After confirming that Sha Hao had completely left, Yuan Ming's complexion suddenly turned as pale as paper. With a "thud," he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
The fire clouds in the sky churned a few tis before quickly dissipating.
Ha Gong flew over and saw Yuan Ming's weakened state. He wanted to help but didn't know how, so he could only fret anxiously.
"Get out of here, quick..." Yuan Ming rasped.
Ha Gong nodded repeatedly, scooping up Yuan Ming with two arms while using the other two to sprint towards the valley. After a few leaps, they vanished into the vast forest.
Yuan Ming didn't let Ha Gong run too far before instructing him to put him down. Hastily summoning a flower branch, he sat cross-legged and took out two mid-grade wood-attribute spirit stones to absorb their spiritual energy for recovery.
Although the flower branch and Ha Gong didn't get along, they both stood guard, one on each side, protecting Yuan Ming while he was injured.
Ha Gong sat down cross-legged on the ground, his bell-like giant eyes scanning the surroundings.
The flower branch extended its tendrils far and wide, covering a hundred-zhang radius. Any small creatures that passed by were captured by the tendrils, their blood consud to heal its injuries.
A quarter of an hour later, Yuan Ming opened his eyes, his pale face regaining so color.
Sha Hao, as a disciple of the Twilight Firmant, indeed had profound achievents in soul cultivation, and his strength was beyond Yuan Ming's expectations.
When Yuan Ming had fled to the valley, his mana was nearly depleted. After the continuous activation of the fire cloud technique, his mana was exhausted. Fortunately, he managed to scare Sha Hao away at the last mont.
Caw, caw...
Accompanied by sharp cries, Lei Yu descended from the sky and landed next to Yuan Ming.
"Lucky I released you before entering that valley, or I would have truly died at Sha Hao's hands today," Yuan Ming said, stroking Lei Yu's smooth feathers.
"Master, how did you break through those illusions?" Ha Gong turned around and asked curiously.
The flower branch also returned and sat on Yuan Ming's other side, clearly wanting to know the answer as well.
"I didn't break through Sha Hao's illusions at all," Yuan Ming shook his head.
"You didn't break through the illusions? How is that possible? Sha Hao was clearly caught in your illusion and nearly got blown up by you," Ha Gong didn't understand.
"Who says you can't cast illusions on others while you're in an illusionary realm?" Yuan Ming chuckled.
Ha Gong scratched his head in confusion, not understanding Yuan Ming's words.
"When I was caught in Sha Hao's illusion, I couldn't see clearly around . But with your reminder, I realized that Sha Hao's illusions had a distance limit. So, I had Lei Yu scout the valley from above. Sure enough, Lei Yu wasn't affected and could see everything clearly from the sky. Although Lei Yu's spiritual intelligence isn't as high as yours or the flower branch's, it could still convey so simple information to , like Sha Hao's location. This way, although I was still under Sha Hao's illusion, it was almost as if I wasn't affected at all," Yuan Ming explained.
"Oh, I see, it sounds a bit complicated," Ha Gong still seed sowhat confused.
"Strong limbs but a simple mind," the flower branch understood and teased Ha Gong through ntal communication.
"You sprout, asking for a beating!" Ha Gong roared in anger, his fan-sized palm reaching out to grab the flower branch's head.
The flower branch was prepared and quickly burrowed into the ground.
"If you dare, don't escape underground!" Ha Gong bellowed.
"If you dare, co down and fight!" the flower branch retorted.
"Co up here!"
"Co down here!"
Yuan Ming sighed and ignored the two, continuing to hold the spirit stones and recover his mana.
After a while, Ha Gong and the flower branch finally cald down.
"Master, what happened next? How did Sha Hao fall for your illusion?" Ha Gong ran back to Yuan Ming's side and asked.
"I cast the fire cloud technique, making Sha Hao think I was getting desperate to draw him closer. Then I took him by surprise with an illusion. My illusion might not be as powerful as his, but it's effective as long as I know his location. Sha Hao was caught off guard and fell for it. However, he seed to have a way to break free and managed to escape in ti," Yuan Ming glanced at Ha Gong and explained.
"So that's how it was," Ha Gong finally understood completely, looking at Yuan Ming with admiration.
"Master, what do you think Sha Hao used to break your illusion?" the flower branch also erged from the ground and asked.
"I can't be sure, perhaps so thod specifically designed to break illusions," Yuan Ming said.
After the previous battle, he had also vaguely figured out a thod to break illusions.
When he bombarded the valley with the fire cloud technique, due to the lack of mana, he didn't use any protective asures, and his body was inevitably affected by the explosions, causing him great pain.
Each ti the pain struck, the illusion in front of him would waver slightly.
Yuan Ming licked his lips, which had a small cut on the tip of his tongue, still oozing blood.
What he had told Ha Gong about not breaking Sha Hao's illusion wasn't entirely accurate.
He had bitten his tongue when Sha Hao fled, using the piercing pain, along with the Death Moon thod and the incense burner's enhancent, to drift between consciousness and unconsciousness.
Once Yuan Ming confird that about a third of his mana had recovered, he summoned the white jade flying shuttle and hurried back, quickly returning to the previous valley.
He descended far from the valley and released a soul crow to scout inside.
The situation in the valley hadn't changed; He Wendao, Bai Ye, Lu Shen, and the corpses of the five Shengye Sect disciples were still there, along with a few scattered magical instrunts.
Yuan Ming had the soul crow scout around to ensure there were no issues before entering.
Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, he couldn't help but feel a sense of desolation.
But he quickly cast aside these emotions, collecting the corpses and the scattered magical instrunts.
The flower branch shot two tendrils from the spirit beast bag into the ground and soon dragged out the dried-up corpse of Shi Dian.
Yuan Ming collected it as well and then stood still with his eyes closed.
On the way here, he had quietly left a mana mark inside Xu Tian's body to keep watch, which he could sense as long as it was within a hundred li.
Yuan Ming soon opened his eyes, summoned the white jade flying shuttle, and flew off into the distance. After searching for a while, he arrived above a hidden depression in the mountains.
He descended and swept the area with his divine sense, finding many cultivators hurrying along their way. Almost all the scattered Shengye Sect disciples were here, including Xu Tian and Luo Xing'er.
"That's good, saves the trouble of looking for them one by one," Yuan Ming nodded to himself and descended.
The Shengye Sect disciples walking in the depression were initially nervous when they saw soone approaching, but when they recognized Yuan Ming, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ha Gong senior, it's great that you're alright," Xu Tian said joyfully.
Luo Xing'er also showed great joy upon seeing Yuan Ming unhard.
"How did you all manage to gather together after scattering earlier?" Yuan Ming nodded to the two and asked.
"Reporting to Ha Gong senior, after Elder Lu Shen sent a ssage to , I imdiately flew the disciples away on the flying boat. Then I notified the remaining disciples to gather. The flying boat is large, and I was afraid it would be spotted by the enemy's spirit beasts, so I didn't dare to fly everyone back on it. We decided to travel back on foot," a tall young man from the Shengye Sect stepped forward, bowed to Yuan Ming, and said.
Yuan Ming recognized him as Luo Shan, the pilot of the flying boat and a peak Qi Refining cultivator. He was impressed by Luo Shan's handling of the situation. If the flying boat had left a mont later, all the disciples on it would have been captured by Sha Hao. Walking through the mountains also provided a good cover.
"Ha Gong senior, do you know what happened to Elders Lu Shen and Bai Ye?" Luo Shan asked again.
"Lu Shen and Bai Ye have both fallen. Fortunately, the enemy was injured and has left. You are all safe now," Yuan Ming said.
Hearing this, everyone's hearts finally settled, and so of the more timid and cowardly disciples even cried with joy.
"What should we do now? Can you escort us back to the sect alone?" Luo Shan asked.
"Where is the flying boat?" Yuan Ming asked.
"It's currently stopped in another valley," Luo Shan replied.
"Go bring the Qingmu flying boat here. I'll protect these disciples. We can leave on the flying boat now. Don't worry, I'm here," Yuan Ming said after a mont's thought.
He then lent the flying shuttle to Luo Shan, who quickly took off with it.
Yuan Ming rode the Qingyun Crane and patrolled the sky.
Seeing Yuan Ming in the sky, many Shengye Sect disciples showed admiration.
"This Ha Gong senior doesn't seem old, yet his strength is so formidable. Even Elder Lu Shen fell to the enemy, but he managed to escape unscathed," a round-faced female disciple from the Shengye Sect said, her eyes shining as she held her cheeks.
"Of course, Ha Gong senior is..." Luo Xing'er started to speak proudly of Yuan Ming's feat of killing the Great Jin national teacher but was stopped by Xu Tian's look.
"Xu junior brother, Luo junior sister, it seems you know this Ha Gong senior?" another disciple turned to them.
"We've never t before, but Ha Gong senior is acquainted with my family elders. Xing'er and I have heard so of his exploits," Xu Tian explained.
"What exploits does Ha Gong senior have? Tell us!" the round-faced female disciple pressed.
"Ha Gong senior is modest by nature and doesn't like to be discussed behind his back. It's not appropriate for us to say more. Please forgive us," Xu Tian said, shaking his head.
Yuan Ming had offended the Everlasting Spring Temple, and since he was using the alias Ha Gong, it was clear he didn't want to reveal his identity. Xu Tian, having learned so details from his grandmother, naturally wouldn't expose him.
The others were disappointed but did not press further.
After a while, Luo Shan returned with the Qingmu flying boat, shining with bright green light. He picked up all the Shengye Sect disciples, and the flying boat slowly took off, heading towards the Shengye Sect's mountain gate.
"Does anyone have a way to contact the sect?" Yuan Ming asked the others.
The Qingmu flying boat was large and conspicuous. It would be best to contact the Shengye Sect and have them send soone quickly to avoid any incidents along the way.
However, everyone shook their heads.
"The communication tools with the sect were all with Elder Lu Shen," Luo Shan said.
Yuan Ming frowned but did not take out Lu Shen's storage tool.
For the sake of this mission for the Shengye Sect, he had nearly lost his life. He wasn't about to return Lu Shen's storage tool; he considered it his hard-earned compensation.
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