Chapter 260

Chapter 260: Clash Between Two Sects

‘This is the third realm of Mirror Flower, Water Moon—Illusory Form Made Real!’

Seeing through the technique used by the fish-dragon, Zhu Shaoyuan’s gaze tightened, his expression somewhat peculiar.

Mirror Flower, Water Moon was notoriously difficult to cultivate. Among the many true disciple sequence members within the sect who chose to cultivate it, not a single one had managed to reach the third realm.

Yet a mere Second-Tier spirit beast had comprehended it to such an extent—this was nothing short of shocking and absurd.

One had to understand that, compared to foxes and apes—spirit beasts naturally endowed with intelligence—fish-type spirit beasts of the Second Tier were innately dim-witted. Calling them dull was not an exaggeration.

Even if this particular fish-dragon named Golden Egg had somewhat taken on the form of a flood dragon, there was no way its talent for comprehending techniques could surpass the countless geniuses in the sect, allowing it to grasp Mirror Flower, Water Moon so effortlessly—unless it had been guided by a master.

With that thought, Zhu Shaoyuan’s gaze involuntarily shifted to Chen Beiwu.

If even his spirit beast could be instructed to master the third realm of Mirror Flower, Water Moon, could it be that Zi’ang had already grasped the realm of “A fleeting moment turns the seas, a finger-snap shifts the mulberry fields,” and cultivated Mirror Flower, Water Moon to the fourth realm?

If that were truly the case, Zi’ang might well be considered invincible within the Foundation Establishment stage.

‘Impressive!’ Zhu Qiong’s eyes lit up.

She, too, had once cultivated Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

Unfortunately, due to her spiritual root attribute being incompatible with the true meaning of the technique, she had stalled at the first realm. Realizing that continuing would be a waste of time, she had decisively cut her losses.

It certainly wasn’t that her talent was inferior to that of a fish-dragon!

Yun Yishu’s expression remained calm as she quietly observed Chen Beiwu, though her thoughts were conflicted.

Too fast—everything was happening too fast!

Though she was also a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, she had slain the three Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Shen Clan without prior formation deployment—but she could never have done it with the same effortless grace as her junior brother.

This only confirmed that, from their first encounter when she had thought little of him, to now when she treated him with caution—his strength had likely already surpassed hers.

The title “Mirror Moon Dao Son” was truly deserved.

At the same time, Chen Beiwu lowered his hand, brows slightly furrowed.

The soul-search had ended. From the residual memories of the Shen Clan’s Foundation Establishment cultivator, he learned that the Shen Clan’s upper echelon was unaware of the Hollow Gold Marrow vein—but this defied common sense.

The Yunhai Shen Clan, as the local power of the Biyuan Mountain Range, should not have been so easily deceived by their own subordinates. If they had, they would’ve long been destroyed.

Yet if the Shen Clan had known about the Hollow Gold Marrow vein, their response to the situation was equally perplexing.

As a vassal family of Mirror Moon Sect, the Shen Clan should’ve known that they had only two choices in this matter:

Either report to the sect at once, offering their loyalty,

Or betray the sect entirely and defect en masse to the Heavy Gold Sect.

But instead, the Shen Clan had chosen the most foolish route—burying their heads in the sand like ostriches, pretending to know nothing, which resulted in severe punishment from the sect.

‘This is too strange!’ Chen Beiwu pondered incessantly.

Could it be that he was overthinking it, and the Shen Clan truly knew nothing?

“Master.” Chen Beiwu turned his gaze to his teacher.

Just because his own soul-searching yielded little did not mean his master would fare the same.

Zhu Shaoyuan flicked his finger. A strand of bluish-white light instantly entered the Shen Clan cultivator’s Purple Mansion.

Moments later, Zhu Shaoyuan opened his eyes and waved his right hand.

Boom!

Flames surged. The three Shen Clan cultivators' corpses were instantly reduced to ash. As for the remaining Shen Clan members, they would be handled by the sect’s Judicial Hall cultivators.

“There’s some memory loss in the Shen Clan Foundation Establishment’s mind—perhaps the work of a Heavy Gold Sect cultivator, but it seems a bit unnecessary.”

Zhu Shaoyuan quickly sensed something was off, though he did not pursue the matter further. His gaze turned toward the Biyuan Mountain Range.

In the end, the Shen Clan was not significant enough to occupy his attention.

“Prepare for battle. We march on Hollow Gold Mountain in fifteen minutes.” Zhu Shaoyuan issued the command.

The location of the Hollow Gold Marrow vein lay within a nameless barren mountain in the Biyuan Mountain Range, hence the sect had named it Hollow Gold Mountain.

“As you command, True Person.”

Chen Beiwu dismissed his earlier speculations and responded accordingly.

...

Hollow Gold Mountain, Outer Perimeter of the Mine

Sensing the stirring of heaven and earth’s spiritual forces, Ji Shaoyuan activated his divine sense and swept it across the azure sky.

‘They’ve finally come.’

A massive Earthly Sha Warship broke through the skies. Thirty-six Mirrorlight Cannons mounted on either side began charging simultaneously, their glowing muzzles casting a brilliant light across a hundred-mile radius. Soon, they all aimed at the mine entrance and fired in unison.

Boom!

With the power of a thousand Mirror Moon Sect cultivators channeling their mana through the armored deck’s protective zone, the cannon barrage carried a force that could rival a Golden Core stage strike.

The thirty-six cannons roared in succession, their explosive force enough to obliterate early-stage Golden Core cultivators.

Even Ji Shaoyuan, despite being a late-stage Golden Core powerhouse, felt a trace of danger.

‘They opted for brute force directly? That certainly fits Zhu Shaoyuan’s violent nature.’

Ji Shaoyuan’s expression remained unchanged. The storage ring at his fingertip flashed, and a brownish-yellow formation flag appeared in his hand.

“Earth-Suppressing Yellow Dragon Vein-Stabilizing Formation—rise!”

As his voice fell, five hundred cultivators hidden within the mine instantly split into five teams. Each team was led by fifteen peak Foundation Establishment cultivators. They simultaneously slashed their palms and smeared blood onto the formation pillars of the Vein-Stabilizing Formation.

“Activate the formation!”

With a chorus of shouts, the Earth-Suppressing Yellow Dragon Vein-Stabilizing Formation began to take shape.

A phantom yellow dragon soared into the sky, drawing upon the power of the earth veins to form a nearly imperceptible but dense barrier of light that enveloped all of Hollow Gold Mountain.

Rumble!

The first wave of warship bombardment landed on the barrier, blasting a fissure ten-odd zhang wide—but it was instantly repaired by the yellow dragon phantom’s roaming formation.

Seeing this, Zhu Shaoyuan’s eyes narrowed with interest. He ordered another full volley.

He had initially thought this expedition would be a simple sweep.

After all, the Biyuan Mountain Range lay within the sect’s territory. Reinforcements could be summoned at any time for a siege.

If Ji Shaoyuan had any sense, he would have abandoned Hollow Gold Mountain at the first sign of danger and fled the Mountain Submergence Realm.

Yet not only had the other side not fled, they had even laid down a grand formation and were now resolutely defending the mountain—this was not the behavior of a wise man.

‘Are they plotting something else, or is there a supreme treasure within the Hollow Gold Marrow vein that the Heavy Gold Sect must obtain?’

Zhu Shaoyuan shook his head, dismissing further speculation. His right hand pressed downward, and his Earthly Sha True Qi surged madly into the main cannon of the warship.

Regardless of what treasures or traps lay within Hollow Gold Mountain, he had but one goal now—to flatten everything before him and cleanse all evil spirits in his path.

“Buzz!”

With the support of a Golden Core True Person’s Indestructible Golden Attribute Mana, the Earthly Sha Warship suddenly sank three zhang.

The main cannon, Falling Moon, slowly extended its eight-zhang-wide barrel, aimed at Hollow Gold Mountain, and began to frantically compress the fire-aspect energy permeating the heavens and earth.

Its overwhelming might shook the entire earth vein of Hollow Gold Mountain, triggering violent tremors.

‘Such terrifying aura.’ Chen Beiwu’s eyelids twitched.

With a peak Golden Core cultivator fully powering the Earthly Sha Warship, and aided by the mana of over a thousand sect disciples, the strike that followed would undoubtedly be earth-shattering.

His instincts told him that without using the Fourth-Tier Profound Talisman gifted by Senior Brother Jiang, the only outcome of facing the sect’s warship directly would be death.

Fortunately, this terrifying force above the Golden Core stage belonged to the sect—it could not be directed at him.

‘Good. Everything is proceeding according to plan.’

Ji Shaoyuan took a deep breath and retrieved a dark-golden Profound Mace about five feet long from his storage ring.

The mace had nine segmented sections. The first segment was engraved with a Chi, its dragon mouth spouting Geng Metal Qi, peerless in offense. The central segment bore a Bi’an, its beastly eyes able to shatter illusions and ignore abnormalities. The final segment featured a Chiwen, with a fish tail that could displace space and teleport a thousand li.

This item was none other than the Fourth-Tier High-Grade Profound Treasure, Heavenly-Gang Chi-Slashing Mace.

The moment the mace appeared, all metallic ores and magical artifacts in the mine trembled violently.

This was the innate suppression and attraction of a Fourth-Tier Profound Treasure toward lower-tier artifacts and treasure ores.

Ji Shaoyuan never acted without certainty.

To deal with True Person of Myriad Treasures Zhu Shaoyuan, he had specially prepared several trump cards—the Heavenly-Gang Chi-Slashing Mace being one of them. Unfortunately, it could only be used once.

“Suppress!”

Ji Shaoyuan gripped the mace and hurled it violently into the ground, replacing the vein-stabilizing formation pillar as the formation’s core.

In an instant, all flags of the Earth-Suppressing Yellow Dragon Vein-Stabilizing Formation lit up. Nine yellow dragon phantoms broke forth from the formation, weaving into an interlocking mystic-yellow barrier that sealed the entirety of Hollow Gold Mountain.

Boom!

Under the control of True Person of Myriad Treasures, the Falling Moon cannon bloomed with unprecedented brilliance.

A thousand cultivators on the warship’s deck groaned simultaneously as forty percent of their mana was forcibly drawn out, turning into streams of light that converged on the warship’s massive cannon.

Crack...BOOM!

After charging, a pillar of Falling Moon Light—a blend of dark blue and scarlet—erupted.

Wherever it passed, clouds were torn apart, space twisted, and spiritual essence cried out in agony as it completely pierced through Hollow Gold Mountain.

At that moment, the sky brightened!

The blinding brilliance forced all cultivators to shut their eyes against the intense light.

Even Chen Beiwu’s divine sense coverage was suppressed to just forty zhang due to the magnitude of the strike.

Perhaps a quarter-hour passed—or merely the time it takes to burn a stick of incense—before the intense light dissipated. The once sky-piercing Hollow Gold Mountain had become a massive sky crater several thousand zhang in diameter.

The exposed rock at the pit's bottom had crystallized, shimmering with eerie glow and emanating scalding heat.

‘Defeating the Heavy Gold Sect’s cultivators is clearly no easy task.’ Chen Beiwu’s gaze tightened as he looked toward the center of the crater, where a lone mystic-yellow barrier remained.

Gulp.

Golden Egg, curled in Chen Beiwu’s arms, slightly raised its head, its eyes glinting with a trace of restlessness.

For some reason, staying in this mountain range made its bloodline stir increasingly fervently.

Meanwhile, Iron Egg’s nose twitched as its gaze suddenly turned toward the ground.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Eighty-one Dragon-Confining Pillars burst from the earth, crisscrossing into a cage and forming a special formation that sealed off the space in this realm completely.

The next second, the mystic-yellow barrier gradually faded, revealing Ji Shaoyuan and the five hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him.

“No wonder you're the first Golden Core of the Earth Proliferation Territory. Just one strike from Falling Moon nearly wiped us all out.” Ji Shaoyuan looked up at Zhu Shaoyuan. His tone was praising, but his expression was ice-cold.

“Mirror Moon disciples, heed my command—attack!” Zhu Shaoyuan waved his hand, disinclined to waste words.

A mere late-stage Golden Core cultivator wasn’t worth his breath.

Upon hearing the order, the Mirror Moon body cultivators in the front line raised their heavy shields, positioning themselves before the rest of the disciples, their waists adorned with numerous defensive talismans.

In the central ranks, the sword cultivators willed their flying swords out of their sheaths, ready to strike, all targeting the Heavy Gold Sect's lead cultivators.

The rear ranks performed rapid hand seals and split into two groups.

One group unleashed powerful combination arts, while the other cast various augmentation and defense spells on those at the front.

Bringing up the rear, the Judicial Hall cultivators raised their Spirit-Breaking Crossbows, nocked and drawn, their icy arrows aimed at the Heavy Gold Sect's body cultivators.

Each Mirror Moon Sect cultivator carried out their role, and the moment True Person of Myriad Treasures issued the order, they activated their techniques, artifacts, and talismans in unison.

“Kill them all! Leave no one alive!” Ji Shaoyuan’s figure blinked forward repeatedly as he charged directly at Zhu Shaoyuan.

The title of the Earth Proliferation Territory’s top Golden Core was no exaggeration.

Among all present Golden Core cultivators, only he could rely on the Indestructible Golden Body through Myriad Tribulations to survive a hundred moves against Zhu Shaoyuan. The rest would perish on first contact.

Boom!

As the Golden Core duel erupted, the clash between Mirror Moon Sect and Heavy Gold Sect grew increasingly brutal.

“Junior Brother, be careful.”

With a final reminder, Senior Sister Yun pressed her hands together. The Luminous Formation Disk activated, triggering three Second-Tier High-Grade killing formations that instantly trapped and slew two mid-Foundation Establishment body cultivators who had charged recklessly forward.

Senior Sister Zhu Qiong led the charge. Her Third-Tier Treasure Sword claimed a Foundation Establishment cultivator's life with every swing.

At this rate, even if their master’s side had yet to determine the victor, Senior Sister alone—without exposing her early-stage Golden Core cultivation—could wipe out the Heavy Gold Sect cultivators with one sword per person.

Thinking this, Chen Beiwu surveyed the battlefield, observing without making a move. Instead, he searched for traces among the chaos.

With Golden Egg and Iron Egg guarding him, not a single Heavy Gold Sect cultivator could approach.

‘Master, Senior Sister, and Second Senior Sister’s fate threads haven’t changed—by all logic, they should be safe.’

Activating the Nine-Breath Divine Ability, Chen Beiwu swept the area—when suddenly he spotted an ominous crimson-black aura of baleful fate.

Ordinary Scarlet Baleful Fate wouldn’t have drawn his attention.

What truly shocked him was that the owner of this fate aura carried a wisp of Crimson Fortune, standing out strikingly among the other Foundation Establishment cultivators.

“How strange. Other than Zhu Shaoyuan, is there another cultivator who noticed me?”

Feeling watched, Sun Yuanqing—hidden in the shadows—frowned slightly and activated his divine sense to scan the area, but failed to locate the source.

As for nearby Chen Beiwu, Sun Yuanqing overlooked him entirely.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator, no matter how strong or gifted, couldn’t possibly escape the perception of a Tier Three Formation Master.

In Sun Yuanqing’s view, the one observing him in secret had to be at least a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator—perhaps even late-stage—just a step or two away from becoming a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

‘So Mirror Moon Sect sent more than just two elders. Looks like I can’t delay any longer.’ Gritting his teeth, Sun Yuanqing resolved to use the Wutu Metal-Cracking Treasure Formation.

Even if the formation’s ambush effect didn’t meet expectations, at the very least, it would ensure that he and Ji Shaoyuan could safely retreat from the battlefield.

“Found you.”

As a voice rang out, Sun Yuanqing’s face changed. He stared in disbelief toward the source.

“Chen… Chen Ziang!”

Chen Beiwu stood unmoving, flanked by Golden Egg and Iron Egg, calmly watching the gaunt-faced man hidden in the shadows.

“Interesting. How did you manage to find me?” Sun Yuanqing suppressed stray thoughts and asked with a calm expression.

Though he didn’t know when his position had been exposed, it didn’t matter.

As a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, Sun Yuanqing was confident he could capture the Mirror Moon Dao Son within three moves.

To his surprise, Chen Beiwu stepped back two paces, shielding Senior Sister Zhu Qiong behind him.

“Senior Sister, this sneaky guy seems a bit unusual. Please help me capture him.”