Chapter 60: The Arrival of a Fierce Enemy

At Chasecloud Peak, in the Wind-Listening Residence.
Qu Yi, Li Ji, Wang Mo, and De Quan—these four brothers gathered together.
“Fifth brother, I really didn’t expect you to have already reached the later stage of the Foundation Establishment phase,” De Quan exclaimed with envy from the side.
Indeed, when Li Ji, Wang Mo, and De Quan arrived at the Wind-Listening Residence together, they were shocked to see Qu Yi practicing the Soul Sword Control technique.
Seeing his three seniors arrive together, Qu Yi immediately retracted his Green Python Sword and said with a smile, “Second brother, third brother, fourth brother, what brings you here? Yes, I have indeed broken through to the later stage of Foundation Establishment.”
Hearing Qu Yi confirm it himself, De Quan’s expression darkened. Out of the five brothers, he had the lowest cultivation level—still only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
“Fifth brother, I just went to Chasecloud Tower. Our master said that Sister Bai Man has been assigned to you, so we came to congratulate you,” Li Ji said with a smile.
“Fifth brother, if Sister Bai Man ever gets upset, I’ll definitely beat you up,” Wang Mo said, waving his fist.
“That’s right! If you dare to upset Sister Bai Man, I’ll destroy your Wind-Listening Residence,” De Quan added quickly, without even considering whether he could defeat Qu Yi.
Qu Yi immediately wiped his forehead and said bitterly, “Three seniors, you came here just to give me a warning, right? I should be grateful even if my senior sister doesn’t bully me. How could I dare to bully her?”
Though his face showed distress, Qu Yi was actually very happy inside.
After another round of congratulations, the three of them watched Qu Yi quietly, their gazes shifting constantly, unsure exactly what they were looking at.
Qu Yi stared intently, unable to guess their thoughts, so he simply said, “Three seniors, if you have anything else to say, just go ahead.”
Li Ji and Wang Mo exchanged a glance, then Wang Mo said with a smile, “Fifth brother, my second brother and I feel like we’re about to break through to the early stage of the Golden Core phase, but we don’t have enough spirit stones. So… we came to you for them.”
Stammering as he spoke, he still made it clear that they were here to ask Qu Yi for spirit stones.
It wasn’t surprising that they wanted spirit stones—Qu Yi was extremely wealthy. With the use of those four arrays in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Monsters and the Misty West Seas, he had never faced a shortage of spirit stones. Naturally, everyone knew he must have many more.

Because breaking through from the later stage of Foundation Establishment to the early stage of Golden Core requires an enormous amount of spiritual energy. Relying solely on absorbing natural spiritual energy is too slow, and the chances of success are much lower. Naturally, Li Ji and Wang Mo thought of Qu Yi, who specialized in spiritual stones, and wanted to take this opportunity of their wedding celebration to rob him.

Qu Yi smiled and sized up Li Ji and Wang Mo arrogantly until the two dared not look him in the eyes. Only then did Qu Yi speak, “I thought it might be spiritual stones—of course, there’s no problem. Tell me, how much do you want?”

“Eight hundred!” Li Ji said after hesitating for a while.

Qu Yi’s expression darkened.

“Oh, no need for that much—six hundred will do,” Wang Mo quickly exclaimed, already considering whether to borrow spiritual stones from other disciples.

Qu Yi stared at the two without saying a word, his expression unreadable as to whether he agreed or not.

“What if it’s five hundred?” Li Ji said bitterly, pressing his lips tightly together.

Wang Mo immediately nodded.

“You really disappoint me!” Qu Yi said inexplicably before shouting, “Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother! Considering we’ve fought together against the disciples of the Fire Moon Sect, you only want eight hundred, six hundred, or even five hundred? It’s truly disappointing. Here are two thousand lower-grade spiritual stones—take them. Never ask me for more. With such small demands, I can’t even afford to lose face.”

“Ah!” Li Ji and Wang Mo were completely stunned—Qu Yi was far too generous.

The two immediately divided the spiritual stones Qu Yi gave them equally and laughed joyfully, knowing their spiritual energy needs for breaking through to the early stage of Golden Core would now be fully covered.

Suddenly, bells rang from atop Cloud Chasing Peak.

The bells sounded urgent—these were the bells signaling an attack on the sect!

Instantly, Qu Yi, Li Ji, Wang Mo, and De Quan all hurriedly looked up. A massive cloud of fire covered the entire Cloud Chasing Peak, stretching over a thousand meters wide, showing just how powerful the one controlling the fire was.

“Let’s go to the Immortal Cloud Hall!” Li Ji shouted immediately.

The four of them flew off right away toward the Immortal Cloud Hall.

……

Inside the Immortal Cloud Hall, Patriarch Huai Qing, Master Dongzhen, the ten elders, and the elders from each peak had all gathered.

When Qu Yi and his three companions flew in front of the Immortal Cloud Hall, they were stopped from entering. Only those at the Golden Core stage were qualified to participate in this urgent meeting.

At that moment, the nearly forty people inside the hall all looked anxious.

“Elders, Master Dongzhen has already discovered that three cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage are heading toward our Xianyun Sect. Among them is Yongshan, the leader of the Huoyue Sect. I think this time, the Huoyue Sect has brought in external help to eliminate our Xianyun Sect, which is why I’ve urgently gathered everyone here,” Huai Qing shouted loudly.

The elders at the Jin Dan stage immediately cried out in panic, feeling immense pressure pressing down on them.

“Where did the Huoyue Sect get these cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage?”

“Does the Huoyue Sect intend to destroy the agreement among the four sects at once? Do they plan to eliminate the other three sects as well?”

“What does it matter if the Huoyue Sect’s people arrive? We have two cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage—our sect leader and Master Dongzhen. Can’t our thirty-six Jin Dan stage cultivators resist just one of those Yuan Ying stage cultivators?”

……

Immediately, the elders at the Jin Dan stage rushed to express their opinions.

Among them, Elder Huai Jin remained unusually calm. He glanced at the other elders present and occasionally looked at Huai Qing, his lips twitching from time to time.

“Silence!” Master Dongzhen suddenly roared, his vital energy surging and silencing everyone’s voices.

Huai Qing nodded at Master Dongzhen and then shouted at the elders, “Elders, don’t panic. Even with a powerful enemy approaching, our Xianyun Sect still has ways to deal with it. Here are thirty-six jade slips containing the instructions for using the ‘Thirty-Six Peaks Demon Extermination Array.’ If you scan them with your spiritual senses, you should be able to learn how to use it right away. Then return to your respective cultivation peaks and activate the sect’s grand array together to defeat our enemies.”

The thirty-six elders took the jade slips handed to them by Huai Qing and immediately scanned them with their spiritual senses.

“We actually had such a powerful array within the sect, and I only found out now.”

“I see. When I first reached the early Jin Dan stage and received my cultivation peak, the sect leader placed several stone pillars on it. So the array’s core had already been set up.”

“With the Thirty-Six Peaks activated simultaneously, all the spiritual energy in the Zuiwu Mountain Range can be gathered and used by us. No enemy can withstand that.”

……

After reading the jade slips, the elders understood how to use the ‘Thirty-Six Peaks Demon Extermination Array.’ They also realized that the array’s core had long been placed in their cultivation peaks. As long as they entered that position and used their vital energy in the manner described in the slips, they could activate the array to fight their enemies.

Huai Qing looked at the elders satisfactorily. Seeing that they had all read the slips, he said, “Alright, elders. Return to your peaks right away. The fate of Xianyun Sect now lies in your hands.”

“Yes, Master!” The elders replied in unison before flying away.
Qu Yu and the other three, along with the other disciples, gathered in front of the Immortal Cloud Hall, chatting noisily in chaos.
Suddenly, all the Golden Core stage elders flew out of the Immortal Cloud Hall and headed toward their respective cultivation peaks without looking back, their expressions anxious.
The lower-ranked disciples like Qu Yu naturally saw the elders’ expressions and became even more panicked. Some started crying in addition to shouting.
Amidst this chaos, Huai Qing suddenly appeared.
“All disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sect, gather together in order and use the spells you’ve learned to resist our enemies,” Huai Qing ordered sternly.
“Yes, Master!” Seeing the master personally giving orders, the lower-ranked disciples felt renewed strength.
At that moment, the fire cloud in the sky arrived above the Chasing Cloud Peak and then stopped.
Suddenly, Yong Shan flew down from the fire cloud and hovered in mid-air in front of the Immortal Cloud Hall.
“Huai Qing, I already know that you colluded with the sea monsters to murder Master Han Shang of our Fire Moon Sect. So, I’m here to avenge him. I’ve brought two friends at the late Yuan Ying stage. Today, you must give me an explanation,” Yong Shan shouted darkly.
As soon as he spoke, two extremely strong true energy waves emanated from the fire cloud, indicating that the two were at the late Yuan Ying stage.
Huai Qing smiled at Yong Shan and said calmly, “Yong Shan, if you want to bring in outsiders to destroy our three sects, just say so directly. Don’t make excuses. If you want to attack our Immortal Cloud Sect, then go ahead and attack. Do we really fear you?”
At that moment, Master Dong Zhen also flew out and stood beside Huai Qing.
Yong Shan glanced coldly at the lower-ranked disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sect and sneered, “You disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sect, when you die today, don’t blame our Fire Moon Sect. Blame only your master, Huai Qing. It’s his schemes that have brought you this fate.”
Yong Shan wasn’t only fabricating excuses to frame Huai Qing but also trying to manipulate the minds of these lower-ranked disciples, preventing them from fully resisting the Fire Moon Sect’s attack.
“Get lost!”
Suddenly, Master Dong Zhen became enraged. With a swift swing of his Liu Xia Sword, he sent a wooden true energy strike at Yong Shan at high speed.
Yong Shan didn’t move, but a flame suddenly appeared in the sky, blocking Master Dong Zhen’s furious attack.
With a loud boom, the wooden true energy and the flame exploded simultaneously, creating a gust of wind.

Yongshan waved his hand, calming the waves before him, and laughed loudly, “Xianyun Sect, today is the day of your complete destruction.” With that, Yongshan disappeared, having teleported back to atop the Fire Cloud. On top of the Fire Cloud, aside from the two cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage, there was one more person—none other than Ling Huoshang, the master of the Fire Moon Palace.