Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 82 Breaking the Mountain
The Incense Burning Pavilion, completely closed off in the mountains, knew nothing of what was happening in the county.

Zhang Shaoyou once stated that a complete closure of the mountain would be the act of a coward and not a good choice; such a blind approach is definitely not a good thing. Closing the mountain and guarding it in the short term might leave others at a loss, serving as a temporary measure.

Generally, once the mountain is closed, even if the enemy is stronger, they rarely choose to launch a direct attack, as it could easily result in significant casualties. Everyone's fighting strength is hard-earned, and no one is willing to waste it. Last night, the Incense Burning Pavilion launched a surprise attack on the Heavenly Sword Sect, assuming the enemy was unprepared.

Since retiring from the mountains, Master Yiyang felt much more at ease, believing that there would be no problems in the next few days, and that he could hold out until Yang Dechang could get reinforcements from the Prince of Jin.

He never would have imagined that Yang Dechang not only didn't go to the Prince of Jin, but was also fighting in the county just now.

Little did they expect that on the very first night of the mountain's closure, the Tianxing Sword Sect and the Dongjiang Gang had already joined forces and launched a direct attack on the mountain gate. Apart from the four-person gang of adulterers, the main force of the Tianxing Sword Sect consisted entirely of traitors who had left the Fenxiang Tower.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The disciples guarding the mountain gate shouted hoarsely throughout the mountain. Master Yiyang, who was refining pills, suddenly stood up and almost kicked over the pill furnace.

As I rushed out and looked out from my vantage point, I saw a dense crowd blocking the mountain-protecting formation. A lame man in a wheelchair was taking out formation flags and sticking them in and out, seemingly trying to break the formation.

Master Yiyang almost vomited blood.

Under normal circumstances, outsiders may not even know the range of the mountain-protecting formation. If they rashly enter, they will be attacked. Whoever takes the lead will easily suffer casualties. This is why Chang Qing sent Zhang Shaoyou and others first.

As a result, a large group of their own men were now at this moment. Even though they didn't know how to break the formation, they knew exactly what the formation's range was. They precisely positioned themselves a step outside the range, watching the cripple wheelchair around trying to break the formation from the outside.

What's the point of playing this game?

Master Yiyang, no longer able to observe, shouted sternly, "Everyone out of seclusion, listen to my command! Concentrate all ranged attacks and attack that cripple!"

Someone nearby even asked, "Which one is the cripple? There are two."

Master Yiyang slapped him on the forehead: "The man who was breaking the formation!"

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" Countless members of the Incense Pavilion who were in seclusion or refining pills emerged from their seclusion, unleashing their strongest magic weapons. Various powers rained down like locusts, all blasting towards Lu Xingzhou.

Lu Xingzhou neither dodged nor evaded, but looked up at the colorful attacks in the sky that were as brilliant as fireworks, and chuckled softly: "Letting a pill master preside over a war... Fenxiang Tower still hasn't realized where it went wrong."

People around are giving you sidelong glances, as if you're not an alchemist...

"Boom!" A violent array of various powers exploded in front of Lu Xingzhou, but Lu Xingzhou didn't even blink. It was as if there were iron chains surrounding him, and all the powers couldn't get an inch closer than a foot away from him.

He wasn't breaking the formation at all; he was setting it up.

The defensive formation is centered on the Dongjiang Gang's famous defensive treasure, "Iron Chain Across the River," combined with a formation that integrates absorption and rebound effects.

The various powers were gathered into a single mass, which rebounded with a roar, crashing straight into a pavilion in the distant mountains.

Master Yiyang was greatly shocked and shouted, "Stop him!"

But how could it be too late?

With a loud "boom," the pavilion was blasted to pieces, and the earth beneath it was also blasted into a huge pit tens of feet deep.

The protective array on the mountain vanished in a flash.

“Your formation’s core is inside. How can I break it by planting flags from the outside…” Lu Xingzhou looked up at the dumbfounded Fenxianglou people on the mountain and casually waved his hand: “Go!”

Shi Tielong of the Dongjiang Gang retrieved the iron chain across the river, glanced at Lu Xingzhou with a complicated expression, and tacitly split up with Shen Tang's group, rushing towards the continuous buildings on the mountaintop.

From the mountaintop came Master Yiyang's furious roar: "Shi Tielong, you've started a war without authorization! Aren't you afraid of the court's wrath?"

Shi Tielong almost laughed out loud: "Then let Prefect Hao punish me! Go!"

Countless streaks of light rushed toward the mountaintop, and the visual effects of various magical techniques clashing were like fireworks exploding.

Lu Xingzhou did not participate in the main battles; he was never in charge of attacking fortified positions.

Ah Nuo quickly pushed Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair around the back mountain, heading straight for the treasure vault.

The things there are the most valuable, maybe even some second-grade goods... While the Dongjiang Gang doesn't know where the secret vault is, and they have a traitor in their hands and information on Yang Dechang, why not take advantage of everyone's fierce battle at the front and go get it first?
Are they really going to wait to split the spoils 50/50 with the Dongjiang Gang?
The secret vault is usually heavily guarded, but in this critical moment when two forces are attacking the mountain together, all the fighting forces have obviously gone out to fight a major battle. There are no strong people left squatting in the secret vault, only some minor characters.

Seeing Ah Nuo pushing Lu Xingzhou over, they all shouted in unison, "They actually ran away from the back mountain, not even bothering to put up a fight!"

This also reveals that with the mountain-protecting formation broken and a large number of their own protectors defecting and launching a counterattack, the people of Fenxianglou had no will to fight. Seeing the two opposing groups charging forward in massive numbers, the pressure was immense, and it was likely that many powerful figures had already fled, making a united front against them far from being able to resist.

This battle might be simpler than expected... but it also means that members of the Incense Burning Pavilion will soon come to the secret vault to plunder and escape, so we need to act quickly.

Ah Nuo sprang forward, grabbed a man who looked like a minor leader, and pulled him back: "Don't run, help open the door."

The underling cowered and cried, "Little miss, I don't have a key... If I did, I would have driven in and run away with the stuff!"

“No key is needed,” Lu Xingzhou said. “Just tell me if this mechanism has a self-destruct setting.”

"Absolutely not. These are all treasures of the Incense Burning Pavilion. Who would be willing to destroy them?"

"That's fine then." Lu Xingzhou unfurled his soul banner, and black flames silently burned the door lock. After a short while, with a "crack," the inner lock burned through, and the heavy stone door opened with a push.

The leader was dumbfounded.

"You can leave now." Lu Xingzhou shook the soul banner in his hand: "Your Incense Burning Pavilion was lucky not to provoke me a year ago."

The leader scrambled away. The master and apprentice entered the room and suddenly froze.

The wheelchair began to shake uncontrollably, and Ah Nuo couldn't even control the direction it was being pushed forward. Even the ring on her hand was shaking, and the iron disc and manhole cover inside the ring were flying around uncontrollably within the ring's space.

The leader reappeared outside the door, laughing loudly: "Although there's no self-destruct mechanism here, there is magnetic interference. Any metal object that enters goes out of control, and even magical artifacts become ineffective. This is precisely to prevent external invasion. I didn't expect you to be in a wheelchair. Now you can't even move, can you? I didn't expect that if I couldn't open the door, someone else would open it for me, hahaha..."

Both master and apprentice turned to look at him with strange expressions.

The leader's smile froze slightly as he turned to try and press a button on an indoor mechanism: "You're about to die, and you're still looking!"

Lu Xingzhou sighed and stood up.

Leader: "?"

“I can’t control the wheelchair… How about this?” Lu Xingzhou lifted the wheelchair.

Leader: "???"

With a loud bang, Lu Xingzhou swung his wheelchair and slammed it heavily onto his head, causing blood to splatter.

"I've been wanting to play like this for a while now, it's really fun." Lu Xingzhou comfortably put down his wheelchair: "Other powerful individuals might actually cause a lot of trouble if they cooperate with this magnetic interference, but you, a mere small leader, dare to act like this."

Ah Nuo looked around and quickly found a mechanism and pressed it.

The magnetic interference disappeared instantly.

Lu Xingzhou took out the Myriad Souls Banner: "I didn't want to kill too much right now, and I even said I would spare your life, but I didn't expect that someone would want to enter the Emperor's Banner on their own."

Before the leader could even scream, a wisp of black mist had already been absorbed into the banner, and he was completely dead.

Ah Nuo didn't even bother to glance at it, quickly stuffing things into the ring; if she was any later, someone else would come...

Lu Xingzhou glanced around and saw mostly medicine bottles, along with a few herbs and fruits that looked somewhat interesting. He collected the herbs and fruits first, then rummaged through the shelves for a while, opening a few medicine bottles, sniffing them, and putting away two of them.

No sooner had he finished than the sound of something tearing through the air came from outside. Master Yiyang, covered in blood, stumbled and landed outside the door, his eyes blazing with fury: "Lu Xingzhou!"

Lu Xingzhou rowed away, chuckling, "It seems that the True Man himself isn't some hero who would perish with the sect. He's just running away halfway through the fight to grab something from the secret vault and leave?"

Master Yiyang's face turned pale and then red. Wasn't that obvious? He was surrounded by several third-rank cultivators outside and was seriously injured in just a short while. Seeing that he couldn't hold on any longer, why didn't he run away?
Others didn't realize what was happening yet; once they did, they would probably all rush to grab the items and run away.

Master Yiyang noticed that Lu Xingzhou had no powerful figures with him, only him and a child. His eyes instantly filled with hatred and ferocity: "Lu Xingzhou, you have no way to get to hell, but you insist on barging in. Let's take your head and collect interest from Shen Tang first!"

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "You don't really think you're so strong that you could break through this encirclement of so many people, do you? Someone came with you. Shen Tang knows he won't let you live; he just wants to give him a chance to prove his loyalty..."

Before he finished speaking, a sword light suddenly appeared behind Master Yiyang.

The already seriously injured Master Yiyang didn't even have time to react before the sword energy pierced his chest.

Master Yiyang turned his head in astonishment, his eyes widening in fury: "Yang Dechang...you will die a horrible death..."

Edward Yang was even more speechless: "I don't want to openly participate in the war and take action against your people anymore, for fear that someone will see it... You come here to jump around in front of me all by yourself, and you're blaming me?"

"Bang!" Master Yiyang fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in death.

Even on his deathbed, he couldn't understand why Edward Yang made killing him sound so natural, as if not killing him would be a disservice to the organization.

Lu Xingzhou tossed a bottle of pills he had just taken to Yang Dechang: "A second-grade breakthrough pill, it should work for you."

Yang Dechang tossed the pills in his hand, a meaningful look in his eyes: "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you and steal the treasures here? Then you don't need to share them with me."

“Shen Tang used my name to connect with Wan Cheng, and you’re still thinking about this? Am I overestimating you…” Lu Xingzhou sighed and pointed to the contents of the secret vault: “To be honest, this is the nature of the Incense Pavilion, and this place isn’t exactly a sacred mountain. The main collection consists of pills and talismans, and while the quality is decent, there’s really nothing that catches the eye. I’m a little disappointed… It’s not worth it, Lao Yang.”

Edward Yang shook his head with a wry smile.

Lu Xingzhou suddenly asked, "Old Yang... do you have any news about which young master of the Huo family went out and where?"

Edward Yang's heart skipped a beat: "What do you want to do?"

Lu Xingzhou said nonchalantly, "The struggle for the throne in the royal family is a life-or-death struggle. Is it so hard for me to understand that I want the lives of a few brothers? If they don't die, when will it be Huo Shang's turn to take the throne?"

"You shouldn't have told me this." Edward Yang was speechless. How could someone say something like this so openly? Are we that close?

"But I think I should tell you this," Lu Xingzhou said calmly. "After you go back and think it through, send me a message if you have any news... Just send it to the Heavenly Sword Sect."

Edward Yang pursed his lips tightly and remained silent.

Lu Xingzhou said, "Whether you do it or not is your decision. I won't force you."

Yang Dechang put away the pills, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, and disappeared without a word.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: 0 words completed. That's all for tonight at midnight. Taking a short break, I'll be back tomorrow! Still asking for monthly votes!
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