The spiritual energy within “Profound Visionlost Swamp” was in extreme disarray.
Feng Yudie and the others not only had their vision obstructed, but they also couldn’t match the strength of Zhuang Hu and his group when it came to spiritual sense. They were currently at a disadvantage.
Surrounded in this environment, if they couldn’t find a way to break out or fly into the sky, they would sooner or later be worn down to exhaustion by those few individuals.
Within the tan, the sound of ironworking was unceasing.
Feng Yudie and Pei Lengxue now wore anxious expressions, and their foreheads were covered in sweat.
They had no idea from which direction those people would attack next.
While constantly fending off the attacks from the Foundation Establishment cultivators, they also had to protect Xiao Yunluo, greatly increasing their physical exertion.
Not far away on a high ground, Ye Anping, who was sitting cross-legged with closed eyes, observed them with his spiritual sense. Despite his calm demeanor, he was secretly anxious.
As for why he was anxious for himself?
He hadn’t expected Xiao Yunluo to be by the side of Feng Yudie and her junior sister.
After all, Xiao Yunluo was the only daughter of the Moon Dan Master, and she had personal protective spells placed on her.
Once the protective spell was activated, the Moon Dan Master would immediately sense it and rush over.
At that time, the elderly lady would likely give him and his “big brothers” a kick without a second thought, likely causing their heads to explode.
Ye Anping swallowed nervously and quickly took out a cylindrical iron whistle from his storage bag, biting it between his teeth.
—He was preparing to assist.
However, before he blew the whistle, something seemed to be happening over with Feng Yudie.
… …
Swish—
The sound of blades entering flesh resonated, accompanied by splattering blood.
Just as “Fifth Brother” aimed his long sword at Xiao Yunluo, Feng Yudie, who had been using her sword to parry, suddenly changed her approach. This time, she actively used her body to block the sword strike.
The collision between flesh and sharp weapon caused her left shoulder to be pierced by the man’s sword.
Caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events, the person who thrust the sword momentarily lost his focus.
But Feng Yudie seized this moment of distraction.
Gritting her teeth, she endured the intense pain in her left shoulder. She extended her hand, grabbing hold of his sword blade with one hand and his wrist with the other, all while alerting Pei Lengxue:
“Junior Sister Pei!”
With a single word, Pei Lengxue reacted instantly, swiftly arriving at the side of “Fifth Brother.”
Crack—
A cold gleam flashed, and in an instant, “Fifth Brother” was decapitated.
In the next moment, from another direction, “Fourth Brother” perceived this scene and couldn’t help but cry out, “Fifth Brother!!”
However, this uncontrollable cry exposed his position.
Upon hearing it, Feng Yudie immediately let go of the sword in her right hand, raised her hand with a sword-finger gesture, and directed her spiritual energy to form a sword. The sword transformed into an arrow and flew in the direction of the voice.
Swish—
“Fourth Brother” hadn’t expected that a single cry would give away his position. He didn’t even have time to use spiritual energy to defend himself before Feng Yudie’s flying sword pierced through his abdomen.
Cough—
Sensing the hit, Feng Yudie flipped her hand, pointing her finger upwards.
Her spiritual sword spun in mid-air, making a swift rotation. Then, with a single upward sweep, it cleaved the other person in half.
“Now’s the time! Let’s go!”
Feng Yudie gritted her teeth and pulled the sword embedded in her shoulder out. She then grabbed Xiao Yunluo’s hand and led her charging towards the direction where the voice had come from.
“Junior Sister Pei, follow us! There’s no one here anymore!”
During the previous skirmishes, Feng Yudie had deduced that there were a total of four attackers, each hiding in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast directions.
With two of them dead now, the encirclement had been broken in half.
Feng Yudie’s only regret was that the two killed were the Foundation Establishment cultivators at the early stage. If she could have taken down a middle-stage cultivator, they might have a chance to break free.
“Tsk…”
Feng Yudie clicked her tongue, frustration evident. “Foundation Establishment cultivators like you are going to such lengths to deal with three Qi Refining cultivators like us? Do you have too much money and nothing else to spend it on?”
“Heh heh, young friend. If you weren’t worth so much, I wouldn’t have prepared such a formation…” The voice of the man echoed from all directions, causing Feng Yudie’s eyebrows to twitch.
At this moment, Xiaotian also emerged from her mind. It glanced at the red column of light that shot into the sky from the ground and immediately took out the Heavenly Dao Scriptures, flipping it open.
『Yudie, that’s the Seven Star Entrapment Formation. It can trap enemies and consume their spiritual energy. Breaking the main eye will break the entire formation.』
“… Where’s the main eye?!”
『This formation has four possible main eye locations: ‘Tian Xuan,’ ‘Tian Shu,’ ‘Kai Yang,’ and ‘Yao Guang.’』
Reading from the Heavenly Dao Scriptures, Xiaotian relayed the information.
Simultaneously, Xiao Yunluo recognized the name of the formation and repeated what Xiaotian had said, “The main eyes can be set at Tian Xuan, Tian Shu, Kai Yang, and Yao Guang! I’ve seen this formation before!”
“Four positions?!”
Feng Yudie clenched her teeth. These four positions were located in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast directions within the formation. They didn’t have time to check each position one by one using trial and error. Even if they relied on luck, the one-in-four chance wasn’t very high.
“Let’s split up. I’ll go to the east and south, while you and Junior Sister Xiao handle the two eyes to the west and north.” Pei Lengxue quickly suggested, “Once the formation is broken, you two continue heading north. I’ll catch up with you.”
“Splitting up will only make us easier targets to be picked off one by one. Besides, my left hand is immobilized now, and I can’t protect Junior Sister Xiao alone.”
“… …”
Hearing this, Xiao Yunluo lowered her head. She felt a sense of self-blame. Not only had she lost her sword earlier, but now she was also burdening these two.
After a moment’s contemplation, Feng Yudie said, “Let’s go together and search one by one in the order of southwest, northwest, northeast, and southeast. If we’re lucky, we might be able to break the formation directly.”
Saying this, she lifted Xiao Yunluo and headed west.
However, just as the three were about to set off, a few bird calls sounded from the woods.
Chirp chirp~~ Chirp chirp chirp~~
The calls sounded like those of a nightingale.
Hearing it, Pei Lengxue hesitated and quickly halted her steps, signaling the two in front to stop as well. She listened intently.
“Wait a moment!!”
“Huh?!” Feng Yudie turned her head in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t speak!”
In the next instant, the repeated bird calls resounded in the woods.
Chirp chirp~~ Chirp chirp chirp~~
Being in a forest, such bird calls sounded entirely natural, and Feng Yudie hadn’t paid them much attention. But as soon as Pei Lengxue heard the second call, she realized what it was.
—Senior Brother is here!
It wasn’t the call of a bird; it was an imitation created by her Senior Brother’s iron whistle.
“One short, one long; two short, one long,” Pei Lengxue murmured. “The main eye is at the ‘Kai Yang’ position, to the north! Let’s go!”
“Huh?!”
Feng Yudie looked puzzled, but seeing Pei Lengxue sprinting towards the “Kai Yang” direction, she didn’t hesitate and quickly hoisted Xiao Yunluo, following after.
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