Wait a minute, where is my master?

In the Concealing Breath Array, the three individuals listened to the little Taoist's explanation on how he discovered that something was wrong with Wild Wolf Ridge, and their expressions varied.

Master Huang and Hall Master Xia focused their eyes on the Hall Master with the surname Zou, remembering that on that day, he had noticed the beasts entering the formation but had not raised the alarm.

"Cough, once we start the formation, let's kill those few people. Then we'll clear out the wild beasts on the nearby mountain peaks, and that will be that."

Hall Master Zou looked down at his toes and transmitted his voice to the other two.

He then added.

"After all, the middle of July is fast approaching, and we just need to ensure that no mishaps happen over the next few days."

The muscular strongman, upon hearing his words, spat disdainfully. It appeared he wanted to telepathically retort, but was interrupted by Hall Master Xia, who was dressed in a purple gauzy dress.

"That little Taoist has entered the range of the formation!"

As she transmitted her voice, she waved the flag in her hand, and the Forbidden Spirit, Spirit Extinguishing, and Spirit Transformation Arrays were suddenly activated!

Before this, the three had already agreed to split up and take action separately.

Hall Master Xia was responsible for controlling the formation, while the body-cultivating duo of Zou and Huang were tasked with entering the formation to slay the little Taoist.

"Let's go!"

The muscular strongman said, taking the lead out of the Concealing Breath Array and heading towards the three grand arrays. Hall Master Zou, with a sallow complexion, followed closely behind, entering as well.

Hall Master Xia, who was left within the Concealing Breath Array, spurred the flag, causing the three grand arrays to begin spinning rapidly into action.

...

At the empty space before the cliffside.

Jin Xu was slightly startled by the sudden rising fog—everything had been fine, so why was there such a thick mist?

Could the mountain weather be so changeable?

Mr. Song, an old hand at this, noticed formation arrays rising around them. He immediately took out a Hundred-mile Transfer Talisman from his sleeve and slapped it onto Xia Yunzhao.

With a flash of white light, the talisman took effect, and the Seventh Princess of the Great Xia Empire was teleported away.

Before leaving the city, Li Mi had given Song Xili a heads-up.

He hoped that while not compromising their own safety, they would take care of this person of high stature as best as they could.

"Be careful, everyone, this seems to be a Forbidden Spirit Array, I can't mobilize the spiritual power inside my body anymore."

Mr. Mei spoke up to warn everyone.

Mr. Zhu, who had always been quiet and reticent, crushed two talismans hidden within his sleeves upon hearing this and raised two rings of protective light shields around him.

He wanted to take out more talismans from his ring.

But his storage magical treasure could no longer be opened at this time.

"No, it's not just the Forbidden Spirit Array. The spiritual power within me is even slowly eroding! There's also the Spirit Transformation Array!"

The chatty Mr. Mei hurried to Song Xili's side and said loudly.

As a cultivator who specialized in cultivating skills, he was extremely sensitive to the changes in spiritual power within his body.

At this moment, from within the dense fog, a muscular strongman with a bare upper body emerged, followed by a gaunt middle-aged man with a sallow complexion.

A chilly, harsh voice arose, very uncomfortable to the ear.

"As expected of the famous Cold Season Trio from Qingmu Academy, you saw through the Forbidden Spirit and Spirit Extinguishing Arrays at a glance. Your insight is not shallow, but there's a third layer to this formation."

At this moment, Hall Master Zou, seeing that the people in the array were all depleted of spiritual power fluctuations, felt that they were like lambs to the slaughter and couldn't help showing off.

The muscular strongman next to him didn't stop him, clearly feeling the advantage was theirs.

"The spiritual energy around us has also disappeared, including the Spirit Extinguishing Array!"

Mr. Mei took shelter behind Song Xili and gestured frantically, signaling Jin Xu and the distant constables to hurry over.

"Hehe, not bad for recognizing this, but still, you have to die."

The man with the dark cyan face slowly walked toward the Three Friends of Suihan while limbering up his limbs that had grown somewhat stiff from years of practicing the Withered Wood Skill.

Clearly, he intended to deal with the talkative ones first.

With a heavy thud, the ground caved in as Hall Master Zou leaped towards Mr. Mei's direction.

Seeing this, Mei Shouyi had no choice but to yell out loudly.

"Elder Song, protect me!"

It couldn't be helped, as a cultivator who specialized in Cultivating Skills, he now felt as though the Spiritual Power within his body was like that of a middle-aged man who had overdrawn his vitality; not only could he not muster it no matter what, but it was also slowly eroding away.

Elsewhere.

The muscular brute at the edge of the Formation saw that Hall Master Zou had already picked the Three Friends of Suihan as his target, so he took the initiative to walk over to the little Taoist. The prospect of killing a cultivator of a higher realm under these circumstances excited him immensely.

Hall Master Huang had only three hobbies from childhood: one was "farming," the second was becoming stronger, and the third was slaying Righteous Path cultivators.

No need to elaborate on farming—he practically farmed day and night.

As for becoming stronger, that exhilarating feeling of his body continuously growing more powerful also addicted him.

This addiction was satisfied until he progressed to the Void Refinement Realm, but after reaching the Eighth Level of Refining Void, his cultivation ceased to advance.

Because of this, he sought help from the Demon Sect Elders and even secretly held a Righteous Path healer hostage to help diagnose his condition. But the conclusion they all reached was that his innate capacity was limited, and that his cultivation technique had harmed his foundations, preventing the chance for advancement to Divinity Transformation.

Hence, he fell into a period of despondency and farmed furiously.

Latterly, one day, he came to a realization that becoming stronger didn't necessarily mean he had to enhance his cultivation level!

So, to boost his combat capability, Hall Master Huang began to practice various Demon Cultivation Methods that squeezed out his potential lifespan.

After all, he already had no potential to speak of.

Such methods often came with various negative side effects, making him, already irascible by nature, even more extreme.

Eventually, he went directly to the Third Elder of the Demon Sect to acquire a segment of the Transformation Mother Tree's root and implanted it within his own body.

The Mother Tree's root would draw upon his Essence Blood to keep growing; ultimately, he would either become a puppet of the Transformation Mother Tree or turn into a pile of nutrients. However, the root would also grant him power, enabling him to wield strength at the Divinity Transformation Realm level in battle.

It was for this reason that, on that day when he fought with Li Mi and the Great Xia's envoys, he was able to fight against two opponents and severely injure both.

Now, he was once again ready to summon the power of the Mother Tree's root to strike down a suspect high-level God Transformation adept of the Righteous Path!

Hall Master Huang could feel his whole body quivering with excitement, and his thick-knuckled hands slowly clenched tighter.

But just as he was about to make his move, an unexpected change occurred on the other side of the battlefield.

...

Hall Master Zou's dark cyan complexion grew even darker; he could never have anticipated that his confident killing blow would be blocked.

The lamb waiting for slaughter suddenly turned into a tiger.

Jin Xu was also looking over at the Three Friends of Suihan's side, not because he underestimated the muscular man before him, but because the developments there were genuinely captivating.

Song Xili, who had been polite and composed, looked nothing like he had just moments ago; the top part of his dark green scholar's robe had burst open, revealing strong, well-defined muscles through the torn fabric.

His face bore an expression of anger with his eyes wide and brows furrowed downward.

The hand that once held scrolls was now gripping Hall Master Zou's descending fist.

Song Xili of the Three Friends of Suihan turned out to be a body cultivator!

Mr. Mei timely interjected from the side.

"Beat him up, Boss Song!"