Time went back to the point when Wu Qi had just sneaked into the ancient mansion, and was bringing the innate Yin energy under his control.
Patriarch Yuan Hua was sitting cross-legged on the Green Cliff Mountain, quietly exercising his Nascent Divinity to nourish the Shadowcloud Sword in his spiritual ocean. His injury was fully healed. Furthermore, borrowing the magical effect of the seventh-grade immortal pill, he even broke through the bottleneck of peak-stage Twenty-Eighth Tier, and stepped into the realm of Twenty-Seventh Tier Heaven Immortal.
Next to him was a teleportation formation, about one thousand feet in diameter. It was a Grand Universal Teleportation Formation, just big enough to transport him alone to the place where Wu Qi and the others were. Before Wu Qi entered the sphere-shaped space, right when everybody's attention was attracted by the landmass, he had secretly thrown a teleportation formation near its entrance. With that, Patriarch Yuan Hua could travel to the place with the quickest speed possible.
A green locust was seen resting on Patriarch Yuan Hua's chest. It was the child-locust from a pair of Green Mother-Child Locust. The mother-locust was with Daoist Chi. When the result of the match was final, and right when Reverend Huilin stepped out to challenge Patriarch Yuan Hua, Daoist Chi would pinch the mother-locust, and the child-locust would response and alert Patriarch Yuan Hua, allowing him to arrive on time.
While sitting on the summit of the mountain and arduously adjusting his state, Patriarch Yuan Hua's lips curved into a faint smile.
He was very pleased with Patriarch Jiang Yun, as well as those disciples, including Wu Qi. He had never expected that Patriarch Jiang Yun could have created such a huge foundation, and even raised a group of decent disciples. Be it the match between the disciples or the duel he was going to have with Reverend Huiling, Yuan Hua Sect would definitely obtain a complete victory, and lay the solid foundation to be the number one immortal sect in Puluo Heavenly Realm.
When could he find such a great opportunity during the normal times? In fact, the Heaven had always had a very strict control over all the heavenly realms. The conflict between two immortal sects would be mediated by Immortal Monarchs from the Heaven. Even if Yuan Hua Sect had an overall strength far greater than Huiling Sect, there was no way they could officially occupy Huiling Sect's property.
But to his surprise, Reverend Huilin actually took the initiative and delivered the offer to his doorstep!
Despite what sort of trump card Reverend Huiling had, whenever Patriarch Yuan Hua touched the three small strips of cloth inside of his sleeve, his heart would immediately be filled with confidence.
Patriarch Yuan Hua loved to travel when he was an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. Whenever he saved up some energy stones, he would travel to different planets in Puluo Heavenly Realm with teleportation formations, widening his horizon. Many years ago, during one of his trip on a desolate planet, he met an Immortal who plunged down from the sky. The Immortal was bathed in blood, badly mutilated, with a barely intact head.
The Immortal was on his deathbed. But Patriarch Yuan Hua was lucky, as on that desolate planet where no living being could be found and only served as a transiting planet for teleportation formation, he found a drop of 'Green Jade Cream', a spirit medicine that could nourish immortal souls, gathering energy and bring back life and health. Moreover, as it had been seasoned for tens of Periods, it had a very strong energy and powerful effect.
With that drop of spirit medicine and a heart moved with compassion, Patriarch Yuan Hua rescued the Immortal, who had all his limbs missing, his internal organs crushed to a mess, and barely maintained the shape of a human. After being raised from the deathbed by Patriarch Yuan Hua, the Immortal did not utter any nonsense. He tore away Patriarch Yuan Hua's sleeves, making them into nine shabby-looking strips of cloth written with runes, and gave Patriarch Yuan Hua a promise.
Throughout his many years of journey in cultivation, Patriarch Yuan Hua had used six of the nine spirit talismans. Each of them had eliminated one or a group of his formidable foes. From Nascent Divinity cultivators, ordinary Heaven Immortals, to a few Twenty-Ninth Tier fiend cultivators who tried to seize Yuan Hua Sect's property three Periods ago, None of his enemies could escape from being eliminated completely whenever a spirit talisman was used.
This was Patriarch Yuan Hua's biggest secret, and his strongest trump card.
With the ability to make ordinary burlap cloth into spirit talismans with an awe-inspiring offensive strength, evidently, the Immortal had an incredibly strong overall strength, that was beyond Patriarch Yuan Hua's imagination. And this was his promise: when Patriarch Yuan Hua managed to step into Gold Immortal realm, he would take Patriarch Yuan Hua as his disciple, and would even consider taking some of Patriarch Yuan Hua's disciples into his sect. And, if any of Patriarch Yuan Hua's disciples managed to break into Gold Immortal realm, the Immortal would also take that disciple as his disciple!
In brief, the Immortal would take those who broke into Gold Immortal realm as his disciple!
A bitter smile emerged on Patriarch Yuan Hua's face. He knew that he had rescued a mighty existence, but the condition of acknowledging the Immortal as Master was too strict. What stage had the Immortal cultivated to, if only Gold Immortals could be his disciples?
Sighing lightly, Patriarch Yuan Hua stopped reminiscing. He touched the three spirit talismans made from small strips of cloth, wondering what sort of a trump card would Reverend Huilin have. 'Despite what trump card you've prepared, they should not be as powerful as my spirit talismans...' thought Patriarch Yuan Hua in his mind.
He grinned coldly and began to go through the plan in his mind, which he and the others, including Wu Qi, came out with not long ago.
Patriarch Yuan Hua had the aspiration to further expand Yuan Hua Sect. After all, with a bigger foundation, he would obtain even more resources for cultivation, such as immortal stones. A large quantity of immortal stones could always guarantee a faster cultivating speed for Immortals. Therefore, since a long time ago, he had planted spies in other immortal sects. In fact, it was Huiling Sect's disciples who found the traces that led to the planet of energy stones first. But, the news was quickly sent to Patriarch Yuan Hua. So, he made the first move, overtaking Huiling Sect and finding the planet before everybody else. That had given him a moral standing.
And, not long ago, he was puzzled by the strange response from Eminent Cloud Sect after Catfish-flood-dragon swallowed Yun Tianao's grand-nephew. Without hesitation, he activated the spies planted in Eminent Cloud Sect. They brought him a news that made his heart race- Eminent Cloud Sect's biggest backing, the Snow-Armored Heaven-Devouring Python, was about to transcend his tribulation of manifestation, and would soon transform into human shape, receiving a great improvement in both his divine ability and magical power. The fact that the Snow-Armored Heaven-Devouring Python could not strike at this moment forced the people of Eminent Cloud Sect to swallow their anger. At the same time, Reverend Yun feared that some of their opponents might take the opportunity to attack them. Thus, he held everybody back and did not pursue the matter further.
Meanwhile, the high-level members of Eminent Cloud Sect had decided, that once Snow-Armored Heaven-Devouring Python transcended his thunder tribulation, they would strike to bring their honor back.
There was another piece of news that made Patriarch Yuan Hua even more worried and angry: Eminent Cloud Sect had long decided to gobble up both Huiling Sect and Yuan Hua Sect. As both immortal sects were in a fierce battle, most of their Heaven Immortals were severely wounded. It would take at least ten thousand years for them to barely recover. Therefore, regardless of who would be the final victor, both immortal sects would have their overall strength greatly suffered.
As some of Reverend Yun's disciples were holding posts in the Heaven, Eminent Cloud Sect had a closer relationship with the Heaven when compared to the rest of the immortal sects in Puluo Heavenly Realm. Hence Reverend Yun had made a decision that after Patriarch Yuan Hua and Reverend Huilin were done with their match, no matter who would be the final victor, one of them would be dead at the end, and Eminent Cloud Sect would take the opportunity to launch a full assault, gobbling up the sect that was defeated in the match.
In order to achieve the goal, Reverend Yun even found someone to disguise as him and watch the match. In the meanwhile, his true-self had brought tens of Heaven Immortals from his sect and was hiding somewhere near Huang Qiao Planet, waiting for the news that Reverend Huilin was defeated. Once that happened, he would bring his disciples and attack Huang Qiao Planet, cutting off Huiling Sect's foundation.
At the same time, another group of thirteen Heaven Immortals from Eminent Cloud Sect had been hiding in Yuan Hua Sect, waiting for the signal to launch an attack at Yuan Hua Sect's important places, such as the Spirit Pill Palace. If Patriarch Yuan Hua were defeated and killed in the match, the news would have stirred those residing in Yuan Hua Sect, and the group of thirteen Heaven Immortals could easily cause a severe damage to Yuan Hua Sect.
While Eminent Cloud Sect was expecting things to turn out according to their wishes, Patriarch Yuan Hua did not do anything to alert them.
A few months ago, the group of thirteen Heaven Immortals had sneaked into Green Cliff Planet, disguised as itinerant cultivators. Currently, they were staying in Green Cliff Immortal Market, spending their days in leisure among fine wines and beautiful women. However, today was the day to haul the fishing net.
This was the plan that Wu Qi came out with. Since Eminent Cloud Sect was trying to poke their hands into Yuan Hua Sect, it would be the greatest opportunity to chop off their claws! The group of thirteen Heaven Immortals from Eminent Cloud Sect had to be killed, even if that would sacrifice the entire Green Cliff Immortal Market. With that, Eminent Cloud Sect's overall strength would have suffered greatly, and they would lose their courage to harbor further evil intentions against Yuan Hua Sect.
Even if Eminent Cloud Sect brought this case to Immortal Chuan, Yuan Hua Sect would still be on the right side. Why had Eminent Cloud Sect planted thirteen Heaven Immortals in Yuan Hua Sect for no apparent reason? It was very obvious that they were harboring some evil intentions! At that point in time, as long as all the witnesses of the event were killed, they could always claim that the group of Eminent Cloud Sect's Heaven Immortals were trying to attack Yuan Hua Sect. No one could jump out to say that was a false accusation!
Right when Patriarch Yuan Hua was going through the plan developed by Wu Qi and the others in his mind, a communicative jade slip placed right next to him stirred, and a whisper was heard coming out from it. The formation they deployed around the Green Cliff Immortal Market in the recent days had been activated, and the entire market was completely cordoned off now. Currently, the group of thirteen Heaven Immortals from Eminent Cloud Sect were attacking the formation that trapped them in the market.
Yuan Hua Sect still had ten Heaven Immortals residing on Green Cliff Planet. They had the home advantage, and as those Heaven Immortals from Eminent Cloud Sect were trapped by the formation, their chances of escaping were near to none.
Patriarch Yuan Hua grinned coldly as he heard the report from the disciple on duty. Grabbing his sword, he went straight to Green Cliff Immortal Market. Supported by the formation and after a fierce battle, he managed to slay all thirteen Heaven Immortals from Eminent Cloud Sect. Nevertheless, the battle brought him a pretty serious injury.
Immediately after he had slain those Heaven Immortals, a sharp cry was heard coming from the green child-locust. Without the slightest hesitation, Patriarch Yuan Hua stepped into the teleportation formation and rushed to the venue where the match was being held. Upon his arrival, when he saw Reverend Huilin's trump card was actually an upper-grade immortal sword, he instantly eliminated Reverend Huilin with one of his spirit talismans.
But, the immortal sword was overly attractive, causing nearly all the Immortals that present to attack him together, and forced Patriarch Yuan Hua to flee with his disciples in a flurry.
Eminent Cloud Sect's response was unexpectedly quick as well. Reverend Yun was already aware that his disciples hiding in Green Cliff Planet had been killed. Realizing that his evil plot was exposed, Reverend Yun's heart was filled with discontent for the losses he suffered. Fuming with rage, he exercised his full power and rushed over, stopping Patriarch Yuan Hua and his disciples halfway.
Relying on the fact that his cultivation base was stronger than Patriarch Yuan Hua, Reverend Yun unleashed a thunderbolt upon meeting them.
But, little did Reverend Yun know that Patriarch Yuan Hua was no longer the same as in the past. He was also a Twenty-Seventh Tier Heaven Immortal now!
Patriarch Yuan Hua grinned coldly as he looked at the approaching thunderbolt. A large sheet of golden light suddenly burst out from the immortal sword in his hand, transforming into a beam of light as it swept across the void.