Cultivation begins with planting techniques

Chapter 229: Tacit Understanding
The army besieged the city.

Various spiritual beasts and flying boats formed a formation, surrounding the gate of Jiuding Valley tightly from the sky to the ground.

Among them, a black dragon was in the center, which was the core of the army formation.

Black water swirled around it, it had sharp teeth and claws, and the single horn on its head seemed to have a flash of lightning.

Looking at it now, the dragon's aura and power seemed to be slightly stronger than when it was besieged in Qiandao Water City!
If it weren't for the murderous intent in his eyes and the murderous aura that ruined his demeanor, he would have actually possessed some of the majesty of a dragon surrounded by beasts and an army.

"It seems that the Dragon Subduing Nail wasn't refined properly. This black dragon was seriously injured at the time, and even after I pulled out the nail, it was still weak. Now it seems to have benefited from it..."

Li Ye peeked at the battlefield from afar through the puppet he sent out, and there was some surprise in his eyes.

Originally, when he examined the Dragon Subduing Nail, he saw that its restrictions were incomplete and thought that it was because it was a disposable magic weapon. It was considered good enough that it could retain some power.

Now it seems that Jiudingzi simply did not refine the Dragon Subduing Wood completely, and was just relying on its own characteristics!
The evil dragon energy that invaded the dragon's body was refined by it and became a benefit to it.

"I was wondering how it could recover so quickly. Turns out it's because the Dragon Subduing Nail was only a half-finished product..."

Li Ye chuckled, feeling somewhat gloating.
"Jiudingzi is really good! Not only did his plan fail, but he also left his own sect with a much stronger enemy. If I were a disciple of Jiuding Valley, I'd probably want to die right now!"

In fact, this is indeed the case.

Inside the sect's formation, Zhuang He, who had returned to the sect because of Li Ye's words, was now in a state of collapse.

I escaped the first day but not the fifteenth.

In order to survive from the hands of that strange late-stage cultivator, he had no choice but to do as he said and return to the sect that he was about to give up.

The task was completed, but how long had it been?
This Thousand Islands Water City actually came to attack! Under the sect's martial law, he couldn't even escape!
Now, seeing that the Thousand Islands Water City was surrounded by the army, he could hardly see any hope of escape.

"Yes! Those 'stones'..."

Zhuanghe's eyes widened, and he remembered the stones he had thrown all over the mountain gate!
After returning to the sect, he explored around and finally discovered the identity of the monk who had asked him to spread the "stone"...

He actually came from the resource-poor area of the Red Mountains. He was the leader of the Mountain Alliance, Li Ye, the lord of Pingyang Mountain!

He had also heard of this man's reputation for being an expert in both alchemy and formations. It seemed that Deng Tiancheng, the sect's prodigy who had died because of the relics hidden in the underground palace a few years ago, had a close relationship with him.

But I didn't expect that this person is already in the late stage of foundation building... Such talent seems to be even stronger than Deng Tiancheng!

He is so bold that he even covets his Jiuding Valley!

At that time, Zhuanghe was just sighing, but now he regards Li Ye as his life-saving straw.

Although Zhuanghe was bound by the law and could not reveal any information about Li Ye, let alone these stones, since that person asked him to spread them out, it was most likely some kind of formation method.

Given his reputation for formations, he must have made arrangements in advance, perhaps waiting for this very moment to take advantage of the situation!

If he can really succeed, as long as I can ask him for a hand, maybe I can still have a chance of survival.

Zhuanghe immediately set off and headed towards the "stone" closest to him.

"Fortunately, I was careful and noted down the location where each stone was discarded..."

He felt lucky and avoided being seen all the way, carefully arriving at the location where the stones were buried.

But when he got there and took a look, Zhuanghe was stunned.

Where's my stone?!
The soil was flat, without any signs of being disturbed, and no excess spiritual energy remained.

Similarly, the "stone" that he remembered throwing here was nowhere to be found.

"Ha... one of my fellow disciples must have had nothing better to do and kicked the stone away! There are others we can look for..."

He comforted himself with a dry laugh, and then went to several other places where stones were discarded.

Without exception, every place seemed to be unchanged, but the "stones" that he should have buried underground had disappeared!
At this moment, he felt like the sky was falling.

"How is it possible..." He muttered, disbelief in his eyes, "Has that person already started to take action?"

He didn't know whether Li Yedong took action or not.

What made him collapse was that at this moment Qiandao Water City really took action!

boom!
The dragon roared loudly, shaking the sky, and lightning exploded as black clouds gathered.

Several black and blue lightning condensed and struck down one after another, shaking the Jiuding Valley mountain gate formation continuously amidst the roar. The evolved external appearance dissipated, leaving only a layer of pure golden light shield to withstand the thunder bombardment.

The black dragon took action, and the army moved in an instant.

Numerous cultivators in each formation used all their skills, and various magical lights covered the sky and continuously attacked the formation.

In cooperation with the black dragon, the third-order formation became flickering, and the condensed power was constantly consumed, giving it a feeling of being on the verge of collapse.

At this time, the sect leader issued an order, ordering all disciples to go to the various formation centers, guard the sect's formation, and replenish the spiritual energy consumed by the formation.

Any disciples still wandering around with ill intentions will be dealt with immediately.

Zhuanghe was disheartened and had no choice but to obey the order and go to provide support.

At the same time, inside the mountain gate, a group of rock puppets emitting a hazy yellowish light were moving underground.

They soon arrived at the designated position, a corner of the formation, and each formed a formation, which actually resonated with the formation.

As the weak point of the formation shook slightly, the outside world seemed to respond, and then the light shield in the corner shook more and more violently, and soon a hole appeared.

Swah——

Dark blue water instantly poured in from the hole and turned into a puppet wearing armor.

The commotion caused by it passing through the formation and entering the mountain gate was almost non-existent compared to the waves caused by the Thousand Islands Water City army's attack on the formation.

The remote place he chose was now in a place where no monk was paying attention to it, and it did not cause any commotion at all.

The water flowed on the puppet's body, taking away the many rock puppets. Then, after roughly identifying the direction, it continued to turn into a stream of water and merged into the ground, flowing towards a mountain.

…………

"Master, this black dragon has recovered so quickly, even mastering the power of thunder. If this continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to kill it with the sect's formation. I'm afraid it won't hold out for long before being forcibly defeated!"

In the sect's main hall, Ye Shiguang, as a trusted elder, was in command.

He observed the situation of the formation and looked at the urgent reports sent back by the disciples at each center of the formation, and couldn't help but look bitter.

Sect Leader Xiang Dongang's face was gloomy. "Brother Ye, feel free to say whatever you want to say."

He had doubts when the ancestor insisted on pushing for the capture of Qiandao Water City, and ultimately failed, leaving him with such a mess.

At this point, he has made a choice in his mind.

Ye Shiguang showed hesitation, then sent a telepathic message,

"How about... we gather all the fellow disciples, take the sect's treasury, and find a chance to escape..."

When the leader Xiang Dongang heard this, his eyes suddenly became serious, which made Ye Shiguang feel a little ashamed. He wanted to explain and give some advice.

After all, if you don’t leave in this situation, you will definitely die!
If he were alone, he would be unable to escape, let alone take away the collections from the sect's treasury. If he wanted to share some of the benefits, he would have to persuade the sect leader.

However, before he could say more, Xiang Dongang said:

"Junior brother, your words are very good. Defending to the death is not a solution. We should preserve a trace of incense for Jiuding Valley... Let's go and get the sect's treasure house and break out as soon as possible!"

(End of this chapter)