Elder Sheng’s flying boat was incredibly fast, and it was the fastest flying boat Li Shiming had ever ridden.
Li Shiming wondered with some malice whether Elder Sheng had built such a fast flying boat in order to escape faster.
As soon as this idea came into his mind, he shot it down.
He was still on Elder Sheng's flying boat. If Elder Sheng knew what he was thinking, he would probably be thrown off the flying boat.
When approaching Qixing Island, Li Shiming felt the tense atmosphere.
The formation of the Seven Star Island was shining brightly. To fully activate the formation, it would consume a huge amount of spiritual energy, which was far beyond the support of spiritual veins alone.
In other words, the formation at this time is consuming spirit stones to be activated.
On the sea opposite the Seven Star Island, four giant flying boats were parked in the air, and ten golden elixir auras were rising into the sky.
The two sides were clearly in a standoff, but neither had any intention of taking action immediately.
The arrival of Elder Sheng did not cause any action from the other side. It seemed that having one more Jindan here was not a big deal.
The flying boat that Li Shiming was riding landed on Tianji Island of the Qixing Island. As soon as he got off the flying boat, he sensed the powerful aura of the Qixing Island.
"One, two, three..." He counted and found that the number of golden elixir auras he could sense alone exceeded twenty, which was two to one compared to the golden elixir on the opposite side.
But considering the level of vigilance on the Seven Star Island, the Jindan of the Seven Sects did not want to leave the Seven Star Island and start a battle with the ten Jindan on the opposite side.
"All the Qi-refining monks from various sects who are ready to go into battle, come here!" an old voice was heard.
"You three should cooperate with each other and take care of each other!" Elder Sheng looked at Li Shiming and the other three and said, then she waved her hand to signal them to go to the gathering place.
Li Shiming flew up on his sword, and He Chuan and Shang Haoquan also took off into the air one after another, flying towards the direction where the old voice came from.
That is Yaoguang Island, which is at the front of Qixing Island, pointing directly across.
When Li Shiming arrived, he saw the old monk Du Yuan, whom he knew well. Next to the old monk Du Yuan was a monk who looked a generation younger than him, and that was Master Du Hai.
At this time, Qi-refining monks had rushed over to every island in the Seven Stars Island, and normally there were two Qi-refining monks from each sect.
Except for the Holy Ice Sect, because Li Shiming replaced Du Bingyan, the Holy Ice Sect only has one Qi Refining cultivator.
Li Shiming truly felt the strength of the seven sects. Except for him, the thirteen Qi-refining cultivators here were all top-notch Qi-refining cultivators who had achieved success in the ninth level of Qi-refining and body refining.
Among this group of Qi-refining cultivators, his innate spiritual roots are definitely the worst. Even other Qi-refining cultivators do not have two spiritual roots, let alone three spiritual roots.
But since they knew that Li Shiming possessed spiritual thoughts, He Chuan and Shang Haoquan both respected him very much.
In the world of immortal cultivation, the strong are respected. A Qi-refining cultivator who possesses spiritual thoughts is definitely a different kind of existence during the Qi-refining stage.
Although He Chuan and Shang Haoquan did not know that Li Shiming also possessed the secret method of spiritual attack, just mastering the spiritual method was enough to take the absolute initiative in the battle.
The thirteen Qi-refining monks nodded to each other. It was obvious that these talented monks from the seven sects were not strangers to each other.
Some Qi-refining monks looked at Li Shiming with curiosity. They didn't know Li Shiming's background, so they naturally had some inquiring thoughts about Li Shiming joining their group of talented monks.
"I'm Du Hai, there are some things I need to tell you before you join the battle!" Master Du Hai glanced at these Qi-refining monks and said solemnly.
He didn't know how many Qi-refining monks could survive after this battle.
But this battle must be fought. This will be the first battle between the two forces and also a test of their strength.
If the Qi-refining monks perform too poorly in this battle, it will give a clear signal to the other side that the monks of the seven sects are very weak.
In fact, the Jindan elders of the seven sects did not have much confidence in their own strength.
Especially the Jindan elder who had fought with the Jindan sword cultivator Yun Xingyi had an even deeper feeling.
Even though they severely injured Yun Xingyi, in fact, Yun Xingyi had directly entered the formation of the Seven Star Island and was dealt a fatal blow by seven Jindan cultivators using the formation.
Even so, Yun Xingyi still used his powerful strength to break through the formation of the Seven Star Island and escaped.
The fighting power displayed by Yun Xingyi was so powerful that even Elder Yin, who was in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, could not compete with him.
If all ten Jindan cultivators on the opposite side were of such strength, then there would be no need to consider the outcome of this battle.
The Jindan cultivators on the opposite side also wanted to test their strength. The strongest Jindan cultivator among them inexplicably lost contact on the Seven Star Island, which forced them to reconsider the hidden combat power of the Seven Sects.
In addition, in such large-scale battles, it is not a fight to the death between top-level fighters right from the start.
Usually it starts from the Qi Refining Stage, and the intensity of the battle is increased step by step. The party with the advantage will try to undermine the confidence of the weaker party as much as possible.
In many cases, you don't need to reach top-level combat power to fight. Relying on the overwhelming advantage in the battle, you can make the weaker party retreat voluntarily, so as to achieve victory without fighting.
You must know that if a war breaks out between Jindan cultivators, both sides will suffer serious injuries.
The cultivators who came from Northern Shu had originally come to escape, and they did not want to lose any more strength.
The same is true for the seven sects. It is not easy to cultivate any Jindan cultivator. Looking at hundreds of years of accumulation, there are only about three Jindan cultivators in each sect.
"This battle is of great importance, you need to give it your all. The Seven Sects will reward outstanding cultivators generously!" Master Du Hai continued in a serious tone.
The importance of the battle can be judged just by sensing so much golden elixir aura around.
None of the Qi-refining cultivators here are fools, and they certainly know the importance of this battle.
"Don't hold back in the battle. The enemies you face are stronger than you can imagine. You are all the strongest cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage of each sect. Use your greatest combat power to kill all the enemies!" Such words coming from the mouth of a kind-looking old monk sounded a little discordant, but all the Qi Refining cultivators looked solemn.
Even the Jindan cultivator said so, so there is no doubt about the enemy's strength.
"Children, come back alive!" Master Du Hai's expression became gentle and he spoke slowly.
He waved his hand, and the light of the formation lifted up fourteen Qi-refining monks and flew towards the sea ahead.
"Fellow Daoist Xie!" Master Du Hai turned and gestured to Elder Xie of the Holy Ice Sect.
Complex spell runes appeared in front of Elder Xie. It took him five full breaths to prepare the spell.
With Elder Jindan's strength, a spell that takes five breaths to prepare is extremely powerful.
Li Shiming felt a chill, and then he discovered that the sea surface under the light of the formation was solidifying.
Li Shiming could hardly believe his eyes. The sea surface below, at least an area with a radius of three thousand meters, was freezing.
On the four giant flying boats on the opposite side, fourteen Qi-refining monks were also sent over here.
At the same time, above the frozen sea surface, earth spiritual power was gathering madly.
Elder Xie froze the sea surface, and the Jindan cultivators from Northern Shu actually condensed a thick layer of mud on the ice.
Compared to Elder Jie who used sea water to condense ice, the difficulty for the Northern Shu Jindan cultivators was greater.
Elder Xie's face was gloomy, he felt that he had failed.
Of course, both sides were attacking each other's minds. No matter whether it was Elder Jie's magic or the magic from Beishu, it was difficult to use them in actual combat.
Who will give you a quiet space and time to slowly prepare your spell?
The preparation of a spell cannot be disturbed. Even a single attack can interrupt the spell's preparation and cause the caster to suffer backlash.
Therefore, unless it is an instantaneous spell, most monks use talismans to fight in battle instead of casting spells directly.
Li Shiming felt that the light of the formation under his feet was weakening, and the energy supporting the Qi-refining cultivators from Beishu on the other side was also weakening.
He understood that once the energies of both sides disappeared and the Qi-refining monks of both sides fell onto the temporary ground below, the battle would begin.
He seized the time and began to explore the newly built temporary land below with his eyes and spiritual thoughts.
The Jindan cultivators on both sides intentionally created a more chaotic spiritual force field, making it almost impossible for the Qi Refining cultivators to set up formations in this area.
This is just almost. For the vast majority of Qi-refining cultivators and talented cultivators here, formations are not their main subject, not even a secondary subject.
At most, he took a formation plate and used spirit stones to activate it. Not to mention the power of such a formation, it was even questionable whether the formation plate could be activated in the environment below.
Indeed, the array plate takes many situations into consideration and is set up with automatic adjustment so that the array can be arranged by itself.
But this is based on a prerequisite, that is, the environment for setting up the formation will not be too complicated.
The temporary ground below is extremely complex. This is an environment intentionally arranged by the Jindan cultivator in order to prevent the other party from using powerful formations.
But there is a special cultivator among them, that is Li Shiming, he is a hidden high-level formation master.
In any force, it is impossible to allow high-level formation masters to participate in front-line battles, because high-level formation masters are important auxiliary professions and have a more important role than combat.
When Li Shiming used his spiritual thoughts, the Jindan cultivators on both sides discovered his spiritual thoughts.
As for how many Qi-refining cultivators have spiritual thoughts, it is difficult to say at present, because there is no Qi-refining cultivator who can actively use spiritual thoughts like him.
The light of the formation under his feet disappeared, and he and the thirteen Qi-refining monks fell down at the same time.
The fourteen Qi Refining Monks on the opposite side also fell at the same time. All of them did not fly. In this top-level Qi Refining battle, only by standing on the ground can one have the greatest advantage.
The abilities of cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage are limited, both in terms of spirit and spiritual power. If they fight in the air, although they are more flexible, they need to use part of their spirit and spiritual power to control flying magic tools.
This makes it impossible for Qi Refining monks to fight with all their strength. Fighting with one combat weapon is a completely different concept from fighting with two combat weapons, or adding an extra defensive weapon to oneself.
As Li Shiming fell, he slapped the storage bag on his waist, and thirty-six formation flags appeared in his hand.
Then he continued to throw the flags in his hand downwards, and one by one the flags fell on the ground below.
His actions startled all the Qi Refining cultivators on both sides. They did not expect Li Shiming's actions to be so fast.
In particular, those cultivators who had learned the art of formation were even more surprised by Li Shiming's actions.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, how good is his formation-setting skills? Can he really set up a formation on the battlefield?" Elder Sheng asked Elder Liu of the Shuiyun Sect.
Elder Liu of Shuiyun Sect has studied formations, and his level is equivalent to that of a high-level formation master. He is a rare Jindan elder who is proficient in the art of formations.
"Elder Sheng, the Tianhai Sect is really wasting talent by allowing such a genius in formation to enter the battlefield. I think even if this boy's formation level is not high-level, it is not much different. His formation-setting skills are extraordinary!" Elder Liu shook his head and sighed.
Elder Sheng's face tightened. She had not expected Li Shiming's level of formation skills to be so high.
If we had known earlier that Li Shiming's level of formation skills was such, we would never have allowed Li Shiming to participate in this battle. But now it is too late and we can only hope that Li Shiming survives the battle.
At this moment, a figure flew over from afar, and its terrifying aura was sensed by the Jindan of both sides.
"It's Brother Yin who's here!" a joyful voice shouted.
Elder Yin had been away for a while, but finally returned in time, adding an important fighting force to the Seven Sects.
Elder Yin flashed to the Seven Star Island. He looked forward and spotted Li Shiming at a glance.
"Why did Li Shiming participate in this competition?" he asked in a deep voice.
His words were full of anger. Regardless of whether he looked at Li Shiming or not, he acknowledged the relationship between Li Shiming and him in public.
In other words, he was behind Li Shiming, but during the time he was away, Li Shiming was actually arranged to participate in such a competition.
"Fellow Daoist Yin, Li Shiming's fighting power is not weak. He killed Du Bingyan and his five fellow disciples in a row. Now that Du Bingyan is dead, there will be no problem for Li Shiming to take his place!" Elder Xie of the Holy Ice Sect said calmly.
Although it was Elder Baili who made an effort and used some old relationships to get several sects to put some pressure on the Tianhai Sect.
Since Elder Yin was not in the sect and the time for the fight between the two sides was tight, in order not to affect the overall situation, Elder Sheng and Elder Gu both made concessions and allowed Li Shiming to participate in the battle.
In order to make Li Shiming safer, the sect provided Li Shiming with a lot of conveniences.
Five pieces of second-grade five-element formation materials and the secret method of the foundation-building period, 'Hundred Turns of Mind Spirit Method', were all provided by the sect.
"If anything happens to Li Shiming, I will let that old fellow Baili be buried with him!" Elder Yin did not blame his fellow elders, but said with an extremely displeased look.
His words were serious, tantamount to a public declaration. Given his status, he would definitely do what he said.
At this time, Elder Xie was silent. He did not expect that Elder Yin would attach so much importance to Li Shiming, but he was also helpless. Elder Baili did not discuss his actions with the sect at all. It was completely a personal act.
At a time when they needed to work together to fight against external forces, Elder Baili's actions caused some rifts among the seven sects.