Night had fallen.
The moon hung high, stars sparse, casting silvery light like fine sand that draped the mountain ranges in an otherworldly glow.
Hidden in a stream of light, the Ma Clan Patriarch arrived outside Pingyang Mountain. From a distance, he observed the crimson mist swirling around the great formation that enveloped the peak.
He quietly extended his senses. The formation's power seemed rather ordinary perhaps even slightly inferior to the one protecting the Ma Clan estate.
Still, the Ma Clan Patriarch did not let that fool him into underestimating Pingyang Mountain's true defenses.
According to the intelligence he'd gathered earlier, Li Ye was notoriously cautious. Inside the second-tier fire-element formation, he had gone so far as to expend additional spiritual energy to set up a second-tier wood-element formation around his cultivation area.
Though this certainly benefited his training and even offered advantages for managing spiritual farmland, in the Ma Clan Patriarch's eyes, it was far too extravagant.
"Hmph."
He gave a soft, disdainful snort.
"Just a brat who broke through to Foundation Establishment at a young age… has no idea how precious every wisp of spiritual energy is!"
Without hesitation, he flicked his fingers and sent a special sound-transmission talisman flying into the formation.
The matter of the lava palace buried beneath the mountain was no small thing. Even if he had ulterior motives, he couldn't risk drawing the attention of other factions by showing up in person.
If word got out that a secret lava palace had been hidden here for who knows how many years, it would surely stir up a storm of fierce competition.
Such a power struggle would be disastrous for the Ma Clan, which had already lost a Foundation Establishment elder.
So even now, coming to negotiate with Li Ye, he had to keep a low profile.
The talisman was momentarily slowed by the formation but soon slipped through.
Not long after, a silent path opened within the formation, and the Ma Clan Patriarch darted inside without the slightest hesitation.
However, after passing through the flaming passage and entering the heart of Pingyang Mountain, he still did not see Li Ye. His vision remained obscured though now the fiery glow had shifted into a pale green mist.
The mist drifted gently, veiling the surroundings, yet a clear path leading to the mountaintop emerged.
It was clear that the outer formation had been replaced by another second-tier formation one Li Ye had personally arranged.
But as the Patriarch extended his spiritual sense, he found the power of this inner formation still to be quite ordinary. Slightly stronger than the one outside, perhaps but still just a standard second-tier formation.
"If this is all there is… it's no match for my Formation-Breaking Talisman."
"Trying to act mysterious, are you?"
His expression darkened slightly as spiritual light surged from his body. He no longer concealed the immense spiritual pressure of his mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation. With aggressive, domineering force, he flew straight up the path.
In no time, he reached the end of the corridor emerging beneath the moonlight onto a lush, vibrant mountaintop.
There, beneath a pavilion, sat a young man in green robes.
Li Ye.
Such Poise and Grace!
Though he remained displeased, the moment the Ma Clan Patriarch laid eyes on Li Ye, he couldn't help but silently praise him.
The young man stood there like jade, exuding a vitality akin to a flourishing tree easily one of the most striking cultivators the Patriarch had ever encountered.
"It is truly an honor to have a senior such as yourself visit in person,"
Li Ye rose to greet him with a courteous and humble demeanor, which soothed the Patriarch's mood somewhat. He even offered a half-sincere compliment with a faint smile:
"Fellow Daoist Li, your bearing and presence are quite refreshing to behold."
The two sat down, and Li Ye pushed a cup of spirit tea personally brewed toward the Patriarch.
"Please, Senior…"
The old man glanced at the cup but did not drink. Instead, he chuckled and said,
"The matter you mentioned in your letter… perhaps it's time to share a few more details?"
"Of course."
Li Ye replied calmly, his expression unreadable.
"I learned of the existence of the Lava Palace from items left behind by Xu Pingyang. However, the details were vague I was only able to determine a general area. As of now, I've found no clear path to it."
"And what of…"
"Ma Ying's belongings?"
The Ma Clan Patriarch's gaze sharpened instantly as he cut in.
Li Ye gave a slightly bitter smile.
"To be frank, Ma Daoist's belongings were mostly destroyed during our battle. I wasn't able to recover anything useful…"
"Once I learned he was of the Ma Clan, I already intended to hold back. If not for Xu Pingyang dragging Ma Ying down with him in his final moments… Ma Daoist might still be alive."
The Patriarch stared at Li Ye, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he nodded slowly.
"I won't pursue Ma Ying's death for now…"
"Share the information you have. If there's something tangible, perhaps we can consider working together."
His tone made it clear he valued the secret of the Lava Palace far more than the life of a fallen clan member.
And this attitude only confirmed Li Ye's suspicion: the Ma Clan knew no more than the surface of the truth.
With the most crucial detail still in his hands, all that remained was to see how far he could leverage it.
Li Ye made a show of reaching for something, only to pause and ask with narrowed eyes:
"The opportunity within the Lava Palace is no trivial matter. It should remain confidential just between us. May I ask whether your clan has told anyone else of this?"
The Ma Clan Patriarch, already straining with anticipation, grew visibly irritated at the delay.
"Hmph! Do you take me for a fool? Only a few trusted members of the clan know. You think I'd carelessly leak such a thing?"
"Good. Then I can rest easy."
Li Ye smiled faintly then abruptly leapt back.
At the same moment, the pale green mist surged forth, swallowing Li Ye and the surrounding scene.
The formation instantly shifted. What had seemed like a simple array suddenly roared to life as layers of strange, otherworldly domain power intertwined and expanded.
In the blink of an eye, the entire formation underwent a transformation severing all connection to the outside world, and sending a jolt of fear through the Ma Clan Patriarch's heart.
This was no ordinary formation!
Still, his reaction was swift. The instant Li Ye retreated, he slammed his palm into the ground.
Earthen-yellow spiritual light surged outward like crashing waves. The ground cracked and split under its might a strike of considerable power.
But Li Ye's figure had already vanished into the mist. Shielded by the spatial isolation of the formation, he remained untouched.
"Li Ye! I took you for someone with a sense of judgment. But if you're so confident in this formation and insist on courting death… then I'll destroy it myself and take the secret of the palace from your corpse!"
The Ma Clan Patriarch roared with fury and raised his hand, summoning a silver talisman etched with intricate runes.
Each rune glowed with silvery light, resembling tadpoles as they danced across the air. Under the moonlight, against the pale green mist, they looked like shards of silver moonlight raining from the heavens.
As the talisman unleashed its power, the misty air of the formation froze, and the giant trees and vines within faltered, as though melting away under a sudden frost.
The Patriarch sneered at the sight, clearly pleased, and reached out to summon a black-and-yellow gourd into his grasp.
Uncorking it, he activated it with a surge of spiritual energy causing a storm of yellow sand to erupt, pouring into the weakened gaps of the formation, ready to consume everything in its path.
He hadn't expected Li Ye to make a move against him but since the boy had refused to show respect, then so be it. Today, he would seize Pingyang Mountain by force!
That thought had barely settled when his expression froze in disbelief.
The formation which had seemed on the verge of collapse under the power of the second-tier talisman suddenly halted its breakdown.
Instead, it roared back to life, revealing an even more terrifying strength.
The very sand he had unleashed was now swept up by the formation's power and flung back toward him launching a fresh wave of assault straight at him!
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