Ambush at Emerald Smoke Valley

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three exceedingly muffled explosions erupted almost simultaneously.

The light shield shook violently, ripples surging across it. The spirit vessel was blasted backward more than ten zhang, the spiritual glow around its hull flickering erratically.

The attackers' objective was clear: they were targeting the Chen family's spirit vessel carrying the immortal seedlings.

At this moment.

Chen Xingyuan, Chen Xingyong, Chen Xingyi, and the others atop the Sky Wind Vulture attacked at the same time. Each deployed their own techniques, joining forces to erect a defensive screen that barely blocked the second wave of sickly green poisoned arrows shooting in from the side.

"Who are you rats, skulking about with your heads hidden and tails tucked!" Chen Xingyong's furious roar resounded through the night sky. He had already summoned a fiery-red flying sword and was vigilantly sweeping his gaze over the dark gorge below.

The attackers had clearly come prepared, concealing themselves amid the valley's complex terrain without revealing their forms.

All manner of vicious, tricky spells, talismans, and arrows imbued with frigid and poisonous power kept flying in from different angles like venomous snakes.

The attackers seemed skilled in concealment. Their auras flickered in and out of existence, making their numbers impossible to determine.

Chen Heng, Chen Mingjing, and Chen Minglang swiftly formed a small triangular formation, shielding the immortal seedlings in the center.

Chen Mingjing's hand seals changed rapidly, and a gentle jade-green curtain of water slowly spread across the inner walls of the cabin, forming a second line of defense.

Chen Minglang gripped a small hammer-shaped artifact, nervously scanning the darkness beyond the windows, his palms slick with sweat.

Chen Heng, meanwhile, was utterly focused. Several defensive talismans were clasped in his hand as his sharp gaze searched for the source of the incoming spells. The inexplicable warning that had lingered in his heart ever since returning from the bottom of the well was amplified countless times at this moment.

Just as an exceptionally devious azure spear of light, faintly carrying the sound of wind and thunder, evaded Chen Xingzhou's light shield and shot eerily from a crack in the rocks below, aiming straight for the bottom of the spirit vessel carrying the immortal seedlings, danger exploded within Chen Heng's heart!

His expression changed drastically. Almost on instinct, he was about to tear open the talismans in his hand—but that spear of light was too fast!

It was about to pierce through the vessel's vulnerable underside!

At the critical moment!

Bzzz—!

An exceedingly faint hum seemed to ring out from the void.

The sound was so weak that it was nearly drowned out by the explosions of spells, yet it pierced through the clamor with perfect clarity and fell directly upon everyone's ears!

It was the sound of Withered Wood Dragon's Roar.

Whoosh!

A nearly imperceptible yet incomparably condensed invisible sound wave shot forth!

It moved faster than anyone could perceive, meeting the azure spear of light that was about to bore through the ship!

The expected violent explosion never came.

Like an invisible maw, the sound wave swallowed the spear the instant they came into contact. The peerlessly sharp spiritual power contained within it, its faint wind-and-thunder force, even its azure flames...

All of that energy seemed to have been cast into a bottomless vortex, vanishing without a trace in an instant!

The spear of light was annihilated out of thin air!

Only a brief distortion in the air remained, torn apart by its power.

Everything had happened too quickly.

Chen Xingmo aboard the spirit vessel had not reacted at all, but fortunately Ninth Elder Chen Xingyuan had responded quickly. Otherwise, if they had fallen from this hundred-zhang height—

These immortal seedlings would likely have perished here. The consequences would have been too dreadful to contemplate!

The concealed attacker was clearly stunned as well. That attack contained their prized secret technique, yet it had been dissolved so bizarrely into nothingness?

Seizing this opening, Chen Xingzhou caught the moment and let out a fierce shout. "Get out here!"

The earthen-yellow light shield abruptly transformed into the phantom of a towering mountain, crashing down with the force of ten thousand jun toward the spot below from which the azure spear had come!

Rumble—!

The mountain phantom struck the ground, making the entire Emerald Smoke Valley tremble. Rocks burst skyward like clouds, and dust surged into the heavens.

A blurry black shadow, accompanied by a muffled groan, fled from the dust cloud in extreme disarray, only to melt into the night once more.

At this time.

Chen Xingmo aboard the spirit vessel was the first to crush the communication jade slip requesting aid from Jade Spring Mountain. There were not only immortal seedlings aboard the vessel now, but also three juniors of the Ming generation.

With the enemy's numbers unknown, it was unwise to continue fighting.

Yet the Foundation Establishment Ancestor who should have rushed over from the mountain at once—Chen Tianheng, the current clan leader of the Jade Spring Chen Clan—did not appear.

And the attackers' assaults continued.

Their target was exceptionally clear: the spirit vessel carrying the immortal seedlings!

The spirit vessel, never renowned for its defenses to begin with, had grown incomparably dim, as though it might collapse at any moment.

"The target in the air is too obvious! Eighth Brother, quickly bring the flying vessel down!" Great Elder Chen Xingzhou shouted.

Not long after.

The Sky Wind Vulture and the spirit vessel were forced to land in the perilous Emerald Smoke Valley.

The next instant.

Beneath the shadowy trees of the deep valley, a black-clothed, masked figure revealed a sinister smile and snapped their fingers abruptly.

Boom!

The space above Chen Heng and the others was instantly covered by a sheet of pitch-black radiance, like dark clouds blotting out the sky as Killing Intent descended.

Whoosh!

Great Elder Chen Xingzhou had made preparations before setting out. He had specifically taken several second-rank talismans from the Chen family treasury for precisely this sort of situation.

Now that the one behind the scenes had acted, he hesitated no longer and immediately activated a talisman hidden in his sleeve.

The yellowed Talisman Paper turned to ash in an instant. A streak of azure lightning burst from it in the blink of an eye, blasting a hole through the dark clouds overhead and reducing them to nothingness.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A low-grade second-rank Azure Lightning Talisman. As expected of the Jade Spring Chen Clan of Purple Mansion lightning cultivators."

As the voice fell, ten black-clothed figures emerged from every direction, each radiating dense, murderous Killing Intent.

"They're professional assassins!"

Watching the black-clothed figures slowly close in, Chen Xingzhou's heart immediately sank to the bottom. His expression was so grim it seemed water could drip from it.

There were ten of them in total. Six alone were late Qi Refining cultivators, while the two black-clothed figures at the front had reached the great circle of Qi Refining.

The remaining four were all at the sixth level of Qi Condensation, likely only a step away from breaking into late Qi Refining.

Though their side had five late Qi Refining cultivators, they also had thirteen immortal seedlings to protect. As for the three minor Qi Refining cultivators of the Ming generation, Chen Heng was likely the only one with any combat ability.

Their group was simply no match for them!

Moreover, Chen Xingmo's distress signal had received no response after being sent out. The enemy had set up a formation here specifically to cut off communications.

They had come completely prepared!

There had to be a traitor within the Chen family. Otherwise, the enemy could not have grasped their group's whereabouts with such precision.

However, they had made contingency plans before departing, so they did not appear panicked now.

But how could those children have ever seen such a scene? Frightened, they huddled together and hid behind the others.

"Great Elder, strike first and gain the upper hand!" Chen Xingyong transmitted, gripping a longsword that radiated scorching light.

Chen Xingzhou did not reply, merely nodding with a grim expression. Chen Xingyuan and Chen Xingyi beside him immediately understood what he meant and each prepared to strike.

The burly bald elder shouted at the black-clothed figures across from them, who were sharpening their knives and eager to fight, "You reckless madmen! The Foundation Establishment clan leader of my Chen clan is at Jade Spring Mountain. Are you tired of living?"

The leader replied disdainfully, "Chen Tianheng is nothing but—"

Before he could finish, the other side actually struck first. All kinds of artifacts, talismans, and spells immediately came raining down.