158: Six Nascent Soul cultivators made their move.

"Senior Brother Song, have you found the Incorruptible Yin Wood?"

Su Ling's heart stirred. He looked towards Song Moting, his tone carrying a hint of anticipation.

The Incorruptible Yin Wood was one of his important objectives for this operation, as it concerned the subsequent strengthening of his ten thousand souls banner.

"Naturally, I found it."

Song Moting did not keep him in suspense. With a wave of his hand, ten black tree cores, each about a zhang long, appeared out of thin air on the ground.

The surface of the tree cores shimmered with a faint, deep purple luster, and one could faintly see a cold, yin aura flowing within the wood grain. They were indeed supreme grade Incorruptible Yin Wood tree cores of ten-thousand-year quality. "These items are more useful to you, so I will leave them in your care for now."

As he spoke, he took out another cloth bag and handed it to Lu Tao. "Inside this are over a hundred Pain Crystals. Junior Brother Lu, keep them safe. Although this item has an eerie aura, it is also a material for refining special Magical Artifacts, and the points for turning them in to the Sect will not be low."

"Alright."

Lu Tao took the cloth bag. The moment his fingertips touched it, he felt a cold fluctuation emanating from within.

He frowned slightly, but still quickly stored it into his Storage Ring.

Su Ling did not stand on ceremony either; he raised his hand and stored the ten Incorruptible Yin Wood tree cores into his Storage Ring, while simultaneously thanking Song Moting.

He quickly calculated in his mind: if all the spoils from this operation were turned in to the Sect, the Profound Nether Ice Soul, Incorruptible Yin Wood, and Pain Crystals alone would be worth nearly three million points.

Added to the battle merits for killing Cultivators and capturing resource points, the total points would amount to over eight million. When split evenly among everyone who participated in the operation, that would be over eighty thousand points each.

This was an amount that an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator could not earn in several years. However, victory did not come without a price.

Even though this battle was one-sided throughout, among the one hundred carefully selected Peak Core Formation Cultivators, seven or eight still perished during the enemy Cultivators' counterattack.

A quarter of an hour later, the Cultivators who had finished scavenging for supplies stood in unison before Su Ling.

At this moment, the looks they gave Su Ling had changed from their initial surprise and suspicion to admiration and conviction.

Nearly two thousand Yangquan Faction Cultivators had perished at his hands, with six or seven hundred falling directly to him. The remaining thousand were either controlled or harassed by the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother he commanded, allowing them to be easily slaughtered.

To exaggerate slightly, even if an ordinary Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had led their group of one hundred to face nearly two thousand Core Formation Cultivators, the result would not have been better than it was now.

At the very least, the Nascent Soul Cultivator would not have been in any danger, but the number of them who could have survived would likely not have exceeded the number of fingers on two hands.

"Depart!"

Su Ling let out a low shout and was the first to leap into the air. The others followed closely behind.

Their target was directed straight at... the Magic Pattern Mining Area!

...

Outside the Blazing Prison Yangyuan Grotto, the roaring sounds of Spells continued incessantly.

Shen Qingxuan looked at the still-bright Formation light barrier with a gloomy expression, his fingers clenching involuntarily.

"Senior Brother Shen, why don't we all attack together!" Xiao Zhuyun moved closer and suggested in a low voice.

Originally, the several Nascent Soul Cultivators had intended to wait until the Formation was broken before attacking to slaughter everyone. But they never expected this Formation to be so sturdy.

Looking at the state of those Bitao Faction Cultivators, it seemed they had not expended much magic power. Clearly, within the Yangyuan Cave, a large amount of Spirit Stones had been prepared to recharge the Formation.

According to Xiao Zhuyun's estimation, the consumption of such a massive Formation within a short hour probably had to be calculated in the millions.

He inwardly grumbled that Lu Tao was truly worthy of being a True Immortal's Disciple; his actions were simply lavish.

Seeing that Shen Qingxuan remained silent, Xiao Zhuyun continued to persuade him, "Although we had other battlefronts attack simultaneously to attract a large number of Bitao Faction Cultivators for this offensive... if this drags on for too long, some Nascent Soul Cultivators might free themselves to support this place. By then, the losses will outweigh the gains."

Shen Qingxuan's eyes flickered, his expression constantly changing.

Once all the Nascent Soul Cultivators attacked together... at a critical moment, Lu Tao would definitely step in to stop them. If his own condition was not optimal, the risk of facing him was truly a bit high.

But he also knew that Xiao Zhuyun was right; if they continued to delay, it would truly lead to complications.

A jade ruler appeared in Shen Qingxuan's hand. He gritted his teeth and waved his hand, "Junior Brothers, attack with me!"

"Yes!"

The several Nascent Soul Cultivators, who had long been waiting impatiently, responded in unison.

Some formed hand seals to cast Spells, while others controlled Magic Treasures that bloomed with spiritual light... all of them launched an assault against the Formation light barrier.

Inside the Yangyuan Cave, Murong Yue and Zhao Lie watched this scene, their expressions changing slightly.

"It looks like they are going to try to finish this quickly..."

"Unfortunately, we only delayed them for an hour."

Zhao Lie nodded slightly, his tone carrying some helplessness, "I wonder if Junior Brother Lu and the others are proceeding smoothly?"

Murong Yue thought for a moment and whispered, "Senior Brother Zhao, keep a watch here. I will go ask Senior Sister Chen... Only she can see the point changes on the overall leaderboard."

"That works too."

Zhao Lie replied and turned to fly towards the Formation eye. With six Nascent Soul Cultivators attacking simultaneously, if he were not there to guard the Formation eye, something might really go wrong if he were not careful.

Murong Yue flashed towards the depths of the cavern and soon saw 'Senior Sister Chen' by the side of a lava pool.

Senior Sister Chen was a Personal Disciple of a Bitao Sect Integration Stage Cultivator, named Chen Miaoyin.

She was ranked ninth on the Bitao leaderboard and forty-eighth on the overall points leaderboard. Her illusion techniques were extremely extraordinary. Although her offensive power was not strong, she was certainly the most troublesome.

"Shen Qingxuan, that guy, couldn't hold back anymore, right?" Chen Miaoyin smiled slightly and casually struck a stream of magic power into a tower-shaped Magic Treasure.

The Evil-Suppressing Tower, a supreme grade Magic Treasure, could both attack and defend, and was skilled at suppression. It was the top-tier Magic Treasure used to assist in suppressing the Crimson Flame Demonic Ape below. The reason she had been staying here the whole time was to ensure that nothing went wrong with the Crimson Flame Demonic Ape.

"Mm." Murong Yue nodded gently and bowed slightly, saying, "Junior Sister has come to trouble you, Senior Sister, to take a look at the overall points leaderboard... I wonder if Junior Brother Lu and the others are proceeding smoothly."

"Just as well, I also want to see." Chen Miaoyin smiled charmingly, took out a token, and channeled her magic power into it. A magic power light barrier rapidly formed in front of the two.

"Three million eight hundred thousand!" Murong Yue quickly found Lu Tao's name, a hint of pleasant surprise appearing in her eyes. "It looks like Junior Brother Lu has followed the plan and killed a Nascent Soul Cultivator."

"Mm, Senior Brother Song's points have also risen by over a hundred thousand..." Chen Miaoyin nodded, a hint of gratification flashing in her eyes. "It seems they have succeeded."

"Then next, we only need to hold on for another two hours, and they will be able to return here." Murong Yue let out a long sigh of relief, and the unease in her heart instantly dissipated.

"Shen Qingxuan can also check the overall leaderboard... If he discovers the change in Junior Brother Lu's points, he will definitely realize that he has been tricked." Chen Miaoyin raised an eyebrow slightly and reminded her with a half-smile, "At that time, do you guess they will continue to bombard the Formation... or rush back to reinforce?"

"This..." Murong Yue was left speechless upon hearing this.

She knew better than anyone just how strong the Formation defense of the Blazing Prison Yangyuan Grotto was.

However, once Shen Qingxuan abandoned this place and turned to reinforce, the three of them would be in an awkward position... Should they attack to entangle them, or let them leave?

If they attacked to entangle them, facing six with three was absolutely extremely dangerous! She herself did not mind, but could Zhao Lie and Chen Miaoyin risk their lives to buy time for Lu Tao?

If they let the other party leave, then Lu Tao and the others would very likely fall into a dangerous situation of being attacked from both front and rear!

For a moment, Murong Yue did not know what to do.