"I overestimated my mastery in formation arts!" Min Longyu's voice lay a churning mix of guilt and regret. "The terrain of the Thundernet Nine Mountains carries a strong natural resistance. It was utterly impossible to set up a complete defensive formation. Even a third-tier defensive formation laid down by a Golden Core cultivator from the Falling Cloud Sect would be powerless before another cultivator of the same level. 0

"For that reason, I spent nearly half a year tailoring a killing formation, the Fivefold Thunderfall Formation, to the terrain. By harnessing the omnipresent lightning force of the Thundernet Nine Mountains, this killing formation was sufficient to threaten even a late-stage Initiate. But none of us expected that battle to break out so suddenly. And… no one foresaw that an Adept would act so brazenly, especially since the conflict until then had been limited to Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators.1

"When the fighting erupted, I activated the formation and killed five Initiates in one strike. I thought such a result would frighten the enemy into retreat, but those that remained refused to back down. Wang Yuan ordered me to lead the retreat while the three of them stayed behind to cover us. In the end, Li Yingzhang was gravely wounded, and the Hornless Dragon Sword fell into enemy hands. Xu Haizhen sacrificed his second-tier spirit beast, a white crane, to rescue him. Wang Yuan unleashed his ultimate techniques, casting Divine Blood Tribulation Finger repeatedly to cover their escape. In the end, he was pursued and vanished into the night."4

He paused, breath shaking. "After we fell back to the eighth mountain, Duan Feng came to assist. Only then was I allowed to return to...0