Xie Zhaolin's eyes tightened. She immediately pulled in her aura and signaled Elder Chou to hide her presence.
The two edged forward without a sound and slipped behind a massive weathered boulder. They carefully extended their divine sense to observe the battle ahead.
On the open ground in front of them, light exploded and sword intent streaked in every direction. Two groups were locked in a fierce clash.
One side held three cultivators in unified blue Daoist robes, two men and one woman. All three were at mid stage Golden Core. Their swordwork was sharp and perfectly coordinated. They'd already formed a Three Talents Sword Formation and were barely managing to hold on. They were disciples of the righteous giant, the Xuantian Sect.
Their opponents were five cultivators wearing mismatched clothes and radiating chaotic auras. They were clearly a temporary alliance of small sect disciples, their strength ranging from early to late Golden Core.
They had the numbers and pressed hard. Magic tools, talismans, and spells rained down on the sword formation like a storm.
The three Xuantian Sect disciples were skilled with the sword, but numbers were numbers. Their protective light flickered violently, and they were seconds away from collapse.
At the very center of the clearing grew a crimson spiritual herb shaped like a fiery lingzhi mushroom. It swayed gently under the chaotic impact of spiritual power. It was the cause of all this fighting.
A five hundred year old Chiyang Vermilion Fruit. It was priceless for anyone cultivating fire techniques or tempering their physical body.
"If I'm guessing right, all the small sects inside this secret realm should've already formed alliances," Elder Chou transmitted, her tone calm. "Judging by this, those Xuantian Sect disciples won't last long."
Xie Zhaolin scanned the battlefield with a cold, unreadable gaze.
The Xuantian Sect… one of the leaders of the righteous path. Her former sect in her past life, the Hehuan Sect, wasn't close to them, but there'd never been deep enmity either.
As for those loose cultivators, they had nothing to do with her.
The crane and clam fight, and the fisherman profits? Should she take advantage of the chaos and grab the Chiyang Vermilion Fruit?
The idea flashed past and disappeared.
Risking herself for a single five hundred year herb, diving into an unknown battle, revealing her presence, all of that was stupid. Her real goal lay deeper in the secret realm.
What mattered more was that this fight might give her useful information.
"We wait and watch," she transmitted with a cool tone. "Let them finish the fight or drag each other down."
She intended to wait until the battle ended and question the survivors for details about the surrounding area, including their current position or anything unusual nearby.
That was far more efficient than wandering like headless flies.
Elder Chou nodded slightly. She clearly shared her plan. Both suppressed their aura and waited patiently.
The fight was reaching its climax.
Even with excellent sword arts, the three Xuantian Sect disciples were outmatched. One male disciple was struck in the chest by a sinister black light. He screamed and fell, and the Three Talents Sword Formation collapsed instantly.
The remaining man and woman were overwhelmed in an instant.
The female disciple shouted sharply, her sword flaring with light as she forced two enemies back. "Senior Brother! The formation's gone! Go! I'll hold them off!"
"Junior Sister!" the male cultivator roared.
"Go! Tell Senior Brother Ling!" she cried, her voice firm as she swung her sword to meet the incoming attackers.
The male disciple gritted his teeth and crushed a talisman. His figure turned into a streak of light, shooting toward the side, right past Xie Zhaolin and Elder Chou's hiding place.
"Trying to run? Stop him!" the late stage Golden Core brute among the loose cultivators laughed. He sent a massive palm strike crashing toward the fleeing figure.
At the same time, two others increased their assault and pinned down the female disciple.
She took two blows head on to give her senior brother a chance. Blood sprayed from her lips and her face turned pale. She was seconds from death.
The escaping male disciple sped up thanks to the talisman, but the palm strike from the brute was already descending. He was about to be smashed into paste.
Right then, at the critical moment…
A faint sound hissed through the air.
A tiny poison needle glowing with cold blue light shot out from somewhere unseen. It struck from the perfect angle and headed straight for the brute's back.
Perfect timing. Perfect angle. Perfect ruthlessness.
"Hm?" The brute felt danger and twisted sharply, but he couldn't dodge it completely.
The needle pierced his shoulder. Numbing pain spread instantly.
"Ah! A sneak attack! Who the hell?!" he bellowed. His offensive faltered.
The Xuantian Sect disciple seized the opening and vanished into the distant stone forest.
The female disciple, seeing the enemies' rhythm break for a heartbeat, bit her tongue and activated a secret art. She turned into a streak of blood light and shot off in another direction.
The sudden change stunned the loose cultivators. Xie Zhaolin and Elder Chou's eyes tightened as well. When they exchanged a glance, they both saw the same chill reflected there.
Someone else was lurking behind the scene.
And the attack… wasn't aimed at saving anyone. It felt more like someone wanted to stir trouble, or… target them.
Because the poison needle's direction had come from very close to their hiding place.
"Watch out!" Xie Zhaolin snapped. She leaped back instantly.
Almost at the same moment, several vicious attacks blasted out from the shadows behind them. Sinister laughter followed.
"Hehe… you've watched long enough. Time you came out."
Before the voice finished, the attacks arrived.
On the left, three obsidian bone spikes tore through the air toward Xie Zhaolin's back in a sharp triangular formation.
On the right, a web glowing with eerie green light appeared out of thin air, expanding with the wind as it fell over Elder Chou. Above it, several ice spikes shot down, locking down every escape route.
The ambushers had clearly prepared everything. Their timing was perfect, hitting the instant Xie Zhaolin and Elder Chou were distracted by the earlier commotion. They aimed to kill in one strike.
Thankfully Xie Zhaolin's warning came in time. Both reacted instantly, retreating with burst movement techniques and narrowly dodging the deadly attacks.
Dust settled. Four figures stepped out of the shadows.
The leader was a man with a soft, gloomy face. His cultivation had reached the peak of late stage Golden Core.
Beside him stood a seductive woman in purple, her clothes revealing and her posture languid. Her fingertips toyed with several blue poison needles. Those were the ones used earlier.
The other two were an extremely tall and thin man with a pale face, and a short, stocky man built like a walking fortress. He held a pair of short sabers coated with poison.
"Tsk tsk, your reactions are pretty sharp," the purple clad woman giggled.
The gloomy man's gaze swept across them, lingering on Xie Zhaolin. His voice was raspy. "You two hide your presence well. If my Seeking Shadow Insect hadn't sensed a faint aura, you would've fooled us completely."
He raised his hand. A tiny transparent insect about the size of a grain of rice trembled in his palm.
The loose cultivators who'd attacked the Xuantian Sect disciples finally reacted. The brute who'd been struck by the needle had already forced the poison out. He glared at the newcomers with a dark expression and growled, "Who the hell are you people? Which one of you attacked me earlier?!"
The situation instantly became far more complicated.