"Yang'er, it looks like the market won't hold. Once the grand formation breaks, we'll immediately scatter and break out. If even one of us can escape, it will be worth it. If you survive, find somewhere on the oasis to hide. Wait until your grandfather and the others return before seeking him out. Whatever you do, don't go to White Camel Ridge alone!"
On Golden Cloudglow Mountain, Zhou Yang had been stunned by the news revealed by the sand bandit leader, just like everyone else, when his adoptive mother Zhou Xuanyu's divine-sense transmission suddenly sounded in his ears.
His entire body jolted upon hearing the message, and he instantly recovered from his daze.
After regaining his senses, he glanced slightly at his adoptive mother Zhou Xuanyu and quietly transmitted back, "Godmother, since we've decided to break out and flee, I suggest we bury our extra Storage Bags somewhere. Otherwise, people may mistake us for fat sheep and set their eyes on us while we're escaping!"
"Good. We'll do as you say."
Zhou Xuanyu's beautiful eyes lit up, and without the slightest reluctance, she immediately agreed to Zhou Yang's suggestion.
Compared to one's life, wealth truly was nothing more than something outside the body. Besides, if they really died at the hands of the sand bandits, the things in their Storage Bags would never make it back to the Lineage anyway.
However, in order not to draw the attention of the Chen Lineage's three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, these matters could only be handled secretly. They did not dare reveal their true intentions.
After another half day of standoff, black-robed, masked Qi Refining Stage sand bandits finally surrounded Golden Cloudglow Mountain from every direction. Along with them came four Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits flying on swords.
At this point, the number of Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits besieging Golden Cloudglow Mountain alone had reached fourteen, while the number of Qi Refining Stage sand bandits was more than ten times that.
Zhou Yang noticed that nearly every one of these newly appeared sand bandits had several Storage Bags hanging from their waists. Some of the bags were even stained with blood that had not yet dried, clearly having been stripped from corpses not long ago.
His heart sank. He knew his adoptive mother Zhou Xuanyu's prediction had come true. Most of the Rogue Cultivators who had gone down the mountain first, believing they could escape disaster, had likely died at the hands of these well-prepared sand bandits.
"Sure enough, sand bandits are still sand bandits. With their greed so great they would squeeze oil from a stone, how could they possibly let off those Rogue Cultivators who scattered like loose sand?"
Zhou Yang's heart turned cold as he once again deeply felt the evil of the sand bandit group.
Aside from cultivating different techniques, their conduct was no different from the Demonic Cultivators of legend. Calling them demonic cultivators would not be wrong.
"Attack! Use your strongest spells and your strongest artifacts! Throw everything you have at that turtle shell! I want to see just how long that turtle shell can last!"
Rumble!
At the Ninth Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit leader's command, all the sand bandits, including the Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits, unleashed their artifacts and spells upon the formation barrier protecting Golden Cloudglow Mountain.
Multicolored spiritual radiance from the spells instantly dyed the sky above Golden Cloudglow Mountain into the beautiful colors of a rainbow.
Yet to the cultivators defending within Golden Cloudglow Mountain, that beautiful sight was incomparably deadly and perilous.
Under the concentrated attacks of so many sand bandits, the formation barrier protecting Golden Cloudglow Mountain had already begun to tremble slightly, even if the tremors were not particularly strong.
But everyone knew that once the formation barrier began shaking, it meant the sand bandits' attacks were having an effect. So long as the assault continued, once the spiritual energy from the spirit vein maintaining the formation barrier could no longer keep up, the formation would surely break.
"Kill! While the formation can still hold, use whatever means you have, fellow Daoists! Kill one and you break even; kill two and you profit!"
On Golden Cloudglow Mountain, the three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators gave gloomy shouts and released their flying swords toward the sand bandits attacking outside the formation.
For high-grade formations like the Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation, the defensive barrier generally blocked outside attacks but not inside ones. Cultivators outside the formation had to break the barrier to harm those within, while attacks from those inside could easily pass through the barrier and strike enemies outside.
Therefore, unless they possessed an absolute advantage in strength, cultivators would never attack an enemy's mountain gate or market protected by a high-grade formation.
The sand bandits now held precisely such an absolute advantage. Their total numbers were far fewer than those in the market, but their number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators was four or five times greater than the market's.
The three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators had barely used their flying swords to kill a few Qi Refining Stage sand bandits before three Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits blocked them with flying swords. After that, even when they brought out other artifacts to attack, other Foundation Establishment sand bandits intercepted them. It was already difficult for them to achieve anything more.
On the contrary, because Ninth Layer Qi Refining Cultivators like Zhou Yang were so numerous and their attacks so dispersed, even when the Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits tried to intercept them, they could not block every attack. This allowed them to seize the chance to kill and wound some Qi Refining Stage sand bandits.
Seeing this, the Ninth Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit leader immediately ordered the Qi Refining Stage sand bandits to retreat several dozen meters, withdrawing beyond the range of the artifacts wielded by the Qi Refining Stage cultivators inside the formation. They then began bombarding the formation remotely with spells.
Now the market's cultivators were in a difficult position. The attack range of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator's artifact was essentially the range of their divine sense. Once an artifact flew beyond that distance, it could no longer be controlled through divine sense. If they sent it out and could not retrieve it, would they not simply be handing it over to the enemy for nothing?
Spells did not have this problem. Although spells also required a cultivator's divine sense to lock onto a target in order to strike precisely, the formation barrier outside Golden Cloudglow Mountain was such a huge target that even if one cast spells from several hundred meters away with one's eyes closed, there was no chance of missing.
Of course, Zhou Yang and the others could also use spells to attack the sand bandits from afar. But without divine sense locking onto their targets, their spells could not possibly affect agile cultivators at all, unless they used third-rank or even fourth-rank spells with enormous areas of effect.
Leaving aside the fact that they could not possibly cast such high-grade spells, even if someone were willing to expend an incomparably precious third-rank spirit talisman to release one, would the Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits outside simply stand by and watch?
Only now did Zhou Yang understand why the Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators had been willing to let those Rogue Cultivators leave, despite knowing that a large force of sand bandits was coming.
They had calculated that even if those people remained, they would not be much help. Instead, keeping them would offend all the Rogue Cultivators in the market and bring the Chen Lineage a bad reputation.
But now, no one who knew the truth would blame the Chen Lineage. They would only say that those Rogue Cultivators had been short-sighted as mice, and that if they had remained inside the market, they might have been able to preserve their lives.
Time slowly passed. The sand bandits' attacks outside Golden Cloudglow Mountain never stopped. Many of them were now holding spirit stones in one hand, absorbing spiritual energy to replenish their magic power, while continuing to cast spells at the formation barrier.
After several hours of uninterrupted assault, the earthen-yellow formation barrier protecting Golden Cloudglow Mountain had grown much thinner. Its shaking was several times more violent than before, clearly showing that its defensive power was far inferior to what it had been.
Seeing this, the three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators had no choice but to order Qi Refining Stage cultivators like Zhou Yang to pour their own magic power into the formation to sustain its operation.
Yet with the protective formation's destruction clearly only a matter of time, how could non-Chen Lineage cultivators like Zhou Yang be willing to contribute all their magic power wholeheartedly when they were secretly considering their own escape routes?
On the surface, they all held spirit stones in one hand to absorb spiritual energy and replenish their magic power, while placing the other hand on the Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation's formation base and channeling magic power into it. They appeared to be obeying orders.
But in reality, everyone held something back, feeding only a fraction of their magic power into the formation. They all wanted to save their strength for the breakout.
Under such circumstances, the formation barrier did not become much stronger despite cultivators supplying it with magic power. At most, it could delay for a little longer.
The sand bandits outside Golden Cloudglow Mountain had evidently noticed this as well, and they increased the intensity of their attacks.
"These damned bastards!"
The three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators on Golden Cloudglow Mountain were both shocked and enraged at the sight, so furious they could barely contain themselves.
Yet furious as they were, they wisely—or perhaps helplessly—did not expose the matter, much less punish anyone.
As the saying went: the law does not punish the masses.
When one person, or only a small handful, acted this way, they could still decisively kill them to make an example of the chicken for the monkeys.
But when everyone acted this way, if they dared use violent measures, they would only force all those people to abandon the formation, allowing the sand bandits outside to reap a free harvest.
"Yang'er, I've arranged everything. When the time comes, don't worry about anyone else. Just flee for your life."
"Remember, you are the hope of whether our Zhou Lineage can rise again. Your life alone is more precious than all our lives here. Only if you live will your grandfather and the others' hardships not have been in vain. So long as you can achieve Foundation Establishment, even if all of us die, it will have been worth it!"
At the formation node guarded by the Zhou Lineage cultivators, Zhou Yang was placing his hand on a Dark Iron formation base and channeling magic power into the formation when his adoptive mother Zhou Xuanyu's transmission sounded in his ear again.
After hearing it, he swept his gaze around and discovered that fellow clansmen such as Zhou Yu, Zhou Xiong, Zhou Yuan Chun, and Zhou Yuanzhen were all looking at him, whether openly or furtively, with indescribably complicated expressions in their eyes.
Clearly, these people had also received Zhou Xuanyu's transmission. Perhaps Zhou Xuanyu had even specifically instructed them to cover his escape.
"I... I understand." He nodded with a grave expression, his heart feeling choked and stifled.
First there had been Elder Zhou Quan and the other elders of the "Guang" generation, and now these brothers and sisters of his own generation. These people had sacrificed far, far too much so that the Zhou Lineage could gain another Foundation Establishment Cultivator, so that he, Zhou Yang, could achieve Foundation Establishment!
He had to live. He absolutely had to live!
Only by living—by living to achieve Foundation Establishment, living to open the Violet Palace... living to lead the Zhou Lineage into becoming a flourishing and powerful Cultivation Family—could he be worthy of their sacrifices and those who had placed such great hopes upon him.
Just then, the white-haired elderly cultivator among the three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators suddenly moved his lips and secretly transmitted to Zhou Yang and Zhou Xuanyu, "Fellow Daoists of the Zhou Lineage, in half an hour, we will join hands and activate the Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation's killing move to counterattack. If you intend to break out, seize the opportunity."
"Many thanks for Senior's great kindness."
Zhou Yang and Zhou Xuanyu exchanged a glance, and both saw intense joy in the other's eyes.
That single sentence from the Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivator had increased their chances of successfully escaping by more than half.
It seemed their earlier choice to honor the alliance agreement had been correct. The three Chen Lineage Foundation Establishment Cultivators had said nothing on the surface, but they had secretly seen everything clearly. That was why they had given this warning now.
Before you continue