Chapter 51: Spies

After the four cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage dived underwater, only the disciples from the four sects remained in the air. This time, among those accompanying the Fire Moon Sect, there were actually five cultivators at the Jin Dan stage and four at the later stage of Zhu Ji. The other three sects each had only two Jin Dan cultivators and seven Zhu Ji cultivators.

Among the Fire Moon Sect’s five Jin Dan cultivators, three were at the later stage and two at the middle stage, clearly demonstrating the strength of their sect as the strongest among the four major cultivation sects.

With the four Yuan Ying cultivators gone, the strongest force in the air was naturally the nine people from the Fire Moon Sect.

The members of the Immortal Cloud Sect, Xuan Yang Temple, and Yu Su Sect surprisingly coordinated to fly their Cloud-Piercing Boats together so that they wouldn’t be ambushed by the Fire Moon Sect. With all three groups together, there were now six Jin Dan cultivators, whose presence alone matched that of the Fire Moon Sect.

“Hehe, six fellow cultivators. What’s the matter? Are you trying to guard against us from the Fire Moon Sect?” asked a cultivator at the later stage of Jin Dan from the Fire Moon Sect with a smile.

Huai Jin and Huai You from the Immortal Cloud Sect, Cheng Xing and Cheng Xian from Xuan Yang Temple, and Qiu Ren and Qiu Jun from Yu Su Sect—these six were all at the Jin Dan stage. Hearing the mocking words from the Fire Moon Sect member, their expressions changed.

“You must be Yong Nan from the Fire Moon Sect. You can’t speak like that. The people from our three sects have always had frequent interactions and deep friendships. Unlike your sect, which is always proud and self-satisfied, refusing to make friends with others. You Fire Moon Sect people have no friends yet envy us—aren’t you just too jealous?” Huai You said calmly.

“You… Huai You, are you deliberately trying to oppose us from the Fire Moon Sect? Very well, if you have the courage, come and duel me now!” Yong Nan became furious.

Huai You snorted lightly, glanced at everyone from the Fire Moon Sect, and said with a smile, “Yong Nan, are you even qualified to duel me? Everyone knows your people from the Fire Moon Sect are unreliable. How can I trust you? Who knows if those five Jin Dan cultivators from your sect might attack me all at once?”

Due to his experiences in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons—first encountering Yong Chuan and then almost being killed by Master Han Yue—he harbored deep anger toward the Fire Moon Sect and had no intention of showing them any kindness.

“It seems, Huai You, you’re relying on the support of Xuan Yang Temple and Yu Su Sect to speak to us in such a scornful manner. I wonder if you can still smile when the cultivators from Xuan Yang Temple and Yu Su Sect are on our side.” After saying this, a glint appeared in Yong Nan’s eyes.

As soon as these words were spoken, a sudden change occurred on the two Cloud-Piercing Boats belonging to Xuan Yang Temple and Yu Su Sect!

“Chengxian… you… you’re a spy…” Chengxing of Xuanyang Temple had a huge blood hole in his chest, and his breath vanished instantly.
“Qiu Jun… how could you…” Qiu Ren of Yusu Sect wore an expression of disbelief, but it was already too late; he pointed straight ahead before collapsing.
In an instant, Chengxian of Xuanyang Temple killed Chengxing, while Qiu Jun of Yusu Sect killed Qiu Ren.
The attack came suddenly; no one expected that two cultivators in the late Jin Dan stage, Chengxing and Qiu Ren, would be killed by two in the early Jin Dan stage through a sneak attack.
“Hahaha, Chengxian, Qiu Jun, well done! You’ve been hiding in these two sects—now your efforts pay off.” Yongnan laughed maniacally and shouted loudly, then looked down on the Cloud-Piercing Ship of Xianyun Sect with contempt.
After their successful sneak attack, before the cultivators in the Foundation stage of Xuanyang Temple and Yusu Sect could react, Chengxian and Qiu Jun swiftly swung their swords, their true energy flying, and killed all the Foundation stage cultivators in one go.
“You… you’re spies!” Huaijin’s expression changed drastically as he realized the critical situation of Xianyun Sect.
Cultivators in the Foundation stage of Xianyun Sect, such as Qu Yi, Li Ji, and Wang Mo, were also filled with shock—the situation had changed too quickly.
“Who said we’re spies? You Xianyun Sect actually launched a sneak attack and killed our disciples from Xuanyang Temple and Yusu Sect. I must report this to our sect leader—we will never reconcile with you!” Chengxian shouted loudly, laughing.
This was clearly shifting blame; they were attributing their own sneak attack to Xianyun Sect.
“Our Huoyue Sect can also testify—that it was you Xianyun Sect who attacked Xuanyang Temple and Yusu Sect, and only Chengxian and Qiu Jun managed to escape,” Yongnan of Huoyue Sect declared proudly.
Huaiyou and Huaijin immediately understood this was a deliberately set trap. With all the people from Xuanyang Temple and Yusu Sect dead, these two spies were shifting all the blame onto Xianyun Sect, ensuring that their relationship would become utterly hostile.
But the most urgent issue now was that Xianyun Sect’s Cloud-Piercing Ship had been surrounded.
Yongnan of Huoyue Sect produced another Cloud-Piercing Ship; all the Foundation stage cultivators boarded it, while the five Jin Dan stage cultivators took another. Chengxian controlled Xuanyang Temple’s ship, and Qiu Jun controlled Yusu Sect’s ship—these four ships surrounded Xianyun Sect’s group.
Xianyun Sect had only two cultivators in the late Jin Dan stage, while their opponents had seven in the Jin Dan stage. The gap in strength was too vast; they had no chance of fighting back.
Escape!

As Huai Jin and Huai You exchanged mental signals, they immediately decided to break through and escape.
“Golden threads dancing!”
“Ten thousand willow branches!”
Huai Jin and Huai You shouted simultaneously—one released golden qi, forming a scene of countless golden threads, while the other emitted wood qi, turning into ten thousand willow branches that gently swept forward.
The golden thread attack targeted Cheng Xian, while the willow branch attack targeted Qiu Jun. These two were piloting their cloud-piercing boats right below the Xianyun Sect’s boat, blocking its descent. Naturally, Huai Jin and Huai You attacked them first.
Cheng Xian cast a spell in the form of an earth shield, and Qiu Jun unleashed a spell involving layered ice, barely blocking the attacks from Huai Jin and Huai You.
However, the Xianyun Sect’s cloud-piercing boat took advantage of the moment they were focused on blocking these spells to soar downward and plunge into the sea.
“Let’s chase after them all together!”
Yong Nan from the Huoyue Sect wasn’t angry. He knew it was unrealistic to stop the Xianyun Sect’s boat right away. So, he had already planned to pursue them together, exhausting all the spirit stones carried by the Xianyun Sect’s people. Once they could no longer operate their boat, they could then surround and attack them.
Although those at the Golden Core stage were fast, they still couldn’t compare to the speed of a cloud-piercing boat!
Huai You controlled the boat, continuously feeding qi into it to make it fly at the fastest speed through the sea.
The internal array of the boat provided water-repelling capabilities, so even though it was in the sea, seawater couldn’t enter its interior.
Thud! Thud!
The four cloud-piercing boats of the Huoyue Sect descended into the water one after another. Their mental senses locked onto the direction the Xianyun Sect’s boat was fleeing in, and they immediately set off in pursuit.
Inside the boat, Qu Yi thought for a while before suddenly saying, “Uncle Huai You, if there are any islands nearby, please take me there. Then drop us foundation-stage disciples off, and you and Elder Huai Jin can just escape. I think the Huoyue Sect’s main focus is on you two. They won’t leave many Golden Core stage disciples to stop us, and then I can deal a heavy blow to them.”
Upon hearing this, Huai You instantly understood Qu Yi’s plan. He knew Qu Yi possessed the secret of four array discs—four experts at the late Golden Core stage.
“Alright!” Huai You agreed right away.

After hearing this, a hint of viciousness appeared in Huai Jin’s eyes, but he did not show it. Instead, he hoped that in the end, the Fire Moon Sect would take it seriously and send someone at the late Golden Core stage to intercept these Foundation Establishment disciples, so that Qu Yi could die and it would be a way to avenge his grandson, Liu Qingfeng.

Sure enough, after traveling thousands of miles, Huai You discovered a rather large island and immediately controlled the Cloud-Piercing Ship to fly over there. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The Cloud-Piercing Ship stopped for just a moment, and all of the Foundation Establishment disciples from the Immortal Cloud Sect landed on the island before flying away again. Qu Yi quickly activated the Hidden Dust Formation, covering all seven of them.

“Huh! Huai You stopped the Cloud-Piercing Ship for a while. It seems all those Foundation Establishment disciples from the Immortal Cloud Sect have landed on the island,” Yong Nan said in surprise as his spiritual sense locked onto the situation.

Another person at the late Golden Core stage beside him immediately replied, “Good. Let Cheng Xian, Qiu Jun, and those four Foundation Establishment disciples stay on the island to search for those from the Immortal Cloud Sect. The five of us will continue to chase after Huai Jin and Huai You.”

“Agreed, let’s do that!” Yong Nan said happily.

Instantly, Yong Nan used his spiritual sense to instruct Cheng Xian and Qiu Jun to stay behind. Huai Jin and Huai You together controlled the Cloud-Piercing Ship and fled at high speed. Yong Nan led the four members of the Fire Moon Sect, and the five of them pursued the two behind.

On the island, Cheng Xian and Qiu Jun had already landed using the Cloud-Piercing Ship. Soon after, the Cloud-Piercing Ships piloted by the Foundation Establishment disciples of the Fire Moon Sect arrived as well. The four disciples immediately obeyed Cheng Xian and Qiu Jun’s orders and went to the island to search for the seven members of the Immortal Cloud Sect.

“Qiu Jun, I heard that Qu Yi from the Immortal Cloud Sect has a formation that hides his aura. It seems he’s also among these disciples. We need to be careful,” Cheng Xian said, scanning the entire island with his spiritual sense but failing to detect any aura of a member from the Immortal Cloud Sect, so he reminded him.

“I’ve heard that too. It’s said he also has four top-grade ritual disc arrays. If used at full power, their effect is equivalent to a single strike from someone at the late Golden Core stage. We need to be cautious,” Qiu Jun replied, also warning him carefully.

“But we don’t need to worry too much. To activate the full power of those ritual discs, he would need too many low-grade spirit stones. I doubt a Foundation Establishment disciple could have that many,” Cheng Xian said with a slight smile.

Qiu Jun smiled as well.

At that moment, Qu Yi stood inside the Hidden Dust Formation, carefully listening to the messages transmitted by the spirit of the artifact, and also learned about the strength of the Fire Moon Sect on the island at present.

“Two at the early Golden Core stage, four at the late Foundation Establishment stage. With such weak strength, they still dare to try and stop me. Sigh, I’ve used less than one-thousandth of that spirit stone vein I acquired. It’s time to waste some of it,” Qu Yi muttered to himself. Seeing Qu Yi standing still alone with a sneer on his lips, Li Ji and Wang Mo immediately realized he must have some scheme in mind.