“Liu Zong?”
Zhou Ye and Lei Shan’s expressions changed slightly when they saw the person beside Yang Gui, becoming more serious. This matter was indeed not going to be easy.
“So the backing for Mang Yin Mountain is indeed your Liu Domain!”
Zhou Ye’s killing intent began to stir. “They ambushed my Mu Domain; that must have been at your Liu Domain’s instruction?”
“Haha, I just saw that the Mu Domain has been too prosperous lately, so I wanted to give you a little ‘adjustment.’ I didn’t expect Brother Yang Gui to be so heavy-handed, actually killing a few people.”
Liu Zong chuckled, provoking him.
Zhou Ye’s eyes were bloodshot, and his clenched fists made cracking sounds.
“Since you’ve come, don’t expect to return. You, Zhou Ye, are Mu Feng’s right-hand man. If you die here, it will be a huge blow to the Mu Domain.”
Liu Zong still seemed oblivious to Zhou Ye’s hateful gaze. He waved his hand, and strong whooshing sounds came from the palisade. Many people leaped over the palisade, led by another familiar face: the third master of the Liu Domain, Liu Ming.
Liu Zong had brought quite a few elites to Mang Yin Mountain to wait for the Mu Domain.
“Great Chieftain Lei, prepare to act!”
Zhou Ye said in a heavy tone. Even if the situation exceeded their expectations, they had no way to retreat. They could only join forces to eliminate the people of Mang Yin Mountain and the Liu Domain.
Lei Shan was obviously very clear that the Liu Domain had cooperated with Mang Yin Mountain. If they didn’t resolve everything at Mang Yin Mountain today, then tomorrow it would be Nine Dragon Stockade.
“Attack!”
Lei Shan’s eyes flashed with cold light. He waved his hand and shouted, his killing intent erupting.
“Liu Zong is mine.”
Powerful spiritual energy roared out from Zhou Ye’s body, his eyes locked onto Liu Zong. That person had the strength of the Mid-stage Spirit Soul Realm, very powerful. Even Zhou Ye could only barely contend with him.
Lei Shan nodded. Both sides had two Spirit Soul Realm experts, but the other side seemed to have an advantage.
“Liu Zong, get over here!”
Zhou Ye stepped forward, powerful spiritual energy condensing behind him into a giant brown rhinoceros. Its immense weight slammed into the ground, spreading outwards.
“Zhou Ye, do you think you’re strong enough to be my opponent?”
Liu Zong sneered, his formidable spiritual energy also condensing into a verdant scorpion. Its tail flashed with a green venomous stinger, emitting a foul smell.
“Boom!”
Zhou Ye ignored him. The giant rhinoceros charged forward with a rumble, the mountains and earth seeming to tremble and shake. Its terrifying weight was astonishing.
Liu Zong snorted, quickly rushed out, and waved his hand. The sharp, verdant tail, covered in green light, fiercely stabbed at the charging Zhou Ye.
Two powerful streams of spiritual energy clashed head-on, the resulting air currents roaring like a hurricane, shaking the trees on the mountain until they swayed as if about to fall.
“Kill!”
Seeing Zhou Ye make his move, Lei Shan immediately shouted an attack. His spiritual energy condensed into a golden armored beast, resembling a rat covered in dazzling golden fabric like a golden armor.
Mu Chen looked over and immediately recognized what Lei Shan’s giant beast was. It was a Golden Armored Pangolin, ranked 168th on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beasts Record, capable of burrowing through a mountain.
“Haha, Lei Shan! It’s been many years since we last fought. Let’s see how much you’ve improved.”
Yang Gui saw this and laughed loudly. His formidable spiritual energy began to activate, and a silver giant hound with a full moon pattern on its head appeared behind him.
It was a Silver Moon Hound, ranked 177th on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beasts Record. Its sense of smell was extremely keen; nothing could escape it within a hundred-mile radius.
Lei Shan and Yang Gui also charged at each other, clashing in battle. Their attack methods were all sinister and ruthless, the spiritual energy impacts causing mountain rocks to crack and explode with a rumble.
“Kill!”
The leaders of both sides had already engaged, so naturally, the subordinate soldiers no longer hesitated. Their eyes red, they roared, and the human tide surged forward, pressing against each other, sweeping up to attack the mountain stronghold.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Violent spiritual energy continuously erupted from the mountaintop, dazzling in its myriad colors, yet also incredibly bloody and thick with murderous intent.
Mu Chen also plunged into the crowd, his movements ghostly, his twin fingers like steel spears. Each time a finger strike landed, a spray of blood would erupt, accompanied by a tragic shriek.
With the Spirit Shadow Steps and Spirit Emperor Finger pushed to their limits, Mu Chen contributed immensely to the army's destructive power.
"You little beast, you want to die!"
While Mu Chen was slashing and stabbing, unstoppable by anyone, a loud shout rang out. A terrifying fist wind followed the shout, and the ground itself cracked under the impact of that fist wind.
"Liu Ming?"
Mu Chen glanced over and saw the figure rushing towards him, letting out a cold laugh. Back in the Northern Spirit Realm, this Liu Ming might have been able to cause him trouble, but now, it was uncertain who would die.
Facing Liu Ming's sharp attack, Mu Chen did not dodge. He threw a punch, and two black seals appeared around his fist, unleashing an overbearing, explosive force.
"Bang!"
The two fists clashed, and a turbulent wave of energy rolled out, affecting a dozen people nearby, sending them spitting blood and flying backward.
As the energy wave dissipated, Mu Chen trembled and retreated several steps. Liu Ming, who had flown in like a dart, also spun back through the air, his face extremely cold.
"Little beast, you've indeed changed remarkably!"
Liu Ming gnashed his teeth and roared. In the past, Mu Chen was utterly beneath his notice. He never expected that his strength would now be no less than his own.
"It's just that you're a bit too useless."
Mu Chen sneered mockingly.
"Then this third master will tear you to shreds today!"
Liu Ming let out an angry, guttural laugh, pushing the spiritual energy within him to its absolute limit. He shot towards Mu Chen like lightning, his cruel claw wind sweeping over.
Mu Chen swiftly employed the ghostly Spirit Shadow Steps to retreat. He waved his hand, and the vibrating air created a small spirit formation. Countless strands of spiritual energy, like threads, bound Liu Ming's body.
With his current spirit formation ability, he could easily create a small spirit formation with just a flick of his hand.
"Crack, crack!"
However, this small spirit formation had little ability to obstruct; it could only buy a tiny bit of time. Liu Ming erupted with spiritual energy, directly shattering the restraints, and scoffed:
"Everyone says you're also a Spirit Array Master, so why do you only have such trivial things?"
"Then I'll prepare a bigger one for you!"
Mu Chen's eyes were icy cold. On his two palms, a dozen small spirit seals quickly appeared.
"Hmph."
Liu Ming involuntarily shivered at the sight, not daring to underestimate him. His body shot forward like electricity. Although Spirit Array Masters possessed immense power when deploying spirit formations, they required a considerable amount of preparation time. If one could get close and disrupt them, they wouldn't be able to form a spirit formation, and would have even less power to resist.
"Thump, thump..."
However, Mu Chen had extensive combat experience and knew his intentions well. At this moment, he pushed the Spirit Shadow Steps to their limit, conjuring numerous afterimages, making it impossible for Liu Ming to catch him.
"Kid, do you only know how to run?"
Liu Ming was furious. Mu Chen's movements were too elusive. He had clearly cultivated an extraordinary movement spirit art, making it impossible for Liu Ming to catch him even with all his might.
"Clang."
The moment he shouted, Mu Chen suddenly stopped. But before Liu Ming could rejoice, his expression changed drastically as he saw the air behind Mu Chen violently sweep, and a gigantic, fiery spirit array slowly appeared, followed by a surge of raging spiritual energy.
"Damn it, how can his spirit array form so quickly?"
Liu Ming trembled. It wasn't that he had never fought a Spirit Array Master before, but this was the first time he had seen someone deploy such a powerful spirit array at such an astonishing speed.
"Tiger Flame Devouring Spirit Array!"
Mu Chen didn't give him much time to be shocked or worried. He immediately changed his hand seals, and a crimson spiritual energy let out an earth-shattering tiger roar. A gigantic Flame Tiger, carrying raging, scorching spiritual energy, burst forth and directly pounced towards Liu Ming's position.
"Netherworld Ghost Hand!"
Feeling the attack of the raging Flame Tiger, Liu Ming dared not delay. He quickly urged all the spiritual energy in his body, shouted, and the surging spiritual energy formed a gigantic dark palm to counter the Flame Tiger.
"Bang!"
The two powerful surges of spiritual energy clashed, shaking the ground and pulverizing the debris into dust.
"Whoosh!"
Just as Liu Ming exerted all his strength to resist the Flame Tiger, he suddenly heard a whoosh of wind. A figure, like a ghost, appeared. Two fingers extended, glowing with dazzling golden light, and without mercy, stabbed towards his throat.
The attack was too sudden for him to defend against. He flipped his hand back and struck out with his palm.
"Rip!"
The golden light, like a sharp spear, pierced into Liu Ming's palm, penetrating it and causing fresh blood to splatter from his hand.
"Arrrrrr!"
A tragic scream erupted from Liu Ming's mouth. He flew backward in a disheveled state, clutching his bloody hand, his face filled with panic.
Mu Chen coldly stared at Liu Ming, giving him no time to recover, and continued his pursuit.
"Stop him!"
Liu Ming cried out in fear.
The soldiers of the Liu Domain nearby heard him and rushed forward to save their master, attacking Mu Chen. However, they were quickly intercepted by the people of the Mu Domain.
Amidst the chaotic crowd, Mu Chen glanced at Liu Ming, who was fleeing in disarray, and had no intention of pursuing him. He retreated to the midst of the Mu Domain and Nine Dragon Stockade forces, frowning as he looked at the two battle circles on the other side.
Lei Shan and Yang Gui were both early-stage Spirit Manifestation Realm experts, fighting to a draw. But Liu Zong had mid-stage Spirit Manifestation Realm strength, a level higher than Zhou Ye. If this continued, it would undoubtedly be disadvantageous.
And once Zhou Ye lost, it would create a chain reaction that would spread to Lei Shan. If both Spirit Manifestation Realm experts were defeated, even if they had overwhelming military strength, it would be difficult to gain the upper hand, let alone accomplish anything.
Therefore, they had to quickly find a way to defeat one of the opponent's Spirit Manifestation Realm experts.
Mu Chen narrowed his eyes, tilted his head, and said to Lei Yin beside him, "Can you protect me for a bit?"
"What do you want to do?"
Lei Yin was no longer as arrogant towards him. When he had used a spirit array to deal with Liu Ming earlier, she was completely unable to match the speed of his array deployment.
"I need to help your father kill Yang Gui first." Mu Chen said in a deep voice.
Lei Yin was startled, looking at Mu Chen with a strange gaze. She said, "They are both Spirit Manifestation Realm experts. To deal with them, you would need at least a Level 2 spirit array. You... are only a Level 1 Spirit Array Master?"
"Just a try."
Mu Chen took a deep breath, clenched his hand, and a Jade Spirit Fruit appeared in his palm. It was his last one. With the current amount of spiritual energy in his Qi Sea, he still needed a bit of external force to condense twenty spirit seals.
Without hesitation, he popped the Jade Spirit Fruit into his mouth. Lei Yin was astonished to see that as soon as he closed his eyes, spirit seals rapidly appeared in Mu Chen's palm.
And the number had already reached twenty spirit seals!