"Beyond this point lies the enemy of my Du Clan!" Du Yunmian roared, his crimson-orange longsword pointing directly at Tuoba Lie.

"If I were afraid of you, I wouldn't have shown up," Tuoba Lie grinned, about to take a step forward.

"Tuoba Lie, get out!" At that very moment, Li Hentian, seated cross-legged in the center of the Du residence, suddenly turned his head towards him and snapped.

"Elder Li," Tuoba Lie paused, fixing a deep gaze on Li Hentian. His expression turned serious: "My very life belongs to you. To place this life in your hands has been my long-held wish. Elder Li need not say more; since I came out today, I never intended to return alive!"

"Hahaha, Du Yunmian, come on, let me see what tricks your Du Clan has up its sleeve." Tuoba Lie burst into manic laughter and suddenly attacked.

Walnut-sized, dark green pellets shot from his hands like miniature cannonballs, arcing directly towards the cluster of Heavenly Soldiers surrounding Li Hentian.

"Courting death!" Du Yunmian sneered. He lifted the crimson-orange longsword in his hand, and a fierce surge of sword energy shot skyward. The energy crisscrossed, forming beams of crimson light that pierced towards the incoming dark green orbs.

Rumble! Rumble!

When the sword light collided, the dark green pellets suddenly exploded. The terrifying concussive force radiated outward, causing several Heavenly Soldiers standing closest to the pellets to panic and hastily retreat into the distance.

Streams of dark green, light smoke began to drift throughout the Du manor. This dense, smoky haze carried a pungent, acrid smell. The few Du Clan Heavenly Soldiers enveloped by the green vapor immediately clutched their throats, their faces contorted in painful agony. As they bent over coughing, mouthfuls of crimson blood spewed forth.

"Tuoba Lie, you dare use poison in my Du Clan's territory! Today, you must die!" Du Yunmian roared in fury. He burst out of the green fog along with two Transformation Star Realm Heavenly Soldiers beside him, charging recklessly toward Tuoba Lie, who was still generating the toxic smoke outside the Du grounds.

"Hahaha, your despicable Du Clan deserves to be dealt with using such methods! You all surround and attack Elder Li with so many people; why can't I use smoke poison?" Tuoba Lie laughed wildly. Seeing Du Yunmian and the two Transformation Star Heavenly Soldiers charging him, he didn't engage them in a direct fight. Instead, he circled around to another side, launching the dark green pellets he carried one after another.

In an instant, the entire Du compound was submerged in thick, dark green poison smoke. Some quicker-witted Du Clan Heavenly Soldiers remained unharmed, and those with superior cultivation could control the opening and closing of their pores and breathing, thus remaining impervious to the smoke's assault.

However, not everyone present in the Du residence was so fortunate or so highly cultivated.

Howls of ghostly wailing suddenly erupted from within the Du residence. Amidst the dark green poison smoke, Heavenly Soldiers clutching their throats and gagging could be seen scattered in every corner. Often, before they could escape the area shrouded by the toxic haze, they would collapse, their bodies utterly weak.

Zhang Yueqin and the two elders from the Guiyuan Sect remained completely safe, using three Divine Weapons to suppress the constantly emitting wheel of blazing sun energy. Li Hentian also sat motionless, cross-legged. Individuals of their caliber were utterly unaffected by poison smoke of this intensity.

Tuoba Lie never engaged Du Yunmian in a head-on fight, instead continuously circling the Du manor, tossing dark green pellets into areas where the poison smoke was thinner, thus intensifying the overall density.

Several Seven Star Realm Heavenly Soldiers grew impatient with Tuoba Lie's guerrilla tactics. At Du Yunmian's invitation, these masters from the Heavenly Soldier Sects of the surrounding mountains joined the effort to surround and kill Tuoba Lie.

Once five Seven Star Realm masters participated in the encirclement, Tuoba Lie's room to maneuver vanished. Seeing the five closing in slowly from five different directions, Tuoba Lie had no choice but to pull back and retreat.

Although he was also a Seven Star Realm expert, while one or two opponents might be manageable, facing five closing in—if they managed to box him in—he would face certain death. Tuoba Lie was not foolish. While he wished to rescue Li Hentian, he had no desire to be instantly surrounded and killed. He understood that only by staying alive could he do more for Li Hentian.

"Tuoba Lie, still trying to run!" Du Yunmian sneered, a strangely triumphant look on his face.

"If you have the guts to fight me one-on-one, I'll stay right here, how about it, Du Yunmian, do you dare?" Tuoba Lie kept moving, frequently glancing back to taunt Du Yunmian.

"Someone about to die has no standing to demand a duel with me," Du Yunmian scoffed dismissively.

Tuoba Lie roared with laughter, just about to hurl another sarcastic remark, when his expression abruptly shifted. He punched wildly towards the ground, and streaks of brilliant starlight flashed briefly in the void before sinking deep into the earth.

The dry earth cracked open inch by inch, and a massive roaring sound emanated from below. It seemed a massive earth dragon was coiled deep beneath the ground. After a moment of violent shaking, a soft, lingering laugh echoed from within the splitting earth.

The ground rolled up like waves, dust flying high, suddenly blocking Tuoba Lie’s path. A figure completely covered in moist earth then emerged, slamming into Tuoba Lie like an earth dragon.

This was another Transformation Star Realm Heavenly Soldier, one who cultivated the Earth elemental energy of the Five Elements, having mastered its application to a divine degree.

"Damn it, you resort to sneak attacks!" Tuoba Lie cursed, drawing his innate Divine Weapon, the Halberd of the Square Heaven. It shone with a dazzling white light and radiated intense killing intent as he thrust it directly toward the attacker emerging from below.

Du Yunmian and the other five Transformation Star Heavenly Soldiers quickly took advantage of the moment to close in. Du Yunmian looked completely confident of victory and called out, "Second Brother, block him!"

Du Yunhan smiled coldly. Seeing the Halberd of the Square Heaven descend, he did not meet the attack head-on. Instead, he turned and burrowed back into the earth, burrowing forward like a slick mudskipper. His movement, like a spine moving beneath the ground, was visible through the soil. The instant he dove into the earth, he channeled the power of the ground, sending three earth dragons surging up from the depths to coil around Tuoba Lie.

Du Yunhan tunneled forward, intending to cut off Tuoba Lie’s escape route. He wasn't looking to fight Tuoba Lie head-on, only to intercept him so he could then join Du Yunmian in dealing with him.

"Trying to stop me? Not so easy!" Tuoba Lie roared, not even glancing at the three earth dragons crashing into his rear. He charged forward relentlessly, shaking his Halberd of the Square Heaven, unleashing beams of starlight that were all directed at Du Yunhan, who was trying to block his way.

Du Yunhan maintained his cunning smile, still refusing a direct confrontation. Seeing the incoming starlight attack, he continued to dive deeper into the earth.

Thud!

Just then, one earth dragon slammed into Tuoba Lie’s back. The impact from the dragon condensed by Du Yunhan’s Earth elemental energy was significant. Tuoba Lie’s face instantly flushed deep red; he forcibly suppressed a mouthful of blood, refusing to vomit on the spot.

Tuoba Lie didn't even spare a glance for Du Yunhan, who poked his head out to grin mockingly. Before the other two earth dragons could catch him, he circulated his Seven Star power and swiftly bypassed Du Yunhan, charging out into the thicket of weeds ahead.

"Second Brother, why didn't you stop him?" Du Yunmian arrived, shouting indignantly.

"Who cares about him? Our main target is Li Hentian. This Tuoba Lie isn't a significant threat to our Du Clan. It's better if he runs," Du Yunhan said casually. He knew that if he had used his full power, he might have managed to detain the desperate Tuoba Lie, but intercepting such a frenzied, cornered beast would have demanded a terrible price from him.

Within the Du Clan, even the brothers Du Yunmian and Du Yunhan harbored hidden competition. Du Yunhan certainly didn't want to sustain severe injuries at such a critical juncture.

"Chase him! If Tuoba Lie lives, it will always cause trouble. If news of this leaks out, we will certainly lose face," Du Yunmian understood his brother's thinking and didn't press the matter further. Frowning, he instructed the three Transformation Star Heavenly Soldiers who had just arrived, "Go after him."

The three nodded in unison, and along with the Du brothers, they pursued the direction Tuoba Lie had fled.

Hiding in the shadows, Ji Changkong watched Tuoba Lie’s assault unfold with perfect clarity. When he saw Tuoba Lie unleashing the dark green pellets, plunging the Du residence into a sea of poison smoke and causing numerous Du Clan deaths, his heart filled with immense satisfaction.

When one of Du Yunhan’s earth dragons struck Tuoba Lie, causing him to falter, Ji Changkong nearly rushed out to attack. After Tuoba Lie broke through Du Yunhan’s interception and escaped before the encirclement could solidify, Ji Changkong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

While relieved for Tuoba Lie, his worry immediately shifted to Li Hentian. Without Tuoba Lie—a chaotic, albeit unhelpful, ally—Li Hentian's situation became far more perilous. The trio led by Zhang Yueqin had completely ignored Tuoba Lie's diversion from the beginning, focusing their attention solely on Li Hentian.

Working together in a triangular formation, the three suppressed Li Hentian in the center. Being of the same Eight Trigram Heaven Realm, their combined strength naturally gave them the upper hand. As time passed, even Ji Changkong could see that Li Hentian in the middle was gradually beginning to struggle, and the dazzling light of the Sun Wheel seemed to dim.

What to do? What should I do?

Ji Changkong repeatedly questioned himself. Facing the combined assault of three Eight Trigram Heaven experts, guarded by several Transformation Star Heavenly Realm masters nearby, what could he, a mere Four Symbols Heaven Realm cultivator, possibly achieve at this moment?

As Li Hentian’s pressure mounted and the radiance of the Sun Wheel weakened, Ji Changkong’s heart grew increasingly frantic. Never before had he craved power so intensely. He bitterly resented his own low strength, his soul yearning for immense power. This craving battered against his reason, causing his body to tremble.

Just then, a blood-soaked Tuoba Lie reappeared from another direction of the Du manor. His eyes were crimson, his bald head covered in scarlet blood. Not far behind him, Du Yunmian and the others pursued closely, their expressions exhilarated.