Waterfall Above the City Wall, Flowers Inside the City

Above Tianliu City.

Nian Yinfeng stood confronting someone.

The individual had striking red hair and an Adam’s apple, indicating a male physique. Yet, their eyes were alluring and captivating, giving them a rather enchanting and handsome appearance.

“Are you not going for the treasure, esteemed one?” Nian Yinfeng asked.

“I have no destiny with the treasure, so I shall not go,” the red-haired man replied with a faint smile, leisurely pulling a folding fan from his waist and fanning himself.

“May I inquire about your name and sect? I am quite familiar with Tianliu City, yet I have never encountered such an ‘expert’ as yourself,” Nian Yinfeng said, his voice subtly altering the word ‘expert’ to convey undeniable mockery.

“Oh? Since when did the Sect Master of the Tianjian Sect become a city guard, conducting household registrations?”

“You know me?”

Nian Yinfeng’s hands, clasped behind his back, clenched tightly as he secretly gathered spiritual energy.

“Sect Master Nian, are you aware of a spiritual flower in the far eastern reaches of the continent, known as the Thousand-Strand Entanglement?” As he spoke, the red-haired man closed his fan, then opened it again, fanning himself a few times.

“Thousand-Strand Entanglement? The name certainly sounds beautiful, but forgive my ignorance, I have never heard of it.”

This fell squarely into Nian Yinfeng’s blind spot of knowledge. Having always been engrossed in the art of artifact refining, he was quite unfamiliar with exotic flora and fauna.

“Heh heh, it seems Sect Master Nian’s title as a Grandmaster of Artifact Refining is nothing but an empty boast. The Thousand-Strand Entanglement is a unique spiritual substance found only in the demonic lands. Though named a flower, it is, in fact, a crystalline ore.”

“This ore typically appears only within rare volcanic magma, and it takes a thousand years of absorbing volcanic heat poison to grow a mere finger’s length. It is truly exceptionally rare.”

As he finished speaking, the red-haired man closed his fan once more, a peculiar smile surfacing on his face.

“Ore… heat poison?” Nian Yinfeng’s eyes suddenly widened as a horrifying possibility dawned on him.

He immediately performed the internal vision technique, and to his horror, discovered that his blood vessels were already teeming with dark red particles, each entwined with faint wisps of divine sense, clearly capable of being manipulated to erupt.

“Heh heh, Sect Master Nian, you’ve resided in Tianliu City for so long that the tiger has turned into a sheep!”

“To think you didn’t even notice I poisoned you twice. Truly disappointing.”

The red-haired man’s lips curled into a slight sneer, his eyes brimming with disdain.

“Then be disappointed!”

Having been so utterly humiliated, Nian Yinfeng, as a Sect Master, no longer cared whether the poison within his body would erupt.

He immediately unleashed the ‘Fire Control Art,’ his spiritual energy surging forth, transforming into a colossal flaming lion. Its roar shook the heavens as it lunged directly forward.

Nian Yinfeng had already resigned himself to his fate this time. His first move was a desperate, life-risking tactic, unleashing this strike with the force of a thunderous avalanche. The fiery lion instantly consumed nearly half of his spiritual energy, his only hope being to inflict at least a mutually destructive blow.

However, the moment the technique was unleashed, Nian Yinfeng sensed that something was amiss.

“Hmph, a cornered beast still fights. How tenacious.”

The red-haired man neither dodged nor flinched. His expression remained utterly unchanged as he simply extended a finger and gently made a hooking motion in the air.

The fiery lion, which had been snarling and clawing fiercely in the air, was inexplicably unraveled as if its very essence was being stripped away. As it advanced, it disintegrated into countless tiny embers.

The embers reached the red-haired man, casting a crimson glow upon his handsome face. Though a faint trace of their former might lingered, they were utterly devoid of any destructive power.

The red-clad man leisurely opened his folding fan, and with a mere flick of his wrist, all the embers were instantly extinguished.

The instant the fiery lion was annihilated, Nian Yinfeng suffered a spiritual energy backlash. In that single moment, all six of his internal organs were injured, and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted forth.

Simultaneously, his five vital organs felt as if they were being scorched by flames, leaving Nian Yinfeng in inexpressible agony.

‘To think that I, a fire cultivator, would one day be wounded by fire!’

“So, the ‘Thousand-Strand Entanglement’ works like this. What do you think? Impressive, isn’t it?”

The red-haired man raised an eyebrow, utterly triumphant, and burst into laughter.

“Hmph, why do you think I conjured a fiery lion to let out that roar?”

Nian Yinfeng wiped a streak of blood from his lips.

The red-haired man froze, his expression instantly changing. He cupped his hands towards Nian Yinfeng as he spoke, “Heh heh, truly worthy of Nian Cangsheng’s son. To grasp a sliver of hope even in such a desperate situation, I am impressed, truly impressed!”

“Heh, what’s wrong? Shall we battle a few more rounds?”

Nian Yinfeng extended his divine sense, sensing that City Lord Dai Yimei was already approaching with a contingent of city defense cultivators.

“No need to rush. We will have plenty of opportunities to spar in the future. Please convey my regards to your disciples and grand-disciples, Sect Master Nian. I shall take my leave now!”

With that, the red-haired man mounted his sword and departed with astonishing speed, vanishing from sight within a few breaths.

“Disciples and grand-disciples… dreadful!”

Ignoring the fire poison ravaging his body, Nian Yinfeng forcefully activated his remaining protective spiritual energy and swiftly flew on his sword towards the Tianjian Sect’s main gate.

From afar, Dai Yimei spotted the heavily wounded Nian Yinfeng. Her heart seized with alarm—who could possibly injure such a renowned Mahayana stage cultivator?

Just as she prepared to pursue him and seek answers, she suddenly felt an immense pressure surge upon her forehead.

Looking up, she was astonished to see tens of thousands of sword-riding cultivators, who had previously been haphazardly darting through the sky, now diving in a steep plunge directly towards Tianliu City.

This was utterly unacceptable!

As the City Lord of Tianliu City, protecting it from destruction had always been her paramount duty.

Dai Yimei immediately struck a spell seal towards the sky, and a colossal character ‘Méi’—her own name’s character—illuminated the entirety of Tianliu City.

Upon seeing this, the city patrol cultivators immediately began transmitting orders: “By City Lord’s command, activate the City Protection Array!”

“By City Lord’s command, activate the City Protection Array!”

Moments later, a brilliant white light erupted from the ground. A transparent ring swiftly ascended from the borders of Tianliu City, shrinking gradually after it reached half a li above the ground, until it sealed completely.

The entire process was astonishingly swift. To achieve such a degree of perfection, it must have undergone countless years of continuous refinement by numerous array masters.

Meanwhile, in the sky, Miaomiao was relentlessly pursued by the treasure-hunting cultivators behind her.

This group of cultivators had been chasing for half a day, their eyes bloodshot with frustration. Among them were many top-tier cultivators, yet they couldn’t catch a mere child. How could they possibly save face?

Thus, they all pulled out their most treasured skills. Some consumed pills, others unleashed secret techniques—they were sparing no expense.

Miaomiao continued to lead the ten thousand cultivators behind her. Suddenly, sensing a familiar spiritual energy erupting from the ground, she plunged straight downwards.

The cultivators behind her naturally veered downwards with extreme speed as well.

Just as Miaomiao was about to enter the city, she unexpectedly collided with the newly sealed City Protection Array.

Boom!

The immense impact only caused a slight indentation in the grand array, while the subsequent rebound launched Miaomiao back like a rubber ball.

As she bounced, Miaomiao gently rubbed her adorable head, then twisted her body to regain balance. She casually tossed her long black hair, which had fallen forward, behind her, and immediately began sliding down the City Protection Array.

The ‘Flying Sword Army’ behind her was not so fortunate. The fastest cultivators had, of course, witnessed Miaomiao’s rebound. While marveling at her physical prowess, they frantically pinched spell seals, attempting to abruptly halt their flying swords.

However, before they could even slightly decelerate, the cultivators behind them crashed into them.

They didn’t even have time to feel lucky about not being impaled by the flying swords of those behind them.

More cultivators from further back slammed into the pile.

Even more so for those at the very rear. They had no idea what was happening ahead and simply charged forward blindly. The further back the cultivators were, the lower their cultivation, making it even more impossible to stop abruptly at such high speeds.

Consequently, the dense crowd appeared like a cascading waterfall from a distance, pouring down and then colliding with the grand array, creating wave after wave of human impact.

For a time, screams echoed endlessly.

“Damn it, my butt!”

“My freshly augmented chest!”

…

One had to admire Tianliu City’s City Protection Array. Under the bombardment of so many ‘human cannons,’ it merely flickered slightly during the initial impact, then remained completely unmoving.

Meanwhile, the heavily wounded Nian Yinfeng rushed back to his sect as quickly as he could. However, he discovered thousands of human-shaped ice sculptures standing eerily in the plaza before the main gate.

A profound dread seized his heart.

He cautiously approached to investigate.

These were no mere ice sculptures; they were cultivators instantly frozen by an exceptionally powerful water-element spell. Judging by the serene expressions on their faces, they likely had no idea what had happened before they were sealed here.

Swallowing another mouthful of blood that threatened to erupt, Nian Yinfeng, with spell seals pinched in his hand, slowly advanced to the front of the ice sculpture forest. His vigilance was absolute; he was ready to ascend into the sky at the slightest sign of trouble.

He carefully probed the nearest ice sculpture to the sect.

He gasped, stumbling back several steps.

This was a Mahayana stage expert!

Who possessed the ability to subdue Mahayana cultivators without their knowledge or resistance?

What astonishing cultivation would it take to achieve such a feat?

How could it be…

“Yo, young Nian, long time no see!”