154: Yangquan is attacking, Shen Qingxuan

"Very well. Though the information is sparse, at least there was no deception."

The interrogation ended, and Su Ling nodded slightly, his tone flat and emotionless.

"Your Excellency... can you let us leave now?" The leader exchanged a glance with his companions, his voice tight as he tested the waters.

Su Ling slowly shook his head, not a hint of warmth in his eyes. "Apologies, but to prevent any leaks, you must stay here today."

"You went back on your word!"

"You said if we answered properly, you'd let us go!"

"Despicable demonic Cultivator!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the faces of the seven changed drastically.

The more hot-tempered ones couldn't help but start shouting curses.

Su Ling turned a deaf ear. With a flick of his finger, a sword light flashed. The seven's curses came to a screeching halt as their heads were pierced by the thunder shadow sword.

The ten thousand souls banner moved without wind, capturing the seven's dissipating Divine Souls in mid-air.

"I only said 'perhaps I can spare your lives'... I never said 'definitely'!"

Su Ling pinched a hand seal, his tone indifferent. "However, I can let you off by not putting you into the ten thousand souls banner."

"By the Supreme Decree, I release your lonely souls... Salvation for the masses, hasten to be reborn!"

The sound of the Rebirth Mantra echoed in the empty space.

The seven's Divine Souls gradually relaxed, finally revealing a hint of relieved, bitter smiles. They helplessly cupped their hands toward Su Ling before turning into wisps of spiritual light and vanishing into the Void Realm.

He collected the Magic Treasures and storage Magical Artifacts, then used Ice Flame to burn away all traces.

Having completed the one-stop service for disposing of corpses and erasing traces, Su Ling concealed his presence and quickly departed in a certain direction... "The Demon Iron Mine resource point in Yanmo Canyon has seen a total of seven Nascent Souls appear in the last six months, with their troop strength reaching over ten thousand..."

"The Kutong Forest resource point in the Ice Prison previously had three Nascent Souls, one of whom left for Yanmo Canyon a month ago."

"Currently, there are still two Nascent Souls and over two thousand Core Formation Cultivators in Kutong Forest."

"In the last half month, the number of scouts appearing on the outskirts of Yangyuan Cave has increased nearly threefold compared to before."

In the six months since Su Ling left Yangyuan Cave, information had been continuously arriving from the front lines.

Lu Tao sat by the lava pool, listening carefully to Murong Yue's report, his brow furrowing slightly.

"So, Shen Qingxuan really intends to make a move against us."

Shen Qingxuan was the first Cultivator in the Yangquan Faction, and even among all seven factions, to reach the Nascent Soul Stage.

He was second on the Yangquan Faction's points leaderboard.

On the overall points leaderboard, he was ranked fifteenth.

Although he wasn't a Disciple of a True Immortal, his personal strength was still not to be underestimated.

"Combining the information sent back by Fellow Daoist Han, I judge that they should be making a move soon."

Murong Yue nodded slightly in agreement.

In this operation, as the most meticulous of the three Nascent Souls, she naturally took on the task of summarizing the information.

Even Su Ling would send information to her first rather than Lu Tao.

Lu Tao pondered for a moment, then stood up and said, "I'll send a communication jade slip to Senior Brother Song and Senior Sister Chen right now, telling them to lead their troops here immediately."

Murong Yue's eyes flickered. Recalling Su Ling's previous message, she cautioned, "Success comes from secrecy, failure from leaks... Fellow Daoist Han's meaning is that it's best for the two senior siblings to move in secret, only gathering the elites under their command to accompany them."

"No problem, I'll instruct them."

No matter how straightforward Lu Tao was, he knew the importance of secrecy in this matter.

He immediately took out a communication jade slip and quickly recorded the requirements.

As the two Jade Slips flew out, the long-brewing events officially set into motion... Over the next month, skirmishes broke out one after another in the areas where the Bitao Faction and Yangquan Faction bordered each other.

Even the Five Aggregates Faction had four or five resource points caught in the flames of war.

A large number of personnel from the rear were redeployed to the front lines for support.

Fortunately, the battles at each resource point involved at most four or five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, so the overall scale wasn't large.

A few days later, the warning Formations within the Blazing Prison Yangyuan Grotto began to sound one after another.

The tolling of a great bell then resounded through the mountains.

Cultivators of the Bitao Faction quickly moved into the various Formation nodes.

Large quantities of Spirit Stones and various elemental crystals were poured into the Formation bases, ready to be charged at any moment.

Zhao Lie, Murong Yue, and Lu Tao all flew into the air, staring ahead.

Six massive black and white giant ships were seen speeding toward them, with the Killing Intent-filled Yangquan Faction Cultivators visible on board.

"Six hun yuan motherships; that's at least six Nascent Souls taking action."

Zhao Lie's expression turned cold as he smiled faintly. "They really think highly of us!"

"It's fine. With such a long time spent on the arrangements, it won't be that easy to break through."

Murong Yue's face was calm, appearing full of confidence.

Lu Tao stood with his hands behind his back, saying nothing.

Soon, the six hun yuan motherships completely surrounded Yangyuan Cave.

A massive Formation barrier, just large enough to cover Yangyuan Cave and the volcanic crater, rapidly condensed into form.

"Lu Tao!"

A figure flew out from the leading mothership, his voice like a great bell vibrating through the entire Fentian Volcano.

"Shen Qingxuan, I trust you've been well!"

Lu Tao snorted and spoke loudly.

"Hiding like a tortoise... it seems you intend to give up this resource point."

Shen Qingxuan scanned the Formation barrier, his eyes narrowing.

A typical resource point's great Formation would be at least ten miles in diameter.

But the Formation before him was only about four or five miles wide.

However, upon sensing it carefully, Shen Qingxuan's pupils shrank slightly, and he thought to himself that things were looking bad; the defensive strength of this Formation was actually much stronger than the Magic Rune Mining Area he guarded.

"Give up? How is that possible!"

"Don't think I don't know what your Yangquan Faction is planning. I may not have extra reinforcements..."

"But if you, Shen Qingxuan, want to break through this mountain-protecting Formation... you'll have to pay with your lives!"

"Humph! I'd like to see how many Spirit Stones you have to burn!"

The arrow was on the string and had to be fired. Shen Qingxuan didn't waste any more words and simply waved his hand. "Attack!"

The six hun yuan motherships all revealed their cannon ports and began a bombardment from above.

The remaining Cultivators also boarded small Flying Boats and began to circle the Formation, engaging in skirmishes.

The Cultivators inside Yangyuan Cave were well-prepared for this.

A black armor mothership hovered over the volcanic crater, relying on the protection of the Formation to launch counterattacks right against the barrier.

Small Formations appeared all over the volcano, drawing on the fire-element spiritual energy of the volcano to generate lava fireballs that shot toward the enemy like a torrential rain.

For a time, ripples constantly appeared on the Formation barrier, yet it remained standing firm.

Instead, it was the Yangquan Faction Cultivators who, with the slightest carelessness, were blown to pieces by spiritual energy shells or lava fireballs, losing dozens of people in just fifteen minutes.

"Damn it!"

Shen Qingxuan cursed, but he had no choice but to step in with the other five Nascent Souls to help block the attacks.

After all, the sturdiness of this great Formation far exceeded their imagination.

Breaking through the Formation in a short time was simply impossible.

Rather than wasting magical power on bombardment, it was better to assist in defense to preserve more of their active forces.

Even though Shen Qingxuan had made ample preparations and even paid a high price to have other resource points take action early to reduce the possibility of Yangyuan Cave receiving support...

And had gathered a total of six Nascent Souls to seize Yangyuan Cave with overwhelming force...

He never expected that this battle would turn into a war of attrition.