Eternal Life by Dual Cultivation

Chapter 250 - 176: The War Clouds Gather Again

"It’s all thanks to your help, my dear. Otherwise, it would have taken me at least another hundred years to reach my current realm!"

Ling Qiyue said with a radiant smile. The more she looked at her husband, the more pleased she felt.

A pleasant jingle of ornaments drew closer, and the tall, radiant Tang Qiu Yao, a picture of grace, parted the beaded curtain and glided inside.

"Qiu Yao, you’re back!"

Ling Changqing called out. Her cultivation had also reached the Late stage of Foundation Establishment, showing she hadn’t neglected her training.

Tang Qiu Yao smiled. "What brings you here today, my dear? I thought you were still with the others!"

"It’s been a few days. I just wanted to come spend some time with you."

Ling Changqing chuckled. Each of the women had her own Cave Mansion Hall for cultivation in seclusion, so they rarely all gathered together. He was the only one who had to run back and forth between them.

Tang Qiu Yao shot him a flirtatious glance before her expression turned more serious. She turned to Ling Qiyue and said:

"I just received news. Those three families have been making some big moves lately. It seems they’re planning to strike!"

Ling Qiyue didn’t look surprised. "I heard they’d already invited two Loose Cultivator Golden Core Masters to aid them. Are they trying to launch a preemptive strike?"

She was, of course, referring to the three powers: the Bai Family, the Yuan Family, and Yu Long Island.

The Bai Family’s territory was the Moonlight Islands, and the Yuan Family’s was the Langshan Islands.

Both families’ territories contained a Third Grade Spirit Vein, which should have been enough to produce a True Pill Cultivator. Unfortunately, their descendants were a disappointment.

Yu Long Island, however, was not a family but a Sect. With two large Third Grade Spirit Veins on its territory, it had once been considered the most powerful force in the Feiyu Sea Region.

The main island of Yu Long Island was an enormous island, over forty thousand li in area, once considered the largest in the Feiyu Sea Region.

The sect had occupied and ruled this island, along with its surrounding archipelago, for over a thousand years.

In the last war for control of the Changqing Continent, Ling Qiyue had led the Ling Family to victory. The three powers suffered devastating losses and were forced to sign a twenty-year truce with the Ling Family.

Now, however, it seemed they intended to tear up the agreement, though only half the truce period had passed.

Ling Changqing mused, "Our strength is probably growing so quickly that it’s making them restless, isn’t it?"

"Definitely," Ling Qiyue said with a smile. "If they flip the table now, they might still have a sliver of a chance. If they actually waited out the full twenty years, their only option would be to surrender!"

The Ling Family’s overall strength was growing constantly. In another ten or twenty years, Ling Changqing himself might succeed in breaking through to the Golden Core Master Realm.

By then, how could the three powers possibly compete? All the Foundation Establishment powers in the Feiyu Sea Region combined wouldn’t even be a match for them.

Ling Changqing asked, "They actually managed to get two Loose Cultivator Golden Core Masters to help? That’s surprising. The price must have been steep, right?"

Tang Qiu Yao nodded. "That’s right. According to our family’s informant, they promised that if they succeed, they’ll give half of the Changqing Continent to those two Loose Cultivators to establish their Cave Mansion Halls.

As for the three families, they would divide the remaining half of the territory among themselves and swear fealty to the two Golden Core Masters."

Ling Changqing sneered. "That’s quite a sacrifice. But I suppose becoming someone’s vassals is better than getting nothing at all, isn’t it?"

Ling Qiyue stated calmly, "Unfortunately for them, they’ve still underestimated our true strength. Even if they turn on us and start a war now, the fate of their three families will not change."

Ling Changqing said, "Then let it be war! I believe that after this battle, there will only be one voice in the entire Feiyu Sea Region!"

「A few days later.」

The three powers—the Bai Family, the Yuan Family, and Yu Long Island—gathered over twenty smaller Foundation Establishment powers and issued a public ultimatum to the Ling Family of Changqing Continent.

They demanded that the Ling Family unconditionally surrender seventy percent of the Changqing Continent. If they refused, the alliance would declare war and destroy the Ling Family’s foundations.

Naturally, Ling Qiyue flatly rejected such an unreasonable demand.

And so, war broke out.

First, numerous small teams of cultivators infiltrated the Changqing Continent, carrying out various acts of sabotage and harassment to test the Ling Family’s reaction.

Ling Qiyue had no intention of tolerating such provocations. She immediately had Xue Qingtan take command of the family headquarters’ Grand Array hub while she personally led a team to counterattack.

A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit.

She intended to use this approach to make her enemies bleed, weakening them as much as possible before the final battle.

Ling Changqing accompanied her. With the aid of his supreme Destiny, their counter-ambushes were invariably successful.

Over the next ten-plus days, Ling Qiyue intercepted over ninety percent of the raiding parties they sent. The result was always the same: complete annihilation. The unlucky cultivators couldn’t even escape with their remnant souls intact.

Losing one or two teams was tolerable, but having nearly all of them wiped out was a painful blow for anyone, especially since the three powers didn’t have many resources to begin with.

Thus, after a discussion, the three leaders—Yuan Wuya, Bai Yunsong, and She Mu—decided to initiate the final battle ahead of schedule.

The raids stopped for three days. On the morning of the fourth day, dozens of Flying Ships appeared in unison in the waters off the Changqing Continent.

The alliance, led by the three powers, had amassed over three thousand cultivators. Among them were more than seventy-five Foundation Establishment Cultivators and nine Pseudo Core masters.

A large portion of this force consisted of hired Loose Cultivators and several notorious gangs of Tribulation Cultivators, all looking to profit from the chaos.

Of course, this force alone was not enough to threaten the Ling Family, who held the home-field advantage. Their greatest reliance—their true trump card—was the two Loose Cultivator Golden Core Masters.

This pair of Loose Cultivators were Dao Companions who had partnered later in life. The man was named Lu Armor, and the woman, Yun Wushuang.

Life was not easy for a Loose Cultivator, and their path of cultivation was especially arduous. For this pair to have overcome countless hardships to reach the Golden Core Level, they clearly possessed a measure of good fortune.

In mid-air floated Lu Armor. His hair was graying at the temples and he wore a dark gray Magic Robe, but his features remained handsome. He summoned a slender Battle Saber that faintly emanated a baleful aura, with countless tiny Talisman Seals dancing around it. He squinted, studying the Protective Array below.

Far below on the ground, several thousand cultivators of the Qi Cultivation Stage were noisily forming ranks. They then surrounded the outer perimeter of the Grand Array from a distance and began their assault.

But the array’s cyan light barrier was as steady as a monolith, with their attacks causing, at most, a few faint ripples on its surface.

To a genuine Third Grade Protective Array, this level of assault was no more than a tickle.

’Winning this battle won’t be easy.’

Lu Armor muttered to himself, his lips tightening.

With a casual wave of his hand, the Battle Saber hummed. A thousand-zhang-long blade of brilliant, condensed killing intent descended gracefully from the sky, slamming down hard on the array’s light barrier.

The massive, hemispherical light barrier trembled for an instant. A gash several chi deep was carved into its surface, only to vanish moments later in a shimmer of light, leaving the barrier as pristine as before.

"Elder Lu, how long do you think it will take to break this Grand Array?"

Yuan Wuya, the Patriarch of the Yuan Family, asked respectfully.

"If we attack with all our might, it should take two or three days!"

Lu Armor replied, not bothering to hide the fiery glint in his eyes.

Beside him, a graceful and charming woman dressed in a black Magical Robe proposed:

"My love, it seems we’ll have to go all out this time. How about you keep that Ling Qiyue busy, and I’ll lead the assault on the Grand Array?"

She was in the Early stage of Golden Core, while Lu Armor was in the Middle Stage, so this arrangement was perfectly logical.

In their eyes, the only formidable expert the Ling Family could field was Ling Qiyue, who was also at the Middle stage of Golden Core.

As long as she was tied down, Yun Wushuang could focus completely on attacking the Protective Array with the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators, killing any Ling Family members who dared to emerge.

"Excellent. Let’s do that."

Lu Armor nodded in agreement.

’This Changqing Continent is truly a rare and precious land,’ he thought. ’I’ve been wandering for far too long. It’s time to find a proper place to settle down.’

Once the Ling Family’s power base was destroyed, all of this could become a reality.

’As for that Ling Qiyue, no matter how powerful she is, there’s no way she can withstand a pincer attack from two Golden Core Masters. She’ll be lucky to escape with her life.’

「Ling Family Headquarters.」

"...Qingtan, you take command of the Grand Array. I’m going out to slaughter that Lu Armor first!"

Ling Qiyue said in a cold voice.

A mere Middle stage Golden Core was not someone she would take seriously now, not when she was armed with multiple Magical Treasures.

Xue Qingtan agreed. Beside her, Tang Qiu Yao said with a hint of worry:

"They have a whole group of Pseudo Core masters assisting them. You can’t let your guard down, Sister!"

"Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems!"

Ling Qiyue smiled. As a Late stage Golden Core expert with powerful defensive Magical Treasures, a mere nine Pseudo Core masters posed no threat to her.