Chapter 57: Brokenness

Just as Li Zhirui and the others were falling into despair, a furious roar, like a sudden clap of thunder, erupted in everyone's ears: "How dare you! You dare attack the members of my Li Clan!"

"Uncle Ren is back!" Li Zhirui looked up in pleasant surprise, but unfortunately, his view was blocked by the rogue cultivators, making it impossible to see Li Shiren's situation.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator?!"

"Run!"

Without knowing who started it, the rogue cultivators who had been attacking frantically instantly stopped and fled into the distance without looking back.

"Uncle Ren, catch that cultivator with the pearl on his head! There is something strange about him!" Li Zhirui amplified his voice with spiritual power so that Li Shiren could hear him.

"Damn it!" The rogue cultivator was hiding in the crowd, and because of the chaos, he couldn't run very far. Furthermore, the pearl on his head was extremely conspicuous; by the time he tried to retract it, he had already been locked onto by Li Shiren's divine sense.

After Li Zhirui finished speaking, the last of his willpower dissipated, and he collapsed directly onto the ground, his face terrifyingly pale.

"Zhirui, are you alright?"

Li Zhirui managed to force his mouth open and said, "I'm fine, I just need to rest for a moment."

Hearing this, Li Shijiang did not leave but stayed by Li Zhirui's side. He took the formation disk from his hands, and upon inspection, realized the situation with the Boulder Formation was dire.

If Li Shiren had not returned in time, they would all have become corpses within half a quarter of an hour. Despite the gravity of the situation, Li Zhirui had not spoken up to avoid affecting the others, choosing to endure it alone.

"Sigh!" Li Shijiang sighed silently and continued to guard Li Zhirui to prevent him from being disturbed.

Soon, Li Shiren walked in, radiating a murderous aura. He was clutching the pearl-bearing cultivator whose dantian had been sealed, while the several clansmen behind him were in a disheveled and wretched state, though fortunately, no one was injured.

It was thanks to Li Shiren's quick reaction; he had rushed over the moment the chaos broke out to protect the clansmen of the Yunshang Building.

"What happened to Zhirui?" Li Shiren asked immediately upon seeing the weakened Li Zhirui.

"He's fine, he just exhausted his spiritual power and needs to rest," Li Shijiang said. "The Boulder Formation is about to be broken. You should hurry and set up another formation. If more cultivators come, the Boulder Formation won't be able to stop them."

In truth, the large number of corpses outside would be enough to stop many rogue cultivators, but it was better to be safe.

Li Shiren nodded. As a formation master, he did not lack materials, and he quickly set up a new defensive formation.

"What is the situation outside?" Li Shijiang asked uneasily. "Why haven't the Yuanming Sect's stationed cultivators taken action?"

Aside from activating the market's grand formation at the beginning, the stationed cultivators had made no other move, which was deeply unsettling.

"The situation outside..." Li Shiren frowned deeply, saying with a grim, bitter smile, "is dozens of times worse than it is here!"

Because the Li family had a Foundation Establishment cultivator stationed there year-round, and because Li Zhirui happened to be in the courtyard tonight, they knew immediately when the chaos broke out. Although their storefronts were destroyed, fortunately, the people were unharmed.

However, except for the shops guarded by Foundation Establishment cultivators, not a single other shop remained intact. Those rogue cultivators didn't care how much background someone had; they swarmed in, using their numbers to break through formations, frantically looting spiritual items, and killing people in the process.

Taking the street where the grocery store was located as an example—excluding the Li family members—the number of surviving cultivators was likely fewer than ten fingers!

"As for why the stationed cultivators haven't acted, I don't know either." Li Shiren was leading several clansmen; how would he dare detour to check on the Yuanming Sect's headquarters at a time like this?

"What should we do with this man?"

Li Shiren glanced at the captured cultivator and said, "We'll decide after Zhirui wakes up."

"You all should rest first. Shi Hua and I will take the watch," Li Shiren said, seeing the poor complexion of the other clansmen, and urged them to go rest.

...

In the center of the Yunqing Market, where the Yuanming Sect cultivators were stationed.

"Who are you?! How dare you attack the Yunqing Market! Are you not afraid that the Yuanming Sect will issue a manhunt against you!" Sun Dahai roared, his voice trembling with feigned bravado.

Standing before Sun Dahai were four Foundation Establishment cultivators: two at the late stage and two at the middle stage.

Although Sun Dahai was also at the late stage, he was alone. Even with a formation at his disposal, he likely had no way to survive.

"You don't need to know who we are. You only need to remember that we are the ones who will kill you!" An old voice rang out, followed immediately by four streaks of spiritual light carrying intense killing intent.

Sun Dahai's internal alarms blared. He hurriedly manipulated the formation to drop dozens of massive firestones to offset the incoming attacks.

"The Chaotic Rock Fire-Burning Formation?" The person let out a disdainful chuckle. "Do you think having a formation to protect you makes you untouchable?"

"Let me think, where is the formation's eye located..." a feminine, sweet voice said. "If I remember correctly, it should be in the basement of the building behind you, right?"

Sun Dahai snapped his head toward the female cultivator, his expression filled with horror. "How could you possibly know the location of the formation eye?"

Although an attack on the market had never occurred in Yunping Prefecture, to be safe, the Yuanming Sect changed the location of the formation eye every few years, and within the sect, fewer than five people knew its location!

"Did someone from the sect leak the secret to you?" Sun Dahai immediately dismissed this possibility; everyone who knew was a high-level official, and the destruction of the market offered them no benefit whatsoever.

"You are a formation master, and you've been hiding in the market for a long time to find the formation eye?" Sun Dahai asked in disbelief. "How did you get in?"

A precious mirror hung at the market's entrance. It had no other function than to see through a cultivator's true cultivation level and record their aura. Even Golden Core cultivators found it difficult to bypass; how could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like her get in?!

"You ask too many questions." The old man interrupted Sun Dahai impatiently and said to the three beside him, "Stop wasting time. Finish him quickly!"

The four mysterious cultivators immediately turned serious. Three of them engaged Sun Dahai, while the female cultivator went to destroy the formation eye.

A moment later, the market's formation was completely shattered. Without the protection of the formation, Sun Dahai did not last long before dying with resentment.

"Don't be too greedy. Collect the spirit stones and spiritual items from the Yuanming Sect's warehouse and leave!" the old man said sternly. "Otherwise, once Jiang Tianming arrives, none of us will escape!"

The Yuanming Sect's mountain gate was not far from the market. If a Golden Core cultivator traveled at full speed, they would arrive in less than fifteen minutes.

The moment Sun Dahai died, the Yuanming Sect would inevitably know something was wrong with the Yunqing Market.

It wasn't that they didn't want to keep Sun Dahai alive to delay the sect's discovery; it was that Sun Dahai had seen through their intentions and attacked frantically as if he had no regard for his life. If they had held back, someone might have been injured by him.

In fact, even after being heavily wounded, Sun Dahai had attempted to self-detonate to take several of them with him, forcing the four to kill him.