The secret talks on Yuji Peak were thus settled. A False Core cultivator was about to make one final bid for Core Formation.
Elsewhere, a force that had long given Golden Core sects such as the Condensed Jade Sect and the Three Corpse Demon Sect headaches was plundering with abandon.
Torrential rain washed over the jagged reefs of Crescent Moon Island.
Spiritual energy was sparse on this island, which measured no more than a hundred li across. Its shape was rather distinctive, closely resembling a crescent moon, hence its name.
The Feng Household's escorted convoy sped along the coastline. The decks of its three enchanted ships were piled with spirit rice, Spirit Mine, and other goods secured with dark iron chains. Spirit-gathering and defensive formation patterns inlaid along both sides of the hulls glowed a ghostly blue in the rain.
Suddenly, a vast cloud of black mist surged up from the sea ahead, and a hundred dark figures tore through the curtain of rain like venomous snakes bursting from their dens.
"Damn it! It's the Snake Spirit Thieves!"
The lookout's shriek pierced the curtain of rain.
Their leader wore a bronze python-head mask, with several python patterns embroidered on his black Daoist robe. As his hands formed seals, a mid-grade spirit artifact, the distinctly jointed Bone Snake Sword, shot through the air.
The instant this sword appeared, layers of green mist rose over the sea, corroding the seawater with a sizzling hiss.
The Feng Household merchant convoy's more than a hundred and fifty cultivators instantly formed a defensive formation.
The Feng Household's Third Elder, who led them, roared. Three keen swords at his waist sprang from their sheaths together, forming the "Spirit-Slaying Sword Formation" above his head.
But before the sword formation could fully activate, the Snake Spirit Thieves