Danfeng Under the War

Dan Peak had temporarily transformed into a field hospital.

Those who had retreated from the Eight Trigrams Formation of Gods and Ghosts but were severely wounded were all placed here.

After all, Dan Peak was the alchemy center of the Dao Sword Sect, and it had always been responsible for treating and healing sect members.

These injured disciples were rightfully placed here.

The mistress of Dan Peak and the number one patient, the great sword immortal Li Shiyin, was swinging on a swing beneath an old sophora tree, enjoying a brief moment of rest and recovery from the battlefield.

The master of Dan Peak, Head Seat Qin Ran, stood beside her, feeding her nourishing medicinal soup one spoonful at a time.

"Calling out Ao Yi right from the start, isn't that revealing our trump card?" Gu Yueming asked Qin Ran while watching Ao Yi and Pursuit Wind outside, whose imposing presence had scared the enemy forces to retreat thirty zhang away.

By now, the six powerful Nascent Soul cultivators were no longer outside the Guardian Mountain Formation; they had agreed to meet somewhere unknown for tea. Meanwhile, after their initial fear, the Hengduan Mountains alliance was already discussing countermeasures and preparing for the next phase of attack.

"What are trump cards for?" Qin Ran asked back while feeding Li Shiyin another spoonful of soup.

Gu Yueming thought for a moment and said, "To catch opponents off guard and turn the tide in desperate situations."

Qin Ran shook his head and said, "Wrong. A trump card has only one ultimate purpose - to win!

"A battle isn't about how many trump cards you have, but whether you can win or not. There's no necessary connection between trump cards and victory.

"If you can win, what difference does it make whether you reveal your trump card early or late?"

Though the logic made sense, Gu Yueming asked again, "What if Zhican Valley still has trump cards? How will we deal with that then?"

Qin Ran tried to feed Li Shiyin another spoonful of soup, but as she swung on the swing, the soup spilled on her collar.

He used a spell to collect the water and threw it at the roots of the old sophora tree, then took out a tissue to wipe the stains on her clothes.

He said to Gu Yueming, "Trump cards? With Ao Yi and Pursuit Wind out there, working together with Liu Baixuan and others, backed by the Guardian Mountain Formation, we can inflict massive casualties on the Hengduan Mountains alliance's forces. If all their forces are killed, what good would their trump cards be?

"Ao Yi can fight Nascent Soul cultivators. And the Dao Sword Sect's Nascent Soul cultivators are stronger than those from Zhican Valley. Both sides have three Nascent Soul cultivators, so they cancel each other out and don't matter much. Besides, Nascent Soul cultivators value their lives and don't want to fight. Since we can have one extra Nascent Soul cultivator, why not call him out early to inflict casualties on the enemy forces?"

Given that Qin Ran's previous strategies had all been highly successful, although Gu Yueming still had doubts, he didn't voice any objections.

"When Zhican Valley started this war, they must have had methods to quickly break through formations," Qin Ran continued feeding Li Shiyin soup while telling Gu Yueming, "How effective Ao Yi can be depends on how many people he can kill before they break through the formation. After the Guardian Mountain Formation is broken, when Dao Sword Sect members and the Hengduan Mountains alliance forces engage in chaotic battle, his effectiveness will rapidly decrease."

Tian Wenjin sat cross-legged in the lakeside pavilion of Sword Washing Lake, regulating her breath. Huang Feiyu stood beside her, while Xiao Bufan was healing his wounds on the other side of the pavilion.

Looking at Xiao Bufan, Huang Feiyu said to Tian Wenjin, "Junior Uncle's Dan Peak has really changed."

No one responded to him.

"When I left the sect, this lakeside pavilion had just been built, and I helped with its construction," Huang Feiyu continued talking to himself, "But back then, there were no fish in the lake, no lotus flowers. There were no trees by the lake either.

"Also, Dan Peak didn't have the Guardian Mountain Formation. Junior Uncle is really impressive, not only mastering the way of alchemy but also having such achievements in formation techniques. Even the formation masters of the Lingnan Immortal Sect are no better than this."

Xiao Bufan then asked, "Is fellow Daoist an envoy from the Lingnan Immortal Sect?"

How could he not recognize Huang Feiyu? During the years when Huang Feiyu was a genius disciple, he was still struggling as an outer sect disciple.

However, people generally had poor attitudes towards traitors.

Huang Feiyu quickly cupped his hands in greeting and asked, "May I ask fellow Daoist's name?"

With his shrewd mind, how could he not recognize Xiao Bufan, who had risen to fame in the outer sect?

"My surname is Xiao, given name Bufan," Xiao Bufan replied formally, "Outer sect disciple of the Dao Sword Sect, ranked sixteenth in the entrance examination."

"With the outer sect's resources, fellow Daoist being able to rank sixteenth truly shows remarkable talent," Huang Feiyu said, "It seems the Dao Sword Sect failed to recognize talent, wasting your abilities."

His words were partly mocking Xiao Bufan's mediocre talent, and partly criticizing the Dao Sword Sect for not providing enough resources, causing many disciples like him to leave for other sects.

"Not at all!" Xiao Bufan replied, "I know myself well, my aptitude is ordinary, and I'm fortunate that the Dao Sword Sect recognized me, giving me the chance to enter the path of immortality. The sect's resources matched me perfectly, every resource aligned with my strength and aptitude. My current strength is the result of seizing opportunities, utilizing resources, and diligent cultivation.

"If fellow Daoist had done the same as me, you would surely have had a great future ahead."

Xiao Bufan was implicitly criticizing Huang Feiyu for being a three-faced slave, ungrateful and wolf-hearted; also mocking him for blaming insufficient resources when it was actually his own problem of not working hard enough.

"How could I compare to fellow Daoist?" Huang Feiyu continued, "I heard that fellow Daoist was injured from fighting someone at the Nascent Soul realm while only being at the Core Formation realm. I could never do that - I can't fight a Nascent Soul cultivator while at the Core Formation stage, I'm ashamed."

"You indeed have a major problem - insufficient determination," Xiao Bufan said, "Once, in a state of extreme anger, I knocked down Dan Peak's Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger with one punch..."

Tian Wenjin couldn't stand these two's verbal sparring and needle-hiding-in-cotton conversation anymore, so she silently stood up and walked out of the lakeside pavilion.

"So fellow Daoist is actually a Core Formation elder!" Xiao Bufan suddenly realized, "Do you know this immortal lady? That's Tian Wenjin from the Sword Peak, ranked fifth among the Dao Sword Sect's geniuses, with extremely powerful combat ability. She just defeated a Core Formation cultivator while only at the Foundation Establishment realm. I think she would be a perfect match for you - talented scholar and beautiful lady, like a match made in heaven.

"It's just a pity that I heard Tian Wenjin has comprehended the Emotionless Sword Intent, cut off her black hair, and no longer approaches emotions. I wonder why."

Finally, the smile disappeared from Huang Feiyu's face. Looking at Tian Wenjin's departing figure, there was some guilt deep in his eyes.

Outside the greenhouse, Zhang Junyi's bamboo house and the surrounding open space had been arranged with many wounded. Those with internal and external injuries who couldn't move were all assigned beds.

The beds were woven from bamboo by Zhang Junyi.

The dark little loli - Dan Peak's poison master - Long Qiqi was their chief physician, while Zhang Junyi assisted as a nurse, responsible for preparing prescriptions, helping with alchemy, or taking care of the wounded.

The master and disciple pair needed to care for over thirty wounded, and they were quite overwhelmed.

From the beginning, the little loli had maintained a gloomy face, which was quite frightening.

Zhang Junyi watched, not daring to breathe deeply. He always felt that his master might revert to her original form at any moment and eat all these wounded people.

"Master, his meridians are injured, and he forced himself to use energy, causing his spiritual power to flow incorrectly," he carefully reported to Long Qiqi, "We need to help regulate his energy first, then seal his dantian, before treating his injuries..."

Long Qiqi was studying healing pills for the patient beside her. Hearing this, she looked at the bed where Zhang Junyi was and said, "Prepare the medicine yourself. It's time you learned alchemy."

"Master... I've never made pills before," Zhang Junyi reminded her quietly.

"Do you know how to prepare medicines?" The little loli raised her eyebrows, looking quite scary.

"Yes... yes..." Zhang Junyi replied.

"What medicine for what situation!" the little loli scolded, "Learn to prepare it yourself! Why do you need to ask your master for everything, am I your slave?

"This Dan Peak, when the top beam is crooked, the bottom beams will be askew. Am I, Long Qiqi, Qin Ran's slave? Ordering me around, demanding I do everything... as if they don't see I have nine heads!"

Zhang Junyi was too scared to speak and quickly took out medical texts to check and verify, studying how to prepare medicines by himself.

The wounded person on this bed raised his hand weakly and said, "Um... should we maybe consider my feelings about this?"

"Don't worry, the Head Seat has acknowledged my knowledge of medicinal ingredients and principles," Zhang Junyi assured him.

The wounded person was about to cry - you may understand the book knowledge, but you've never actually treated anyone before!

"I can wait, it's not that painful," he said.

Zhang Junyi glanced at his master and whispered, "My master is very angry right now, don't count on her. Only I can help you..."

"Smack!"

The little loli smashed the porcelain bottle in her hand onto Zhang Junyi's head, glaring fiercely as she shouted, "Are you that free? He doesn't want you to treat him, find someone else. A battle is about to break out outside, and there will be an endless stream of casualties. Let's see if he can still wait then!"

"Oh... oh..." Zhang Junyi nodded, carrying his medical books to the next patient.

But before he could take a few steps, he was pulled back by the patient, who gritted his teeth in pain and said, "I think, I can still be saved. You can start with me."