Meanwhile, deep within Black Wind Ridge.
An elder in black robes stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing into the distance at the towering walls of Jiangdu City, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
Behind him, countless shadowy figures lurked among the trees.
A thick white mist hung over the forest, concealing their every trace.
“Elder Wang, Elder Zeng has been gone for quite a while now—still no word from her?”
Beside the old man, a scar-faced man asked in a low voice.
Wang Zhidong remained silent. He tapped the ground lightly with the bone staff in his hand, and a wisp of black smoke slithered into the earth like a serpent.
A moment later, his eyes flew wide open. “Not good! A terrifying aura of slaughter has gathered within the city—it seems Yu Feng has indeed detected our presence!”
“What?!” The scar-faced man’s expression shifted drastically. “Then could Elder Zeng have…?”
“Spread the word!” The black-robed elder’s eyes gleamed with a fierce light. “If we don’t hear from Elder Zeng within the time it takes an incense stick to burn, we storm the city gates! Even if we die, we’ll make Jiangdu City pay the price!”
“Yes, sir!”
The scar-faced man was just about to pass on the order.
“Hahaha! You chose to walk the path to heaven, but refused—now you’ve come knocking on hell’s door! DIE!!!”
Just then, a heaven-shaking roar of laughter boomed down from the sky.
Wang Zhidong looked up in alarm and saw a blazing rainbow of fire tear through the air toward them, followed by several formidable auras and hundreds of highly skilled cultivators.
High above, Yu Feng spotted the mist swirling below and immediately concluded that the remnants of the Raksha Cult were hiding within.
Without a word, he drew the treasured blade that had accompanied him through countless battles over the years.
The blade burst into towering flames several zhang high. With a single swing, he unleashed a sea of fire across the sky.
With his very first strike, he held nothing back—he swung with all his might!
The blade’s momentum was devastating, carrying the awe-inspiring force to annihilate three thousand demons!
“Not good!!” Alarm bells screamed in Wang Zhidong’s mind.
His bone staff let out a piercing, blood-curdling screech!
The pre-arranged Raksha Grand Formation activated instantly.
The white mist swirling around them suddenly turned into a thick, ink-black miasma, filled with the wails of countless vengeful spirits, coalescing into a massive, terrifying demonic visage that rose to meet the sea of flames descending from above.
BOOM!!!!!!
The demonic visage and the fire blade collided head-on!
The shockwave of terrifying magical power swept outward like a physical blade.
A nearby peak was actually severed cleanly in half by the dispersed energy!
Under the backlash of the formation, three thousand Raksha cultists grunted in unison, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths.
Yu Feng didn’t come out unscathed either—a sweet, coppery taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
But he paid it no mind. In the blink of an eye, his second divine ability was already taking shape.
The sea of fire condensed into a single line, its extreme heat warping the air itself, as if it could tear the void apart. The temperature around them spiked instantly.
“Die!”
He swung his blade down once more!
And this time, it wasn’t just Yu Feng—Sun Qingcang and the others had also arrived.
They gave the Raksha Cult no chance to speak.
Behind Sun Qingcang, thousands of radiant spirit swords materialized in an instant.
The sword shadows formed a surging river of blades, cascading down upon the Raksha cultists.
“Guardian Formation!!!”
Wang Zhidong roared at the top of his lungs.
The miasma in the air immediately shifted from offense to defense. A towering, green-faced, fanged demon god rose into the air, clasped its palms together, and formed an unbreakable barrier that barely managed to block the onslaught from above.
But Yu Feng and his men attacked with such ferocity—they had gone all out from the very start.
Among them, Yu Feng and the four clan patriarchs were all fifth-rank spiritualists, far surpassing the rest in strength.
The combined, full-force assault of five such powerhouses—one could only imagine the devastation!
Wang Zhidong’s heart trembled violently, but he couldn’t help feeling grateful that he had heeded Zeng Rou’s advice and set up the Guardian Formation in advance.
Otherwise, they would have been utterly wiped out in a single clash.
“Dammit! These people are even worse than heretic cultivators—they started swinging the moment they saw us without a single word!”
Wang Zhidong struggled to hold the line. But against such relentless attacks, even the Guardian Formation couldn’t hold out for long.
“What do we do?! What the hell do we do now?”
His mind was in chaos, his composure completely shattered.
…
Back in the car.
Lu Chen, who still couldn’t get through to anyone, was getting anxious.
“Let me try!”
Sun Yourong immediately dialed her father—Sun Qingcang’s—number.
Unlike Yu Feng, whose phone rang but went unanswered, Sun Qingcang’s was simply switched off.
“Could they have already… started fighting?!”
Sun Yourong guessed.
Lu Chen glanced at the rearview mirror. “You need to contact the others right away and tell them to get out of there.”
Zeng Rou was also visibly starting to get nervous. “I’m sorry, Leader, but we’re still too far away right now. I can’t reach Elder Wang Zhidong—I need to be within thirty miles before I can communicate with him through our secret arts.”
Lu Chen: “…”
“Never mind—maybe we’re just scaring ourselves. It shouldn’t have happened that fast. Only about ten minutes have passed.”
“Hard to say…” Sun Yourong had a bad feeling about this.
If they were still holding their position, she would have been able to reach her father.
Lu Chen took a deep breath and said nothing more, pressing down on the accelerator.
Luckily, his home was in the northwest corner, not far from the western defense line.
When Lu Chen and his group arrived, they saw the defenders stationed everywhere, fully on guard.
Lu Chen let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Good—the main force hasn’t deployed yet.”
“Brother, where is Lord Yu? I have urgent business with him!” Lu Chen flashed the city lord’s token.
The guard recognized the token and replied, “Lord Yu isn’t here right now.”
“Where did he go?”
“The city lord has located the heretics and has already led over a hundred third-rank and above experts to go and purge them!”
“What?!” The three of them froze, their pupils contracting sharply. “How long ago did they leave?!”
“A few minutes now.”
“This is bad!” Zeng Rou’s face changed. She quickly produced a green metal artifact shaped like a skull.
As she channeled her magical power into it, the “skull’s” eyes lit up with a red glow—clearly, they were now within communication range.
However, the red light flickered several times, but there was no response from the other end.
Zeng Rou’s heart sank. “They’ve definitely engaged in battle!”
“Quick, take me there!”
“Yes, Leader!”
Zeng Rou waved her hand and summoned a flying artifact shaped like a green gauze canopy.
The three of them leaped onto it, and it shot forward like a streak of green light, racing toward Black Wind Ridge at an astonishing speed.
Lu Chen pulled out his phone and dialed Yu Feng’s number again.
Still no answer!
Still no damn answer!
This guy—had he gone completely berserk?!
Seriously, he’d never been this efficient before!
…
Meanwhile, on the battlefield at Black Wind Ridge.
The battle raged on.
Yu Feng had indeed gone berserk.
He was like a madman, giving the Raksha Cult no chance to catch their breath.
With the assault dragging on without success, his fury burned ever hotter.
“Everyone, get back!!”
Sun Qingcang and the others heard him and immediately withdrew their attacks, pulling back.
They knew that Yu Feng was about to unleash his ultimate, trump-card divine ability!
Sure enough, a fiery red mark suddenly blazed to life on Yu Feng’s brow, burning as fiercely as the sun itself.
Sun Qingcang couldn’t help but cry out in shock: “Myriad Life Red Lotus?!”
This was a famous divine ability of the Fire Virtue Star Lord!
Everyone around gasped in unison.
They never expected Yu Feng to go straight for a life-or-death move!
This technique required the user to activate it with their own vital essence.
Once successfully executed, its power would be utterly cataclysmic!
Below, Wang Zhidong saw the mark of the Red Lotus and felt despair wash over him.
He had clashed with Yu Feng several times before and knew his opponent’s strength well.
In the past, he and the two Great Elders, Feng Tianhua, had faced him together and held their ground.
Now, with only him—a fourth-rank spiritualist—sustaining the formation alone, he was already at his limit.
Faced with a divine ability of this magnitude, he knew there was absolutely no way he could withstand it.
“Wretches, DIE!!!”
Yu Feng was about to activate his vital essence and unleash the “Myriad Life Red Lotus.”
But just then—
The phone at his waist rang again.
However, this time, the ringtone was completely different from before.
Everyone expected Yu Feng to ignore it as usual.
But to their surprise, Yu Feng’s movements suddenly halted, and a look of utter shock crossed his face.
The next moment, he forcibly interrupted his divine ability and reached for his waist.
“Chief?! Why are you calling all of a sudden?”
High up in the sky, Yu Feng’s voice was filled with bewilderment.
In the current situation, his posture and expression seemed almost jarring—even a little comical…
On the other end of the line came Zheng Changguo’s steady voice: “Xiao Feng, where are you right now?”
“Reporting to the Chief—the Raksha Cult dared to trespass into my Jiangdu City, and I caught them red-handed. I’m currently giving it my all to wipe them out! I swear they won’t get away this time!”
Yu Feng’s tone was resolute, his oath firm.
“What?!” Zheng Changguo’s voice cracked with alarm on the other end. “You’ve already engaged them? Stop—halt immediately!”
“Why? Chief, this is the Raksha Cult!” Yu Feng couldn’t believe his ears.
“The Raksha Cult has been granted amnesty—call it off now!”
“What?!”
Though the voice from the phone wasn’t loud, it carried clearly into the ears of every expert present.
For a moment, not only Yu Feng, but everyone—including Sun Qingcang—was completely stunned.
“Amnesty? Who granted it?!” Yu Feng nearly roared the question.
“I DID!!!!!!!”
A sudden bellow rang out from behind.
Everyone turned to look—
A streak of green cloud shot toward them at breakneck speed.
Lu Chen stood atop the cloud, shouting at the top of his lungs: “I granted the amnesty!”
