Buzz… buzz… buzz…
Endless sword qi shrouded the entirety of Cangmang Peak. Majestic visions of rivers and mountains emerged one after another, and even space itself seemed to tremble in their presence.
As a mid-grade magic treasure, Steady the Rivers and Mountains had already birthed a weapon spirit and possessed its consciousness. Thus, even without the power of a Purple Mansion cultivator to drive it, it could still unleash impressive might through the formation.
When Silvermoon saw that thousand-zhang sword beam, its pupils contracted sharply. Within it, it sensed an extremely dangerous aura.
Truth be told, Steady the Rivers and Mountains had a long and storied history.
It was originally the personal sword of the Song clan's "Splendid Banner" Golden Core master in his youth, nourished for hundreds of years until it brimmed with spiritual intelligence.
After being passed down through two generations, it eventually came into the hands of Song Taiyi, becoming his life-bound treasure.
When Song Taiyi failed his breakthrough and perished, the sword passed to the clan's only remaining Purple Mansion cultivator, Song Yungui.
However, Song Yungui had no interest in the sword arts and left this treasure gathering dust, instead spending immense resources to refine his two top-grade spiritual weapons, the Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Seal and the Heaven-Shaking Halberd, into low-grade magic treasures.
After Song Yungui succumbed to his injuries and passed away, the Song clan was left without any Purple Mansion masters, and no one could truly unleash the full power of these magic treasures.
Later, Song Xianming rose to prominence, becoming the only third-rank, low-grade array master in the clan's history.
To better utilize the magic treasures, he incorporated Song Taiyi's mid-grade Steady the Rivers and Mountains and the low-grade Phantom Mist Veil into the clan's protective grand array as its core one for attack, one for defense, complementing each other perfectly.
Afterward, he invited a geomancer to link the seven major mortal cities and their underground spirit veins, using the Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Seal as the core to lay the Seven-Star Mountain-Locking Array.
Time proved his decision right. It was with these two great formations that, twenty years ago, the Lieyang Sect's ancestor, He Tai, was caught off guard and returned home grievously wounded.
Now, after more than two decades of silence, Steady the Rivers and Mountains once again displayed its peerless edge.
Awooo!
Silvermoon threw back its head in a sky-shaking howl, surging demonic energy erupting from its body. Behind it loomed the phantom of a ferocious wolf, its gaze aloof and imperious, as if all beneath heaven were beneath its notice.
This was the ancestor of the Silvermoon Wolf clan, the Howling Moon Sky Wolf, a fearsome beast once capable of contending with true dragons. Only third-rank Silvermoon Wolves with particularly pure bloodlines could awaken this phenomenon.
Shrrrip!
The thousand-zhang sword beam fell from the sky like a river of stars, swallowing up the surrounding mist. From afar, it looked as though Cangmang Peak had been cleaved in two.
Awooo!
The Howling Moon Sky Wolf phantom roared thunderously, spitting forth a massive crescent moon. Wherever it passed, everything was leveled, trees and grass reduced to powder, leaving a bald scar across the once-beautiful mountain.
The crescent moon and sword qi collided in midair, triggering an earth-shattering explosion. Within a radius of more than ten li, all spiritual energy was instantly swept clean.
Clang!
From the blinding light of the explosion, an even brighter sword beam shot forth.
Silvermoon's pupils shrank. It had failed to block it?
Shrrrip!
The sword qi tore through its protective qi with ease, slicing into its shoulder and leaving a deep wound down to the bone.
Glancing at the blood gushing from its injury, Silvermoon let out an enraged roar. This human, whom it had regarded as an insignificant ant, had wounded it in the very first exchange!
"Human, you will pay the price for this!"
It spoke in a human tongue, a gale swirling beneath its feet as it lifted its massive body into the air. Behind it, the phantom of the Howling Moon Sky Wolf grew even more terrifying and majestic.
Although his strike had landed, Song Xianming's face showed no joy. The regenerative ability of a great demon was monstrous; such a wound was no more than a shallow cut on a human hand, and it would recover within moments.
"…What a pity," he sighed helplessly.
If he possessed the cultivation of the Purple Mansion realm, that sword could have taught it a truly painful lesson.
Awoo!
Silvermoon, thoroughly enraged, locked its gaze on the small human holding the formation flag. Then, it opened its massive jaws.
Swish, swish, swish!
Beams of thick light shot out from the mouth of the Howling Moon Sky Wolf phantom behind Silvermoon, surging toward Song Xianming like a torrential downpour.
Song Xianming stood unmoving. With a flick of the formation flag in his hand, a thin veil appeared before him. The beams slammed into it, triggering a chain of explosions.
Seeing its attack fail, Silvermoon grew irritated. It considered using that move, but after a moment's thought, decided to hold back for now.
Clang!
At that moment, Steady the Rivers and Mountains rang out once more, endless sword qi swirling around it, already prepared for its next strike.
Silvermoon's pupils contracted. Before the sword could descend, it suddenly turned its head and withdrew.
It wasn't fear that drove it away, but a refusal to risk mutual destruction at this point. Within this detestable formation, it could not unleash its full strength, and that sword's power was far from trivial.
If the Song Clan were to be destroyed, the array had to be broken first.
Yet after two probing assaults, Silvermoon still couldn't discern the formation's weaknesses. The frustration gnawed at it.
After some thought, it let out a long howl, recalling its wolves…
The wolf army withdrew. Song Chang'an wiped the blood from his face and collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
Moments ago, he had been locked in a desperate struggle with a mid-grade second-rank wolf. Several times, he had skirted the edge of death. Had the wolves not retreated, he might well have perished.
"Twenty-First Uncle!"
The sudden cry from Song Luhuai made Song Chang'an's expression harden. He had nearly forgotten Song Xianyun had taken a direct hit from the great demon earlier. The situation was unlikely to be good.
Forcing himself to his feet, he limped toward the voice.
A crowd of clan members had already gathered.
Pushing through, he saw Song Xianyun lying on the ground, his face covered in blood. His right arm was bent at an unnatural angle, his chest slightly caved in, and his aura was dangerously weak.
If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Song Chang'an would have thought he had already passed on.
Song Luzhou pressed two fingers to the injured man's wrist, his expression turning grim almost instantly.
Just then, Song Xianming descended from the sky, stepping down with the formation flag in hand. He saw Song Xianyun's condition and asked in a low voice,
"How is Twenty-First Brother's injury?"
Song Luzhou took out a crimson bottle, carefully poured out a single pill, and fed it to Song Xianyun. After helping him refine it, he stood and pulled Song Xianming aside. His tone was troubled:
"Twenty-First Uncle's life isn't in danger, but as for his future path of cultivation…"
He didn't finish, but Song Xianming understood at once. His head swam, and he nearly stumbled.
Only after a long silence did he lift his reddened eyes and rasp,
"No hope?"
Song Luzhou slowly shook his head.
"Unless we can find another Azure Sky White Jade Pill."
Hearing that, Song Xianming closed his eyes. He knew too well the value of that pill; he had only ever acquired one because Song Changsheng had brought it back by sheer luck.
But Song Xianyun was nearly two hundred years old, his remaining lifespan short. Now, with his cultivation crippled, it was little different from a death sentence.
"Take Xianyun down and see to his recovery. Whatever he needs, take it directly from the clan treasury. Also, tally the casualties once the wolves are attacking again soon."
Song Xianming's figure seemed to sag, as though he had aged more than a decade in an instant…
The casualty report came quickly: the Song Clan had lost thirty-two members, with nearly forty wounded.
Most of these were from Silvermoon's direct assault; many hadn't even left remains.
For a clan whose numbers were already limited, this was a devastating blow.
"We can't go on like this; we must change our strategy," Song Luhuai said solemnly by the blazing campfire.
"Eleventh Brother, what do you suggest?"
"Letting the wolves into the formation can indeed whittle down their forces, but when the great demon breaks through, the destruction it causes is too terrible.
If it chooses to attack our disciples without restraint, it would be a disaster. I propose we shift the array fully into a defensive state and wait for the right moment to strike."
The moment he finished, everyone's expressions darkened. "Waiting for the right moment" was just another way of saying they would hole up and take blows passively.
But right now, there seemed to be no better option.
Song Xianming finally made the decision:
"We'll do it. After two days of continuous battle, our people need time to recover."
...
The next day, the thick fog shrouding Cangmang Peak completely dispersed, replaced by a thin, gauzy veil that now covered the entire mountain.
"Hmph. Spineless humans, turning into cowardly turtles," Silvermoon sneered, a trace of contempt flashing in its eyes. It then ordered the wolf pack to surround the mountain and launch an unrelenting assault for three days and nights.
But the grand formation didn't budge in the slightest.
The result left Silvermoon fuming with rage, yet powerless to change it.
"It seems… I'll have to use the final move."
Silvermoon made up its mind.
Over the next few days, Song Luzhou and the others were shocked to find that the wolves had stopped attacking. Instead, they split into small squads to hunt for fresh blood food, laying waste to several small cultivation families.
The string of unusual movements made Song Xianming sense the stench of conspiracy. He wanted to investigate, but with his cultivation, leaving the array's protection would likely mean never coming back.
After some thought, he decided he could only prepare for the worst…
Night fell. On a spiritual mountain a hundred li from Cangmang Peak, Silvermoon squatted atop the summit, waiting for its kin to bring the offerings.
Soon, a pile of human and beast corpses lay before it.
Opening its maw, it devoured them all in a single gulp, then sat back on the peak to refine the essence. The crescent mark on its forehead glowed with a strange, eerie light…
Seven days later, after more than two months of travel, Song Changsheng finally piloted the Black Star Warship into Lingzhou.
The moment he crossed the border, he sensed that something was wrong.
Along the way, he encountered an unusual number of rogue cultivators streaming toward Yangzhou.
This was far from normal.
The Lieyang Sect ruled Yangzhou with an iron fist, oppressing rogue cultivators so severely that few willingly went there.
A few dozen heading that way could be a coincidence, but hundreds, even thousands? That reeked of trouble.
He landed, blocking a hurried rogue cultivator, and asked with a warm expression,
"Fellow Daoist, why is everyone heading toward Yangzhou? Has something happened?"
The rogue, seeing the massive flying vessel, realized instantly that this was someone he couldn't afford to offend. He quickly and respectfully relayed everything that had been happening in Lingzhou.
Song Changsheng's expression grew heavier with every word. Releasing the man to flee, he could no longer suppress the growing unease in his heart.
He pushed the Black Star Warship toward the Wangyue Mountains at top speed.
The words "Great Demon" kept pounding in his mind.
His thoughts drifted back to twenty years ago, when He Tai had led the Lieyang Sect in a massive invasion. Though they'd been repelled, the Song Clan had yet to fully recover.
This time, would the Song Clan be so lucky again?
"Faster. Faster! Faster!"
Driven by urgency, Song Changsheng threw more than a hundred mid-grade spirit stones into the control array at once, pushing the Black Star Warship to its absolute limit…
Boom…
After eight days of eerie silence, Silvermoon finally moved.
Black clouds smothered the sky, lightning snakes coiling and lashing within them, as a violent storm brewed overhead.
Song Xianming gazed at the tide of massive wolves pouring forward, his face grave. For some reason, a bad feeling gnawed at him.
Silvermoon's massive form rode the demon wind, slowly approaching Cangmang Peak. Its entire body was shrouded in a hazy light, standing out brilliantly against the ink-black sky.
"Kill!"
At the command, the remaining several hundred wolves surged forward, concentrating their assault on a single point of the formation.
"Clan Leader, judging by the numbers, even the forces pinning down the Wang and Yu families have been recalled. This looks like a full-scale assault," Song Luzhou said gravely.
"Most likely," Song Xianming replied. He pressed a strangely shaped key into Song Luzhou's hand and ordered solemnly,
"Take Qinghong, Qingxia, and the others to the back mountain. If the formation is breached, you must open the passage immediately and retreat!"
"Yes…" Song Luzhou accepted the key with a heavy heart.
This plan had long been agreed upon; there was no point in debating it again. But he couldn't help saying,
"Clan Leader… let Chang'an take them instead."
"If Chang'an were a top-grade alchemist, I would not hesitate to send him. But he isn't. Luzhou, remember this is not special treatment for you. This is the responsibility the clan entrusts to you.
If Cangmang Peak falls, you must bear the weight of our lineage's survival. Say no more, go!" Song Xianming placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, his tone gentle.
"Then… can't we leave together?" Song Luzhou's voice trembled.
Song Xianming smiled warmly. Gazing at the oncoming tide of wolves, he spoke with heartfelt resolve:
"This is our home. No matter what happens, someone must stay behind to fight for that last sliver of hope.
I'll leave a mark for Changsheng. If it comes to that, he will find you. Now go…"
"Your nephew obeys!" Tears brimmed in Song Luzhou's eyes. He dropped to his knees, kowtowed three times, then turned toward the back mountain.
Once Luzhou was gone, Song Xianming rose into the air with the formation flag. Thunder crashed behind him.
"Beast! Come and fight!"
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