111: Two years later

Time flies.

October, Year 24 of the lunar calendar.

Exactly two years had passed since the outbreak of full-scale war between the Taihe Sect and the Xuan Yin Palace!

The situation on the battlefield was just as Yu Xuzi had foreseen: although the Xuan Yin Palace had suffered an initial setback, the fundamental balance of power between the two sides had not changed.

The Xuan Yin Palace remained the side with the absolute advantage.

Since the battle of the Chisha Plain, the Xuan Yin Palace had behaved like a lion provoked into an instantaneous rage, gathering the majority of its forces to pour out and sweep through all of the Taihe Sect's forward outposts in the northwest territory.

The Taihe Sect no longer had any opportunities to take risks.

They could only rely on the large-scale high-grade defensive Formations and layers of Restrictions pre-arranged at various outposts to resist step by step, occasionally engaging in a few battles.

Although the overall battlefield situation was in a stalemate, the Taihe Sect's defensive lines were still gradually retreating.

Many outposts were forcibly breached, resulting in significant losses.

Even several Xuantai True Persons had fallen!

The slight advantage the Taihe Sect had regained in the battle of the Chisha Plain vanished in less than two years.

After the initial fervor and passion, the morale of the Taihe Sect side slowly declined.

Especially during these two years, the True Monarchs of both sides had never shown their faces on the battlefield, nor had there been any news of True Monarch Taihe taking action. As long as one was not a naive fool, most could guess the hidden circumstances that might exist.

And among those who could become Cultivators, there were truly very few fools... Baitu Hills.

Located 170,000 li northwest of the Taihe Sect.

This was a desolate land.

The Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence was extremely barren; not a single blade of grass grew on the ten thousand li of desolate earth, and tornado storms frequently whipped up!

It could be called a dead land where human presence was rare and wild beasts were extinct.

The rolling hills, hundreds of feet high, were like the spines of dead giant beasts. The grit was a sickly pale white, polished into countless sharp edges by the never-ending gale.

The ten-thousand-li firmament seemed to be a permanent, murky grayish-white.

Sunlight filtered through the heavy dust clouds of the storms, casting a dim glow upon the life-and-death battles that erupted from time to time.

This barren wasteland, devoid of spiritual essence, had now become the main battlefield between the Xuan Yin Palace and the Taihe Sect.

“Retreat, quickly!!!”

Zhao Guang roared at the top of his lungs.

The longsword Magical Artifact in his hand already had three notches chipped into it, yet he still forced himself to swing out several sword lights to cover his fellow Junior Brothers' escape.

He was an Outer Sect Disciple of the Taihe Sect with a Peak Qi Refining cultivation.

He was no significant figure within the Sect, but now, at a certain point on the front lines of the Baitu Hills, he was the temporary commander of this small squad of Cultivators.

Their primary mission was to scout for information on the left and right edges of the Baitu Hills, while simultaneously stopping small Xuan Yin Palace units like the one before them from flanking and disrupting the stability of the rear.

Fighting alongside him were four other Outer Sect Disciples, all at the Late Stage Qi Refining cultivation.

And there were hundreds or even thousands of similar small squads like theirs scattered across a radius of tens of thousands of li.

“Left side! Junior Brother Wang, watch out!”

Before Zhao Guang’s voice had even faded, three pitch-black bone nails whistled through the air, aimed straight for the throat of the young Disciple on the left.

The man hurriedly raised his magical shield to block; the bone nails struck the shield's surface with a sharp clatter, then immediately exploded into a dark green poisonous mist that shrouded ten feet of the area.

“Hold your breath!!”

Zhao Guang hurriedly pinched a spell gesture, and several tornadoes instantly rose up, barely blowing away some of the poisonous mist. However, that Disciple had already inhaled a few mouthfuls, and his face instantly turned blue-purple.

Then, with a "wa" sound, he spat out blood and died.

“You Xuan Yin Palace scum!”

Another Disciple, Li Meng, cursed angrily, his long saber slashing out a blade light over ten feet long, fiercely striking toward the dark shadow behind the poisonous mist.

The dark shadow lightly shifted to the side to avoid it, revealing a young face as pale as paper with a cruel smile hanging on the corners of his mouth.

“You Taihe Sect trash, are you impotently enraged now?”

The Xuan Yin Palace Cultivator's voice was shrill. He waved the bone staff in his hand, and it instantly transformed into a White-bone Flood Dragon circling and coiling in the Void Realm.

Its body was a full fifteen feet long, and eerie green soul fires flickered in its eye sockets as it flew toward them, its mouth letting out a silent roar.

“Ang!!”

Zhao Guang's heart sank as he looked at the enemies closing in.

There were nine opponents, all at the Late Stage Qi Refining or above, with three at the Peak Qi Refining.

Meanwhile, his side originally had five people; one had been killed upon the first encounter, and Junior Brother Wang had just died of poison, leaving only the three of them.

They were outnumbered three to one, and their cultivations were inferior to the others.

This was an almost certain death situation.

“Everyone, huddle together!”

Zhao Guang shouted through gritted teeth, while pulling a yellowed Talisman from his robe—this was a life-saving Opportunity he had obtained by chance, and he only had this one.

Li Meng and another Disciple, Liu Yun, quickly huddled close. The three stood back-to-back, their magical power barely connecting.

“Still have a trump card?”

“But if you want to run now, it’s too late!”

The White-bone Flood Dragon had already rushed before them, its massive bone claws striking with a cold wind.

“Evasion!”

Zhao Guang activated the Talisman, and an earthy yellow spiritual light instantly erupted, enveloping the three of them. They then dove directly into the earth, vanishing without a trace!

“Boom!!!”

The massive White-bone Flood Dragon slammed directly into the ground, sending billowing dust into the sky and rocks flying.

Only a giant crater about seven or eight feet in diameter was left in its place.

The three figures were gone.

“???”

Feeling the mocking gazes of the others around him, the Xuan Yin Palace Disciple's mouth twitched, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

He could only stubbornly say, “Who knew those three little bugs would have a treasure like a Second-tier Earth Evasion Talisman? I let them escape because of a momentary lapse in attention; you can't blame me.”

“Ah, yes, yes, yes.”

“Senior Brother Feng is right; those bugs must have been too cunning.”

Everyone laughed and teased him.

They were just a few fish that had slipped through the net; they could be caught later. No one took it to heart.

Nor was anyone angry.

The advantage of their Xuan Yin Palace was growing larger and larger!

Finding Taihe Sect Cultivators on the battlefield was like hunting; occasionally letting a few escape was no big deal. In fact, it would only make the enemy more fearful and make catching them even more interesting!

This was the composure and confidence of having victory within one's grasp, much like a cat playing with a mouse!

...Three days later.

South of the Baitu Hills.

A grim-faced Zhao Guang led his two remaining teammates back toward the main camp. None of the three spoke.

The atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

This wasn't the first time they had encountered such a situation.

More than the relief of having escaped with their lives, it was the leisurely, playful, and mocking attitude of the Xuan Yin Palace Disciples that truly broke their defenses.

More importantly, even they themselves didn't know where the Taihe Sect's victory lay.

They had already been fighting for two years!

The Taihe Sect's territory had already receded by twenty to thirty thousand li, and their greatest spiritual pillar, True Monarch Taihe, had yet to take action... “I wonder on which day I will fall?”

Zhao Guang lamented silently in his heart.

However, just then, a deafening roar came from the distant firmament.

“Boom— Boom— Boom—”

The faces of the three changed wildly, and they all subconsciously looked up at the sky.

They saw three massive shadows of light colliding fiercely in the high sky a hundred li away.

Two of the masses were as pitch-black as ink, seemingly filled with the wails of ten thousand vengeful souls, and a vast, terrifying corpse Qi stained half of the firmament.

Clearly, these were two Immortal Masters from the Xuan Yin Palace.

The other mass opposite them was a cyan-white color, with the faint image of a blooming lotus visible; this was an Immortal Master from the Taihe Sect side.

Every collision between the three parties sent out visible shockwaves that swept across a hundred li, tearing the dust clouds in the sky to shreds.

Zhao Guang and the others could all see that their side's Immortal Master was not in a good situation.

It was just like their own situation!

This Immortal Master was also fleeing toward the main camp, which was about two thousand li away.

However, at that moment.

In the high sky, a blood-red shadow suddenly appeared within the Void Realm, erupting with a blinding light!

It was as if it had been lying in ambush here all along!

A fourth Immortal Master had appeared!

“Corpse Transformation—”

A roar of shock, anger, and despair rang out.

Immediately after, a world-shaking explosion followed.

“Rumble——————”

Even from a hundred li away, Zhao Guang and the others were knocked to the ground by the massive shockwave.

A mushroom cloud thousands of feet high rose slowly, and that cyan-white lotus phantom instantly exploded, turning into spots of spiritual light and vanishing.

“Another... Immortal Master has fallen...”

Zhao Guang collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.

Looking at the gradually dissipating cyan-white points of light in the sky, a look of grief suddenly appeared on his face.

Under countless life-and-death crises, even the most steadfast and fanatical faith would give rise to doubts, which would then slowly accumulate and explode completely at a certain moment.

He couldn't hold on anymore.

His eyes were filled with despair as he kept shaking his head, still muttering to himself.

“We can't hold on! We simply can't hold on!”

“Sect Master...”

And people like Zhao Guang were definitely not a small number on the Taihe Sect side.