Chapter 273: Chapter 165: Bountiful Harvests: The Divine Fire Sect’s Revenge (Part 4)

Xiao Chen shook his head. "There’s no rush. I’ll have to trouble you with this, Chang."

Chang Shunping immediately replied happily, "You’re being too kind, Xiao."

He was hoping for more opportunities like this in the future.

To show how seriously he took the matter, Chang Shunping brushed off any attempts to make him stay and hurried down the mountain, heading south to ask a friend for information.

With someone willing to run the errand for him, Xiao Chen could finally relax.

After resting for a short while in his courtyard, he planned to resume his previous cultivation routine.

’Probably few people out there know that I, this esteemed Elder Jia Dan, am actually only at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment.’

’But that’s fine. I’m only a few days away from the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment anyway.’

But the unexpected always arrives before tomorrow.

Xiao Chen had spent thirty-six hours straight opening Storage Bags, so he was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, his body felt light, as if he had fallen off a cliff.

He had never had a nightmare since he started cultivating.

So when he first startled awake, he was still a little dazed.

’What in the world was going on?’

But soon, the sight of flames engulfing the entire mountain forced him to calm down.

’Bad news: Qingyang Mountain is gone.’

That was meant literally.

The once-hundreds-of-feet-high Qingyang Mountain had vanished, replaced by a mound of earth only a few dozen feet high and raging, pitch-black flames.

’The good news: I have Blade of Night.’

So, for the time being, he was unharmed and could take a moment to think about which direction to run.

’In times like these, it’s crucial not to panic.’

Xiao Chen first activated his Eye of Truth for a quick scan. Just as he’d suspected, he saw within the flames the same strange, red mist he had previously discovered inside the broken Spirit Pearl.

Aided by this mist, the flames burned fiercely, even though the ground was half soil and half Yellow Vein Rock mixed with Qingyang Stone. It looked like they could keep burning for quite some time.

Moreover, just two days ago when he took out the Array Plate, the flames that had drifted down with the dissipating black smoke had also possessed this characteristic.

’The Divine Fire Sect’s revenge came faster and was more decisive than I’d imagined.’

’They didn’t hesitate to use such a method, all to ensure a one-hit kill.’

To put it in perspective, not even Ning Haochen, the current head disciple of the Lingyuan Sect, had ever been on the receiving end of something like this.

Even Shao Mingyou of the Cyan Cloud Sect—who was rumored to be on the verge of a breakthrough to the Golden Core realm—had never faced an attack of this magnitude.

’The Divine Fire Sect sure holds me in high regard.’

’What a fucking eye for talent.’

He scanned his surroundings, but seeing no trace of anyone, he decided he would have to leave his escape route to chance.

Xiao Chen decisively abandoned the idea of heading toward either Elemental Magnetic Peak or Luoyan Mountain.

Instead, he activated his Vertical Earth Golden Light and sped away to the southeast.

’It’s a damn good thing I had the foresight to choose Blade of Night as my life-saving Augment before coming to Hezhou.’

’This just proves it: you can never have too many ways to save your own skin.’

’And sure enough, I needed one tonight.’

「Meanwhile.」

Thousands of miles away, atop a Spirit Vein, a Grand Array was spontaneously collapsing.

At the center of the Spirit Vein, Daoist Qian Hong slowly opened his eyes.

He cast a cold glance at the collapsing Spirit Vein, then withdrew and departed.

In truth, the price the Divine Fire Sect had paid this time was immense.

A Tier Three Array, which involved a vast quantity of rare materials for Array Formation.

A Tier Two Spirit Vein, its Spiritual Qi almost completely drained in one go.

For the next few centuries, only a small number of unaffected Spirit Stones could be mined from its periphery; the core was now utterly depleted.

There was also the massive amount of cultivator Essence Blood used as a sacrifice, along with a precious quantity of Demonic Qi to enhance the magic’s effect.

"For the next year, I must recuperate at Moon-Reflected Spring."

Daoist Qian Hong stated this, his face pale, then turned and left, heading east.

The other Demon Dao Golden Core cultivators outside watched him depart.

Their leader, Master Nijie, urged in a low voice, "This isn’t the time for infighting. First, we must deal with those hypocrites who call themselves the Righteous Dao."

Beside him, Ghost Flood Dragon True Man licked his lips. "So many Spiritual Materials, and this Spirit Vein we fought so hard to capture... completely ruined."

"Was paying such a steep price just to deal with that Xiao Chen really worth it?"

Master Nijie answered without a hint of hesitation. "Of course, it was."

"The Yellow Springs Traveling Palace is about to open. This is a matter of grave importance; we absolutely cannot afford any failures."