The Peril of a Stack of Eggs

"What are you all standing there for? Are you just waiting to die?" A loud shout suddenly rang out from the crowd, and a tall, burly, one-eyed giant stepped forward.

"The Kang family has always made you memorize the positions for this formation. Are you all out of your minds if you don't stand in the correct positions now?" Ye Zhengwen shouted again, finally bringing the heads of the various families, whose faces were filled with fear, back to their senses.

However, this only made the situation more chaotic, and the biggest flaw that Kang Dabao had created since establishing the market was finally exposed.

Since the Jingguan incident, Chongming Sect has not sent anyone to be stationed here permanently, and there is no one with prestige to give orders to these more than 20 merchants.

If what the female cultivator in the tiger-coat said is true, it's because they've lived a peaceful life for too long and have lost their vigilance.

This caused the leaders of each household to have differing opinions; some wanted to fight, while others wanted to flee. The Rogue Cultivator and customers in the market were like headless flies, running around aimlessly.

Only the Xue Household's chief cultivator, Lu Yunniang from the Lu Household, and Ye Pinglin, along with a handful of people who hadn't yet panicked, managed to take their positions and barely keep the market formation functioning properly.

Ye Pinglin's injuries had not yet healed, but he still stared intently at the herd of beasts, showing little sign of panic.

Compared to the chaotic scene inside the formation, the Demon Beast outside, after a brief rest, were aroused by the increasingly strong stench of blood in front of the formation. This gradually removed the fear from their eyes, and they would occasionally let out a terrifying growl from their throats as they slowly walked towards the formation.

Some of the bolder ones even had the leisure to pounce on the fallen, still-alive Red-Maned Mountain Boar, wantonly tearing at their unburnt flesh and enjoying their meal.

"Senior sister, while they are still unstable in forming the array, let's urge all the Demon Beast to be released at once. Then the array will be broken in no time," the short, thin cultivator advised upon seeing the situation.

"Don't rush. Look at them, scattered here and there. Now that the magic array is broken, these beasts aren't as sharp as before after smelling the Sacred Incense. We might not be able to keep them all here. Once they've taken their positions and are all safely trapped in this turtle shell, then we can urge the herd up."

"It's just a small market town without Second Tier formation or Foundation Establishment cultivator to oversee it. It won't amount to much, but at least we should do it well to save face for our master and senior uncles." The female cultivator in the tiger-coat shook her head and continued to observe the chaos among the cultivators within the formation, waiting for an opportunity to act.

Zhou Xinran just a young girl who hadn't experienced many battles. When it came to decisiveness in killing, she was far inferior to her junior brother Jin Shilun, whose cultivation was only at the First Layer of Qi Refining.

This reminded her of Kang Dabao's earlier instructions, "If you're ever unsure what to do, just go find that half-blind man; he won't refuse to help."

Zhou Xinran looked in Ye Zhengwen's direction, where the latter was loudly shouting at some hesitant merchants, telling them to take their positions.

The hunchbacked old cultivator ignored the warning and insisted on leaving. Just looking at the ferocious beasts outside made his legs tremble; he no longer had the courage to activate the formation. He could at least bargain with Evil Cultivator to save his life, but these Demon Beast outside didn't care about the Spirit Stone in his hand.

Ye Zhengwen paid no heed to his words. He simply grabbed the hunchbacked old man and slapped him hard twice.

The latter, his mouth bleeding from the slap, still retorted defiantly, "You, surnamed Ye, are just another tenant living here like us. What right do you have to act so arrogantly?!"

The hunchbacked old cultivator's words aroused the resentment of many of the guardian cultivators. Why should they listen to a one-eyed dragon and stand in front to fight to the death?

Not everyone has the courage to face a horde of beasts. At this moment, it wasn't just these peaceful cultivators who did some business who were afraid; even the dozen or so mountain dwellers who usually stayed at the Chongming Small Pavilion looked solemn when they saw the horde of beasts outside the formation.

There were three or four hundred Demon Beast in front of them. Although most of them were of the First-Tier Lower-Grade, there were still many more Chongming Market.

Pingrong County is still too remote. If it weren't for the upcoming Emperor's Birthday Festival, which would bring more cultivators to the market to make purchases, the number of cultivators in the market would probably be much smaller than this.

Normally, with the First-Tier Supreme-Grade Cloud Thunder Rosy Light Formation that Kang Dabao acquired and refurbished, they should be able to hold their ground.

However Chongming Market is still in a state of disarray, so it's hard to say what will happen.

"Why should I, you old bastard? This time, I'll show you why!" Ye Zhengwen made a move to strike, but Jin Shilun stepped forward to stop him. "Elder Ye, Elder Ye, please calm down."

"Huh? When did I become an elder of your family?!" Ye Zhengwen almost blurted out the question when he heard Jin Shilun shout loudly to the crowd.

"Senior Ye Zhengwen has recently been appointed as the sect's external affairs elder by my master, Sect Leader Kang. Sect Leader Kang has entrusted him with the management of all affairs, large and small Chongming Market. Fellow practitioners, at this critical juncture of life and death, when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. We must all obey Elder Ye's orders in order to seize that sliver of hope!"

Senior Black Shoes Hemu Dao Hemudao is currently a guest at our sect. The dowry maidservant that my master's wife brought from the Fei Household is also Foundation Establishment True Cultivator and is cultivating nearby. Furthermore, the Pingrong County government will send reinforcements upon hearing the news. The reinforcements will arrive soon. As long as we protect the market, my master will be extremely grateful to everyone."

After hearing the handsome young man's explanation, the expressions of the many merchants instantly improved.

Compared to Ye Zhengwen's fists, which were as big as sandbags, the words "Daoist Black Shoes" and "the dowry maid brought by the Fei Household" were more appealing to them.

Even the wandering Rogue Cultivator who set up stalls, shopped, and lived in the market extinguished their newly ignited desires and withdrew their gazes from the major merchants.

The terms "Evil Cultivator," "Rogue Cultivator," and "bandit cultivator" differ by only one character, making the transition between them incredibly flexible and convenient, without any psychological burden whatsoever.

But now that Kang guy has become the Fei Household's son-in-law, and he has the Daoist Black Shoes, an extraordinary Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, backing him up. His background is much higher than that of Dai Yuanjiang in Linghe Market, and he is not someone that ordinary people can afford to offend.

In the past two years, Kang Dabao has become quite a prominent figure in Pingrong County. Not only have his deeds, such as beating up the county magistrate, becoming the county lieutenant, making meritorious contributions in battle, and being the eldest son-in-law of the Fei Household, been widely circulated, but the story of how he shattered the bones of the deceased Daoist Wu has also been told, and it is even more memorable.

There aren't many fools among spiritual practitioners; even those who are truly envious of the good things in various shops have to consider whether they are worth it.

So they all changed their minds and decided it was better to cooperate with his family to protect the market for now, lest they be held grudges by this petty and vindictive person.

"Forget it, anyway, even if these beasts break in, we might not be able to escape. They can't tell who's the host and who's the guest; they're all just pieces of meat." The Rogue Cultivator gathered in twos and threes, discussed for a while, and managed to reach a consensus. They stood behind the cultivators from various families who were standing in their positions and earnestly began to learn the array position incantations in preparation for taking turns.

After listening to Jin Shilun's words, Zhou Xinran handed the main battle flag to Ye Zhengwen, which surprised the latter.

"Well, he hasn't given me a single Spirit Stone, yet I've really become an elder of his family."

Fortunately, the methods for controlling these standard formation flags are universal, and with Ye Zhengwen's experience, he had naturally learned them long ago. He only needed to use his spiritual power to become quite familiar with them.

After completing this step, the two turned their gaze to Jin Shilun, who was kindly persuading a group of somewhat fearful Rogue Cultivator who were lined up in formation.

This young man, with his handsome face, is surprisingly calm and quick-witted; he's truly remarkable.

But Jin Shilun did more than that. He also instructed Zhou Xinran take out Law Artifact and elixirs in the small building, as long as they were not too precious, and distribute them to the Rogue Cultivator.

Those leaders in the surrounding communities who understood the situation, such as He Dezong and others, readily followed suit, further stabilizing the fighting spirit of the Rogue Cultivator.

"That Kang fellow is really lucky; he managed to recruit such an outstanding disciple." Ye Zhengwen didn't have time to reflect for long before a sharp shriek rang in the ears of the beasts, and they pounced towards the protective barrier of the magic array.

"Bang bang bang," the booming sounds continued without stopping. The faces of the many cultivators operating the magic array were all bad. Although the Law Artifact and talismans of the cultivators in the rear had some effect, they had also wiped out a small group of Demon Beast coming towards them.

Compared to the entire herd, the loss of twenty or thirty Demon Beast is nothing and is far from enough to frighten these animals away.

An even fiercer attack followed. The beast horde was quite diverse, with more than a dozen different kinds of Demon Beast. In addition to those with outstanding physical strength, such as the Red-Maned Mountain Boar, there were also Demon Beast with innate Law Technique, such as the Wind Eagle and the Tiger-Striped Horned Beast, who unleashed Technique Method attack formations.

The corpses of the Demon Beast piled up more and more, but the originally thick protective array shield gradually faded away, and the rotation speed of the cultivators from different families became faster and faster.

The two sides had only fought for a little over half an hour when Ye Zhengwen sensed something was wrong. A look of worry appeared in his single eye, and he pulled Jin Shilun to his side, whispering, "Kid, remember to be careful. These beasts didn't come down from Cold Crow Mountain on their own. Someone is deliberately trying to harm your family. I'm afraid this market won't last much longer."

Before he could even finish speaking, Jin Shilun had no chance to reply.

A rich, colorless fragrance emanated from somewhere, spreading with the wind into the beast horde and exciting them. Their eyes instantly glowed red, saliva dripped from their mouths, and they began to frantically and violently attack the magic array.

The forty-eight array flags that made up the magic array were barely able to withstand the impact. At this moment, the spiritual patterns densely covering the flagpoles were flashing incessantly, and they were about to fall.

Among the cultivators operating the formation, more than one was struck so hard that blood flowed from all seven orifices and his face turned pale. He hurriedly pulled over a fellow cultivator who was about to take over, took some pills, and sat down to regulate his breathing.

Ye Zhengwen stood solemnly at the front of the formation, raising the array flag in his hand. A barrage of thunderbolts rained down, crashing down on the beast horde.

At this moment, most of the cloud thunder accumulated in the formation by gathering cloud energy had been used up by Zhou Xinran earlier. After Ye Zhengwen killed more than a dozen Tiger-Striped Horned Beast that were charging at the forefront with the few remaining cloud thunder, he was unable to scare away the fierce attack of the beast horde as he had before.

Under the influence of the colorless fragrance, their minds gradually became dominated by tyranny, suppressing emotions such as fear and timidity to the very bottom.

Dozens more Demon Beast rushed to the front of the formation, followed by a deafening roar.

"Wow!" A scream suddenly came from within the formation. It was Kuai Wu who was directly blasted away by the powerful impact, vomiting a pool of blood.

His position was at a critical juncture. The moment he lost his position, a formation flag next to his position suddenly exploded, and the protective shield of the magic array visibly faded a bit more.

The cultivators in the formation watched as the increasingly ferocious beast horde surged in like a tidal wave, their faces turning ashen.

Thank you to Brother Xiacheng Xianxing for the Extended Net Moon.

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