Chapter 190: Besieged

Chapter 190: Besieged

The mountain gate of the Five Elements Sect was located at Wuzhi Peak.

Wuzhi Peak, true to its name, resembled a giant hand with five outstretched fingers, each finger forming a separate peak.

Its unique geography not only nurtured a third-grade spirit vein but also housed the 'Five Elements Killing Array' at the center of the palm, which was why it was chosen by the first ancestor of the Five Elements Sect as their base.

In order to seize control of this spirit vein, they had forcefully cut down the mountains, razed temples, and wiped out several other sects that originally occupied Wuzhi Peak.

Now, a solemn atmosphere hung over Wuzhi Peak. From each of the five peaks, a column of light of a different color soared into the sky.

White, red, black, yellow, and green...

The five colors converged, forming a brilliant canopy that enveloped the entire Wuzhi Peak.

...

High in the sky, several miles away, five spiritual warships loomed majestically.

On the forward deck, three figures stood silently.

"Tsk tsk... This Wuzhi Peak certainly lives up to its reputation... Its unique terrain makes it especially suitable for setting up a Five Elements Array."

Fang Xing couldn't help but sigh at the sight of the colorful array.

"Reporting to Sword Disciple, this is the fundamental grand array of the Five Elements Sect—the 'Five Elements Return to Origin Array'. It's an upper-grade third-rate array, with the power of the five elements endlessly circulating. Unless we can break its limits in one attempt, it will gradually repair itself, making it a formidable challenge."

Wu Xuan, the old Taoist, explained, his tone flattering.

"So impressive... It's a shame we didn't bring a third-grade array master this time. Looks like we'll have to brute force our way through."

Fang Xing sighed with a mix of admiration and disappointment.

Wu Xuan and Lu Yi, the True Man, exchanged glances, unsure of what Fang Xing was thinking.

They had rushed straight to the Five Elements Sect, bypassing several second-grade markets and foundation-building families along the way without bothering to destroy them.

If they lingered here too long and their retreat was cut off, it would be extremely dangerous!

"Not having an array master isn't a deal-breaker... As long as we have multiple third-grade prohibition-breaking talismans or a third-grade vein pearl, we can temporarily weaken the array's power by several degrees and create an opening. With our combined efforts, we might breach the array."

Lu Yi, the True Man, offered a tentative suggestion.

"No need! Lu Yi, you lead five hundred cultivators and form the Five Elements Sword Array to test their defenses."

Fang Xing snapped his fingers, his expression determined. "Wu Xuan, you lead the rest of the cultivators and set up camp... Await my orders!"

"Yes!"

The two cultivators obeyed without hesitation. Lu Yi, the True Man, immediately took five hundred cultivators and flew out.

"Five Elements Sword Array, activate!"

The five hundred cultivators worked in unison, channeling their five elemental powers through the array, which were then gathered by the array flags and funneled into Lu Yi, the True Man, who served as the array master. This power transformed into a colorful long sword.

With the sword in hand, Lu Yi's cultivation level surged from the False Core stage to the brink of the Golden Core stage.

"Go!"

Knowing that this battle was mainly a test, she performed a single-handed seal, causing a small green flower treasure to appear above her head. It bloomed with an emerald light screen, offering her protection.

Then, she swung her sword!

The colorful long sword instantly grew to several dozen feet in size and pierced into the Five Elements Return to Origin Array.

The grand array stirred, and the power of the five elements circulated endlessly, effortlessly dissipating this third-grade attack.

Within the array, a young man dressed in white appeared. He wore a five-colored lotus crown on his head and had reached the early Golden Core stage. He was none other than 'Fire Remnant, the True Man'. He shouted, "Our Five Elements Sect has always been neutral... You are being deceived; do not fall for their tricks!"

"If it's a misunderstanding, then why don't you open the array and let us in?"

Lu Yi, the True Man, smiled gently and once again channeled her power.

Five elemental sword energies fell into the grand array, like multicolored dragons stirring up waves within it.

"It seems that won't work..."

Fang Xing watched the Golden Core stage cultivator and noticed that he had no intention of coming out to fight. He shook his head slightly, a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

Wu Xuan, the old Taoist, who was standing beside him and directing the construction of a temporary camp, was speechless upon hearing this.

The achievements of this Fang Xing had already spread throughout the Five Sects and Ten Countries. It was said that he possessed third-grade combat power and that ordinary False Core stage True Men were no match for him in a single sword strike. Even Golden Core stage cultivators had perished by his hand.

How could the ancestor of the Five Elements Sect, who was also at the early Golden Core stage, dare to face him in battle?

"There are probably only two Golden Core stage cultivators in the Five Elements Sect. One is the mid-Golden Core stage ancestor, and the other is this man, who is at the early Golden Core stage. As long as he dares to step out of the mountain gate, I'll dare to cut him down with a single sword strike... What a pity."

Fang Xing shook his head repeatedly and said to Wu Xuan, "Take five flying warships and go assist Lu Yi."

"Yes!"

Wu Xuan, the old Taoist, quickly conveyed the order. Not long after, five flying warships rose into the sky and began a frenzied bombardment of the Wuzhi Peak array.

This stalemate would continuously deplete the array's foundation and spirit vein energy.

When it could no longer recover, that would be the time to truly break the array. However, this process often took a significant amount of time.

As Wu Xuan commanded his disciples to assist in the attack, he secretly transmitted his voice to Lu Yi, the True Man: "What are Sword Disciple's intentions? Does he plan to use us as cannon fodder?"

After all, out of these one thousand cultivators, only a few dozen truly belonged to the Sky Sword Sect; the rest were all from Zhenguo!

"It won't come to that..."

Lu Yi, the True Man, clenched her silver teeth, her expression determined.

In this chapter, the context is established as a fantasy world with cultivation and martial arts themes, where various sects and powers vie for dominance. The story focuses on the character Fang Xing and his exploits as a traverser with a powerful occupational panel.

Chapter Translation:

This time, Qingxu Zong had sent the most people. If they were to suffer a setback here, their losses would be absolutely devastating.

With this in mind, she and the old Daoist Wu Xuan exchanged a glance and merely ordered their disciples to engage in a battle of attrition, refraining from venturing too deeply into the enemy's formation.

For a battle of attrition like this, where they merely bombarded the formation with spells, the Five Elements Sect could hold out for several years!

Fang Xing, upon witnessing this scene, did not urge his troops on or order them to attack with full force.

His strategy was simple: 'besiege the point and attack the relief'.

Theoretically, now that they had ventured deep into enemy territory, the best course of action would be to go all out, swiftly take down the Five Elements Sect, and then establish a grand formation with their mountain gate as the foundation.

Among the supplies that Tianjian Zong had brought on this expedition was a set of third-grade array flags and plates. With the aid of a third-grade spirit vein, they could set up a super-large formation that could withstand even a siege by Golden Core cultivators.

This stalemate was not part of that plan.

However, the reason Fang Xing could calmly employ the 'besiege the point and attack the relief' strategy was due to his own formidable strength.

If he were even slightly weaker, he would undoubtedly be jointly slaughtered by the enemy and become a notorious fool in the cultivation world!

Half a shichen later...

Fang Xing yawned and gazed at the five warships and battle formations that were still bombarding each other: "That's enough, pull back..."

Even after fighting for most of a shichen, neither side had suffered any casualties among their disciples. After Fang Xing's order, the cultivators immediately returned to their camp, took out spirit stones, and began meditating to restore their spiritual energy.

—Without access to spiritual veins in this foreign land, they had no choice but to draw spiritual energy from spirit stones, even if it was somewhat wasteful.

Otherwise, if one found themselves in a dangerous situation with their spiritual energy depleted, they would deeply regret their lack of preparation.

...

Within the Five Fingers Peak, on the 'middle finger' peak.

The Golden Core cultivator wearing a five-colored lotus crown also sighed as he witnessed the battle: "All of you, return to your posts and be doubly vigilant during your patrols."

After giving his instructions, Hu Yu returned to his cave abode and suddenly performed an incantation, his lips moving silently.

Boom!

In front of him, a colorful rune light screen appeared on the empty cushion, and then a figure stepped out from within.

The light screen immediately vanished.

A fierce-looking old man with unruly hair, resembling a white-haired lion, knelt on the cushion.

"Senior Brother!"

Hu Yu performed a respectful salute, a smile on his face.

The old man kneeling before him was none other than the Five Elements Sect's Grand Elder—the Five Elements Ancestor!

However, according to intelligence reports, the Five Elements Ancestor had already gone to aid the Mu Sha Sect. How had he secretly returned to the sect?

"Hehe... Which detachment arrived today?"

The Five Elements Ancestor's voice thundered like lightning, "The 'Human Puppet Masks' provided by Wanxiang Zong are truly remarkable. They can perfectly simulate my soul and spiritual power... This time, we must teach Tianjian Zong a lesson. Who is their commander?"

Upon mentioning this, Hu Yu's tone turned strange, "Today's leaders are a fake pill from Qingxu Zong and a supervisor from Hei Tian Guan..."

This combination seemed like a motley crew of cannon fodder.

"The only notable person is their main general, Fang Xing, Tianjian Zong's true disciple who has been making waves in Zhenguo recently. If Senior Brother joins forces with me, we should be able to easily kill him."

Hu Yu held Fang Xing in high regard.

However, Fang Xing's battle records were too terrifying, to the point of being unbelievable.

He believed that a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Fang Xing could rival or even kill a fake pill cultivator with certain means.

But to kill a Golden Core cultivator like Lian Laoguai?

He suspected that Fu Hongyi was secretly aiding Fang Xing.

Nonetheless, even if Fang Xing was as formidable as the rumors claimed, he would have no chance against the two of them together. A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator was no match for Golden Core cultivators!

The Five Elements Ancestor glared at his junior brother, "Lian Laoguai used to think the same way, and then he died! Not only did he perish, but his soul was destroyed, his sect's lineage was wiped out, and he lost so badly that he became a laughingstock to the world!"

Hu Yu, wearing the five-colored lotus crown, immediately straightened up, "Senior Brother... I was wrong."

"No, you're not admitting your mistake. You're just afraid of me..."

The Five Elements Ancestor shook his head. His junior brother was a genius of their sect and had grown up too smoothly.

While this attitude could be described as fearless, it also meant that he could easily lose heart in the face of setbacks.

"The foundation of a Nascent Soul sect is something we Golden Core cultivators can't even imagine. Even if we kill the Tianjian Zong true disciple and attract the attention of their main force, fighting to the bitter end... wouldn't we just be sacrificing ourselves to protect Blood River Hall and Mu Sha Zong?"

The Five Elements Ancestor shook his head.

"So, what does Senior Brother plan to do?"

"Naturally... we'll invite one more person. There's a Golden Core cultivator from Wanxiang Zong nearby... He used to be a true disciple, equal in status to Jian Zi, and he has truly achieved the Golden Core stage..."

The Five Elements Ancestor said, "When the time comes, we'll invite him, and the three of us Golden Core cultivators will join forces to crush this army..."

"I wonder... which true disciple of Wanxiang Zong is it?"

"I'm curious, Fellow Daoist Huo Yu," the Five Elements Old Ancestor said.

"Lei Jingmeng from the Thunder Department!"

The Five Elements Old Ancestor took out a mirror and channeled his spiritual power into it.

The mirror blurred and revealed the figure of a young man dressed in a thunder robe.

"Five Elements Ancestor, could there be an issue with the 'Qi Dan' I sent you?" Lei Jingmeng questioned, his face radiating a jaw-dropping beauty, adorned with a birthmark shaped like a fork of lightning between his brows, exuding an air of grandeur."

Upon hearing this, Ho Yu’s heart missed a beat. So, that’s why my senior brother suddenly changed our sect’s previous neutral stance and chose to side with the Myriad Phenomenon Sect. He was promised such a benefit. The Return Qi Pill is an elixir that assists in breaking through the bottleneck of the mid-Golden Core stage and progressing to the late-Golden Core stage.

"Hehe, Brother Daoist Lei is teasing me..That 'Pill of Reversed Qi' isn't easy to refine and needs decades of isolated cultivation. I don't have that luxury these days..." Fifth Uncle Ancestor responded.

"I wonder if Fellow Daoist is interested in the Sky Sword Sect's Foundation Establishment manual?" The Five Elements Old Ancestor continued. "Today, our sect is under siege by the Sky Sword Sect's army, led by someone named Fang Xing..."

"Oh? Is it that person?" Lei Jingmeng asked, his interest piqued upon hearing Fang Xing's name. "This child is indeed astonishingly talented. When he was at the Foundation Establishment stage, I'm afraid I wasn't as good as him... But I've already formed my Golden Core. This kind of genius must be eliminated as early as possible, or he will become another Fu Hongyi after forming his Golden Core!"

"Is Fellow Daoist willing to take action?" The Five Elements Old Ancestor asked, delighted.

"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't bother. But this child is also involved in the disappearance of a messenger from the Wind Vein. There's already a bounty on him within the sect, so I might as well take this opportunity to handle it," Lei Jingmeng replied with a smile. "However, if I'm going to take action, the Five Elements Sect will have to offer me something in return. I've heard that in your sect's treasure vault, there's half a piece of 'Falling Dream Thunder Crystal'..."

"Once the task is accomplished, the Falling Dream Thunder Crystal is yours!" The Five Elements Old Ancestor agreed without hesitation, knowing that this was the nature of demonic cultivators.

Even during the Great Righteous and Evil War, even if the opponent was the Sky Sword Sect, without sufficient benefits, they would not take action!

"Deal!" Lei Jingmeng said, a smile appearing on his face.

...

Two days later.

Night.

Fang Xing stood silently on a small hill, gazing at the moonlit sky.

"Master..."

Lu Yi and Wu Xuan stood behind him, their faces anxious. "These past few days, we've been attacking the formation with all our might. Although there have been no casualties, we've consumed a lot of spiritual stones and other resources... Some of the cultivators below are starting to grumble."

"What's there to complain about? We haven't even lost anyone yet," Fang Xing said as he turned around, a cold smile on his face. "This is wartime, and these are the rules of the army. Those who dare to disobey orders will not only die themselves, but their entire clan and disciples will be put to death as well! Pass this message down: anyone who dares to defy me can come before me and say it to my face!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Yi and Wu Xuan broke out in cold sweat.

In fact, the greatest dissatisfaction probably came from their two major forces.

They were also testing Fang Xing's attitude, and now they had received a firm response.

Just as the two of them were feeling anxious, a smile appeared on Fang Xing's face. "They're finally here!"

"What's here?" Wu Xuan asked, a hint of doubt on his face. But before he could finish his sentence, two Golden Core flight lights sped out from the Five Elements Sect.

One of them had reached the peak of the mid-Golden Core stage, exuding a terrifying pressure!

"Five Elements Old Ancestor?" Wu Xuan was so scared that he wet himself.

"Hahaha... Today, we will only kill members of the Sky Sword Sect. Those who are unrelated, kneel and beg for mercy, and I, the Old Ancestor, will spare your lives!" The Five Elements Old Ancestor's boisterous laughter echoed throughout the temporary camp, causing countless cultivators who were meditating to turn pale and cough up mouthfuls of blood as their spiritual power deviated.

At the rear of the camp, a ray of thunderous light appeared, and it was actually another early-Golden Core cultivator! Moreover, his momentum was no less than that of the Five Elements Old Ancestor as he headed towards the small hill, "Where is Fang Xing? I am Lei Jingmeng from the Thunder Department of the Myriad Phenomenon Sect... Come out and die!"

Lei Jingmeng's voice was like rolling thunder, crushing everything in its path.

Seeing this, Lu Yi quickly formed a flower-shaped magical treasure with his hands to protect himself.

Wu Xuan, on the other hand, pasted a third-rank defensive talisman on his body and tried to escape for his life. "Please spare me, Senior! I am willing to defect..."

Swoosh!

A sword light flashed, and the sword silk directly cut through the defense of the third-rank talisman, beheading Wu Xuan.

"...and turn to the light!"

The sword light was too fast, and Wu Xuan's head still uttered the last two words before it fell to the ground and rolled a few times.

"Who says that people become more refined as they age? This is the first time I've seen such a foolish choice," Fang Xing commented.

Holding the Rusty Sword, Fang Xing's figure transformed into a sword light and shot straight towards the sky. "One mid-Golden Core, two early-Golden Core... Leave them to me, Lu Yi. You go and command the soldiers to prepare for battle!"

These three Gold Core cultivators were merely the visible portion of an iceberg. Undoubtedly, the armies of the Five Elements Sect, along with true Dan Cultivators, lay hidden behind them!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end