"After so many years, I did not expect Fellow Daoist Mao to still remember such an insignificant person as myself. It is truly an immense honor." The dark clouds slowly dissipated, revealing a large man with a purple face and a black robe, whose appearance was quite imposing.

Seeing the momentum and grandeur of this man's arrival, it was evident that he too was a Core Formation Stage cultivator.

The faces of the Biluo Cave's people showed concern as two Core Formation Stage beings appeared among the enemy, while only the Great Cave Master stood on Biluo Cave's side.

Although in terms of the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Refining cultivators, both sides were more or less comparable, and even with Biluo Cave holding a slight advantage due to the favorable terrain, the decisive power in the battle clearly rested with the Core Formation Stage cultivators.

As a Mid-stage Core Formation Stage cultivator, the Great Cave Master was the strongest in Biluo Cave apart from the Great Elder and was quite formidable. However, facing two beings of similar strength, he obviously couldn't gain any advantage.

"It's him!" Wulu couldn't help but express his shock upon seeing the newcomer.

"Brother Wulu recognizes this person?" Yuan Ming asked upon seeing his reaction.

"I was recently assigned to Qingfu Hall for a task and saw the collected tomes of the Southern Border's major powers' important figures kept by our sect. If I'm not mistaken, this person is the Southern Border Squad Leader of the Dawn Alliance, the Core Formation Stage Loose Cultivator Ou Ji," Wulu explained.

Yuan Ming looked toward the three people in the sky, then turned his gaze to the crowd opposite them, his thoughts racing.

He had come here with the main troop because he hadn't found an opportunity to escape along the way, and also because he wanted to see how strong the attackers were and their numbers.

Seeing the situation before him, he already had a rough idea.

This time, it seemed Biluo Cave was in big trouble. He wondered whether the mysterious Great Elder would truly appear and if he indeed had the power to turn the tide.

"Ou Ji, Biluo Cave and your Dawn Alliance have no past grudges, nor any recent conflict. Leading your people to attack the gates of Biluo Cave, do you intend to blatantly violate the Ten Rules of the North Territory?" the Great Cave Master asked with a heavy voice.

A long time ago, the cultivation forces of the Southern Border and Northern Territory had formed an alliance to resist powerful enemies, establishing ten rules known as the Ten Rules of the North Territory, governing the behavior of Cultivation Sects.

Although the alliance exists in name only now, the Ten Rules of the North Territory were still recognized and followed by all sects even today. One of the rules states: no wanton attacks on other forces are allowed.

"So Biluo Cave also knows about the North Territory's ten rules. Then, Fellow Daoist Mao, do you remember the third rule, 'Do not wantonly kill mortals!' Over the years, your Biluo Cave has been capturing mortals wantonly, killing those without a Spirit Root and enslaving people with poor innate Spirit Roots as Beast Slaves, causing the population of the Southern Border and Northern Territory to continuously decline. How do you explain this?" Ou Ji asked with a cold laugh.

"Nonsense! Biluo Cave has always acted in accordance with the rules. When have we ever massively killed mortals!" the Great Cave Master promptly denied, with a sense of righteousness rising in his heart.

"Is that so? Ma, come out," Ou Ji said with a light smile, turning his head to call out.

A figure flew out from the group of people in black clothes and landed beside Ou Ji; it was a young man with sharp eyebrows and starry eyes who had the appearance of a Central Plains person.

"Ma Xingkong!"

"He's actually still alive!"

The Biluo Cave disciples were in an uproar.

Yuan Ming's eyes showed a hint of surprise as he observed the young man with sharp eyebrows.

The reputation of Ma Xingkong was something he had heard of for a long time. To this day, he was still a target on the execution list of the Biluo Cave's Execution Hall. After leaving the sect, had he also joined the Dawn Alliance?

"Fellow Daoist Mao, this Ma is surely someone you recognize. He was once a distinguished disciple of Biluo Cave. As for whether your sect has killed mortals, he knows best," Ou Ji remarked indifferently.

The Great Cave Master appeared expressionless and calm, but internally he was becoming increasingly anxious.

Ma Xingkong had risen from being a Fur Beast Slave with low status in Biluo Cave. He had also participated in several mortal slaughtering missions to collect souls afterward and knew the whole process like the back of his hand. If he were to speak out now, it would be troublesome.

With his cultivation, it would take only a moment to kill the man, or even use Spiritual Pressure to crush him outright. But with Ou Ji's protection, he was helpless.

"Captain Ou Ji, the crime of Biluo Cave violating the North Territory's ten rules and killing mortals is undeniably true! During the years I was with Biluo Cave, I was forced to partake in nine mortal slaughters to collect souls, with each mission resulting in the deaths of several hundred. These details of the nine missions can be verified," Ma Xingkong said as he took out a White Jade Plate and infused it with mana.

The Jade Plate grew in size with the wind. Lines of text appeared on it, detailing the dates, locations, and number of people killed for each mission.

The expressions of the Biluo Cave disciples grew unnatural upon seeing this. Such missions to kill and collect souls were something they had all heard of, with many having directly participated in them. At the time, they simply thought the contribution points were good and saw nothing amiss.

"Ma Xingkong is a defected disciple of Biluo Cave. His words are untrustworthy, mere slander," the Great Cave Master maintained his composure as he spoke.

"I knew you'd deny it outright. See if you can deny this," Ma Xingkong said with a cold smile, raising a blue orb.

A bright blue light shot from the orb, spinning and transforming into a blue water screen which revealed scenes of Biluo Cave disciples slaughtering mortals and collecting souls.

In the Cultivation World, there exists a special kind of Recording Artifact that can document past events, and this blue orb was clearly one of them.

The Great Cave Master's heart sank. With so many recorded scenes as evidence, the fact of Biluo Cave killing mortals could no longer be argued.

"For the confirmed crime of Biluo Cave killing mortals, my Dawn Alliance's actions today are but the execution of heaven's punishment. Attack!" Ou Ji shouted loudly.

The Dawn Alliance members shouted in unison and charged, while Biluo Cave's people hurriedly countered. Magic artifacts clashed, spells collided against each other, and the spectacle was truly magnificent.

With the Great Cave Master present to anchor the line, Yuan Ming had no choice but to charge forward with the person beside him, wielding the Nine-Ring Gold Saber to block a Black Shuttle Magic Tool.

The owner of the Black Shuttle Magic Tool was a tall and slim man whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Qi Refining Stage. His Black Shuttle Magic Tool was quite extraordinary as well, having attained mid-grade status; as it danced about, bursts of black flames exploded from it, creating several indistinguishable real and fake shadows that were quite mystical.

However, Yuan Ming's mana was much more profound than the other's and his Divine Sense was even more powerful, so no matter how the Black Shuttle Magic Tool changed, it could not escape his divine perception.

The Nine-Ring Gold Saber transformed into nine golden saber shadows, forming a golden net that easily trapped the Black Shuttle Magic Tool.

The tall and thin man, no matter how he urged the Black Shuttle, could not break out from the enclosure of the golden net, and he knew that the other's strength was greater than his own. Yet, other than maintaining a stance of combat with him, the opponent did not increase the aggression, which made him hesitate on whether to advance or retreat.

Yuan Ming took control of the situation, allowing the other to gain a slight advantage on purpose, wary of being ambushed by other members of the Dawn. His gaze swept over the nearby battles.

He saw Wu Lu rush up as well, pointing a finger toward the sky before clashing with a member of the Dawn Scatter Alliance. Both of their cultivations were comparable, and the power of their magic artifacts was similar, neither being able to overcome the other for the time being.

When it came to numbers, there was little difference between the two sides. The disciples of Biluo Cave were slightly less intimidating in momentum, but with the help of spirit beasts and the advantage of the terrain, neither side showed a clear strength or weakness.

In the midst of the sky, Xue Zhan was no longer confronting the Great Cave Master with Ou Ji's help. The three unleashed their techniques, engaging in an aerial battle across the void.

Faced with wave after wave of attacks from the two, the Great Cave Master struggled a bit, yet the large white net he drove, spiraling and flying in the surroundings, growing large and then shrinking, both offensive and defensive, made Ou Ji and Xue Zhan wary of pressing too close.

Meanwhile, the great python of the Foundation Establishment Stage that he had summoned coiled around the trio, waiting for an opportunity to strike. With well-founded advance and retreat, it also prevented Ou Ji and the other from focusing entirely on the Great Cave Master.

Yuan Ming silently commended the Great Cave Master for his way of dealing with opponents. The current state of the battle seemed manageable, and if the side of Biluo Cave could stabilize the situation and endure until the arrival of that mysterious Great Elder, perhaps they could survive this crisis.

A deathly scream not far away suddenly pierced the air, followed by the dissipation of a strong wave of mana, clearly signaling the demise of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Yuan Ming swiftly glanced over in the direction of the scream.

He saw a red-faced bald elder of Biluo Cave lying on the ground face-up, with a bloody hole in his forehead from which red and white matter oozed out.

Standing in front of the red-faced elder was a white-clothed young man with his mouth corners turned up, his face smeared with colorful oils. A thin strand of golden light flickered incessantly between his fingers.

"It's him!" Yuan Ming's pupils contracted.

Even though he had changed his attire, Yuan Ming would not mistake the appearance of this white-clothed young man, who was none other than the clown who had openly committed murder on the streets of Black Rock City.

The white-clothed young man put away the red-faced elder's storage magic tool and continued to dart out, pouncing toward another tall, bearded elder of Biluo Cave not far away.

The gold light from his fingertips shot out first, aiming for the back of the bearded elder's heart.

The bearded elder, who had been fervently fighting with a Dawn Foundation Establishment cultivator, had been keeping an eye on the white-clothed young man. Seeing this scene, he hurriedly used his spirit beast to block the Dawn Foundation Establishment cultivator while dodging to the side himself.

It seemed that the man had also cultivated a Step Technique, as he was quite agile and barely managed to dodge the golden light's attack.

The white-clothed young man opened his mouth and spat out a mass of liquid emitting a blue glow, spreading rapidly in all directions, enveloping the bearded elder.

The blue-glowing liquid instantly expanded to a size of seven or eight zhang, and its speed was extremely fast. The bearded elder had no chance to evade and had to call forth a red copper mirror to defend.

The mirror spun rapidly, swelling to several zhang in size in an instant, facing the descending blue light and blocking it in mid-air, preventing it from falling.

Before the bearded elder could make another move, a golden shadow struck, the very strand of thin golden light that had missed its mark earlier now shooting at him again from the side.

The bearded elder hurriedly controlled the copper mirror to defend. The surface of the mirror shone with spirit light without any irregularities, but after a tremble, it inexplicably became immobile.

The blue-glowing liquid contained a strong stickiness, and the copper mirror was firmly stuck in it, unable to move even slightly, while the thin strand of golden light had already reached the bearded elder's face.

"Damn it!" The bearded elder had no choice but to give up controlling the copper mirror and quickly maneuvered again to evade.

But the white-clothed young man appeared in front of him at some point, raising his hand and slashing three golden light blades horizontally, aimed straight at the bearded elder's neck.

The bearded elder was startled and slapped his Spiritual Beast Bag at his waist.

A black giant spider, about a zhang tall, flew out from the bag. It had a glossy black body likened to golden iron and two front limbs like large sabers, which moved extraordinarily nimbly to meet the golden light blades.

The white-clothed young man let out a soft laugh, made a gesture with one hand, and somehow the three golden light blades pierced through the giant spider's defenses. One of them "swooshed" through, severing half of the spider's head, while the other two chopped fiercely into the bearded elder.

A layer of black light surged from the garb the bearded elder wore, which also appeared to be a magic artifact. However, when the two golden light blades sliced down, it completely collapsed and dispersed.

Fear showed in the bearded elder's eyes as he raised his hand to do something, but it was already too late.

The thin strand of golden light pierced into his skull from behind and shot out through his forehead.

The divine light in the bearded elder's eyes faded in an instant, and his corpse thunderously fell to the ground.

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