With just one blade, he stood guard atop the Imperial Palace walls, showing no mercy to the loose cultivators daring to attack. His every move was a killing blow.

One stroke, one life. Even though the opponent’s loose cultivators had already summoned their defensive magical artifacts, they were no match for Xu Mujun.

Killing loose cultivators was like slaughtering chickens and cattle.

In no time, at least a dozen loose cultivators fell at Xu Mujun’s hands!

Amidst this chaos, in a corner unnoticed by anyone, strange things were happening.

At Celestial Longevity Mountain, beneath Fairy Peak, Azure Dragon Peak, Three Wind Mountain, Flying Crane Peak, and Lotus Peak, peculiar spiritual qi fluctuations began to seep out, diffusing into the sky.

Even beneath Flying Crane Peak, where the Array Foothold was deliberately damaged by the Matchmaker, a sound of friction emerged.

It was seen that in the core of the array, a damaged array plate moved aside automatically.

A sound of mechanism friction arose, and a brand-new array plate was lifted up.

Embedded on it were ten mid-grade spirit stones.

Afterward, propelled by a pre-set mechanism, this array plate combined with the grand array that covered the entire Celestial Longevity Mountain, producing distinct gear friction sounds and spiritual qi fluctuations.

Very soon.

The partition arrays of the eleven main peaks, including Fairy Peak, Azure Dragon Peak, Three Wind Mountain, Flying Crane Peak, and Lotus Peak, were all reactivated.

In the darkness, viewed from afar, eleven streams of spiritual qi fluctuations, invisible to the naked eye, converged into ethereal spiritual qi pillars, gathering towards the main peak of Celestial Longevity Mountain.

If any cultivator possessed the Spiritual Eye, they would clearly notice those eleven spiritual qi pillars stretching thousands of miles, meandering over.

Gathering atop Celestial Longevity Mountain, they astonishingly resembled a gigantic... birdcage!

"Boom...!"

In the sky, above Tuoba Qingying’s head hovered the Cold Demon Pearl, showering her in vast water spirit qi, enveloping and protecting her wholly.

Surrounding her were a bizarre blue-white flying sword, a spearhead, and a green flag.

They trapped her tightly within, relentlessly tearing her apart.

The white strange flying sword managed to pierce a clear crack in the water vapor of the Cold Demon Pearl every time, but it was quickly mended by the remaining water spirit qi.

The spearhead was Du Fushan’s artifact.

Its sharpness was unmatched, able to pierce through anything.

Yet, it was completely ineffective against the vast water spirit qi sprinkled by the Cold Demon Pearl.

On the contrary, the strange flag summoned by Old Demon Feng emitted gusts of wind, causing the vast water vapor to sway violently.

Hong Shan, manipulating the Fishbone Flying Sword while frowning, said, "This woman is a Celestial Spirit Root Cultivator, with profound magical power; fellow Daoists must finish this quickly, or if she drags us down, we’ll be in trouble."

The other two certainly knew this, but faced with Tuoba Qingying, who came prepared with full defense, they were helpless.

And at this moment, Tuoba Qingying moved first.

Her hands formed seals, and the Cold Demon Pearl atop her head started emitting waves of cold, which affected the surrounding water spirit qi, freezing it into layers of ice.

Simultaneously, a massive Cold Demon Illusion, formed from countless waves of cold, took shape.

After forming, the Cold Demon did not attack; instead, it circled in front of Tuoba Qingying, protecting her within.

It opened its mouth wide and spewed vast amounts of cold air, enveloping the territory within a radius of several dozen miles.

Under such a cold shroud, the surrounding air froze to the extreme.

Almost all cultivators were affected, their movements slowed, even their summoned artifacts and flying swords slowed significantly mid-air, including Hong Shan and his companions.

"She’s stalling for time!"

Hong Shan frowned, instinctively glancing towards Linxiao Hall.

Why, after so long, has that Emperor Zhengyong still not appeared?

Could he still be hiding something?

Or perhaps...

His pupils constricted, as if realizing something, immediately shouting, "That Emperor Zhengyong is making a breakthrough, as quickly as possible kill this woman, or we three will have to face two Foundation Establishment Cultivators!"

Du Fushan and Old Demon Feng both frowned at this point.

Three Foundation Establishment cultivators would surely overwhelm one Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Even if the opponent was a Celestial Spirit Root Cultivator.

But likewise, if the opponent wished to leave, they could do nothing about it.

However, at this moment, if the opponent gains another Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the victory scale would drastically tilt!

So, since it is like this...

The two glanced at each other, nodded slightly, and knew they had to resort to their backup plans.

"I’ll go first!"

Old Demon Feng shouted in a low voice, his hands swiftly forming seals. A tumultuous wind surged around him, and then he spat out a bizarre magical artifact resembling a short blade.

At the same time, the magical power around him surged, and an endless gust of wind began to appear out of thin air, madly converging toward the short blade in front of him.

Driven by the magical power and the fierce wind, the short blade began to emit a faint black glow.

A mighty wind aura gushed out from it.

Seeing this, Du Fushan and Hong Shan were filled with dread.

"That aura, it’s a spiritual artifact! Old Demon Feng actually has a spiritual artifact in his hands!"

"That aura is just like the one from Big Brother’s spiritual artifact, but unfortunately, Old Demon Feng’s artifact is a damaged piece, while Big Brother’s is a complete magical artifact!"

Hong Shan thought to himself, "The Great Yu Cultivation Realm has truly declined. A Foundation Establishment cultivator only has a damaged spiritual artifact, unlike us cultivators from Star Island..."

Just as these thoughts fell, Old Demon Feng shouted again and pushed his hands fiercely forward.

The next moment.

The short blade immediately emitted an incredibly brilliant light, and a terrifying wind emerged, coalescing into a black line that rushed toward Tuoba Qingying at extreme speed.

Almost instantly, it had already reached Tuoba Qingying.

"Pfft!"

With a soft sound, the Water Spirit Qi shield formed by the Cold Demon Pearl, which had withstood three people for a few minutes, was unexpectedly sliced open!

A huge gap appeared before the trio, revealing Tuoba Qingying within the shield!

Tuoba Qingying’s expression remained tranquil, and she was actually holding a... talisman?

"Talisman Treasure!!!"

The three immediately exclaimed, with Hong Shan’s face changing dramatically. He roared in urgency, "Celestial Spirit Root cultivators have abundant magical power and can use talisman treasures extremely quickly... Kill her now!"

In his hurry, he didn’t care about capturing her alive and directly shouted to kill Tuoba Qingying.

Du Fushan also didn’t hesitate, knowing that if Tuoba Qingying activated the talisman treasure,

regardless of its power, they might fall or get injured.

Without delay, he pointed a single hand at his forehead. The broken spearhead behind him trembled violently, then a "spear shaft" grew from it!

However, strangely, this spear shaft was not real but illusionary.

It was as if it had been drawn in imitation of the real thing.

Although it matched the spearhead, it was clearly not the original match.

But even so, the entire spear emitted an inexplicable aura.

Du Fushan’s hands quickly formed seals again, activating his magical power.

The spear trembled and then transformed into three nearly identical spears, charging at Tuoba Qingying from three directions with incredible speed using a Three Talents Formation.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft, pfft!"

Three consecutive piercing sounds suddenly rang out as the three spears followed the path cut by Old Demon Feng, appearing almost instantly in front of Tuoba Qingying and spinning wildly.

To their astonishment, a golden Phoenix Crown appeared above Tuoba Qingying’s head, emitting a faint golden light that enveloped her.

This golden Phoenix Crown was evidently a top-grade magical artifact!!!

Tuoba Qingying suddenly smiled, and the treasure in her hands burst into bright light, indicating that the talisman treasure was now fully charged and ready to activate at any moment.

Seeing her dazzling smile, Hong Shan inexplicably felt a shiver down his spine.

As if...

In the deep sea beneath Star Island, facing a Deep Sea Demon Beast exuding a Nascent Soul aura, he felt the same with numerous other cultivators.

Instinctively, he looked back.

He saw eleven distinct blue lights slowly rising from the ground at the junction of darkness and the morning star, extending toward the sky.

He looked up again.

Above them, at the peak of Celestial Longevity Mountain, the eleven blue lights were about to converge, forming a tower top.

As he gazed into the distance, he realized the entire Celestial Longevity Mountain had turned into a gigantic birdcage!

Hong Shan’s heart surged with rage and despair.

He glared at Du Fushan and Old Demon Feng, gritting his teeth, "You are truly useless...!"