Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

The protective array of the Twin Islands consists of two top-grade fourth-tier arrays as the main arrays, seven third-tier arrays as auxiliary arrays, and a total of nine arrays.

Its defensive capabilities are comparable to a top-tier fourth-order formation, and its offensive capabilities are only slightly inferior.

Since the start of the war, Li Chengming has been almost entirely on the defensive, rarely taking the initiative to attack. There was no way around it; the pressure Ye Fuke was putting on him was simply too great.

However, he was also holding back a grudge, and while fighting, he was also accumulating spiritual energy for the killing formation.

I've endured this humiliation for so long, all for this moment.

Unfortunately, Yamoluo was too perceptive and reacted at the crucial moment, only severely injuring his demon king form; otherwise, the Twin Islands would have been his burial ground.

Having narrowly escaped death, Yamala was both shocked and furious; he was just a hair's breadth away from perishing.

Looking at the hideous wounds on his body that were difficult to heal, he wished he could tear Li Chengming to pieces immediately.

However, he was not blinded by anger and decided to retreat temporarily after hearing Ye Fuke's roar, so that he could regroup and fight again later.

Just as he was about to break away from the battle, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a silver light blooming below. Almost instantly, a sword aura composed of pure killing intent transformed into a streak of light and silently swept across the space.

In that instant, Yemoro felt as if he saw a long river of blood-stained sword energy, transcending the barriers of space, surging towards him in a mighty torrent.

The chilling killing intent emanating from it made him feel a cold draft running from the top of his head straight to his tailbone.

What a sword strike! Blood surged, bones littered the fields, and endless vengeful spirits struggled and howled within.

His hands had been stained with countless amounts of blood, but he had never felt like this before, enveloped by pure killing intent, as if he had fallen into an abyss, with a suffocating feeling of drowning washing over him.

Given his strength, this sword strike wouldn't normally pose much of a threat to him. However, he had just had his demon king true form broken by Li Chengming, and he was currently in a weakened state, making this sword strike particularly cunning.

"scoff"

The sword energy pierced through his protective aura without any hindrance and struck his true form as a demon king. Blood splattered everywhere, and the excruciating pain made him cry out to the sky.

The killing intent spread through the wounds he had created, and amidst a chilling sound of muscles tearing, Yemoro's proud demon king form cracked like porcelain struck by a stone.

"what--"

Yemolu let out a long, mournful howl, and the power of the demon king from the depths of his bloodline suddenly erupted. Dozens of bloody holes exploded on his body, forcing out most of the murderous sword intent that was raging within him through self-harm.

His choice was undeniably decisive; had he hesitated even for a second longer, this sword strike would have been enough to destroy his demon king form.

It's not fatal, but for sea creatures, the physical body is far more important than for land-dwelling demons. This is determined by the completely different cultivation methods between the two.

The land demon kings primarily cultivate their inner core. As long as the inner core remains, they can re-possess or recreate a physical body, quickly returning to their peak condition. The physical body is not that important to them.

However, the true body of the Demon King is the source of all the Demon King's cultivation. Once it is destroyed, even if the soul is attached to the inner core and escapes, it will take two or three hundred years to rebuild the physical body. Otherwise, there is no way to return to the peak state.

Although he preserved the demon king's true form, this sword strike caused his aura to plummet, rendering him powerless to fight.

There are still some residual killing intents in his body, like maggots clinging to his bones, wreaking havoc everywhere. If he doesn't remove these sword intents as soon as possible, he will suffer from them for eternity.

This is the terrifying aspect of the killing sword intent, and it is also the result of Song Qingxing nurturing the sword's power with his own blood essence for several months.

His sword strike amazed everyone watching the battle.

"What a fine sword!" Li Chengming couldn't help but cheer, then channeled the power of the formation into himself, attempting to completely crush Yemoro.

However, his reaction was a beat too slow. By then, Ye Fuke had already arrived at Ye Moluo's side and firmly protected him behind him, preventing his plan from being realized.

"Retreat!" Ye Fuke roared, his tone full of dissatisfaction with Ye Moluo, who had ruined the excellent situation.

It's not a big deal that Yemolu is injured, but the main problem is that he has lost his fighting ability and is now unable to leave this formation area. He also has to take care of him to prevent him from being ambushed.

He went from being a helper to a burden that limited his combat effectiveness.

While he was furious, he was also somewhat surprised. He didn't consider himself a piece of trash like Ye Moluo. He was quite certain that Li Chengming was the only Golden Core cultivator in the Twin Islands. So who had struck that sword just now?
Not only him, but even Yamoluo, who had once again escaped death, had the same question in his mind.

They all turned their gazes to the spirit peak where the sword light had first appeared.

There stood a young man dressed in black, with a chiseled face. His face was pale, and he swayed precariously, but he supported himself with a sword sheath.

His eyes were unusually calm, showing neither the excitement of severely injuring the demon king with a single sword strike nor the regret of missing his target.

It is like a deep pool, without waves or ripples.

It's hard to imagine that such a murderous sword strike could have come from someone so calm and collected.

But the pure sword intent that lingered around him left them no room for doubt.

That was him; it was he who unleashed that astonishingly powerful sword strike.

But what they found hard to accept was that this person was just a Purple Mansion cultivator.

To them, a sea monster of this level was merely food, yet it nearly destroyed the demon king's true form of Yamoluo with a single sword strike—a true disgrace!

Yemoro felt a surge of heat rush to his head. His pride as the king of the sea race was trampled into the ground and rubbed hard.

He memorized Song Qingxing's face and secretly vowed to avenge the sword wound!
"Get back now!" Ye Fuke roared in exasperation, his trident unleashing endless lightning as he relentlessly bombarded the protective array.

Having reached this point in the battle, the odds of victory are actually very slim; it would be far too difficult for him to conquer the Twin Islands on his own.

At this moment, he only has two regrets.

Firstly, it was wrong to let Yemolu test the East Sea Alliance, which led to incorrect information and a wrong judgment.

I initially thought this was just an alliance led by the Song family of the Brocade Banner, uniting several smaller forces, but judging from the strength they displayed, it was not that simple at all.

Originally, with their strength, they were not without a way to break the deadlock, but he did the second thing that he deeply regretted: he divided his forces.

If Ye Misha were to act alongside them, even with the support of the grand formation, Li Chengming would still be no match for them.

But he is currently attacking the Tenglong Islands, trying to contain the main force of the Song family, led by Song Daoling of the Brocade Banner.

If Yamora's intelligence is accurate, this tactic could easily crush the Twin Islands.

But now it has become the direct cause of their failure.

Now they are trapped in the special domain of this great formation and are unable to correct this mistake.

"We can only conserve our strength and fight again another day." This thought flashed through Ye Fuke's mind. He no longer focused on competing with Li Chengming, but began to think about how to break the array domain that trapped them.

The biggest constraint they faced in this battle was actually the array field, which isolated them from the outside world and suppressed their cultivation.

Otherwise, if the entire army were to besiege the defensive formation continuously, the formation's spiritual energy would soon become unsustainable.

Even now, as long as this great formation is broken, the human cultivators fighting the sea monsters outside will become lambs to the slaughter.

He could either use the lives of these human cultivators to force Li Chengming to leave the formation and fight him, or he could kidnap all of these human cultivators, thus making up for the losses in this battle.

Having figured this out, he began to launch a fierce attack on the array's barrier.

Li Chengming instantly understood Ye Fuke's thoughts. While trying his best to stop him, he ordered his men to notify Niu Dazhuang and the others on the periphery to finish the battle quickly.

He has also been quite exhausted by this battle, and if Ye Fuke is determined to break through, he will not be able to stop him.

At that time, the battle on the periphery was in full swing, with powerful experts at the Purple Mansion level falling on both sides. They were completely bloodthirsty and had long since lost all semblance of formation.

The seawater was a deep crimson, filled with a nauseating stench of blood.

In this situation, the cultivators who were ordered to leave the island to deliver messages couldn't even see Niu Dazhuang and Song Xianming, let alone the flying swords used for communication. It was too chaotic, and they were in a panic.

At that moment, he saw a warship, its hull already tilted and wobbling as it pierced through the bloody waves, sailing back to port with its ship covered in wounds, flying the Song family's flag.

He immediately shouted loudly, trying to get the other person's attention.

"Pah!" Exhausted, Song Youfu spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Just as he was about to rest, he heard the messenger's shouts.

"What's going on?" Song Youfu looked up and replied.

"A messenger has arrived! The Demon King is already breaking through!" the messenger shouted.

"What?" Song Youfu was immediately startled; he knew all too well what this meant.

They are now able to fight the sea monsters on the periphery without restraint because the two demon kings cannot intervene. If either of the demon kings were to escape, they would face annihilation.

"Brother, we must immediately notify them to retreat back to the island!" Song Youping said anxiously from the side.

Song Youfu glanced at the chaotic battlefield, which was completely disorganized, and felt utterly overwhelmed.

With such a vast battlefield and people so engrossed in the fighting, it's not something you can just retreat from so easily.

They currently hold a complete advantage overall, and under these circumstances, a misstep could turn a retreat into a major rout.

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and pulled out a tubular object about a foot long from his pocket.

A wisp of spiritual energy was channeled into it, and a beam of light shot into the sky, then suddenly exploded in mid-air, forming a long-lasting, colorful ball of light. From time to time, a bright halo would spread outwards, making it exceptionally conspicuous.

This is a magical artifact that Li Ban tinkered with some time ago. The signals it sends have multiple meanings, such as asking for help, indicating one's own location, and requesting a gathering. It can be used flexibly depending on the different scenarios in which it is used.

Before the war, the East China Sea Alliance Elders had foreseen the current situation, and this item came into being.

Due to time constraints, it was only allocated to Purple Mansion and Foundation Establishment cultivators within the alliance.

Among them, the colors in the hands of Song Yuqing and Niu Dazhuang were the most special, one indicating retreat and the other indicating encirclement and annihilation.

When they send out their signals, the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the alliance respond with their own signals, and the surrounding cultivators will spontaneously move closer to the nearest Foundation Establishment cultivator, thus forming a group.

Whether retreating or attacking, actions can be coordinated to the greatest extent possible.

What Song Youfu held in his hand was naturally the most ordinary one. Others would probably be confused if they saw it, but he didn't expect others to understand it. As long as Song Yuqing could see it, he would naturally understand it.

The distance was too great, and he wasn't sure if the other person could even see him.

So he ordered the helmsman to turn the ship around and steer the battered warship back into the battlefield to deliver the message to more people.

Soon, more and more signals rose into the sky. It was dusk, and these signals were particularly dazzling in the air, almost covering half of the sky.

Sure enough, because the signal was so conspicuous, Song Yuqing was able to detect their signal even though they were thousands of miles away.

He grasped the meaning of these signals almost instantly.

"We cannot linger in battle."

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he decisively activated the signal in his hand that signified retreat.

Although the group of Purple Mansion cultivators, who were engaged in fierce battle, were puzzled, they could only slowly move closer to his location.

"Hey Song, what are you doing? You're retreating when things are going so well? Give me another half hour and I could definitely twist that ugly freak's head off!"

Niu Dazhuang, exuding a fierce aura, angrily questioned.

“The situation has changed. I’ll stay behind to cover the rear. You take this and send a signal to the main army.” Song Yuqing didn’t explain much, but simply handed another signal tube to Niu Dazhuang.

Niu Dazhuang casually tossed it to Song Youlin, stubbornly saying, "What's the point of letting a hostage stay here? I have to keep an eye on you for the Master."

“Fellow Daoist Niu was worried you wouldn’t be able to handle it, so I’ll stay too.” Xu Yunhe, covered in blood, explained for Niu Dazhuang, then stood beside the two, earning a roll of his eyes from Niu Dazhuang.

"Ancestor, I'm sorry to trouble you to personally deliver the message." Song Youlin respectfully handed the signal tube to Song Xianming. As a member of the Song family, he naturally couldn't fall behind.

Song Xianming chuckled and said, "My bones are not yet decayed. It is not your turn to cover the rear. The important task of restraining the army is entrusted to you. This is an order."

Left with no other choice, Song Youlin and the other Purple Mansion cultivators retreated first, and triggered a signal at the edge of the main battlefield.

Upon receiving the definite signal, the cultivators, who had been somewhat confused by Song Youfu and the others, immediately came to their senses and began to move towards the nearest Foundation Establishment cultivators, gradually retreating under the cover of the fleet...

"It's about to end," Song Changsheng said softly.

Ji Shinian stretched and said, "Song Yuqing has really honed her skills and knows when to advance and retreat, and she won't be swayed by short-term gains. She's truly remarkable."

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as enjoyable as I'd hoped.

After saying that, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "Fellow Daoist Zixu, would you be interested in going with me to the territory of the Sea Yaksha clan to find out what's going on?"

...(End of chapter)