Trapped inside the mountain, Mu Liu and Mu Qingyang revealed looks of joy on their faces when they sensed the approach of several thousand Spirits.

“See, didn’t I say that Zhou Yuan won’t be deceived by Lu Xiao?” Mu Liu grinned.

Mu Qingyang breathed a sigh of relief, but her face remained strained as she said, “Don’t be so happy. Although he has led the Wind Pavilion to aid us, the situation has only become a little better. Overall, the Fire Pavilion and the Mountain Pavilion still have an overwhelming advantage.”

Mu Liu lightly nodded in agreement. If the Fire Pavilion got into battle formation, their superior power would leave the Wind Pavilion with nothing to exploit. In fact, it was very likely that the Fire Pavilion would wipe them out.

Mu Qingyan sighed. “The Wind Pavilion is far weaker than the Fire Pavilion. Although I do not know what kind of tactics and trump cards Zhou Yuan has prepared, given my understanding of Lu Xiao, he will definitely be prepared.”

She rolled her eyes at Mu Liu. “I told you not to get involved in this affair. You’ve now put our Forest Pavilion in danger for no reason.”

Mu Liu displayed a bitter expression. “What’s the point of saying such things now? Since Zhou Yuan dared to come, I believe he will have something up his sleeves. It will not be so easy for the Lu Xiao and the Fire Pavilion to deal with him.”

“I also hope so.” Mu Qingyan frowned. She was not really blaming Mu Liu but venting a little for being unexpectedly besieged by the Fire and Mountain Pavilions for half a day.

More importantly, she did not feel optimistic at all about the current situation.

Although the Forest Pavilion had managed to endure the Fire Pavilion’s and the Mountain Pavilion’s combined onslaught through the Thousand Spirit Cloud Eddy boundary, they had lost over two thousand members in the process. In contrast, the Fire and Mountain Pavilions had barely sustained any losses.

With such a disparity in power, what could Zhou Yuan and the Wind Pavilion possibly achieve?

Mu Qingyan pursed her lips and said, “If the Fire Pavilion and the Mountain Pavilion try to gang up on the Wind Pavilion, I will do my best to obstruct as many of them as possible. But this is our limit. The outcome will still hinge upon Zhou Yuan.”

“It’s enough.” Mu Liu nodded with a smile.

In the sky outside the mountain, Lu Xiao stared at the arriving Spirit army with a dark expression. Moments later, his expression slowly turned calm as he said, “It seems that Wang Chen has been eliminated.”

The Wind Pavilion had already rushed over and yet there was no news from Wang Chen’s group. The latter had clearly been kicked out from the Heaven Flame Cauldron, and Zhou Yuan had undoubtedly seen through their ploy.

“He truly is an unremovable ghost.” Han Yuan frowned.

Lu Xiao’s expression was composed as he said, “Han Yuan, your Mountain Pavilion will continue to siege the Forest Pavilion. Leave the Wind Pavilion to my Fire Pavilion.”

Grinning, Han Yuan nodded. “Looks like things have returned to the starting point. But it doesn’t matter, the outcome will always be the same.”

Han Yuan clearly understood how powerful the Fire Pavilion was. Even the Mountain Pavilion was not their match, let alone the last place Wind Pavilion.

Lu Xiao looked towards Zhu Lian. “We’ll be relying on you for the battle with the Wind Pavilion.”

Zhu Lian was the only Transformative stage Spirit of the Fire Pavilion and the only one capable of commanding their Spirits. This was something even Lu Xiao was incapable of doing. As such, Zhu Lian was much more useful than him in the Heaven Flame Ritual.

An excited look emerged on Lu Xiao’s face as he confidently nodded. “Don’t worry pavilion master. Our Fire Pavilion is amply prepared, and I refuse to believe that we cannot subdue the Wind Pavilion!”

Soon after, his gaze swept across the area. Spirit power rippled as a voice was transmitted to every Fire Pavilion member, “Fire Pavilion members, hear my command. We will engage the Wind Pavilion and destroy them!”

In the next instant, Lu Xiao’s and Zhu Lian’s Spirits shot forward, leading the charge as over ten thousand Spirits closely followed behind them.

Two giant armies met amidst the many mountains, each side occupying a mountain as they faced each other. Boundless Spirit power unfurled across the land, accompanied by howling wind and rumbling thunder.

Zhou Yuan showed no hesitation, his Spirit power immediately reaching out to link up to several thousand Spirits at once, directing their Spirit power to set up numerous layers of defences.

On the Wind Pavilion side, wave after wave of Spirit power whizzed forth, forming shell after shell. Zhou Yuan set up the defensive boundary in a short span of time.

Zhu Lian’s eyes narrowed slightly. From how Zhou Yuan had so swiftly established a defensive boundary, his Spirit cultivation was definitely quite high. After all, in a Spirit clash like this, Transformative stage Spirits like them functioned as the links between the rest of the Spirits to effectively deploy Spirit power.

“Pretty smart, but all they can do is defend.” However, Zhu Lian merely released an icy chuckle in response. The fact that Zhou Yuan had chosen to defend like a turtle meant that he likewise understood that the Fire Pavilion was too powerful, and he did not dare to face them head-on.

This was also the first time he had seen the always aggressive Zhou Yuan take on a defensive posture, and it felt quite great indeed.

“But do you really think it will be easy to form a defensive array under my eyes?”

Zhu Lian icily snorted. If it was a contest of Genesis Qi, he would definitely not be Zhou Yuan’s match, but the Heaven Flame Ritual was a clash between Spirits. Moreover, it was not a one-on-one fight but pavilion versus pavilion. With the Fire Pavilion’s overwhelming advantage, he naturally did not fear Zhou Yuan.

Amidst the Fire Pavilion army, Zhu Lian’s Spirit suddenly rippled.

Rumble!

Under Zhu Lian’s direction, boundless sea-like Spirit power soared into the sky, transforming into ten thousand giant waves that ruthlessly crashed downwards towards the Wind Pavilion with terrifying momentum.

The giant Spirit waves descended one after another, creating an astonishingly oppressive aura.

In the face of such power, even a Transformative Spirit would be instantly shattered upon contact.

Rumble!

The giant Spirit waves slammed into the Wind Pavilion’s turtle shell boundary with unmatched ferocity. The earth trembled as mountains shivered. Shell after shell constructed from Spirit power crumbled one after another. Although the Spirit shells were rapidly being smashed to pieces, new Spirit shells were swiftly constructed to replace them.

Zhu Lian frowned slightly, and he soon began to strengthen the attacks. Wave after wave of boundless Spirit power surrounded the Wind Pavilion’s mountain and viciously smashed downwards.

Under Zhu Lian’s barbaric offensive, the turtle shell boundary trembled violently. In the end, it shattered with a loud boom, multiple shells instantly disappearing into nothingness.

Zhu Lian was overjoyed and quickly proceeded to direct Spirit power into a charge towards the now exposed Wind Pavilion.

But before he could move, another layer of Spirit light appeared from under the shattered boundary as another boundary formed.

This time, Zhu Lian took a closer look. There was clearly another boundary under the newly formed boundary, and both of them were defensive boundaries!

“What the hell!”

Zhu Lian’s expression changed as he cursed. Was Zhou Yuan trying to become a tortoise? Did he plan to rely on his tortoise shells to engage in a battle of attrition with the Fire Pavilion?

Lu Xiao frowned and asked, “Is he trying to exhaust our Fire Pavilion’s Spirit power?

“Have you noticed? The amount of Spirit power we consumed to destroy a layer of their defense is far more than how much Zhou Yuan used to build one.”

Zhu Lian’s face burned. Of course he knew why. It meant that Zhou Yuan was extremely proficient. He could perfectly mobilize the Wind Pavilion’s Spirit power to create these solid defensive layers. In contrast, Zhu Lian required a bigger investment in order to break Zhou Yuan’s defences, similar to how the attacking force would suffer more losses when attacking a city.

Zhou Yuan clearly intended to shave away the Fire Pavilion’s advantage through this method.

However, Lu Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. If this was all Zhou Yuan had, Zhou Yuan was underestimating their Fire Pavilion far too much.

“Zhu Lian, no need to hold back any longer. It’s about time we use our trump cards.”

Zhu Lian nodded. A ruthless look flashed across his eyes as he gazed at the seemingly indestructible fortress.

“Fine then, allow me to tear their shell to pieces!

“Without your shell, a mere few thousand Spirits are nothing to be feared!

“I’m interested to see just how Zhou Yuan will save them from this crisis!”