Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 501: Defeat

Song Xian ignored Lin Zixiang, who had escaped his predicament, and headed towards the point of conflict between Zhao Botao and his group.

There, Zhao Botao and two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Beast Taming Sect were engaged in a fierce battle with four Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Murong family.

After he joined, the situation immediately shifted.

The four Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Murong family were startled by his arrival, because before they set off, the bearded man leading the group had made special arrangements, assigning three late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to deal with him.

His withdrawal indicates that even if the three men were not killed, they had already been defeated.

Song Xian, without mincing words, immediately unleashed his Flaming Meteor attack on one of them.

Seeing his fierce attack and not seeing the bearded man, the four men were filled with apprehension and dared not linger in the fight, so they quickly retreated.

Song Xian took the lead and chased after him, while Zhao Botao and the other two Foundation Establishment cultivators exchanged glances and followed.

Just as he was forcing the four to retreat, a team suddenly arrived from the rear to provide support. In an instant, hundreds of cultivators used various spells to attack him. It turned out that two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Murong family had arrived with a flanking team.

Faced with such a combined attack, he had no choice but to temporarily evade the onslaught and retreat to a safe position.

"Your commander has been beheaded. Surrender now, and I guarantee your safety." Song Xian flipped his hand, took out the head of the bearded man, and shouted sternly.

The reason he cut off this man's head was to intimidate the enemy cultivators. The overall situation was not optimistic. The spiritual energy of their own cultivators had already been greatly depleted. They could deal with these fresh troops for a while, but if they could not finish the battle quickly, they would definitely be defeated due to insufficient spiritual energy.

Although he possesses a century-old spiritual milk that can restore depleted spiritual power, it can only protect his own condition. Once the team is defeated, he alone is powerless to help. Therefore, he must take advantage of the team's remaining strength to first break the opponent's confidence.

Although the bearded man's head had been burned beyond recognition by the flames, the Murong family cultivators who had been with him day and night still recognized him at a glance.

In an instant, shouts and cries of alarm rose from the enemy ranks, including those from the Foundation Establishment cultivators, whose faces were also extremely grim.

They had initially held onto a sliver of hope, guessing that the three who had attacked Song Xian had merely retreated. Now it seemed that all three had probably been killed.

Those three were all prominent figures among the younger generation of the Murong family, and could be considered the elite among elites.

Before setting off, the bearded man made special arrangements, gathering the strength of three people to attack the other party. However, unexpectedly, not only did they fail to kill the other party, but they also lost their lives.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Murong family exchanged glances, all of them considering retreating.

"Murong Zhibo is dead. Those who know what's good for them should surrender quickly, and our sect will guarantee your safety." Just then, Zhao Botao led two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Beast Taming Sect to Song Xian. When he saw Song Xian take out the head of the bearded man, his expression brightened, and he quickly shouted in response to Song Xian's words.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Beast Taming Sect beside him understood immediately and echoed the call, shouting loudly to make the Murong family cultivators surrender.

The cultivators from the Murong family were already flustered, and the aura of these people made them even more apprehensive.

Someone shouted "Retreat!" and everyone frantically fled backward, afraid of falling behind and being targeted by Song Xian.

With over a hundred people fleeing, the morale of the Murong family cultivators immediately collapsed, and the others also fled in droves.

The stalemate between the two sides suddenly turned into a complete rout.

Soon, the Murong family's forces were completely routed. Some Murong family cultivators who were in the midst of fierce fighting and had no time to escape were also surrounded and dealt with by the Beast Taming Sect cultivators who surged up.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Botao gave an order and led everyone to chase after the fleeing cultivators of the Murong family. Just then, a series of loud rumbling sounds came from the colorful clouds in the sky, followed by huge bolts of lightning shooting down and blocking their pursuit.

Caught off guard, the Beast Taming Sect members were caught off guard, and many cultivators perished in the lightning attack.

Having experienced this before, Song Xian anticipated that the enemy would activate formation restrictions to cover the retreat of their fleeing soldiers, and thus he was prepared.

While Zhao Botao excitedly led his men in pursuit, he did not participate. Instead, he quickly assembled the Hunyuan Sect's forces and prepared for the attack.

When the array's restrictions were activated and lightning struck, many of the unprepared and chaotic Beast Taming Sect disciples were reduced to charred remains.

Only then did Zhao Botao calm down and direct the troops to march forward in formation.

……

Meanwhile, to the south of the great formation, an even fiercer battle had already reached its climax.

In mid-air, Xu Xiansheng transformed into a golden roc hundreds of feet tall, emitting a sharp cry. In an instant, the entire space churned like boiling water, and the originally stable space became undulating like hills.

In front of the golden roc, a deep, dark tunnel, several meters in size, materialized and led directly to Murong Teng.

The dark tunnel contained an extremely powerful aura of destruction. The space around Murong Teng was extremely distorted, as if it had been twisted into a pretzel shape.

However, he himself was completely unaffected. He held a golden mirror in his hand, which emitted a dazzling golden light, protecting him inside.

Once the deep, dark tunnel was formed, an extremely powerful force emanated from within, causing the space enveloped in the golden light of the mirror to tremble slightly.

Murong Teng's gaze sharpened, and he pulled out a red scroll. As spiritual energy flowed into it, a large amount of deep red liquid gushed out, like blood, and surged into the dark tunnel.

While the two were fighting, three other Golden Core cultivators from the Murong family were also engaged in fierce battle with other Golden Core cultivators from the Beast Taming Sect. The two sides exchanged spells and supernatural powers, and dazzling light enveloped their respective areas, creating a spectacular scene.

Further away, thousands of Murong family cultivators and Beast Taming Sect cultivators were also engaged in a chaotic battle.

Roars, wails, screams, and sounds of fighting rose and fell, shaking the heavens and the earth.

Meanwhile, from the red scroll that Murong Teng was using, a large amount of deep red, blood-like liquid gushed out and quickly enveloped the dark tunnel.

The dark tunnel seemed to transform into a red blood vessel, through which a deep crimson liquid flowed toward the golden roc.

The golden roc flapped its wings rapidly, letting out a piercing scream, and the space churned and surged once more.

The black tunnel, which was originally covered by crimson blood, trembled. With a crackling sound, the crimson liquid covering it gradually disappeared, while the large amount of crimson liquid flowing towards it was squeezed by the distorted space and shrunk into a ball.

Murong Teng turned the mirror in his hand, shining it onto the golden roc. Then, red threads appeared on the mirror, combining to form the shape of the golden roc.

In an instant, a golden light descended from the sky and landed on the golden roc.

The roc seemed to be frozen in place. Its rapidly flapping wings suddenly stopped in place. It was clear that it was trying very hard to flap them, but its body was as if it were filled with molten lead and could hardly move.

The golden roc slowly raised its wings with extremely slow movements, and as its wings moved slightly, the golden light surrounding it trembled slightly.

With a sharp shout, the image of the roc that appeared in the golden mirror in his hand became even clearer.

At the same time, the golden light surrounding the roc became even more dazzling. The roc, which had been slowly raising its wings, was once again pressed down by some force and could not move. Moreover, creaking sounds came from inside its body, like the sound of an old wooden bed being squeezed by an external force.

As the two were locked in a stalemate, Murong Teng's expression suddenly changed. He turned to look into the distance, and then immediately flew backward. A piercing golden sound followed, echoing throughout the entire formation.

Upon hearing this, the Murong family cultivators abandoned their opponents and fled in panic.

Soon, several streaks of light shot in from afar, and the one leading them was none other than Hong Haoran.

Behind him, a large number of Beast Taming Sect disciples had already entered the formation.

.........

Upon hearing the piercing metallic sound, Song Xian immediately went to Zhao Botao. He knew that this was the signal for the Murong family to retreat. Murong Hai had heard this sound earlier and immediately retreated to the mountain gate.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, let's stop and rest for a while before continuing!"

"What do you mean by that, Sect Leader Song?" Zhao Botao asked, puzzled. The team had just survived a round of attacks from the array's restrictions and was heading towards the light barrier when Song Xian suggested taking a break.

"The golden signal just now was the Murong family's retreat signal, but the enemy we are facing has already retreated back into their formation. This means that the signal was sent to other enemy units. If we continue forward and reach the light screen, we might encounter the main force of the Murong family retreating back to the mountain gate. Given our current condition and manpower, we are no match for them. It would be better to wait and move forward."

Zhao Botao's eyes flickered slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Sect Leader Song is mistaken! We are currently inside the formation and need to attack the front of the formation as soon as possible. Otherwise, the formation's restrictions will fall wave after wave, and our casualties will be even greater."

"Furthermore, the enemy is currently retreating and fleeing. Even if we encounter their main force retreating back to the mountain gate, they will not dare to attack us. Besides, since they have already fled, our forces to the south and west will definitely pursue them."

"I was just offering a suggestion. Fellow Daoist Zhao is the commander-in-chief of this team. Since you've made up your mind, then fine!" Song Xian said no more and turned back to the Hunyuan Sect's team.

He knew Zhao Botao's thoughts; he wanted to be the first to break through the formation. If he could lead the team to break through the formation, the merit would be considerable. Therefore, he disregarded the risks and went his own way.

However, he didn't care about the credit. After returning to Lin Zixiang and the others, he immediately ordered the team to move slowly and keep their distance from the Beast Taming Sect members, so that even if they encountered the main enemy force, they would not become their target.

The group continued forward and finally arrived at the defensive light barrier of the great formation. Fortunately, Song Xian's worries did not come true, as the Murong family's group had already retreated back into the mountain gate before they arrived.

At Zhao Botao's command, everyone launched an attack on the defensive light barrier. Before long, the two teams from the south and west of the Beast Taming Sect also arrived.

With everyone's combined attack, the defensive light barrier was breached in no time.

(End of this chapter)