Bai Xinlian was the second to fall.
The Soul-Extracting and Spirit-Locking Formation was set up by Qiu Yuanfeng using the accumulated resources of the Qiu Tian Alliance for nearly a thousand years. Only the finest materials were used, and its power was on par with that of Mahayana cultivators. Furthermore, it targeted the cultivator's soul, rendering ordinary tribulation-crossing cultivators powerless to resist.
Following Bai Xinlian, two more vice-alliancelords fell.
"Alliance Lord Qiu," one of the remaining two vice-alliancelords suddenly fell to his knees, pleading, "Alliance Lord Qiu, I am willing to follow you. Spare my life."
However, his fate was the same as the previous vice-alliancelords.
Since Qiu Yuanfeng had begun, he would not stop. He would not let any of them go.
For if even one of them were to reveal today's events, he would never know peace again.
After this matter was resolved, he would find a sea region and hide for a few hundred years. Once things calmed down, he would reappear with a new identity.
After all, the accumulated wealth of the formation heaven alliance was all with him. He could re-establish an organization even more powerful than the formation heaven alliance in the future.
Qiu Yuanfeng commanded his skeletons to freely devour the souls of the cultivators within the formation, but he deliberately avoided Xu Yi.
Xu Yi had caused him such harm; he wanted to keep Xu Yi for last to torment her slowly.
The skeletons, which initially seemed to be playing with everyone by devouring only one soul at a time, gradually increased the number of souls they devoured from one to ten, then to a hundred.
More and more cultivators fell. In less than half an hour, only three people remained on the field.
Qiu Tianying, who had been hiding in the shadows, strode confidently over the bodies of the fallen, approaching Qiu Yuanfeng.
"Father, you actually kept such a trick hidden and didn't tell me. You scared me to death."
Qiu Tianying had initially thought their Qiu family was finished this time. He hadn't expected his father to have hidden such depths, not even informing him.
Although he was a little displeased, his current emotions were dominated by excitement and exhilaration. So many formation cultivators had died at his father's hands. All their magical treasures, spirit stones, and rare spiritual treasures would ultimately fall into their father and son's hands. They were truly going to strike it rich this time.
While it was a pity to lose the position of the Qiu Tian Alliance's leader, with his father's capabilities, he would surely rise again. At that time, he would also become the second-in-command of the new power, which was far better than his current marginal status.
Thinking this, Qiu Tianying's displeasure towards his father subsided somewhat.
Lost in his thoughts, Qiu Tianying failed to notice the cold gaze Qiu Yuanfeng cast upon him.
"Tianying," Qiu Yuanfeng softened his voice.
"Yes," Qiu Tianying responded obediently, his eyes constantly sweeping over the corpses of the vice-alliancelords. They must have a lot of good treasures in their storage bags.
*Crunch!*
A chewing sound echoed.
Qiu Tianying collapsed, his expression one of utter bewilderment.
"Qiu Yuanfeng, they say even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs, but you truly are capable of such a deed," Xu Yi said, frowning lightly.
Qiu Tianying sneered, "If it weren't for him, how would I have fallen out with you and been forced into this situation? Moreover, he harbors sinister intentions and has long planned to push me aside. Why should I cherish such a feeble father-son affection?"
He could see through Qiu Tianying's thoughts at a glance. Previously, he had thought it was fine to keep the person around as a trivial plaything to pass the time. But now that the plaything could endanger his life, he naturally could not let Qiu Tianying live.
"Xu Yi, do you regret it?" Qiu Yuanfeng suddenly asked.
"Regret?" Xu Yi laughed and shook her head. "There are no regrets in my life."
"Oh? You are an elite disciple of the Xuanji Sect, and you may even become the Sect Master of the Xuanji Sect in the future. Today, you are throwing yourself away for an old grievance. Don't you feel unwilling?"
Qiu Yuanfeng, not getting the answer he wanted, frowned unhappily.
He wanted to see Xu Yi regretful, annoyed, and weeping uncontrollably, not appearing so calm as if the person about to die wasn't her.
"No, you are mistaken," Xu Yi smiled slightly. "It is not I who is throwing my life away."
Qiu Yuanfeng suddenly found it amusing.
Even now, Xu Yi hadn't understood the situation. She possessed a powerful formation disk, but so what? His Soul-Extracting and Spirit-Locking Formation was already perfected and could not be broken by anyone.
If she had acted earlier, before the formation was successfully activated, then there might have been a chance.
Unfortunately, she had missed that opportunity.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yuanfeng couldn't help but laugh again. However, his laughter didn't last long before his smile froze on his face.
Something was wrong.
Since he had started setting up the formation, Xu Yi had not made a move, but had watched everything from afar.
Why wasn't she resisting?
Why didn't she join forces with the vice-alliancelords to break the formation?
Her composed demeanor made it seem as if she possessed a great killer weapon capable of countering him.
But if she truly had such a powerful weapon, why didn't she produce it earlier? Why wait until everyone else was dead before preparing to act? This clearly went against common sense.
Was Xu Yi bluffing?
His intuition told Qiu Yuanfeng that this was not the case.
What was wrong? What was wrong!
Qiu Yuanfeng's eyes turned crimson, veins bulging on his forehead. The pounding of his heart in his chest was like the beating of heavy hammers, making it difficult for him to remain calm.
"You've finally noticed."
Xu Yi gently shook her head, a mysterious smile appearing on her lips.
Qiu Yuanfeng froze. The scene before him suddenly changed drastically.
The cultivators who had already ceased breathing and lay motionless were now standing in the distance, looking at him with eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions.
They weren't dead?
Disbelieving, he shifted his gaze and finally met a pair of eyes filled with hatred.
They were Qiu Tianying's eyes.
Qiu Tianying's face was contorted with malice. Recalling the scene in the illusion just moments ago, his heart was filled with both hatred and pain.
Although he coveted Qiu Yuanfeng's high position, he had never harbored the thought of patricide. Yet, his father had treated him as an expendable being, showing no sentimentality.
Stung by Qiu Tianying's gaze, Qiu Yuanfeng, uncharacteristically, averted his eyes. He then saw Bai Xinlian, Tan Long… they were all alive.
Qiu Yuanfeng suddenly remembered something and looked down. The two skull heads that had been rampaging were now reduced to fragments lying quietly on the ground, devoid of any ferocity.
"Is this… an illusion?"
Qiu Yuanfeng said with difficulty.
"That's right, it is indeed an illusion. You must have forgotten that Teacher Yuwen was most skilled in illusion formations."
"You lost."
Xu Yi had arranged for the golden armored soldiers to set up the illusion formation during her fight with them, using the soldiers as the medium.
Qiu Yuanfeng, distracted by the golden armored soldiers, had been careless and thus fell into the illusion without realizing it.
What happened afterward, when Qiu Yuanfeng set up his formation, was all false, but besides Xu Yi, everyone else was unaware.
It wasn't until the formation was dissolved that everyone awoke from the illusion and understood the truth.
"Xu Yi, you are truly ruthless."
Qiu Yuanfeng now wished he could devour Xu Yi alive.
Xu Yi had deliberately led him into the illusion but had not exposed it, allowing him to remain immersed in his own world until the very last moment before revealing the truth, causing him to fall heavily from his pedestal.
Those people were all wrong.
Xu Yi was the most ruthless and venomous person.
He admitted defeat.