The clown at this moment had his face paint no longer intact, sporting only that somewhat comical pointed cap on his head.

If not for that, Yuan Ming might not have recognized him at all.

For beneath the comical paint hid a quite young and handsome male countenance.

Once Clown Xiao Yao caught sight of the Female Array Master with her eyes closed, and his eyes subsequently fell on Yuan Ming, a thick murderous intent suddenly burst forth.

"Sister, what's happened to you!"

"Thief!" With a fierce shout, the clown rapidly surged forward, and with a swing of his hand, over a dozen golden Light Blades shot through the air toward Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming, seeing the clown's approach, had already put a good distance between them, and upon witnessing the clown's attack, he dodged even further away thanks to his agile speed.

With one hand tightly clutching the Cold Star Sword, he communicated with the Black Toad, ready to launch a counterattack.

"Brother, stop it."

At that moment, a crisp female voice rang out.

As the voice sounded, the dozen or so golden Light Blades suddenly halted in mid-air, hanging there without immediately being withdrawn.

Yuan Ming slightly shifted his stance and saw that the Female Array Master had already awakened.

"Xiao Ying, are you alright?" The clown's face showed an expression of joy as he hurriedly inquired.

"Brother, I'm fine now, he's one of us. I was injured and lost consciousness earlier, and he's been protecting me the whole time." At this point, the Female Array Master had already stood up from the ground, and with a stamp of her foot, her transparent embroidered shoes flashed, and she teleported right next to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming asked in a low voice, "How is your recovery?"

"Good, very good, hee hee," Xi Ying answered softly, "From now on, I will be called Xiao Ying."

Yuan Ming swiftly said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "From now on, you Xiao Ying, are my employer, and I am the person you've bribed to infiltrate Biluo Cave."

Xi Ying said, "Exactly, that solves the issue of your identity, you're so clever."

Yet Yuan Ming couldn't help but ask with concern in a low voice, "What's your current situation?"

"For the moment, I am occupying this body and have also gained her memories. The original Xiao Ying's Divine Soul was severely wounded by Xi Cangqiong, and I stepped in to save it, but unfortunately, she will need to remain unconscious for a long time to come," explained Xi Ying through transmitted voice.

"Is this also a Soul Cultivator's method?" Yuan Ming asked.

"Of course, you will come to understand the wonders of Soul Cultivator techniques later on," Xi Ying replied with a hint of amusement in her voice.

By this time, Xiao Yao had also caught up, circling around her with eyes full of concern, and only after confirming there were no evident injuries did he begin to feel a bit relieved.

"Sister, what happened? You reprimanded me earlier for being rash, so how could you be so reckless? Do you know how worried I was just now? If something had gone wrong, how would I explain it to the Great Elder when we get back?" After checking, he couldn't help but pull the authority of the older brother as he questioned her.

"I underestimated the Great Elder's strength and teleported a bit slowly, but I'm alright now," Xi Ying spoke, her voice indistinguishable from Xiao Ying's.

"This man is your Dark Child arranged within Biluo Cave, how come you've never mentioned him before?" Xiao Yao relaxed a bit and looked towards Yuan Ming with a flash of suspicion in his eyes as he asked.

"Brother, aren't you annoying? Can I possibly tell you everything?" retorted Xi Ying with an impatient expression on her face.

Xiao Yao's expression stiffened; obviously, he had no real way to deal with this sister.

Yuan Ming had also put on the Dawn Coat provided by Xi Ying by this time, ready to switch allegiances.

"I had been injured just before and spent quite a while with Breathing Control; how is the battle situation now?" Xi Ying inquired.

"The situation is largely decided. It's just that Chen Cangqiong has not yet been slain… A Soul Cultivator nearing a late-stage Core Formation breakthrough is truly a nuisance to deal with. Three Core Formation Stage cultivators exerted various methods and, even joining forces, have yet to subdue him," Xiao Yao said solemnly.

Upon hearing this, Xi Ying's expression became serious, and she revealed a contemplative look.

"Sister, do you still have any Array that could trap Chen Cangqiong? If we can't kill him this time and he escapes, when he returns after his breakthrough, I fear it might bring boundless calamity," Xiao Yao said with concern.

The others who had followed seemed equally hopeful, sharing the same worries.

After all, provoking a Core Formation stage Soul Cultivator and failing to completely eradicate him would mean no one could bear the consequences should he seek revenge in the future.

Unexpectedly, after only a moment's thought, Xi Ying simply smiled slightly, "Don't worry, he's as good as dead this time."

Upon hearing her words, everyone was startled, their reactions a mix of shock and anticipation.

"Let's go and take a look," said Xi Ying confidently, bending down to pick up the Silver Cat Guoguo.

"And where did this little cat come from?" Xiao Yao asked.

"It ran out from the beast tide just now, and we hit it off very well; I've given it a name, Guoguo. Does it sound nice?" Xi Ying said.

"Alright, it does look really cute," Xiao Yao said.

"Meow," Guoguo seemed to have heard.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the back mountain battlefield.

But the scene before them was startling: half of the mountainside had collapsed, nearly ten miles of trees broken and fallen, the ground littered with the carcasses of Fierce Beasts and pockmarked with craters where explosions had occurred.

Fires burned here and there on the ground with black smoke rising. As far as the eye could see, the landscape was battered and bruised.

Above in the sky, three Core Formation Stage cultivators from the Dawn Organization strategized in a triangle formation, encircling the Great Elder in the center.

The Great Elder, who appeared as a young man, now stood with his hair disheveled. A blood-colored banner was erected in front of him, and his clothes were torn and fluttering in the wind, his face distorted with madness.

The situation of the three people surrounding him wasn't much better.

The hunchbacked elder had muddled flesh and blood on his right shoulder, and only half of his right ear remained. He was drenched in blood, yet he was controlling a silver small bell raised high above his head, aimed directly at Chen Cangqiong.

From the silver small bell, visible semi-transparent sound waves could be seen bombarding, constantly pressing down on the Great Elder.

On the other side, the red-robed man's face had turned deathly pale. His body was trembling non-stop, and his eyes were glazed, as if his Divine Soul had been greatly damaged.

He was now relying completely on his strong will to drive the fiery red flying fork, blocking one of the Great Elder's escape routes.

The green-robed lady was in the best condition, with no apparent injuries. Her expression was serious as she continuously infused mana into the jade flying sword floating in front of her.

The sword body radiated a bright green light, and one after another, Jade Sword Shadows split from the sword body. Soon, more than twenty jade flying swords were arranged in formation.

"Go," the green-robed lady commanded with a delicate shout.

Over twenty jade flying swords immediately took flight, forming an array on their own. In an instant, they transformed into a circular Sword Array in the sky, bearing down on the Great Elder with the force of a crushing mountain.

"Stop, everyone don't come any closer," Xi Ying called for a halt with the group 300 zhang away.

Yuan Ming watched from a distance and couldn't help but feel a sense of alarm.

Beneath the jade Sword Array, intersecting sword marks crisscrossed through the void, distorting into twisted sword trails. Any living being entering its radius would undoubtedly be sliced into countless pieces.

The Great Elder's expression became slightly grave upon seeing this.

His hands suddenly lifted, and the blood-colored banner rose into the sky, slamming directly into the Sword Array.

As the two neared each other, red light burst forth from the banner, and a vast expanse of Blood Cloud surged out, colliding with the Sword Array in an instant. The red and green lights intertwined, releasing bursts of thunderous roars.

Seeing the deadlock, the hunchbacked elder immediately let out a low shout and pushed the silver small bell forcefully with both hands.

"Dang…"

A loud bell's chime rang out, and waves of sound poured out like a flood towards the Great Elder.

As everyone watched, the Great Elder's movements suddenly became unbelievably slow, as if he were trapped in the mire, struggling to move.

The red-robed man, who had been dazed moments before, now had a sharp gleam in his eyes. He pushed forward with his hand, and the fiery red flying fork traced an arc, piercing through the Great Elder's chest from behind.

The right side of the Great Elder's chest was immediately pierced by the flying fork, leaving a gruesome gash as fresh red blood gushed out.

Yuan Ming felt somewhat surreal witnessing this scene.

However, the other members of Dawn were already shouting in excitement.

Just then, everyone suddenly realized that the gushing blood was not dispersing. Instead, it writhed on its own, splitting into a large swarm of blood-colored bats that flew out with a "whoosh."

They roughly split into three groups, each heading towards one of the three Core Formation Stage cultivators involved in the siege.

The hunchbacked elder reacted the quickest, turning the silver small bell to blast the incoming bats with sound waves, dispersing them all.

The red-robed man pulled out a fiery red round mirror from his chest and reflected it in front of him. A torrent of flames spewed forth, scorching the bats.

Only the third batch of bats, which rushed towards the green-robed lady actively powering the Sword Array, managed to get close and dove to bite her.

The green-robed lady had no time to defend herself and was panicked when the blood-colored bats neared her. But she found that the approaching blood bats all turned into a cloud of Blood Mist and dispersed.

Instead, behind the hunchbacked elder, who had been the first to defend, the figure of the Great Elder materialized out of thin air.

His hand emerged from behind like a specter, reaching for the hunchbacked elder's nape with a surge of Blood Light in his palm.

Just then, a black kettle with mountain and river bird patterns engraved on it suddenly flew up into the sky. The kettle shone with dark light, like a black sun emitting rings of black ripples.

It was the Soul Suppressing Kettle that Xi Ying had taken.

As the black ripples spread, everyone's vision twisted, and the scene in mid-air drastically changed.

There were no longer any Blood Cloud and Sword Array collisions in the sky, nor was the hunchbacked elder under duress...

Everything they had seen was but an illusion!

The real scene was...

The green-robed lady and the red-robed man were back-to-back, wrapped up by the Great Elder's Blood-colored Banner.

Two enormous blood-colored bats were perched on their foreheads, sucking at them.

Only the hunchbacked elder, with the delaying power of the silver small bell, was resisting the Great Elder's actual body.

But even now, the Great Elder no longer looked like a young man. His hair was white and fluttering, and his face bore the look of advanced age, suggesting he had also activated some costly secret technique or Divine Skill.

"Ah…"

The crowd was truly shocked by the scene that suddenly appeared before them and all wanted to turn and flee.

Yuan Ming was also staggered. A Core Formation Stage Soul Cultivator was able to suppress three Magic Practitioners of the same realm with his own strength.

No wonder Soul Cultivators were considered heretics and were feared and ostracized by the entire Cultivation World. Their abilities were simply too unfathomable.

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