Chapter 185: Escalation
The Sword Sect’s flesh and skin tore open bit by bit, and beneath the aged face, a middle-aged man with all white hair and a cold expression drilled out.
Black malevolent energy swirled around his entire body, constantly intertwining with the earth vein energy of Sword Hanging Peak.
It was like a blot of ink falling on white paper, instantly dyeing the entire Sword Hanging Peak spiritual vein black and red.
Soaring malevolent energy surged up, immediately pouring into that man’s body.
“Dharma Aspect!”
Qian Mulan was greatly shocked: “Yao Lixuan?! How could it be you? You’re actually a Dharma Aspect Realm True Person?”
One of the five true disciples of the Sacred Weapon Path, stuck at the fourth realm of Dan Qiao Realm, in All Stars Heaven for a full hundred years, everyone thought his lifespan had already been exhausted, yet he appeared here, and with the strength of a Dharma Aspect Realm True Person.
Rolling malevolent energy dyed half the sky red, surging like shocking waves covering the sky and earth.
Yu Xuanfeng, Qian Mulan, Lei Yuxi, and the others immediately struck upon seeing this, with radiant light flowing from their hands, bombarding toward the malevolent energy.
However, the malevolent energy surged, transforming into ferocious vicious beasts that swallowed all these attacks in one gulp.
The few people’s faces darkened, yet they didn’t dare to directly control their true intent to advance, fearing it would be tainted, causing their spirit to wither for a hundred years.
“Hahaha, none of you dare to go up, then I’ll do it—Heavenly Fiend Extreme Sword!”
Yao Lixuan reached out remotely, and the malevolent energy extended for a hundred li, transforming into a illusory sword that swung toward the crowd.
This strike made heaven and earth change color.
It was as if the entire sky had been split in half by this sword.
Su Yan only felt as if a great mountain was pressing down on him, the terrifying aura nearly tearing him apart.
His body lagged, his spirit tensed, as if the next moment he would be destroyed.
The Insect Bone Armor Body emerged from beneath him, hidden in the inner armor, with azure gold scale patterns and Heavenly Python Dharma Body appearing simultaneously, which greatly reduced the pressure on him.
“Such methods, indeed some Dharma Aspect prowess.”
Gu Sanqian stepped forward, his toes landing and faintly rippling space waves.
A silver toad with moon-like eyes and a body entirely silver-white shook itself up.
It opened its big mouth, inflating like a balloon, its body rapidly swelling, and with a shake, it immediately turned into a giant beast hundreds of meters tall.
Dharma Aspect descending to the world, heaven and earth changed color.
The malevolent energy sword strike from the sky was swallowed into the belly by the Yin Soul Silver Toad in one massive gulp.
A roar like thunder came, and this Yin Soul Silver Toad was completely unharmed.
Yao Lixuan’s face turned serious, and Gu Sanqian’s figure moved, arriving before him.
“This old man also has a palm strike.”
Terrifying true essence surged, and the Yin Soul Silver Toad split off a strand of true intent power, merging into his left arm.
One palm struck out, enveloping most of Sword Hanging Peak, pressing down like it would destroy heaven and earth.
Yao Lixuan used his hand as a sword, slashing out a dense sword net to break this attack.
He was ultimately a newly advanced Dharma Aspect Realm True Person, with no lack of skill; every sword light could level a mountain peak.
The sword light fell on this giant palm, forcibly splitting open a crevice a zhang deep.
Gu Sanqian coldly snorted, and the palm shadow immediately flowed with light, its aura even stronger by three parts.
Yao Lixuan’s face grew increasingly grim; the more he attacked, the more harshly he was suppressed by this old monster Gu Sanqian.
‘This is what you asked for.’
A fierce light flashed in his eyes, and he executed several hand seals, immediately causing Sword Hanging Peak to rumble and shake, the mountain body collapsing, the mountain path cracking, countless strands of malevolent energy gathering in the center—within the cracked Sword Hanging Peak, a blood-red ancient sword abruptly appeared.
Piles of white bones stacked like mountains, countless infant and woman corpses intertwined into a tower.
Soaring malevolent energy carried countless shrill screaming souls, their ferocious faces vaguely showing their former appearances.
“Whoosh”
The Myriad Bones Sword flew into Yao Lixuan’s hand, his aura instantly exploding, nine white bone nether swords manifesting behind him, his gaze locked tightly on Gu Sanqian.
“Sword Falls to Nine Netherealm!”
Yao Lixuan launched an attack on Gu Sanqian, the moves dense, and with the Myriad Bones Sword wrapped in the power of vengeful souls and murderous aura, it temporarily suppressed the Yin Soul Silver Toad True Intent.
“Roar”
A terrifying roar came, and one after another Yaksha monsters crawled out from the cavern, no fewer than ten thousand.
Several four-armed double-headed ones clad in green armor with jagged bone spurs—Yaksha Kings—stood out; as soon as they appeared, they charged straight toward Hundred Peaks Barrier, their slaughtering intent completely undisguised.
On the Sword Hanging Peak battlefield, a solitary figure leaning on a pitch-black old wooden crutch walked up the mountain path.
Her figure was hunched, her head adorned with silver jewelry and flower hairpins, her body tinkling softly with the silver ornaments on her blue cloth clothes clinking together.
Lan Caifeng looked up, revealing a smile, and with a wave of her hand, her true intent manifested, turning into golden flowing light; the Heart-Devouring Golden Silkworm immediately flew out straight toward Gu Sanqian.
This golden silkworm was only thumb-sized, but its attack speed was incredibly fast, its power incredibly strong, creating countless ripple-like waves along the way.
Gu Sanqian’s face sank slightly, and he snorted coldly: “Hundred Caves Witch Sect, what scheming!”
His gaze swept out, and suddenly a second true intent condensed beside him, releasing a small and exquisite yet terrifyingly aura-ed Six-Winged True Silkworm.
As soon as the Six-Winged True Silkworm true intent appeared, it immediately tangled in combat with that Heart-Devouring Golden Silkworm.
Lan Caifeng’s wrinkled face furrowed slightly, and her hoarse voice snorted: “Old Ghost, our sect’s golden silkworm divine skill had some of its prowess stolen by you, yet you’ve refined something noteworthy.”
She lunged forward, tattoos suddenly swimming across her body, two black and white spirit snakes emerging from her waist, charging straight at Gu Sanqian.
“Playing with contracted beasts, you’re still lacking.”
Gu Sanqian’s eyes were full of ferocity; he blocked Yao Lixuan on the left, freeing a hand to claw out with a massive grasp, turning into a pitch-black monstrous hand.
Lan Caifeng’s eyes flashed with divine light, and daggers arrived one after another.
“Clang”
Gu Sanqian’s black hand grabbed out, completely controlling that spirit tool in his grasp.
“Your physical body has actually reached such a level.”
Lan Caifeng was shocked inwardly, but her subordinate’s actions didn’t relax in the slightest.
With the Azure Underworld Witch Technique unleashed, a ghostly face charged straight at Gu Sanqian.
Gu Sanqian faced it fearlessly, charging forward to steadily hold the situation against two, though a close look revealed faint veins bulging on his forehead—it wasn’t as effortless as it seemed.
“Go”
Sword Hanging Peak teetered on the verge of collapse, its spiritual vein secretly drained, using living souls and flesh and blood as sacrifices to nurture such terrifying malevolent energy; this place would likely be hard to recover afterward.
Long Qiushui grabbed Su Yan, her figure moving and already flying a thousand meters away.
The other Dan Qiao Realm True Persons followed suit, not daring to linger on Sword Hanging Peak.
It had only just begun, and Sword Hanging Peak was already falling apart; if it continued, even the fallout from a few moves might claim the lives of these Dan Qiao Realm Martial Artists.
The crowd fled at top speed, all heading toward Hundred Peaks Barrier.
Beast roars rang out; those Yaksha monsters discovered their tracks and directly launched attacks.
Long Qiushui’s figure didn’t pause in the slightest, waving her hand to send the Frost Moon Ring flying out, instantly beheading over a hundred Yaksha monsters.
Su Yan followed closely, his eyes sharpening: “These Yaksha monsters are stronger than those at the Ma Family.”
“The Ma Family’s were just for show.” Long Qiushui’s voice was ice-cold: “Kidnapping infants, slaughtering lives—all covered up by this layer’s robbers and demon persons—yet the real crux is Sword Hanging Peak.”
Long Qiushui had also grown suspicious that day when Su Yan discovered malevolent energy on Sword Hanging Peak, investigating for several days and vaguely noticing something wrong.
But time was too short, with no way to investigate deeply, so she resorted to an outside move, inviting her master, this Dharma Aspect Realm True Person, to sit in command.
If all went smoothly, everything would be fine.
If it turned out like now, at least he could lend a hand to salvage the situation.
“Boom”
The massive sound of attacks came again, like mountains collapsing and earth cracking.
Sword Hanging Peak was about to collapse.
This rumbling vibration lasted a long time; the crowd immediately realized that only the collapse of Sword Hanging Peak could cause such a commotion.
Worry appeared in Long Qiushui’s eyes; even though her master’s strength was formidable, the opponents were two Dharma Aspect Realm True Persons.
She knew the dangers involved and that staying to help wouldn’t make a difference.
Hold Hundred Peaks Barrier, protect Feng City well, and use the token as a medium to channel power to aid her master when the time came.
“Ah”
At that moment, a scream came from the Beast King Sect crowd.
A Hundred Tiger Peak Dan Qiao Realm True Person fell to the ground; that icy Yaksha King looked toward Su Yan and Long Qiushui, then turned away, tearing apart the True Persons before it one by one.
Including the disciples he had brought, all were slain by the suddenly charging Yaksha King.
No matter how fast or slow they hurried, the pursuit was relentless.
Long Qiushui and Yuan Hong returned to Cold Shadow Peak, the two without more disciples, now holding some advantage and shaking off those monsters.
However, upon arriving outside Feng City, the scene before them shocked the two women immensely.
Tens of thousands of feral beasts launched a sudden assault, along with Yaksha monsters hidden near Cold Shadow Peak, a rolling beast tide like a heavenly disaster.
One Yaksha King and one third-order calamity beast-level feral beast stood at the forefront of the pack, their attacks continuously bombarding Feng City’s barrier.
Earth veins interconnected, powers mutually supporting; the power they could unleash was unimaginable.
Hao Yi commanded the formation; even these two third-order calamity beasts couldn’t take Feng City, showing how difficult it was.
“Yuan Hong, you and I will deal with those two leaders.”
In matters of battle, Long Qiushui wasted no words; she released the Mysterious Frost Sky Centipede from the beast taming bag, which directly transformed into a hundred-meter body, crushing into the horde of Yaksha monsters and feral beasts.
One breath of cold air, freezing a hundred meters and slaying no fewer than two or three hundred Yaksha monsters.
“Roar”
The Yaksha King had already spotted Long Qiushui and flew at her, its claws covered in eerie poisonous creatures.
Long Qiushui met it head-on, the Frost Moon Ring attacking nonstop, with no intention of dodging.
Yuan Hong tangled with that third-order calamity beast, directly releasing the Floating Mountain Ape for a massive rampage.
Both sides were fierce, but more so mutually restraining; more Yaksha monsters and feral beasts were assaulting Feng City.
Long Qiushui was preparing to use the formation to suppress when she suddenly noticed Su Yan hadn’t retreated into Feng City; the Six-Winged Blood Centipede carried him to the edge of the city wall.
“Junior Brother Su, get down quickly; if you’re targeted, you won’t have peace…”
Before Hao Yi finished speaking, an even more ferocious and ferocious monster appeared behind Su Yan.
Though Hao Yi himself was a contracted beast expert, before this exotic insect, he couldn’t help revealing a shocked expression—cultivated far beyond ordinary Beast King Sect disciples.
“Kill!”
Su Yan ignored Hao Yi’s warning and directly unleashed the Fiend Bees at full power.
A vast swarm of Fiend Bees surged into the sky, with the Heavenly Fiend Mother Locust flying into the battlefield, biting off a second-order Yaksha monster’s head in one bite.
The Fiend Bees charged into the dense beast horde, with squelching sounds as sharp appendages and mouthparts tore open the feral beasts’ skin.
Strands of malevolent energy drilled into their flesh and blood like insects.
Flesh and blood decayed, spirit rotted; in mere moments, a feral beast could be slain.
A swarm like red mist swept the battlefield in terror.
Hao Yi had never seen such a scene; his heart was shocked beyond measure.
Su Yan still felt it wasn’t enough and even released the Six-Winged Blood Centipede into the horde.
Its ferocity awakened by the beast roars’ threat, the Six-Winged Blood Centipede spewed torrential poisonous creatures from its mouth, shuttling across the battlefield.
Appendages like spears pierced unknown feral beasts, mouthparts like guillotines directly bisecting them at the waist…
Just the Six-Winged Blood Centipede alone killed over a dozen feral beasts in a short time.
“Brothers, follow Junior Brother Su and fight!”
The Heavenly Fiend Mother Locust’s Fiend Bees slew the invaders to harvest malevolent energy, with masses of Fiend Bees wiping out many Yaksha monsters.
This greatly boosted the defending disciples’ spirits, and for a time, they unleashed all their means, the most common being a volley of ten thousand arrows.
Dense arrow rain fell, piercing unknown Yaksha monsters and feral beasts.
“Squelch”
At that moment, Long Qiushui and Mysterious Frost Sky Centipede coordinated, suddenly assaulting with the Frost Moon Ring and severing that third-order Yaksha King’s head.
Yuan Hong was no less unwilling, wielding a Mysterious Earth Sword, his figure and true intent nearly one, slashing out a hundred-zhang yellow sword light.
Before his opponent could react, its body was split in half.
“Su Yan, hold this position.”
Long Qiushui hastily instructed, then rode the Mysterious Frost Sky Centipede to central Feng City, stepping into the previously forbidden-to-damage grand formation building.
The massive stone tablet was right before her, its surface smooth, missing only one notch.
Long Qiushui fitted the notch into the stone tablet, and instantly the entire Cold Shadow Peak shook.
Spiritual energy surged upward in waves, accumulated in Cold Shadow Peak’s earth vein, now awakened all at once.
Long Qiushui didn’t hesitate, channeling all the gathered spiritual energy directly to Gu Sanqian’s location.
On the battlefield, Gu Sanqian had stripped off his upper clothes, revealing an extremely robust and terrifying physique.
His body was dark gold throughout, with his five true intents all appearing behind him, constantly clashing with Lan Caifeng and Yao Lixuan.
The three unleashed all their means, with Gu Sanqian holding a slight edge in cultivation.
Yao Lixuan, newly obtaining the Myriad Bones Sword, found it perfectly compatible with his true intent; the more he fought, the more proficient he became, vaguely able to contend with Gu Sanqian.
Lan Caifeng’s strikes were even more ruthless, the Heart-Devouring Golden Silkworm targeting Gu Sanqian’s vitals.
If such a poisonous creature bit him, even Gu Sanqian’s golden body might be broken.
Gu Sanqian was ultimately a veteran expert; with five true intents appearing and linking up, they suppressed everything, though the rolling consumption of true essence was like a dam bursting.
At the critical moment of their fierce clash, spiritual energy instantly turned to flowing light surging into his body.
In an instant, Gu Sanqian’s aura exploded, his eyes full of sharpness.
“My turn.”
Yao Lixuan and Lan Caifeng’s faces changed; they knew something had changed at Hundred Peaks Barrier, and Gu Sanqian had received aid.
The two’s eyes darkened, steeling their resolve—this place could no longer be held.
