Chapter 723: Evenly Matched

Yuan Zhen watched Chen Mobai kill both powerful mountain giant apes with five consecutive sword strikes, her eyes widening in disbelief.

She had personally experienced the power of these two demonic beasts. If it were just one, she was confident she could defeat it when at her full strength. However, if both teamed up, her best option would be to avoid them. If there was truly no other way and she had to fight them head-on, she could barely manage to kill both, even by resorting to her ultimate hidden moves. But she certainly couldn't slaughter the demonic beasts with such effortless ease as Chen Mobai did.

"This Sect Master Chen from the eastern wilderness countryside hasn't reached the late Core Formation stage in cultivation, has he? His talent is probably superior to mine!" This thought flashed through Yuan Zhen's mind, making it somewhat difficult for her, the successor of the Nine Heavens Demon Eradication Sect, to accept. The last time she felt this way was when facing Ye Qing! This means that in the entire Nine Heavens Demon Eradication Sect, perhaps only Ye Qing could firmly suppress this Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect. Could he have been raised by the One-Yuan Dao Palace in the eastern wilderness? This thought suddenly emerged in Yuan Zhen's mind.

Just then, flames flickered, and Chen Mobai, having collected the demon cores, returned to Yuan Zhen's side, sword in hand.

"True Lord Yuan, these should be all the third-tier demonic beasts in the vicinity. They've all been dealt with." Chen Mobai spoke with a smile to Yuan Zhen, who only then snapped back to reality. Looking at the handsome and powerful young man before her, she couldn't help but blush slightly and nod gently.

"Sect Master Chen, you've worked hard!"

Although there were no more third-tier demonic beast attacks, they were still in danger due to the overwhelming number of demonic beasts in the mirage mist. Fortunately, Chen Mobai possessed a small void cultivated through the Return to Origin Secret Art, which allowed him to continuously replenish his Pure Yang spiritual power. With his support, even though the Five Elements Dao Soldiers were repeatedly breached, the orange-red light always arrived just in time, severing the heads from the bodies of the demonic beasts that charged in to rampage.

Chen Mobai didn't know how many demonic beasts had been killed, but he observed that the cultivators of the Five Elements Sect had already consumed more than half of their spiritual power. The Five Elements Dao Soldiers had also begun to dim and were starting to falter.

"True Lord Yuan, we might need to retreat." After Chen Mobai once again controlled the Yuan Yang Sword Qi and killed the three second-tier demonic beasts that had rushed in, he spoke to Yuan Zhen with a grave expression. If this continues, the cultivators of the Five Elements Sect will exhaust their spiritual power. Even if he was incredibly strong, it would be impossible for him to protect everyone and retreat safely by himself.

"My Senior Brother hasn't returned yet. Let's wait a little longer..." But Yuan Zhen shook her head, and at that very moment, a fierce rumble echoed. They both turned to look. They saw Shen Shanqing and Yu Hai's flying boat, under the siege of more than a dozen second-tier demonic beasts, begin to split open with a huge fissure down the middle. The breaking of the flying boat caused the formations and restrictions attached to it to begin shattering and failing.

Flashes of spiritual light lit up as several Foundation Establishment cultivators immediately jumped off the flying boat. The Qi Cultivation cultivators with flying talismans and artifacts followed suit, while those without jumped towards the ground. Slower cultivators, however, were pounced upon by the relentless demonic beasts and torn into pieces.

Chen Mobai's divine sense moved, and the Yuan Yang Sword Qi shot over, slicing through a round of demonic beasts. However, the sheer number was overwhelming; after killing dozens, hundreds immediately swarmed in. At this moment, Yu Hai took out a Divine Thunder Orb and hurled it directly at the broken flying boat. Accompanied by a dazzling golden light, the flying boat transformed into a giant fireball in mid-air, burning fiercely. Hundreds of demonic beasts screamed, trying to burst out of the fireball, but halfway through, they lost their life force and turned into charred corpses, pattering down like black raindrops.

"So this is the Sun-Blaze Divine Thunder from the Sun-Bathing Sea. It's truly powerful." Chen Mobai, stationed in the center and observing all directions, had already detected the powerful and explosive energy contained within the divine thunder when Yu Hai threw it, and preemptively recalled the Yuan Yang Sword Qi. The Sun-Blaze Divine Thunder is a third-tier thunder art from the Sun-Bathing Sea. Once crafted into a Divine Thunder Orb, it can be activated by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Above the Sun-Blaze Divine Thunder is the fourth-tier Sunray Divine Thunder, which Patriarch Bai Wu once unleashed when conquering the poisonous dragon demonic beast. With a single strike, it evaporated the water in a central area of the Cloud Dream Marsh, its power truly terrifying.

After the flying boat was destroyed, Shen Shanqing and Yu Hai immediately activated their artifacts and charged towards Chen Mobai and Yuan Zhen's location, wishing to rendezvous with the two Core Formation cultivators. As for the other rogue cultivators, they naturally wouldn't care about their lives or deaths.

"Pilot the flying boats to land and contract the formation!" Seeing this, Chen Mobai felt it was time to retreat; at the very least, they couldn't wait for Ye Qing in this location anymore. Under his command, the five flying boats began to fly towards him. The Five Elements Dao Soldiers also dispersed at this moment. The fierce clashes had left Muyuan and the others pale, indicating that their divine sense and spiritual power had reached their limits. Chen Mobai immediately ordered Liu Wenbai and the others to take their places. The Water Vein's situation was critical, as they had already lost a Foundation Establishment cultivator when previously confronting a third-tier ox demon. Chen Mobai immediately had Gu Yan, who was on the Wood Vein's flying boat, go over and take control of the Ren Water Dao Soldiers, replacing the Water Vein's Foundation Establishment cultivator! Previously, to train this maidservant, Chen Mobai had allowed her to command the formation and experience the power of the Dao Soldiers. Unexpectedly, that previously self-serving action now proved to be incredibly useful by chance.

After the main formation-controlling Foundation Establishment cultivators rotated, the overall power of the Five Elements Dao Soldiers decreased significantly. This was not only because Liu Wenbai and the others were not as strong as Muyuan's group but also because the Qi Cultivation cultivators, who formed the foundation of the formation, had already consumed a lot of their spiritual power. Now, they were all holding spirit stones in one hand while supplying the Five Elements Dao Soldiers with spiritual power!

Chen Mobai dispersed his Extreme Yang Slash into nine golden flames. Then, nine Sun Blaze Slashes, each stretching a hundred meters long, cooperated with the orange-red light, charging and sweeping across the heavens and earth for over a dozen rounds, buying time for the Five Elements Dao Soldiers' rotation. At the same time, he carved out a path to survival for the rogue cultivators who had fallen from the flying boat. They all took advantage of Chen Mobai's spiritual power consumption during his mass slaughter and, just like Shen Shanqing and Yu Hai, rushed towards the location of the two Core Formation cultivators. However, even so, only twenty or thirty people escaped this disaster.

After Chen Mobai's burst of furious combat, he felt the emptiness in his Dantian Qi Sea. He once again opened a small void to replenish his spiritual power. At this moment, the re-formed Five Elements Dao Soldiers appeared around him, like five guardian deities. Under his command, they protected all the cultivators of the Five Elements Sect and others on the flying boats in the very center.

"True Lord Yuan..." Chen Mobai urged her again, and Yuan Zhen also understood the situation. She realized that if even with Ye Qing's cultivation, he couldn't kill the demonic cultivator, then staying would be useless. So she gritted her teeth and nodded.

"Let's retreat first and wait for Senior Brother to arrive once we find a safe place!" The two purposes for coming here this time: the consecration of the Green Mirage Bottle was already complete. They just needed to take it back and have True Monarch Xuantian refine the essence of the mirage dragon it had devoured, and it could then become a true fifth-tier magic treasure. This was also Yuan Zhen's mission.

Seeing her nod, Chen Mobai also breathed a sigh of relief. He had already made up his mind that if Yuan Zhen still disagreed, he would lead the Five Elements Sect cultivators to retreat by himself. After all, losing these Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation disciples here would be a major blow to the Five Elements Sect. It would probably take a decade to recover.

Under Chen Mobai's command to retreat, the five Dao Soldiers, now a bit smaller, began to retreat beyond the original mist. Along this path, it was naturally another round of fierce fighting. But under Chen Mobai's watchful eye, the number of lost personnel was negligible. Before leaving, Chen Mobai didn't forget to take the corpses of the two third-tier demonic beasts. Although there were also many valuable body parts from second-tier demonic beasts, under such intense circumstances, he could only abandon them.

He didn't know how many more demonic beasts he had killed, but Chen Mobai felt that the spiritual power in his Dantian Qi Sea had once again dropped to half, and even his divine sense felt a bit fatigued. It was fortunate that he had come this time. If it had been any other Core Formation cultivator from the Five Elements Sect, they would probably already be a corpse if they hadn't fled.

Finally, they broke out of the original mist's range. The demonic beasts that had been surging in frantically seemed to have an innate instinct that prevented them from crossing that boundary. Even though Yuan Zhen had now collected all the mirage mist, they were still adhering to it. But Chen Mobai and the others had not yet sighed in relief. The mountain giant ape tribes guarding outside had already charged over, roaring furiously. After Chen Mobai killed the two leaders, the majority had already dispersed, but over twenty mountain giant apes, seemingly of direct lineage, still sought revenge. The orange-red light flashed, and Chen Mobai directly sent them to the underworld as well.

Yuan Zhen suggested whether they should rest there and wait for Ye Qing to emerge. However, Chen Mobai believed that without the mirage mist, those hesitant demonic beasts inside might overcome their instincts and charge out. So he commanded the cultivators of the Five Elements Sect to retreat dozens of miles further. This was the territory of the mountain giant apes, with a third-tier spiritual vein. As soon as the flying boats appeared, the mountain giant apes all began to scatter and flee.

Chen Mobai didn't pursue them. He allowed the utterly exhausted Five Elements Sect disciples, whose spiritual power was almost depleted, to disembark from the flying boats and begin resting on this spiritual vein. As soon as most cultivators disembarked, without caring about waste, they took out their spirit stones and began holding them to recover spiritual power. There were also some with deep foundations who could still hold on. Chen Mobai assigned them to Chunyu Su, instructing the latter to set up the third-tier Xuanji Five Elements Grand Formation they had brought.

Yuan Zhen stood on the highest peak of the mountain, from where she could perfectly see the original location of the mirage mist. As Chen Mobai expected, although they possessed instincts, after the mist disappeared, some intelligent demonic beasts cautiously stepped beyond the boundary that had confined them their entire lives. One paw stepped out, and after no anomalies, half of its body, then its entire body, rushed out. And after the first demonic beast, soon came a second, then a third... Ultimately, the demonic beasts originally bound by the mirage mist began to surge out in a mighty tide.

However, Chen Mobai and his group had already retreated. And since the demonic beasts had no leaders, many began to scatter, quite a few also killed each other, and there were even large battles between different tribes. But there were also many demonic beasts running in their direction. It was unclear if they knew they were there or if it was simply good luck. Chen Mobai no longer bothered with these. The Five Elements Sect cultivators below would be able to handle them with the grand formation.

"Sect Master Chen, I can watch over things here. Could I ask you to go over there and check on my Senior Brother?" Yuan Zhen suddenly asked, and Chen Mobai turned his head in surprise, meeting her gaze. Yet, before, her gaze towards him had held a hint of haughty arrogance. Why was she so polite now? It was a bit unaccustomed.

"Okay." Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment and nodded gently. Mainly, he was also curious about Ye Qing's strength, wanting to see what kind of power the top Core Formation cultivator in the Sky River Realm truly possessed. He sent a sound transmission to Liu Wenbai, then threw a sword case from the mountaintop to his eldest disciple below.

After leaving behind the Yuan Yang Sword Qi, Chen Mobai, controlling the Crimson Cloud Mist Robe, flew towards the distant massive dragon-snake illusion and the clear, cold sword light that illuminated the sky. However, just as he was about to fly to the battlefield of Ye Qing and the demonic cultivator, he saw that clear, sky-illuminating sword light suddenly burst into brilliant radiance. Then, in the distant starry sky, blindingly bright stars suddenly flickered. Starlight, like wheels, fell straight down, guided by a clear, water-like flying sword. It transformed into a brilliant light that cleaved the massive dragon-snake, which was circling above the mountaintop like a demonic god, into two halves from head to tail.

The brilliant light's momentum did not cease, landing directly on the head of a figure shrouded in a black robe on the mountaintop. This must be the demonic cultivator. After his Celestial Demon avatar was cut down, he took out a piece of seven-colored scale, seemingly intending to block Ye Qing's sword strike. However, the flying sword swept across as if transforming into a phantom sword, directly piercing through the seven-colored scale and severing the black-robed figure's head. After killing the enemy, the power that had not yet dissipated from the flying sword finally dispersed, cleaving the entire mountain where the demonic cultivator was located with a huge fissure, as if a heavenly deity had split the mountain.

Chen Mobai couldn't help but widen his eyes at this sword strike. Even from afar, he could feel a bone-chilling coldness rising from the depths of his heart, as if facing this sword, no defensive artifact would be useful; one could only rely on their own physical body and spiritual power to resist! If he took it head-on, could he withstand it with his Longevity Dao Body?

For the first time, Chen Mobai encountered a fellow cultivator of the same stage against whom he wasn't absolutely confident of victory. He briefly simulated a battle between himself and Ye Qing, concluding that as long as he avoided a direct confrontation and activated the Netherworld Grand Formation, he could still evade this sword strike. Chen Mobai couldn't help but marvel at Ye Qing's strength. So this is the Dao Child of the Eastern Land Holy Land, the top Core Formation cultivator in the Sky River Realm! Truly formidable! To think he could be on par with him, a talent with Soul Transformation potential from a celestial sect.