Battle of Breakthrough (Part 1)

"Yang'er, it looks like the market town can't be held. If the great formation breaks, we'll immediately scatter and break through. We'll save whoever we can. If you manage to escape with your life, find a place to hide in the oasis and wait for your grandfather and the others to return before finding him. Don't go to White Camel Ridge alone!"

On Golden Mist Mountain, as Zhou Yang, like everyone else, was stunned by the news revealed by the Sand Bandit leader, his godmother Zhou Xuanyu's divine sense voice suddenly echoed in his ears.

He trembled upon hearing the rumor and immediately snapped out of his daze.

After regaining his senses, he glanced at his godmother Zhou Xuanyu and quietly transmitted back, "Godmother, since we've decided to break through and flee, I suggest we find a place to bury our extra Storage Bags. That way, we won't be targeted as easy prey while escaping!"

"Good, we'll do as you say."

Zhou Xuanyu's beautiful eyes lit up, and without any hesitation, she immediately agreed to Zhou Yang's suggestion.

Compared to their lives, wealth was truly an external possession. Moreover, if they were to die at the hands of the Sand Bandits, the contents of their Storage Bags wouldn't be able to return to the family anyway.

However, to avoid attracting the attention of the three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, these matters could only be carried out secretly, without revealing their true intentions.

After another half-day standoff, black-robed, masked Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits finally surrounded Golden Gorge Mountain from all directions. Accompanying them were four Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits flying on their swords.

At this point, the number of Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits besieging Golden霞 Mountain alone reached fourteen, while the number of Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits was ten times that.

Zhou Yang noticed that these newly appeared Sand Bandits almost all had multiple Storage Bags hanging from their waists. Some of the Storage Bags were still stained with fresh blood, clearly having been taken from dead bodies not long ago.

This made his heart sink, knowing that his godmother Zhou Xuanyu's prophecy had come true. Those Rogue Cultivators who had gone down the mountain earlier, thinking they could escape disaster, had likely all died at the hands of these well-prepared Sand Bandits.

"As expected, Sand Bandits are just Sand Bandits. With their greedy nature of squeezing oil from stones, how could they easily let go of those scattered Rogue Cultivators who fled in disarray?"

Zhou Yang felt a chill in his heart, once again deeply realizing the wickedness of the Sand Bandit group.

Except for their different cultivation methods, their actions were no different from legendary demonic cultivators. It wouldn't be wrong to call them demonic cultivators.

"Attack! Use your most powerful spells and your most powerful Artifacts! Aim all of them at that turtle shell. I want to see how long this turtle shell can last!"

Rumble!

With a command from the Ninth Layer Foundation Establishment Sand Bandit leader, all the Sand Bandits, including the Foundation Establishment Stage ones, unleashed their Artifacts and Spells, bombarding the formation's protective shield guarding Golden Mist Mountain.

The colorful spiritual light of the spells instantly dyed the sky above Golden Cloud Mountain a beautiful rainbow hue.

However, this beautiful scenery appeared incredibly deadly and perilous to the cultivators defending Golden Cloud Mountain.

Because under the concentrated attacks of the numerous Sand Bandits, the protective shield of the formation guarding Golden Mist Mountain had begun to shake slightly, although the amplitude of the shaking was not large.

But everyone knew that once the formation's shield shook, it meant the outside Sand Bandits' attacks were indeed effective. As long as this attack continued, once the spiritual qi of the Spirit Vein maintaining the formation's shield could no longer keep up with the supply, the formation would inevitably break.

"Kill! While the formation can still hold, fellow cultivators, use whatever means you have! Kill one if you can, one is enough, killing two is a profit!"

On Golden Mist Mountain, the three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, with grim expressions, let out a low roar and unleashed their flying swords, charging towards the Sand Bandits attacking outside the formation.

For high-tier formations like the "Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation," the defensive shield was basically outward-facing and not inward-facing. Cultivators outside the formation needed to break the formation's shield to harm those inside, but attacks from inside could easily pass through the shield to strike enemies outside.

Therefore, unless they held an absolute advantage in strength, cultivators would never attack the mountain gates or market towns protected by high-tier formations.

The Sand Bandit side now held the absolute advantage in strength. Their total numbers were not much less than those inside the market town, but their number of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators was four to five times that of the market town's side.

The three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators had only killed a few Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits with their flying swords before they were immediately blocked by the flying swords of three Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits. Even when they unleashed other Artifacts to attack, they were all blocked by other Foundation Establishment Sand Bandits, making it difficult to achieve any further merit.

On the contrary, because of their sheer numbers and dispersed attacks, even though the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits tried to intercept them, they couldn't intercept all of them. This allowed Zhou Yang and other Ninth Layer Qi Refining cultivators to seize the opportunity to kill some Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits.

The Ninth Layer Foundation Establishment Sand Bandit leader saw this and immediately issued an order for the Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits to retreat dozens of meters, out of the range of the Qi Refining Stage cultivators' Artifact attacks within the formation. Then, they launched long-range attacks with spells from afar.

This made the cultivators inside the market town extremely uncomfortable. Basically, the attack range of Qi Refining Stage cultivators' Artifacts was the range of their divine sense projection. Once an Artifact flew out of this distance, it could no longer be controlled by divine sense. If the Artifact was sent out but couldn't be retrieved, wouldn't it just benefit the enemy?

Spells, however, didn't have this problem. Although spells also required cultivators' divine sense to lock onto targets to launch precise strikes against enemies, the formation's shield outside Goldenlight Mountain was such a large target that even closing one's eyes and casting spells from hundreds of meters away would not miss.

Of course, Zhou Yang and the others could also cast spells to attack the Sand Bandits from a distance, but their spells, without divine sense locking onto targets, would be completely ineffective against agile cultivators, unless they were extremely large-area Third-tier or even Fourth-tier spells.

Not to mention that they couldn't cast such high-tier spells, even if someone were willing to expend a precious Third-tier Talisman to cast a spell, would the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits outside just stand by and watch?

It was only then that Zhou Yang understood why the Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, knowing that a large number of Sand Bandits were attacking, were willing to let those Rogue Cultivators leave.

They had calculated that even if those people stayed, they wouldn't be of much help, and instead, they would offend all the Rogue Cultivators in the market town, bringing a bad reputation to the Chen Family.

However, now, no one who knew the inside story would blame the Chen Family. They would only say that those Rogue Cultivators were shortsighted. If they had stayed inside the market town, they might have even saved their lives.

Time slowly passed, and the Sand Bandits' attacks outside Golden Mist Mountain never stopped. Many Sand Bandits were now holding Spirit Stones to absorb spiritual qi and replenish their Mana while continuing to cast spells to attack the formation's shield.

After several hours of continuous bombardment by these people, the earth-yellow formation shield guarding Golden Cloud Mountain had thinned considerably, and the shaking of the shield was several times more intense than before, clearly indicating that its defensive power was greatly diminished.

Seeing this, the three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators on Golden Mist Mountain had no choice but to order Zhou Yang and other Qi Refining Stage cultivators to input their Mana to maintain the formation's operational consumption.

With the breaking of the great formation only a matter of time, cultivators like Zhou Yang, who were not from the Chen Family, were secretly considering their escape routes and were unwilling to contribute their Mana wholeheartedly.

On the surface, they all held Spirit Stones in one hand, absorbing spiritual qi to replenish their Mana, and placed the other hand on the formation base of the "Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation" to input Mana, appearing to be obeying orders.

But in reality, everyone was holding back, inputting only a fraction of their Mana into the formation, wanting to save their Mana for their escape.

Under these circumstances, the formation's shield did not strengthen much despite cultivators providing Mana. At most, it could delay the inevitable for a while longer.

The Sand Bandits outside Golden Cloud Mountain clearly noticed this situation, so they intensified their attacks.

"These damn scoundrels!"

The three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators on Golden Cloud Mountain were both shocked and furious upon seeing this, extremely angered.

However, despite their anger, they were wise, or rather, helplessly, not to expose this matter, let alone punish anyone.

As the saying goes: the law does not punish the masses.

When one person or a small group of people does something like this, they can decisively act to kill these people as a warning to others.

But if everyone did that, and they dared to resort to violence, it would only force those people to abandon providing mana to the formation, allowing the Sand Bandits outside to take advantage.

"Yang'er, I've made all the arrangements. When the time comes for action, don't worry about anyone else; just focus on escaping on your own."

"Remember, you are the hope for our Zhou Family's rise. Your life alone is more precious than all of us here. As long as you live, Grandpa and the others' efforts won't be in vain. If 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 Family cultivators, Zhou Yang was inputting mana into the formation with his hand on the Profound Iron formation base. His godmother, Zhou Xuanyu's, voice transmission sounded in his ear again.

After hearing the transmission, he swept his gaze around and saw that his fellow clan members, including Zhou Yu, Zhou Xiong, Zhou Yuanchun, and Zhou Yuanzhen, were all looking at him, their expressions indescribable and complex.

Clearly, these people had also received Zhou Xuanyu's transmission, and perhaps she had specifically instructed them to cover his escape.

"I... I understand." He nodded with a heavy expression, his heart feeling a suffocating panic.

First, it was the elder "Guang" generation like old man Zhou Quan, and now it was these brothers and sisters of his own age. These people had sacrificed so much for the Zhou Family to have another Foundation Establishment Cultivator, for him, Zhou Yang, to achieve Foundation Establishment!

He had to live; he absolutely had to live!

Only by living, achieving Foundation Establishment, opening his Violet Palace... and leading the Zhou Family to become a strong and powerful Cultivation Family, could he be worthy of their sacrifices and the high hopes placed upon him.

Just then, the oldest cultivator among the three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, a white-haired elder, moved his lips and secretly transmitted a message to Zhou Yang and Zhou Xuanyu: "Fellow cultivators of the Zhou Family, in half an hour, we will jointly activate the killing move of the [Hun Tian Earth Dragon Formation] to counterattack. If you intend to break through, you must seize this opportunity."

"Thank you for your great kindness, Senior."

Zhou Yang and Zhou Xuanyu exchanged glances, seeing intense joy in each other's eyes.

This single sentence from the Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivator increased their chances of successful escape by more than half.

It seemed their choice to abide by the alliance was the correct one. The three Chen Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, while saying nothing on the surface, had seen everything in secret, which was why they were now offering this covert reminder.

First update, seeking recommendation tickets, seeking addition to the reading list!