"There's no need to panic. Before we entered this place, we already knew that a clash with the other forces was inevitable."
"Had you not prepared yourselves mentally for this?"
Ouyang Pingzhi asked in a stern voice.
Once he said that, the panicked disciples hung their heads in shame.
"
At that moment, a sensible disciple asked.
This person was actually quite clever. After all, at a time like this, you couldn't let your own side's morale take a hit. So he reframed some people's panic as eagerness to fight, which actually had the effect of boosting everyone's spirits.
"Rest assured. The Wind Thunder Sword Sect will not be left out of this fight."
"Let's break the formation here first, and then we'll go find the people from Nine Star Heavenly Mountain."
Ouyang Pingzhi declared in a loud voice.
From the very beginning, he had already chosen his target — Nine Star Heavenly Mountain.
"That's right. We have to teach them a hard lesson and show them the might of our Wind Thunder Sword Sect!"
The disciples all voiced their agreement with Ouyang Pingzhi's decision. In fact, the mere thought of facing off against Nine Star Heavenly Mountain sent a surge of excitement through many of them.
"Teach us a lesson?"
"You've really got some nerve. How about you figure out your own weight first before running your mouths?"
But just then, a mocking voice exploded across the distant horizon.
Looking toward the source of the sound, several figures came streaking through the air — disciples of Nine Star Heavenly Mountain.
Leading the charge was Song Jinglun, and it was none other than Song Jinglun who had spoken those words.
But it wasn't just Song Jinglun who had come. All one hundred of Nine Star Heavenly Mountain's disciples were present.
"How come they're all here?"
"Did they not break the formation?"
When they saw that every single one of Nine Star Heavenly Mountain's hundred disciples had shown up here, the Wind Thunder Sword Sect disciples immediately understood what they were after.
They wanted to steal their results.
What baffled them, though, was why all of Nine Star Heavenly Mountain's disciples had appeared here instead. Had they not been breaking formations? Were they doing something else entirely?
"Song Jinglun, I'd wager you've been lying in ambush this whole time."
"You really are something — instead of breaking the formation yourself, you'd rather reap what you haven't sown and just steal our results."
"You've truly broadened my horizons."
Ouyang Pingzhi said with biting sarcasm.
He had already drawn his own conclusion about why all the Nine Star Heavenly Mountain disciples were here.
But to Ouyang Pingzhi's conclusion, Song Jinglun merely responded with a mocking smile, as if laughing at Ouyang Pingzhi's ignorance.
"Ouyang Pingzhi, did you really think we were as weak as you — that breaking this kind of formation would take us ages?"
As Song Jinglun spoke, his hand moved to the Universe Bag at his waist. The Universe Bag shimmered with light, and a moment later, an exquisite gauntlet appeared in his hand.
When the Wind Thunder Sword Sect disciples saw that gauntlet, they all understood.
Song Jinglun and his group had already broken one of the twelve purple pillars of light, and had gotten to one of the pieces of armor ahead of them.
When they realized that Nine Star Heavenly Mountain had obtained the treasure before them, every Wind Thunder Sword Sect disciple felt a sting of shame.
After all, in their eyes, Nine Star Heavenly Mountain was the true rival in this competition. And in this very first round — the race to break the formations — they had already lost.
Swoosh—