This claim was so lacking in conviction that it drew a roaring burst of laughter from Yu Xiushan.
The two sides exchanged another round of verbal jabs, and battle was on the verge of erupting.
Qiaoqiao Grounds possessed a protective grand formation. If Flying Smoke Hall's forces wanted to take this place, they would have to break through that formation first. In the past, Flying Smoke Hall wouldn't have had the capability—their overall strength was roughly comparable. But Qiaoqiao Grounds had been thrown into chaos by Xu Huang's rampage years ago, which had left numerous flaws in the formation. What's more, the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord himself had been gravely wounded in that incident and still hadn't recovered, making it impossible for him to unleash the formation's full power.
It was precisely because they had sensed this weakness that Flying Smoke Hall had persistently launched attacks against Qiaoqiao Grounds, determined to seize the territory.
Over the course of more than twenty previous skirmishes, Flying Smoke Hall had been repelled each time, but they hadn't walked away empty-handed—at the very least, they had thoroughly probed the ins and outs of the protective grand formation.
Thus, the moment this battle began, the numerous Heaven Opening realm cultivators of Flying Smoke Hall, acting on Yu Xiushan's orders, launched a furious assault on one particular section.
And that section just happened to be the very spot where Yang Kai and Yue He had infiltrated—none other than the weakest point in the entire formation!
The Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord screamed in fury, but there was nothing he could do. He could only frantically rally his own Heaven Opening cultivators to channel the formation's power in counterattack, and for a time, both sides fought so fiercely that the deafening booms of combat never ceased.
Inside Qiaoqiao Grounds, the seven great continents shook without end—mountains crumbled and the earth split open. In the marketplace, both Yang Kai and Yue He wore grim expressions.
This was bad.
When two second-rate factions clashed, things would be manageable as long as Qiaoqiao Grounds could hold. They could continue hiding here undisturbed. But if the defenses fell and Flying Smoke Hall occupied the grounds, they would undoubtedly conduct a thorough sweep. When that happened, the two of them might very well be exposed.
"Young Master, should we find an opportunity to leave?" Yue He whispered. "I have a feeling the grand formation here won't hold for much longer."
She had already refined fifty percent of the formation's jade token. Though she didn't dare activate the formation's full power for fear of alerting the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord, she could clearly sense the entire formation's condition through the token.
"How long can it hold?" Yang Kai asked.
Yue He replied, "At the current intensity, I'd say it won't last more than half a month. And the enemy likely hasn't committed their full strength yet—if they did, the time would be even shorter."
Yang Kai nodded. If Yue He said so, it was almost certainly true. Qiaoqiao Grounds' protective grand formation probably wasn't going to hold against Flying Smoke Hall's forces this time. Once the formation fell, the fate of Qiaoqiao Grounds would be grim, and they would be dragged down along with it.
The time had come to consider an escape route.
But there was one thing that puzzled him—would Red Star's people make a move during this battle? They had stayed behind and hadn't left. Had they struck some kind of agreement with the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord?
If Qiaoqiao Grounds had Red Star's forces backing them, Flying Smoke Hall might not gain the upper hand so easily. After all, Zhao Baichuan was a Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, and he commanded quite a few Heaven Opening realm subordinates.
Two days later, the fighting continued unabated, though the protective formation kept the two sides from engaging in direct combat.
Suddenly, Yue He furrowed her brow, a look of puzzlement on her face. "Why is the grand formation's power dropping so fast?"
"What's wrong?" Yang Kai looked toward her.
Yue He said, "By all rights, this is a formidable formation—it shouldn't have been worn down this quickly. I originally estimated it could hold for ten days to half a month, but now it looks like it won't even last five days."
"That fast!" Yang Kai's eyes flashed with sharp light, and he murmured thoughtfully, "Perhaps it's not your perception that's wrong."
Yue He looked at him. "Then what is it?"
"What if the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord is deliberately reducing the formation's power to feign weakness before the enemy?"
Yue He was no fool—she had, after all, cultivated to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven stage. Her beautiful eyes lit up at his words. "You mean..."
Yang Kai chuckled. "Flying Smoke Hall is in for a nasty surprise."
Red Star's people had definitely reached some kind of agreement with the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord. They were lying in wait, hidden in the shadows, poised to strike at the perfect moment. Once the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord lured Flying Smoke Hall's forces inside, Zhao Baichuan would unleash a devastating ambush.
When that happened, with both factions working together, how could Flying Smoke Hall possibly stand a chance? The only issue was that it couldn't be made too obvious, which was why the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord had been carefully and unnoticeably sapping the formation's power, putting on a desperate show of being unable to hold—purely to lull Yu Xiushan into a false sense of security.
Having figured this out, Yang Kai couldn't help but admire the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord. Inviting the enemy into your own home required tremendous nerve. If anything went wrong, the losses to Qiaoqiao Grounds would be catastrophic.
And in the midst of such a battle, what could he do? Could he intervene and fish for profit in troubled waters? If he seized the opportunity to eliminate the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord, then Yue He could take control of the formation...
But controlling the formation alone wouldn't be enough. Both Zhao Baichuan and Yu Xiushan were Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivators. Without dealing with them, he'd only be doing the work for someone else's benefit.
After thinking it over, he decided against it. Better to stay hidden and watch the tigers fight from the safety of the mountains.
Sure enough, just as Yang Kai had predicted, the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord continued to subtly drain the grand formation's power. In just five days, a massive breach was blasted open in the formation.
The Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord's furious yet helpless roar echoed across all seven great continents.
Flying Smoke Hall's elite forces, led by Hall Master Yu Xiushan, surged through the breach and into Qiaoqiao Grounds. The moment the two sides met, it was a fight to the death.