<h4>Chapter 899: Guarding Blue Lantern</h4>
Sage Qingyun led Golden Immortal cultivators from the seven factions into the wild wastes hidden realm. Though Sage Qingyun was the only Boundless Immortal present, who could suppress all other cultivators within the wild wastes hidden realm, everyone knew that the Fenghuang faction would be able to bring him down if it were to dedicate all its resources to killing Sage Qingyun. As a result, though they were all nominally cooperating with each other, they were actually intending to seize the bronzepass for themselves.
Sage Qingyun, meanwhile, looked at the cultivators with disdain. He was uninterested in the bronzepass. His true goal was capturing Xiao Nanfeng and Xia Yu''er.
Very quickly, they regrouped with the disciples from each faction who had remained in the hidden realm.
In a certain hall, the cultivators discussed how to strategically search for the whereabouts of the Fenghuang faction.
"Apologies, but we haven''t been able to locate them," a Golden Immortal said.
"You''re saying there''s no way to find their whereabouts?" Sage Qingyun demanded coldly.
"That''s right," the Golden Immortal replied.
Sage Qingyun took a deep breath. The Fenghuang faction head is nothing more than a living corpse. His son, Blue Lantern, must have inherited his legacy. We''ll see amotion involving the bronzepass soon enough, once Blue Lantern starts to attune to it. His location will surely be revealed then."
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"Could Blue Lantern escape from the hidden realm with the bronzepass?" a Golden Immortal asked.
"You all know what the situation outside is," Sage Qingyun replied, sneering. "The seven faction heads are waiting for him right outside. He won''t make it far if he attempts to escape."
"That''s true. They can''t escape. Are we just going to wait, then?" the Golden Immortal asked.
Sage Qingyun nodded. "Let''s keep searching while we wait. All our factions will devote all our resources to finding him. Share whatever news youe across."
"Understood!" everyone replied.
Within the valley in which the Fenghuang faction was located, Blue Lantern led his junior brothers and sisters in conducting a funeral for his father. Everyone was beset with grief; the cries of mourning were deafening.
Xiao Nanfeng, Yu''er, Ye Dafu, and the others likewise paid their respects and lit incense for Blue Lantern''s father.
After a few days, following the funeral, Yu''er''s cultivation advanced to the fifth stage of the Golden Immortal realm thanks to the Yuqing yin pir that she had absorbed. The rate at which she was advancing left everyone else envious. Xiao Nanfeng even suspected that, at some point, Yu''er would advance to a realm that would allow her to cleanse her own curse.
Of course, this was mere spection. Xiao Nanfeng was still hoping to acquire the bronzepass to remove the curse once and for all.
Now that Blue Lantern had acquired thepass, they would simply have to wait patiently while he attuned to it.
"Senior Brother, Master is gone now. You should start attuning to the bronzepass immediately. It''s a sinister artifact, and it might vanish from your possession if you leave it be for too long," Blue Jade urged.
Blue Lantern nced at the bronzepass and frowned. "It''s not safe here. Attuning to the bronzepass will cause a massive disturbance. I should return to Dazheng before attempting it."
"Dazheng?" everyone asked in confusion.
Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. "I''m afraid that won''t be possible at the moment. Outside the wild wastes hidden realm, there are seven faction heads of the Supreme Sect of the Wild Wastes lying in wait for you."
"Oh?" Blue Lantern frowned.
"Will attuning to thepass be troublesome?" Xiao Nanfeng asked curiously.
"It''ll cause a hugemotion. Thepass is the origin of countless formations. Once I begin the process of attunement, numerous surrounding formations will activate. My location will be impossible to conceal."
"Attune to it. We''ll guard you," Xiao Nanfeng promised.
"Very well. I''m counting on you, Your Majesty." Then, he turned to Blue Jade and the others. "Where is the Fenghuang faction''s pure yang pir?"
"Master returned it to its original location," Blue Jade replied.
"Oh? Why?"
"The pure yang pirs were left by our founder to counteract thews of the heavens and conceal the auras of the fragments of the bronzepass. After you toppled one, thews of the heavens began to shift. Over time, these changes grew increasingly bizarre. Six hundred years ago, Master noticed that the heavens had managed to home in on thepass and were threatening to summon a tribtion. To mask thepass''s presence, he returned the pure yang pir to its original location."
Blue Lantern sighed and eventually nodded. "I understand. We''ll leave the pirs be, then. Attuning to thepass will take a considerable amount of time."
"We will guard you, Senior Brother!" the disciples shouted.
Xiao Nanfeng smiled as well. "Take your time. It won''t be an issue."
"Understood!" Blue Lantern nodded.
He exined the process briefly to the disciples, then entered histe father''s quarters, deployed a series of formations, and began to attune to the bronzepass.
With a hum, blue light enveloped Blue Lantern''s residence.
From there, concentric waves of energy rippled outward, like the ripples of water from a stone thrown into a pond. Waves extended across the entire hidden realm.
Blue Lantern''s juniors tried to stop the waves from propagating, but to no avail. Outside the valley, all sorts of golden runes began to glimmer with light, more and more of them lighting up as the ripples passed them by.
All the formations in the wild wastes hidden realm began to reverberate.
The cultivators of the seven factions, who had been searching fruitlessly for the Fenghuang faction''s whereabouts,immediately sensed themotion.
"What''s going on?"
"It''s the bronzepass! Blue Lantern must be attuning to it, after all."
"Quick, inform Sage Qingyun! We have to stop Blue Lantern!"
Sage Qingyun noticed themotion as well. His eyes shed, as if he were making some sort of calction. He stepped out of the hall and vanished in a puff of air.
At the same time, within the Fenghuang faction''s valley, Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath. "Arge disturbance indeed. Do you have any defensive formations? Let''s start by protecting this valley."
"We do," Blue Jade replied. She turned to the other disciples. "Everyone, prepare to activate our defensive formations."
"Understood!" the Fenghuang disciples shouted.
Before long, a huge golden barrier was erected around the valley.
Soon, however, meteors began to rain down from the sky, crashing against the barrier and causing it to quake violently.
"They''re here!" Blue Jade shouted, rmed.
"Let''s take a look," Xiao Nanfeng said.
He led the group to a nearby mountain peak, whereupon they spotted figures lurking in the distance. They were activating formations nearby to summon meteors to strike the valley.
"There they are!"
"Those Fenghuang rats were hiding here all along! I passed by several times, but I didn''t notice anything amiss at all. Damn it, they''re too good at hiding!"
"They won''t be able to hide any longer."
The intruders snarled, but they hesitated to attack directly. They were all waiting for Sage Qingyun to arrive.
Within moments, almost a dozen Golden Immortals had gathered, causing Blue Jade and the others to grow anxious.
"Attack!" Xiao Nanfengmanded. "Kill them!"
"Understood!" the twelve golden cultivators replied.
The twelve golden cultivators shot toward the gathered Golden Immortals.
"These twelve again? Damn them!" the Golden Immortals cursed.
They sent golden runes surging toward the twelve golden cultivators, but the golden cultivators easily made them explode with their punches.
The golden cultivators closed in on the Golden Immortals. Intense fighting ensued.
At the start, the twelve golden cultivators had the upper hand, but as more and more Golden Immortals arrived, their advantage narrowed.
Eventually, as the Golden Immortals activated formations en masse, they were badly wounded by mes, hail, des of wind, and all sorts of elemental phenomena.
"Ye Dafu and the others are losing. Will they be able to hold out against that barrage?" Yu''er frowned.
"It''s fine. They''re enjoying it," Xiao Nanfeng replied, smiling.
"Oh?" Yu''er was rather surprised by Xiao Nanfeng''s response.
She examined the golden cultivators in more detail. Indeed, despite the fact that they were being beaten ck and blue, they all looked very excited at what was happening. Some were even reveling in the assault.
Yu''er gaped. "Right. I''d almost forgotten that they were all perverse like that..."
"We''ll have them drag things out for now," Xiao Nanfeng said.
Yu''er nodded and rxed.
More and more Golden Immortals appeared, all of whom joined in attacking the twelve golden cultivators. Before long, the twelve golden cultivators were fending off thrice their number of Golden Immortals.
"What? Why aren''t any of our attacks working? My de can y Golden Immortals, but it won''t even prate their flesh!"
"It''s crazy. Do you see their expressions? It''s almost like they''re enjoying this beating. They can''t be, could they?"
"Where''s Qingyun? Once he gets here, he''ll be able to finish them off in no time!"
The Golden Immortals fretted as they waited for Sage Qingyun''s arrival.
On a fog-shrouded mountain peak in the distance were Sage Qingyun and a few ck-robed subordinates of his.
"Master, aren''t you going to make a move yet?" one of the ck-robed cultivators asked.
"Wait a little."
"Why?"
"I''m not in a hurry. Why make a move now? It''ll only serve to benefit the other factions."
His targets were Xiao Nanfeng and Xia Yu''er. He didn''t care about the bronzepass. Wouldn''t it be best if those cultivators from the other six factions fought and weakened them first? Of course, perhaps Xiao Nanfeng still had trump cards of his own. He wanted to see if the cultivators from the six factions would be able to force his hand before he stepped in to im victory while minimizing his risks.
After all, as the sole Great Luo Golden Immortal in the secret realm, Sage Qingyun was confident he had nothing to fear.