Chapter 279: Make Mountains Bow And Rivers Give Way
Outside Wushan Prison.
The sky battleship of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals was like a giant among the crowd, exceptionally conspicuous. Even though it was merely hovering in midair, it still exerted great pressure on those sky battleships that were only a little over three hundred meters long.
Normally, as weapons to counter flying monsters, standard sky battleships, even when made with C4-grade alloy, could only reach a length of just over three hundred meters. If they were built any bigger, the sky battleships would not be able to withstand the attacks of flying lord monsters, which would cause the hull to break.
To build a sky battleship longer than six hundred meters, almost one hundred percent of its hull would have to be made of C6-grade alloy.
C6-grade alloy was an extremely precious metal even for a domain city. Using it to construct flying transport vehicles was already an extremely extravagant symbol; it could withstand the attacks of catastrophe level monsters head-on for a period of time. To directly construct a sky battleship with a length of more than six hundred meters out of it, the amount of C6-grade alloy required was simply unimaginable.
“Earth Star Pharmaceuticals is really rich. Just to hurry on the road, they actually brought out one of the rare large sky battleships.”
“No wonder they are Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. Their previous delegation had clearly just been completely wiped out, yet so soon they have organized another group to come. It seems this time some of the old veterans have come in person.”
“I heard that Northern Grey Robe will also enter Wushan Prison this time. Previously, Northern Grey Robe wiped out the team from Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. Earth Star Pharmaceuticals definitely will not let Northern Grey Robe go this time. I wonder, once their two teams enter the prison, which side will be stronger.”
“That still needs thinking? Of course Earth Star Pharmaceuticals is stronger. Previously, Northern Grey Robe only destroyed the younger generation nurtured by Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. Although that younger generation of geniuses was quite strong, compared with those veterans of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals, their cultivation time is several times shorter. How could their strength compare with those old fellows? If the major powers had not tacitly agreed to let only the young people enter Wushan Prison to give the younger generation more opportunities, do you really think those so-called top-tier factions’ youngsters could compete with those old monsters?”
At this time, the various major faction teams present looked at the sky battleship of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and whispered among themselves in secret. They had not expected Earth Star Pharmaceuticals to ignore Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and instead send a team to Wushan Prison first. This move truly left everyone puzzled.
If they wanted to deal with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, there was no need to do it at Wushan Prison; they could just attack directly.
Wushan Domain City might impose many restrictions and close scrutiny on incoming experts of the Blood Condensation Realm, but as for Bone Forging Realm martial artists, Wushan Domain City did not care how many there were.
It could be said that as long as they did not attack a city, the Bone Forging Realm martial artists of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals could do whatever they wanted. Even if they wiped out Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s Chiyue Town or carried out large-scale assassinations of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s disciples in the City of Light Chasing, Wushan Domain City would not interfere.
And with those veteran Bone Forging Realm martial artists cultivated by Earth Star Pharmaceuticals, even if Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had several Initial Stage Blood Coagulation and even Blood Condensation Realm Intermediate Level experts sitting in town, they could still be completely wiped out.
“What exactly does Earth Star Pharmaceuticals intend to do by coming here?”
Precia, standing on the sky battleship, looked at Earth Star Pharmaceuticals in the distance, her heart filled with doubt.
The sudden appearance of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals had even made her think they intended to directly make a move against Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. After all, large sky battleships of that level were incomparably precious. They could cross regions at the fastest speed, and there were only a few of them even in the entire Wushan Region.
If it was not a matter of great importance, even her teacher was not qualified to mobilize one.
Yet Earth Star Pharmaceuticals had only flown past them, completely unlike they were targeting Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Even she could not understand what Earth Star Pharmaceuticals was thinking.
“People from Earth Star Pharmaceuticals?” Lin Qi looked at the sky battleship of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and could not help but marvel at their financial power.
C6-grade alloy!
This was the strongest metal known in this world. In terms of sheer hardness alone, even catastrophe level monsters had to spend quite some time to destroy it. It was also the primary material for forging top-tier Tier 2 battle armor and Tier 2 weapons.
A sky battleship made of C6-grade alloy like this could fully arm ten thousand Bone Forging Realm experts.
With so many fully armed Bone Forging Realm experts, even when facing several catastrophe level monsters, they would likely have a chance to kill them. After all, the strength of catastrophe level monsters was also limited. Once their power was exhausted, their defense on the surface of their bodies could not withstand the attacks of Bone Forging Realm experts.
Unfortunately, in the mineral map he had obtained, the best native ore recorded was only C2-grade Red Mother True Copper, which at most could be smelted into C4-grade alloy, still far inferior to C6-grade alloy.
Moreover, this Red Mother True Copper was not something one could obtain just because they wanted to. It was buried deep within the Mountain of the Dead. Even if Blood Condensing Realm masters formed a team, they would lose their lives there. For now, he could only watch and do nothing.
After a short while, the sky battleship of Wushan Domain City also slowly descended at the entrance and exit of Wushan Prison. Like the teams of other factions, they waited quietly before the mist-shrouded mountain path.
With the appearance of Lin Qi and the others, all the major factions present could not help but size them up, especially the factions within the Wushan Region.
“They really came.”
Huang Lang, vice leader of the Holy Blood Mercenary Group, looked at the players dressed in silver-gray clothing, his expression unspeakably ugly.
In the battle at Furious Wind Town, their Holy Blood Mercenary Group had suffered heavy losses.
If not for the rules of the domain city, their leader would have been unable to refrain from making a move back then.
And because of that battle at Furious Wind Town, Northern Grey Robe had become the disgrace of their Holy Blood Mercenary Group.
However, the expression of Alec, vice city lord of Star Tower City standing beside him, was entirely different as he looked at Lin Qi and the others.
“More than four hundred advanced martial artists, plus fourteen Bone Forging Realm experts including Hall Master Lin Qi. Is this the strength that Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has been hiding all along?” Alec was somewhat shaken as he watched the players curiously observing their surroundings.
Although, according to their speculation, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had a significant background and its strength was far from as simple as it appeared, only now did they realize they had still underestimated Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
Over four hundred advanced martial artists—once they transformed, they would all be comparable to vice city lords, and together with more than ten Bone Forging Realm experts, whose strength after transformation would be unimaginable.
With such team strength, they were not much weaker than those top-tier teams.
“Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s hidden strength is indeed terrifying.” Huang Lang also carefully examined them and sighed. “If Earth Star Pharmaceuticals had not sent those old veterans this time, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall might really have been able to reap all the harvest in Wushan Prison.”
This time, their Holy Blood Mercenary Group had joined forces with Star Tower City, but at most, they could only muddle around in the upper level of the prison. If lucky, they might be able to enter the middle level.
But the strength Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was displaying now clearly qualified them to operate in the lower level.
As a prison, Wushan Prison had three levels: upper, middle, and lower. After entering with a key, each level had a limit on the number of people allowed to enter. The upper level could hold at most one hundred thousand people, the middle level at most ten thousand, and the lower level at most two thousand. Once a level was full, the prison would automatically close the passages up and down for that level and would only reopen them at the end of the visitation period to allow everyone to leave.
As for the one hundred thousand in the upper level, that was no problem for the major factions of the Four Regions, because there were only one hundred thousand quotas total and only one thousand keys. Thus, any faction that came could enter. But entering the middle level was not so easy; that required fighting.
Or rather, it required proof of strength, so that all the major faction teams would recognize that they were qualified to enter. If any team believed that an entering team was unqualified, a fierce battle would occur. The same applied to entering the lower level.
Obviously, the team of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had enough strength to rank in the top twenty, while for their own team, whether they could even rank in the top hundred really depended on luck.
While Huang Lang and Alec were still discussing, a sudden commotion erupted at the misty mountain path. A terrifying clash of qi and blood instantly filled a radius of nearly one kilometer, making all the experts of the various factions within its range feel their movements restricted.
They saw a woman with three pairs of golden wings facing two middle-aged men. One of the middle-aged men was of the Half-Beast Race, and the other was of the Sub-demon Race.
The battle armor of the Half-Beast Race middle-aged man bore the emblem of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals, while the battle armor of the Sub-demon Race middle-aged man bore the emblem of Wushan Domain City.
The woman with three pairs of golden wings, though her qi and blood were not inferior to a genuine Initial Stage Blood Coagulation expert, was still at a disadvantage compared with the qi and blood of the Sub-demon Race middle-aged man.
This scene left Precia, who was leading the way, stunned.
“Even Sixth Senior Sister, after her breakthrough, is no match for the leader?”
Precia looked at Xie Feina, whose expression was rather unsightly, her heart full of shock and confusion.
Sixth Senior Sister Xie Feina had achieved Second Level Perfection in her Sequence Supernatural Martial Skill. Because the sequence ranking of the supernatural martial skill she had mastered was thirty-first, much higher than the forty-second of Leader Palius, under normal circumstances she should have been able to defeat Leader Palius.
Unexpectedly, before they had even started fighting, Sixth Senior Sister Xie Feina had already lost to Leader Palius by a margin in qi and blood. It was simply unbelievable.
Qi and blood thrived the younger one was. Although Leader Palius looked like a middle-aged man in his early forties, his actual age was already fifty-five, nearly twenty years older than Sixth Senior Sister Xie Feina. By normal reasoning, Leader Palius could not possibly surpass Sixth Senior Sister Xie Feina in qi and blood, but reality was the complete opposite.
“Xie Feina, what a pity. You have broken through, but you are not the only one who has. Do you still want to fight?” Leader Palius looked at Xie Feina and smiled.
“Third Level Perfection. So this is why you have been working with Earth Star Pharmaceuticals?” Xie Feina looked at Palius, her gaze unconsciously glancing at the Half-Beast Race middle-aged man beside him.
Bai Shou Kalad.
A super genius of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals who had risen to fame for more than thirty years, a powerhouse several years senior to Palius. His strength had long since reached Sequence Supernatural Martial Skill Third Level Perfection. He had only failed to break through to the Blood Condensation Realm because his cultivation method had not reached the Perfection Realm. He was now temporarily serving as the leader for Earth Star Pharmaceuticals.
“That’s right.” Leader Palius nodded, not hiding anything. “Earth Star Pharmaceuticals helped me break through, and I am helping them with a small favor. It is a pity that you chose to cooperate with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall too early, hoping to take my position and then swallow all the benefits alone. Otherwise, you might still have had a share in this operation. Now, will you leave the team yourself, or do you need me to ask you out?”
“I will leave on my own.” Xie Feina took a very unwilling look at Palius. She had not expected he had secretly broken through to Third Level Perfection. For this descent into the prison, she could now be said to have completely lost her chance.
After Xie Feina turned to leave, Leader Palius looked at the others in the team.
“Anyone else who wants to leave can go with her. I will not stop you. But when it comes to that prisoner in the lower level, do not expect to get any benefits.”
As soon as Leader Palius finished speaking, everyone in the team fell silent. Even the vice leader who had previously made arrangements with Xie Feina now kept his mouth shut.
It was obvious who was stronger. Not to mention, Leader Palius had joined forces with Bai Shou Kalad’s team. Their chances of taking down the prisoner Xie Feina had mentioned were practically one hundred percent.
Who could resist such temptation?
Seeing that no one else in the team objected, Palius nodded.
“Palius, I came leading a team to help you this time. Do not forget your promise,” Bai Shou Kalad reminded him coolly.
“Rest assured. After it is done, I will have those above turn a blind eye to what you and your people did.” Palius nodded, then glanced at Lin Qi and the others in the distance and sighed. “But you are going a bit overboard. It is just an ordinary faction. You alone would be enough to deal with them, yet you even want Blood Condensation Realm experts to make a move. That is really making a fuss over nothing.”
“You do not understand.” Bai Shou Kalad also looked at Lin Qi, his gaze icy. “Earth Star Pharmaceuticals has not acted for too long. The major powers of the Four Regions have almost forgotten what we are. We have to let them see what happens if they provoke us.”
“Fine. As long as you help me capture that prisoner, everything else is not a problem.” Palius could not be bothered with this. It was just an ordinary faction with a bit of reputation, not worth his concern.
On the other side, after Xie Feina left the team, Precia immediately stepped forward.
“Senior sister, are we still going down into the prison?” Precia looked at Xie Feina, her eyes full of worry.
Judging from the current situation, it was obvious that the leader already knew what Xie Feina planned to do. If they failed to capture that prisoner this time, they did not know whether such a chance would ever come again.
After all, when acting alone, it was extremely difficult to encounter powerful prisoners in the lower level. Even if they did encounter one, such prisoners were usually followed by a group of underlings, making them impossible to capture.
Xie Feina shook her head, then looked at Lin Qi beside her and said apologetically, “I am sorry. I am afraid this cooperation will have to be canceled. I no longer have a team. Even if I go, I do not have the strength.”
The prisoners in the lower level were not opponents that an individual could face. Especially the powerful ones, who required several experts like her to join forces to suppress and slowly wear them down.
Moreover, now that Leader Palius knew of her plan, they would definitely clash if she tried to capture that prisoner. Even if she added Lin Qi’s team, there was no chance at all.
Just as Xie Feina finished speaking and was about to turn and leave Wushan Prison, a deep, resonant voice suddenly reached her ears.
“If I say I have a way to help you capture that prisoner, then what?”
As this deep, resonant voice fell, Xie Feina immediately turned toward its source. The one who had spoken was none other than Lin Qi.
