9: Chapter 9 Heavenly Secrets Break the Formation, Daoist Soldiers Slaughter

Early morning, the thin mist had not yet dispersed.

Lu Changyuan led his team and quietly left the city, not taking the main gate, but instead detouring to depart from the freight Pier on the west side of the Immortal City.

Lu Hu followed by his side, lowering his voice: "Young Lord, why not take the main gate?"

"The main gate is being watched," Lu Changyuan said calmly. "After killing someone on the street yesterday, someone will surely pass the news along. Taking the freight Pier saves trouble."

Lu Hu did not ask again and turned to make arrangements.

The spirit boat quietly sailed out from the freight Pier, merging into the morning sea mist.

After the spirit boat left the port, Lu Changyuan returned to the cabin, spread the route map he had deduced last night on the table, and called for Lu Hu.

"Change course," he pointed to a location on the sea chart. "Go through Broken Star Reef."

Lu Hu looked down at it, his brows slightly furrowed: "Young Lord, Broken Star Reef is dense with reefs, the currents are turbulent, it's difficult for a spirit boat to navigate, and the visibility in that sea area is extremely low. A moment of carelessness and we will hit the reefs—"

"I know," Lu Changyuan interrupted him, his tone calm. "We are going through Broken Star Reef."

Lu Hu raised his head and looked at him for a moment.

He did not speak again, cupped his hands in acknowledgment, and turned to adjust the course.

Leng Feng stood at the bow, turned his head to look at Lu Changyuan, but did not speak.

The spirit boat turned and sailed into the Broken Star Reef sea area.

Broken Star Reef was dense with hidden reefs and chaotic currents, a dangerous place that pirates and raiding Cultivators loved to hide in.

The spirit boat slowed down and carefully wove between the reefs.

Lu Changyuan stood at the bow, his expression calm, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding reef clusters.

He was waiting.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the first piece of intelligence from the heavenly secret jade slip clearly emerged in his mind: Broken Star Reef, over twenty ambushers, the leader is Early Foundation Establishment, disguised as pirates, but actually death squads.

He did not wait long.

The spirit boat proceeded to the hinterland of Broken Star Reef, and the surrounding reef clusters suddenly went quiet.

The corners of Lu Changyuan's mouth lifted slightly.

They were here.

In the shadows of the reef clusters, something was moving.

Immediately, seven or eight small speedboats rushed out from behind the reefs simultaneously, surrounding Lu Changyuan's spirit boat.

Those speedboats were extremely fast, obviously modified specifically for this reef-dense sea area; the hulls were low, with shallow draft, allowing them to maneuver flexibly between the reefs.

The people on the boats wore various messy clothes, held Magical Artifacts, and put on the posture of pirates and robbers, but Lu Changyuan could tell at a glance—these people stood straight, their formation methods were methodical, the Magical Artifacts faintly showed uniform patterns, and their postures holding the Magical Artifacts were also standard, trained grips.

The leader was a man in black robes, with Early Foundation Establishment cultivation, standing at the bow of the largest speedboat, looking down at the spirit boat, his expression sinister and dismissive.

"Kid, you have good luck, didn't take Black Wind Gorge," his voice came through the sea breeze, carrying a hint of hoarseness. "But you still fell into my net."

He raised his hand and made a downward pressing gesture.

The surrounding speedboats approached simultaneously, compressing Lu Changyuan's spirit boat into an increasingly smaller encirclement.

On the deck, three thousand Mortal serfs were squeezed into the cabin, not daring to breathe loudly.

Lu Hu stood behind Lu Changyuan, his hand already on the long saber at his waist, waiting for orders.

Lu Changyuan looked at the man in black robes for a moment, then turned his head to look at Lu Hu.

Lu Hu had been waiting for this look.

"Xuanwu Killing Formation," he ordered in a low voice, not loud, but carrying a murderous aura that could not be ignored. "All units, attack."

Fifty Dao Soldiers moved simultaneously.

They did not panic, did not shout, but simply and in an extremely fluid, extremely precise manner, rapidly deployed their formation on the deck of the spirit boat.

The speed of the formation deployment was extremely fast; from Lu Hu's order to the formation taking shape, it was only a short ten breaths.

The man in black robes' smile froze on his face the moment he saw this formation.

"This... This is the Lu Family's Xuanwu Killing Formation?!" His face changed drastically. "You are from the Lu Family?!"

"Only now thinking to ask this," Lu Changyuan stood on the deck, looking at him, his tone calm, even carrying a hint of nonchalance. "It's a bit late."

The man in black robes' face changed repeatedly, then he suddenly shouted loudly, his voice carrying the ferocity of burning bridges: "All units attack, don't let them complete the formation, charge for me—"

It was too late.

The Xuanwu Killing Formation had already taken shape.

Leng Feng moved first, his sword light like frost; with one strike, he sliced off the masts of two speedboats.

Lu Hu led the vanguard straight in, shield walls clearing the way, saber light following closely behind; boats capsized, people fell, the water was dyed red. In just a moment, the originally murderous encirclement was forcibly torn open.

The rest of the matter was no longer in suspense.

Seeing the situation was bad, the man in black robes made a decisive decision, turned and ran, stepping on escape light, fleeing into the depths of the reef clusters.

"Leng Feng." Lu Changyuan only said two words.

Leng Feng had already moved.

He flew on his sword to pursue, the sword light weaving between the reefs, extremely fast, and in just a moment caught up with the man in black robes.

He did not kill him directly, but instead used one sword strike to slice off the opponent's escape Magical Artifact, then backhanded with another sword strike, forcing him down onto a huge reef.

The man in black robes landed, stumbled, turned around, holding his Magical Artifact, and struck a defensive pose. In his eyes, there was fear, but also the ferocity of a trapped beast: "What do you want?!"

Leng Feng stood in front of him, sword tip pointing at him, his expression cold: "My Young Lord wants you alive, so you must live."

The man in black robes looked at him for a moment, then deflated, slowly lowering his Magical Artifact.

The speedboats on the sea surface were either sunk or destroyed, the Cultivators either dead or fled, only the leading man in black robes was escorted back by Leng Feng and pressed onto the deck.

Lu Changyuan looked down at the man in black robes kneeling on the deck, not speaking.

The man in black robes struggled twice, then gave up. He raised his head and looked at Lu Changyuan, his eyes filled with fear, but also an indescribable unwillingness: "You... how did you know we were here?"

Lu Changyuan did not answer this question, just spoke calmly, spitting out two words: "Soul Search."

The man in black robes' pupils contracted violently.

He knew what Soul Search meant. Divine Sense forcibly browsed, memories having nowhere to hide; at best, the spirit would be greatly damaged, at worst, becoming a cripple.

He subconsciously wanted to resist, but Lu Hu's hand was already pressed on his crown, and a tyrannical spiritual force, twisted into a line under the suppression of the formation and heavy injuries, surged from his palm, instantly crushing his remaining Divine Sense defense.

The man in black robes let out a low scream, then fell into a strange blank state, his eyes unfocused, letting Lu Hu rummage through his memories.

A moment later, Lu Hu withdrew from the man in black robes' memories, turned around, knelt on one knee, his voice steady: "Young Lord, it has been found out."

"Speak."

"This group of people are secret agents of the Wang Family," Lu Hu paused. "The Wang Family high-level leadership ordered this, specifically targeting the direct descendants of the Lu Family who went out for pioneering, aiming to weaken the Lu Family's expansion forces in the Star Sea. The great array at Black Wind Gorge was also set by them; they have been waiting for nearly half a month."

Lu Changyuan did not speak, signaling him to continue.

"The Wang Family has a secret stronghold in the Star Sea; this person doesn't know the specific location, only that the codename is 'Abyss'," Lu Hu continued. "Additionally, how they knew the Young Lord's itinerary, this person also doesn't know; only said it was an order passed down from above, saying the Young Lord would definitely depart during this period and would pass through this sea area."

Lu Changyuan's eyes flickered slightly.

After the Soul Search, the opponent's Divine Sense had been hollowed out, eyes unfocused, like an empty shell, a hint of a dazed smile hanging on the corner of his mouth, already not knowing where he was.

Lu Changyuan raised his hand, a strand of spiritual force escaped from his fingertips, light and casual.

The man in black robes' head shattered silently.

On the deck, several young Dao Soldiers trembled slightly, then immediately returned to solemnity.

Lu Changyuan retracted his hand, turned around, his tone calm, as if he were explaining an ordinary small matter: "Send this matter via encrypted transmission back to Yunzhou, let Father handle it. Additionally, inform them about the great array at Black Wind Gorge, and have the Family send someone to dismantle it."

"Yes."

Lu Hu cupped his hands and got up to make arrangements.

Leng Feng walked up, stood beside Lu Changyuan, and whispered: "The Wang Family's reach is long enough."

"The Star Sea is so big; the fact that they could lay out plans in advance shows they have been plotting for a long time," Lu Changyuan said calmly. "It's not just targeting me, it's targeting the Lu Family descendants who go out to pioneer."

Leng Feng was silent for a moment: "Then the mole inside..."

"Father will handle it," Lu Changyuan turned and walked towards the cabin. "We should take care of our own business."

The spirit boat restarted, sailed away from Broken Star Reef, and continued to advance into the depths of the Star Sea.

Lu Changyuan sat alone in the cabin for a moment, then compressed the clues about the Wang Family and the mole into a transmission Jade Slip, leaving only one extra sentence: Please Father, secretly investigate the inside.

He unfolded the sea chart again, turning his attention back to Blue Moon Island.

He had repeatedly deduced the third piece of intelligence from the Jade Slip several times. The extreme cold Qi transformed by the Spiritual Vein was sealed in the hinterland of the island, meaning that hidden Spiritual Vein had likely already condensed some kind of special product in the extreme cold environment.

Next to the annotation for Blue Moon Island, he used a fine pen to write a few words: Extreme cold, Spiritual Vein, associated ore?

After writing, he stared at those words for a moment, then put away the sea chart, closed his eyes, and leaned back on the chair.

Outside the cabin, the sea wind howled, and the spirit boat plowed through the waves, moving forward.