The next day!
In the early morning, soft sunlight shone onto the earth as the sun slowly rose from the east, and the crowing of roosters began to sound.
Upon the square, the members of the Falling Moon Sect, who had been sitting cross-legged, slowly began to open their eyes. Having rested for a night, the exhaustion on their bodies had already lessened quite a bit.
"Alright! Time to go, set out!"
Following an order from Grand Elder Yang Wanli, he soared into the air. The members of the Falling Moon Sect rose to their feet one after another; all those at the Golden Core Stage soared into the air to follow behind him, while all those at the Foundation Establishment Stage began to summon their flying swords, keeping close behind.
Before they had even flown out of Linghai City, a series of explosions rang out, followed closely by the sounds of battle and slaughter.
When Chen Ming flew up on his flying sword, he saw that a group of people from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect, the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect, and the Soul-Destroying Sect had already surrounded Linghai City tightly!
It looked like their numbers were not very large, far from matching the headcount of the Falling Moon Sect. Now, the biggest fear was whether more people would arrive later.
The explosion just then was made by the collision of magical power between the Falling Moon Sect's Grand Elder and the others, and the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and their allies.
"Break out!"
Seeing that the enemy's numbers were not yet very large, and even fewer than the Falling Moon Sect's side, Grand Elder Yang Wanli spoke hurriedly.
Judging by the situation, this should only be the vanguard force. The real worry was that as time went on, the enemy's numbers would swell, and fleeing might truly become impossible by then.
Having managed to charge out of the encirclement with great difficulty, the Falling Moon Sect had lost half of its people. If not for fifteen Golden Core elders self-destructing their golden cores to forcefully carve out a bloody path, the casualties might not have stopped there.
Danger had yet to leave them behind even now, as the people from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and others closely pursued them from behind.
Chen Ming looked back at those densely packed pursuing troops, thinking to himself, This won't do!
Yet just when everyone thought there was no escape, having just flown across a river and exited the borders of the Wangshui Kingdom, they looked back to see that the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and the others had actually stopped.
The members of the Falling Moon Sect finally let out a long sigh of relief, yet none of them noticed that pairs of eyes flashing with a gloomy green light were staring straight at them ahead.
"Sect Master Liu, why aren't you pursuing anymore?"
On the side of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect, Seeing Ten Thousand Monsters Sect Master Liu Gangming suddenly signaling everyone to stop, Ten Thousand Poisons Sect Master Liang Sihai asked with puzzlement.
"There is an aura of a very dangerous group of fierce beasts ahead! Let's go! There is no need to keep pursuing!"
Liu Gangming said this, then turned around and led the disciples of the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect away!
The reason the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect was called the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect was because their cultivation techniques possessed a unique resonance with fierce beasts, giving the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect a natural advantage regarding them.
Seeing the people of the Ten Thousand Monsters Sect leave, the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and the Soul-Destroying Sect merely glanced around before turning to leave as well.
"Senior Sister Fengling, be careful. When unusual things happen, demons are sure to be at work!"
Chen Ming flew to Li Fengling's side and whispered.
Yet right at that moment, screams continuously echoed from ahead.
"It's Dragonflame Giant Lizards, accelerate forward!"
Leading the way ahead, Yang Wanli shouted when he saw these huge creatures leaping out from the marsh.
However, just as Yang Wanli was speaking, a powerful gang-wind swept over. A winged Dragonflame Giant Lizard spread its wings and charged straight at Yang Wanli, spitting a mouthful of flame-laden gang-wind as it came.
"Mutant Dragonflame Giant Lizard King, why is this kind of thing here!"
"Everyone at the Golden Core Stage, come over and stall it! Foundation Establishment Stage disciples, run first!"
Seeing this scene, Yang Wanli hurriedly gave loud instructions.
They crossed this patch of marshland, traversed another grassland, and stopped amidst a small cluster of hills.
Counting the headcount, the Grand Elder, the sect master, and the peak masters were all still present, though each of them bore more or less some injuries.
The dozens of Golden Core elders originally present were now left with only nine. As for Foundation Establishment Stage supervisors and outer sect elders, there were merely sixteen left—six supervisors and ten outer sect elders.
Inner sect disciples suffered the heaviest casualties: out of several hundred original inner sect disciples, only eighty-nine remained!
Falling Moon Peak had only eighteen left, Green Leaf Peak sixteen, Wild Blade Peak fifteen, Silver Bamboo Peak thirteen, Falling Flower Peak ten, Soaring Sword Peak ten, and Iron Bamboo Peak seven.
Iron Bamboo Peak was left with only those seven: Li Mei, Lin Hao, Lin Lie, Li Yao, Shen Yueru, Li Fengling, and Chen Ming!
Resting here for over a month, they set out again only after the injuries on everyone's bodies had healed for the most part.
Since they did not know their location, they could only choose a direction at random to walk and stop intermittently.
Three days later, they saw a city finally appear ahead.
Entering Tai'an City, everyone finally relaxed, and their moods became much easier-at least for the time being, they did not have to live in constant dread.
Because their numbers were relatively large, the members of the Falling Moon Sect eventually split into three groups to check into three different inns. The sudden entry of so many cultivators in uniform attire also attracted the attention of the City Lord's Residence and certain factions.
Within the City Lord's Residence, City Lord Tie Nanxin heard the reports from his subordinates and hurriedly dispatched his covert guards to keep them under secret surveillance.
Upon probing, they learned that this was the Fengdu Kingdom, centered around the Taizhen Sect and headed by Perfected Zhiyang, who possessed the cultivation base of the Late Nascent Soul stage.
The Fengdu Kingdom possessed thirteen prefectures and a total of eight major sects, namely the Taizhen Sect, Profound Azure Sect, Heavenly Net Sect, Flamefire Sect, Five Elements Sect, Azure Sun Temple, Dawn Dharma Sect, and Immortal Ascension Sect, alongside several other smaller sects.
Hearing this information made Chen Ming's scalp tingle slightly. In his memories, this Perfected Zhiyang was someone who secretly allied with the Demon Sect.
This truly is just escaping the tiger's den only to enter the wolf's lair!
Chen Ming could not help but sigh leisurely.
After discussions among a group of sect higher-ups, they decided to seek refuge under the Taizhen Sect, because rebuilding a sect was no easy task!
Suddenly, a cold wind blew, and snow unexpectedly began to fall in the sky.
A desolate northern wind wailed across this heaven and earth, and patches of white snow fluttered with the wind, tearing the firmament to jagged pieces and scattering across the earth layer by layer. Gazing into the distance, it looked like a world wrapped in silver, desolate everywhere.
Looking at the heavy snow outside, Chen Ming slowly walked out of the inn to experience this long-absent atmosphere.
Early the next day, the members of the Falling Moon Sect left the city and headed toward the direction of the information they had inquired about, pressing forward amidst the blinding, fluttering snow.
Just as everyone was preparing to cross a snow mountain, a formation light lit up and everyone was blasted flying backward. As soon as they steadied their figures, they heard a roar of angry curses.
"What people are you? How dare you trespass into my Five Elements Sect!"
An old man in white robes soared into the air, glaring at the members of the Falling Moon Sect and scolding them angrily.
"This senior, this junior is from the Wangshui Kingdom-Yang Wanli of the Falling Moon Sect. I have brought the members of my sect to flee here and did not know this was the mountain gate of the Five Elements Sect. We had no intention of offending!"
Yang Wanli looked at the sudden appearance of this person. Seeing that even with his own Late Golden Core cultivation base he could not discern the cultivation realm of the person before him, he thought to himself, This person is at least a Nascent Soul-stage cultivator, and hastily bowed while stating his case.
"Oh! You actually hail from the Wangshui Kingdom? Why have you come here? I have only heard that the Zhao State was occupied by the cultivators of the Evil Path and the Demon Sect, but I never heard that the Wangshui Kingdom was also overrun."
The white-robed old man looked at them doubtfully and Yang Wanli asked in surprise.
"Replying to Senior, it is like this..."
Yang Wanli recounted the events that had previously transpired to this white-robed old man.
"Since it has come to this, meeting is also a matter of fate. How about joining our sect?"
Hearing Yang Wanli's narration, the white-robed old man's tune shifted as he spoke.
Yet just like that, the members of the Falling Moon Sect ultimately joined the Five Elements Sect.
Grand Elder Yang Wanli was transformed into an inner sect elder of the Five Elements Sect; several peak masters and chief seats all became inner sect elders; and those few Golden Core Stage inner sect elders remained unchanged, similarly becoming inner sect elders of the Five Elements Sect.
Those supervisors and outer sect elders instead became inner sect disciples, while Chen Ming and the others, who had originally been inner sect disciples all along, remained basically unchanged, except for being shuffled and separated out to various peaks.