Chapter 73

If we establish a coordinate system with the main peak of Tongyou Peak as the center, facing north, then among the six secondary peaks arranged in a hexagonal pattern, Qiling and Mingxiu Peaks would be roughly in the due west and due east directions; Yuxi and Pinxin Peaks would be located in the southwest and southeast directions, with the two peaks being the endpoint of the Tongyou Path; and Kaiyuan and Luohui Peaks, located in the northwest and northeast directions, would be more like two gateways facing the Four Spirit Mountains.

At this moment, the intense battle between the four Fourth Heaven experts outside Tongyou Peak was still raging, but in reality, it seemed to be maintaining a certain equilibrium.

After the appearance of Liu Qinglan, a newly ascended Fourth Heaven expert on the side of Tongyou Peak, the Four Spirit Mountains did not send any other Fourth Heaven cultivators.

Although everyone on Tongyou Peak knew that things were not that simple, the Four Spirit Mountains, having the upper hand, did not take further action, and Tongyou Peak was naturally happy to delay the time.

At this moment, the Four Spirit Mountains seemed to be observing, and even more so, they seemed to be waiting for something...

However, Tongyou Peak already knew what they were waiting for.

They were waiting for the mole from the Rose Society to open the protective array of the Four Spirit Mountains!

This would avoid a large number of casualties among their own martial artists when they attacked Tongyou Peak.

After all, since the formation of the Two Realms Battlefield, Tongyou Academy had been operating here for twenty years!

But what the Four Spirit Mountains did not know was that Tongyou Peak also hoped to use this opportunity to make the moles of the Rose Society, who were hiding in Tongyou Peak and even within Tongyou Academy, reveal themselves.

So, the Four Spirit Mountains were waiting, and Tongyou Peak was also waiting!

And now, they had already waited long enough!

...

Jichen was the chief steward of a Ji family property on Tongyou Peak. Due to a mistake in organizing a batch of supplies sent to Qiling Peak, this batch of supplies was delivered a day late.

At this moment, with the battle outside Tongyou Peak in full swing, he hurriedly urged his assistants to escort the supplies to the iron chain bridge leading to Qiling Peak.

"Hurry up, watch your step! This batch of supplies is urgently needed by Young Master Ji Min. If anything goes wrong, you'll jump off this bridge yourselves!"

Ji Steward loudly urged the assistants to push the carts of supplies onto the bridge, and then, with a slight sway, they headed towards Qiling Peak, while he remained at the iron post connecting the bridge to Tongyou Peak.

Seeing the assistants reach the middle of the bridge, a sinister smile appeared on Ji Steward's face, and he pulled out a palm-sized black jade bottle from his pocket.

"Hehe, the iron chains connected to the iron post are protected by a restriction and are made of extraordinary materials. Without the cultivation of the Martial Realm, it's impossible to cut them. But if the restriction is destroyed..."

Thinking of this, Ji Steward had already pulled the stopper off the black jade bottle and was about to pour its contents onto the iron post.

"What... cough... is in that bottle?"

A voice, slightly breathless, suddenly sounded in his ear.

Ji Steward was startled, and his hand holding the black jade bottle trembled.

At that moment, a cold flash of light passed before his eyes, and he felt a chill in his wrist. Looking down, he saw that a hand holding the black jade bottle had been firmly grabbed by another unfamiliar hand, and a large amount of blood was gushing from his wrist, splashing onto the iron post.

Unfortunately, Ji Steward's blood did not have the power to break the protective restriction on the iron post.

"Indeed, it's the Filthy Spirit Liquid!"

Yuan Zilu glanced at the black jade bottle and looked at Ji Steward with a cold gaze: "You deserve to die!"

Ji Steward opened his mouth to cry out, but the cold flash of light appeared again. He tightly clutched his throat, but could not stop the blood from seeping out. He finally collapsed, his consciousness fading away in convulsions.

The commotion was quickly noticed on Qiling Peak, and a figure soared into the air, touching the top chain of the bridge a few times before floating to the side of Tongyou Peak.

"What happened?"

Yuan Zhen glanced at the still convulsing Ji Steward on the ground and looked at Yuan Zilu.

As the head of the external operations of the Ji Family's Academy Guard, he still remembered this Ji family steward named Jichen.

"It's the Filthy Spirit Liquid!"

Yuan Zilu handed the black jade bottle to Yuan Zhen, glanced at the corpse on the ground, and said, "Either he was secretly controlled by the Rose Society, or he was replaced by someone else!"

"Damn!"

Yuan Zhen's face changed as soon as he smelled the bottle, quickly sealing it. He then squatted down next to Ji Steward, rubbed his face, and tore off a layer of skin, revealing a completely unfamiliar face.

"I'll inform Ji Min and have his people search, but the chances of survival are slim!"

As Yuan Zhen was about to return to Qiling Peak, a huge metallic clanging sound echoed throughout Tongyou Peak.

Instantly, all the iron chains connecting Tongyou Peak and the six secondary peaks began to vibrate violently, sounding like a mournful cry.

"Bad! This is... an iron chain bridge has collapsed!"

Yuan Zhen looked in the direction of the sound, exclaiming, "How is this possible? How could it break?"

"It's Kaiyuan Peak, Tang Yuan and Sang Youqi are there!"

Yuan Zilu's face was extremely grim. He was already injured, and now it seemed to have aggravated his condition, his chest heaving violently.

"Could it be Sang Youqi?"

Yuan Zhen speculated and was about to head to Kaiyuan Peak.

But Yuan Zilu stopped him, saying, "I'll go. If one iron chain bridge collapses, the protective array will have a flaw, and the pressure on the other peaks will increase. Ji Min alone is not enough."

"But your injury..."

Yuan Zhen frowned, hesitating for a moment.

"I won't die!"

Yuan Zilu smiled and had already walked several dozen feet away, "Besides, others will also be on their way..."

...

Beside the iron chain bridge connecting Tongyou Peak and Mingxiu Peak.

Thanks to Shang Xia's timely warning, Sun Haiwei used the unique ice and fire dual-elemental technique, "Mystic Ice Flame," to seal Jin Guanchao, who had initially condensed his Martial Will, in mid-air.

However, as one of the outstanding students of the Upper Academy, Jin Guanchao, although he had not yet comprehended the Supreme Martial Technique, had already advanced to the Martial Realm and was superior to Sun Haiwei in cultivation.

As Jin Guanchao's body alternated between becoming ethereal and solid, cracks began to spread on the surface of the seal.

Sun Haiwei tried her best to maintain the seal, but the cracks kept spewing orange flames, which she tried to mend, but the speed of the seal's disintegration was too fast, and her hands, held above her head, were trembling.

As the cracks spread across most of the Mystic Ice Seal, Jin Guanchao's expression suddenly turned fierce, and the Mystic Ice exploded, scattering orange sparks across the sky.

Sun Haiwei took a step back, retreating several dozen feet, her chest and abdomen filled with surging Primordial Energy, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, clearly indicating internal injuries.

Before the ice fragments had even landed, a faster figure had already crashed through the flying ice and sparks, heading straight for Sun Haiwei, whose Primordial Energy was already nearly depleted.

However, although Jin Guanchao was fast, someone was even faster!

A thunderclap echoed through the clear sky, and a golden-red lightning bolt pierced through the flying ice fragments, about to strike the figure.

Unexpectedly, Jin Guanchao had already pulled out a short-handled stone axe from his sleeve and instinctively used the axe face to block his face.

"Crack!"

Shang Xia's long-prepared "Primordial Thunderhand" only managed to chip a few small pieces off the axe face.

However, the scattered lightning bolts still left Jin Guanchao's face in tatters!

"Shang Xia, you deserve to die!"

Furiously, Jin Guanchao, still in mid-air, threw the short-handled stone axe at Shang Xia.

The stone axe, imbued with Martial Will, swept up a large amount of Primordial Energy as it spun through the air, forming a massive wind wheel that crushed towards Shang Xia.

"Martial Will... stone weapon..."

Shang Xia had not expected that after being injured by two Martial Will techniques, Jin Guanchao could still launch such a powerful counterattack.

This was the first time Shang Xia truly felt the power of a Martial Realm cultivator when facing a Third Heaven martial artist.

"Be careful!"

With Shang Xia's support, Sun Haiwei, who had caught her breath, managed to warn him before charging at Jin Guanchao again.

Facing the massive wind wheel, Shang Xia's expression was unusually solemn.

He channeled all his Yang Extreme Primordial Energy into the Jade River Soft Sword according to the Fanggang Sword Technique, making the sword straight and taut.

With a light shout, he advanced instead of retreating, using the "Rushing Stream" technique to break through the rolling Primordial Energy wind wheel, and both he and the sword collided with the flying short-handled stone axe.

At that moment, Shang Xia's Yang Extreme Primordial Energy, in a way that seemed suicidal to other Supreme Martial Realm martial artists, transformed from Yang to Yin.

The Yin Extreme Primordial Energy, combined with the Invisible Sword Technique, made the Jade River Sword as soft as silk, and it accurately struck the axe head three times, using its flexibility to completely neutralize the force of the flying axe.

But before Shang Xia could breathe a sigh of relief, the short-handled stone axe, which had almost exhausted its momentum, suddenly changed direction in mid-air due to a Primordial Energy fluctuation, attempting to fly back towards Jin Guanchao.

This was the Martial Will interfering, and it could be used in such a way!

Shang Xia was momentarily amazed by this.

However, after barely withstanding the attack of a Martial Realm cultivator, Shang Xia was not about to let this opportunity slip away.

The Jade River Sword's blade suddenly bent outward, and the moment it touched the short-handled stone axe, it wrapped around it like a snake, firmly holding it in mid-air.

Seeing this, Shang Xia immediately stepped forward, slapped the axe face, dispersing the Primordial Energy attached to the stone axe, and also breaking Jin Guanchao's extended Martial Will!

---

The book is now well-developed, fellow Daoists can start reading, and don't forget to add it to your collection!