“He actually let him go?” The elder was visibly anxious upon seeing this, and the woman in red secretly sighed. In their minds, the ideal outcome would have been to slay the Flame Valley elder, but clearly, this mysterious expert harbored no killing intent toward the Flame Valley.
“Father.”
The woman in red, however, transmitted a message to her father through a communication treasure. “What’s happening at Sky Sword Mountain?”
“Yizi, stay where you are and don’t return! Sky Sword Mountain was just ambushed by the Flame Valley. I’m currently dealing with the Valley Master.” After sending the message, the Sky Sword Mountain Sect Master focused entirely on the battle. The situation was far worse than he had described. The Flame Valley had clearly prepared for this for a long time, even going so far as to infiltrate their ranks with disguised experts posing as ‘honored guests.’ Worse, they had poisoned him with the ‘Silver Thread Soul-Draining Venom,’ triggering an immediate and devastating assault.
The Sect Master’s strength was originally on par with the Flame Valley Master, but after years of meticulous preparation—including the costly acquisition of the Silver Thread Soul-Draining Venom—the Flame Valley now held an overwhelming advantage. The Sect Master was fighting desperately, but he was already at a severe disadvantage.
“Hah.” In the distance, Dongbo Xueying stowed away his treasures.
The woman in red quickly spoke up, “Esteemed Senior, this junior is Yizi, daughter of the Sky Sword Mountain Sect Master. Our sect is currently facing calamity, and I shamelessly beseech you to aid us in overcoming this crisis.”
She sensed that this mysterious expert held some goodwill toward her, so she swallowed her pride and pleaded for help.
“You want me to intervene? On what grounds?” Dongbo Xueying replied.
The woman in red flushed with embarrassment but pressed on, “My father will surely reward you handsomely afterward.”
“Senior, if you save us, this great kindness will never be forgotten. Sky Sword Mountain is in dire straits, and we are desperate. We have no choice but to beg for your assistance,” the elder beside her added respectfully, his face etched with urgency. Yet inwardly, he remained calm—no one who had cultivated to the Unity Realm was a fool.
He had sized up Dongbo Xueying’s temperament and thus appealed to his sense of duty and compassion.
“A few words and you expect me to risk my life? Hahaha…” Dongbo Xueying chuckled dismissively. “Let me give you some advice: Sky Sword Mountain is on the verge of collapse. With your strength, going there now would be suicide.”
With that, he vanished into thin air.
“He… left?”
“Just like that?”
“He said Sky Sword Mountain will soon be destroyed?” Yizi and the others were thrown into panic. They dared not disturb the Sect Master, who was locked in battle with the Flame Valley Master, so they instead contacted other high-ranking members of Sky Sword Mountain.
The news that came back was grim.
The situation was dire. Though the battle had just begun, Sky Sword Mountain was already at a crushing disadvantage. Many of their honored guests and elders were scrambling to flee.
—
**Void World.**
Dongbo Xueying moved unseen through the void, his form concealed by his mastery of the Voidwalker lineage and the illusory realm. None of the combatants on Sky Sword Mountain could detect him.
Whoosh—
An invisible ripple enveloped the entire mountain range.
This was the supreme domain technique of the Sacred Land’s Grand Void Temple—*Panbo Diagram*. As the only cosmic-level technique of its kind, its range was vast. Moreover, the suppression of laws in the Nine Clouds Continent was weaker than in the Sacred Realm, allowing Dongbo Xueying’s *Panbo Diagram* to extend over three hundred million miles. Every expert on Sky Sword Mountain was now within his perception.
Earlier, he had assessed the situation through this very technique before advising the young woman to leave.
The reason he refused to aid Sky Sword Mountain was simple—in his eyes, both Sky Sword Mountain and the Flame Valley were targets of his investigation. If they proved to be followers of the two great cults, he would slaughter them without hesitation. Moreover, his current strength made it impractical to bring the young woman and her companions along.
“The Sky Sword Mountain Sect Master seems injured. He’s completely suppressed and likely won’t last much longer,” Dongbo Xueying observed through the ripples. “Hmm? There’s a peak Unity Realm expert here—likely from the Flame Valley.”
Swish.
He teleported silently toward the target.
—
**A Crumbling Hall on Sky Sword Mountain.**
A group of cultivators huddled together, five of them at the Unity Realm. They worked in unison, manifesting a rotating formation overhead while a black serpent slithered around them. A brilliant light erupted from one of the Unity Realm experts, illuminating the surroundings.
“You three Peak Masters are holding out well, but your Grand Elder is already dead! And your Sect Master has been poisoned by the Silver Thread Soul-Draining Venom. Once our Valley Master arrives, crushing you will be effortless,” boomed a black-robed, bull-headed expert, his voice thick with arrogance. Occasionally, he would spot fleeing Sky Sword Mountain disciples in the distance and casually flick out a streak of black flame, engulfing them. The disciples would let out a single, terrified scream before turning to ash.
Boom! Boom!
Explosions echoed sporadically across Sky Sword Mountain. This was, after all, their stronghold, and they still had numerous formations at their disposal. The disciples were fighting desperately, leveraging the terrain to inflict some losses on the Flame Valley forces.
“Our Grand Elder was surrounded and slain, and now the Sect Master is poisoned…” The three Peak Masters, two elders, and their disciples fought on, their hearts heavy with despair.
“Hmph.” The bull-headed expert glanced around. Despite their thorough preparations, the assault had still cost them dearly. “Xiong Yu is hellbent on annihilating Sky Sword Mountain. Even with all our planning, wiping them out completely will come at a steep price.”
He continued hurling black flames across the battlefield, incinerating Sky Sword Mountain disciples with chilling ease.
The sight filled the trapped Peak Masters and other experts with fury. Their home—their sect—was being destroyed before their eyes, their disciples slaughtered like livestock.
“Damn it!”
“What do we do? What can we do?” They were frantic but helpless. Holding their ground was barely manageable, but attempting to flee would leave them vulnerable to the Flame Valley Deputy Master’s attacks.
Suddenly—
Their eyes widened as a white-robed, white-haired man emerged from the void. His face was masked, and he wielded a single sword. With a furious slash, he struck the bull-headed expert, who suddenly found himself mired in an invisible quagmire, his movements sluggish. The sword light cleaved straight into him.
Boom!
The bull-headed expert was sent flying, crashing into the hall’s crumbling wall.
“What? Defeated in one move?” The three Peak Masters and the others felt a flicker of hope rekindle within them.
“H-How…?” The bull-headed expert was dazed. He had no idea that Dongbo Xueying’s mastery of the *Panbo Diagram* had reached the fifth level of the Star Pagoda. Had Dongbo Xueying willed it, the expert wouldn’t just be immobilized—his body would have been crushed to dust on the spot.
The gap between the third and fifth levels of the Star Pagoda was akin to the difference between a peak Unity Realm expert slaughtering ordinary Unity Realm cultivators. The *Panbo Diagram*, as the supreme domain technique, granted Dongbo Xueying combat power at the threshold of the Chaos Realm. Against such might, the bull-headed expert was nothing more than a plaything.
Still, Dongbo Xueying had to hold back—he couldn’t afford to reveal himself to the two great cults.
“Hum.”
After sending the bull-headed expert flying with a single strike, Dongbo Xueying noted the man’s glazed expression—a clear sign he had fallen victim to an illusion.
With his target now defenseless, Dongbo Xueying could safely probe his soul.
“Let’s see if he’s a follower of the two great cults,” Dongbo Xueying mused silently. A subtle technique activated, piercing into the bull-headed expert’s body and, unimpeded, delving straight into his soul.
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