Night Raid

Although Xie Mei'er denied it vehemently, everyone present was shrewd; there was no one who couldn't tell the truth from the lies.

It would have been fine if Xie Mei'er were still unmarried, but she was already betrothed to someone else—and not just anyone, but a member of the Yunli Kingdom royal family. If the royal family were to find out, it wouldn't just be a problem for Xie Mei'er; even the Cloud Saint Sect would be unable to escape the consequences.

Slap.

A large palm struck Xie Mei'er hard across the face. "You disgraceful thing..."

Xie Tianyu's face turned beet red, and ignoring everyone else, he immediately flicked his sleeves and stormed off.

Zhao Youdao's face was also a mix of black and red, and he hurriedly lowered his head and left. The elders scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only Xie Mei'er standing in the hall, looking panicked.

"Wuu... Father, you hit me, wuu..." After a long while, Xie Mei'er finally stumbled out.

Sanbao sneered and said, "Senior Sister Xie, when you pierced my heart with that sword, did you ever think this day would come?"

"Hmph, you surnamed Luo, it's all your fault that Brother Hong..." Xie Mei'er left, filled with hatred.

"You were the ones who tried to kill first, yet you act like you're in the right? You deserved it," Sanbao cursed in anger.

Watching Xie Mei'er's retreating figure, Sanbao felt a faint sense of loss.

After everyone left, the master and disciple shared a bitter smile, finally putting the matter to rest for the time being.

However, what neither of them expected was that the matter was far from over.

When the night reached its peak, the entire Cloud Mountain was plunged into darkness, with only the insects and beasts in the mountain forest chirping incessantly, ignoring the late hour.

Inside his room, after completing several cycles of cultivation, Sanbao finished his practice and stood up. Just as he was about to undress and rest, a scream suddenly rang out. Sanbao jolted, thinking to himself, Someone is here.

Just as he was about to head out, a voice came from the doorway.

"Don't go out yet. I'll go take a look. If the situation is dire, I will let out a long whistle as a warning, and you must flee the mountain immediately—run as far as you can!" It was his master, Jing Yifei.

Sanbao was stunned, and he immediately thought of the events of the day. Could it be that Xie Tianyu had come to silence them? But the news had already reached the major elders; wasn't it too late for him to come now? Was there some other hidden reason? No, I have to go see.

Thinking this, Sanbao steadied his mind, pushed open the door, and quietly vanished into the night. Utilizing his familiarity with the terrain, he navigated through several corridors and slowly arrived at a side hall—this was where A-Tie resided.

In the courtyard, a man in black with his face covered stood in a standoff with Jing Yifei.

"Jing Yifei, you talk too much. Hand over the item, and I can spare your life today," the man in black's voice sounded like a mallard duck, extremely grating.

"Xie Tianyu, let's not play games. If you want that item today, you can have it, but you must agree to one condition!" Jing Yifei asked in return.

"Elder Jing has sharp eyes to recognize me at a glance. Very well, tell me, what is the condition?" Seeing that his identity was exposed, the man in black was not angry; instead, he pulled off the black cloth, his voice returning to its natural tone. It was indeed the Third Sect Master of the Cloud Saint Sect, Xie Tianyu.

"Ha, ha, ha! Well done, Xie Tianyu. The Grand Sect Master has only just died, and you are already so impatient?" Jing Yifei looked up at the sky and let out a miserable, hollow laugh.

"Retreat."

Sanbao naturally knew this was the signal his master was giving him, so he immediately retreated quietly.

"Jing Yifei, don't waste your efforts. Today, neither you nor your disciple will live to see tomorrow!" Xie Tianyu's words shocked Sanbao even more; the Fire Cloud Hall must have been surrounded.

He didn't know how many people had come, but he must not alert any of them, or he would be left with no place to die. He had to stay clear-headed at this moment. The front and back gates were definitely blocked, but besides here, where else would they have stationed guards?

In his mind, the layout of the entire Fire Cloud Peak appeared. Gritting his teeth, Sanbao quietly headed toward the southwest. Using the cover of the night, he circulated his spirit power throughout his entire body.

Whoosh. Sanbao flashed over the three-meter-high protective wall. Just as he was about to charge into the forest, a cold shout came from not far away: "Die, brat!"

Sanbao cursed inwardly. He hadn't expected the entire Fire Cloud Hall to be surrounded. In an instant, he pushed his Nine-Turn Golden Body to its limit. After a few afterimages, Sanbao had already vanished into the jungle, and the enemy's attack slammed uselessly into the high wall.

"Awoo..."

The guard clearly hadn't expected Sanbao's speed to be so fast, thinking to himself, Is this kid really just someone who just advanced to the Spirit General realm?

After signaling the alarm, he hurriedly gave chase.

Around the Fire Cloud Hall, more than a dozen black shadows rapidly converged toward this direction.

Once Sanbao entered the forest, a glimmer of hope rose in his heart. Thank heavens, the breakthrough point he chose was decent; the guard was only at the early Spirit Commander level. If he had run into a Spirit King, he wouldn't have been able to escape so easily.

No, he wouldn't have been able to escape at all. Under the powerful aura control of a Spirit King, his Nine-Turn Golden Body wouldn't have been able to function at all.

"Brat, you can't run!" Although the pursuer shouted loudly, he was falling further and further behind.

Swish, swish...

The shrubs beside him seemed to be legs of a thousand-strong army, constantly receding behind him. As the Nine-Turn Golden Body continued to circulate, the blood in his veins seemed to grow excited, and Sanbao suddenly felt a sense of exhilaration.

He thought, It truly is the inherited Spirit Skill of the Luo Clan. After advancing to Spirit General, it has a special synergy with my body.

Fifty meters, one hundred meters, two hundred meters, five hundred meters...

In just a short moment, Sanbao had left his opponents far behind, but the spirit power in his body was also being consumed rapidly.

Although his running speed was much faster than an ordinary Spirit Commander, the gap in cultivation levels was hard to bridge. If both sides continued to run like this, in less than a quarter of an hour, Sanbao would surely be exhausted and captured. After all, those behind him were Spirit Commanders and Spirit Kings; in terms of the depth of spirit power, Sanbao was far inferior.

Unknowingly, Sanbao ran toward the direction of Lone Mountain.

Lowering his body, Sanbao ducked into a dense thicket, slowing his pace while recovering his consumed spirit power.

Competing in endurance against Spirit Commanders and Spirit Kings was clearly impossible. All Sanbao could do was run and hide, while maintaining a certain amount of spirit power; otherwise, if he encountered an enemy, he would have no power to fight back.

At this moment, the advantages of his family's inherited Spirit Technique, the Purple Gold Art, began to manifest. If it were just an ordinary Spirit Technique, the recovery speed of spirit power would be very limited, but the Purple Gold Art was different. Given Sanbao's current physical strength and cultivation level, its grade already surpassed that of ordinary high-grade Spirit Techniques.

The speed at which he recovered his spirit power was naturally not slow.

"Huh? He was just here, where did he go?"

"A bunch of useless trash, you can't even catch a single Spirit General! You go that way, and you go that way..." a masked leader barked in anger.

Soon, the pursuers were split into several groups, disappearing into the mountains at varying speeds.

As he gradually shook off his pursuers, Sanbao secretly worried for Jing Yifei. He was basically safe now, but he didn't know if his master could escape the clutches of Xie Tianyu.

Although it seemed that Jing Yifei was only at the Spirit King realm and certainly no match for Xie Tianyu, Sanbao had a gut feeling that Jing Yifei still had some kind of trump card. He just didn't know what that reliance was, or if it could withstand the powerful Xie Tianyu.

Half an hour later, Sanbao had already fled to the foot of Lone Mountain. Looking back into the distance, the pursuers were long gone.

As his realm improved, his inherited talents gradually manifested. As a descendant of the Purple-Eyed Golden Peng, Sanbao's physical strength was far superior to that of ordinary Spirit Cultivators, especially in terms of speed.

Combined with the use of the Nine-Turn Golden Body, his speed was even faster than that of an average Spirit Commander. Coupled with his familiarity with the local terrain, it was easy for him to shake off his enemies.

He never expected the Grand Sect Master to be killed, leaving him caught in the crossfire. He couldn't stay in the Cloud Saint Sect anymore, so he had to find another way. Should he go home and take a look?

Lost in thought, he rounded Lone Mountain and dashed rapidly into the depths of Cloud Mountain.

He didn't know how many miles he had run, but when he felt he had completely shaken off the Cloud Saint Sect's pursuit, Sanbao stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Gasping for air, he looked at the horizon, which was beginning to brighten; dawn was approaching, and he was nearly exhausted.

He had to find a safe place to recover his spirit power. The depths of Cloud Mountain were fraught with danger, and there was no shortage of formidable spirit beasts.

His journey to the desolate mountains with Shisan several years ago had taught him many things: the safest places in the wilderness were deep caves, mountain peaks, and the tops of giant trees.

Not far away, a towering tree several hundred meters tall appeared in Sanbao's line of sight. The tree was lush and leafy, with a history of several hundred years. From a distance, it looked like a green mushroom standing in the valley.

Good, this is the one.

Arriving at the base of the tree, Sanbao carefully observed his surroundings before leaping up, disappearing into the dense foliage of the trunk.

Standing high up in the tree, he looked out into the distance, taking in everything within a thousand-meter radius. Only then did Sanbao feel at ease.

Sitting cross-legged on a flat section of the trunk, Sanbao fully extended his soul power to sense everything he could. Aside from a nest of hatchlings in the branches above, there were no other signs of life.

Slowly restraining his aura, he began to circulate the Purple-Gold Art. A vast amount of heaven and earth spirit energy slowly gathered toward his Dantian, then flowed through the meridians of his entire body, constantly tempering his flesh before finally turning into a trickling stream that flowed into his empty Dantian...

After four full cycles, the spirit power in his Dantian had only recovered a small fraction, showing just how great his depletion had been. Just as Sanbao decided to begin the fifth cycle of cultivation, several human voices suddenly drifted over from the distance.