A Sect from a Spirit Vein

Chapter 99 - 96: The Siege of Bichao

Grabbing onto Lu Qian as a life-saving straw, Zhou Chao naturally was full of excitement and loudly agreed.

Lu Qian nodded, "Blood brothers have clear accounts. I’ll help you restore your mountain gate, and in return, you shall give the entire Lotus Peak to me. Moreover, from now on, Zhou family cultivators must risk their lives and follow my command completely."

Zhou Chao agreed without any hesitation.

Lu Qian then, in his name, summoned the three vassal sects of the Zhou family along with their elite disciples to come. At this time, the leaders of the three sects were unaware of what had happened to the Zhou family, so they followed the order.

By the time the leaders Zhao, Wang, and Sun gathered, there were over 130 cultivators assembled on Spirit Snake Peak.

The situation was urgent, and Lu Qian wasted no words, explaining the stakes to the three leaders.

First, the Zhou family’s Yuqing Mountain had been occupied, but Zhou Chao’s main force remained intact, and with full support from the Yunshan Sect, there was great hope for reclaiming the mountain gate. Feeling the overwhelming spiritual pressure coming from the stunning Guh Niqiang seated in the chief spot, the three leaders swallowed hard and nodded repeatedly.

Second, the three sects had previously killed a Chaosheng Sect envoy, attacked Chaosheng Sect’s vassal sects, plundering and burning, and had a deep enmity with Chaosheng Sect, making it impossible to turn to them. With Chaosheng Sect completely occupying Yuqing Mountain, their next target would be the three sects. For self-preservation, the sect cultivators must unite and follow commands.

The three leaders exchanged glances, faces full of bitterness, but had to comply.

Lu Qian then dangled a big promise: as long as the sect cultivators exerted themselves fully, after the matter is settled, the Zhou family would adjust the vassal agreements. This brought a slight relief to the leaders’ faces.

Reaching a consensus with the three sects and gaining the help of over thirty elite cultivators at the middle and late stages of Qi Cultivation, Lu Qian turned to the Zhou family’s non-lineage cultivators.

Among these thirty-plus people, only five were at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, while the rest were at the early stage, only able to bolster forces at most. Lu Qian was blunt, directly pointing out their situation.

With their level of cultivation, even if they wanted to switch to Chaosheng Sect, they wouldn’t be accepted. Plus, given their former enmity, even becoming an outer disciple doing menial tasks would be difficult, likely leaving them to become loose cultivators. But if they gave their all and followed commands, a victory could offer them better choices and futures.

Zheng Duan and others were aware of their circumstances; the lower their cultivation, the more they tended to cling together in a familiar environment. Now with numerous cultivators on Spirit Snake Peak, including the mysterious Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar Guh Niqiang, and having interacted previously, knowing Lu Qian’s deep and extraordinary plans, they expressed willingness to follow Lu Qian’s leadership.

In just a few exchanges, Lu Qian integrated over 130 cultivators together. Among them, one at Foundation Establishment, 25 at late-stage Qi Cultivation, 57 at mid-stage Qi Cultivation, and 49 at early-stage Qi Cultivation, forming a formidable force.

Zhou Chao was highly encouraged, and Lu Qian’s image in his mind kept soaring, nearly becoming a synonym for omnipotence.

The people of Yunshan Sect were even more impressed. Especially Zhang Lemei, seeing Lu Qian bring along a Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar, introduced as an Honored Guest Elder of Yunshan Sect, she immediately respected Lu Qian even more under the Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure, finding him very reliable.

Even Guh Niqiang gave Lu Qian a glance, wondered about something, then shook her head, "Troublesome and boring."

Immediately, Lu Qian gathered the leading figures together and laid out his plan.

Zhou Chao originally thought Lu Qian would discuss how to counterattack Yuqing Mountain, but was shocked by the first sentence as he pointed to the map, "We’re attacking Bichao Mountain."

Thus at this moment, 130 cultivators purposely maneuvered seventy to eighty magical artifacts, surrounding Bichao Mountain.

Jiang Qingfeng asked, "Junior Brother, should we proceed with the next step now?"

Lu Qian shook his head, "It’s still too early. First, intimidate the cultivators within the array, making them afraid to open the grand array, lest communication restoration spoils the subsequent plans."

Saying this, he turned to Guh Niqiang, "Elder Guh, the Seven Stars Moon Closing Formation set by the Foundation Establishment Array Cultivator ahead is indeed impressive. You can’t do it alone; shall we attack together?"

Guh Niqiang snorted coldly, transformed into a long rainbow shooting into the sky, exuding tremendous spiritual pressure, commanding awe.

Ah, dealing with such skilled yet difficult and disobedient, headstrong employees, the only way is to "coax" and "stimulate."

Hearing the nearby cultivators’ gasps, Lu Qian’s mind stirred. True, without Guh Niqiang, his plan would have to change significantly, only able to aim at retaking Yuqing Mountain for strategy formation.

After all, Zhou Chao’s Six Harmonies Grand Array secret manual was skim-read by Lu Qian, at least, the Zhou family’s array setup was no longer a mystery to him. As long as they gathered everyone’s strength and used guerrilla tactics, hitting from all sides, defocusing Chaosheng Sect, they could find the opportune moment to break Yuqing Mountain’s grand array and reclaim it.

But now with Guh Niqiang, Lu Qian’s target was no longer just regaining Yuqing Mountain.

He wanted to use this battle to achieve the improbable!

A gold-red blaze suddenly exploded in the sky, the flame compressed and condensed before Guh Niqiang, then expanded and transformed into golden-red feathers covering the night sky.

Guh Niqiang, illuminated by the blazing feathers, appeared even more radiant and alluring. She gazed coldly at the Seven Stars Moon Closing Formation below and uttered a chilly single word: "Go!"

Shrill whistles pierced the sky as the densely-packed feathers struck the array light shield almost simultaneously!

With a boom, flames soared, and the grand array shook. Each feather erupted into a vortex of fire, and in a flash, a fiery sea blazed atop the array light shield!

Crackling sounds echoed as dense cracks appeared on the array’s shield, but the array continued to function, incessantly absorbing the Spiritual Qi of the Spirit Vein and smoothing away the cracks.

So strong!

All cultivators focused on the breathtaking figure in mid-air, while inside the grand array, the Chaosheng Sect cultivators trembled. The leading stationed cultivator was knowledgeable, and seeing such power, an irreverent thought surfaced.

This Foundation Establishment is much stronger than the Sect Leader!

But Lu Qian knew that such an attack was just a warm-up for Guh Niqiang.

After being beaten a few times along the way, Lu Qian became familiar with Guh Niqiang—she was an extreme violence enthusiast.

In a good mood, she beats people. In a bad mood, she beats people. Feeling bored, she beats people. Her only way to solve problems is by beating people.

Usually, she appeared as cold as frost, intimidating, indifferent to people and matters, even with contempt, but once she started moving, she’d become a complete maniac.

Compared to the title Fairy Nishang, perhaps calling her Mad Fairy would be more fitting.

After beating someone, she’d casually leave a few bottles of rare and unavailable Danxia Sect’s exclusive Healing Elixirs. So every time, Lu Qian could only count the Spirit Pills in his storage pouch to console himself that getting beaten wasn’t too much of a loss.