Chapter 42

As cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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Lixianghai was unable to suppress the disturbance in his Spirit Sea in time. True Essence surged into his meridians, directly impacting his internal organs, instantly tearing his delicate organs to shreds. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground, his face pale. The Thunder Spirit Flag also dropped from his head...

"Poison!"

Lixianghai's mental connection with the Thunder Spirit Flag was severed, and the Thunder Net that blocked the ambush forces immediately lost control and collapsed. It ultimately transformed into dozens of uncontrollable thunder pillars, sizzling and darting around, piercing through the formation of Dao soldiers and martial troops hastily formed behind the Thunder Net.

Dozens of people were hit by the thunder pillars, screaming in pain. Over ten people were burned to charcoal by the Yang Thunder Fire, and the formations on both flanks instantly collapsed.

The ambush forces surged out like a flood, charging towards the center of the stone fort, colliding with the bodies of the inner disciples who controlled their magical treasures and spirit swords. Among them, over a hundred people had extremely agile figures, not wearing heavy armor, but holding heavy weapons like chain hammers and iron whips, attacking the magical treasures and spirit swords with overwhelming force.

Chen Hai, Ge Tong, Shen Kun, and Zhou Jun retreated to Chen Qing's side, planning to charge into the stone fort with two or three dozen other Dao soldiers to join the inner disciples. However, seeing Lixianghai's abnormal condition, they were all startled: if Chen Qing was like this, and Lixianghai was like this, it was definitely not a coincidence.

Soon, the third, fourth, and fifth inner disciples fell to the ground, their faces pale, spitting out large mouthfuls of blood, their internal organs severely injured...

"What's happening?" Zhou Jun promptly retreated to the gap in the stone fort, trembling with fear, asking Chen Qing what had happened.

"Poisoned. I just took a pill to restore my True Essence, but the True Essence in my Spirit Sea surged into my meridians, impacting my internal organs!" Chen Qing's face was extremely grim, sweat rolling down her forehead, blood still oozing from the corners of her mouth, as if a thousand knives and swords were churning in her abdomen, groaning in pain as she explained the situation to Zhou Jun, Chen Hai, and others.

This was caused by True Essence surging into the Spirit Meridians and impacting the internal organs. She was slightly better off than Lixianghai, mainly because when she took the pill, her True Essence in the Spirit Sea was nearly depleted, and the True Essence surging into the Spirit Meridians was not particularly intense. Even so, she temporarily lost her combat ability and could only rely on the protection of Su Zilin, Qian Wenyi, and others.

"It's the Reverse Spirit Powder. The rebels mixed Reverse Spirit Powder into the mountain spring, and we all fell for it. Disciples, do not rashly mobilize your Essence and Qi, or refine True Essence!" Instructor Qi Siyu spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale, sitting among the scattered corpses, struggling to raise his voice to warn the other disciples not to take pills to refine and replenish their True Essence, and then uncontrollably spat out another mouthful of blood.

"The Reverse Spirit Powder, banned by the Great Yan Empire and various sects and tribes?" Hearing Qi Siyu's warning, everyone was terrified, never expecting the rebels of Yulong Mountain to possess such banned drugs and to have drugged all the sect's cultivators without their knowledge.

Chen Hai and the others did not know how the Reverse Spirit Powder was refined, but as Dao soldiers of the Taiwei Sect, they had heard of it before.

Being drugged with this banned drug, only a tiny amount of the drug's power needed to be integrated into the blood and qi. It was hard to detect under normal circumstances and would not cause any abnormalities. However, for cultivators above the Spirit Opening Realm, when they refined True Essence and stored it in the Secret Palace of the Spirit Sea, the drug's power would enter the Spirit Sea with the newly refined True Essence and cause a violent reaction.

For cultivators below the Spirit Opening Realm, even if they were drugged, it would not cause any hindrance.

As a powerful weapon for cultivators above the Spirit Opening Realm, the Reverse Spirit Powder had caused many high-level cultivators to suffer since its inception and had always been strictly banned by various tribes and sects.

Even if a disciple secretly refined it without the intention to harm others, they would still be punished with severe penalties.

The Reverse Spirit Powder had not appeared in Yanzhou for over a hundred years. Who would have thought that the rebels of Yulong Mountain would have such a banned drug?

In the previous attack, ordinary Dao soldiers and martial troops mainly took the lead. The inner disciples only briefly came forward to control their magical treasures and spirit swords to break through the fort walls. By the time they rushed into the stone fort and continued to pursue the rebels fleeing to the Huanglong Lake, and saw the ambush forces emerging from the caves on both sides of the mountains, they were in a panic and thought about replenishing their True Essence and magical power to deal with the upcoming fierce battle.

Chen Qing, Xie Wenzhuo, and Lu Hongqian had already been drugged, with their True Essence surging and impacting their internal organs, but they did not think it was due to the Reverse Spirit Powder. Qi Siyu's warning came too late.

Nearly half of the inner disciples fell to the ground, their faces pale, their spirit swords and magical treasures losing control and falling. The other inner disciples did not dare to rashly mobilize their limited True Essence and could only retrieve their spirit swords and magical treasures, causing the defensive circle to be torn apart by the ambush forces...

"Go!" Chen Hai, Ge Tong, and Shen Kun exchanged glances. Although rescuing someone like Lixianghai would be a great achievement, with their mixed and mediocre cultivation, rushing into the stone fort would be suicide. They could only decisively簇拥着被苏紫菱、钱文义架起来的陈青，先往山下撤去。

Zhou Jun hesitated for a moment, ultimately realizing that the current situation was beyond his ability to turn the tide. He and a dozen close fellow disciples followed Chen Hai, retreating down the mountain.

Although there were still hundreds of Dao soldiers and martial troops in the stone fort, their individual combat power was no less than that of top-notch wandering knights and swordsmen, but in such a chaotic situation, even the strongest individual combat power could not withstand the overwhelming force.

The lack of coordination among the Dao soldiers was also fully exposed. Although their individual combat power was extremely strong, they could not unite and form a cohesive force. The loose defenses on both flanks were quickly torn apart by the ambush forces.

Many disciples carried Golden Diamond Dharma Talismans, which they used in emergencies. Millions of golden secret runes flowed around their bodies, forming an invisible protective armor outside their armor. However, this Golden Diamond Armor could only withstand about eighteen strikes from weapons and was not invincible.

At this moment, hundreds of ambush forces surged forward, leaving no room for maneuver in the narrow space. In the blink of an eye, countless weapons stabbed and slashed.

A Golden Diamond Dharma Talisman required two or three hundred points of sect merit to obtain, but the protective armor it could form could only sustain the disciples for a few more breaths before being shattered...

Dozens of spirit birds circling in the sky, seeing the grim situation in the stone fort below, did not turn to flee but, driven by their protective instincts, dove down. However, from the dense forests on both sides of the stone peaks, a dense swarm of arrows flew out, covering the dozen fierce birds...

These spirit birds had feathers and scales as hard as gold and stone, unafraid of ordinary swords and arrows, but when thousands of iron-tipped arrows shot at them, they were not immune. Their wings were broken, and feathers fell, and they let out mournful cries as they continued to charge towards the stone fort below.

Among them, the spirit vulture tamed by Lixianghai was the most ferocious. Its massive wings flapped, creating a strong wind that scattered the arrows. Occasionally, one or two iron arrows hit it, but they only sparked and bounced off. This feathered beast had cultivated its feathers to be as hard as metal.

At this moment, a wisp of black smoke rose from the dense forest, swirling towards the spirit vulture.

It was unknown what the black smoke was made of, but Chen Hai and the others, who had retreated to the foot of the stone slope, saw the spirit vulture, which was unafraid of swords, enveloped in the black smoke, emitting a mournful cry. When the vulture struggled to break free from the black smoke, its feathers and scales, as hard as metal, were corroded and pitted, and it fell towards the stone fort below, barely hanging on...

"The rebels' ambush forces have the help of rogue cultivators, and they are even poison cultivators..." Zhou Jun said, trembling with fear.

"What should we do?" Qian Wenyi asked.

Not everyone had entered the stone fort. There were still a batch of Dao soldiers and martial troops and their retinues left to guard the carriages and horses. Including Chen Hai and the others who had not been caught up in the battle and hastily retreated, there were over two hundred people who had retreated to the previous attack position, looking at the stone fort, where the sounds of battle had not yet ceased, filled with the clash of swords and the glow of blades.

The battle was not over, and if they fled now, they would face severe punishment from the sect for deserting their posts. However, everyone knew that the situation had already collapsed. Once the Dao soldiers and inner disciples in the stone fort were annihilated, how could they escape the pursuit of the rebels' ambush forces in the heart of Yulong Mountain?

Moreover, among the rebels' ambush forces were rogue cultivators with ulterior motives, taking advantage of the chaos.

Could they, with over two hundred people, break through the encirclement and escape from Yulong Mountain?

Just as everyone was hesitating, the sword light at the north wall of the fort suddenly intensified. It was the inner elder leading the central army, activating the Six Sword Formation. Chen Hai and the others saw the white sword light surge out like a river breaking its banks, shredding everything in a ten-meter-wide area into meat paste, and even iron weapons were shattered.

Although the inner elder might be at the end of his strength, seeing the power of the sword formation he controlled, Chen Hai's spirits were lifted, thinking that this was the true strength of a late-stage Enlightenment Realm cultivator.

"What should we do?" Shen Kun and Ge Tong, seeing this, also realized that after the initial panic, the people trapped in the stone fort were preparing to break out. However, they were still in a panic and did not know how to deal with the situation.

Should they send people to charge up the steep slope to provide support?

Looking at the chaos around them, who had the courage to charge forward after finally pulling away from the ambush forces?

"Form a formation, form a formation! Elder Lixianghai and the others are trying to break out of the encirclement. The ambush forces will follow. We cannot lose our composure!" Chen Hai picked up his iron halberd and struck the cold iron shield, shouting loudly, hoping to calm the people.

The majority of the Dao soldiers and martial troops, numbering in the thousands, had reached the Mystic Realm, making them the elite of the elite. As long as they did not lose their composure and formed a formation to hold their ground, they would not be easily overwhelmed by tens of thousands of rebel ambush forces.

They had lost due to being caught off guard and being in a panic. They could not afford to panic and flee again.

No one knew if the rebels had set up ambush forces on their retreat route. In the heart of Yulong Mountain, they could not be more familiar with the dangerous and narrow paths than the rebels.

At the foot of the stone slope, there were still two hundred Dao soldiers gathered. If Lixianghai and the others broke through the encirclement and joined them, as long as they could hold their ground, they still had the strength to fight.

In the narrow and rugged terrain of the deep mountains, it would help them to retreat while fighting, and it would be disadvantageous for the rebel ambush forces to spread out their forces. There was still a chance to break through the encirclement...

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