Love & Redemption
Chapter 180 - 4 Hua Meng’s Abrupt Split 37 - Grand Assembly (IX)

Chapter 180: 4 Hua Meng’s Abrupt Split 37 Chapter Grand Assembly (IX)

"Stop!" Dongfang Qingqi shouted from the high platform, causing the Fuyu Island disciples to withdraw their swords. However, they still surrounded the group from the Xuanyuan Sect in the center, fearing any rash actions. He looked at the densely packed Xuanyuan Sect disciples in the martial arts arena and couldn’t help feeling shocked; he regretted relaxing the checkpoints later. But no matter how relaxed the guards had been, it shouldn’t have been possible for so many suspicious characters to appear all at once. Could there be an inside collaborator on the island?

"Master Zhushi, your Sect has arrived late and has not submitted the roster of disciples for the competition. I’m afraid there are no spots left for the Xuanyuan Sect in this Flower Pinning Conference," he said solemnly, without pointing out their collusion with demons.

Zhu Shi laughed and said, "How preposterous! The Flower Pinning Conference isn’t your private affair! How can you possibly exclude the Xuanyuan Sect from a grand meeting shared by the Five Great Sects?"

"Master Zhushi has misspoken one thing," a cold voice interrupted him. Everyone looked up to see Chu Lei with an expressionless face standing beside Dongfang Qingqi. "Oh? What might Sect Leader Chu’s esteemed opinion be?" Zhu Shi asked neither warmly nor coldly. Chu Lei said coldly, "It’s the Four Great Sects, not five. How could we ordinary Cultivation Sects dare to be listed alongside the esteemed Xuanyuan Sect as one of the Five Great Sects?" The meaning behind his words was clear even to a fool. Chu Lei never played games of pretense and his contempt was plain to see in his words. Master Zhushi’s face turned awkward, and with an embarrassed smile, he said, "It has been a long time since we met, Sect Leader Chu seems to have learned to joke. Ha ha! Ha ha!"

Chu Lei replied grimly, "It’s not a matter of joking, but this year’s Flower Pinning Conference does not have a slot for the Xuanyuan Sect, nor will it in the future! If you all wish to watch the competition, please feel free to do so. But if you intend to scheme and create trouble, the Four Sects will not be so forgiving!"

The arena fell into dead silence after he spoke. Xuanji, sensing the atmosphere turning sour, quickly turned to nudge Valley Master Rong, calling out, "Valley Master Rong! Wake up! The Xuanyuan Sect has come to make trouble!" After calling out twice without any response, Xuanji had no choice but to carry him on her back, and was about to jump down from the stone column platform when she heard someone calling her name from below, "Xuanji! Are you alright?" She looked down to find Yu Sifeng and the others, each flying up on their swords – Liu Yihuan was even more exaggerated, carrying Ting Nu along with his wheelchair on his shoulder, his feet balanced precariously on a thin iron sword, wobbling as he flew up.

As soon as Yu Sifeng landed on the platform, he immediately pulled her in front of him to check her wounds. Seeing that she had no serious injuries, he breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "That person is very powerful!" Linglong’s face was covered in tears as she lunged forward to hug her neck, shouting, "We were so worried down there! When we saw that person release that monster, we all wanted to come up and help you, but dad and Uncle Dongfang stopped us, saying the match wasn’t decided yet! With things the way they are, what does winning or losing matter? Are we supposed to just watch you get bullied?"

Shaking her head, Xuanji said softly, "No, dad did the right thing. Don’t interfere; you’ll get hurt! Even Tengshe can’t handle Taotie..." She looked back and saw Liu Yihuan and Ting Nu checking Tengshe’s wounds in front of him – the other injuries were trivial, but the arm that Taotie had bitten was severe. Upon rolling up the sleeve, the bone-deep wound was visible, and it was remarkable that Tengshe hadn’t made a single sound of pain.

"I said I’m fine!" Tengshe, annoyed with the fussing over his wound by the two, yanked his arm back, spilling more blood onto the ground. Ting Nu’s voice was stern as he said, "With such a wound, a Divine Beast would take three or four days to recover fully. But the situation on the island is not good right now. If you stubbornly refuse treatment, you will only hold Xuanji back later."

"Me?! Hold her back?!" Tengshe pointed to his own nose, exclaiming in outrage, "Who was holding whom back just now, huh?!"

Xuanji approached him and grabbed his arm, whispering, "Alright, stop yelling. Let me apply some medicine and bandage you up. Even if you say it’s nothing, the wound still hurts, doesn’t it?"

Tengshe, who was always more amenable to gentle persuasion than to force, seeing that she wasn’t arguing with him, was suddenly at a loss for words and awkwardly allowed her to treat him while muttering, "Told you it was nothing... really, what a fuss!"

Once Xuanji efficiently dressed his wound, she said, "The Xuanyuan Sect has come here with a plan to cause trouble. We can’t stay here; let’s take Valley Master Rong down first." After she finished, she saw Yu Sifeng staring blankly at the area below the platform, silent, and couldn’t help but ask, "Si Feng? What’s wrong?"

He turned and said, "No... I was looking for Master... he was sitting there just now, but now he’s gone."

Linglong said angrily, "What Master! The people from the Li Ze Palace are so bad, and you still call him Master? But speaking of which, who exactly is Hao Feng? He was clearly after Xuanji’s life! I will not forgive him!"

Shaking his head, Yu Sifeng said, "I don’t know who he is... I have never heard of him before." Hao Feng, Hao Feng... even though he claimed not to have heard the name, why did he feel, subconsciously, that it was very familiar? Who could it possibly be? He turned back to take one last glance; Hao Feng had already jumped off the platform and was slowly heading towards where the Li Ze Palace disciples were gathered.

He turned silently, lifting Valley Master Rong onto his back and said, "Let’s go down."

No sooner had he spoken than Master Zhushi suddenly burst into raucous laughter from below, the rough and grating sound like thousands of crows cawing. The laughter spread in waves, causing a slight ache in everyone’s chests. Chu Lei coldly asked, "What makes Master Zhushi laugh so?"

Master Zhushi laughed, and then suddenly declared, "Since that is the case, do not blame us for being impolite. We’ll force our way into the Flower Pinning Conference! Let’s see whether you other four sects are formidable or whether our Xuanyuan Sect is more powerful!"

Everyone was shocked to hear him say this, it was completely unexpected that the Xuanyuan Sect would dare to challenge the other four sects with its own strength alone. Such bold words sounded absurdly ridiculous these days. Master Zhushi shouted fiercely, "Formation! Li turns to Qian! Azure Dragon enters Vermilion Bird!" At the sound of his command, the black-clad disciples gathered in the martial arts arena immediately dispersed in an orderly manner, moving back and forth with their swords. Some in groups of three, some in groups of five, wandering to and fro, their movements unpredictable. From above, the numerous black dots seemed to move left and right, up and down in no discernible pattern.

Everyone knew this was the Xuanyuan Sect’s most formidable trump card. Their disciples might not excel in one-on-one combat compared to other sects, but the Xuanyuan Sect excelled in the strategic use of formations. Often a group of just a dozen or so disciples could form a sword array with infinite might. With hundreds of participants, it would constitute a Great Sword Formation with tremendous killing power. If one carelessly fell into the sword array, even with sky-reaching abilities, they would not be able to escape and would ultimately die from exhaustion, killed by the sword-wielding disciples. Currently, there were several hundred Xuanyuan Sect disciples mixed in on Fuyu Island. Once the sword formation was set, many impulsive Fuyu Island disciples were trapped and perished within it, and the encircling black-clad ring swiftly expanded. From above, the white-clad Fuyu Island disciples were inexplicably swept into this vast black circle and then vanished in an instant.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, Dongfang Qingqi shouted fiercely, "Do not approach the sword array! Retire! Fall back!" Thankfully, the greatest function of the sword array was defense rather than offense, and there would be no casualties as long as one kept their distance.

Master Zhushi sneered sinisterly, "You think we have no means if you do not attack?" He suddenly raised his right wrist, holding a bright red command flag, and shouted fiercely, "Xuanwu transforms into White Tiger! Heart Moon Fox transforms into Room Sun Rabbit!" At that, the formation abruptly changed. Countless black-clad men flew up from the ground, sword-controlling through the air, each holding a massive iron crossbow. The twanging sounds resounded, and in an instant, who knows how many refined steel crossbow arrows were shot out, spreading in all directions, filling the area with a continuous wail as countless people were struck by the arrows.

Seeing that several iron crossbows ascended to the stage, although weakened, they still sparkled sharply, clearly extremely sharp weapons. Immediately, several people lifted their swords and struck them down. Linglong picked up a few crossbow bolts and called out, "Sifeng, bring your slingshot! Let’s shoot back at them!"

Yu Sifeng, seeing that the bolt was as thick as half a wrist, shook his head and said, "That won’t work, the slingshot isn’t strong enough. An iron crossbow is needed." However, Linglong’s words reminded him, and he immediately took out iron marbles and shot them hard with the slingshot. He expected to hit at least a few people. Still, the formation was so elusive that before the marbles could hit, their positions had changed, and the marbles embedded themselves into the floor.

Linglong and the others also fiercely threw the crossbow arrows back, but to little effect. Suddenly, they heard Dongfang Qingqi shout, "Line up! Fire arrows!" From the wooden building came the sound of marching boots. The Fuyu Island disciples who had been arranged in advance lined up in a circle, pulling their bows taut with arrows. At the command, the sound of arrows tearing through the air was like that of fabric being ripped apart, and countless arrows rained down on the martial arts arena sword array, a formidable force that surely would pin down half of their number.

Only to hear Master Zhushi’s hoarse voice command, "Shake the Five Thunder Soldiers, Xun Wind Blows the Three Joys!" The sword formation suddenly converged together, and countless black-clad disciples soared into the sky, with sword lights and arrow lights twinkling everywhere. Amidst the clanging sounds, still, a dozen or so were pinned down, but most of the iron bolts were sliced apart by the sword array. Seeing that the arrow rain was ineffective against them, everyone could not help but feel astonished.

Zhu Shi Daoist chuckled menacingly, "I’ll leave you nowhere to hide! Horn Wood Jiao transforms into Kang Jinlong!" The sword array instantly split top from bottom, and countless men in black soared with their swords, drawing their iron crossbows once again. But this time, they didn’t load them with fine steel arrows, instead they fitted them with ignited rockets. Dongfang Qingqi inwardly cursed, and turning his head he yelled, "Quick, get away from here!" Before his words were complete, there was a swishing sound as countless fiery rockets whooshed toward them. However, they didn’t harm anyone and instead stuck to the wooden building. As soon as the wood met the fire, it was ignited, and after several volleys, the huge ring of wooden buildings immediately became fire towers. The flames blazed fiercely, burning those disciples from various sects who were slow to escape, who screamed in terror. Some soared with sword control to escape, while others, in their panic, leapt from the wooden building—only to be picked off one by one by the iron crossbows.

Daoist Zhu Shi laughed maniacally, "How about it? Do you remaining four sects admit defeat? Dongfang Island Master! Today, I will wipe out your Fuyu Island! None of the four sects will escape!"

Just as Dongfang Qingqi was about to reply, a loud "sizzle" sound came from overhead, and a blood-red firework slowly rose, its lurid color like a raw, bleeding streak across the sky. His face turned pale, and he exclaimed, "The main gate has been breached!"

Chaotic noises could be heard coming from the direction of the main gate where a dense crowd of men in black, like an incoming tide, had broken through the defenses and were rushing inside. Faced with such an unexpected and violent turn of events, Dongfang Qingqi was almost speechless. Chu Lei said in a deep voice, "Elders, divide and act separately for each of the four sects! People of Shaoyang Sect, intercept the enemies at the main gate. Brother Qingqi, you are familiar with the terrain of Fuyu Island, take the injured disciples to a safe place! And I ask the elders from Dianjing Valley to stay nearby to take out any stray demons. This sword array is too powerful to be directly confronted!"

Everyone was shaken by the sudden change, but seeing him giving orders so calmly and methodically, they all nodded and agreed. Chu Lei added, "Please inform the two Palace Masters of Li Ze Palace to notify the three sects that Fuyu Island is in trouble!" It turned out that most of the people who came to the island were contestants, and it was not possible to bring the entire sect with them. The elite and older disciples mostly remained behind to guard their own sects. Asking them to go and report was actually a request for reinforcements.

However, when he repeated his message, nobody from Li Ze Palace responded. When he turned to look, he saw that the people of Li Ze Palace were all gathered to one side, motionless, and the whereabouts of the two Palace Masters were unknown. Chu Lei asked incredulously, "Where are your Palace Masters?!" None of them answered him, and the Li Ze Palace disciples acted as if they hadn’t heard him at all.

In such an urgent situation, there was no time to attend to the bizarre behavior of the Li Ze Palace disciples, and they had to abandon the request for reinforcements. They distributed their numbers and fulfilled their duties. Suddenly, Daoist Zhu Shi burst into laughter, "A bunch of rats! Now you will know what true power is!"

No sooner had he spoken than there were several "bang bang" noises. Numerous fireworks shot up from the sword array into the sky, followed by a spreading haze of blue smoke. Before they could understand the meaning of this, they felt a violent shake underfoot, causing everyone, even Chu Lei, to stumble, nearly falling to the ground. What followed was an even more intense trembling from the ground, as if a giant hand gripped the island, shaking it violently in all directions. Even those standing on the stone pillars of the arena were unable to keep their balance. Linglong stumbled and fell, but Zhong Minyan quickly caught her. The huge sword array on the martial arts ground was also disrupted by the powerful shaking. From all directions came deafening roars, a wild wind whisked up dust and debris into a furious torrent, and the air currents were so chaotic it felt as though they were about to be blown away.

In a desperate voice, someone shouted, "Explosives! They’ve buried explosives on the island!" (To be continued. If you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, where there are more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)