From his vantage point, Ye Anping watched as his Junior Sister quickly grasped the situation. A look of satisfaction crossed his face.

He returned the iron whistle to his storage pouch and muttered to himself with contentment, “Truly remarkable! My Junior Sister is really clever!”

Knowing the location of the main eye, his Junior Sister breaking the formation held no suspense.

However, considering it, the “Seven Star Entrapment Formation” was indeed a formidable formation. He hadn’t expected that Zhuang Hu’s prepared formation would turn out to be this “Seven Star Entrapment Formation.”

Nonetheless, the commotion caused by this formation was far from ordinary. The red light just now was visible to everyone within a hundred li.

Creating such a significant disturbance would surely attract the attention of the elders waiting on the main peak. To put it another way, Zhuang Hu and Second Brother, Third Brother had at most half an hour.

Half an hour later, disciples of the Profound Star Sect would arrive. If he and Zhuang Hu were still here, they would either be executed on the spot or captured and thrown into the celestial prison for interrogation.

With Feng Yudie and the others dashing toward the formation’s main eye, Zhuang Hu should have seen this by now and was probably contemplating retreat.

However, with two of his friends laying dead, Zhuang Hu probably wouldn’t accept such an outcome, and the chance of him and the rest of his friend comforting Feng Yudie group head on is quite high.

Ye Anping rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.

Second Brother and Third Brother wouldn’t stand a chance against Feng Yudie. However, Zhuang Hu was a different story.

He possessed the Seven Star Entrapment Formation and hadn’t made a move before this. He had been preparing the formation the whole time.

Ye Anping couldn’t gauge Zhuang Hu’s true strength. Having the Seven Star Entrapment Formation in his hands made it even more difficult. He didn’t want his Junior Sister to get hurt…

With these thoughts in mind, he stood up, deciding to offer a small favor.

But before that, he needed to accomplish his original goal.

—To provoke the Profound Star Sect’s anger towards the Seven Kills Sect.

After descending from the elevated position, Ye Anping sprinted towards the corpses of Fifth Brother and Fourth Brother.

When he reached Fifth Brother, a wave of blood stench hit him. He felt slightly nauseous, but he managed to suppress it and approached.

Afterward, he put on gloves and a mask from his storage pouch, squatted down, and picked up Fifth Brother’s storage pouch. He examined its contents.

—Over two hundred spiritual stones, some poor-quality elixirs, a few miscellaneous books, and fragmented martial arts manuals…

“Fifth Brother, you really are poor…”

Ye Anping sighed and took half of the spiritual stones.

Next, he retrieved the “Profound Star Sect Formation Map” he had drawn the day before, folded it, and placed it into Fifth Brother’s storage pouch. Then he returned the pouch to its original place.

Once he finished these tasks, Ye Anping stood up, stepped back two paces, placed his palms together, and bowed deeply to Fifth Brother.

“Fifth Brother, Little Sixth will bring you some offerings later. Please rest in peace!!”

After paying his respects, Ye Anping turned his head and looked in the direction of the Seven Star Entrapment Formation.

At this moment, the red light screen above the formation was beginning to dissipate. It seemed that Feng Yudie’s group had successfully broken the main eye.

Ye Anping took out a sword he had bought a few days ago from his storage pouch, weighed it a bit, then summoned his flying sword and flew towards Zhuang Hu’s direction.

… …

As Ye Anping found Zhuang Hu, Second Brother and Third Brother were debating whether to withdraw.

“Big Brother, we can’t let the Fourth and Fifth Brothers die without taking revenge for them first! They were defeated by three Qi Refining juniors.”

“I said retreat! The formation is our last resort. Since they’ve broken it, we’re out of options! In a while, the Profound Star Sect’s people will arrive, and we won’t be able to escape.”

“Not so fast. We can still give it a try. I agree with Second Brother. Those two girls are indeed powerful, but one of them is injured, and the other is just a beginner cultivator.”

At this moment, Zhuang Hu seemed to sense Ye Anping’s approach. He looked at him cautiously, but upon recognizing him, he visibly relaxed.

“Little Sixth, weren’t you supposed to stay in a safe place? Why did you come here?”

“Big Brother, I’m here to give you a reminder. The commotion caused by your formation just now was too significant. The elders of the Profound Star Sect have probably sensed it. The journey from the main peak to here takes at most half an hour on a flying sword. So…”

“Hmm…” Zhuang Hu nodded and glanced at the other two beside him. “Did you hear that? Retreat!!!”

Underneath their masks, the brows of the other two twitched slightly, indicating their discontent with Zhuang Hu’s decision.

However, at this very moment, a soft, feminine voice reached the ears of the four.

“You… you think I would… would let you go?!!”

The voice trembled with uncertainty, but it was surprisingly loud.

Zhuang Hu and the others turned their heads toward the source of the voice and saw Xiao Yunluo walking out from behind a tree, holding a long branch. She frowned and glared at them, resembling an angry cat with ruffled fur. Despite the fierce expression, there was an air of innocence, lacking any intimidation.

Honestly, Ye Anping hadn’t anticipated that Feng Yudie’s group would actually come to confront these individuals.

However, seeing only Xiao Yunluo stepping forward, he immediately understood the situation and hurriedly moved a few steps away from Zhuang Hu and the others, in case he got dragged into it.

Zhuang Hu also seemed to sense something amiss and became more vigilant. However, “Second Brother” and “Third Brother” were completely oblivious to the current situation.

Seeing Xiao Yunluo coming out, they treated her like prey that had willingly walked into their trap. They even appeared to be suppressing laughter. Their attention was entirely drawn to Xiao Yunluo alone.

“We didn’t go looking for you, yet you’re coming to die willingly? Heh…”

Before he could finish his sentence, two figures, one black and one white, suddenly flashed out from behind trees in opposite directions.

By the time “Second Brother” and “Third Brother” realized what was happening, the two blades in the hands of the black and white figures were less than three inches from their necks.

“What?!”

The sounds of the blades piercing flesh nearly overlapped.

Swish—

“Second Brother” and “Third Brother’s” heads flew up, and their bodies collapsed forward, hitting the ground simultaneously.

Feng Yudie spat out a mouthful of blood at “Second Brother’s” side and cursed, “Pah, after what you did to us just now, it’s time to pay back in kind!”

On the other side, as her Senior Brother had instructed, Pei Lengxue made sure to deliver a few extra thrusts into “Third Brother’s” chest after decapitating him. She shouted at Feng Yudie, mimicking her Senior Brother’s mannerisms, “Finish the job! My Senior Brother taught me that!”

“… …”

Feng Yudie blinked, then quickly imitated Pei Lengxue’s actions, stabbing “Second Brother” a few more times.

Afterward, both of them looked at Ye Anping and Zhuang Hu, who were still standing.

“Late Foundation Establishment and a… Qi Refining cultivator?” Feng Yudie furrowed her brows slightly, but after glancing at Pei Lengxue beside her, she raised her sword and loudly conspired, “Senior Sister Pei, you go deal with the bigger one. I’ll take care of the smaller one first.”

“Sure.”

Pei Lengxue gave her a sidelong glance, nodded slightly, and also raised her sword, focusing her gaze on Zhuang Hu.

Then, she took a deep breath and steadied herself.

“Attack!”

In the next moment, Pei Lengxue and Feng Yudie, one going after Zhuang Hu and the other after Ye Anping, charged forward.

“Hiss—”

Seeing Feng Yudie rushing towards him, Ye Anping quickly raised both his hands in a gesture of surrender.

However, upon seeing his gesture, Feng Yudie completely ignored it and instead cursed, “Hmph, trying to surrender? It’s too late!”