Despite his bluster, Ye Jingshan was wary of Wang Hao. As a cultivator in the Late Foundation Establishment stage, Ye Jingshan possessed only one Top-Grade Spirit Weapon, one Mid-Grade defensive artifact, and a lowly Low-Grade flying sword.

Wang Hao, on the other hand, was a walking armory. The three artifacts he had currently deployed were all Top-Grade Spirit Weapons—a level of wealth that was practically unheard of among family-based Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Ye Jingshan had been forced to commit his primary weapon—a heavy, pagoda-style Top-Grade Spirit Weapon—just to pin down Wang Hao’s Shining Heaven Bowl. This left him with only his inferior flying sword to launch attacks.

Against Wang Hao’s Child-Mother Green Light Sword, Ye’s blade was woefully outmatched. Thus, despite Ye Jingshan’s superior Qi reserves, Wang Hao’s high-tier arsenal allowed him to hold the line with frustrating ease.

What terrified Ye Jingshan even more were the weapons Wang Hao hadn’t used yet. Intelligence reports mentioned a Chaos Earth Seal and the Silver Shadow Needles—both Top-Grade. And then there were the White Tip Divine Needles, hovering in the periphery like vipers waiting to strike. Ye Jingshan had to split his focus, constantly guarding his blind spots against a fatal ambush.

This split attention made Ye Jingshan appear frantic, a stark contrast to Wang Hao, who fought with an unruffled, almost serene composure.

Realizing that a contest of artifacts would lead to a stalemate, Ye Jingshan shifted tactics. Spells. Every stage of cultivation unlocked new, more potent arts. With his deep reservoir of Qi, he was confident he could crush Wang Hao in a direct contest of sorcery.

He slashed his hand through the air. The temperature plummeted instantly as a crystalline ice lotus bloomed before him, radiating a bone-chilling cold. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it screaming toward Wang Hao.

Wang Hao chuckled. In a contest of raw spellcasting, he might lose. But he wasn’t fighting fair—he was fighting rich.

He had a mountain of talismans. Between his own Second-Rank Low-Grade creations, the stockpile he’d traded from the Li family, and the loot he’d scavenged over the years, he could drown Ye Jingshan in paper.

However, Wang Hao decided to hold his trump cards. He countered with a simple fire lotus spell.

BOOM!

True Fire met Mystic Ice. The collision of opposing elements triggered a violent explosion of steam and spiritual energy. Wang Hao’s Qi was less refined, and water naturally countered fire, so he came out slightly worse for wear. But the exchange successfully neutralized the lethal momentum of the ice lotus.

Ye Jingshan saw the effectiveness of his art and doubled down. He launched ice lotus after ice lotus, determined to freeze Wang Hao into a statue.

To the side, the He family cultivator was shifting restlessly, looking for an opening to deliver a cheap shot.

Wang Hao didn’t give him the chance. He commanded his two puppet beasts to swarm the man. The He cultivator was only at the Novice and already wounded; the puppets would keep him busy.

Simultaneously, Wang Hao slapped a Falling Stone Talisman into the air. Boulders rained down on Ye Jingshan, forcing the older man to break his casting rhythm to defend himself.

The stalemate held. Wang Hao had the advantage; he still had his spirit beasts in reserve.

But then, disaster struck.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Maple Leaf coalition soared into the sky, his eyes scanning the battlefield below. The secret of the Five Elements Entrapment Formation—that it was weak against aerial targets—had been exposed.

The cultivator, a man named Cui, narrowed his eyes. He spotted Li Derong and the Wang family disciples frantically repairing the main array node just outside the entrapment zone.

“Found you,” Cui sneered.

He swooped down, his sword flashing in a cold arc. Two Wang family disciples holding formation flags didn’t even have time to scream before they were cut down.

“Shift formation! Hide!” Li Derong screamed, drawing her own sword to intercept the attacker.

Ye Jingshan looked up and roared in triumph. “Fellow Daoist Cui! Kill them! Destroy the node!”

Li Derong could not stop the repairs. If she engaged, the array would never be fixed.

Wang Hao had no choice. “Yaya! Xiaobai! Go!”

He had been saving his spirit beasts to guard against the trapped enemies, but the situation was critical.

Cui was a Mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Sixth Layer—a formidable opponent.

As soon as the beasts engaged, Cui backhanded Xiaobai with a heavy spectral palm. The white bear went flying, tumbling through the dirt. Fortunately, Xiaobai was built like a tank; he shook off the blow with a grunt.

“Keep your distance! Harass him!” Wang Hao commanded mentally.

Xiaobai had been with him for decades; Wang Hao wasn’t about to let him be carved up in melee combat against a superior foe.

Just as Cui prepared to pursue the bear, Yaya swooped down, her wings crackling with energy. Two thick bolts of lightning struck from the heavens.

Yaya’s attacks had reached the potency of a Second-Rank Mid-Grade beast. Even for a Sixth Layer cultivator, lightning was not something to be ignored. Cui was forced to abandon his chase and deflect the bolts.

With the tank-and-spank coordination of the bear and bird, Cui was stalled. Wang Hao let out a breath of relief.

Inside the entrapment zone, the remaining enemy Foundation Establishment cultivator was being swarmed by the Wang family’s mobile unit, which had just arrived to reinforce the line. With Li Derong overseeing the perimeter, the situation was stabilizing.

Wang Hao turned his full attention back to Ye Jingshan. He tried twice to signal the Phantom Moon Butterfly to use its hallucinogenic light, but Ye Jingshan had been warned by the He cultivator and dodged preemptively.

Time was running out. The main array was knitting itself back together, the breach shrinking by the second.

Ye Jingshan saw the writing on the wall. Breaking the formation was no longer possible. In a fit of spite, he switched targets, launching attacks at the nearby Qi Refining disciples, hoping to thin the Wang family’s herd for the next assault.

The Five Elements Entrapment Formation offered no defense to the caster. A momentary lapse in concentration allowed Ye Jingshan to vaporize a young disciple.

Wang Hao grit his teeth, forcing down the grief. He waited for the moment Ye Jingshan overextended to kill another clansman.

Now.

The White Tip Divine Needles shot forward, silent and deadly.

“Hmph. I expected nothing less from a sneak like you.” Ye Jingshan spun around, a small shield materializing to block the needles’ path.

Wang Hao’s lips curled into a cold smirk. “Is that so?”

It was a feint.

Wang Hao abruptly redirected his entire offensive arsenal—not at Ye Jingshan, but at the wounded He family cultivator. The man was barely holding off the puppets; he had zero capacity to withstand a full-power strike from Wang Hao.

“Senior Ye! Save me!” the He cultivator shrieked.

“You dare, you rat!” Ye Jingshan roared. He surged forward, attempting to intercept.

Wang Hao’s boots flashed with spiritual light. His Three Shadows Movement technique activated, splitting his body into three identical phantoms. One of the shadows broke away, flinging five Silver Shadow Needles straight at Ye Jingshan’s throat.

Ye Jingshan froze.

It was the same choice the He cultivator had faced earlier: save his ally or save himself.

Ye Jingshan made the same choice. He stopped his rescue attempt and turtled up, summoning barriers to deflect the needles, the Shining Heaven Bowl, and the Green Light Sword.

As for the He cultivator? He was on his own against the White Tip Divine Needles and the Phantom Moon Butterfly.

The He cultivator smiled bitterly. Retribution.

Ye Jingshan had done his best, or at least enough to avoid blame. If he wanted to live, he had to rely on himself.

With a guttural roar, the He cultivator bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood. His aura surged violently, temporarily jumping a minor realm. He flashed sideways with supernatural speed, dodging the butterfly’s illusion, and summoned a shield just in time to deflect the divine needles.

He landed heavily, stumbling as his face turned the color of ash. The secret technique had burned a significant portion of his life force.

RUMBLE…

At that moment, the earth shook. Li Derong slammed the final burst of spiritual power into the node. The breach in the Dazzling Light Sky Fire Array snapped shut.

The door was closed.

“Retreat!” Ye Jingshan barked the order instantly. He grabbed the staggering He cultivator and fled the entrapment zone before the main array could fully activate its offensive protocols.

Seeing their commander flee, the Maple Leaf forces on the other three flanks ceased their attacks and withdrew down the mountain.

Silence returned to Wang Family Ridge.

The enemy had pulled back, but they hadn’t left. They formed a siege ring around the base of the mountain. They had only lost one Foundation Establishment cultivator in this skirmish; their combat power was still superior. Once they replenished their Qi, the second wave would come.

The Wang family had survived the first onslaught, a victory of sorts. But as Wang Hao and Wang Yanzhao looked out over the carnage and the encircling army, there were no smiles—only the heavy weight of the war yet to come.