Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 173
In any case, Guo Ran had tens of thousands of arrows as well as countless Yin and Yang stones. In a quarter hour, he could make over a hundred more explosive arrows.
Long Chen had taken out dozens of his poisonous balls and placed them on the arrowheads of some of the explosive arrows. As soon as those explosive arrows were triggered, they would explode, breaking apart that poisonous ball.
Guo Ran’s explosive arrows didn’t actually possess that much power. But once those poison balls had been added, their power was absolutely terrifying.
When that poison ball exploded, the poison powder would immediately spread three hundred meters. If an idiot disciple were to directly breathe it in, they would immediately become light-headed, fall unconscious, and then die.
As for the smarter fellows, they actually had it worse off than the fools. The idiot disciples who directly breathed it in would at least die comfortably without feeling any pain.
But the smarter elites would immediately stop breathing as soon as they sensed the poison. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the toxicity of the Silver Centipede’s poison.
That poison powder would act like acid when it touched their skin. Their skin would begin to corrode, and it would also be incomparably itchy, making it so people were unable to resist scratching.
Just the itchiness on the skin wasn’t any problem. However, this itchiness didn’t just stop there. Their insides, their hearts, and even their souls became itchy.
That kind of itchiness was completely irresistible. With just a couple of scratches, they tore off their own skin, but that still didn’t resolve the itchiness. Some disciples even chopped off the parts of their bodies that were itchy.
Furthermore, Long Chen hadn’t just set up a single trap. On the two mountainsides, dozens of straw covers were lifted, revealing crossbows that mercilessly rained down arrows on those panicked Corrupt disciples.
“Bastards from the Corrupt path, have a taste of how amazing I, Guo Ran, am!” Guo Ran’s huge crossbow was pointed right at them, crazily shooting out and cutting off any path of retreat.
Flesh and blood splattered all over, and explosions echoed throughout the sky. A faint poisonous mist had completely covered the mountain valley.
Long Chen had long since given all the monastery’s disciples special pills that allowed them to completely ignore the Silver Centipede’s poison mist.
But as for those Corrupt disciples, even the core disciples were unable to block it. They also consumed antitoxin pills, but they were horrified to find that their antitoxin pills were unable to suppress the poison.
They all tried to run back, but more monastery disciples appeared behind them, raining down explosive arrows on them.
The most terrifying one of them would have to be Guo Ran. He quickly shot out hundreds of explosive arrows with his crossbow. When the crossbow’s ammo ran out, he directly took out a new fully-loaded crossbow.
Guo Ran was incredibly excited. In all of his life, he had never been as excited as he was today.
He shot out explosive arrows without caring about the cost. His rain of arrows completely cut off any path of retreat.
“The rear’s cut off! Charge forward!”
No one knew who specifically shouted this. But seeing that there was no way for them to retreat, they once more began to charge forward ferociously.
But with the poisonous mist everywhere, they weren’t able to see their surroundings. After just moving forward thirty meters, the ground beneath them sank again.
Miserable screams rang out, but those screams were extremely muffled because they came from over a hundred meters below.
That huge hole was over one hundred and fifty meters deep. That kind of depth was unable to kill these cultivators just by falling.
However, Long Chen wasn’t looking to make them die from falling. All he needed was to trap them for a couple of minutes. With the Silver Centipede’s poison, they would lose all of their combat ability.
Anguished cries and wails echoed throughout the battlefield. None of them could clearly see the situation. But the sound of the explosive arrows behind them overpowered the screaming from ahead, and the Corrupt disciples continued charging.
And the result was that as they went all-out charging forward, they all ended up falling into a deep hole.
The people who had fallen inside first hadn’t died from the drop. As a result, the people behind them smashed into them heavily.
They shouted loudly in warning, but it was useless. Due to the mist and dust filling the air, the disciples behind them couldn’t see their surroundings.
And the more they wailed and shouted, the easier they would be infected by the poison, causing them to die even faster.
Long Chen only lightly watched from outside the poison mist. There was not even the slightest expression on his face, as if he were just watching a show.
As for the monastery disciples beside him, they were all stupefied. They had never dreamed that the battle tactics of the secular world could be applied to a battle of experts.
Looking at Long Chen’s back, they were filled with reverence. This was a god-like man, capable of bringing them miracle after miracle.
The miserable screams finally faded after a quarter hour. But within the mountain valley, explosions continued to echo out.
“Guo Ran, you wasteful brat, what are you doing? The enemies are all dead, so what are you still shooting? Are you getting addicted to shooting blanks?”
Only now did Guo Ran recover from his excitement. In that refreshing pleasure, he hadn’t realized that the screams had already ended.
“For now, don’t go out there. Wait an hour for the poison mist to scatter. Keep your guard up for now and take care of any little fish that managed to escape.”
But even after an hour passed and the poison mist scattered, those so-called escaped fish never appeared.
The only fish were all dead on the ground. There was not even one that was still alive. Not even those powerful core disciples had been able to run.
It seemed Long Chen had overestimated the Corrupt path’s alchemy arts. Not all alchemists were capable of refining high grade third tier antitoxin pills.
If it hadn’t reached the high grade third tier level, then an antitoxin pill would be completely unable to stop the Silver Centipede’s poison.
Looking at the ground covered in corpses, everyone had an odd feeling. They had killed an army of Corrupt disciples this easily?
Compared to when they had gone all-out to face them in battle, risking life and limb to bring them down, this was far too effortless. It was so easy that it was hard for them to believe.
Long Chen swept his Spiritual Strength over the battlefield and didn’t find a single spiritual fluctuation. That meant they were all truly dead.
“Clean up the battlefield. Be careful of people pretending to be dead.” Although he knew none of them were alive, keeping them on guard was better. After all, being careful wasn’t a bad thing, and it’d be better for them to keep the habit of staying on guard.
“Senior brother Long Chen, their heads…” One of the disciples was carrying a person’s head. That head was now pitch-black.
Long Chen smiled, “As long as the heads are intact, cut them all off. Don’t bother about the color. The monastery doesn’t care about that.”
Due to the intense poison, those people’s heads had already become badly contorted. It wasn’t even possible to tell their features anymore.
As for how the monastery would differentiate those people’s cultivation bases, that would be a matter for the monastery. In any case, the monastery definitely had their own secret techniques.
It went without saying that after experiencing that huge battle before, the monastery’s disciples had already conquered their fear of death. They had become much more hardened and ruthless.
Without any dread towards the dead, they began to cut off the heads as if they were just cutting open watermelons.
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br /> In less than an hour, they completely cleaned up the battlefield. The majority of the Corrupt disciples had spatial rings which were all taken away. As for their corpses, they were placed into spatial rings and buried somewhere else.
The spatial rings were sent directly to the monastery. That was one of the rules of the monastery. The Righteous path’s disciples were not allowed to practice or even study any of the techniques of the Corrupt path. Any violators would be directly killed without any exception.
When Long Chen had heard that, he had become a bit worried. He had thought he wouldn’t be able to train in the Netherworld Ghost Steps.
But after thinking about it, he realized this command was because they were afraid of the Righteous disciples being enticed by how powerful the Corrupt path’s Battle Skills and cultivation techniques were. They didn’t want any disciples to secretly learn them.
That was because the absolute majority of the Corrupt path’s techniques were extremely cruel and sinister. That was what allowed them to be so terrifying. Long Chen had learned quite a bit about that from Gui Sha.
Those techniques could only be trained in by killing others. No matter how strong they were, there was no way Long Chen would train in such a technique.
But the Netherworld Ghost Steps was just a very profound footwork. There was nothing about it that was ‘Corrupt’. Long Chen felt that learning it wasn’t a problem. As long as he didn’t show it off, then who would even know?
Unfortunately, the Netherworld Ghost Steps was too powerful, and he was still currently not strong enough to use it. He would have to wait until after he broke through to Tendon Transformation.
After cleaning up the battlefield, they restored the old traps. Guo Ran also started to busy himself with making more explosive arrows.
That little fellow had tasted the sweetness of power. He hid himself in one of the traps on the mountainside and worked like crazy.
Long Chen checked over everything. He saw that there were already seventeen people who had made cultivation base breakthroughs. He rotated those people with the ones who had been guarding before.
That way everyone would have a chance to make a breakthrough. In this kind of tense atmosphere, even if they couldn’t make a breakthrough, their foundation would definitely become much more solid. There were many advantages, but no disadvantages.
After they finished setting everything up again, they only had to wait for four hours before another group of Corrupt disciples arrived.
“Hehe, more money has come.”
Long Chen smiled. The points were flowing in. This way, he would be able to gather all the medicinal ingredients for the Alioth Star.
Chapter 251 An Evil Man’s Accusations
BOOM!
The sounds of the explosion arrows rang out constantly. Flesh flew through the air, and miserable screams echoed throughout the battlefield. It was like a scene straight from hell.
As for the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples on the outside of the valley, explosions occasionally rang out from within their bodies. Cultivation advancements occurred again and again, their auras soaring.
This was the seventh wave of Corrupt disciples. Even Long Chen was starting to get weary of this kind of battle style. None of them had done anything differently from the first wave.
But the Corrupt disciples were simply like that. When they saw them actually cultivating on the battlefield, they were driven practically insane from rage and just crazily charged forward, easily falling for their bait. Who knew what it was, but young people these days really didn’t know how to keep their tempers in check.
Of everyone present, the most excited person wouldn’t be those disciples who had advanced, nor would it be those core disciples who had awakened their ancestral marks. The most excited person would have to be Guo Ran.
In all his lifetime, Guo Ran had never felt that his life had held as much meaning as now.
It was as if the entire world had become brighter. The crossbow on his shoulder became scalding hot from shooting arrows so rapidly, and yet he didn’t even feel it, only going all-out to shoot more arrows.
Seeing the flesh flying through the air, Guo Ran found his real life goal. Seeing those Corrupt core disciples dying under his hands, his excitement reached a level that only he could comprehend.
Of the seven waves of disciples, the majority had all died because of him. That was a kind of glory, an unspeakable glory.
Tang Wan-er and the others who had been cultivating the entire time had now woken up. Long Chen was pleasantly surprised to find that almost everyone had advanced a level.
That previous life and death battle had brought them huge benefits. They would have never thought that under that immense pressure, they would advance so quickly.
As for Tang Wan-er, she had originally been at the third Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation. Now she had advanced to the fourth Heavenstage.
The third Heavenstage was a large barrier. Once it was broken through, once you stepped from the early stage to the mid stage, your combat ability would be completely revolutionized.
Furthermore, having made their advancements under the pressure of this battlefield, their foundations had only become more stable.
As for Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and the other core disciples, they had all advanced to the third Heavenstage.
That filled the core disciples with confidence. That was especially true of those core disciples who had just awoken their ancestral marks. Feeling how powerful they were with their ancestral marks, they went crazy with joy.
When the dust cleared, those disciples once more swept through the battlefield. Guo Ran’s efficiency was especially shocking, and in less than fifteen minutes, everything had been cleaned up.
Just as they were preparing to set up the traps again, they were stopped by Long Chen.
Long Chen smiled. “That should have been the last wave. The traps are already useless now. The higher-ups have sent out news that the Corrupt path’s main army is quickly about to arrive. We should also get going and prepare for the final battle.”
“Hahahaha, finally! My fists are already starting to feel a bit restless,” said Gu Yang.
The others were also rubbing their fists in anticipation and excitement. Even Tang Wan-er and Ye Zhiqiu seemed to be looking forward to it.
This time, their strength had explosively risen. And most importantly, after overcoming that previous life and death battle, their mental states had greatly improved.
Although it couldn’t be said that they were completely unafraid of dying, they definitely wouldn’t panic. They would be able to remain calm even in the face of death.
Only with that kind of ability would they be able to release their greatest strength in battle. They definitely wouldn’t be oppressed by their opponents’ imposingness.
“Get up, Wilde. We’re moving out.”
Long Chen had to shout, causing everyone to laugh. Wilde had slept straight through the last two days. Whether it was the sounds of the fighting or the sounds of people making breakthroughs, he hadn’t so much as twitched.
Long Chen knew that this was Wilde’s way of conserving his strength. His body was extremely unique. If he were to become active, that would use up his precious energy. That was why he had to constantly eat just to maintain an equilibrium.
However, this battle had occurred too suddenly. Cang Ming had been too busy forging new weapons for the two of them, and as a result, he hadn’t had enough time to prepare rations for Wilde.
That was why Long Chen had Wilde sleep for most of the time in order to conserve his energy. Otherwise, as soon as he woke up, he would immediately need to eat.
And as expected, as soon as Long Chen woke Wilde up, his stomach let out a loud grumble. He took out a large Magical Beast leg from his spatial ring to eat.
Everyone was already used to seeing that sight by now. Long Chen gathered everyone and began to talk seriously.
“These previous battles were noth
ing but a little warm-up. We only ran into some second-rate powers, not any of the true powers of the Corrupt path. This was all just a senseless show.
“But what we’re about to face now are the true experts of the Corrupt path. Whether it is their cultivation base or their combat ability, they won’t be inferior at all to you guys. So under no circumstance should you be overconfident or careless.
“Currently, we’re still completely intact. Not one of us has had to sacrifice themselves. I also hope to keep up such a miracle.
“Unfortunately, miracles only exist in legends. Let me remind you all again. Even if only half of us manage to survive to the end, that would still count as the heavens looking after us.
“So in the upcoming battle, you must bring out your full strength, using the weapons in your hands to cut down your opponents.
“Use their blood to dye your battle robes; use their souls as offerings to your wills; use your unyielding wills to bear witness to your hot blood!
“Move out!”
Everyone let out an earth-shaking roar. With Long Chen at the lead, they began rushing forward.
…
Over two thousand miles from the mountain valley where Long Chen and the others had been, there were thousands of experts gathered atop a barren mountaintop.
This was the gathering spot of the Righteous path’s experts. There were over three hundred Bone Forging experts present. Tu Fang was also present.
Senior apprentice-brother Wan was standing at the head of the law enforcers. They and the senior disciples of the other sects stood behind their Elders gravely.
Those Elders were staring at jade tablets in their hands. There were faint lines as well as light spots that were slowly moving over it.
“I wonder how the monastery’s disciples are doing… How many of them have died?” One of the monastery’s Elders worriedly looked at the jade tablet in Tu Fang’s hand.
This particular battle between the Righteous and Corrupt paths had occurred too suddenly. According to the previous times, the Corrupt path should only have initiated a battle several years from now.
And there hadn’t been the slightest sign of this battle. They had been caught entirely unprepared.