Chapter 92: The Seven Sects Form an Alliance

Because of Ji Yao’s cooperation with the sect’s people, and the blood-soaked advance that had cut a path forward and annihilated five tier-three demonic beasts in the blink of an eye, the effect on these monsters, which largely acted on instinct, was unmistakable. It was a formidable show of force.

The Azure Cloud Sect’s team kept the formation of a sword array and pressed steadily toward the Spirit Talisman Sect. Their advance was crisp and efficient, streams of sword light scattering in all directions to reap the beasts that drew near.

The formation was divided into six inner and outer layers. The middle two layers, including Ji Yao as an outsider, numbered eleven in all and were mainly responsible for dealing with attacks from tier-three beasts. The four outer layers were arranged in pairs, alternating the release of sword qi.

Each layer had roughly fifty-odd people. In each pair, one layer focused on the main assault while the other finished off the wounded, alternating three times to complete one round.

As one round neared its end, the front layer, after releasing its sword qi, would swiftly retreat to the fourth layer, while the three layers behind it advanced in order, allowing the second group to take over seamlessly.

The Azure Cloud Sect’s entire formation pushed forward in a cone, ensuring that each person had time to recover while also blocking the beasts’ assaults in the simplest and most effective way possible.

When a sword cultivator’s offensive power was fully unleashed, it always dazzled. When hundreds of sword cultivators moved together, it was nothing short of a thunderous spectacle, no less magnificent than the dazzling techniques of spell cultivators.

What everyone on the scene could see was a team of flashing swords cutting rapidly through the beast horde, the wails of the beasts mingling with severed limbs and blood spraying like rain. It was as though they had once again witnessed Asura descending into the mortal world.

Swallowing hard, everyone arrived at the same astonishing conclusion: these sword cultivators really were a bunch of lunatics.

No other style of attack was as simple, direct, effective, and free of spirit stone consumption as the sword cultivator’s, and the pure sword cultivators of the Azure Cloud Sect were among the very best of them.

What was more, this time the team also came from the Law Enforcement Hall, where discipline was absolute. Though they were all merely qi refining stage young sword cultivators, the might of sword cultivation, embodied by so many people at once, served as a superb endorsement.

For a moment, people’s attention shifted away from Ji Yao, the talisman cultivator who had slipped into the sword cultivators’ ranks.

Seeing the Azure Cloud Sect’s team joining up with the Spirit Talisman Sect in a sweeping advance, everyone could not help but wonder if that earlier woman had been sent by the Spirit Talisman Sect to discuss cooperation with the Azure Cloud Sect.

Yet the Azure Cloud Sect’s reaction did not seem like that. Besides, the Spirit Talisman Sect had never seen a qi refining disciple capable of unleashing talismans with the force and bearing of a sword cultivator. So in the end, perhaps it was truly an oddity that had slipped into the sword cultivators’ ranks.

Ji Yao did not know, and did not care, how others viewed her. Even if she had known, she would have been too lazy to explain. After all, in the Azure Cloud Sect, she was indeed not a cultivator who specialized in the sword.

Let them think what they liked. As long as she understood herself, and as long as it suited her style and felt satisfying to use, that was enough.

Communication with the Spirit Talisman Sect went very smoothly, though no one apart from the few directly involved knew exactly what the Azure Cloud Sect girl had discussed with them. In any case, the Azure Cloud Sect and the Spirit Talisman Sect reached a happy cooperation.

Not only were the Spirit Talisman Sect disciples beaming, even the Azure Cloud Sect sword cultivators let out a breath of relief.

Yun Fei, who had all along stood like a backdrop with a stern face, intending to lend Ji Yao support, very much wanted to smile, but feared losing his gravitas if anyone saw him. His expression was therefore rather stiff.

He had not expected that this junior sister Ji, though so young, would be so adept at borrowing momentum. By invoking the name of the Azure Cloud Sect’s Heavenly Law Peak and Reverend Suwen, she had set out her own identity and dispelled some people’s contemptuous thoughts toward the commotion.

Added to that was the earlier display of intimidation, and then the temptation of tremendously powerful talismans. With just a few words, she had convinced the Spirit Talisman Sect to agree to cooperate, while he himself had only needed to nod at the right moments from the side.

Yun Fei understood Ji Yao’s intentions. The Spirit Talisman Sect was merely the easiest ally to secure at present. Her next target should be the Medicine Immortal Valley, no, rather the already cooperating Medicine Immortal Valley and the Mysterious Mechanism Sect.

Sure enough, in the time that followed, the team expanded once more. The four sects joined forces. Although most of the Azure Cloud Sect cultivators still remained on the outermost edge of the formation, everyone could clearly feel the pressure easing.

Ji Yao smiled inwardly. With the issues of patching holes, filling gaps, and providing logistical support resolved, the pure sword cultivators, freed of pressure and restraint, became nothing but sword-crazed maniacs.

After that, Ji Yao did not take part much further. Those who had come to deal with this matter were all clever people, and the four sects unanimously decided to press a little deeper toward the center.

Once the four sects united, their complementary strengths allowed the team to drive forward like a crushing wave, quickly drawing much closer to the central region.

By then, the Nine Buddha Temple and the Ancient Moon Sect no longer needed any special urging to join them. Seeing the speed at which the four-sect formation advanced, these two simply followed in their wake, leaving only the Azure Sun Sect still hesitating.

Even a blind man could tell from the scene that, if there were no rift between the Azure Sun Sect and the Azure Cloud Sect, how could that be possible? Yet if one were asked exactly when and over what matter the two sects had become opposed, no one could give a clear answer.

As for sealing the breach, the matter would ultimately still have to be led by the Mysterious Mechanism Sect and the Spirit Talisman Sect. It concerned the distribution of benefits and the number of places allotted for future expeditions into the secret realm.

If the Azure Sun Sect still insisted on maintaining its pride and face and refused to contribute, it would not merely offend those two great sects; being ostracized by the others would be inevitable.

The six major sects pressed onward with some remaining strength until the towering pillar of light at the center, hanging downward like an inverted waterfall, could be seen clearly. Only then did the Azure Sun Sect’s team catch up, exhausted and in disarray.

The beasts acted on instinct, always targeting the weak first. Once the main force gathered together, the more than two hundred members of the Azure Sun Sect naturally became the target of the other beasts. No matter how strong one’s individual combat power might be, even an elephant could be gnawed to death by ants if there were enough of them.

By the time one day was almost over, the sky had darkened, and the encirclement of the beasts had grown weary as well. If not for the nine peak tier-three beasts standing guard ahead, Ji Yao would have suspected that these tier-two beasts had already scattered in all directions.

Though the Mysterious Mechanism Sect cultivators could set up formations, their cultivation was still insufficient. The ability to casually deploy formations with formation pieces or formation bases could only be mastered after at least the Foundation Establishment stage, so for now they still relied on formation discs.

The seven sects could only organize their own defenses. Fortunately, the surrounding beasts were merely blocking them and not pressing the attack. The nerves everyone had strained all day were finally able to rest a little, and they seized the time to meditate and recover.

At the hour of midnight, a roar echoed from the pillar of light at the center, causing the besieging beasts to stir once more with renewed vigor.

The hearts of the seven sects’ members gave a jolt. That sound meant that new tier-three beasts had appeared.

Everyone stopped cultivating at once, guarding themselves as they held their breath and watched the direction of the pillar of light. Within it, beast after beast slowly emerged, and at last four flying creatures appeared together.

Ji Yao heard a succession of gasps rise around her, because those four flying creatures were actually four tier-three qudiao. At the first glance, even Ji Yao’s pupils contracted.

Even the tier-three land beasts were already difficult to deal with, let alone four carnivorous flying beasts that delighted in human flesh.

According to the information Yun Fei had provided, the number of beasts that had emerged this time had increased yet again. Eight had appeared all at once. Added to the nine already present, there were now a full seventeen tier-three beasts in this one region alone.

The bloodthirsty ferocity in the beasts’ eyes looked especially eerie in the dark forest at night.

Cultivators and beasts stood in mutual confrontation. The four qudiao circled overhead, and the sound of their beating wings pressed upon everyone’s hearts like a death knell.

A fierce battle was about to erupt.