Five days later, in Da Jin.

Inside Chang Chun Temple, the Sect Protection Array was fully activated. Cultivators from all paths had gathered solemnly, bracing themselves for the decisive battle that was about to erupt.

According to Tian Jizi's arrangements, Chang Chun Temple, or rather the Cloud Desolation Alliance, now had three lines of defense.

The first defense line was the plain outside Yuhua City. The terrain there was flat with no natural defenses, which should not have been included as part of the defense line. But Tian Jizi had long since ordered the construction of stone castles built from heaped up rocks on the plains, creating over a hundred fortresses. Each fortress was equipped with numerous Formation restrictions, and in case of emergency, the Cultivators defending the castles could be teleported to the rear, after which the castles would be directly detonated.

The second line of defense was Yuhua City itself. This city of Cultivators had been transformed by Chang Chun Temple into a fortress almost impossible to conquer. Most civilian houses in the city had been demolished. Various massive Exotic Beasts, agitated and restive, were lying in wait throughout the city. Ships armed to the teeth hovered above the city, ready to pour their fury onto the enemy once the decisive battle began.

The final line of defense was the Spiritual Mountain where Chang Chun Temple stood. The arrangements here were even more intricate, but to sum up, it could be simply described with a brief statement—

This place gathered the foundations accumulated over thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years by all the Major Sects of the whole Yunhuang.

The distances between the three defense lines were not far, only about an hour or two's journey apart, but with layers of defenses, it would be no easy task for Wu Yue Sect to break through.

At this moment, Tian Jizi, accompanied by a group of Nascent Soul cultivators, stood on the mountain peak, looking toward the far horizon where a dark, "long line" was forming. His face was like still water, and he remained silent.

Meanwhile, within the forces of Wu Yue Sect, Ni Mu, along with Xi Zheng and the Free Venerable, respectfully bowed towards a black palace before turning around and raising his hand toward the plain, where one stone castle after another stood.

"Attack," he said in a flat tone, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

The next instant, deafening shouts of killing erupted, resounding through heaven and earth.

...

Black Witch Mountain.

Concealed, Yuan Ming approached the great Formation outside the mountain slowly.

The size of the void fissure pierced by the Undying Tree Root was limited, preventing him from entering the Formation the same way, leaving no choice but to launch a direct assault.

Luckily for him, the Formation shrouding Black Witch Mountain was not operating at full strength, so Yuan Ming still had a chance to breach it.

However, if he failed to create an entrance on the Formation quickly, the Wu Yue Sect would immediately react, running the Formation at full capacity, and he would lose any chance to penetrate into the mountain.

Yuan Ming gazed at the Formation before him. Without using his Divine Sense, all he could see was the Void.

But in the next moment, Mana slowly flowed along his meridians and into his eyes, making his already bright eyes shine more brightly.

In an instant, countless spirit light veins emerged before him, with every stroke interwoven, connecting dozens of runes into one entity, forming a giant net covering the entire Black Witch Mountain within it.

This was the true form of Black Witch Mountain's Illusion Formation.

If Formations could be compared to humans, then runes would be their internal organs and spiritual energy their meridians, whereas the effects displayed by the Formation would be the flesh that filled its body.

No matter how skilled an Array Master is, they had to observe the Formation's effects to deduce the construction of its spiritual energy veins and find weak points to break the Formation.

It was like how doctors in the Mortal World would need to observe a patient's physical body in detail through inspection, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking in order to deduce the cause of illness.

But the Qi Observation Technique from the "Emperor Sealing God Fist" broke this principle.

At this moment, to Yuan Ming's eyes, every detail of Black Witch Mountain's Illusion Formation was laid bare, without the need to touch it or observe its operations. He could see the Formation's innermost secrets—as if he were the Array Master who created it—and identify its flaws.

Quickly, Yuan Ming leapt forward to the right spot, channeling the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill with all his might. His muscles pulsed as though they were alive, and a surge of War Intent concentrated at his fingertips, ready to explode with his punching force in an instant.

At the same time, a towering Demon Image emerged above Black Witch Mountain, startling the Wu Yue Sect within. But before they could react, the Demon Image let out a roar and violently collided with the Formation outside the mountain.

Instantly, the sound of shattering echoed in everyone's ears as fragments of pale white spirit light appeared in the void. The once-concealed Formation was now completely exposed to all, with a giant hole torn through it and countless cracks spreading from the edges, looking on the brink of collapse.

"What's going on? Has the Cloud Desolation Alliance attacked?" The Wu Yue Sect on Black Witch Mountain were confused and shocked.

Some quickly rushed into the mountain to report to the Nascent Soul cultivators stationed there while others hurried to the Formation's hub, attempting to repair the breach.

However, just then, the Wu Yue Sect near the hub saw three streaks of light descend from the sky, transforming into a man and two beasts landing before them.

"Who are you!" one of the more courageous Sect members shouted out, as he stealthily made a move to ambush them.

But Yuan Ming had no intention of speaking with them. He unleashed a series of punches, killing all the Wu Yue Sect members in the vicinity.

Afterwards, he turned around and, relying on Fist Power, completely destroyed the Formation's hub.

"Kill them, spare none!"

Yuan Ming flexed his muscles and gave a cold command to the now revealed Hua Zhi and Vajra beside him.

What followed was a one-sided slaughter; none of the Wu Yue Sect followers guarding this place was a match for Yuan Ming and his companions.

Initially, when they saw that a Body Cultivator had come knocking, their hearts leaped with joy, thinking that their group of Soul Cultivators could work together to at least hold Yuan Ming off for a while, even if they couldn't defeat him.

But when they launched Soul Cultivation Divine Power spells one after another at Yuan Ming, they discovered to their dismay that all their attacks were as if thrown into the sea, with no response whatsoever. Sometimes they would even suffer from a backlash, and in severe cases, they didn't even need Yuan Ming to make a move – they would just drop dead on the spot.

This kind of situation would only arise when there was a significant disparity in the Divine Soul strength between the two parties.

But, by the Wu Yue God above, how could this mere Body Cultivator possess such formidable Divine Soul Power?

Was this person a Body Cultivator or a Soul Cultivator?

Before these Wu Yue Sect followers could figure out the answers, Yuan Ming's Fist Power had already descended upon them, blasting both their bodies and souls into smithereens.

In just half an hour, Yuan Ming had completely wiped out all the Wu Yue Sect followers stationed on the outside of the mountain, and he himself was almost drenched in blood, covered from head to toe in the fresh blood of his enemies, which made him look especially terrifying.

Yuan Ming swept his gaze around, seeing no more signs of Wu Yue Sect followers, then pinched a Clothes Cleaning Technique, cleaning the bloodstains from his body, and at the same time, looked up towards a cave not far away.

During his massacre, Wu Yue Sect members had continuously used the mountain's network of caves to flee into the underground of Black Witch Mountain, and the Nascent Soul cultivator who was left in charge had no intention of emerging to confront Yuan Ming, even as the Wu Yue Sect members above ground were being slaughtered. This person hadn't even deigned to show his face.

Perhaps, he was guarding something important?

Yuan Ming quickly thought of the mysterious space, deep underground, where not even the Undying Tree Root could penetrate.

He must be planning to use the underground space's forbidden spells to slay me.

Guessing the Nascent Soul guardian's thoughts, Yuan Ming's lips curved slightly, and then without any fear, he stepped forward and entered the cave.

In the underground of Black Witch Mountain, within a stone hall, a Nascent Soul elder in a black robe watched with a grim face as Yuan Ming entered the cave and wreaked havoc, all captured within the bronze square mirror before him.

"This person is somewhat peculiar; use the prohibitions in the underground passage to hold him off while I contact the Venerable," commanded the black-robed elder quickly.

"Yes," responded the surrounding Wu Yue Sect followers, their faces paling considerably, but they bowed in agreement and left to carry out the orders.

The black-robed elder then took out a wooden box, from which he pulled out a pale golden thread. As soon as it was removed from the box, black shadows resembling human ears emerged from the thread, floating up and down around it.

Suppressing the discomfort in his heart, the black-robed elder channeled his Mana into the thread. The human ear shadows then gathered together to form a palm-sized black human ear, suspended in front of the elder.

"Venerable, there has been a disturbance at Black Witch Mountain. A Body Cultivator with a Tongqiao Body, accompanied by a spirit beast, has forcefully broken through the array and entered the mountain. This person possesses anomalies; all of Sleeping Witch's Soul Cultivation spells couldn't harm him. Please instruct on how to proceed," said the black-robed elder rapidly.

No sooner had his words fallen than the pale golden thread in his hand turned ink black, and the human ear shadow disappeared into the stone wall above his head, leaving no trace.

Seeing this, the black-robed elder casually dropped the thread and took another from the wooden box, holding it in his hand as if waiting for something. Thе саnоniсаl sоurсе fоr this соntеnt:

But at that moment, a Wu Yue Sect follower burst into the hall, stumbling and panicking.

"It's bad! That man seems very familiar with our layout; he even knows where the prohibitions are. We can't stop him at all—he's already made it to the elixir storehouse!" the Wu Yue Sect follower knelt on the ground, shouting with a trembling voice.

Shocked, the black-robed elder hastily formed a spell with one hand and struck the copper mirror before him.

The scene in the mirror shifted instantly, revealing a storeroom.

In the center of the image, Yuan Ming was unabashedly ransacking the storeroom's elixirs, indiscriminately taking every elixir regardless of its grade.

With the upcoming offensive into the Central Plains, the Wu Yue Sect had already taken many elixirs away, but this was still their main base, with elixir supplies reserved for the needs of all the sect's cultivators. Even just the leftovers here could be enough for a cultivator who had just entered the Nascent Soul stage to break through to a Late-stage Nascent Soul.

The black-robed elder watched this scene, his heart bleeding. He wished he could rush out and battle Yuan Ming immediately, but he had yet to receive a response from the pale golden thread in his hand, so he had to keep guarding his post and not confront the enemy rashly.

But suddenly, the black-robed elder saw Yuan Ming in the bronze mirror turn around and lock eyes with the mirror—and with him.

He felt a sudden inexplicable chill in his heart and instinctively averted his gaze.

Of course, the Yuan Ming in the mirror could not see this; he just silently stared in a certain direction, as if he had seen something, his lips moving slightly.

"Wait for me; I'll be coming to find you soon… Hmph, arrogant!" the black-robed elder read Yuan Ming's lip movements and couldn't help but snort coldly.

Just then, Yuan Ming in the mirror suddenly raised his fist and threw a punch in the direction of the black-robed elder.

The image in the mirror vanished in an instant, signifying to the black-robed elder that the Magic Treasure used for observation at the other end had been destroyed.

Angry and about to check other surveillance Magic Treasures he had set up, the elder felt the thread in his hand tremble. A palm-sized pair of lips formed from the thread, and Ni Mu's voice came through.