Chapter 2429 - 2429: Thousand Dragon Lake

Helian Tiehua and Ye Qing exchanged a look. The two of them had already discussed this yesterday, so each knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"In my opinion…" Helian Tiehua stood up and said, "for this battle, we should pare down the number of people we send over!"

"Oh?" Nalan Jingwei looked at Helian Tiehua and said, "I don't know what the Great General means by 'pare down'?"

"When the Wanyan Family went to the Sword Saint Sect, they brought only their most elite experts. Among their Peak Masters, anyone whose strength was even slightly weaker wasn't taken along. That shows how powerful both sides in the current Sword Saint Sect melee are." Helian Tiehua said, "In this situation, I suggest we also only send Peak Masters. Anyone below Acme-level strength, even if they go, will just be going to their deaths, not even qualified to be cannon fodder. So I suggest we don't make meaningless sacrifices—those below Peak Master level had best not go at all!"

As soon as he said this, everyone in the room began discussing at once. Nalan Jingwei fell silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "The Great General makes a very good point, it's something I'd somewhat overlooked. That's right—this battle is a clash of Peak Masters; those below Peak Master really aren't suited to take part. Since that's the case, it's settled: anyone below Acme-level strength will not be involved in this trip to the Sword Saint Sect!"

At these words, many of those present who were below Peak Master level immediately felt their hearts ease. To be honest, they hadn't wanted to go to the Sword Saint Sect this time anyway—their strength simply wasn't enough. And most of these below-Peak experts were people of the Nalan Family, so it was mainly the Nalan Family that benefited. No wonder Nalan Jingwei agreed so readily.

"However, there are a few exceptions." Nalan Jingwei suddenly said, "For example, Alliance Leader Ye—though he's not at Peak Master level, his status is extremely significant. And the Killing Gate Seven Hidden—when the seven of them act together, their combat power is comparable to a very strong Peak Master. So I think…"

"Prince Nalan, rest assured!" Ye Qinglang said loudly, "I and the Killing Gate Seven Hidden will definitely be going to fight!"

"Excellent!" Nalan Jingwei immediately smiled and said, "Of course, Alliance Leader Ye, don't worry. Your main role there is to stabilize morale; we won't have you actually fight. When the time comes, I'll assign people specifically to protect you—you absolutely won't be in any mortal danger!"

Ye Qing certainly didn't believe a word of this. If the battle went smoothly, who's to say you wouldn't want to personally kill me? Besides, in that kind of situation, people will barely be able to protect themselves—how could Nalan Jingwei possibly spare men to protect him?

Everyone went on to discuss a few more details, and once everything had been settled, they each took cars to the airport, heading straight for Thousand Dragon Lake. Naturally, Lin Tianyou was not taking part in this battle; he had already returned to the Lin family.

Nalan Jingwei had quite a few complaints about Lin Tianyou not coming, but Ye Qing and Helian Tiehua paid that no mind. Nalan Jingwei himself had no way to invite Lin Tianyou, so that was that. Still, it was evident that Nalan Jingwei took Lin Tianyou very seriously—after all, Lin Tianyou had inherited the full legacy of Divine Doctor An Shiping and was the new generation's Divine Doctor. That was someone you absolutely could not afford to offend.

By that afternoon, everyone had arrived near Thousand Dragon Lake. Thousand Dragon Lake, located in Guanglong City of Pingbei Province, is the collective name for a cluster of lakes.

Here at Thousand Dragon Lake, lakes stand densely everywhere, numerous and each with its own character. Legend has it that in every lake of Thousand Dragon Lake, a dragon coils within, adding up to more than a thousand dragons in total, hence the name Thousand Dragon Lake.

Nalan Jingwei and his people had captured a Peak Master who'd escaped from the Sword Saint Sect. That Peak Master had entered the Sword Saint Sect following the people of the Wanyan Family, then fled after fighting the Sword Saint Sect members. So he knew the route into the Sword Saint Sect and could naturally lead everyone inside.

Ye Qing and Fat Wang had already memorized the Sword Saint Sect's map the night before. Once they reached the vicinity of Thousand Dragon Lake, they quickly fixed their own position and roughly determined where the Sword Saint Sect lay. However, the two did not immediately head off along the back route, but instead followed the Nalan Family crowd toward the main entrance. After all, everyone was coming together; if Ye Qing suddenly split off now, the Nalan Family would definitely find it suspicious.

They hadn't walked far before they reached the location of the Sword Saint Sect's entrance. The Peak Master leading the way looked at the fork ahead and said with a bitter face, "I can only bring you this far. The road ahead is sealed by Qimen Dunjia. Once you go in, everyone will lose direction, and it's very hard to find your way out. Last time we came, we were trapped here for several days, and only just managed to get out in the end, and even then we lost several people. Whether I lead or not, the result is the same—you'll have to rely on yourselves to walk through the Qimen Dunjia area!"

Though everyone had heard of Qimen Dunjia, very few had actually experienced it. Hearing this Peak Master speak so, they all felt a bit worried. If they walked in and got lost inside, wouldn't that be disastrous?

"A mere Qimen Dunjia is nothing to worry about!" Nalan Jingwei was full of confidence, and said to that Peak Master, "You lead in front—since I'm here, you don't need to be concerned!"

The Peak Master was even more helpless and said, "Since you can break this Qimen Dunjia, then you don't need me at all. Past the Qimen Dunjia, it's a straight road leading right to the Sword Saint Sect gate—you could walk it with your eyes closed. Whether I lead or not is all the same!"

"Enough nonsense, lead the way in front!" an elder of the Nalan Family barked in a deep voice. Without room for argument, they pushed this Peak Master ahead and moved forward.

Nalan Jingwei gave a faint smile and said, "Don't worry. Lead us in, and we'll definitely keep you safe. It's our first time here; we don't know what other mechanisms might be inside, better to be cautious!"

To put it bluntly, the Nalan Family people simply didn't trust this Peak Master, so they wanted him walking in front to bring everyone in.

The Peak Master could only resign himself and lead them forward. Those behind watched carefully—once they stepped through the junction ahead, they quickly vanished from sight, as if they'd suddenly disappeared, an extremely strange spectacle.

"This is Qimen Dunjia?" Someone nearby couldn't help exclaiming. It had to be said, this Qimen Dunjia was indeed wondrous.

Ye Qing had seen plenty of things like this. What's called Qimen Dunjia is actually a type of Taoist Formation—far too simple for him. He had already delved deeply into Taoist Formations; such Qimen Dunjia couldn't trap him at all.

Following everyone into this Qimen Dunjia, he found the surroundings instantly empty. The people who'd been walking beside Ye Qing were now nowhere in sight; it was as if Ye Qing had stepped into another space altogether. Only calls and shouts echoed around—clearly, the others who'd entered were encountering the same situation as Ye Qing.

Ye Qing looked around, fixed his current position, then followed the calls, stepping two paces to the left, three paces forward, and half a step back. The scenery around him suddenly changed, as if he'd walked into another place altogether—the environment shifted dramatically. And now, not far ahead, a person appeared: it was Ding Lianshun.

Ding Lianshun's brows were furrowed, as if pondering something. Unlike the others' astonishment, he felt little shock upon entering here. After all, over these years he had followed Heavenly Master Lin Xuan Yue, and Lin Xuan Yue had also studied Qimen Dunjia in depth. This wasn't Ding Lianshun's first time inside Qimen Dunjia, so naturally he wouldn't be surprised. However, he himself hadn't researched Formations much; breaking this Qimen Dunjia wasn't easy for him, so right now he was trying to recall the methods for breaking formations Heavenly Master Lin Xuan Yue had taught him before.

Ye Qing's sudden appearance made Ding Lianshun freeze for a moment. He knew very well that inside Qimen Dunjia, even for two people face to face, finding each other wasn't easy. For Ye Qing to appear right where he was definitely wasn't a coincidence.

"You… you understand Qimen Dunjia?" Ding Lianshun asked in surprise.

"Shh." Ye Qing made a silencing gesture at Ding Lianshun, then stepped two paces left and half a step forward, and, remarkably, came right up beside Ding Lianshun. This shocked Ding Lianshun even more, because he already saw that Ye Qing had indeed broken through the Qimen Dunjia.

What he didn't know was that Ye Qing had previously meticulously studied all Taoist Formations in order to practice the Tiangang Beidou Step Technique. The Tiangang Beidou Step Technique left behind by Guiguzi could be called the general outline of Taoist Formations. After Ye Qing learned that step technique, his subsequent study of Taoist Formations became far easier. So now Ye Qing could be considered one of the rare Formation masters in the world.

Coming to Ding Lianshun's side, Ye Qing said in a low voice, "Once we get into the Sword Saint Sect, the moment the Nalan Family starts fighting the other side, turn around and run back immediately—don't linger inside."

"No problem!" A sharp gleam flashed in Ding Lianshun's eyes. He could tell Ye Qing intended to screw the Nalan Family over this time—and that was exactly what he himself wanted to do—so he had no objections at all.

"I've got other things to do. After I'm finished, I'll contact you." Ye Qing gave Ding Lianshun this reminder, then walked off again, shifting over to where Yin Xianzi was. He repeated the instructions to Yin Xianzi, and Yin Xianzi reacted the same way as Ding Lianshun.

After that, Ye Qing separately told the Sha Men people and the Wolf Monk the same plan. Once he'd explained everything, Ye Qing then walked out of the Qimen Dunjia area; the scenery around him changed, and he was back outside at the entrance.

By now, everyone else had already gone into the Qimen Dunjia. There wasn't a single person outside, so no one knew Ye Qing had already exited the Qimen Dunjia zone.