Enemy Attack

"Lu Yuanchun! You bastard!"

The moment she saw a breach torn open in the Marketplace's grand formation, Fairy Feixia's eyes split with fury. Yet what she did next was the complete opposite of Lu Yuanchun.

"Junior Brother, join forces with me!"

Her escape light flashed, and Fairy Feixia landed directly inside the Marketplace. She then turned and held the breach in the formation at all costs. "We absolutely cannot let the Divine Martial Sect charge into the Marketplace."

Hearing this, Lu Yang glanced at Fairy Feixia and revised his opinion of her considerably. Her crimson lips were stained with blood, her aura weak and listless; she had clearly suffered severe injuries as well. If she had fled with Lu Yuanchun, she might have had a chance to escape alive. Yet she had chosen to remain in the Marketplace.

Could she be an insider?

Adhering to the belief that there were no good people in the Sacred Sect, Lu Yang's first suspicion fell on Fairy Feixia. She also noticed the wary look in his eyes.

"We can't escape!"

Fairy Feixia sighed helplessly. She had actually guessed Lu Yang's thoughts and said quietly, "The Divine Martial Sect has plotted this for a long time. Trying to flee will only lead us down a dead end."

"Only by staying, holding fast, and waiting for reinforcements do we have a sliver of hope!"

Lu Yang still had doubts. "Senior Sister understands this reasoning. Could Senior Brother Lu possibly not understand it? If so, why is he running?"

"Because the jade is with him!"

At this, Fairy Feixia flew into a rage. "The Divine Martial Sect used that Mysterious Female Yin Jade as bait and laid a trap. Lu Yuanchun greedily coveted the jade and forcibly seized it, dragging all of us into the trap with him. Then, heedless of Senior Brother Chen's life or death, he abandoned us and fled alone!"

"So he was fleeing to escape punishment for his crimes?"

Lu Yang suddenly understood. Lu Yuanchun clearly knew he had acted dishonorably. If he truly remained in the Marketplace, Fairy Feixia would sooner or later settle accounts with him after the autumn harvest.

That was why he had chosen such an extreme method.

With that, it was only natural that Fairy Feixia had not fled with Lu Yuanchun. Had she truly done so, there was no guarantee he would not have silenced her forever.

"Devils, today is the day you die!"

Magnificent blood and qi illuminated the sky, like clusters of blazing sunset clouds rolling through the heavens. At last, they revealed a burly man clad in armor and armed to the teeth, his leader's expression fierce and sinister.

"It's 'Divine Fist' Wu Zhichong!"

Fairy Feixia's pretty face turned solemn. She said in a low voice, "This man is already at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, only one step from Great Perfection. Junior Brother, you must be careful."

"Senior Brother Chen was struck by one of his punches, and that was why his dharma body collapsed and he died—"

Before Fairy Feixia could finish, the burly man named Wu Zhichong had already ridden his escape light toward them. He raised his arm over his head and drew it back like a bowstring.

"Die!"

The next second, he threw a punch!

A piercing boom instantly resounded in every direction. The square fist imprint drove straight for the heart, and in that instant, Lu Yang felt as though a mountain were crashing down upon his face!

Boom!

At the critical moment, Fairy Feixia stepped forward. Her cloud-like sleeves fluttered as clusters of luminous clouds wreathed in pure qi poured forth, catching Wu Zhichong's punch.

In an instant, colorful rosy clouds and mist burst apart in clumps. They barely managed to stop Wu Zhichong outside the Marketplace, but the rosy clouds lost more than half their Precious Light as a result.

At the sight, a flash of pain crossed Fairy Feixia's eyes.

Those rosy clouds and mist were one of her dharma treasures, called the Rosy Mist Veil. She had painstakingly refined it for years, yet it had suffered repeated damage in this battle.

At the same time, another escape light descended from the sky.

When it revealed its figure, it was astonishingly Lu Yuanchun, who had just fled. His face was extraordinarily ugly, and a cultivator was actually following behind him.

"'Mountain-Moving Daoist' Duanmu Yuan."

Fairy Feixia furrowed her brows tightly. She recognized the man blocking Lu Yuanchun—it was another Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator from the Divine Martial Sect, whose strength was not the least bit inferior to hers.

"Lu Yuanchun, if you still want to live, come back! Join forces with me!"

Fairy Feixia spoke in a deep voice. Although the Divine Martial Sect had come with overwhelming momentum, she believed they still had three Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators on their side. They were not without a chance of victory.

Even if Lu Yang came from among ordinary disciples and possessed no great divine abilities, dealing with Early and middle Qi Refining Stage cultivators should not be a problem. So long as she and Lu Yuanchun could hold back Wu Zhichong and the Mountain-Moving Daoist, Lu Yang could free up his hands to deal with the other Divine Martial Sect disciples. Perhaps they could still defend the Marketplace!

".Fine! Then we'll fight to the death. Buy me some time!"

As soon as he spoke, Lu Yuanchun took a deep breath and actually burned his blood essence. Clusters of Blood Light erupted from the crown of his head, and his aura surged severalfold in an instant.

Seeing this, Fairy Feixia finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He is, after all, a disciple of the Peak Master of Heaven Mending, from a Foundation Establishment master's lineage. Perhaps he has some formidable method left. With my help, we should be able to defend the Marketplace.

With that thought, Fairy Feixia stopped holding back. She once again brought forth the Rosy Mist Veil, trying to buy time.

"Interrupt him!"

Although Wu Zhichong did not know what divine ability Lu Yuanchun was using, he could not possibly let him complete it. He immediately shot forth on an escape light, charging toward Lu Yuanchun.

Seeing this, Fairy Feixia forced up her true qi while using every trick she had to hold back the Divine Martial Sect's other Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator, the Mountain-Moving Daoist Duanmu Yuan. At the same time, she shouted to Lu Yang beside her, "Junior Brother Lu, act quickly! As long as you stop Wu Zhichong, we still have a chance to turn the tables!"

"Lu Yang? An ordinary disciple... So what if he broke through to the Qi Refining Late Stage?"

Lu Yuanchun glanced at Lu Yang and sneered inwardly.

In his eyes, Lu Yang was merely an unknown nobody, some minor figure who had stumbled into the Late Stage through sheer luck. How could he compare with a Foundation Establishment disciple like him?

With that thought, he became even more resolute.

Fairy Feixia thought they still had a chance of victory, but Lu Yuanchun did not think so. In his view, Fairy Feixia had clearly overlooked one decisive factor.

That was the Corpse Tide!

Even if they could truly hold off the Divine Martial Sect, so long as the breach in the formation remained, once the Corpse Tide arrived, they would still all be wiped out!

Thus, Lu Yuanchun made his move the next second.

"Witness my divine might!"

As soon as he spoke, Fairy Feixia's spirits rose. She watched Blood Light condense around Lu Yuanchun, manifesting into a towering demonic shadow with a ferocious, baleful visage.

She did not expect Lu Yuanchun to directly kill Wu Zhichong. So long as he could heavily wound him, there would be hope.

Blood Shadow Heaven-Escaping Technique!

The demonic shadow flashed, and Lu Yuanchun's figure instantly vanished. He transformed into a streak of blood light that appeared several hundred meters away, speeding toward the outside of Skull Mountain.

For a moment, Fairy Feixia was dumbstruck.

She had clearly underestimated Lu Yuanchun's shamelessness. She had never imagined that his supposed cooperation with her was a pretense, and that he had actually used her as a shield.

Yet just then, the sky beyond Skull Mountain suddenly darkened.

"Want to leave? You should stay!"

With a cold laugh, the crimson escape light Lu Yuanchun had transformed into was struck apart at the waist. He was forced back into Skull Mountain, and his terrified cry rang out from within:

"Qi Refining Great Perfection!?"

He had burned more than half his blood essence to perform that blood escape. No one at the Qi Refining Late Stage could possibly stop it. The only one who could was someone at Qi Refining Great Perfection!

Heaven wants me dead.

Lu Yuanchun's heart was filled with unwillingness. He had finally seized the Mysterious Female Yin Jade. So long as he escaped alive, he would surely win the favor of the Peak Master of Heaven Mending.

Especially now that Zhao Xuhe had been abandoned by the Peak Master of Heaven Mending, this was even more his opportunity!

Yet now, everything had come to nothing.

Just then, Lu Yang's voice suddenly reached Lu Yuanchun's ears. "Senior Brother Lu, return to the Marketplace first."

"What use is there in that now?"

Lu Yuanchun was utterly disheartened and had no interest in responding to Lu Yang. In his view, at this point, the only difference between him and Lu Yang was whether they died sooner or later.

The next second, however, Lu Yang—who had remained silent until then—suddenly stepped forward. His great sleeves billowed as all ten fingers flicked in succession. In the blink of an eye, he scattered dozens of formation patterns around the Marketplace, breaking apart the small formation the Divine Martial Sect had used to hold open the breach in the grand formation. Then he controlled the formation and made it abruptly close.

Boom!

In an instant, densely packed formation patterns emerged, transforming into a curtain of light that enveloped the inside and outside of the Marketplace. The grand formation actually fused back together, restoring itself to completeness!

".Huh?"

Lu Yuanchun's eyes instantly widened. Then he jolted awake, hurriedly controlled his Blood Light to fly back, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brother Lu, save me!!!"