Yun Xi stood behind Mu Ningzhu like a background prop as Mu Ningzhu, on behalf of the disciples from the Haoran Sect, recounted everything that had transpired—how Zhang Yan had fallen right before her eyes. She spoke truthfully, holding nothing back.
The one who had rushed over was Feng Zhēnrén from the Bao Hua City outpost. After the beast tide ended, he had completed his mission and was preparing to return to the sect for closed-door cultivation.
As for Sheng Yuhong, the sect leader's eldest disciple, he had stayed behind to handle the aftermath. Once that was finished, he traveled together with Feng Zhēnrén. They hadn't expected to encounter the Haoran Sect's distress signal along the way.
What's more, it wasn't just the Haoran Sect's signal in the sky. Signals from other sects and cultivation clans were also visible. Both men immediately realized something serious had happened and rushed here at full speed.
After hearing the full account, Feng Zhēnrén quickly grasped how tricky the situation was. A Nascent Soul cultivator from the Mingjian Sect had arrived, and his own strength might not be enough to match. He turned to Sheng Yuhong and said,
"Junior Nephew Sheng, this matter involves evil cultivators, and it also implicates the cultivators of an entire city and those from the City Lord's Mansion. Send a message to the Sect Master. It would be best for the sect to dispatch a Nascent Soul cultivator to take charge."
"Yes, Feng Zhēnrén."
Sheng Yuhong understood the severity of the situation and immediately transmitted a message to his master.
Mu Ningzhu hesitated briefly, then spoke.
"Martial Uncle Feng, is it possible for us to leave first?"
Feng Zhēnrén swept his gaze over the three of them. After a moment, he responded.
"You three shouldn't leave just yet. You were directly involved and understand the full story. Once the sect's Nascent Soul cultivator arrives, they might have questions for you. Besides, it may not be safe for you to leave right now."
Mu Ningzhu understood from his words that there was no leaving early. She nodded and agreed, then went into the city to look for lodging.
Feng Zhēnrén, meanwhile, took Sheng Yuhong with him to pay a visit to Shi Jun Zhēnjūn.
Yun Xi felt a bit deflated, but she knew Feng Zhēnrén's concerns weren't without reason. She could only go with Qin Tongshuang to find a place to stay.
The Haoran Sect took Sheng Yuhong's message very seriously and sent Yu Feng Zhēnjūn to Shuangshan City to handle the situation.
Yu Feng Zhēnjūn was the Nascent Soul cultivator tasked with guarding the sect for the past hundred years. Upon receiving the message talisman, he informed the Sect Master and immediately left the sect.
Before long, the Loose Cultivator Alliance also sent a Nascent Soul cultivator to Shuangshan City, as did the Hehuan Sect. The latter was received by Zi Jing.
One after another, Golden Core cultivators from various cultivation clans also arrived in Shuangshan City. Their presence made all the local cultivators behave much more cautiously. With all these powerful figures gathered, it was in everyone's best interest to keep their heads down.
Due to the beast tide, nearly half of Shuangshan City's cultivators had perished, leaving many courtyards empty. This time, Mu Ningzhu rented a small courtyard where all three of them had their own rooms.
Each of them had narrowly escaped death and had witnessed Zhang Yan perish before their very eyes. The lingering heaviness in their hearts wouldn't go away easily. After returning to their respective rooms and activating their defensive formations, they began to process everything that had happened over the past three days.
Yun Xi sat for a while in a daze, then pulled out Dian Dian to check on it. After confirming that the little one was in good condition, she began to mentally reconstruct the entire chain of events.
Something about it all still didn't quite sit right with her. Sitting cross-legged, she entered a meditative state and sent her spiritual consciousness into her inner space.
The space remained unchanged. Only the Xianling Grass gave off a soft green glow. When it sensed Yun Xi's arrival, it sent her a telepathic message.
"Yun Xi, is it over?"
"It's over."
The Xianling Grass shook its leaves and asked,
"Was Dian Dian struck down?"
"No. It actually turned misfortune into a blessing. It successfully advanced to Tier Two and even awakened its bloodline inheritance. Right now, it's receiving inherited memories."
"Then why do you look unhappy?"
"Do I? I just can't figure out a few things."
"Oh."
The Xianling Grass clearly had no way to help. Human thoughts were too complicated for it to understand.
Only then did Yun Xi turn her attention to the chat group. After scrolling through the messages, she posted her first one.
[Fleeting Cloud]: Hello everyone. It's been a while. How are you all doing?
[Survival is the Ultimate Truth]: Not bad. Have you gotten through your crisis?
[Fleeting Cloud]: Mm. Thanks to Star Trek's help, it's resolved now. There won't be any lingering threats either.
[Star Trek]: How's your physical cultivation going?
[Fleeting Cloud]: I've already trained to the third movement.
[Star Trek]: That's impressive in such a short time. Once this set of techniques is no longer enough for your body's needs, you can trade with me for a mid-tier body refinement technique.
Yun Xi's eyes lit up after reading that. She immediately replied that she would be happy to do so.
After that, she briefly recounted her recent ordeal in the group. The ones with the most to say on the matter were Ethereal Grace and Ox-Head Horse-Face.
[Ox-Head Horse-Face]: The fate of all evil cultivators is annihilation. They won't even be allowed into the underworld. You'd better stay alert going forward.
[Ethereal Grace]: Little Cloud, you got lucky this time. That Ninefold Sacrificial Array must have been a simplified version. If it had been the true version, even a Mahayana Dàozūn wouldn't have escaped, let alone a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like you.
There was once a cultivator who used this array to sacrifice an entire cultivation realm in order to ascend. He was struck down on the spot by the Heavenly Tribulation, not even ashes remained.
Yun Xi's heart pounded after reading that. It seemed she had truly stumbled into good fortune this time. Otherwise, she would've been long gone.
[Fleeting Cloud]: Senior, he almost avoided the heavenly punishment. He set the array inside a pocket space, and overlapped it with this city's space, pulling all the cultivators inside. Most low-level cultivators died instantly.
I only survived because of the mid-grade spirit stones sustaining me. In the end, Dian Dian risked everything to break through, triggering a tribulation lightning that cracked open the space and shattered the evil array. Even now, I get chills thinking about it.
Thankfully, City Lord Li destroyed the array's spatial overlap mechanism in time. That gave the tribulation lightning a way in. Otherwise, I'd be dead.
[Ethereal Grace]: You really were lucky. But don't think City Lord Li broke that array just to save you. It was only because your little mouse was breaking through at that moment that the whole formation collapsed.
Yun Xi's eyes shifted slightly, then widened as she exclaimed,
"Senior, City Lord Li knew about the array. He just didn't expect his son would activate it early during his closed-door cultivation to resurrect his lover. The original plan must have been to reach Divine Transformation with the array, then perform a small-scale ascension into the Wei Ling Realm, where no one from the Wei Yu Realm could touch him.
If he'd kept it hidden well enough, no one would've even known. Everything would have been blamed on the evil cultivators."
[Ethereal Grace]: You can try verifying that theory yourself, but with your current cultivation level, I wouldn't recommend it. You'd be playing with fire.
[Fleeting Cloud]: I understand. I won't seek the truth without enough strength.
That was exactly what had been bothering her. There were people who would sacrifice their kin for the greater good, but such people were rare among cultivators. Because as one's cultivation increased, having descendants became more difficult. For the sake of continuing their bloodline, most cultivators would never strike down their own child.
If City Lord Li had truly wanted to eliminate future trouble, he would've killed his son on the spot. Instead, he protected him when the other cultivators attacked. That meant something else was going on behind the scenes.
With her suspicions resolved, Yun Xi was about to exit the space when Ethereal Grace suddenly offered a suggestion.
"That other Shuangshan City is an independent space created by a Divine Transformation cultivator. With the strength of your divine sense, you might be able to fuse that space into your redwood token space."
===
I'm not sure about this 'Mahayana Dàozūn'. I mean the original text read "大乘道尊" or "Dàchéng Dàozūn". I usually translate Dàchéng as Mahayana, so it seem Dàozūn is title for Mahayana stage in this novel, because in previous chapter the Author literally use "Yuányīng Zhēnjūn".