"Brother Lin..."

Ye Changqing looked at Lin Zimu with a bitter expression, but the latter also had a face full of misery.

"Do you truly want to press this hard?" Lin Zimu said word by word, his face so dark it seemed ready to drip water.

Even with the addition of four swords, the Ancient Abyss Sect had five Foundation Establishment cultivators on their side, yet they might still struggle against the combined forces of Lingying Sect and the Yizheng Sect.

"Hmph! If you want to blame someone, blame your rapid rise. The taller the tree, the more it attracts wind!" said the senior brother of the Yizheng Sect aggressively.

He still remembered how the former senior disciple Ouyang Feng was defeated by Yang Yan and carried back to the sect for Soul Searching.

Therefore, even though they had attacked the Ancient Abyss Sect multiple times, he would not cease until Yang Yan was dead.

At this point, it was clear that both sides could only battle, fight to the death, with no possibility of reconciliation.

"Brother Yu, please hold off the Pill Sect for now. After all, it’s not the right time to fall out with the Pill Sect," Ouyang Jinjie said to Yu Ling, the leading disciple of Lingying Sect.

Then, he turned his head, looking playfully at the members of the Ancient Abyss Sect: "If we can keep you all here, it would surely be a major blow to the Ancient Abyss Sect."

With that, he glared fiercely at the four swords.

In his eyes, apart from Yang Yan, these were the most critical talents of the Ancient Abyss Sect.

The Ancient Abyss Sect was indeed considered unlucky.

Ever since Yang Yan disappeared, they hadn’t stopped searching, venturing through countless areas, yet had not found any trace of Yang Yan.

Occasionally encountering other sects’ people, they adhered to the principle of each going their own way, not provoking each other.

After all, without Sect Leader-level figures to hold the fort, their actions were significantly restricted.

Firstly, none of them could guarantee that they could retreat unharmed after provoking the other side, and secondly, they knew that their every move not only represented themselves but also implicated their sect behind them.

Thus, they had to weigh the pros and cons.

Moreover, the situation of missing disciples was not exclusive to Yang Yan.

As the members of the Ancient Abyss Sect traveled, they overheard from several other sects that they also faced cases of member disappearance.

Under such a bizarre atmosphere, almost all sects were several layers more vigilant than usual, and avoided conflict unless absolutely necessary.

Only those sects with malicious intent hoped for trouble, scheming to conduct some unspeakable deeds in the shadows.

For instance, the Yizheng Sect, which finally clashed with the Ancient Abyss Sect.

They had trailed all the way, only emerging suddenly to threaten and rob when the Ancient Abyss Sect seemed to have discovered something!

"Is this guy... out of his mind?"

Gongsun Ruyan was exasperated.

This guy dared to rely on Yizheng Sect’s disciples with the audacity to rob elite disciples from a top ten sect like the Ancient Abyss Sect?!

"Enough nonsense! Hand over what you’ve just found immediately... or don’t blame us for being ruthless!" Seeing no response from the crowd, the newly appointed senior disciple of the Yizheng Sect, Ouyang Jinjie taunted.

"Hey! Is this guy brain-damaged? Why should we give you what we found!" Guo Guoguo couldn’t help but shout towards the Yizheng Sect’s side.

"Outrageous!"

Seeing that the person shouting at him was a little girl not even at Foundation Establishment, the new senior disciple was not like Ouyang Feng who knew how to cherish the fairer sex; he roared loudly, with a murderous look as if he wanted to eat Guo Guoguo alive.

"Tch! Who’d have thought he’d be so pathetic, just a scumbag intimidating young girls!" Guo Guoguo rolled her eyes, full of disdain.

But in the eyes of the senior disciple opposite, it became a blatant provocation.

He had been the new senior disciple of the Yizheng Sect for years, with everyone in the sect treating him with utmost respect.

Yet, this young girl dared to defy him, how could he swallow this insult!

The members of the Ancient Abyss Sect also felt bewildered.

The hatred between two sects passed down through their disciples was not surprising.

The Yizheng Sect disciples coming to make trouble was expected.

However, they were genuinely baffled by the petty manner in which the dispute was instigated...

What normal person would think of robbing anyone from the top ten sects!

It was obvious this was an excuse to cause trouble!

"Eh? Brother Jinjie, are you planning to... and these are Ancient Abyss Sect people?"

Yu Ling, the leading disciple of Lingying Sect, came over with his sect members, seeing the confrontation asked.

"Brother Yu, just in time, would you like to join hands with us Yizheng Sect for a big score?"

Yu Ling was immediately pulled into a scheme by Ouyang Jinjie upon arrival.

"Not good!"

Seeing Yu Ling eyeing his group, nodding as if reaching an agreement, Lin Zimu’s expression changed.

"Alright, as Brother Jinjie says..."

As Lin Zimu feared, Yu Ling listened, then stood alongside the Yizheng Sect with his Lingying Sect disciples.

"Eh? Brother Zimu, it’s been a while, truly fate!"

Just when Lin Zimu was troubled by this change, Ye Changqing arrived with the Pill Sect disciples, giving him a breath of relief.

"Brother Ye, here’s the situation..."

Hence, the issue initially between two sects escalated into a standoff involving disciples from four sects.

The initial scene transformed, as the Yizheng Sect’s senior disciple Ouyang Jinjie made no pretense and revealed his true purpose of killing and pillaging.

Currently, the Pill Sect was determined to assist the Ancient Abyss Sect, just uncertain how tight the ties between Lingying Sect and the Yizheng Sect were.

Thus, the Pill Sect was still negotiating with the Lingying Sect, trying to convince them to withdraw.

"Yu Ling, think it through, targeting the Ancient Abyss Sect means opposing our Pill Sect. If you don’t want your pill market to collapse, don’t jump into this chaos!" Ye Changqing, the senior disciple of the Pill Sect, aggressively stated.

He was curious how much benefit Ouyang Jinjie of the Yizheng Sect had offered for them to refuse the Pill Sect’s pill purchase discounts, forcing him to use his final bargaining chip.

Seeing Yu Ling hesitating, Ye Changqing sighed in relief.

If monopolizing the pill market wouldn’t work, he truly hadn’t thought of any other way.

"Hmph! Your Pill Sect isn’t the only one good at business!" Ouyang Jinjie stepped forward, sinisterly saying:

"I’ve heard that in Alchemy the most needed are materials... heh, if we can mess with the raw materials..."

As he spoke, he locked eyes playfully with Ye Changqing.

Indeed, upon hearing such tactics, Ye Changqing begrudgingly fell silent.

"Curse it, if Yang Yan were here, they wouldn’t dare be so arrogant!" Seeing this, Guo Guoguo clenched her small fists, angrily said.

An intense battle seemed inevitable.

Without Yang Yan, the members of the Ancient Abyss Sect were all highly alert, ready for battle.

They all knew that if Yang Yan were here, the Yizheng Sect would definitely not dare to provoke at this time.