by <unknown>
At this moment, the morning glow had dyed the eastern sky red, and the chiefs and sorcerers of the tribes had arrived at Huo Wujiu's camp in commotion.
The fact that the father and the daughter of the Ling family and so many Black Tiger Iron Guards had appeared in Huo Wujiu's camp, along with the broken limbs on the ground, were all undeniable proof!
"Warriors of the southland, look at what the sordid people of central plateaus have done!"
Master Black Moon's evilness was suddenly concealed. When he slowly ascended to the sky, he was full of righteous fury.
Changing to a tone of indignity, he bellowed, "We clearly made a deal and swore in front of all the deities and devils in the mountains that the leadership of the Fire Rude Clan shall be decided by the 'Hundred Victories Great Arena' with the valor of the two parties!
"But the shameless and cowardly people of the Great Qian Dynasty turned a blind eye to the rules and ambushed Huo Wujiu's camp while the night was dark. They have killed too many soldiers of the Southland of Sorcerers!
"They are scared. They do not have the courage to fight our warriors and the warriors of Cloud Qin in the arena and chose such vicious, clandestine methods!
"If I hadn't run into them in time, they certainly would've killed Huo Wujiu!
"Our tradition that has been passed on for a thousand years has been insulted! The dignity of all the warriors of the Southland of Sorcerers has been insulted! All the mountains in the Southland of Sorcerers have been insulted!"
Master Black Moon's every word was like thunder echoing next to the barbarian Cultivators and chiefs' ears.
Master Black Moon was well respected in the Southland of Sorcerers. The sorcerers of many tribes were deeply connected to him. Moreover, the proof was obvious. The Black Tiger Iron Guards there could not have been dragged to this place, could they?
The court was too shameless!
The barbarian Cultivators on Huo Wujiu's side were naturally roaring in fury.
The wavering, neutral ones were also frowning, feeling that such an approach was too dishonorable for the emperor's army.
Even the barbarian Cultivators and chiefs on Ling Shoujing and Huo Wuji's side could not help but feel embarrassed, their stance slightly shifting.
The barbarian Cultivators who had been intoxicated by Ling Shoujing at the feast burst into even more fury after they woke up from their hangover.
What was that supposed to mean? Hiding the night assault from them and making all of them drunk. It was obvious that they were not trusted, and they were merely camouflage.
More importantly of all, they would have no share of the crystals and magical equipment at all!
It was too sordid, shameless, and disgusting!
For a moment, everybody was whispering. Few people were still firmly on the Great Qian Dynasty's side.
After a momentary vicious smile, Master Black Moon slashed his right arm. "Kill them all!"
Hundreds of Ghost Qin Knights above the Refinement Stage had been hiding inside the forests like ice melted into the water just now, showing absolutely no sign of their presence.
But right now, they revealed themselves and charged at the Black Tiger Iron Guards in dozens of arrowheads.
The barbarian Cultivators loyal to Huo Wujiu who were deployed at the periphery of the camp also jumped out to prevent the enemy from fleeing.
Han Yuantai—riding the Dragon Wolf that was thicker than a rhino, faster than a leopard, and deadlier than a cobra—trampled upon Ling Shoujing.
Master Black Moon, however, licked his lips and went to Ling Lanyin!
Huala!
Ling Shoujing was blown almost ten meters away, his spiritual shield and his armor both shattered. He threw out mouthfuls of blood and was obviously no match for Han Yuantai at all.
If Han Yuantai had not intended to humiliate the 'emperor's envoy' of the Great Qian Dynasty more, the attack alone would have blown him into smithereens.
Hiu!
Ling Lanyin's orchid sword blossomed brilliantly in midair.
Pu!
A cluster of black air condensed into the shape of a crescent moon and cut the orchid flower in half easily. Ripples that looked like halos spread out and swallowed all the sword auras.
There were two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators on the enemy's side, while there were heartbreakingly one Cultivator at the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage and one at the peak of it. It was a game without any suspense.
Ling Shoujing, Ling Lanyin, and all the Black Tiger Iron Guards were grasped by desperation. Their countenance was exactly like that of the Cultivators of the Purple Pole Sword Sect whose heads were rolling on the ground.
"Death is our only destination today!" Ling Shoujing struggled to his feet. He vomited blood while he roared, "Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty, die before retreating!"
The Black Tiger Iron Guards, each of whom had three to five sharp arrows stabbed into their body, roared, too. "Warriors of the Ling family, die before retreating!"
The panic and confusion that flashed on Ling Lanyin's face was soon replaced by determination and nonchalance. She pointed her longsword at Master Black Moon, the aura from her blade piercing through the morning sun that had just leapt out from the clouds!
Master Black Moon burst into laughter and, stepping on the ground, thrust himself toward Ling Lanyin, as unpredictably as the moon in the clouds.
The game of lions verses rabbits was about to be concluded, when Han Yuantai, the emotionless noble from Ghost Qin, suddenly lost his composure.
"Watch your back!" he shrieked in alarm, utterly losing the calmness of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. He was even more nervous than Ling Shoujing when Ling Shoujing first saw him.
Abandoning Ling Shoujing, whom he could kill with a cough, he darted toward Master Black Moon like an arrow just released from a bow!
At this moment, Master Black Moon was only one step away from Ling Lanyin.
But his back was right toward the enormous pit at the center of the camp where Huo Wujiu's main tent had been standing.
The giant pit was a trap that Han Yuantai and Master Black Moon had carefully prepared. A lot of grenades, lethal oil, and poisonous fire had been planted inside, which had killed dozens of barbarian Cultivators who were loyal to the Great Qian Dynasty in a row just now.
With the dead bodies of the barbarian Cultivators as fuel, the green, ghostly fire did not die down even to this moment. Instead, it was burning even more violently when Master Black Moon jumped over the pit to attack Ling Lanyin!
The green, ghostly fire was dancing unpredictably as if it were alive. Weird chuckles echoed deep inside the fire, while two fiery tentacles as thick as boas extended out, one slashing at Han Yuantai and the other moving to Master Black Moon without a sound!
Pa!
Han Yuantai did not dodge at all when he crashed into one of the two tentacles, raising glamorous shockwaves!
Then, after a few weird noises, the Lord of Behemothic Eagle from the Dark Cloud Prairies screamed most miserably and fell backward while he scratched his face!
As it turned out, the seemingly empty fire actually contained long needles that were thinner than hair!
Han Yuantai had thought that it was an attack of pure spiritual energy. Confident in the abundance of the spiritual energy inside his body, he had not been scared of a head-on clash.
But the weird existence hiding inside the pit was brazen enough to hide weapons inside the fire!
There was no telling what the needles were made of and how long they were, but the needles were so thin that they seemed nonexistent. They escaped his attention despite his senses in the Nascent Soul Stage!
As it happened, the needles were extremely hard, too. They pierced his spiritual shield easily into his mouth and nose!
The long needles, through whatever uncanny techniques they entailed, were even squirming forward into his brain like caterpillars after they pierced into his face!
Wh
at kind of evil arts are these?
Greatly shocked, Han Yuantai quickly flew backward as if he had run into a ghost. He focused his whole attention on pushing out the long needles and could not have cared less about Master Black Moon anymore.
Master Black Moon was merely in the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage. He was weaker than Han Yuantai in the first place, and he was the main target of the tentacles of ghostly fire. Before he realized what was going on, his entire right thigh had been tied up. The dozens of venomous needles hidden inside the ghostly fire darted into his body and flowed throughout his body along his veins!
"Ahhh!"
Master Black Moon felt such excruciating pain that all his veins and nerves seemed to be gnawed by thousands of ants. The circulation of his spiritual energy was entirely blocked, too!
Shua!
All the barbarian Cultivators, the Black Tiger Iron Guards, and the Ghost Qin Knights watched Master Black Moon be snatched by the tentacles of ghostly fire into the seemingly bottomless pit without putting up any resistance!
Chapter 1364: Elder Has Returned! |
Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak!
Evil, eccentric, and headache-causing sounds were immediately echoing inside the pit.
Thousands of fiends seemed to be chuckling at the bottom level of hell at the same time, and infinite bugs seemed to be wriggling together!
The barbarian Cultivators, the Ghost Qin knights, and the Black Tiger Iron Guards alike felt that their eardrums were being torn apart, and their hearts were constricting while they were grasped by nausea.
Even if they were summoning their spiritual energy to resist it, they could not suppress the shock and fear in their hearts!
The greenish, ghostly fire inside the pit, however, seemed to have been fed oil. It suddenly soared to almost a hundred meters tall like a raging, hideous fiery tree.
Countless sparks were darting toward the audience randomly. They were growing and spluttering in the wind, making the scene even more chaotic. Everybody was covering their head and fleeing in the utmost fear!
"Ahhh!"
Deep inside the pit, Master Black Moon was screaming most miserably, as if he was going through the cruelest suffering in the world.
All the barbarian Cultivators were looking at each other in bewilderment. They had to summon all their spiritual energy to stop their legs from shaking.
It was the first time that they had heard Master Black Moon, the top expert in the Southland of Sorcerers, cry in such a desperate way.
What accompanied Master Black Moon's screams were hoots of derision each louder than the last. A voice that was so sharp and high-pitched that it sounded from the gaps of rusted soil was shouting, "Yan Wenlong, take a look at who I am. Our grudge for decades can be settled once and for all today!"
Yan Wenlong was Master Black Moon's original name.
But after he became a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator who commanded dozens of villages, few people had the courage to call him by his name.
Even 'Master Black Moon' was not a form of address that general barbarians of the land dared to use.
Most of them would kneel on the ground and call him 'elder' in the most respectful way upon meeting him!
But right now, their 'elder' was being publicly tortured!
Many wrinkled, aged barbarian Cultivators somehow found the weird sound familiar.
It was not the sound itself but the arrogant, aggressive, and insolent tone in it!
They all frowned and searched their memories.
Suddenly, one of the old sorcerers shuddered, his face turning pale. His throat was uttering meaningless syllables, suggesting that he might have lost his mind in fear!
Master Black Moon had absolutely no way to fight back while he was being savaged by the mysterious person.
Even his loud, desperate screams turned into intermittent moans later.
When the moans came to the feeblest moment, thousands of cracks were echoing at the same time, as if all the bones in Master Black Moon had been crushed in the second!
The next moment, the eccentric fire became even brighter than before. Blood was spurting out from the bottom of the giant pit, only to be burnt up by the fire.
The few bones and remaining skull were also burnt into ashes in the blink of an eye.
Hiu!
The greenish, ghostly fire immediately retreated to the pit. Not a single spark could be seen anymore.
Green mist was rolling inside the pit and surging out into a hazy lake, as if it were competing with the morning glow.
The hundreds of square meters nearby was all enveloped in the green mist.
The green mist seemed to be made of countless fiends that boasted an evil life. It was hissing and extending out tentacles now and then, trying to drag the Cultivators nearby into the mist.
Even the barbarian Cultivators born and raised in the Southland of Sorcerers who were adept at the dark arts had never such a weird view before, not to mention the Black Tiger Iron Guards from the central plateaus and the Ghost Qin Knights from the northland!
Sensing the immense pressure from the depths of the mist, as if a primeval beast was breaking out of its cocoon, all the Cultivators felt their mouths turn dry and their legs shake, not knowing what to do!
At the center of the green mist, the waves were moving up and down, highlighting a cluster of air the size of a human being.
At first glance, the man was not very tall. He was rather slim, and his face was as young as a juvenile's.
However, the tiny wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, which were as deep as the ocean and emitting brutality now and then, and his lips, which were slightly pursed like a guillotine, made it impossible for anyone to tell his real age.
He was wearing a broad, green robe that seemed to be made of ghostly fire. His hair was scattered behind his head like a waterfall, dancing crazily because of the boost of the ghostly fire!
Floating in midair without support, he placed his hands behind his back and unleashed unparalleled spiritual energy blatantly. The waves tore apart the air and spread out in visible ripples.
Disintegrating a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator into pus and burning the pus into nothingness seemed to be an effortless triviality for him.
He did not seem to be concerned about the hundreds of Cultivators including one in the Nascent Soul Stage and several in the Core Formation Stage at all.
He was glancing at them so indifferently that they seemed like nothing more than hens and dogs to him.
Every Cultivator that he stared at felt like they were lying right below a guillotine at the mercy of the guy!
Many barbarian Cultivators emboldened themselves to observe the newcomer in secret, only to discover that the tiny green birthmark at the center of the guy's eyebrow, which was like a green speck at the beginning, was gradually occupying the upper half of his face like a drop of ink that was dripped on a piece of paper into the shape of a green vulture under the boost of his spiritual energy!
The green vulture seemed like it would fly off at any second. Taking up half of his face, it seemed to be adorning him with a mask, making him even more mysterious and unpredictable!
The extremely evil appearance made all the barbarian Cultivators' hearts race. One after another, they recalled a name that had been gone for decades and yet still kept them awake at night!
"S—S—Spiritual Vulture…"
Before they thought of the guy's name, he had already pounced toward Han Yuantai, the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator on the spot, like a rapacious vulture!
Hardly had Han Yuantai plucked the venomous needles on his face out when he sensed the pressure of spiritual energy that was even more immense than his own. He could not have been more appalled!
However, he truly deserved to be one of the top experts on the Dark Cloud Prairies. After a bellow, he chose to attack instead of dodge. He picked up a unique weapon that was embedded with dozens of wolf fangs and looked like both a saber and a saw,
and his spiritual energy spread out into a winged enormous wolf!
"Hooo!"
The enormous wolf made of spiritual energy was as vivid as a real one. Flapping its wings, it lunged toward the mysterious newcomer.
Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak!
The green mist that surrounded the mysterious newcomer was screeching in a noise that made everyone's teeth sour. Almost ten slender arms suddenly popped up from the green mist, half of which snatched the wolf, and the other half attacked Han Yuantai!
The same move!
Han Yuantai was both shocked and infuriated. This time, he finally perceived that hundreds of venomous needles were hidden inside the claws made of the ghostly fire!
What magical equipment is this? So sordid and vicious!
Although he had seen through the enemy's technique, the venomous needles contained inside the ghostly fire were integrations of the attacks of spiritual energy and the attacks of magical equipment. They were erratic and quite hard to deal with!
Han Yuantai was greatly troubled. He could only focus his full attention on spotting the needles inside the ghostly fire so that none of them reached him!
Right then—
Suddenly having an ominous feeling, he moved left by force, all the bones all his body uttering cracking noises.
The saber in his hand, however, broke in half without a sound. The fracture was as smooth as a mirror, without the slightest dent!
A mica thread that was ten times thinner than the needles had just flashed past his face!
Had he reacted less promptly, it would have been his wrist instead of his saber that was cut off by the mica thread just now!
At this moment, he was already jumping up and down in a flurry, while his enemy was smiling with the hands in the back, apparently not doing his best!
Where—where does this monster come from? And what's this vicious weapon?
Han Yuantai felt like crying. He roared to himself in his heart.
The Ghost Qin Knights were fearless of death. Seeing that their general was in danger, they roared and, urging the Dragon Wolves, charged at the enemy together!
The green-robed freak snorted. He wafted his sleeve, and dozens of glittering skulls flew out of his cuff and rotated in midair.
