Outside the ancestral hall of the Huan family, the survivors, having barely carved a bloody path, watched the disheveled old man perform a secret art passed down by the late Lord Huan. Using twin bowls filled with the blood of Huan’s descendants, he chanted, then slumped to the ground, utterly dejected, muttering, “Why? Why did it come to this? It shouldn’t be like this…”

The Huan siblings, bathed in blood, their faces ashen, stood nearby. The young Daoist’s lips trembled. “Those fiends… they used some insidious trick, draining the spiritual energy from the stone lions long ago.”

Tao Xieyang slumped onto the ground, using his blade as a crutch.

The old Daoist turned towards the training grounds, where a sea of clouds churned. Beneath sinking mountains, fist-winds met the enemy, while above, sword lights crisscrossed the sky.

A faint glimmer of hope ignited within the old man. Struggling to his feet, he addressed the four young people, “You four must leave Eagle Fortress immediately. You escorted me here earlier; now it’s my turn to protect you children. Think of it as preserving the bloodline of the Huan family. Do not hesitate! Leave this place at once, and travel as far as you can. Never think of revenge!”

Tao Xieyang showed no sign of moving. He gazed up at the Huan woman he had admired for so long, his voice hoarse, “Huan Shu, you and Huan Chang go. I’m staying here. After wandering the land for so many years, I’m a little weary. I won’t be going anywhere today.”

The young Daoist was about to speak, but Tao Xieyang shook his head. “Huang Shang, don’t try to dissuade me. My mind is made up!”

The old Daoist sighed. Leading his disciple and the Huan siblings, he charged towards the nearest gate, the north gate of Eagle Fortress.

Tao Xieyang sat cross-legged, facing the ancestral hall, and began to wipe his long blade with his sleeve.

Huang Shang ran alongside his master, his vision blurring, never daring to look back at the young martial artist.

Huan Shu suddenly turned, gazing at the forlorn figure of the familiar man. Her heart ached with a thousand unspoken words, which vanished on the tip of her tongue.

In the face of life and death, true feelings are revealed.

Her brother tugged her away, and she didn’t linger.

Tao Xieyang lowered his head, staring at the reflection of his face in the gleaming blade. He tugged at the corner of his mouth. He still didn’t like it.

The instant the ghost infant was pierced through the heart by Lu Tai’s bamboo fan, a wail echoed from the main hall. Above the black sea of clouds, regardless of the two flying swords still darting about, the high-crowned elder reappeared, his face a mask of rage. His entire being trembled with fury, so much so that his Five Peaks Crown swayed precariously. The sea of clouds, already engulfing the rooftops, roiled like boiling water.

The old man roared towards the main hall, “Useless! Utterly useless! What good are you?!”

The high-crowned elder clenched a fist.

Inside the hall, the horsetail whisk-wielding man, struggling against the two flying swords, had been controlled by the old man since his earliest days of cultivation, through a secret master’s technique. Now, his heart exploded without warning. He was instantly annihilated, his flesh and bone separated, all his blood extracted cleanly, transforming into a massive, scarlet sphere. At any cost, it slammed outward. The explosion of a Sea-Gazing Realm’s Qi ocean was enough to shatter the talisman formation that Lu Tai had usurped. The formation tottered, on the verge of collapse. As the blood spewed forth, like homing birds, it surged towards the old man in the clouds outside.

Lu Tai frowned. He recalled his needle-sharp flying swords, lest they be tainted by the foul blood. Cleansing it wouldn’t be as simple as expending rare treasures. He stopped channeling spiritual energy into the talisman formation. The blood flowed like a stream, stretching into a slender river, from the hall, reaching the high-crowned elder above the clouds, and surging into the old man’s palm.

The old man drank it like a starving man devouring a feast. His eyes blazed with crimson light. He waved his sleeves, and two torrents of scarlet Qi surged from them. A violent gale arose. The swords “Fifteenth” and “First,” and “Needlepoint” and “Wheat-awn” scattered across the sea of clouds.

The high-crowned elder’s face was twisted in fury. He looked down at the Central Mountain, which had yet to touch the ground, and roared, “Futile struggles! I was going to slowly extract your essence, but now that you’ve ruined everything, I won’t be so lenient! Die!”

Lu Tai had arrived on the viewing platform of Eagle Fortress’s main building. Guiding the two flying swords towards the cloud-sea elder, he laughed heartily, “Old thief! My Tranquility Mountain has waited long for this day!”

The old man’s face stiffened, then he laughed maniacally. “Even if I die here today, I’ll take two geniuses from Tranquility Mountain with me!”

The old man frantically waved his sleeves, desperately blocking the assassination attempts of “First,” “Fifteenth,” “Needlepoint,” and “Wheat-awn.” With one hand, he formed a fist and smashed downwards with immense force. “Little bastard, why won’t you die?!”

Lu Tai’s expression changed slightly. He muttered “Rise!” A colorful ribbon flashed from the high platform, working in concert with the demon-binding cord, which resembled a golden dragon coiling around the mountain peak, to lift the mountain. They absolutely could not allow the Central Mountain to merge with the other four mountains rooted in the earth. If the Five Mountains formed a formation, even a sixth-realm physique like Chen Ping’an would be crushed into a puddle of flesh.

Lu Tai roared, “Rise, I say!”

The mountain rose a few feet.

“Who doesn’t know how to fight desperately?!” The high-crowned elder, known for his ruthless nature, laughed wildly and stood up. He stowed the prayer mat, and his lower body immediately began to decay like withered wood, constantly shedding ashes. He ignored it all, and landed on the Central Mountain. His feet touching the summit, he slammed down, successfully pinning the mountain to the ground despite the constraints of the five-colored sash and the golden demon-binding cord!

When the Central Mountain landed, the entire Eagle Fortress shuddered, and even the mountains outside the fortress began to crack.

The golden demon-binding cord slid down the mountain and fell to the ground. The high-crowned elder laughed and grabbed the cord.

With the Five Mountains aligned, the formation was complete. On the high platform, Lu Tai coughed up blood, stumbling forward. He barely managed to grab the railing. His fingers twitched as he spoke with difficulty, “Return…”

The five-colored sash, which had been binding the Central Mountain, lost its brilliant luster and began to revert to its original form, flying back towards the main building. The old man’s eyes lit up. He reached out again, grabbing the sash. Having just obtained the demon-binding cord, he now acquired the sash, which was undoubtedly a magical treasure. Heaven never cuts off all hope. Although he had suffered a great loss, at least it wasn’t a complete loss.

The old man sat cross-legged again, and the prayer mat reappeared. After this battle, the spiritual energy of the Five Peaks Crown had thinned considerably.
Above the sea of clouds, only the two flying swords of the sword cultivator in the main building, one large and one small, were still struggling. The old man in the tall hat had been secretly observing the two miniature flying swords. After successfully crushing the golden-robed youth at Middle Peak, the flying swords plummeted to the ground, landing in two distant alleys, likely destroyed. A true pity.

Having avenged his great hatred today, the old man felt a surge of satisfaction. Firstly, he could no longer sustain the Five Peaks True Form Array. Secondly, he needed to quickly strip the golden Dharma robe from the youth’s corpse and leave Flying Eagle Fortress to avoid being intercepted and killed by the talisman-wielding sect or the old turtles of Taiping Mountain, lest he become a fugitive like he once was.

Now that things had come to this, no Golden Core or Nascent Soul ancestor from Taiping Mountain had intervened. It seemed the two pups who were killed and injured had been too arrogant, giving him a chance to escape. However, those two young men were definitely the most outstanding direct disciples of Taiping Mountain, perhaps even favored pupils of the Mountain Lord himself, to dare flaunt their treasures so openly.

If he hadn’t already forged an irreconcilable feud with Taiping Mountain, he would have avoided their sharp edges long ago.

The old man in the tall hat silently recited the “mountain收shōu” incantation. The five mountain peaks instantly rose from the ground, shrinking in size until they finally returned to the Five Peaks Crown.

While waving his sleeves to control the sea of clouds, blocking Lu Tai’s Needlepoint and Wheatgrass flying swords, the old man sat cross-legged on his futon, descending towards the training grounds with a smile.

On the ground lay a patch of bright gold, like a golden garment carelessly dropped from a bamboo pole, spread across the surface.

Although the Dharma treasure was within easy reach, the old man’s expression changed drastically. He clapped his hands in the void, sending himself and the futon soaring into the sky. After a series of battles and with the depletion of the old man’s spiritual energy, the black sea of clouds, now only a tenth of its former size, surged towards him frantically.

The golden patch on the training grounds leaped up from the crater, just large enough for a person to lie down in, and shouted, “Lu Tai, lend me Needlepoint!”

Lu Tai showed no surprise. With a thought, the giant flying sword Needlepoint appeared beneath Chen Pingan’s feet.

From the previous “fall” of the First and Fifteenth swords, Lu Tai had already noticed clues. Chen Pingan had said they were natal flying swords, but not objects of his life. Therefore, if Chen Pingan had truly died, the First and Fifteenth would have fought even more desperately. Only if Chen Pingan feigned death would they deliberately act.

Later, the Demon Binding Cord also “played dead,” and Lu Tai had to struggle to keep from laughing.

Following suit, Lu Tai, inspired, deliberately lost control of the Five-Colored Belt, allowing the old man in the tall hat to take it.

The old man moved extremely quickly, but the First and Fifteenth swords, which had been hidden nearby, were even faster.

One on the left, one on the right, they instantly pierced the futon, slightly halting the old man’s escape.

Lu Tai’s flying sword Wheatgrass also blocked him from above.

Most importantly, Lu Tai’s Five-Colored Belt and Chen Pingan’s Golden Demon Binding Cord came back to life, binding the old man’s arms like two pythons coiling around a human body.

And Chen Pingan, standing on the flying sword Needlepoint, soared after the old man in the tall hat and the sea of clouds.

Flying on a sword for distant travel!

Although he had used Lu Tai’s ribbons to delay time under the suppression of the mountain peaks, and Chen Pingan had accurately calculated the largest pothole, splitting the ground with his foot before punching, forcibly creating a crater to lie in, allowing him to escape the fate of being crushed to pieces. However, being pressed down by the immense energy of the Five Peaks Array, as if trapped inside a sealed coffin, was not comfortable for Chen Pingan. Several of his ribs were already broken. If he hadn’t been used to this kind of situation from the bamboo building, he would have been forced to watch the old man in the tall hat leave.

Before stepping on the sword to “ascend,” Chen Pingan had used the sword master’s method of controlling swords to hold the long sword “Infatuation” in his palm.

With the colored ribbons and the Demon Binding Cord binding the old man’s arms, and the ability of the two items to break through the cloud cover and accurately guide the three flying swords to pierce the futon, Chen Pingan, who was riding a sword for the first time, quickly caught up with the old man and slashed at the back of his head.

The old man desperately wrapped himself in the sea of clouds and accelerated forward, barely dodging the sword, but the flowing sword energy still left a bloody gash on the old man’s head.

On the Upper Sun Terrace, Lu Tai gritted his teeth and spoke the word “Bloom” again. His green robe fluttered as he chased after the wind.

His speed surpassed even the flying sword Needlepoint.

Lu Tai drew an arc in the air, and in a dozen blinks of an eye, he quickly intercepted the Dragon Gate Realm old man in the tall hat.

Having suffered greatly, the old man dared not force his way through and instead turned to bypass him, only to be pierced through the heart by the golden-robed youth, whose two sword strikes were slightly slower!

Moreover, this sword was extremely strange.

Vitality and spiritual energy suddenly drained away, absorbed by the long sword that had pierced through him.

The old man stopped, and the sea of clouds beneath the futon hovered in place.

He looked down at the tip of the sword and smiled miserably.

The one who took his life was not those four natal flying swords.

The one who helped this long sword take his life was just a one-inch talisman that he had looked down upon.

Why are these little guys from Sect-level Immortal Families more cunning than us rogue cultivators?

Chen Pingan wanted to take advantage of the victory and launch another punch to break the old man’s skull to be absolutely safe. However, Lu Tai almost roared in his mind to remind Chen Pingan to use the flying sword Needlepoint to retreat as far as possible.

The old man adjusted the crooked Five Peaks Crown on his head, not bothering to pull out the “Infatuation” that had pierced his heart, and looked at Lu Tai with a sinister smile.

His hands were still tightly bound by the two sword treasures, trying to limit the old man’s spiritual energy flow.

The futon was already in tatters, with dozens of holes pierced by the three flying swords, leaking air everywhere.

Lu Tai stood opposite the old man in the tall hat, still shaken. At the time, he had deliberately claimed to be a cultivator from Taiping Mountain to scare off this old guy. Who would have thought that upon hearing the name Taiping Mountain, he would bite like a mad dog? Chen Pingan’s situation at the time was truly hanging by a thread.

Lu Tai calmed his mind and said calmly, “We are not actually cultivators from Taiping Mountain.”

The old man twitched the corner of his mouth, forcing a smile. “This old man realized just now that Taiping Mountain could not have produced two such youngsters.”

The surrounding sea of clouds gradually dissipated, returning to heaven and earth without success.

The battles of immortals always take place in the sky.
But alas, joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, are all too common in this mortal realm.

Within the main hall of Flying Eagle Fortress, the atmosphere was tense and unsettling.

Fortress Lord Huan Yang was now able to move freely, yet he didn’t spare a single glance at the woman’s corpse resting on a chair beside him.

The old steward, He Ya, cast a complicated glance at the Fortress Lord’s wife, a flicker of pity in his eyes. He hesitated, wanting to speak, but Huan Yang silenced him with a cold, sharp glare.

Huan Yang gripped the chair armrest with one hand, his voice heavy as he declared, “Let no one here today utter a single word about what transpired in this hall. Should anyone dare to leak even a syllable, not only will they face the full force of the family laws, but their entire lineage will suffer. Their limbs will be broken, and they will be cast out from Flying Eagle Fortress!”

Huan Yang didn’t turn his head, merely pointed a finger casually at the chair beside him. “The Lady, due to years of toil and strain, succumbed to a grave illness…”

He paused slightly, then continued coldly, “Her memorial tablet shall not be placed in my Huan family ancestral hall! She shall not be buried in…”

The gathered crowd held their breath, not daring to question him in the slightest.

The old scholar, He Ya, could finally bear it no longer. He stepped forward, interrupting Huan Yang’s final words, and said with sorrow, “Fortress Lord, the Lady may have erred, but I beseech you, consider the years she spent as a dutiful wife and mother, managing the affairs of this household. Allow her to be buried on the back mountain! Fortress Lord, I, He Ya, beg you…”

By the end, the old steward who had dedicated his life to Flying Eagle Fortress, the teacher who had enlightened generations of children, was weeping uncontrollably.

Huan Yang erupted in rage, slamming his hand down on the chair armrest, shattering the entire chair in an instant. His face was grim, and after a moment of contemplation, he snorted coldly, “This matter will be discussed later!”

Huan Yang, usually so amiable and kind, now resembled a starving eagle, his gaze sweeping across the hall, causing everyone’s scalps to tingle. No one dared to meet his eyes, all lowering their heads in submission.

“Whether Flying Eagle Fortress can survive is still uncertain. You are all to remain here for the time being. Should anyone dare to leave these gates without permission, He Ya, kill them!”

With these words, Huan Yang left the hall alone, ascending the stairs and finally reaching the place his father had named “Shangyang Terrace,” a place even he didn’t know why his father had chosen that name. The man, who had never before been so ruthless, gazed into the distance, trying to foresee the outcome of the great battle. Alas, his martial cultivation was mediocre, his eyesight limited, and he could discern nothing, only the faint sight of scattered clouds and crisscrossing sword lights.

Huan Yang lowered his voice, gritting his teeth as he muttered, “If that demon spawn is born and truly possesses the power they say, and Flying Eagle Fortress can gain complete control of it, all the better!”

The old Daoist led the three youngsters safely away from Flying Eagle Fortress, heading deep into the northern mountains. Their escape was so smooth it bordered on the unbelievable. Aside from a few scattered malicious spirits causing minor disturbances, they encountered no major obstacles.

Not only the three young people, who felt like they had been granted a second life, but even the old Daoist himself found it hard to believe.

For a moment, all four of them felt as if they had been transported to another world.

Standing atop a mountain slope, Huan Chang suddenly declared, “I must return.”

The slovenly old man nodded inwardly. To have such thoughts, regardless of their naiveté, meant that there was still hope for revitalizing the Huan family in the future.

If he had only seen a desperate flight for survival, the old man wouldn’t have looked down upon the girl, Huan Shu, but he would have held the eldest grandson of the Huan brothers in contempt.

The inky black sea of clouds had dissipated, and although it was still too early to say that Flying Eagle Fortress was out of danger, it was at least a good sign.

The old Daoist looked up, roughly assessing the situation with his sect’s methods. The dense Yin energy within Flying Eagle Fortress had almost completely dissipated.

Thus, he tried to dissuade Huan Chang, “Don’t be hasty. The tide seems to have turned in our favor. You must not cause any complications at this juncture.”

Huan Chang clenched the hilt of his saber, the veins on the back of his hand popping out as he said in a muffled voice, “My parents are still in peril, yet I, as their son, must stand by and watch? I am no son of man!”

The old man chuckled, not impatient, but patiently explaining, “A meaningless sacrifice is not true courage. Huan Chang, you must become a man like your grandfather. Only when there is truly no way to retreat, when righteousness calls, should you commit that act of splitting the Spirit Official statue in two with a single strike! Even we, secluded cultivators in the mountains, were amazed and hailed him as a hero. That kind of courage and spirit is not mere recklessness, not throwing your life away for nothing.”

Huan Chang nodded silently.

This young warrior, on whom his family had placed such high hopes, was not the type to dwell on things obsessively. If he were narrow-minded, as the next Fortress Lord of Flying Eagle Fortress, he would never have tolerated the rise of the outsider Tao Xieyang within the fortress.

Huan Shu gently tugged on Huan Chang’s sleeve.

Huan Chang looked up and smiled, “I’m alright. Don’t worry.”

The old man was somewhat gratified.

Only with such spirit, could the Jianghu truly be flavorful.

The young Daoist, Huang Shang, murmured, “Master, can those two outsiders really slay that fiend in the heavens?”

The old Daoist didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and sighed, “To be able to set up such a grand scheme, to invert the fortune and feng shui of a hundred miles, he is most likely a Great Fiend of the Golden Core Realm. That technique of moving mountains and seas, not even your brilliant grandmaster, at the peak of his cultivation, could accomplish it. If those two young people can drive off this powerful foe, it will already be a miracle. Don’t even dream of them succeeding in killing him.”

Having escaped the danger zone, the old man’s taut nerves relaxed, and he immediately looked exhausted. The battle of today had truly taken its toll on this reclusive Daoist.

The old Daoist leaned against a large tree. “Unless a Great Cultivator from the Fuzhi Sect hears of this and arrives, and must be of great seniority, otherwise it will be difficult to stop that demonic overlord who controls the sea of clouds.”

The faces of the three turned grave. Huan Shu bit her lip, her heart filled with complex emotions.

Her parents were still in danger, and outside the ancestral hall, there was a fool willingly waiting for death.

Even if she and her brother survived, their future was still uncertain. Where should they go? Huan Shu truly didn’t know.

Huang Shang’s expression was somber.

He had diligently cultivated for years, never daring to slacken, believing that he had already achieved a small degree of success in his Daoist arts, capable of handling any situation he encountered. But who would have thought that in this idyllic paradise of Flying Eagle Fortress, he would almost lose his life?

The old man broke the heavy atmosphere, gasping for breath before smiling. “But don’t worry. As long as this demon suffers a setback this time, it will surely attract the attention of the Fuzhi Sect. That demon won’t dare to stir up trouble again for a hundred years. The Fuzhi Sect has two immortal cultivators who are Daoist partners. Once they are angered, either of them can descend the mountain and exterminate that demon with ease!”

The old man seemed still unconvinced, and made a turning gesture, adding emphasis as he smiled, “With ease!”

Outside the ancestral hall, Tao Xieyang was filled with worry.
He wasn’t concerned about Flying Eagle Fortress becoming a living hell on earth.

Rather, he worried that his family’s venerable ancestor, who had abandoned him there in his youth, would suffer too great a loss in this conflict. Such a weakening would hinder his own ascent to become the preeminent grandmaster of the Agarwood Kingdom.

He intended to claim the beautiful woman he admired as his own. Huan Shu, whom he had watched grow from a little girl into a maiden, and then into a graceful woman, was the object of his sincere affection.

The beauty, he desired. The martial world, he also craved.

Perhaps, in the future, he would even have the opportunity to ascend the mountain and witness its breathtaking scenery.

On the rare occasions when he feigned venturing into the martial world on behalf of the Huan clan, he secretly met with the ancestor. The venerable elder had once instructed him that anything he desired should be seized and held firmly within his grasp. If it proved impossible to grasp, he should either abandon all thoughts of it, or simply destroy it utterly.

Tao Xiyang wholeheartedly agreed with this philosophy.

With no one around, Tao Xiyang removed his mask, his expression shifting with uncertainty. Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, he ultimately decided that the pair of long-useless stone lions were an eyesore. With two swift strikes of his blade, he cleaved the statues in half, sending them crashing to the ground.

Having vented his frustration, the young man immediately realized the folly of his actions. If the ancestor’s plan were to fail, forcing him to retreat to this old nest to recuperate, his impulsive behavior could easily reveal a clue, allowing the damned old fellow to perceive something amiss. Thus, the meticulous Tao Xiyang hastily moved forward, using the hilt of his blade, infused with pure qi, to painstakingly shatter the fallen stone lion statues.

Then, he quickly strode toward the main building of Flying Eagle Fortress, halfway there striking himself in the chest with a palm, forcing a mouthful of blood to spew forth before he ceased.

The mountains are treacherous, and even powerful winds may fall. The martial world is perilous, and boats easily capsize in deep waters.

The fluctuations of the human heart are the hardest to calm.

To possess a steadfast and sincere heart is exceedingly difficult.