Chapter 211: Chronicle Of The Empty Manor
After a night of bitter battle, Cang Li and Yin Nine were both exhausted, their magic energy nearly depleted.
The injuries were so severe that any martial cultivator with slightly weaker cultivation would have already perished. The two of them relied on their formidable cultivation and physical bodies to hold on until now, but they were at the end of their strength.
For Yin Nine, what he suffered was a double blow to both body and mind.
Gradually, the sobbing ceased.
Exhaustion, weakness, pain, grief, hatred… they crashed over him like a tide. Yin Nine actually lost consciousness and fainted beside Yin Ten’s corpse. Their hands remained tightly clasped.
Li Weiyi stepped forward, wanting to do something.
“Let him rest for a while! Even the strongest person has moments they can’t endure.”
Cang Li took out a pill bottle, poured out a vermilion healing pill from it, and stuffed it into Yin Nine’s mouth.
The pill melted.
In an instant, Yin Nine was enveloped in a bloody pill mist.
Cang Li swallowed one himself, slumped against the wall, completely devoid of his previous transcendent demeanor. He coughed violently several times, blood flowing from his mouth and nose again.
He struggled to maintain his fighting spirit, not allowing himself to fall asleep. His tiger-like eyes stared tightly at Li Weiyi, pondering something before suddenly saying: “Li Jiufu and I are no match for Luan Sheng Lin You. Even just restraining him, we were injured all the way. It was Qin Li who used a sword formation to trap Luan Sheng Lin You for a breath, and Li Jiufu paid the price of an arm, that gave me the chance to severely wound him. Within ten days, he won’t recover.”
Li Weiyi said: “Luan Sheng Lin You is badly injured?”
Cang Li’s eyes blazed with hatred, and he nodded lightly: “Among the younger generation, Luan Sheng Lin You and Ge Xian Tong’s combat power surpasses everyone else, creating a clear gap. But to put me to death, he has to pay some price no matter what. It’s just a pity that my spear only penetrated his body and didn’t strike his heart or sea of qi.”
Only then did Li Weiyi notice that Cang Li had no spear in hand.
In his mind, he could imagine the danger and intensity of the night-long pursuit, fighting while clashing, and the heart-pounding thrill of several people battling one at the end.
Bai Shu returned, walking through the gate, her face extremely panicked: “I’ve cleared all the nearby bloodstains! But… it seems someone has already caught up!”
“The longevity pill voucher, dragon seed voucher, dragon bone ticket in the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival invitation will sense each other. You can’t hide if you want to hide, or lie low if you want to lie low.”
Cang Li remained very calm, continuing to heal and recover his magic energy. He took out the invitation from his bosom, which had “Cang Li” engraved on the surface: “I’ll hold them off later. Li Weiyi, you take the invitation and Li Jiufu, go find Zuo Qiu Ting.”
“If he is also defeated, escape the city immediately. Even if the invitation and various redemption vouchers become waste paper, don’t let them have them. With your cultivation speed and invincible combat power in five moves within the same realm, in at most two or three years, you will surely avenge us.”
“Cultivators don’t compete for a moment but for a hundred lifetimes! You have a choice, but I don’t.”
“Swish! Swish…”
Outside Qin Garden, sharp breaking wind sounds continuously rang out.
The defense formation in the garden was fully activated, layer upon layer of formation light gauze with formation script floating on them.
Some formations covered the entire garden, others only a small area, distributed staggeringly like a labyrinth illusion array.
Before the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, Yin Nine and the others had spent a lot of time and resources on deployment. This was also why they fled to Qin Garden.
Li Weiyi leaped up, landing on a tree near the courtyard wall’s formation light gauze, looking outside.
“Rumble!”
Footsteps and the sound of iron hooves were dense.
On the wide street outside the main gate, countless young martial cultivators appeared. Some wore San Chen Palace’s battle robes, some were Night City’s cavalry, some were Coffin Mountain’s Buddha Bandits, and there were also demon race martial cultivators…
More than a dozen forces of all sizes, with shining armor, sharp war weapons, fluttering banners, surrounded the entire Qin Garden.
At vantage points on nearby streets, Li Weiyi successively spotted “Ku Di” and “Nirvana Truth” among Coffin Mountain Four Truths, San Chen Palace’s “Chen Wenwu”, Under Young Venerable’s “Ming Nian Sheng”…
These were just the top masters who were easy to see from vantage points and whom Li Weiyi recognized.
They pursued extremely quickly; Cang Li and Yin Nine had only arrived at Qin Garden moments ago, and they were already forming an encirclement. It could be said that even if Li Weiyi had fled immediately, he definitely couldn’t have escaped.
They didn’t attack immediately because Cang Li and Yin Nine were too strong. They could even severely wound Luan Sheng Lin You—who would dare to rashly charge in?
A master at the end of the road is often even more terrifying.
…
Taoli Mountain, one hundred zhang per heaven.
At the cliff edge of the Third Heaven, under the ancient peach tree, Hidden Lord, Zuo Qiu Ling, and some elders of Zuo Qiu Gatehouse were all tense, their eyes fixed, unable to sit or stand still.
They had long deduced that the first wave of the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival would be the hardest to endure.
And Ge Xian Tong and Luan Sheng Lin You joining hands to first clear out Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Jiu Li Clan was the worst scenario in their deductions.
If they couldn’t withstand this most difficult first night, it would be a complete loss.
They didn’t need to win, just hold on, and Du’e Temple would naturally give a very high evaluation.
Hidden Lord knew the situation at Qin Garden was doomed, Cang Li and the others’ lives were no longer in their control. His fingers clenched tight, yet he could do nothing.
Zuo Qiu Ling pointed toward Eastern City, hands on hips, cursing angrily: “Luan Sheng Lin You is even badly injured, yet those two in Eastern Territory don’t dare to strike. What are they waiting for? If Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Jiu Li Clan are completely eliminated, they’ll be next. Don’t they understand that when the lips are gone, the teeth feel cold?”
Hidden Lord’s personality was more restrained: “Lu Cangsheng is good at defense; he absolutely won’t act without certainty. Relying solely on Dragon Gate alone… Dragon Hall’s Long Zhe Xian can only be a coiled dragon lurking. It can only be said that Luan Sheng Lin You’s martial arts and mind are extraordinary, as if he had long foreseen today’s situation. Killing Zhu Huan that move has finally shown its power, making Lei Xiao Sect and Dragon Gate unable to cooperate sincerely anymore.”
Zuo Qiu Ling said: “Lightning Law is for offense, unstoppable when coming, unhalting when going, crumbling and destroying everything. Someone with Lu Cangsheng’s personality shouldn’t cultivate Lightning Law; no wonder he’s suppressed by Dragon Hall. In comparison, Zhu Yi Bai has more courage.”
The crowd’s gazes fell on the battlefield in Western City.
It was Zhu Men’s Zhu Yi Bai who held back the young martial cultivator armies of Que Rong and Quan Rong obeying orders from Far West Ash Region, as well as Luan Sheng Lin You’s first expert “Hua Yuzi” and second expert “Qi Jin” and others.
Otherwise, Luan Sheng Lin You’s ferocity would be even greater, and Cang Li and Yin Nine would have no chance of escaping alive; Zuo Qiu Gatehouse might have already collapsed.
It could be said that it was precisely Zuo Qiu Ting who had pulled Zhu Men over in advance that allowed Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Jiu Li Clan to hold on until now.
An elder of Zuo Qiu Gatehouse said: “You’re just looking from your own perspective. Lu Cangsheng and Dragon Hall sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight—what’s not to like? For them, now is indeed not the best time to act.”
Not just them, Fourth Heaven, Fifth Heaven… the Longevity Realm giants and transcendent beings of major powers were all watching the situations in the three key battlefields in the city. Many older generation figures were discussing and deducing the developments after Jiu Li Clan’s elimination.
Hidden Lord’s eyes stared tightly below the mountain. He never imagined that Cang Li and Li Weiyi would actually run into each other, both trapped in Qin Garden.
He seemed to have made some resolve and abruptly stood up.
But Zuo Qiu Ling pressed his shoulder, forcing him back down.
Suddenly.
An elder of Zuo Qiu Gatehouse exclaimed: “Qin Garden’s gate… actually opened on its own…”
Everyone knew that Qin Garden’s defenses were virtually nonexistent against a large group of masters, but they were still secretly shocked and all leaned over to look.
…
“Squeak!”
Bai Shu followed Li Weiyi’s instructions and opened the two main gates of Qin Garden.
Holding a broom, she swept the steps.
Looking at the densely packed enemies outside, she was speechless and extremely nervous, but she had to pretend a relaxed and cheerful demeanor without a trace of fear, feeling in her heart that Li Weiyi was out of his mind.
The various forces on the street were all utterly confused, not understanding what was happening.
Chen Wenwu stood with sword on his back on the eaves of a building opposite Qin Garden’s main gate: “It’s the Earth Wolf King Army’s Calamity Fire Realm great mind master Bai Shu. What does she mean by this?”
“Opening the gate and sweeping the steps to welcome. This is… preparing to surrender?”
“Cang Li vainly calls himself Southern Tiger, hiding inside, yet sending a woman out to surrender.”
“This woman is quite alluring, like she could be squeezed to yield water. I’ll go capture her first.”
Nirvana Truth wanted to act, but was stopped by Ku Di: “Things are abnormal; don’t act rashly. Do you really think someone as proud as Cang Li would willingly surrender?”
Nirvana Truth’s expression tightened, looking again at Bai Shu who was cheerfully sweeping the steps, also feeling it was unnaturally strange.
This didn’t look like surrendering at all!
Night City’s young master Yuwen Tuozhen, sitting on the back of a Night Scale Giant Beast, had a sudden change in expression, thinking of a possibility: “Why did Cang Li and Li Jiufu flee here? Could they have set something up in advance?”
“What could they set up? You’re all hesitating; I’ll go.” Ming Nian Sheng said.
Yuwen Tuozhen said: “What if it’s a large amount of Thunder Law Profound Ice? In this situation, it feels like they’re preparing to lure us all in, then mutual destruction.”
Hearing this, everyone was shocked.
Ming Nian Sheng had already headed toward the gate but immediately retreated: “Then we’ll wait for Young Esteemed One to arrive. Thunder Law Profound Ice isn’t invincible. Since we’ve seen through his trick, we naturally have countermeasures.”
…
On the Third Heaven of Taoli Mountain.
Zuo Qiu Ling stared in surprise: “These people are actually intimidated and don’t dare to charge in?”
Hidden Lord frowned in thought: “Qin Garden is covered by large and small formations; they can’t see inside. Those with insufficient cultivation can’t enter. The strong ones cherish their lives.”
“If one or two go in alone, they’ll definitely be killed. If too many go in, what if there’s a killing trap inside, like a large amount of Thunder Law Profound Ice—wouldn’t they all perish?”
“This layer of mental game is something I hadn’t thought of.”
“You Jiu Li Clan prepared long ago, that once defeated, you’d mutual destroy with the enemy?” An elder of Zuo Qiu Gatehouse said in shock, feeling that Jiu Li Clan’s top young martial cultivators were too unyielding.
“How is that possible? Fleeing out of the city and giving up the Hidden Dragon Competition isn’t better?”
Hidden Lord shook his head lightly and sighed: “Even if there really is a large amount of Thunder Law Profound Ice set up, it can block for only a moment.”
“Empty fortress strategy?”
Zuo Qiu Ling praised: “Cang Li coming up with this move is quite impressive. As long as it delays some time, there can be many variables.”
“It couldn’t be his idea.”
Hidden Lord knew his son too well: he had mind and courage, but not so many convoluted schemes.
