"Elder Ancestor, before Young Master Ye went into seclusion, he arranged a large number of highly skilled earth formations and defensive formations inside and outside our Guhai Sect headquarters. I have inspected all those earth and defensive formations; each is of exceptionally high quality. Furthermore, Young Master Ye instructed me to memorize the locations and activation methods of the long-distance teleportation formations he set up. In case our Guhai Sect is unable to withstand an invasion by external enemies, we are to immediately teleport away using those long-distance formations. This is the fallback plan Young Master Ye has left for our sect." The Guhai Sect Master explained to the elder ancestor.
"It seems Young Master Ye truly treats our Guhai Sect as his own. Very well, we shall follow Young Master Ye's instructions. First, we will dispatch personnel for strict defense. If the time comes and we truly cannot withstand a powerful invasion, we will immediately use the long-distance teleportation formations he set up to leave," the elder ancestor said, nodding.
"What about Young Master Ye?" the Sect Master asked.
"Send a Sound Transmission to Young Master Ye now, informing him of the situation," the elder ancestor replied.
"Alright, I will send a Sound Transmission to Young Master Ye immediately, alerting him," the Sect Master nodded.
At this moment, Ye Yunfei was inside the Phantom Tower, engrossed in comprehending the knife technique and sword technique inheritances. In this deep state of meditation, he felt his swordplay and knifeplay skills continuously improving.
Suddenly, Ye Yunfei received a Sound Transmission from the Guhai Sect Master.
"It seems those fellows truly are relentless hounds from hell!" Hun Lao remarked upon learning the news.
"Let them come. I could use them to practice with my knife and sword," Ye Yunfei said calmly.
Currently, facing Early Stage Sovereign Gods and Mid-stage Sovereign Gods no longer posed much pressure for Ye Yunfei. He even felt eager to find some Early Stage or Mid-stage Sovereign Gods to have a proper spar with, both to test his current true combat prowess and to accumulate practical battle experience.
Ye Yunfei continued his meditative comprehension of knife and sword techniques within the Phantom Tower. During this process, he continuously refined and absorbed vast amounts of cultivation resources. Even the Nine-Headed Divine Beast was constantly devouring large quantities of these resources. As time passed, Ye Yunfei felt his Sword Dao and Knife Dao attainment levels steadily rising.
He had no idea how much time had elapsed.
"Young Master Ye, an army has arrived outside, demanding that you show yourself," Ye Yunfei suddenly received another Sound Transmission from the Guhai Sect Master.
"Have they finally come?" Ye Yunfei slowly rose to his feet, speaking softly.
After this period of secluded meditation and cultivation, Ye Yunfei's swordplay and knifeplay skills had improved significantly. In truth, when it came to knife and sword techniques, most beings in the world practiced only one—either knife techniques or sword techniques—because simultaneously mastering both was extremely difficult. But Ye Yunfei was different. He possessed two Soul Bodies and dozens of Soul Force Planets, allowing him to split his focus multiple ways at once. Each time, he could simultaneously cultivate several martial techniques without them interfering with each other.
Ye Yunfei's figure flickered as he walked out of the Phantom Tower, then exited the cultivation chamber, emerging outside. He then looked out towards the void beyond the Guhai Sect headquarters.
Sure enough, a host of troops had arrived outside the sect headquarters, their killing intent palpable. They had completely surrounded the headquarters.
Ye Yunfei's Soul Power energy swept out in perception. He discovered a total of seventeen Sovereign Gods outside: five Mid-stage Sovereign Gods and twelve Early Stage Sovereign Gods. All the Sovereign Gods he had encountered back at the Huan Jian Gu were present.
"Indeed, it's the same bunch again. Their target is undoubtedly the two treasures you obtained," Hun Lao commented.
"They don't have the capability to take these two artifacts from me," Ye Yunfei sneered coldly.
"Listen, members of the Guhai Sect! This is your final chance. Hand over that brat immediately, and your sect may yet find a path to survival. Otherwise, our army will charge in and annihilate the Guhai Sect today!" a Perfected Heavenly God shouted in a clear, loud voice towards the sect headquarters.
His voice transformed into a rolling wave of sound, surging towards the Guhai Sect headquarters like turbulent tides.
With a thought from Ye Yunfei, five Soul Spears abruptly appeared, then shot forward simultaneously, vanishing directly into space.
The speed of the Soul Spears was immense. The moment Ye Yunfei willed them, they could immediately reach their target position.
Before that shouting Perfected Heavenly God could even finish his words, he discovered five spears radiating eerie Soul Force Energy aimed directly at his Soul Body right in front of his head.
"What kind of artifact is this?" The Perfected Heavenly God was startled, for the speed of these five Soul Spears was simply too fast. He couldn't even perceive their trajectory as they attacked.
The next moment, the five Soul Spears vanished into space once more, stabbing directly towards his Soul Body.
By the time the Perfected Heavenly God detected them again, the spears were already within his soul sea!
He hurriedly activated the Soul Power-type artifacts within his soul sea, hastily trying to block them. But still, one Soul Spear pierced his Soul Body, causing him to let out a scream.
An injury to the Soul Body constituted a true, substantial injury for a living being.
"What happened?" The others witnessed this Perfected Heavenly God who had just been shouting loudly at the Guhai Sect headquarters suddenly let out a painful cry right after speaking, his face instantly paling slightly.
"My lords, I was attacked! My Soul Body is injured!" In panic, the Perfected Heavenly God quickly retreated, hiding behind a Sovereign God from his own faction before speaking.
"Was it the Guhai Sect elder ancestor who attacked you with a Soul Force martial technique? It seems that old ancestor's Soul Power energy level has risen, being able to injure a Perfected Heavenly God's Soul Body across such a great spatial distance," a Sovereign God observed.
"Indeed. Among the Guhai Sect, only that elder ancestor possesses such strength—using a Soul Force martial technique to injure a Perfected Heavenly God's Soul Body from such a distance. It's been a long time since I've seen that old fossil; it appears his Soul Power energy has improved considerably. But so what? A mere Guhai Sect cannot withstand a single blow before us," another Sovereign God chimed in beside him.
In the minds of these Sovereign Gods, the strongest individual within the Guhai Sect was the elder ancestor. As for the other members, they weren't even worth a single blow against these Sovereign Gods.
"Enough, no need to waste time. Let's just charge in directly and see if that brat is hiding here or not," yet another Sovereign God declared impatiently, then strode towards the Guhai Sect headquarters.
The Guhai Sect was merely an average force in this void, not even worthy of notice in the eyes of these Sovereign Gods.