Rumble!!
Faced with the Flame Talismans' fearsome might, the Zhao Household patriarch controlled the Earth River Shield and prepared to dodge.
But the various elemental forces within the Three Talents Formation Flags had affected him severely!
And just now... he had also inhaled some of the poisonous fog from the Spirit Poison Bottle! That fog was gradually eating away at his soul, making the world before his eyes grow hazy.
"If I wish to leave, who can stop me?"
The Zhao Household patriarch looked at the five Flame Talismans, ruthlessness flashing in his eyes. He drew the short blade at his waist and plunged it into his thigh, forcing himself to stay conscious.
Then, gripping the Earth River Shield, he chose to take the attack of one Flame Talisman head-on!
The five Flame Talismans Lin Xiye had thrown blocked every escape route around him... He had to withstand one head-on; only then would he have a sliver of hope for survival.
Inside the Three Talents Formation Flags, Lin Xiye's entire body was taut as well, beads of sweat streaming down his forehead...
In a fight between immortal cultivators, every step was fraught with danger.
The Zhao Household patriarch's strength far surpassed Lin Xiye's, and he was both cunning and decisive! He was an extremely difficult opponent!!
But the more that was the case, the less willing Lin Xiye was to give him a chance to escape!
From grievously injuring him with Flame Talismans to activating the Three Talents Formation Flags... every step Lin Xiye had taken had been perilous.
If the Zhao Household patriarch were allowed to escape, then even if the Lin Household took the Zhao Household's place, the Lin Household would have no peace with such a treacherous, troublesome opponent lurking in the shadows!!
"Die!"
Lin Xiye no longer had the Spirit Poison Bottle or any Flame Talismans in his hands.
Now, he had to rely on his own strength and the might of the Three Talents Formation Flags to keep the Zhao Household patriarch here for good.
Elsewhere, the three immortal cultivators from the Zhao Household's affiliated forces had long since fled.
Before fleeing, they had also withdrawn all the armored guards fighting for the Zhao Household and attacking Qiao Town...
In the end, only the Zhao Household's armored guards and heavy cavalry remained outside Qiao Town, still charging!!
The Zhao Household's affiliated forces had vanished without a trace!
They could already see that the Zhao Household was going to lose its power this time! It had lost so many immortal cultivators that even if it was not destroyed in the end, it would likely lose its grip on Zichuan City completely!
But whether the Zhao Household lost power or the Lin Household rose to prominence, what awaited these affiliated forces... would be a reckoning!!
If the Zhao Household survived, its patriarch would not spare them.
As for the Lin Household... it might not accept them either.
Leading their lineages away in flight was the safest course!
As long as they took advantage of the Lin and Zhao Households' ongoing struggle to get a thousand li away from Zichuan City and flee to another city, they would be completely safe!!
As for their foundations and the like? In the face of a calamity that could wipe out their lineages, those no longer mattered...
Outside Qiao Town, the Zhao Household's vast ranks of armored guards charged again and again!
After seeing so many of their lineage's immortal cultivators fall and the troops of the major affiliated forces flee, the Zhao Household's armored guards had also suffered a severe blow to their morale.
Although Qiao Town had only a few hundred defenders, its thick stone walls were not so easy to breach!
The walls outside Qiao Town were built entirely from blocks of black iron rock, each weighing a hundred thousand jin and as dense as refined steel!!
The Lin Household had spent a full two hundred years building the stone walls outside Qiao Town! Let alone siege engines, even immortal cultivators at the Blood Refining and Bone Refining levels could not budge them!
The Zhao Household patriarch, the only one capable of shaking Qiao Town's stone walls, was currently being held firmly in check by Lin Xi.
"Hear my command! Abandon the siege... surround and kill the Lin Household patriarch!!"
Inside the Three Talents Formation Flags, blood trickled from the corner of the Zhao Household patriarch's mouth. Even with the Earth River Shield protecting him, half the Flame Talisman's power had still struck him!
He had already been gravely wounded. Although the Life Pill had helped him recover somewhat, he was still in extremely poor condition. After taking a blow from the Flame Talisman, he had truly suffered fresh wounds before the old ones had healed...
More crucially, Lin Xiye stood in his way, giving him no chance to escape the area covered by the Three Talents Formation Flags.
Although the Earth River Shield was also a Spirit-Nurturing Grade Law Treasure, as its name implied, it was only a defensive Law Treasure and had no offensive capabilities.
With the Earth River Shield, he had no way to counterattack Lin Xiye!
"Fellow Daoist, do not go too far..."
The longer the fight dragged on, the weaker the Zhao Household patriarch's presence grew, and deep in his heart, he gradually began to feel uneasy.
If this continued, he would fall!!
He had already ordered the Zhao Household's many armored guards to abandon their attack on Qiao Town and surround Lin Xiye instead.
Unfortunately, even the heavily armored cavalrymen who had trained in martial arts were crushed into a bloody mist by three elements of heaven and earth the instant they approached the Three Talents Formation Flags!
Before the things of the immortal path, the number of mortals and all their attacks... meant nothing at all!!
After losing dozens of heavily armored cavalrymen in succession, the Zhao Household's many armored guards no longer dared to advance.
Some brought out bows and crossbows, hoping to ambush Lin Xiye, but as soon as the arrows entered the Three Talents Formation Flags, vines bound them and flung them back out of the formation's range, killing many Zhao Household armored guards...
On a watchtower atop Qiao Town's stone wall, a Lin Household elder watched Lin Xiye inside the Three Talents Formation Flags, worry appearing on his face.
"Patriarch... could the Ancestor be in danger?"
"Those damned Zhao Household armored guards actually dared to try to ambush the Ancestor! They deserve death!!"
"How about I lead two hundred armored guards out of town and take some of the pressure off the Ancestor?"
As soon as the Lin Household elder finished speaking, Lin Changge shook his head slightly and said calmly,
"Don't be hasty..."
"The Ancestor is an immortal cultivator. A group of ordinary armored guards can't affect him at all."
"Besides, taking two hundred armored guards out there would just be sending them to their deaths! You wouldn't be able to help the Ancestor..."
"Moreover, the key to this battle is the fight between immortal cultivators! Only by eliminating that Zhao Household patriarch... can our Lin Household win!"
"If we win this battle, our Lin Household will enter Zichuan City and replace the Zhao Household. From then on, we will reign supreme for a thousand li around."
As Lin Changge spoke, his gaze turned to the heavy crossbow atop Qiao Town's stone wall!
This crossbow could fire a giant arrow weighing ten thousand jin!
When the ten-thousand-jin arrow roared forth, it could easily unleash several hundred thousand, or even several million jin of killing force!!
Inside the Three Talents Formation Flags, although the Zhao Household patriarch was firmly suppressed, it would still be somewhat difficult for their ancestor to kill him...
At this thought, Lin Changge took a deep breath and spoke again.
"Bring the refined iron arrow!"
Lin Changge intended to use the heavy crossbow to lend their ancestor a hand!!
He would shoot the Zhao Household patriarch dead with a single arrow, and fight to make the Lin Household of Qiao Town... a hegemon.
At Lin Changge's command, hundreds of Lin Household armored guards used an auxiliary mechanism to laboriously load an enormous arrow, gleaming with a cold light, into the heavy crossbow's firing frame.
Creak... creak...
Immediately afterward, hundreds of armored guards began drawing the giant crossbow.
As the mechanism's gears turned, the crossbow string made from Demon Beast sinew... gradually pulled taut!!