pressing concerns, sending spiritual power into the array and planning an escape.

Seeing the opponents' meticulous planning and formidable skills, even if they split up, the opponents would have a strategy. She couldn't think of a good plan in the short time.

Feeling her spiritual power would last for a while, she was somewhat relieved. If they had flown directly, she would have been more worried. She couldn't help but think about the other two teams, who might also encounter an ambush. If that was the case, Lin Feifeng felt a chill and secretly regretted splitting up.

"Feng Rui, that bastard, can't stick to his own opinion, not at all like a man. I'll deal with you when we get back."

The brick-shaped magical artifact and the earth-colored tower, though slow, were effective against the array. The four had no means to counter such brute-force magical artifacts, and each attack made the spiritual barrier shake.

After half an hour, the spiritual barrier was on the verge of collapse, and Lin Feifeng's spiritual power was waning. The six opponents were overjoyed.

After a long attack, they were already frustrated and exhausted, and the red light from Feng Rui's sound transmission talisman was still on their minds. With Feng Rui and the others focused on defense, they had no time to attack. The six used all their techniques, attacking with full force, getting closer to the spiritual barrier, now less than ten feet away.

"Put in more effort, the bitch can't hold on."

"Haha, we'll exhaust her to death."

"Be careful, don't let her escape."

"Right, right, not a single one can be missed."

...

Amid the chaotic shouting, their attacks became even more reckless.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.