"Not good, Old Ancestor!" Zhangsun Buhuo's face paled in horror.
She saw that the Body Integration realm cultivators had already channeled their Spiritual power and charged toward Immortal Linghu.
The speed of Body Integration realm cultivators was far beyond that of ordinary cultivators; in an instant, they had entered Jade Mist Valley.
But the situation changed in the blink of an eye.
Zhangsun Buhuo and the other Void Refinement realm cultivators were in the second echelon.
Before they could charge into Jade Mist Valley, the vanished grand array actually reappeared.
Outside the grand array, those nine phantom dragons reemerged, exuding a powerful aura.
Zhangsun Buhuo gazed unwillingly at the numerous cultivators who were already trapped within the array of Jade Mist Valley.
Hearing the furious roar of "Retreat!" from the Painting Ancestor Dongfang Xuan on the Li Clan's side, and seeing a phantom dragon carrying a Half-Step Body Integration aura roaring towards her, her expression changed.
She had no choice but to follow Dongfang Xuan's example and issue a stern order.
"Retreat!!!"
Commands to retreat echoed one after another.
The nine phantom dragons flaunted their might outside the grand array.
The cultivators of the three prefectures, who were just about to charge into Jade Mist Valley, slammed to a rapid halt and retreated unwillingly.
Once they understood everything, the sky full of cultivators turned deathly pale, standing in vain outside the array formation.
"It's over... everything is over."
The Patriarch of the Xuanyuan Clan, Xuanyuan Yuanhua, was a young-looking cultivator holding a four-foot blue ring-pommel broadsword radiating a murderous aura.
Looking at the reappeared grand array of Jade Mist Valley, his mind went blank, and he nearly plummeted from the cloudy sky to the ground.
Now, the mighty figures of their three prefectures were all inside Jade Mist Valley, clearly having fallen into a trap.
How could cultivators like them, who were below the Body Integration realm, possibly break through the grand array?
Let alone breaking the array, without their mighty figures, the three prefectures wouldn't even need to wait for the Blood Moon to arrive; afterwards, Immortal Linghu alone would be enough to wipe out the entire three prefectures.
Xuanyuan Yuanhua surveyed the multitude of bewildered Daoist friends in the cloudy sky, feeling as if he had lost his very soul.
The nine phantom dragons of Jade Mist Valley roared, as if mocking their stupidity and incompetence.
...
Meanwhile, outside Jade Mist Valley, it wasn't just the numerous cultivators floating despairingly and astounded in the cloudy sky.
Hidden in the dark shadows far away from Jade Mist Valley were those harboring ulterior motives; they were the wild beasts within Grandhaven Prefecture waiting to feast upon their prey.
Deep underground.
A scarlet light bloomed from within the rock layers.
What was squirming here was not magma or an underground river, but writhing flesh and blood.
Massive tentacles blended seamlessly with the natural rock and stone.
One tentacle after another squirmed deep underground as if in a frenzied dance.
Attached to the long tentacles was a colossal, jelly-like fleshy mass, and its perfectly round eyes were the source of the scarlet light.
"Waa!"
Atop the flesh, a baby held in the arms of a young man let out a clear, piercing wail. "I'm so hungry! It's been three months; let me eat my fill, I want to eat my fill!"
"Wait a little longer."
Banshu Weide comforted the divine infant in his arms.
"This is our last chance, the last chance for our Banshu Clan to rise again.
Grandhaven Prefecture is our land, and others are not allowed to encroach upon it. I will make them realize this, and I will feed you to your fill all at once."
"Waa!"
The immortal infant's shrill cries were filled with impatience.
The massive, bizarre body beneath him writhed, exuding a sacred yet maddening aura.
This aura even reached the intensity of the Body Integration realm, yet felt somehow beyond Body Integration.
Banshu Weide gazed intently at the battlefield in Jade Mist Valley.
Seeing Jade Mist Valley once again engulfed by the array formation and the anxious enemies outside, a flash of anger crossed Banshu Weide's eyes, mingled with a bit of unwillingness and anticipation.
Many years ago, the entire Grandhaven Prefecture harbored two immortals.
One was the Red Dust Immortal of the Martial Academy, and the other was the immortal infant of their Banshu Clan.
Jade Mist Valley... Jade Mist Valley was nothing.
At least in the eyes of their two factions, Jade Mist Valley was merely a latecomer with a bit of karmic luck.
The Old Ancestor, Banshu Ao, was the true powerhouse of the entire Grandhaven Prefecture, but under the immortal infant, he could never break through to Body Integration.
The Banshu Clan's vision and prestige exceeded any other faction in Grandhaven Prefecture.
Old Ancestor Banshu Ao cultivated various methods of Grandhaven Prefecture and coalesced the rules of the 'World'.
His karmic opportunity lay in Azure Cloud Prefecture.
The Old Ancestor once said that when he returned from Azure Cloud Prefecture, the Banshu Clan would turn the immortal infant into a true watchdog.
But he went on that trip and never returned.
"Soon, soon. Everything in Grandhaven Prefecture will still belong to our Banshu Clan."
Banshu Weide stared intently at the cultivators of the Azure Cloud Li Clan.
It was them who had driven the Banshu Clan to a dead end, forcing him to flee and scurry about with the immortal infant.
Yet, he still didn't act rashly, scanning his surroundings. "The Martial Academy..."
The true masters of Grandhaven Prefecture were the Banshu Clan and the Martial Academy. He stroked the immortal infant's head. "Where is the Red Dust Immortal?"
Compared to the people currently slaughtering each other in Jade Mist Valley, he cared more about that Red Dust Immortal of the Martial Academy.
"He is not here; he has already fled!" the immortal infant roared in anger.
"That cowardly thing, he should have protected Grandhaven Prefecture alongside me!"
White light flickered in Banshu Weide's eyes.
He actually peered through the earth layers, seeing streak after streak of blood-red threads.
Those threads flowed like human blood vessels, and this was entirely the essence, blood, and souls extracted by the people of the Martial Academy slaughtering the commoners of Grandhaven Prefecture over the past century.
"He left? Does that mean the one feeding on the commoners in the Martial Academy wasn't the Red Dust Immortal?" Banshu Weide's expression changed.
He had observed the anomalies in Grandhaven Prefecture over these years; both he and the immortal infant had been guarding against the Red Dust Immortal attempting to devour the entirety of Grandhaven Prefecture to advance further.
"No, it's not him!" The immortal infant said,
"Beware of the six ants of the Martial Academy! Devouring so many commoners is to forge the Red Dust method, to forge their own world.
Beneath the earth veins lies the power of Body Integration. An entire Grandhaven Prefecture and so many cultivators are enough to allow him to break through the Dao and achieve the Mahayana realm!"
"It couldn't be them." Banshu Weide shook his head.
The Martial Academy educated the world, and they similarly educated their Banshu Clan, passing it down from generation to generation.
Old Ancestor Banshu Ao possessed numerous spiritual roots due to the immortal infant's immortal Dao, allowing him to observe the rules of heaven and earth.
However, the one who truly allowed Banshu Ao to earn the title of the 'number one person beneath the Body Integration realm' was indeed the Martial Academy.
Every generation of the Banshu Clan received teachings from the Martial Academy.
Even he himself had cultivated his Dao of 'Cloud' within the Martial Academy.
He knew the temperaments of the Six Masters.
In order to forge the Red Dust, they might devour Redmere, Westfall, and Azure Cloud, but they would absolutely never lay a hand on Grandhaven Prefecture.
After all, no matter what kind of person one is, they still have feelings for the cats and dogs they raise.
"Who exactly is it?" Banshu Weide's expression turned gloomy.