Chapter Sixty-Five: Outside the City

Morning.

Li Mu pulled Li Ying along as they stepped out of the Wooden Jade Hall.

Gazing at the place that had housed his years of life, his eyes were cold and sharp. “When I return, I hope to find it still standing.”

They hurried along the road and soon reached the great gate of the city.

Before the city gate, Elder Wang stood on the road, her robe fluttering, her face full of reproach.

“I gave you a day’s time, thinking you would use it to reflect, not to flee from Deyang City. Is this the answer you’ve come to after your contemplation? I’ll advise you once more—go back while you can.”

Li Mu bowed and said, “Madam Wang, I have the utmost respect for you, but I must leave.”

“You cannot escape,” Elder Wang shook her head. “Even if I let you go, others will soon catch you. Why bring such trouble upon yourself?”

Li Mu fell silent and slowly moved forward, yet Elder Wang didn’t seem intent on stopping him.

“Halt!”

He had barely taken a few steps when a thunderous voice exploded from the air above. Ye Yibai floated down from the sky.

He moved like flowing clouds and water, covering dozens of steps in a single moment, and as he walked, a powerful pressure of spiritual force radiated from him. The oppressive force was so intense that the cultivator guards outside the city and the passersby on the road dared not approach, retreating by dozens of paces. Even Elder Wang, standing to the side, struggled to withstand the aura and could only resist it with difficulty.

At that moment, the pressure was palpable to everyone present except for Li Ying.

Yet Li Mu stood directly within the heart of that pressure.

He summoned every ounce of his Earth Armor technique—a golden cocoon enveloped him in an instant. But as soon as it touched the pressure, the armor collapsed, crumbling to dust, not even ashes remaining.

Within the shattered armor, Li Mu’s face turned deathly pale, a trace of bloodless red upon it, as if he had just emerged from water, drenched in sweat. Though the pressure had lasted but a moment, it felt as if his entire body had been struck by a heavy blow—he could barely stand.

“You truly mean to let him leave,” Ye Yibai flicked his sleeve. “Wang Ning, is this how you repay me for what I’ve done for you?”

Madam Wang bowed slightly. “Lord Ye, I believe persuasion and amnesty are the better path. There is always time to guide him.”

“Step aside—leave this matter to me,” Ye Yibai said, not sparing her a glance. He looked back at Li Mu. “If I count to three and you do not turn back, you die.”

His voice was cold and indifferent, laced with an authority that brooked no disobedience, the threat of death laid bare.

Elder Wang sighed and retreated to the side. Faced with Ye Yibai, the master of the Jade Iron Sect, she had no choice but to yield.

Li Mu seemed not to hear, dazed, taking one step, then another, moving forward.

Li Ying supported Li Mu, her grief and anger mingling as she walked with him.

“One, two, three.”

Ye Yibai’s face was icy as he spat out the words, then flicked his finger. Suddenly, a giant hand of spiritual force appeared in the sky, reaching for Li Mu’s neck.

All the cultivators nearby felt a chill in their hearts, unconsciously clutching their own throats. They knew, if that spiritual hand caught them, there would be no chance of survival.

Boom.

Suddenly, from who knows where, a stone flew forth and struck the spiritual hand, shattering it.

The hand crashed into the wall—bang, bang, bang—the wall crumbling, stones falling to the ground.

To break a hand of spiritual power with a mere stone—such a method was unheard of, unimaginable. Even Ye Yibai’s expression changed involuntarily.

He swept the area with his spiritual sense, growing even more bewildered. With his cultivation at the peak of the Lingmai stage, and the city’s warding formation at its height, he should have been able to detect any cultivator making a move. But he found nothing. Could it be a cultivator at the Core Formation stage? How could that be?

“Who are you?” Ye Yibai could scarcely believe it. A Core Formation cultivator appearing in Deyang City, and he had not known?

Suddenly, the old man with the great eyebrows appeared in the air above Li Mu, standing there as if he had been waiting for a long time, hands clasped serenely like an immortal.

“Let them go, and I will not interfere further. How about it?”

Cries of astonishment rose from the crowd below. None had sensed how the old man had materialized in the air.

Ye Yibai’s face darkened. “From which sect does your Excellency hail, and why meddle in the affairs of my Jade Iron Sect?”

He could not gauge the old man's cultivation, but it was clear it surpassed his own—at least at the Core Formation stage.

The old man with the great eyebrows smiled faintly. “Once they are gone, I have no more interest here.”

Ye Yibai gave a cold laugh. “So you too covet the girl, hoping to snatch her for your sect with your superior strength? How detestable. In this Deyang City, I am the master. What I want, no one can take from me.”

“Activate the ward!”

At his command, the warding formation atop the city gates was instantly set in motion.

Deyang City’s ward, known as the Twenty-Six Dawn Array, was an ancient and renowned formation, rumored to bewilder all beings and overturn the world. Though the city’s formation masters could not fully wield its legendary power, it was still formidable enough to trap even a Core Formation cultivator, especially with Ye Yibai’s mastery over it. Once caught within, even those at the Core Formation stage would struggle to escape.

In an instant, darkness fell over Deyang City as if day had turned to night.

“Dawn Array—attack!”

Within the ward, Ye Yibai strolled calmly, holding the array’s talisman, and struck at the spot where the old man and Li Mu stood.

Ye Yibai had poured half his heart and soul into Deyang City, seldom concerning himself with other matters, devoting nearly every moment to refining his harmony with the warding array. In this moment, that dedication bore fruit—he wielded it as if it were an extension of himself, the synergy between man and array nearly perfect. Within the Twenty-Six Dawn Array, his strength was greatly amplified, enough to contend briefly with even a Core Formation cultivator.

Within Li Mu, his spirit surged in turmoil. The spiritual energy around him seemed to morph into countless sword auras, piercing through his body straight into his energy pool. Waves of icy cold arose within him, clashing and colliding until his brow and nose were beaded with frost.

From his spiritual sea came nameless wails, and then his spiritual consciousness was forcibly suppressed—even the spiritual tower within could not sense anything.

He could not comprehend what was happening; the oppressive force of this spiritual sense was so strong that even the spiritual tower within the sea was affected.

But Li Mu ignored the spiritual tower, anxiously looking to Li Ying at his side, heart full of worry—how could his little sister withstand such pressure?

Yet his fears were unfounded, for at some point, a ring of light had appeared around Li Ying.

Within the glow, Li Ying’s expression was calm, only regarding Li Mu with a hint of curiosity.

“Break for me.”

The old man with the great eyebrows seemed unbothered by the warding array, still smiling as he gazed at Ye Yibai.

Then he raised a single finger.

In an instant, brilliant light erupted from his fingertip, shooting upward like a spring, transforming into a towering pillar of magical force, like a colossal sword cleaving chaos itself, piercing the sky.

The spiritual power upon the great sword was so dense as to seem solid, as if it had truly materialized.

The watching cultivators were left speechless—such power, never before seen in the Cloud Mountain Realm.

With a flick of his finger, the pillar of magic spread out like a net, swiftly forming nine squares in the air like a celestial chessboard.

Boom—boom—boom!

The old man withdrew his finger, and the pillar of magic dissipated.

The dark shroud over the city was instantly torn open, as if a breach had split the night, and daylight returned.

Spiritual energy ceased its rampage, and spiritual consciousness returned to normal. Li Mu let out a long sigh of relief.

Ye Yibai’s cherished Dawn Array was like a sheet of torn paper, shredded in an instant.

As he stared at the old man with the great eyebrows, despair filled Ye Yibai’s heart, and the talisman in his hand crumbled to gray dust.