215: Three seriously injured brothers

A moment later, the laughter gradually died down, and smiles bloomed on everyone's faces.

After the previous misunderstanding, Rong Yuanliang no longer played any tricks. Instead, he solemnly cupped his fists and said to Dugu Litian:

"Brother Dugu, what I just said was absolutely not a joke. If it weren't for your Qingxuan Sect, my Heaven Sword Sect would have suffered a great loss of Origin Qi last time!"

"This time, facing such a great calamity, there would have been no escape. By all accounts, I feel that my Heaven Sword Sect can no longer hold the title of the strongest Sect in Northern Desolate Province!"

"Please agree to my Heaven Sword Sect's request. This is the result of my discussion with many Elders!"

Dugu Litian slowly shook his head and said earnestly:

"Sect Master Rong, do you know why I knelt before you?"

"This..."

Rong Yuanliang looked at the Elders on both sides and found that they didn't know.

"I really don't know..."

"Alas, Sect Master Rong, it's because of my master!"

"You are his close friend, and I am his Disciple. How can our seniority be messed up? So no matter what you think, please wait until my master returns before making any decisions!"

Hearing Dugu Litian's words, Rong Yuanliang suddenly realized. So that's how it was...

Brother Lu must have mentioned him to his Disciple, otherwise how would they know?

Alas... Brother Lu, thank you for thinking so highly of me. Rong is truly... unable to repay you...

"Since that's the case, I won't make things difficult for Brother Dugu. We'll discuss this matter later, but..."

Dugu Litian immediately saw what Rong Yuanliang wanted to say but found difficult to utter.

The reason Rong Yuanliang was so eager to have the Qingxuan Sect as their superior Sect was certainly because he no longer had any sense of security.

Only by relying on the stronger Qingxuan Sect could the people of Heaven Sword Sect find that sense of security within themselves.

Otherwise, the entire Sect might experience instability in morale.

After all, the enemies that had appeared now possessed a Realm that they were absolutely unable to resist.

Dugu Litian deliberated over his words for a moment and slowly said:

"Sect Master Rong, are you worried that those few people will return with reinforcements?"

Rong Yuanliang, having his inner thoughts exposed, readily admitted it.

"Precisely."

"No matter. How about this: after I return and report to my grandmaster, I will come to your Heaven Sword Sect to help you guard the Sect until the crisis is confirmed to be resolved. How does that sound?"

"This..."

Hearing Dugu Litian's words, Rong Yuanliang and the surrounding Elders felt a bit like crying. The Qingxuan Sect had done too much for them!

"This... How can this be? Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you? No, I would feel uneasy doing that!"

"That's right, Senior Dugu."

The Grand Elder on the side finally spoke.

"You are already the ones who came to rescue us, and now you want to guard this place for us? Wouldn't that be too much of a sacrifice for you? I've heard the Sect Master say that your Qingxuan Sect's Cultivation environment is countless times better than our Heaven Sword Sect's."

"If this delays your Cultivation, we would truly feel uneasy."

...

The two sides each held their ground and began a friendly exchange. In the end, Dugu Litian helplessly said:

"How about this: I'll go back and report to my grandmaster, and let him decide this matter."

"Good, Fellow Daoist Dugu, would you like to stay for a while? My Heaven Sword Sect would like to hold a welcoming banquet for you."

"Hahaha, let's skip these formalities. I still have important matters to report. Sect Master Rong, I'll take my leave now!"

Upon hearing this, Rong Yuanliang did not dwell on it and said cheerfully:

"Good! Fellow Daoist, take care!"

So Dugu Litian turned and flew in the direction of the Qingxuan Sect, followed by three thousand Disciples.

All the Heaven Sword Sect Disciples watched them depart, offering them their highest respect!

...

On the Devouring Demon Coast, three figures, covered in blood and extremely disheveled, fell out of the Void Realm.

It was the Di brothers!

After the previous battle, all three of them were severely wounded, with Di Lecheng being the most seriously injured.

When he resisted Dugu Litian's final move, he knew that if he and his third brother resisted simultaneously, his third brother would surely die!

So he voluntarily stepped forward and bore most of the power alone, thus saving his third brother's life.

However, he himself was also severely injured!

Dugu Litian's move directly shattered all the Meridians and bones in his Physical Body. He was currently relying entirely on the remaining Cultivation within his body to forcibly reattach the broken Meridians and bones!

Normally, a Cultivator Undergoing Tribulation, as long as their Divine Soul was not extinguished, could slowly recover by absorbing the Origin Qi of heaven and earth.

However, Dugu Litian's move carried a massive amount of Dark Evil Spirit (Netherworld Malice Qi), a small portion of which directly invaded his body and was now rampaging within him!

Especially at the fractured points of his Meridians and bones, there was an even greater concentration of Dark Evil Spirit (Netherworld Malice Qi).

Di Lecheng was already at his limit just maintaining his Physical Body from falling apart, and he had no spare Cultivation to expel the attached Dark Evil Spirit (Netherworld Malice Qi).

Therefore, his injuries became increasingly severe and he was unable to alleviate or eliminate them on his own.

The second brother's injuries mainly came from the secret art he forcibly activated. It was a blood escape technique, a Heaven Rank escape art, and the price was to consume half of his vital essence blood to perform it!

For a normal Cultivator, losing half of their vital essence blood would essentially be like losing half their life, making recovery extremely difficult, and even if they did recover, it would lead to side effects such as an unstable Realm.

However, that escape art was exceptionally bizarre. Once performed, one could escape into the Void Realm and travel within it.

Dugu Litian's Cultivation naturally couldn't yet sense the aura within the Void Realm from the outside world.

The third brother was the least injured. Most of Dugu Litian's move was blocked by Di Lecheng, and he only endured a smaller portion of the power.

But even so, he was still severely injured, just not fundamentally so.

"Big Brother! How are you? Are you alright?!"

The third brother looked at his Big Brother and asked worriedly.

Di Lecheng heard this, opened his eyes with difficulty, and said weakly:

"I'm fine, I won't die for now. This time, we three brothers really suffered a huge loss..."

"Then what should we do next?"

"Take me to the Shenfeng Sect. I need to recover some Cultivation first..."

"Alright!"

...

On the way, Di Lecheng said to the second and third brothers:

"When I fought that black-robed person just now, I detected traces of his Dao Foundation being plundered on his body! Therefore, this person must be inextricably linked to the Dao Foundation Plundering Great Art!"

The second brother heard this and also said:

"Really? Then we can be considered to have completed the mission from above, but this loss is indeed a bit too great..."

"Once I recover a bit of my Cultivation, we will cross the sea and return to the Sect first, and report everything truthfully to the Sect Master, letting the Sect Master make the decision!"

"And my Ten Thousand Souls Banner! I must get it back!!"

The third brother heard this and said:

"Don't worry, Big Brother. With the Sect Master making a move, he can surely flatten the entire Northern Desolate Province with a casual wave of his hand. Before, it was just that we weren't sure of the location and didn't dare to act rashly."