A Talk

Old Ox Mountain, the Zheng Lineage's territory

"Hair!"

With a command from Mo Wen, who was riding a winged tiger puppet, more than ten spirit crossbows blasted apart the small formation formed by the Yuan Household family's cultivators. The exploding fragments flew everywhere, causing the cultivators in the field to scream in agony, and almost none of them survived.

Fragments of flesh and bone were scattered all over the ground, but the surrounding cultivators seemed oblivious.

The conflict between the Jingnan Yuan Household and the Yunwei Zheng Household has lasted for several years. The cultivators on both sides are seasoned veterans of battle and are not surprised by the scene before them.

At its most devastating, double-digit numbers of Foundation Establishment True Cultivator were killed or wounded in a single day. On this battlefield with thousands of participants, no one's life was of much value; people died as soon as they opened their eyes, and no one knew if they would be next.

However, the disciples of Ingenious Craftsman Fort, led by Mo Wen, seemed to be thriving in the midst of the battle.

Although their individual strength was not outstanding, and only Mo Wen achieved Foundation Establishment, by pooling their wisdom and efforts and creating some large-scale attacking mechs, the casualties they inflicted on the Yuan Household's camp were no less than those of several major sects that were conscripted by the state court.

Furthermore, because the disciples of Ingenious Craftsman Fort were only remotely controlling the battle from the outside, they had fewer opportunities to engage in close combat, and their own losses were relatively small.

His performance among the forces that had been thoroughly humiliated by the Jingnan Yuan Household was quite remarkable, and he had recently gained the favor of high-ranking officials in the state government, led by Zhu Tong.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Three more cannon shots rang out, and three more of the cultivators' circular formations in the Yuan Household family camp were broken.

However, due to the rapid firing of crossbow bolts, 30% of the crossbow frames in Ingenious Craftsman Fort were cracked, and they needed to be coated with spiritual ink and allowed to rest for several days before they could be used again.

A look of urgency appeared on Mo Wen's face. At this moment, two Yuan Household cultivators rushed over with halberds, forcing him to retreat back into the formation and causing the crossbow fire to stall.

Yuan Buwen's cousin, Yuan Lang, seized the opportunity and led another group of cultivators to charge into the formation, shouting sternly:

"Pass on my order: today we must destroy another of their array foundations! Listen up, all of you, in this battle, you are not to retreat, even to the death! The first to reach the top will be rewarded with Reed Flower Pill, a Second Tier cave abode, twelve superior furnace cauldrons, and one hundred and twenty acres of First Tier spirit fields! My Yuan Household will also exempt your family from taxes for another sixty years!"

"Attack! Attack! Attack!" The cultivators from various factions, whose morale had just been dampened by the ballistae, immediately rallied.

The Zheng Household cultivator in the main formation frowned even more deeply. With a change of command, a dense aura of blazing sun suddenly rose from the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation, and a raging Fire Dragon soared into the sky and charged out of the formation.

"Disperse, you old man!!" With a fierce shout, a crimson halberd light crashed down, striking the center of the dragon's two horns.

"Roar!!" A huge gash was ripped open on the Fire Dragon's head, and a large amount of spiritual energy was pouring out from the enormous gap, causing the Fire Dragon to be annihilated into ashes before it could even unleash its power.

"Yuan Buwen," the prefectural governor Zhu Tong murmured in the formation, a sinister look appearing on his handsome face.

"I never imagined that a small Cloud Horn Prefecture could produce two False Core who can rival those of superior cultivators. It's quite rare." Granny Liu of the Fei Household's She Mountain Hall sighed as she looked at the scene outside the formation.

Gun Shilu frowned upon hearing the sigh. He had built the Ice Leaf Dao Foundation, but he had given up the slim fortuitous opportunity forming the Core Formation, and instead cultivated False Core. Among his peers, he was not among the ordinary.

However, he was still suppressed by Yuan Buwen's halberd and could not lift his head, which made him feel somewhat lost and sentimental.

It should be noted that such a person is rare even in Capital Circuit.

It is said that Yue Lin of Han City was once able to arm wrestle with the Earl of Nan'an and was even better than Yuan Buwen. I wonder what kind of demeanor he must have had.

As Gun Shilu felt a pang of sadness, the morale of the cultivators in the Yuan Household family camp soared after the Fire Dragon was destroyed, and they soon advanced to within twenty feet of the front of the formation.

Ignoring the arrows and cannonballs raining down on them, threatening to kill, they charged headlong into battle.

Immediately afterwards, talismans and Daoist spells swarmed in, causing the protective shield of the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation to tremble wildly. The Zheng Household's mainstays guarding the formation base all had grim faces, coughing up mouthfuls of hot blood from time to time, clearly indicating that they were seriously injured.

"Is Fellow Daoist Zheng feeling better?" Zhu Tong suddenly asked.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to fight for the next year or two," Granny Liu sighed. The Yunwei Zheng Household is a well-known family in Ying Prefecture, famous for its halberd techniques. It's a pity that this False Core of the Zheng Household was defeated by the unknown Yuan Buwen.

"I didn't expect Yuan Buwen's halberd technique to be so strong. In my opinion, his halberd technique is probably close to the Yu Grade." Gun Shilu saw another Zheng Household Foundation Establishment faint, and his expression became even more solemn.

"Military Commandant Gun's words may be a bit much. Even if this fellow has some luck, his origins are so lowly. It's impossible for him to comprehend the profound methods of True Person master." When Zhu Tong said this, he seemed to have forgotten that he was Rogue Cultivator, and he scoffed at Gun Shilu's conjecture.

The latter did not argue, but simply stopped talking.

"Where is Magistrate Kang? He said he was going to talk to Yuan Buwen, but there's been no follow-up!" Zhu Tong had barely finished speaking when another Zheng Household Foundation Establishment collapsed on the array base.

This one was not as lucky as the previous one; the enormous impact threw his hand seals into disarray, and half of his body cracked open.

The other two, seeing this, did not respond to him.

This man, who had almost gone mad from studying human nature in the public housing, and who often boasted of his profound knowledge, has now, after experiencing several battles and no longer being able to use those cunning tricks, revealed a bit of his true nature of being all bark and no bite.

Isn't it obvious? If Kang Dabao and Yuan Buwen had a pleasant conversation the day before yesterday, why would the Yuan Household be attacking so desperately today, as if they'd taken an aphrodisiac?!

"Sixth Uncle is dead, Twenty-seventh Brother, take his place!" The main cultivator of the Zheng Household shouted loudly, tears welling in his eyes.

At this moment, he was not the only one who was saddened; all the Zheng Household cultivators in the formation felt a pang of sorrow, yet their hands did not stop moving for even a moment.

Desperate soldiers are no match for the enemy; the cultivators outside the formation fell in droves like wheat harvested in autumn, their red ears of wheat piled together, indistinguishable from one another.

This display of force failed to frighten Yuan Lang. Seeing that the cultivators surrounding the formation seemed to waver, he personally raised the flag, vigorously waving the ten-foot-high banner. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was filled with madness.

Those around him were unaware of his outward madness, but his mind was perfectly clear. "If I don't perform now, how can I fill the void left by Yuan Feng and Yuan Xiyue's departure?!"

The thought of how glorious it was that he had been nurtured by his ancestor filled him with boundless courage.

He used his movement technique, without even preparing a single defensive Spirit Artifact, and bare-chested, swiftly rushed to the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation, shouting again in a fierce voice:

"Attack! Attack! Attack! In this battle, we may die but not retreat! Foundation Establishment spiritual treasures, a hundred acres of spiritual fields, Second Tier cave abode, and high-grade furnace cauldrons—after breaking the formation, they are all yours!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens more alligator-skin drums sounded simultaneously from the Yuan Household's formation, as if an invisible Sha Qi had been attached to the battlefield.

As the surrounding cultivators' courage increased and their cowardice gradually disappeared, the last vestiges of reason in their minds seemed to slowly fade away, driven by the drumbeats into a frenzied beast that knew only how to kill, making the battle even more brutal.

Zhu Tong had not expected the Yuan Household's offensive to be so fierce today, and had no choice but to release the reserve cultivators in order to dampen the morale of this wave of surrounding cultivators before making any further plans.

"Die! Die!" Yuan Lang's desperate stance, holding the flag high, was truly terrifying. While it boosted morale, it inevitably attracted the attention of formidable figures in the enemy ranks.

Suddenly, a judge's pen, as light as a feather, swept across the air, scattering the countless spiritual lights in front of it. Then, the pen's tip opened, and thousands of bristles swelled into tough, fine threads over ten feet long, stretching out like a giant net, about to tightly bind Yuan Lang and crush him into minced meat.

"Gun Shilu, you good-for-nothing, how dare you make a fool of yourself!!"

Upon hearing Yuan Buwen's low shout, Gun Shilu, who had just stepped into the battle, unleashed a crimson halberd. Knowing its power, Gun Shilu dared not block it, but instead put away his judge's pen and turned to return to his formation.

After hesitating for a moment, Yuan Buwen still went after him. He had only gone halfway when he sensed an extremely strong murderous aura around him. Immediately, his hair stood on end, and he stopped walking, turned around, and tried to turn back.

"Where do you think you're going!" The Zheng Household cultivator in the main formation immediately had his eyes wide with rage. The twenty-four array bases in the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation shone brightly, dazzling the eyes of the cultivators who were relentlessly attacking outside the formation. Some of those with less advanced cultivation even had their pupils damaged, making it difficult for them to see.

"Not again?!" Yuan Lang was shocked and terrified.

His change of heart had its reasons. After all, the Yunwei Zheng Household was a respectable family from the capital region. In just a few years, the grade of the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation had not only been restored to the Second-Tier Supreme-Grade, but its power was also incomparable to that when it was still in the hands of the various families of the Changning Sect.

The Zheng Household's False Core even developed a clever use based on this. Yuan Buwen had previously suffered a loss due to being caught off Yuan Household; otherwise, the Zheng Household, being outsiders, would have been wiped out by the Yuan family long ago. How could they have waited for Zhu Tong to bring reinforcements?

At this moment, Yuan Lang was not the target of the Zheng Household cultivators in the main formation. Being an outsider, he saw things more clearly than Yuan Buwen.

The twenty-four beams of spiritual light from the array's base instantly converged into one in the air. A moment later, a dragon claw blazing with fiery energy descended, its target none other than Yuan Buwen, who arrogantly pursued with his crimson halberd.

This dragon claw was only the size of the Fire Dragon eleven that Yuan Buwen had previously destroyed with a single halberd strike, but it was much more solid.

The fiery energy it contained was not to be underestimated. Even though Yuan Buwen was still ten feet away from it, the Law Treasure halberd in his hand was already slightly hot from the heat.

The Qi Refining Qi Refinement who were swept along by the dragon's claws fared even worse; in just ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) of travel, more than ten people were roasted into dried meat.

This wasn't the first time Yuan Buwen had witnessed such a grand formation, but he remained calm and composed in the face of danger.

He gripped the crimson halberd tightly, his fingers almost digging into its shaft. Then, a burst of spiritual light shone from his hand. He murmured something, and with the final word of the incantation, a sharp halberd light suddenly slashed out, slamming heavily into the heart of the menacing dragon claw.

With a deafening roar, two violent bursts of Spiritual Qi exploded outwards, one scorching hot and the other sharp.

The protective light of the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Formation weakened further, and another Zheng Household cultivator coughed up blood and fell unconscious; the surrounding cultivators also suffered heavy casualties, half charred and half maimed, a truly horrifying sight.

The cries of both sides were heart-wrenching and moving. However, the elders on both sides were like wooden statues, only thinking about how to win the battle in one fell swoop and gain all the credit.

Yuan Lang was also shaken by the two bursts of Spiritual Qi, causing him to drop the banner from his hand. However, he was a True Cultivator late-stage cultivator and regained his senses in just a moment.

Despite being covered in wounds, he exhaled half a puff of hot air, which made him feel much better. The next second, however, he felt a fierce wind coming from in front of him, and a black light was so dazzling that he couldn't open his eyes at all. He had no choice but to use his Divine Sense and fall down haphazardly.

This sudden turn of events saved his life. Granny Liu's black jade hairpin fell into empty space. Just as she turned around, the hairpin Law Treasure was violently knocked back by a red halberd, causing her internal Qi and Blood to boil and almost causing her to cough up blood.

The fact that the formidable enemy "Yuan Buwen" was not injured by the long-accumulated formation caused Granny Liu to be filled with undisguised surprise.

However, Yuan Buwen remained calm and swung his halberd again, its light still sharp and fierce. Granny Liu then used a badly damaged low-grade magic Law Treasure to block the attack, thus avoiding further injury.

She finally felt relieved. If it weren't for the Heavy Mountain Shield left by her deceased husband, she would not have survived Yuan Buwen's red halberd in the previous fierce battles.

"What a pity!" Yuan Buwen murmured, watching helplessly as Granny Liu retreated back into the formation, without giving chase.

"Ancestor?!" Yuan Lang's face was still showing surprise, but his words were also filled with doubt.

"Cough, we miscalculated this time. We didn't expect that even after Zheng Liangwen, that weakling, was crippled, someone in the Zheng Household would still be able to unleash the Flame Dragon Claw. I've lost most of my spiritual power now, and it's difficult for me to suppress Fei and Gun. Let's retreat for now. Lang'er, go and gather the troops. Don't let the Zheng Household gain an advantage."

Yuan Buwen's voice betrayed his exhaustion, and Yuan Lang's heart skipped a beat. He was about to respond when, in the next moment, a great battle cry erupted from within Old Ox Mountain.

Immediately afterwards, formations of cultivators with brightly colored armor and abundant spiritual energy emerged.

In the blink of an eye, the Yuan Household's team, which had been at the forefront and scattered by the residual force of the spiritual energy explosion, was swept away like a whirlwind.

Gun Shilu and Granny Liu also took the opportunity to come out. Yuan Buwen showed no fear and immediately went to fight. For a time, they fought to a standstill.

A reserve team was already on its way to provide support, and the Foundation Establishment leading the team were all brave and fierce individuals. After a fierce battle, they managed to halt the momentum of the Zheng Household's camp.

As the two sides remained locked in a stalemate, Law Artifact, talismanic lights, Daoist arts, and spirit pets huddled together, the smoke and scorched earth darkening even the clouds in the sky, turning the battlefield into a blood and flesh grinder.

"Buzz buzz buzz" Another large swarm of Silver-Armored Lion Insect appeared on the side of Old Ox Mountain. Anyone with exceptional eyesight could quickly scan them and determine that there were probably one or two thousand of these Lion Insect, and most of them were at the Second Tier. How could an ordinary Foundation Establishment possibly defeat them?!

"Could it be that another False Core has arrived?" A knowledgeable Yuan Household True Cultivator who witnessed this scene felt a chill run down his spine.

Even though spirit insects are easy to raise, the Divine Sense power required to control so many Second Tier spirit insects is extremely rare among True Cultivator Foundation Establishment. Therefore, logically speaking, their owner should be False Core Formation cultivator.

However, following behind the swarm of Lion Insect was a large, fat man with a broad face and a heavy chin. His short halberd glowed with a mysterious light, and with each rise and fall, a cultivator died.

For a time, this burly man was unstoppable. Even two Foundation Establishment cultivators who came together to fight him could only maintain their position for twenty breaths.

Twenty breaths later, the young and impetuous early-stage cultivator was cleaved in two by a single halberd strike. His body was immediately torn to shreds by the remaining sharpness of the halberd's blade. Terrified, the mid-stage cultivator lost all will to fight. After taking the blow and losing seven fingers, he turned and ran.

The Lion Insect swarm controlled by the fat cultivator was extremely arrogant. It could ward off water and fire and was not afraid of sharp objects. Even a small formation of a hundred people formed by ordinary Qi Refinement cultivators could not stop the swarm of insects from invading.

In just half an incense stick's time, a hundred members of the Yuan Household family were overrun by the insect swarm. None of the cultivators in the formation survived, and their best flesh was devoured by the Lion Insect.

This eye-catching move was bound to attract the attention of the powerful members of the Yuan Household family.

A late-stage True Cultivator dressed in brocade robes abandoned his opponent, who was about to die at his hands, and rushed over with a face full of hatred, shouting, "Hey you, don't be so smug! Yue Fu of the Two Instruments Sect, come and see what kind of skills you, the Fei Household's son-in-law, have to offer!"

"It's pathetic that the Yue Household still has people working for the Two Instruments Sect!" Kang Dabao sneered, his short halberd flashing with a mysterious light as he easily deflected Yue Fu's spear.

With another flick of his halberd, the sky before him seemed to be cleaved open, and the halberd's blade, wreathed in black flames, burst forth.

"Slaughter and Extermination!!" A True Cultivator from the Yuan Household immediately cried out in grief, and Yuan Buwen's gaze was naturally drawn to it.

However, what surprised him was not the top-grade Spirit Artifact in the hands of the Sect Leader Kang Da, which originally belonged to the Golden Core seed of the Yuan Household family, but the latter's unrestrained halberd technique, which was derived from the clan's treasured classic of the Yuan family of Jingnan Yuan Household.

"It's 'The Military Strategy Taught by the Star Lord of the Wood Palace!' It's incomplete, mostly derived from Feng'er's own insights! But... how come he seems to understand its true meaning even better than Feng'er?!"

Yuan Buwen gritted his teeth in hatred. Both of the two Golden Core cultivators of the Jingnan Yuan Household had fallen into the hands of this unassuming fat man.

Just as Yuan Buwen had predicted, Kang Dabao's halberd technique was derived from the cultivation notes left by Yuan Feng. Due to the wonderful use of the jade pendant, Sect Leader Kang Da had already mastered many aspects that even Yuan Feng himself did not fully understand.

If Yuan Feng knew the method but not the meaning, then Kang Dabao knew the meaning but not the method.

The former will struggle to make any progress, while the latter, once they have mastered the relevant classics, will surely soar Huiyi great heights.

But even now, having only come into contact with this one piece of scale armor and glimpsed a trace of the true meaning of "The Military Strategy Taught by the Halberd-Holder of the Wood Palace Star Lord," Sect Leader Kang Da has already wielded the Slaughter and Extermination's staff and is pressing Yue Fu, who comes from the Two Instruments Sect, so hard that he can hardly breathe.

Yue Fu's spear was a high-grade Spirit Artifact, not bad at all, but its spiritual light was greatly diminished by the large bursts of black flames emitted by Slaughter and Extermination. Just as he was praising the man's powerful Spirit Artifact, he saw two Golden Light coming menacingly towards him.

"Chongming Sect Kang Dabao, the leader of the Chongming Sect, is skilled in using pupil techniques," and few cultivators in the vicinity are unaware of this.

After all, he had killed False Core Establishment cultivator who had previously achieved a false Foundation Establishment True Cultivator. Even with the help of the Thunder Swallow Rune left behind by Kuang Liuting, it was still worthwhile for those with the interest to gather information about him.

Yue Fu knew that Kang Dabao was no ordinary person, and he also knew that these two Golden Light were not to be underestimated. He immediately brought out a dark-colored mid-grade Spirit Artifact screen wall. The Bixi beast statue on it, which had been tightly closed, suddenly opened its eyes, and a dense earthy barrier immediately arose, trying to isolate the two Golden Light from the outside.

However, things did not unfold as Yue Fu had expected. The next moment, he saw the earthen barrier crack as soon as it collided with the two Golden Light, and spiritual energy spilled all over the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the Bixi beast statue revealed a hint of anger in a very human-like way, but it had just broken free from the screen wall and hadn't even had time to turn its carapace over before the Bixi beast's body was blasted away and completely annihilated by two Golden Light.

Yue Fu heard a crisp "bang" from the magical Spirit Artifact screen wall that he had placed so much hope in, and then he vomited blood.

"This fellow's pupil technique... it's actually... it's incredibly powerful?!" Yue Fu was terrified. He was a Foundation True Cultivator Foundation Establishment from a prestigious Golden Core sect! He had listened to lectures from senior cultivators and even competed for personal instruction from the Pill Master, yet he couldn't withstand a single pupil technique from this upstart?!

Yue Fu was surprised for a moment, but he quickly suppressed his thoughts. He knew that his Qi and Blood were churning and his circulation was disordered. He only paused for a moment before Kang Dabao caught up with him.

Unfortunately, words like "caught off guard" and "so that's how it is" did nothing to help Yue Fu. Sect Leader Kang Da was a man who had killed many people before, and he certainly wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass him by.

In his desperate escape, Yue Fu's spear unleashed spiritual patterns, his aura surging, and he thrust his spear back with a fierce, life-or-death expression, as if he were fighting to the death.

With just a glance, Kang Dabao knew that his meridians were severed, rendering him useless and unable to get an erection.

He easily dodged it, letting the limp spear graz his arm, the metallic clang ringing out, but leaving only a white mark on the Primordial Ancient Body.

Amidst Yue Fu's astonished expression, a single halberd strike shattered three more layers of top-grade talismans;

The two halberds fell again, shattering the two life-saving jade pendants;

The three halberds fell again, tearing a robe and ripping away flesh from the body.

At this moment, Yue Fu was truly like a fish on a chopping board. Kang Dabao swiftly slit open his throat, chopped up his internal organs, and removed his head. He paused, raised his halberd, and impaled Yue Fu. With a casual gesture, he killed more than a dozen Qi Refinement cultivators, leaving a trail of salty blood on the ground.

At this moment, the six families— the Four Friends of Cold Mountain, the Jade Moon Shan Household, the Tanggu Ming Household, the Ingenious Craftsman Fort, the Hemu Dao, and the Changyun Ma Household— who had been hiding in the formation, along with eight Foundation Establishment, all charged out at once. Their battle cries soared to the heavens, terrifying even the most timid people to the point of utter despair.

The Sect Leader Kang Da, first eliminated the powerful enemy, yet he showed no mercy, leading the way. He did not use Spirit Artifact, wear any magical armor, chant any incantations, or cast any Technique Method; with just his two iron fists, anyone who blocked his path was either injured or killed upon contact.

One by one, their fellow disciples were turned into minced meat, and their respected elders retreated in defeat.

The cultivators in the Yuan Household family's camp lost their morale and gained a new perspective. They had never known that Kang Dabao was so powerful; even among those below the False Core, he was still a top-tier figure.

"No more fighting, let's go!"

Yuan Buwen dismantled the two False Core cultivators, showing no sign of panic, and simply watched his own troops retreat in defeat.

The pursuing Zheng Household troops were stunned and dared not move when they reached Yuan Buwen alone.

Despite facing a thousand enemies, Yuan Buwen showed no fear. He simply looked at the bloodied Sect Leader Kang Da and said softly, "This time, we can talk."