Chapter 326: Furious Waves Devour Sun And Moon, Mountains And Rivers Shatter, Gods And Ghosts Tremble
Other than the members of the Red Moon Merchant Guild, everyone present looked at the intelligence provided by Rhine Manster, their expressions turning either grave or filled with disbelief.
“Rhine, is this information real?”
Twilight Shadow Michalu’s six eyes turned to Rhine Manster, as if wanting to see through whether he was lying, her gaze exceptionally sharp.
The other people who had accepted the commission also looked over.
It was not that they did not believe the information Rhine Manster provided, but that what was written on it was so shocking that they did not dare to believe it.
According to Rhine Manster’s investigation, among the grey-robed disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall within the entire Mountain of the Dead, there were over ten thousand organ refining realm martial artists, and more than five hundred bone forging realm martial artists.
Such a number of organ refining realm martial artists and bone forging realm martial artists could be quickly gathered not only by a top-tier major power within the Four Regions, but even by any casual city in the Wushan Region.
However, before accepting the commission, everyone present already knew that the grey-robed disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall were not ordinary. They possessed a transformation ability that normal members of the human race did not have, allowing their own strength to improve by nearly an entire tier.
More than ten thousand martial artists meant more than ten thousand bone forging realm experts. Such a number of bone forging realm experts could easily be produced by a top-tier faction in the Four Regions, but more than five hundred bone forging realm martial artists belonging to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was truly terrifying.
To the outside world, the bone forging realm martial artists of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall were roughly equivalent to blood condensation realm martial artists. Over five hundred bone forging realm meant more than five hundred blood condensation realm experts.
Blood condensation realm experts were not ordinary people. Within the Four Regions, they existed at the level of city lords. Even in the Tianhe Region, which had the largest area among the Four Regions, the total number of cities was just over one hundred, with the Tianhe Domain City controlling fifty-nine of them.
It could be said that, aside from the domain cities in the Four Regions, no faction could bring out five hundred blood condensation realm experts. Even for a top-tier major power in the Four Regions, being able to produce three hundred would already be impressive. After all, the requirements to break through from the bone forging realm to the blood condensation realm were too high, demanding both youth and exceptional comprehension. Usually, only those super geniuses could be certain to become blood condensation realm experts, while among other geniuses, less than one in ten succeeded.
“Everyone, there is no need to doubt. I can guarantee that all this intelligence is true,” Rhine Manster affirmed. “This is also why we need you for this operation.”
He himself had trouble believing the intelligence on the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall gathered by his subordinates.
Not long ago, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had dispatched two hundred and sixty-two bone forging realm martial artists into the Mountain of the Dead, which he had already found unbelievable. Yet after just a few days, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was able to send out more than five hundred bone forging realm experts. Their hidden strength was simply frightening.
“More than five hundred with blood condensation realm level combat power, huh?” Rake looked at the data and could not help but somewhat understand why the Red Moon Merchant Guild had invited those three from the Forbidden Zone.
More than five hundred with blood condensation level combat power; apart from the domain cities, no one could field that. To wipe out such a force, either heavenly human realm grandmasters had to take action, or all factions would have to go all-out.
But every faction had its own territory and affairs that required blood condensation realm experts to sit in town. It was impossible to mobilize everything, let alone fight to the death with a force like this.
Even if three factions joined forces and each sent some people, regardless of victory or defeat, the price was something all three were unwilling to accept.
If they wanted to resolve such a force without paying an enormous price, they could only invite half-step heavenly human realm experts like them, especially the three who were ranked in the top ten among the half-step heavenly human realm of the Forbidden Zone. Under normal circumstances, they could exchange blows with heavenly human realm grandmasters; killing initial and intermediate blood condensation realm martial artists was like playing.
“This Obsidian Martial Arts Hall truly has some ability. No wonder they dare to oppose you,” Sky Beast Gaia finished reading the information, excitement flickering in their eyes, and directly looked at Rhine Manster. “Tell us, what do you want us to do this time?”
“I can participate, but I want more pay,” Twilight Shadow Michalu put away the information and also looked at Rhine Manster. “The forty energy blood essence we verbally agreed on before, I want eighty. Otherwise, trade me maps from the Forbidden Zone that I don’t have.”
“Same for me, double the price,” Son of Storm Tania nodded. “If there is not enough energy blood essence, I also accept maps from the Forbidden Zone that I don’t have.”
The fact that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had more than five hundred disciples with blood condensation realm level combat power was indeed shocking, but that was all. At their level, dealing with martial artists with initial blood condensation realm combat power, or even high-level blood condensation realm martial artists, was not much trouble.
As long as they did not have to face too many with blood condensation realm combat power at once, they could completely exhaust and kill all of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s blood condensation realm-level forces in the wilderness over time.
“Fine, our three organizations can agree. For everyone who participates in this operation, their reward will be doubled after the task is completed,” Rhine Manster looked at the two who were asking for more and agreed without hesitation.
For the Red Moon Merchant Guild, anything that could be solved with money was not a problem.
For a moment, everyone present who had accepted the commission looked at each other and then turned their gaze to Rhine Manster in unison, clearly very satisfied with the price he offered, with no one choosing to withdraw.
“Since you have all agreed, next I will assign each of you your tasks, as well as the strongholds that need to be dealt with,” Rhine Manster swept his gaze around and then formally began to explain. “Currently, we have discovered four strongholds of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. The number of people gathered at each stronghold is different, so I will assign personnel based on their numbers and approximate combat strength. In addition, besides you, our three organizations have dispatched a large number of people this time. They will join the battle with you. I hope that when the big battle breaks out, you will avoid harming them. Considering the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s support during wartime, once you have eliminated the bone forging realm disciples in the strongholds, you can withdraw directly.”
As Rhine Manster spoke, he also displayed an electronic holographic map, marking four small circles on the map of the Mountain of the Dead, with notes beside them indicating how many organ refining realm and bone forging realm martial artists were at each.
Among the four strongholds, the ones with fewer bone forging realm martial artists had close to one hundred, while the largest had more than two hundred.
Rhine Manster divided the half-step heavenly human realm experts into four groups. Sky Beast Gaia and Son of Storm Tania were assigned to the largest stronghold; Twilight Shadow Michalu and Rake were to handle the second largest; the third largest was assigned to Earth Star Pharmaceuticals’ Light Seeker Melk and Smiling Skull’s three-headed Wulun; and the smallest stronghold would be dealt with personally by Rhine Manster.
After more than half an hour of task allocation, Rhine Manster instructed the members of the Red Moon Merchant Guild to lead the other three groups to predetermined locations to await a coordinated action.
Mountain of the Dead, atop a certain peak.
Guided by the Blood Pattern Clan youth, half-step heavenly human realm experts Twilight Shadow Michalu and Rake quickly arrived at a hidden cave carved into the mountaintop. From here, they could easily observe the situation within six to seven kilometers below, especially the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall stronghold six kilometers away, which was fully visible to their blood condensation realm eyesight.
“Lords, there are nearly three hours left before the action begins. During this period, please do not leave the area within fifty meters of the cave. We have installed our shielding devices here, so life detectors cannot detect you. Once you leave the fifty-meter range, the shielding equipment will no longer be able to shield you,” the Blood Pattern Clan youth said respectfully, looking at the two dressed in pitch-black cloaks.
“Don’t worry, we understand,” Twilight Shadow Michalu nodded, then lightly pointed at the black cloak she wore and asked softly, “But after this is over, will you be taking these cloaks back as well?”
“The materials that shield life aura are very precious. Our chamber of commerce discovered them in a ruin within the Forbidden Zone, so please forgive us for being unable to gift or sell them,” the Blood Pattern Clan youth explained.
“Obtained from a ruin in the Forbidden Zone?” Rake, at the side, touched his black cloak and sighed with emotion. “It really deserves to be a relic product if it can completely shield life aura. It’s a pity you don’t sell them, otherwise I would buy a few.”
From the moment they entered the Mountain of the Dead, they had been wearing these black cloaks. Because the cloaks shielded their life aura, not a single monster had discovered them; traveling through the Mountain of the Dead felt like a leisurely outing in the wilderness.
If Twilight Shadow Michalu had not mentioned it, he had originally wanted to take the cloak back after completing the mission and use it in the Forbidden Zone. It would definitely raise their safety level quite a bit.
However, neither Twilight Shadow Michalu nor Rake continued talking about the cloaks. Instead, they looked down from the peak at the large number of figures rushing in.
These people arriving from the depths of the Mountain of the Dead were all fully armed. The weakest among them were intermediate level bone forging realm, wearing tier 2 battle armor and holding tier 2 weapons. Their numbers ranged from dozens to over a hundred, and each team had at least one blood condensation realm expert as leader.
At first, Twilight Shadow Michalu and Rake did not pay much attention to the members of the three major factions gathering. But as more and more members of the three factions assembled, the two of them became increasingly shocked.
“For this stronghold, just how many people have your three organizations sent?” Rake could not help but ask the Blood Pattern Clan youth as he watched the movements below.
Facing the second largest stronghold of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, which had more than one hundred bone forging realm martial artists and nearly three thousand organ refining realm martial artists, he had originally thought it would be good enough if the three factions sent a comparable force, especially since they also had the two of them, half-step heavenly human realm experts, on their side.
But looking at the ever-growing numbers below, he was truly stunned.
Even with only a rough count, the three factions had sent over one hundred and fifty blood condensation realm experts and more than ten thousand bone forging realm martial artists.
This did not look like they were going to wipe out a single Obsidian Martial Arts Hall stronghold; it looked like they were going to take on a top-tier major power in the Four Regions.
Seeing Rake’s surprise, the Blood Pattern Clan youth smiled and said, “To deal with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall this time, our three organizations spent quite some time gathering manpower. Besides our own people, we also hired many blood condensation realm and bone forging realm martial artists. For this second stronghold alone, we have deployed about one hundred and eighty blood condensation realm experts and more than thirteen thousand bone forging realm martial artists.”
“One hundred and eighty blood condensation realm experts and more than thirteen thousand bone forging realm martial artists?” Rake could not help but gasp.
He had long known that Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and the Red Moon Merchant Guild would not let the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall off easily, especially considering how uncharacteristically low-key they had been recently, likely preparing something big against the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
But he had not expected it to be this big.
Inviting half-step heavenly human realm experts like them was not enough; in just a few days, they had also gathered such a number of blood condensation and bone forging realm martial artists. To deal with a single stronghold, they had fielded this many experts. Thinking of all four strongholds combined, it was hard to imagine how many experts the three organizations had mobilized in total.
A battle of this scale, in his memory, was something that would appear only once in several decades even across the entire Four Regions.
The last time had been thirty years ago, when the Barren Ridge Domain City led all factions against a great monster rampage. Over one thousand blood condensation realm experts and more than two hundred thousand bone forging realm experts had been dispatched. That battle had shocked the Four Regions and destroyed nearly one-third of the land in the Barren Ridge Region.
“You three are insane. It is just a martial arts hall that has only recently risen in the Wushan Region. Is this really necessary?” Twilight Shadow Michalu could not help but click her tongue.
Though the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was powerful, with more than five hundred bone forging realm martial artists possessing blood condensation realm level combat power, they were still only bone forging realm martial artists.
With no irreconcilable blood feud between both sides, it would be one thing for Smiling Skull, who were lunatics to begin with, but he had not expected Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and the Red Moon Merchant Guild to go mad as well. They were clearly determined to drive the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to death, to never rest until one side was destroyed.
“If we have to blame someone, we can only blame the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall for being too arrogant,” the Blood Pattern Clan youth said proudly. “In the Wushan Region, they completely ignored our three organizations, killing and robbing at will. Today, we are only collecting a bit of interest from them.”
Before the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall appeared, their three organizations had never feared anyone in the Four Regions except for the domain cities. Yet in the Wushan Region, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had killed so many of their people. Even if the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had become much stronger than before, their three organizations would show all forces in the Four Regions that if they wanted to destroy someone, they still could.
“The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is indeed somewhat arrogant. With today’s disaster, they can hardly blame others,” Rake nodded in agreement.
As a heavenly human realm seed of the Tianhe Domain City and the son of an elder, he had been willing to pay a high price to buy the inheritance metal plate of that body strengthening secret technique, yet the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had still refused. They clearly did not take him seriously. Their arrogance was obvious, so he fully understood what the three organizations were doing now.
Not to mention wiping out the disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in the Mountain of the Dead; even if they destroyed the hall’s headquarters in Chiyue Town, it would not be surprising.
Twilight Shadow Michalu, by contrast, remained silent and made no comment.
She did not know whether the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was arrogant or not, but the domineering nature of Smiling Skull, Earth Star Pharmaceuticals, and the Red Moon Merchant Guild was well known among all major forces in the Four Regions.
“Lords, it is almost time. Please get ready. When the army launches its attack, those bone forging realm martial artists of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall will mainly be your responsibility,” the Blood Pattern Clan youth reminded them after checking the time, which was approaching midnight.
Twilight Shadow Michalu and Rake both nodded and began checking their weapons and equipment.
11:57 p.m. … 11:58 p.m. … 11:59 p.m. …
At exactly midnight, with a single shout, the blood and qi of the blood condensation realm and bone forging realm martial artists surrounding the second largest stronghold of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall erupted completely. Like a monstrous tsunami, it surged forth, spreading over more than ten kilometers and instantly pressing down on the stronghold’s players, who had not yet reacted.
In an instant, under the descending pressure of pure qi and blood alone, every player in the stronghold, whether organ refining realm or bone forging realm, was crushed directly to the ground.
“Enemy attack! We’re under attack!”
“What the hell! What is going on? Why are there so many NPCs attacking?”
“Is this the start of a version storyline?”
The players in the stronghold stared dumbfounded at the NPCs who were no longer hiding among the trees, forming dense black masses numbering in the tens of thousands, accompanied by that world-ending flood of crushing qi and blood.
Many players had experienced battles involving tens of thousands or even more, but a battle of this scale and level was something they had never seen.
There were one hundred and eighty blood condensation realm bosses by perception alone, more than the bone forging realm players inside the stronghold. The difficulty of this game was sky-high.
But before the players could recover, two figures suddenly shot out from the distant mountaintop. A man and a woman streaked through the air like missiles and stopped directly above the stronghold, the explosion of air setting off a terrifying shockwave that blasted aside the surrounding trees.
The two stood proudly in midair. The six-eyed sub-demon race woman raised one hand toward the sky, and a massive phantom nearly two hundred meters tall appeared. It was a gigantic arm covered in countless eyes. The enormous hand seemed to grasp something in the air and then pulled downward.
Boom!
The sound of something shattering echoed across more than ten kilometers.
For a moment, both the players and the experts of the three factions stared up at the sky, stunned.
A colossal energy mass with a radius of more than one kilometer, like a meteorite, fell from above, piercing layers of air and smashing straight into the center of the stronghold.
“What kind of boss is that?”
“Is she hand-casting a meteorite?”
The players inside the stronghold stared at the enormous falling meteorite, especially those who had only recently become martial artists, completely shocked by this scene.
Normally, bone forging realm players could manifest phantoms over one hundred meters tall, like a thirty-plus-story skyscraper, and a single move that affected several kilometers already seemed unbelievable. But now, facing a meteorite with a radius of more than one kilometer, those hundred-meter phantoms were like ants, not worth mentioning at all.
Just as the massive meteorite was about to land, a figure flashed out of the beginner mental secret tower and stepped onto its top. Several long swords flew out from the sword box on her back, and each sword split again into even more swords. Their blades were thin as cicada wings, and in the blink of an eye, over a thousand sword blades appeared in midair.
Many players, upon seeing this figure, revealed looks of admiration.
Because that person was none other than Ye Qinglu, the number one expert of the Azure Sky Defense Group. At this moment, Ye Qinglu had reached the bone forging realm advanced level limit. Her whole body was wrapped in dense energy, with her clothes and long hair fluttering in midair. The surrounding air began to blur, as if a sword immortal had descended into the mortal world.
“The effect of cultivating spirit inside the beginner mental secret tower is astonishing. It’s a pity the time was too short, and I could not complete the sixth explosion,” Ye Qinglu looked at the falling meteorite, a hint of anticipation in her eyes. “But this is just right to test my newly completed Thousand Sword Diagram.”
“Go!”
Ye Qinglu pointed with a sword finger at the falling meteorite.
In an instant, the thousand-plus sword blades formed a brilliant sword lotus, and the gigantic phantom behind Ye Qinglu threw a punch toward the lotus.
Boom!
In that moment, thousands of beams of light blossomed like a lotus. They converged into a single point and slammed into the falling meteorite.
The meteorite shattered instantly, breaking into countless fragments. Thunderous bolts scattered in all directions, bombarding and slicing the ground, as if the land were being hammered by countless missiles and sword lights.
The earth cracked and mountains were leveled.
Any player or member of the three factions who failed to evade in time, once struck, died on the spot. Even blood condensation realm martial artists were no exception.
By the time the dust settled and everything quieted down, the terrain within a radius of five to six kilometers had completely changed. The flat ground had become a rift valley, leaving everyone on both sides dumbfounded.
