Six cohorts of cultivators that were all dressed in black had appeared in the mountains of New Empyrean City. These six cohorts were all led by one of the grand elders of the Heavens Ridge Villa and they numbered nearly a thousand.
All these cultivators were all at the upper second realm and above and they were the core fighters of the Heavens Ridge Villa.
Tonight they were all making a night raid against the Solitary Manor to avenge the honor of their acting sect leader Qin Keqin.
Most of the core protégés of the Heavens Ridge Villa were aware of what had happened earlier and they were furious that their clan pride had been trampled upon by Supremacy Wen Hongguang and Old Saint Wen.
Even Nangong Yu who did not like Lu Qingyun very much was also upset with the Solitary Manor for tramping upon his clan honor. This was not only just a matter of his clan vendetta but that of his own personal honor as well!
Even though he knew that he would be courting upon his own death by attacking the powerful Solitary Manor but he was never a coward.
And he was not only the only one.
At this moment, everyone seemed to have shared the same heart and spirit; no one should be allowed to talk or gossip about what happened to their sect leader Qin Keqin to Old Saint Wen. In fact, they would all defend her honor fiercely as though it was their own.
A number of old elders, including Elder Ouyang who was the patriarch father of Ouyang Xue had also joined the cohorts.
These old elders were too indignant to stay at the Heavens Ridge Villa and they had all volunteered to join the raid.
In fact, never before had all the elders of the Heavens Ridge Villa been so united before. After all their loyalties had always been divided into the six martial halls and there was never a strong leader to lead them.
Celestial Shi Guanyin, Celestial Kong Guxin, Yun Xing, Ouyang Xue, Mu Han and Wang Elder who were the grand elders of the six martial halls had never thought that the protégés under their charge would be so fired up. In fact, a great number of them had actually wanted to attack the Solitary Manor this very night on their very own initiative but was held back by the more cool headed protégés.
So when the grand elders had suddenly mustered all the fighters of the Heavens Ridge Ville and to inform them of their intentions, they were quite surprised that there were many cheers and even zealous agreements.
Even the more cowardly and cool headed protégés were forced to go along with the majority of the protégés who had wanted blood and vendetta for their sect leader.
"Are we still men? Our sect leader has sacrificed herself for our sake and yet we are hiding like turtles?"
"We are cultivators and fighters. Our way is to fight and not shy away from any battle!"
"Even if we were to die, we will make sure we take away half of the Solitary Manor with us!"
The current strength of the Heavens Ridge Villa was around ten thousands versus the fifteen thousand strength of the Solitary Manor. Most of the ordinary protégés of the two clans were lowly cultivators that were between the first and the second realm. It was estimated that the Solitary Manor had some two thousands capable fighters.
As the six cohorts made their way rapidly through the mountains in great haste and with great secrecy, they were suddenly startled by the sudden burst of flares and torches in front of them and they had suddenly found themselves being surrounded by a great number of cultivators!
Celestial Shi Guanyin was startled, "Have our movements been discovered and that an ambush has been set upon us?"
Celestial Kong Guxin shouted aloud, "Be careful. Their profound strength and cultivation levels are not weak!" Then he said solemnly, "It is only to be expected that we have dogs of the Solitary Manor in our midst!"
Ouyang Xue had turned ashen as she quickly unsheathed her sword while shouting to her protégés, "Everyone gets ready for battle…"
The cultivators that had surrounded them were all masked and were also dressed in black assailant clothing.
But all of a sudden three of the ambushers, two men and a woman had suddenly landed quietly in front of them. One of the three had golden eyes and it was obvious that he was at least a fifth realm golden celestial…
But the one who spoke was the man who did not have golden eyes and he said, "We have heard that you are leading an attack upon the Solitary Manor. Therefore we are here to give you a helping help."
Shi Guanyin was startled. Allies? When did the Heaven Ridge Villa had such powerful allies? She estimated that the ambushers numbered some three hundred and they were all above average fighters.
The man laughed as he slowly unmasked himself, "Look at me, I have forgotten to introduce myself."
When he had unmasked himself, Ouyang Xue and Leng Qiuyue were gasping. "Ling Chong!"
Ling Chong laughed, "It seems that I have not been forgotten yet."
Shi Guanyin had actually never seen Ling Chong before. But she certainly knew who this Ling Chong was. So she asked, "Young Master Ling Chong from the Flying Armament Sect?"
Fairy Ling Xiu had also unmasked herself, "Fairy Ling Xiu pays my honorable respect to all the grand elders of the Heavens Ridge Villa."
The man who had golden eyes had also unmasked himself as he said coolly, "I am Elder Ling Feijian. We have not seen each other for a long time."
Shi Guanyin was gasping and she appeared to be a little shaken. It was not only because this Elder Ling Feijian was an uncle to Ling Chong and Ling Xiu but that he was also a peaked fifth realm golden celestial. But that was not all. He was also someone that she had secretly admired for a long time…
She merely nodded and did not look at him in the face.
But she soon regained her composure to say, "How did you know that we will be attacking the Solitary Manor tonight? It seems that we have a couple of spies in our midst!"
Ling Chong replied coolly, "I'm afraid that we are not the only ones who know about it. Even the Clear Sky Pavilion and Solitary Manor may have gotten wind of it. After all, your movements are not actually too secret due to the huge movement."
Shi Guanyin nodded. Actually she had not expected it to be a secret at all. There was bound to be some spies in their midst.
She said, "So why are you here? To help us?"
Ling Chong nodded, "We have a favor to return to your Senior Lu Qingyun hence we are here. He isn't around?"
When he had said that, the protégés of the Heavens Ridge Villa were all looking at one another and were muttering.
"He is here because of our senior brother?"
"It seems that this senior brother isn't completely useless…"
"I've heard that he is a good-for-nothing cultivator…"
"No, he isn't." someone who was with Lu Qingyun during the experiential mission said angrily.
Fairy Ling Xiu darted her eyes around and she was secretly disappointed that Lu Qingyun was actually not around…
She had actually played a huge part in persuading her patriarch father to aid the Heavens Ridge Villa when they had gotten wind of the night raid that the Heavens Ridge Villa was undertaking.
Shi Guanyin said solemnly, "Go back! This has nothing to do with the Flying Armament Sect. Do you know that you are not only dealing with a seventh realm cultivator but also from the Heavenly Fragrance Villa? You cannot bear the consequences of your clan's destruction because of us."
Ling Feijian said coolly, "The history of our Flying Armament Sect is older than any of the big four celestial clans here. But we have never heard that the Solitary Manor has ever got a single seventh realm expert. The number of seventh realm experts in the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Realm can be counted with the fingers of a single hand."
Then he smiled, "Therefore we've done a little investigation and found out that this Old Saint Wen had actually arrived from the Divine Sovereign Realm a couple of days ago and if we are not wrong, he is actually from there. Currently we are still unable to establish his identity. If we report this to our sovereign patriarch, the Heavenly Fragrance Princess of the Heavenly Fragrance Villa, not only will she not punish us for transgressing upon the Solitary Manor, she may even reward us."
Shi Guanyin was startled, "Is that the true? That seventh realm expert is really from the Divine Sovereign Realm?"
Ling Feijian nodded, "You know I won't lie."
Shi Guanyin nodded and began to ponder.
If they had made a major offensive against the Solitary Manor, win or lose, their sovereign patriarch would not hesitate to punish them. But if the Solitary Manor was in cahoots with the other divine realms then this was another matter entirely. The Solitary Manor would be a traitor in the eyes of the Heavenly Fragrance Princess.
On hindsight, the spying network of the Flying Armament Sect was too scary and they could even mobilize their fighters with such a short time of preparation. They had even gotten wind of where Old Saint Wen had come from even though Wen Hongguang must be trying his best to cover his tracks.
Shi Guanyin said quietly, "Even if that is the case, the Flying Armament Sect and the Heavens Ridge Villa will still be at the mercy of this seventh realm expert when he found out about our deeds. Moreover, our raid may not be a successful one. They are probably ready to meet us."
If the Flying Armament Sect could get wind of their movements, there was no reason that the Solitary Manor could not get wind of their movements either.
Ling Feijian smiled, "There are two main reasons and a minor reason. We think that this seventh realm expert may not want his identity to be known or else it won't be just a minor clan fight but a major conflict between two divine realms."
Shi Guanyin said coldly, "The Divine Sovereign Realm is one of the three top tier divine realms and is many times larger than the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Realm. Maybe they do welcome a conflict with a bottom tier divine realm like the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Realm."
Ling Feijian laughed, "Maybe, maybe not. The second reason is that we have heard that this seventh realm expert had beaten up Supremacy Wen Hongguang and therefore, he probably won't be helping him for quite some time."
Shi Guanyin raised her lovely eye lashes, "You even know about this too?"
Ling Feijian laughed, "We need to analyze all the tiniest of all details so that we may know if it is worthy to aid the Heavens Ridge Villa."
Shi Guanyin asked, "So what about the minor reason?"
Ling Feijian smiled and said, "Is that important? The minor reason can never be more important than the main reasons."
Shi Guanyin replied coolly, "We need to analyze all the tiniest details so that we may know if it is worthy for the Flying Armament Sect to aid us."
Ling Feijian laughed and his voice dropped to almost an incoherent whisper, "Because of you."
Shi Guanyin suddenly had a slight flush as she quickly turned around to say, "We shall join forces with the Flying Armament Sect."
Everyone else were wondering what Ling Feijian had whispered to Shi Guanyin to cause her to have such a weird expression on her countenance…
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Elsewhere in the Solitary Manor;
Supremacy Wen was having a dark mood as he watched the dancing maidens that were in the hall. All the elders and leaders of the Solitary Manor were actually in the hall at the moment. The reason for his dark mood was because he 'knew' that the Heavens Ridge Villa was on their way to attack his celestial clan now.
He had never expected that the Heavens Ridge Villa would be so bold to launch an all-out assault on the Solitary Manor, after all the Solitary Manor was a full notch stronger than the Heavens Ridge Villa.
A messenger had suddenly arrived panicky at the hall as he stammered, "A masked man has stormed up the heaven gate and is on his way here!"
Supremacy Wen said coldly, "So the Heavens Ridge Villa has finally arrived. It is time for us to deal with them."
Celestial Bai Laoxiong said coldly, "This is a perfect opportunity for us to wipe them all out."
The messenger interrupted panicky, "It may not be the Heavens Ridge Villa. It is only a single man. He was shouting to see Supremacy Wen."
"What?!" Supremacy Wen said, "A single man has dared to attack the Solitary Manor? This is too outrageous. What is his realm level?"
The messenger replied quickly, "He shouldn't be in the fifth realm yet. However several of our third realm and even a fourth realm expert had already been beaten by him. So he should be around the fourth realm. Elder Shi is heavily injured and he had sent me here to request for reinforcements."
Elder Shi was of course the fourth realm expert that was assigned to stand guard at the heaven gate of the Solitary Manor.
Supremacy Wen was growling, "A single puny fourth realm cultivator has actually dared to attack the Solitary Manor? Who exactly is he?"
Celestial Bai Laoxiong said coldly, "No matter who he is, he is only courting his very own death."
Supremacy Wen angrily rebuked the messenger, "You are all idiots! A mere fourth realm cultivator can't wriggle his way through our celestial sword formations. Why didn't you use the sword formations against him?"
The messenger replied awkwardly, "We did but the sword formations are all shattered by him."
Supremacy Wen was startled, "Is it even possible?"
The sword formations of the Solitary Manor consisted of thirty protégés and were extremely formidable and there were at least ten such celestial sword formations waiting at the heaven gate for the arrival of the Heavens Ridge Villa.
It was to say that a single man had managed to cause three hundred protégés to be helpless against him?
Even the elders and core disciples that were in the hall were all muttering with disbelief. This was not possible, right?
The celestial sword formation of the Solitary Manor was actually quite formidable and with ten such celestial sword formations, even a peaked fifth realm golden celestial may not be able to hold out against it, moreover the intruder was only someone who was a fourth realm cultivator.
Supremacy Wen said solemnly, "Muster all the protégés. We're going to meet this intruder."