When everyone surrounded the carriage, Xu Zimo lifted his head and sensed in the direction the sound had come from.
Not far to the north, a massive figure charged forward.
Behind that figure, more than a dozen others followed.
“Crown Birds,” someone in the convoy shouted.
“It’s the Wen Clan. Only they raise Crown Birds.”
As the figures drew closer, they could be clearly seen. These birds were entirely iron-blue, like forged steel.
Their feathers were sparse, but each one was incomparably tough.
Their eyes were devoid of any emotion, like true killers.
At this moment, riding on the backs of these birds were groups of people.
“Miss Fan, where are you heading?” A middle-aged man in blue robes laughed loudly from atop one of the birds.
“Housekeeper Wen, what business brings you here?” the old man beside the convoy asked coldly.
“Nothing serious, I just want to ask you all to wait here for five days. After five days, I’ll naturally let you through,” the Wen housekeeper replied with a smile.
“So the trouble at Immortal City was indeed your Wen Clan’s doing,” the old man frowned.
“How can you call it scheming? It’s just ordinary business competition,” the Wen housekeeper shook his head.
“And if we refuse to stop?” the old man asked with narrowed eyes.
“Then we’ll have to offend you,” the Wen housekeeper snorted.
On the backs of the Crown Birds, arrows appeared.
These arrows were not ordinary, they were crafted from Fire Crystal.
This crystal used a cultivator’s spiritforce as fuel. Once launched, if spiritforce was present, it would ignite into blazing fire.
The Fan Clan convoy was almost entirely composed of True Meridian cultivators. If struck by these Fire Arrows, more than half of them would likely perish.
And the Wen Clan’s people were watching like tigers ready to pounce.
“Do you think my Fan Clan will just submit like this?” the old man snorted coldly.
“Then try us,” the other side replied without weakness.
The old man’s aura surged with the might of an Imperial Meridian cultivator.
Opening his arms like an eagle, he soared into the air straight at the Crown Birds.
At the same time, he gave a sharp command: “Protect the young lady. Leave this to me.”
“Loose!” On the Wen Clan’s side, there was no hesitation.
A dense barrage of Fire Arrows rained down from above.
It was like a storm of arrows, overwhelming and endless.
“Form the formation!” someone in the convoy shouted. Nearly a hundred people gathered into a circle.
Their spiritforce intertwined and fused together.
At this moment, the hundred of them breathed as one, their energy in perfect harmony.
Their combined power formed a barrier that blocked all the Fire Arrows outside.
But the Fire Arrows fed on spiritforce. Flames rose, burning the barrier bit by bit.
The blaze grew fiercer, threatening to overwhelm it.
……
In the skies, the old man was already battling the Wen Clan’s people.
His cultivation method seemed to be eagle-based. Every move was sharp, every strike like that of a raptor.
His limbs were like talons, each blow tearing at the void.
Even a Crown Bird, if struck, would be crippled if not killed.
Among the Wen Clan group was also an Imperial Meridian cultivator, who fought him head-on.
The others continued raining Fire Arrows down.
The barrier was surrounded by growing flames. Inside, the heat could already be felt.
“Damn it, we need to charge out,” someone whispered urgently.
“At this rate, we’ll be roasted alive.”
“The young lady is still inside. Without Chief Steward Chen’s command, no one is to leave.”
Inside the barrier, voices grew restless.
Seeing the situation worsening, the curtain of the carriage at the convoy’s center was suddenly pulled aside.
The maid in green who had spoken with Xu Zimo before stepped out.
Her gaze was calm. She looked up at the two fighting in the sky.
In a crisp voice she said, “Chief Steward Chen, my lady orders you to stop.”
The old man in the air quickly disengaged from his opponent and looked at her.
“Give me three more minutes. I can definitely finish him,” he said.
“No need. This fire is too dangerous,” the maid in green waved her hand slightly.
She glanced at the burning Fire Arrows around them, her meaning clear.
Then she lifted her hand. Her seemingly frail body suddenly erupted with terrifying might.
With a boom, icy spiritforce descended.
All the blazing flames were instantly extinguished.
The Wen Clan cultivators in the sky stared, dumbfounded.
The maid in green raised her hand again. The heavens shifted, clouds churned.
Empyrean might swept across the battlefield. Endless spiritforce surged forth, condensing into a colossal hand in the void.
The giant hand descended, shattering the air.
“Not good,” the Wen Clan’s Imperial Meridian cultivator felt the crushing pressure first.
He shouted, “Run!”
Abandoning his Crown Bird, he bolted into the dense woods.
But as the giant hand fell, all others besides that one Imperial Meridian cultivator were annihilated.
Then, with another flick of her hand, the escaping cultivator was struck down, unable to dodge.
The maid in green walked step by step toward his fallen form.
The Wen Clan’s cultivator looked terrified, swallowing hard.
“I bear no malice toward you. I only came to block you, I never meant to kill,” he hurriedly explained.
“That doesn’t matter,” the maid said calmly.
She grabbed his neck, lifting him into the air.
As his breath grew weaker, his face turned dark blue.
Knowing death was certain, he gave up begging.
Instead, he laughed bitterly through his struggle: “They say the Fan Clan’s Patriarch has died, and the young lady cannot hold up the clan alone. But to think she has a master like you by her side… Many people’s plans will fall apart.”
“That’s not your concern,” the maid replied.
She squeezed. His eyes rolled white.
Then nameless fire consumed his body, burning him to ashes that vanished into the void.
Even the Fan Clan guards swallowed hard at the sight.
The area was so silent, even a needle drop could be heard.
No one had imagined that the frail maid would turn out to be a Saint Meridian cultivator.
At that moment, only Xu Zimo remained calm.
He had sensed the spiritforce within everyone from the start. So he already knew she was Empyrean Meridian Realm.
“Let’s go,” came the voice from inside the carriage.
The people around finally snapped out of their shock, quickly reforming the convoy and continuing forward.