"Are you telling the truth?" Ximen Yi's gaze was icy as he stared at Ye Yunfei.
"Yes. If my memory serves, one of them was, I believe, a disciple of your Sword Palace," Ye Yunfei nodded.
"You will pay a heavy price for this!" Ximen Yi stared daggers at Ye Yunfei, each word spoken with deliberate, chilling intensity.
"Kill him!" With a wave of his hand, Ximen Yi gave the order.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… One Acupoint Opening Realm expert after another burst into motion, rushing at Ye Yunfei with extreme speed.
All thirty-five remaining experts charged!
Whoosh!
Ye Yunfei immediately turned and fled. He understood that, for the moment, facing so many Acupoint Opening Realm opponents was impossible. Moreover, Ximen Yi, who had unlocked twenty-three Vital Acupoints, was far more powerful than the five experts from before. Qin Yue and Nangong Yong, each having unlocked eighteen Vital Acupoints, were also formidable.
"After him!" Ximen Yi stood on a longsword, leading the charge as he pursued with blistering speed.
Outside this place, escaping from a powerhouse like Ximen Yi would have been exceedingly difficult for Ye Yunfei. But within this Illusion Palace, Ye Yunfei moved like a fish in water. The omnipresent Illusion Dao Energy and Laws were not obstacles to him; they were actually an aid!
Roar… Roar…
In the midst of his urgent flight, Ye Yunfei suddenly sensed a location up ahead teeming with several dozen monsters.
"All of you, come to me!" Ye Yunfei had a thought, and the Soul-Nourishing Tree materialized above his head, shooting out a multitude of roots to instantly control the monsters.
Roar…
These monsters charged towards Ximen Yi.
"Die!" Riding his sword, Ximen Yi cleaved forward with a torrential burst of sword light, grinding the several dozen monsters to dust in moments.
"Over there! More than a hundred monsters!" Ye Yunfei's Soul Power detected another group of monsters nearby. He altered his course and raced towards them. This was precisely the core area of the Illusion Palace, after all, which explained the abundance of monsters.
Soon, the Soul-Nourishing Tree controlled over a hundred monsters, sending them rolling back towards the pursuing Acupoint Opening Realm experts.
"Die!" Enraged, Ximen Yi unleashed another sword strike, instantly slaughtering dozens of the monsters.
This, however, inevitably slowed his pursuit. In that moment, Ye Yunfei had already shot far ahead.
From then on, whenever Ye Yunfei sensed a concentration of monsters, he would head straight for them and take control. The resulting hordes would charge back in a mighty tide to pounce on the pursuers.
While these monsters posed little real danger to the experts, they severely hampered their speed in chasing Ye Yunfei.
A short while later.
"Damn it! Ye Yunfei has vanished!" Ximen Yi's face twisted with fury. He could no longer sense Ye Yunfei.
"Split up and search!" Ximen Yi roared.
"But Ye Yunfei's capabilities are peculiar. If we search separately, he might pick us off one by one. Especially those among us who are weaker—they would be no match for him at all," one person hesitated before speaking.
"Everyone, spread out! Form a fan-like formation for the search! Maintain a distance of no more than two thousand meters between each person. That way, we'll ensure we can support each other at any moment!" After a moment's thought, Ximen Yi said in a deep voice.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he surged forward.
"That method will work! Enough talk, move out!" Qin Yue shouted sharply and also charged ahead.
The others had no choice but to surge forward as well, spacing themselves two thousand meters apart to form a rapidly moving fan-shaped net, like a huge human seine sweeping forward.
The two-thousand-meter distance ensured mutual perception between any two people.
"These fellows have some quick wits about them," thought Ye Yunfei from a distance, clearly perceiving the movements of the Acupoint Opening Realm experts.
"They have numbers on their side, making them tough to deal with head-on. I'll first gather a large batch of monsters before turning the tables on them!" After some thought, Ye Yunfei moved away, traveling far off. He began scouring the Illusion Palace for monsters, controlling them one group after another with the Soul-Nourishing Tree.
Monsters at the Sea Transformation Realm or below could be controlled by the Soul-Nourishing Tree in an instant!
During this process, Ye Yunfei encountered several Acupoint Opening Realm monsters and attempted to control them with the Soul-Nourishing Tree, but ultimately failed and had to give up.
As for the thirty-five Acupoint Opening Realm experts, Ye Yunfei could sense them clearly from a great distance and naturally wouldn't allow himself to be found.
Finally, Ye Yunfei had amassed control over more than five thousand monsters!
"Now, I can have a proper, head-on confrontation with those guys!" Ye Yunfei looked in the direction where the thirty-five experts were, a cold smile curling his lips.
Then, he swaggered confidently toward them, leading over five thousand monsters.
Boom… Rumble… The more than five thousand monsters followed behind Ye Yunfei in a mighty, intimidating horde.
A short while later.
The distance between Ye Yunfei and the thirty-five experts grew smaller.
"I've found Ye Yunfei! He's in that direction!" Suddenly, one of the Acupoint Opening Realm experts shouted first.
Whoosh, whoosh… One expert after another immediately accelerated, charging toward Ye Yunfei's location.
"Halt!" Feeling the experts rushing over, Ye Yunfei simply stood still and waved his hand, stopping all the monsters behind him.
Soon.
Whoosh, whoosh… One by one, the Acupoint Opening Realm experts arrived.
"So many monsters!" Seeing the over five thousand monsters behind Ye Yunfei, they were all startled, halting their movements with wary expressions.
Ximen Yi, Qin Yue, and Nangong Yong stood at the forefront, with the others spread out on either flank.
Ye Yunfei stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a cold sneer on his face as he looked at the thirty-five experts, the monsters behind him roaring unceasingly.
The two sides stood in a tense standoff!
At this moment, the experts' feelings were rather complex. The fact that a Heavenly Thunder Realm cultivator could entangle with them to this extent was utterly inconceivable! Especially since this cultivator hailed from a remote starry sea. All of them, these Acupoint Opening Realm experts, came from renowned and mighty factions across Canghuang Realm, each usually proud and arrogant, considering themselves exceptional talents favored by the heavens! Yet the events in this Illusion Palace had dealt a severe blow to their confidence and dignity!
"Everyone, in this situation, our only way to deal with him is to unleash the Linked City Strike," Ximen Yi said grimly.
"Agreed!" The others concurred.
Facing so many monsters, they knew it would be impossible to even touch Ye Yunfei once the fight began.
"Everyone, first consume pills to restore your Spiritual Power! This time, let's not be stingy. Ensure we exert our full strength to kill Ye Yunfei! I believe none of us will rest easy until he is dead!" Qin Yue took out several pills and stuffed them into his mouth.
The others followed suit, taking out pills and swallowing them.
"Ye Yunfei, prepare to die!" Ximen Yi raised his longsword, aiming it from afar at Ye Yunfei. His left hand formed a strange seal, initiating the sword art. His words were cold and menacing.
"The fight hasn't even started yet. Who wins or loses is still undecided," Ye Yunfei sneered.
"Linked City Strike!" Ximen Yi's expression darkened as he roared.
Boom… Boom…
The others roared simultaneously, circulating their cultivation arts. Extending their palms towards the various Vital Acupoints on Ximen Yi's body, they began channeling their Spiritual Power to him in a constant flow.
Boom…
The next moment, a thick sword beam, a hundred meters long, took form and came crashing down towards Ye Yunfei.
"Charge!" Ye Yunfei waved his hand.
One monster after another rushed forward like moths to a flame, meeting the sword beam.
Puff, puff… Wherever the sword beam passed, monsters were directly ground into dust.
"Keep draining your Spiritual Power. You'll regret it soon enough," Ye Yunfei swept a cold gaze over the experts constantly transmitting their power to Ximen Yi, a frosty sneer in his heart.
Soon, after Ximen Yi's sword beam had pulverized about a thousand monsters, its energy was expended and it vanished.
Boom…
Ximen Yi raised his sword and unleashed another massive sword beam towards Ye Yunfei.
Boom… Boom… Hordes of monsters charged forward to meet it.
A short while later, this second sword beam annihilated roughly another thousand monsters before dissipating.
"Boom!" With another roar, Ximen Yi unleashed a third gigantic sword beam.
By the time he launched the third strike, the faces of the other Acupoint Opening Realm experts had grown pale, their auras continuously declining.
"Charge!" Ye Yunfei gestured, and over a thousand monsters surged to meet the third sword beam.
Soon, after massacring this group of monsters, the third sword beam vanished.
"Again!" Ximen Yi sent a fourth massive sword beam rolling towards Ye Yunfei.
The experts continued pouring their Spiritual Power into him, but their auras were dropping alarmingly!
Ximen Yi had unleashed four consecutive strikes, and the toll on them was immense!
Soon, the fourth sword beam annihilated over a thousand monsters as well.
"Everyone, Ye Yunfei now has fewer than a thousand monsters left around him! Kill these last few, and Ye Yunfei's death will be at hand!" Ximen Yi roared.
The spirits of the others lifted.
Boom…
Ximen Yi unleashed the fifth colossal sword beam, ripping through the sky as it bore down on Ye Yunfei.
Roar… Roar…
The roughly nine hundred or so monsters remaining beside Ye Yunfei all charged forward madly.
"Time to act." Ye Yunfei's gaze shifted to the Acupoint Opening Realm experts who were still channeling their power to Ximen Yi.
The instant Ximen Yi unleashed his fifth strike, their breathing grew ragged, sweat pouring down their faces like rain!
"Die!" Ye Yunfei, who had been building his momentum, finally launched his lightning strike. The Heavenly Soul Sword shot forth.
Puff, puff…
The Heavenly Soul Sword's speed was truly terrifying. In a flash, it pierced through the brows of thirty-two Acupoint Opening Realm experts simultaneously, turning them into corpses that tumbled backward!
A slaughter of thirty-two in an instant! Pitifully, these experts, unaware of the method Ye Yunfei had used to kill the previous five, had never imagined Ye Yunfei possessed such a trump card. In their drained and fatigued state, they simply lacked the speed to evade.
"You…" Only three figures remained standing in place, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on Ye Yunfei as if they had seen a ghost. They felt a chill coursing through their entire bodies, as if they had plummeted into an abyss of ten-thousand-year ice!
They were Ximen Yi, Qin Yue, and Nangong Yong!
They were the strongest. At the critical moment, they had managed to block the Heavenly Soul Sword's attack!