Chapter 363: Surprise Attack
Three days later, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue left the ancient palace.
Both were in a better state of mind and couldn’t wait to take more tasks.
Just when they were thinking about heading to the task hall, their communication jades vibrated and the two turned to look at each other.
"It’s a message from the council." Jiang Yue informed.
"Mine too."
After saying that, the two opened the messages and their faces turned solemn.
"Let’s go." Yu Nianzhen said.
"Okay."
With that, the two rushed towards the centre of the camp and entered the council hall.
When they arrived, more than half the council was already there and everyone looked solemn.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, fellow Daoist Jiang, please have a seat and wait for the rest." Meng Zihua said and the two sat down.
A few moments later, the remaining council members arrived and took their seats.
"What happened?" Xuan Ke asked.
He and the others had just returned from a task and didn’t even have the time to report before they were summoned to the council room.
"Our recent reports are not good." Meng Zihua said and looked at Wei Ge.
"Initially, things went well after the death of Zhang Ling. Unfortunately, the other side is more troublesome than we expected." The man said and sighed.
In the next short while, he explained everything that happened when Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were away.
According to reports, the death of Zhang Ling dealt a blow to the other side.
However, the enemy quickly regrouped and things turned around.
From recent reports, three orthodox teams had easily been wiped out.
"Do you have the details?" Yang Xu asked with a solemn look on his face.
"Each of the teams that were annihilated had at least six hundred members. We don’t have the exact numbers but at least two thousand of our people have died within one day." Bei Chengling informed.
"How did they die?" Someone asked.
"The members of the first team were poisoned to death. The second team killed each other and the third team was frozen. There were no survivors in any of the three teams."
"This..." Bing Lan said and frowned.
"Do we know who did it?" Yang Xu asked.
"Everything we know was reported by our scouts. They saw it from a distance and didn’t dare to get close."
After that, everyone fell silent.
They were all trying to figure out what was happening and didn’t dare to neglect any detail.
"I have already recalled all the teams that were out on task. Until we know what is going on, I think we should put all tasks on hold." Wei Ge said and no one argued.
Although orthodox cultivators had the numbers advantage, they couldn’t withstand a daily loss of several thousand cultivators.
In that case, the best choice was to bunker down and carefully investigate the situation.
"Could they be using talismans and formations?" Someone asked.
"Were the people in each group killed the same way?" Jiang Yue asked.
"They were." Meng Zihua answered and frowned.
This was the reason why the annihilations were so troubling.
After all, it was hard to imagine that several hundred people did not defend themselves as they were being unilaterally killed.
"If talismans were used, the enemy would need to activate several thousand talismans at once." Someone said.
"That’s not all." Another countered and continued.
"Each talisman would need to at least be a fourth-level talisman. As far as I know, there aren’t many fourth-level talisman masters in the Cangxing world. It’s almost impossible for the other side to have so many fourth-level talismans."
"If not talismans, what about formations?"
"A fourth level formation can’t trap six hundred origin tempering realm cultivators for any considerable length of time." Bei Chengling said and sighed.
"They would have been able to break out and counterattack the enemy. If they couldn’t fight, some should have been able to escape."
"Maybe the Death Flower Ascension Front has a fifth-level master?"
"It’s possible but I don’t think so." Xuan Ke said.
"If they had such a master, they would have let them arrange a fifth-level defence formation around their camp."
"If not talismans or formations, what else could defeat so many cultivators at once?" Someone asked.
"That’s the question." Another answered in a frustrated voice.
"I have never seen..." Wei Ge started but his words were interrupted by a loud bang.
"What?" He asked and instinctively stood up from his chair.
At the same time, other members of the council had also done the same and were rushing out of the meeting room.
When they came out, there was chaos everywhere.
Most of the orthodox cultivators were running around in a panic but some had already taken out their weapons and were ready for war.
"The enemy is attacking the defence formation." Jiang Yue said through gritted teeth.
"How is that possible? Although we have lost the last few skirmishes, we still have a numbers advantage and our defence is a level five formation." Mo Tianxing asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.
However, Jiang Yue could answer it.
The only reason he knew the formation was under attack was because he arranged and was one of the people that controlled it.
"Junior Jiang, what are the chances that the formation will be broken?" One of the council members asked.
Jiang Yue looked at the person and recognised him as the masked nascent soul realm cultivator.
Since the war began, this was the first time the man had gotten involved and Jiang Yue was a little taken aback.
However, he quickly came to and carefully considered the matter.
"Under ordinary circumstances, the formation should hold. However, the enemy came to attack even when knowing the defence is a fifth-level formation. Maybe they have a way to break it."
"Brother Jiang is right. They probably have a way to break it." Li Futian said with a frown on his face.
"The first thing to do is gather everyone. We need to prepare for war." Wei Ge said.
"The formation masters will follow me to check the formation." Jiang Yue ordered.
His voice allowed no refutations but fortunately, none of the others were in the mood to question his authority.
"I will follow." Yu Nianzhen said.
"Several people should follow to protect the formation masters." Yang Xu said.
Soon after, Jiang Yue and a group of people rushed towards the edge of the formation while the rest of the council members began to organise the panicked cultivators.
"The formation has nine hundred and seventy-two nodes. If the enemy wants to break it, they will do it from one or more of the nodes." Jiang Yue explained as the group flew.
"Our first priority is to secure the nodes. Even if we can’t prevent the enemy from breaking the formation, we must delay as much as we can."
"We will listen to Master Jiang." The other formation masters quickly agreed.
Although they didn’t like listening to others, they knew that Jiang Yue had the most advanced formation skills among them.
At this time when their lives weren’t guaranteed, they could only listen and do as they were told.
"The most noise seems to be coming from the south." Yu Nianzhen said.
"I was afraid of that." Jiang Yue said as his brows creased in a frown.
"Is there something wrong with the south side?" Xuan Ke asked.
"The formation’s biggest weakness is in the south." Bei Chengling said.
To arrange a fifth-level formation, fifth-level materials were required.
Even in the Nine Treasures secret realm, it was not easy to acquire the most perfect materials to arrange a fifth-level formation.
In the end, Jiang Yue and the other formation masters compromised in some places.
Although the formation was still powerful, it had more weaknesses than an ordinary fifth-level formation.
Unfortunately, the Death Flower Ascension Front had somehow managed to find the most glaring weakness which was located in the southside of the formation.
"If the other side has a formation-breaking treasure..." Bei Chengling started but didn’t finish because everyone understood.
"Let’s get there first. We will decide according to the situation." Jiang Yue said and increased his speed.
In less than an incense stick of time, the group arrived in front of the formation’s weakness.
As expected, many disciples of the Death Flower Ascension Front were attacking the weakness from the outside
"I will take care of this node. Fellow Daoist Bei, can you lead the others to examine other nodes?" Jiang Yue asked.
"I will leave this node to fellow Daoist Jiang." Bei Chengling said and quickly left with most of the group.
"What can I do to help?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"I will leave my safety to you." Jiang Yue said and removed a box from his storage ring.
The box was filled with jade strips and soon enough, the strips rose from the box and began to float in front of the formation weakness.
