33: Chapter 33: A Miraculous Rescue for Everyone, the Second Miss's Deadly Situation

Lai Mingyuan chuckled. "Fellow Daoist, do not make such false accusations. I do not know these people; you could say we have no relation at all!"

"Do you have evidence? Why do you think the Sect would believe your word alone? Ridiculous!"

With the advantage on his side, he became increasingly arrogant.

"Besides, Fellow Daoist, you are going to die here today, and dead men tell no tales. Haha."

"You!"

Xie Chengye was fuming with rage.

Lai Mingyuan did not stop his hands; in the blink of an eye, dozens of blade lights struck out.

Not daring to face the sharp blades directly, Xie Chengye dodged to the side.

Boom!

Several buildings below collapsed with a crash, leaving a mess. A few unlucky Cultivators were caught by the blades and were sliced in half at the waist.

Seeing this,

Xie Chengye realized that without the support of a Formation, fighting here would only increase the losses for his side in Liuyun Market.

He immediately made a decision.

Summoning a green bird, he stood on its back and flew directly out of the market, not forgetting to taunt: "Lai Mingyuan, if you have the guts, follow this old man!"

"Hmph! Trying to escape?"

Lai Mingyuan did not hesitate and followed immediately.

Before long, there were no more Foundation Establishment combatants left in Liuyun Market.

Only the close-quarters combat between the low-level Qi Refining Cultivators remained.

The guards within the market and the Loose Cultivators united to resist the invading Robber Cultivators and Lai Family Disciples together.

The invaders were clearly well-prepared, and their individual strength was formidable; the situation in the market quickly took a turn for the worse.

...

The spirit field area.

Countless shoulder-high golden stalks swayed in the evening breeze, appearing quite peaceful amidst the constant eruptions of booming sounds.

Just then,

Two stalks slightly parted, and a rustling sound emerged.

A hunched figure poked half his body out, warily scanning the surroundings.

"No one's here, everyone come out quickly!"

The figure beckoned, and the rustling behind him grew louder as several Cultivators dressed in short-sleeved shirts stepped out from behind him.

"It really has to be you, Wu Laoxie."

A burly man with bulging muscles patted the hunched figure's shoulder.

It turned out that Wu Laoxie had been leading a group of Spirit Farmers, hiding and dodging, successfully avoiding a direct confrontation with the Robber Cultivators.

"If it weren't for Old Man Wu, with my amateur cultivation, I'd be dead for sure if I ran into a Robber Cultivator!"

"Yeah, Wu Laoxie, how did you find this path?"

"Why are you still asking that? Wu Laoxie, how much longer until we reach that dog hole you mentioned to crawl out? The market is too dangerous, I'm scared!"

Wu Laoxie looked back toward where Xu Changsheng's courtyard was, thinking to himself that with the latter's strength, Wu Qingqing should be safe.

He turned his head: "Soon, everyone follow me!"

Under the moonlight, the shadows of the group were cast against the city wall, carrying a hint of grim solemnity.

Suddenly, a light breeze blew past, fluttering Wu Laoxie's white beard.

"Why did you stop? Wu Laoxie?"

"Shh!"

At his signal, everyone held their breath. Nearby, only the sound of the wind, the chirping of insects, and the distant explosions remained!

Suddenly,

Wu Laoxie sensed something.

He slowly lifted his head.

Seeing this,

The others followed suit.

A terrifying scene appeared.

On the city wall above them floated several ghost creatures with rotting faces.

Their eyes were closed, and long purple-black tongues hung limply to their chests, dripping thick corpse fluid. Their entire faces were split down the middle, revealing crimson flesh.

"Ah!"

A few cowardly Spirit Farmers couldn't help but cry out.

"Idiots!" Wu Laoxie cursed under his breath.

Provoked by the sound, the ghost creatures woke up one after another.

Upon seeing Wu Laoxie and the others, their vertical pupils glinted with greed.

Long tongues shot out like arrows, coiling around the group.

They could not break free.

"It's all your fault, Wu Laoxie! Why did you bring us here!"

"You've killed us! You're no different from those evil Cultivators!"

Hearing this,

Wu Laoxie's pale face flushed with a faint red hue.

"Nonsense! If you lot hadn't been shouting and screaming, how would the ghosts have woken up?"

"I regret it; I shouldn't have brought you along."

The others refused to back down and continued to argue.

The ghost creatures didn't care about their bickering; their tongues wrapped tighter and tighter.

Wu Laoxie's heart was like dead ashes. His hand happened to pull a portrait of Wu Qingqing from her childhood out of his pocket.

"Qingqing..."

A sudden change occurred!

"Roar!"

A Dragon's roar suddenly rang out!

"Yah!"

The long tongues on their bodies abruptly loosened, and everyone landed easily on the ground.

They looked up.

A black flood dragon several zhang long floated in the air, emitting the pressure of the First Tier Middle Stage.

It spat out several water arrows, easily slaying the ghost creatures, and then swam away through the air.

"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist!"

Wu Laoxie bowed with his hands cupped in gratitude.

Such scenes

Were appearing all over Liuyun Market.

It was Xu Changsheng, wearing night-traveling clothes and using a lightness technique to quickly set up the complete array of the Black Wave Subduing Flood Dragon Formation throughout Liuyun Market.

Although it was only of the First Tier Medium Grade,

Its range was immense, equivalent to the dispersed combat power of dozens of Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivators, assisting the market's side in holding off a large number of low-level Robber Cultivators.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist!"

"May I ask who helped us? This life-saving favor is one that I, Zhou, will never forget in my life!"

"Could it be the Xie Family's trump card? I told you, the Xie Family hasn't given up on us!"

In front of the Prefects Mansion.

Xie Wantang's skirt was stained with blood, and bloodstains matted her beautiful hair.

She frowned deeply: "Is that the Black Wave Subduing Flood Dragon Formation, which is one grade higher than the Liuyun Floating Formation? But why is it so weak?"

Then she broke into a smile.

"Whatever, at least they are a friend and not an enemy."

She then folded her hands and bowed deeply.

"Thank you."

She walked into the Prefects Mansion.

"Yuzhu, let's go."

"Where to?"

"To get reinforcements!"

...

After Xu Changsheng activated the Formation, he couldn't help but feel a bit of regret for his actions.

Because...

The cost of activating the complete Formation was truly not small; in just a few breaths, it had consumed over a dozen Spirit Stones.

For the entire duration of the Formation, it was estimated to consume at least two or three thousand Spirit Stones.

"Forget it! I'll just treat it as doing a good deed."

He focused the Formation's power on places like Wang Ye's Hundred Treasures Pavilion and Wu Laoxie's spirit fields, primarily to protect his old friends in those areas.

He ordered Ink Shadow to guard the area and planned to give the Formation to him once the market had stabilized a bit.

He put on the painted skin of 'Lu Yuanze'.

"This is too much of a loss. I must take the green vine sword, that top-grade Magical Artifact, to make up for some of the losses."

He summoned the Snow-Treading Flying Car and flew close to the ground toward the southwest of the market.

...

Half a quarter of an hour later.

He arrived at the place where he had previously set up the Green Vine Sword Rain Formation.

He saw green vines growing and spreading, with several points of green light condensing in mid-air, forming thin swords wrapped in green vines.

The rain of swords struck repeatedly against the blue light shield in the center.

"Hehe, so this is the majestic Second Miss Xie who ruined my face back then? To think you'd be in such a pathetic state."

Liao Lüyun, the Sect Leader of the Poison Scorpion Sect, had a face crisscrossed with scars and was exceptionally hideous, yet her figure was very enchanting. She swayed her willow waist forward with a look of smug satisfaction.

At this moment,

Xie Wantang and Xie Yuzhu were supporting each other, their eyes revealing despair as they looked at one another.

"How can this be? Why do you know my Xie Family's secret path!"

"Haha, that would be me, of course!"

Xie Wenyang stepped out from behind several zhang of green vines with great excitement.

Xie Wantang's beautiful eyes narrowed: "Xie Wenyang, aren't you dead?"

Xie Yuzhu's face showed a look of terror: "What? Is that the Xie Wenyang who betrayed the Family, killed the Third Elder, and bathed the Mingxi Spring in blood?"

"Ugh, pfft!"

Responding with a groan, Xie Wantang finally couldn't hold on anymore. After exhausting her last bit of spiritual energy to push back the sword rain, she collapsed onto the ground.

Xie Yuzhu's pretty face also turned pale, and she plopped down onto the ground.