"Brother Lu, the disciples who sacrificed have all turned to dust, and we don't know the [Bloodline Seeking Curse]. I fear..."
Mou Chaojun searched around and returned to Lu Yan's side with a look of sorrow. His hands were still stained with blood, but there were no bodies.
"Alas~ let's try to find something through their clothes. Whatever we can find is better than nothing. Also, search for any storage bags nearby. The disciples' storage bags must contain specialties from our Qingfeng Villa."
"Alright, we'll search again."
The 24 people scattered again. Although they found storage bags, they were too dispersed. It turned out that after the disciples died, their storage bags were looted and scattered.
Finally, Lu Yan and the 24 others simply burned all the nearby corpses with a true fire.
It was considered a way to guide the disciples' souls.
Just as the true fire consuming the corpses slowly died down, another group of cultivators was teleported here.
"Form the array!"
This time, Lu Yan gave the order, and the 24 people quickly completed the [Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Array]. A faint but exceptionally sharp sword energy surrounded them.
"Senior Brother~ Senior Brother, please don't misunderstand. We are from [Shengyu Sect]. We are all from immortal sects. Senior Brother, be careful not to injure your allies!"
As soon as Hua Tingyan was teleported, he heard someone shout about forming an array. At first, he was a little dismissive. The cultivators who had entered before were all from sixth-grade or lower sects, incomparable to their seventh-grade sect.
Even though [Shengyu Sect] was at the bottom of the seventh-grade sects, it was still a behemoth compared to sixth-grade sects.
However, before he could utter a sarcastic remark, his eyes widened. In just a few breaths, a dispersed group of cultivators had already formed an orderly array, emitting a faint sword energy. This nearly scared him to death!
Begging for mercy is not shameful; dying is.
As Hua Tingyan's loud yet cautious plea echoed, the 80 junior brothers behind him finally noticed the 24 cultivators from other sects floating in the air.
One by one, they became as if facing a great enemy. Many had already summoned their magical artifacts to protect themselves and began to move cautiously with tacit understanding, preparing to form a battle array.
"Shengyu Sect? You may leave."
Upon hearing the name [Shengyu Sect], Lu Yan was stunned for a moment before letting them go.
Ye Yudong, the Hall Master of the War God Hall of Qingfeng Villa, was from [Shengyu Sect]. Moreover, quite a few Nascent Soul realm senior brothers in the sect had defected from Shengyu Sect.
It was just that, miraculously, the relationship between Shengyu Sect and Qingfeng Villa was unusually harmonious, considered a friendly sect.
Shengyu Sect never pursued the matter of Ye Yudong and the others defecting.
Therefore, Lu Yan did not want to have any conflict with Shengyu Sect, lest it make things difficult for Ye Yudong and the others.
"Thank you~ Thank you, Senior Brother. We shall take our leave now."
Hua Tingyan cupped his fists at Lu Yan and quickly led his junior brothers away.
Lu Yan and the others remained in place for another hour before departing.
However, not long after they left, he stopped.
"Form the array, enemy attack!"
Almost instantly, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Array was completed.
"Array rise!"
Just as the Qingfeng Villa disciples' sword array was in place, eight array light screens lit up from all four directions. Before they could launch an attack, a continuous drizzle suddenly fell from the sky.
Thump~ Thump~ Thump~
The fine raindrops fell, hitting the sword array and sounding like muffled drumbeats!
Hearing this sound and feeling his heartbeat involuntarily quicken, Lu Yan's expression changed. He immediately began to direct the sword array to meet the enemy.
"Three Swords, Awakening of Insects!"
Roar~
A sword cry like a dragon's roar sounded, and a dragon-shaped sword energy shot towards the dark clouds that had suddenly appeared in the sky.
Tap, tap, tap.
Amidst the dense striking sounds, the ten-zhang thick sword energy was continuously weakened and shrunk. However, the dark clouds pressed low, and within three breaths, they were pierced by the dragon-shaped sword energy.
The fine rain, carrying immense power, instantly dissipated.
"Boundless Sword Rain!"
A robust voice with full energy came from the darkness. The eight array light screens instantly shot out immeasurable sword energy towards the Qingfeng Villa disciples.
Clearly, the enemies in the dark were well-prepared, having set up a specialized array. They intended to use a sword array to break their sword array.
"One Sword, Beginning of Spring, Two Swords, Grain Rain~ Defend!"
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Array struck out two more swords, directly slashing towards the surrounding array light screens!
Lu Yan, having gone through trials, understood a principle:
The best defense is offense!
Two sword energies, one emerald green and one bright silver, slashed out to the left and right, rapidly expanding. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into giant sword energies a hundred zhang long.
Boom~ Crackle~ Crackle~
With two cracking sounds, one array light screen on the left and one on the right was split open!
At the same time, the sword rain that filled the sky shot onto the sword array of the Qingfeng Villa disciples, erupting in a series of clanging sounds.
After feeling the power of the sword rain's attack, a disdainful smile tugged at the corner of Lu Yan's mouth. He then shouted:
"Seven Swords, Start of Summer, Eight Swords, Grain Full!"
Another two consecutive sword energies were unleashed. The array light screens on the left and right were completely split open, and the power of the sword rain from the front and back array light screens immediately decreased significantly!
Taking advantage of the moment when the enemies in the dark were adjusting their formations, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Array paused its attack. However, the sword energy of the entire sword array surged, and all disciples who had comprehended sword intent integrated their sword intent into the sword array.
"Twelve, Great Heat!"
As Lu Yan uttered this phrase with a sigh, a fiery red sword energy exploded like a burning ring. The enemies in the dark had no chance to escape and were directly cut into coke!
Yes, coke. The high-temperature sword energy, after horizontally slicing the enemies into countless pieces, the scorching heat directly burned those corpses into coke.
The sword energy shot out for two miles, not only killing all the enemies hidden in the dark but also setting the surrounding forest ablaze.
"Collect the storage bags and leave immediately."
Lu Yan dispersed the sword array, breathing heavily, and instructed his junior brothers to clean up the battlefield. He himself took out three Qi-recovery pills and quickly recovered.
Two hours later, a group of people stopped on a high mountain five hundred miles away to count the spoils of war.
"It must be those bastards from [Shengyu Sect]. These blue robes and blue flying swords are their standard magical artifacts."
Mou Chaojun sneered, shaking a few blue robes in his hand.
"It was them. No wonder they were so easily defeated.
Since they are all annihilated and no one else saw, we can pretend we never met them."
"Hehe~ That's exactly what I was thinking.
Brothers, take turns resting and standing guard, be ready to fight at any time!"
"Okay~"
The recent great victory had filled the Qingfeng Villa disciples with high fighting spirits.
The subsequent continuous victories further instilled in them an invincible confidence.
In the following month, Lu Yan and his group maintained at least two battles a day, and sometimes up to four continuous battles a day.
And they maintained an undefeated record.
Initially, they maintained their battle array formation, and people actively ambushed them. Later, they had to spread out and advance in a loose formation before cultivators dared to provoke them.
Finally, the surviving cultivators within the [Twilight Cicada Secret Realm] all knew that the 24 old foxes from Qingfeng Villa were not to be trifled with.
Even the arrogant monks from the Buddhist sect, Budong Temple, suffered losses at their hands.
If Lu Yan and Mou Chaojun had not hesitated to act mercilessly due to the power of Buddhism, all 18 monks from Budong Temple would have died!
The disciples of Qingfeng Villa had their fill of killing and also gained considerable spoils. After leaving the secret realm, they received great praise from Ye Yudong. Even with the death of 12 disciples, Ye Yudong was very satisfied, as such a casualty rate was extremely low.
However, none of them paid attention to why the [Twilight Cicada Secret Realm] was called the Twilight Cicada Secret Realm.
Nor did they notice the changes occurring within the Twilight Cicada Secret Realm.