Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 149: Stealing Chicken Fails
Outside the formation, a group of Qingyuan Sect disciples watched as the Qixia Mountain monks retreated. The Xuri Sect was about to rush to the courtyard surrounded by the formation altar, when they suddenly saw a group of Qixia Mountain monks rushing out of the hall on the other side. They were all stunned and opened their mouths in an instant.

"Elder Huang, something is wrong! Qixia Mountain seems to have been prepared in advance. Where did so many people come from?" A disciple said after swallowing.

Huang Qing stared closely at the two warring parties within the formation. Now even a fool would know that Qixia Mountain was prepared, otherwise it would be impossible to gather everyone at the mountain gate.

If Qixia Mountain was prepared, what about the Loose Cultivator Alliance? Could they have also known that the Rising Sun Sect was going to attack Qixia Mountain?
"Elder Huang, what should we do now? Should we help them? Or just stand by and watch?" Another disciple also looked worried.

Huang Qing's eyes flickered for a while, and then he uttered a word coldly: "Go."

After saying this, he turned around and left without looking back, and the disciples hurriedly followed him.

"Elder Huang, are we not going to care about the lives of those people from the Rising Sun Sect? If we leave, they will lose their support and be abandoned." One of the disciples felt a little reluctant.

Huang Qing's face was stern, his voice as cold as a knife. "We're here to assist them, not to die with them. The Rising Sun Sect wasn't keeping their secrets secret, and the news leaked out. We're not to blame. Since Qixia Mountain is well prepared, the Loose Cultivator Alliance must have also received the news, and reinforcements may be on the way. Even if we desperately help them capture Qixia Mountain, the Loose Cultivator Alliance won't be able to hold this place if they get there first."

Not long after they started walking, they saw some cultivators riding on magical instruments and Canglan Birds rushing towards them from a distance. There were about thirty of them, and they were obviously the vanguard of the Loose Cultivator Alliance.

As a flying spiritual beast, the Canglan Bird not only has an extremely fast flying speed, but also has a large carrying capacity. It is very popular in the entire Xijiang County, and there is no larger force that does not raise this spiritual beast.

A fully grown Canglan bird can carry ten people and fly, and the speed depends on its own cultivation level.

A first-level Canglan bird is equivalent to the initial stage of Qi Refining, and its flying speed is not inferior to that of a first-level mid-grade flying magic weapon.

The speed of the second-level Canglan Bird is basically not inferior to that of a first-level top-grade flying magic weapon.

The speed of the third-level Canglan Bird is not inferior to that of a first-level top-grade flying magic weapon.

If it is flying with people or cargo, its flying speed will be affected accordingly and reduced a lot, but in general, the Canglan Bird is much more useful than a flying magic weapon, not to mention that it itself has a certain combat capability.

When the Qingyuan Sect attacked the Yunfeng Trading Company previously, they did not use the Canglan Bird but borrowed a spirit ship because they did not have an adult Canglan Bird available.

The Qingyuan Sect has only been settled in Bianxia Town for three or four years, and it was only last year that they started raising two Canglan birds.

It takes at least a dozen years for a beast to grow from childhood to adulthood, and it needs to be controlled by a specially trained spirit beast master.

"Elder Huang, it's someone from the Loose Cultivator Alliance." Seeing the person getting closer, a disciple shouted in fear.

"You arrived so quickly, you must have received the news in advance." Huang Qing's eyes narrowed. "Let's go quickly and meet up with the monks from our headquarters first."

The group quickly headed towards the direction of the coalition forces on the left and right sides of the original ambush. Naturally, the monks of the loose cultivator alliance also discovered Huang Qing and his group.

One person looked at the people fleeing in panic and said, "They seem to be from the Qingyuan Sect. They run quite fast. Should we chase them?"

The leading man shook his head. "Our mission is to support Qixia Mountain and help them defend the mountain gate. Don't worry about anything else. We'll talk about it after the main force arrives."

.....................

Inside the dark room of Lingyun Mountain, Hu Yingquan listened to Huang Qing's report. His face was as cold as frost, and his eyes were so gloomy that they seemed to be dripping with water. "What's the situation with the Rising Sun Sect?"

"I don't know. Originally, I just wanted to retreat to the left side of Qixia Mountain and reunite with our sect's ambushed personnel, and then decide based on the situation. But when I saw the reinforcements from the Loose Cultivator Alliance arriving so quickly, I led them back. All the members of the Rising Sun Sect have already rushed into the large formation set up on Qixia Mountain. Once the reinforcements from the Loose Cultivator Alliance arrive, I'm afraid we'll be in great danger."

"So, the Loose Cultivator Alliance already knew we were going to attack Qixia Mountain? They've already set a trap for us."

"That must be the case. Otherwise, how could Qixia Mountain have recalled all its personnel to guard the mountain gate? It's been less than a quarter of an hour since the Rising Sun Sect attacked Qixia Mountain's formation, and the Loose Cultivator Alliance has already arrived. Based on this, I'm afraid the Loose Cultivator Alliance had already learned of the news when we set out."

"Who leaked the news?"

"No need to think, it must be someone from the Rising Sun Sect. In our sect, only you, me, and Senior Brother Wu know the inside story. Even the other disciples are unaware. They were summoned at short notice to be informed of the mission. The problem couldn't have occurred with us. Otherwise, the attack on Yunfeng Trading Company wouldn't have been so smooth."

Hu Yingquan stopped talking, staring coldly outside, his fists unconsciously clenched.

Originally, he agreed to assist the Xu Ri Sect in attacking Qixia Mountain in order to let the Xu Ri Sect share the pressure of the Loose Cultivator Alliance. If successful, not only can the power of the Loose Cultivator Alliance be weakened, but he can also gain a lot of benefits, which is killing two birds with one stone.

But it has turned out like this, which is like losing the rice while trying to steal the chicken, and losing both the wife and the army.

In order to support the Xu Ri Sect, the Qing Yuan Sect not only provided manpower and resources, but also lent them a lot of spirit stones.

The failure of the attack on Mount Qixia was also a major crisis for the Qingyuan Sect.

If the Xu Ri Sect is defeated, the Qing Yuan Sect will not have an easy time in the future.

"Bang." With a loud noise, Hu Yingquan punched the chair.

.....................

In Qixia Mountain, after a great battle, looking around, the mountain gate was surrounded by broken walls and ruins, and blood soaked the soil in front of the hall red, forming a small blood-red ditch.

The high walls and courtyard outside the formation altar have collapsed, the formation flags inside have fallen down, and the formation altar in the center has also been destroyed. A tall stone pillar has been erected on it, with a broken corpse hanging on it. The corpse is wearing the purple blood-stained robe of the Rising Sun Sect, and his face is covered in blood. It is Mao Jie, the leader of the Rising Sun Sect.

Not far away, corpses dressed in the clothes of the Rising Sun Sect were piled high like a small hill. As a huge fire started, black smoke rose straight into the sky, carrying an unspeakable stench. The numerous corpses gradually turned into ashes in the huge flames.

Ma Shoucheng, the leader of Qixia Mountain, looked pale and had changed into new clothes. He strode into the courtyard.

"Fellow Daoist Ma, are you alright?" Sitting in the inner room was none other than Jia Yuan, the Third Master of Luofeng Valley, who had led the reinforcements. Seeing him enter, he rose to greet him. "It's alright," Ma Shoucheng waved his hand and sat down, his face a look of lingering fear, a look of having survived a disaster. "If Fellow Daoist Jia hadn't arrived with his men in time, I'd have nearly lost my life at the hands of those bastards."

"Thank you so much for this. If Fellow Daoist Xu hadn't warned us that the Rising Sun Sect might launch a surprise attack on our mountain gate soon, we wouldn't have been so well prepared. Otherwise, they would have succeeded. To be honest, I had my doubts before, but I didn't expect the Rising Sun Sect to actually carry out the attack as you predicted."

Jia Yuan said, "This is all thanks to Master Xu. The reason we were able to arrive so quickly was because Master Xu had predicted that the Rising Sun Sect was going to attack you, and he had already sent people to keep an eye on them. So, as soon as they saw the Rising Sun Sect making a large-scale move, the scouts immediately returned to the Allied Headquarters and reported the matter."

"Master Xu received the news and immediately gathered his men to set off. He was worried that the main team would arrive too slowly and that you wouldn't be able to hold out for that long. Therefore, he specially selected a group of elite personnel from the alliance to ride on the Canglan Bird and flying magic tools to go ahead, and the main team will follow soon after."

"By the way, when we arrived at Qixia Mountain, we saw monks from the Qingyuan Sect leaving. We don't know where they went. Fellow Daoist Ma, don't be careless. Be careful that they come back."

Ma Shoucheng snorted coldly, "I don't think they dare. The fate of the Rising Sun Sect is enough to deter those sneaky little bastards. Those Qingyuan Sect monks must have come to assist the Rising Sun Sect. These people only do things to make things more convenient. They must have seen our preparations and knew that things were not going well, so they left. Besides, now that they have seen you, they dare not come and die."

Jia Yuan nodded. "On my way here, I happened to run into someone monitoring the sect alliance rushing back to headquarters to report on the situation. According to him, the sect alliance also sent a lot of people to help, and even mobilized two spirit ships of the Beastmaster Sect."

"The group of Qingyuan Sect monks I encountered near this mountain gate had no more than a dozen members. The others should be ambushing your retreat, just like when the Qingyuan Sect attacked the Yunfeng Trading Company, the other three sects ambushed the fleeing monks from the Yunfeng Trading Company."

"Since they haven't shown up yet, they must have seen us coming and fled back."

"By the way, how many casualties did you suffer in this battle? Were the losses heavy?"

Ma Shoucheng's eyes flashed with grief: "Although we almost wiped out the Rising Sun Sect, we also suffered many casualties, and lost more than half of our men."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened and a man walked in and saluted him: "Boss, the alliance's large force support has arrived."

"Let's go! Let's go meet them."

.....................

In the spacious and bright main hall of Guzi Peak, Song Xian walked quickly and saw Zhong Wenyuan and a middle-aged man dressed in Ding family clothes talking. Both of them looked solemn.

"Master, this is Fellow Daoist Ding Xing who is stationed at Lingyun Mountain." When Zhong Wenyuan saw him come in, he immediately stood up and saluted respectfully.

"Master Song." The man also stood up and bowed.

"Please sit down!" Song Xian waved his hand to signal the two to take seats, and he also sat in the main seat. "I heard that Fellow Daoist Ding came here with something important to tell you. I wonder what it is?"

"Reporting to Sect Leader Song, the night before last, the Rising Sun Sect attacked Qixia Mountain. Sect Leader Hu, the leader of the coalition forces, sent us to assist. However, Qixia Mountain was well prepared, resulting in heavy casualties for the Rising Sun Sect in the frontal attack on Qixia Mountain. The coalition headquarters sent me to inform your sect and request Sect Leader Song to go to Lingyun Mountain for a meeting."

Song Xian frowned. He didn't expect that the Xu Ri Sect couldn't wait to attack Qixia Mountain less than half a month after the establishment of the coalition. Looking back, it seemed that there were signs of this.

During the last alliance discussion, Mao Jie, the leader of the Rising Sun Sect, behaved strangely. Not only did he change his attitude drastically, becoming the vanguard of the Qingyuan Sect, the biggest beneficiary of the alliance, but when he proposed handing over spirit stones every month in lieu of sending people to garrison Lingyun Mountain, Mao Jie did not express his opinion.

It now seems that the Xu Ri Sect had already decided to attack Qixia Mountain, so they were so eager to establish the alliance headquarters. I think they must have reached some kind of agreement with the Qing Yuan Sect in private.

In fact, he least wanted to see a fight between the two camps. No matter which camp won, it would not be a good thing for Hunyuan Sect. Only when the two camps were in a stalemate could he get the opportunity to develop by playing both sides.

"What exactly is going on? Fellow Daoist Ding, please tell me everything you know."

Ding Xing then recounted in detail what he knew about the attack on Mount Qixia.

When he heard that Ding family elder Zhuang Wenqing had no intention of leading his own disciples to help, and was almost forced to go by Hu Yingquan, he became more convinced that the Xu Ri Sect and Qing Yuan Sect had planned this in advance.

Fortunately, he resisted the pressure and did not send disciples from the sect to join. This was indeed a trap.

"What are the casualties of the Rising Sun Sect? How is Sect Leader Mao now?"

"I haven't heard any news yet."

"Thank you."

This meant the conversation was over, so Ding Xing stood up and said, "I won't bother you any more. Goodbye."

After he left, Song Xian said, "Senior Brother Wenyuan, please go to Lingyun Mountain on my behalf tomorrow!"

"Master, are you not going?"

"Hu Yingquan is looking for me to discuss things now, which is definitely not a good thing. He will most likely ask us to send people to Lingyun Mountain to replace the lost personnel of the Xuri Sect. I refused him twice before, which has made him dissatisfied. It is not appropriate to confront him head-on again. You can mediate and there is still room for improvement."

"I understand." Zhong Wenyuan nodded, his expression unable to conceal his worry. "The Rising Sun Sect's attack on Qixia Mountain has been discovered, and they will inevitably suffer heavy casualties. There's still no news of Mao Jie, so I'm afraid he's in great danger. After this battle, the situation in Bianxia Town will be disrupted. The alliance of independent cultivators will most likely seize the opportunity to pursue us. We must be prepared."

Song Xian pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "The Loose Cultivator Alliance probably won't attack us anytime soon. Their primary target will definitely be the resource territories formerly under the Yunfeng Trading Company, which are occupied by the Qingyuan Sect. We haven't sent troops to garrison Lingyun Mountain, nor did we join the three coalition forces in the attack on Qixia Mountain this time."

"Luofeng Valley has already made the conditions before. As long as we don't send troops to help Qingyuan Sect, they will not attack us. There is no reason for them to force us to join the Qingyuan Sect now."

"Our biggest reliance is the 300-year protection period granted by the Qianqing Sect. Our main external industry, the Jade Fragrance Pill, is protected by the Luoyun Sect. If they want to deal with us, the returns will be too low. The most they can do is recapture that piece of first-level spiritual farm."

"No matter how the situation changes, our strategy remains unchanged. We must maintain good relations with the Qingyuan Sect, but we cannot let them lead us by the nose and drag us down."

"We must take this opportunity to recruit independent cultivators as quickly as possible, strive to bring more people into the mountain sect, and expand our strength. You must pay more attention to this matter."

(End of this chapter)