Cai Shiwei Appears, the Invasion Begins

"How could this happen?!"

Li Ye cried out as he looked at the grief-stricken Zhang Liangfu.

He had only just emerged from seclusion after successfully crafting the Blazing Sun Fire Serpent Talisman, but the news he heard instantly disrupted his buoyant mood.

Zhang Liangfu had brought only two pieces of news when he came to visit.

One was that Cai Shiwei's trail had been found.

The other was that Hu Zhiquan, one of the disciples who had discovered Cai Shiwei's trail, had been killed by Cai Shiwei. He had been traveling with other disciples on his way home to visit his wife and children.

Zhang Liangfu's expression was grim.

"It seems they saw that the villain surnamed Cai had a weak presence and appeared to be seriously injured. Someone in the group couldn't hold back and urged everyone to charge straight at him. According to the disciples who escaped, Senior Brother Hu was one of them..."

"In the end, the group was nearly wiped out. Only one or two disciples who hesitated saw that things were going badly and were lucky enough to escape!"

"According to them, the villain seemed to have a way to drain Essence Blood. Our fellow disciples didn't even leave behind intact corpses..."

"Senior Brother Hu's wife and children were waiting for him to come home... That villain truly deserves to die!"

Li Ye listened to each word in silence.

The dual cultivation Secret Method Hu Zhiquan had given him still lay quietly in his Storage Bag.

The middle-aged man's rather boastful expression when he spoke of his beloved wife and young son seemed still to be before his eyes.

Moreover, Hu Zhiquan had always been quite calm and prudent. He did not advocate taking risks lightly and had praised Li Ye's cautious conduct on several occasions.

Yet this very man had let his blood rush to his head after discovering Cai Shiwei's trail and chosen to charge forward with the others.

As for himself, he was no longer young, and with only a low-grade Spirit Root, his path ahead could be said to have reached a dead end.

Even if he had killed Cai Shiwei, how much further could the reward have helped him advance?

Unless he had wanted to use the opportunity to fight for a future for his son!

"Junior Brother Li, we're preparing to visit Senior Brother Hu's home to pay our respects and give his widow and children some help. You..."

Zhang Liangfu suddenly spoke, looking at Li Ye with some hesitation.

Others might not understand how cautious Li Ye was, but he had experienced it firsthand.

At such an unsettled time, getting him to leave the sect would probably be harder than ascending to the heavens!

Sure enough, Li Ye shook his head at once. "The situation is in turmoil, and it really isn't a good time to leave the sect. The elder warned me about this long ago, so I won't go. Senior Brother Zhang, you'd better not leave the sect either!"

"Even though Senior Brother Hu has passed away, as long as his wife knows how to adapt and has the help of her clansmen, she won't end up in too dire a situation anytime soon... It won't be too late to visit when the time is right!"

He would not get carried away just because he had gained a talisman with second-tier power as a trump card.

Still less would he act so foolishly as to seek out Cai Shiwei to avenge Hu Zhiquan.

All of it had been Hu Zhiquan's own choice and had nothing to do with him, Li Ye.

Besides, Cai Shiwei's reappearance would undoubtedly drive the situation in an even more intense direction.

At a time like this, rashly going to an area where he had appeared before was far too risky!

The expression on Zhang Liangfu's face changed again and again.

"But this is when his widow and children need help the most..."

Even though he had already guessed what Li Ye would choose, he still felt somewhat disheartened when Li Ye actually refused.

But hearing Li Ye's sincere advice, Zhang Liangfu knew that his words were genuine.

Whether his friendship with Hu Zhiquan mattered more or his own life mattered more, he had actually already found the answer as he hesitated over his words.

At that moment, he understood Li Ye at once and could not help feeling that his earlier dismay had been somewhat laughable.

"All right! Ever since I met you, Junior Brother, at least your cautious choices have never been wrong..."

Zhang Liangfu gritted his teeth. "Then I won't go either!"

"That's for the best..."

Li Ye nodded, then took a wooden box from his Storage Bag.

"We don't have to go, but if any other fellow cultivators do, please ask them to take this along... Consider it a small token of sympathy for Senior Brother Hu's wife and children."

There was nothing valuable inside, just a few talismans he had drawn.

Giving them anything valuable at a time like this would be meaningless and would instead invite covetous eyes and trouble upon the mother and children.

But talismans could immediately bolster their fighting strength. If someone truly coveted what they had and openly turned against them, the talismans should give them a little more power to resist!

"I understand!"

Zhang Liangfu took the wooden box and nodded solemnly, then took his leave.

Li Ye watched him go, but did not hurry back inside.

He stood where he was, gazing blankly at the shifting clouds in the sky, and did not move for a long time.

The images and words of his predecessor, his predecessor's father, and Hu Zhiquan passed before his eyes one by one.

It suddenly occurred to him that cultivators and mortals did not seem so different after all.

When they could no longer continue along the path of their own lives, they would entrust their longing for a higher realm to the next generation, passing it on in this way.

They hoped that one day their descendants could achieve the ambitions they themselves had once harbored.

"But rather than entrust my hopes to my descendants, I'd still like to see the scenery after attaining the Dao and eternal life for myself..."

After a long while, Li Ye let out a quiet sigh. Only determination remained in his eyes.

After Cai Shiwei's trail was discovered, the Purple Profound Sect intensified its search once more.

The nearby forces followed suit, responding as though facing a formidable enemy and launching a thorough search.

They found Cai Shiwei, who was cultivating in seclusion to heal his injuries, with hardly any effort.

But his combat strength was unexpectedly extraordinary. Not only did he break through the encirclement, he also seized the Essence Blood of several more cultivators in the process before escaping again.

The Purple Profound Sect and the forces that had suffered losses during the encirclement were furious and pursued him relentlessly.

Then a sudden change occurred. An unfamiliar group of cultivators who had been lying in ambush abruptly appeared, catching the Purple Profound Sect's pursuers completely off guard!

In the ambush, the Purple Profound Sect lost a full two Foundation Establishment elders, while its elite Qi Refining disciples also suffered considerable casualties.

The groups from other forces, some seeking to curry favor with the Purple Profound Sect and others merely venting their anger, also suffered casualties among their Foundation Establishment cultivators. Countless Qi Refining disciples among the motley groups were killed or injured.

Nearly every force from the neighboring areas that had joined the pursuit suffered a severe blow to its strength!

And on that very day.

At the border between the Huan Kingdom and the Yue Kingdom, an army of cultivators led by the Yue Kingdom's Golden Core sect, the Flying Feather Sect, suddenly appeared and drove straight into Huan territory like a sharp arrow.

Almost overnight, the Yue Kingdom captured nearly half of the Huan Kingdom's territory.

Under this combined assault, the unprepared forces, great and small, were almost all scattered in a single charge.

Only the strongholds of those forces and the market towns, protected by formations, could hold out for a while. The other cultivators were beaten into fleeing like stray dogs, rushing toward the interior of the kingdom and the Purple Profound Sect's mountain gates.

As more and more joined them, they nearly formed a tide of fleeing cultivators!

Fortunately, the chaos of war did not last too long.

With the foundation it had built up over many years in the Huan Kingdom, the Purple Profound Sect responded as quickly as possible, even though its attention had been drawn elsewhere and it had been caught off guard.

Reinforcements were immediately dispatched to every front, and a defensive strategy was established using the market towns as nodes. They halted the enemy's advance in time and even counterattacked in some areas, reclaiming considerable territory.

But now that war had begun, it would not end so easily.

The Yue Kingdom's Flying Feather Sect had clearly come prepared. It met the Purple Profound Sect's counterattack in an orderly fashion and managed to withstand the first wave, then used the areas it had captured as forward bases and began advancing steadily.

More intense clashes broke out without cease, as the two sides struggled back and forth over various resource sites.

The situation plunged into chaos!

Thanks to Conglai Bu Sheqiu for the 100-point tip, and thanks for the support!