Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 416
"Haha. Hahahaha!"
Yan Chifeng burst into laughter. "Of course, the Temple of Immortals is not that kindhearted. However, I didn't treat them honestly, either! Anyways, I have received a lot of secrets arts from the Temple of Immortals that can potentially increase the longevity of qi-trainers by decades!
"Why could all the qi-trainers from history to today only reach the 99th level of the Refinement Stage? Because our training methods and our living environment are too rough. Our life is too short, and our prime years are even shorter!
"Let's take this 'former best warrior' for example!"
Yan Chifeng shook Yan Xibei roughly and laughed in derision. "How magnificent and dominating he was years ago! But now that he is old, he is purely at my mercy like a dog!
"With the profound secret arts of the Temple of Immortals, our lives can be lengthened, and we can keep ourselves in our best state. It is very likely that we will break the ceiling and enter the legendary 100th level of the Refinement Stage!
"Come here and stand on my side. I'll share the secret arts with all of you. We'll rush out of Iron Plateau and reign the Flying Star—"
The more he talked, the more excited he got. He completely overlooked the old man under his control.
Before he could finish his last word, Yan Xibei, who had been suppressed by him, suddenly bulged his eyes and bellowed. Simultaneously, his elbow flew backward with all the spiritual gas that he could muster!
The attack condensed all the strength inside his body. He was not preparing to defend at all!
Yan Chifeng did not foresee that the old man still had the ability to counterattack. His chest was smashed heavily, and his ribs were immediately broken, almost piercing into his heart.
He screamed and cut his dagger deep into Yan Xibei's neck. A terrifying arrow of blood darted out!
But the two of them were separated because of the attack.
"Master Yan!"
Countless qi-trainers who had been helped by Yan Xibei before lunged forward in anxiety and fury.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Heaven Wolves Tribe was best at shooting. Countless guns had been locked onto Yan Chifeng since long ago.
Without Yan Xibei as his shield, countless crystal bombs and bullets immediately rained upon him and raised dozens of orange fireballs near him!
Yan Chifeng truly deserved to be a young expert above the 80th level of the Refinement Stage. Even under the barrage of so many people, he still concentrated his spiritual gas and lunged back toward at the Truth Cabinet.
The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe and the chief of the Feathered Snakes Tribe tried to block him, but Yan Chifeng dodged both of them and landed on the Truth Cabinet!
"Come here!" Yan Chifeng grinned hideously.
On the Truth Cabinet, Li Yao was still in a trance, his face pale, suggesting that he had not recovered from the pain of his soul being tormented yet. He was clearly the best hostage on the spot!
However, the moment he landed on the Truth Cabinet, Yan Chifeng sensed a sharp killing intent from Li Yao's seemingly dumb eyes!
For a moment, all the pores on Yan Chifeng's body constricted!
Hu!
Two streams of surging spiritual gas collided abruptly on the Truth Cabinet. The sandstorm they raised wreathed the Truth Cabinet as if it were a stage concealed by curtains. There was no telling what was going on. A feeble sound of blades colliding spread out. Then it was absolutely silence.
The wind on the desert blew by coldly, pulling open the curtains of the stage.
On the Truth Cabinet, Li Yao and Yan Chifeng were frozen, like two statues, with their backs against each other.
Yan Chifeng's long sword pointed at the air behind Li Yao, while Li Yao's saber was aimed to the sky behind Yan Chifeng.
Everyone below held their breath.
A drop of blood slowly rolled from the tip of Li Yao's saber. It was shivering and about to drop to the ground.
Yan Chifeng tried to move his eyes, but he couldn't even complete such a simple movement.
Li Yao retracted his saber and drew close to Yan Chifeng, almost kissing his earlobe, while he said in a barely audible voice, "Are you curious where I hid my magical equipment that I claimed could fool the Truth Cabinet?
"Idiot. There's no such magical equipment at all. It was merely an offcut when I practiced my micro-craving skills.
"The Truth Cabinet is a marvelous tool from ten thousand years ago. I hadn't even seen it before today, so how could I figure out its mechanism and create a corresponding gadget to fool it?
"I was just lying to you so that you would underestimate me in our final battle that would definitely take place on the Truth Cabinet.
"Why could I pass the test of the Truth Cabinet, you ask?
"It's a long story. I can see that you are in a hurry. Why don't we talk about it later?"
Yan Chifeng's eyes remained frozen, but the hatred in them grew more and more intense. He stared at Li Yao, and his lips trembled. However, nothing except hisses escaped his mouth.
Pu!
A horrifying wound appeared on Yan Chifeng's neck. Almost half of his neck had been chopped off. A cluster of bloody mist suddenly blossomed like a red lotus and dyed the Truth Cabinet as if it were in a feverish dream.
Clang!
His long sword falling to the ground, Yan Chifeng kneeled down slowly before Li Yao, resentment written all over his face. His head fell aside, and he stopped moving.
Chapter 618: Thunderous Roar Roars! |
Li Yao shook off the last drop of blood on the tip of his saber and returned the blade to its sheath as he secretly sighed.
If possible, he didn't want to kill Yan Chifeng.
The scheme of the Temple of Immortals on Iron Plateau was too complicated for a maniac of training such as Yan Chifeng to be the supervisor. If he was killed, all the leads would disappear.
However, Yan Chifeng was also an expert above the 80th level of the Refinement Stage. Li Yao only pretended that he was still in the agony of his soul being torn apart so that the man would draw close to him incautiously.
His execution of Yan Chifeng had been extremely lucky but also dangerous.
Li Yao was not confident at all that he could capture such an expert alive.
Below the Truth Cabinet, when the warriors of the six tribes saw that Yan Chifeng, one of the few top experts in his generation, kneeled down and died, they all exclaimed in shock.
Those of the Burning Sun Tribe were wearing complicated expressions, not knowing what they should do with the situation.
Many other people, in the meantime, went to Yan Xibei.
The previous best warrior of Iron Plateau was no longer the hero he used to be. A terrible wound had been left on his neck. Although it had been blocked by herbs and stopped bleeding, Yan Xibei looked terribly weak. He couldn't even talk because of his injured throat. Tears of regret and embarrassment flowed out of his brown eyes. There was no telling whether he was feeling sorry that the Burning Sun Tribe had been fooled by the schemer or that he had been so humiliated by his nephew in public.
Li Yao leapt down and said to the four chiefs on the spot, "Now that the truth is out, why don't I invite a representative of the Cultivators in the valley out so that we can figure out the details together?
"Cultivators will be carrying first-aid kits. The medicine in them should be enough to seal Master Yan's wound for now. We'll make further pl—"
Before Li Yao could finish, a quake suddenly shook the ground beneath them. The ground seemed to become a surging ocean, and rumbling noises echoed underground. The earth broke apart, and many True Qi tanks fell into the newly opened ravines!
Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!
Dozens of horrifying cracks appeared near the valley, from which dense mist spurted out. The grey mist seemed to be alive and continued spreading and dispersing, soon enshrouding the entire valley area. It surrounded everybody on the spot like a circular great wall, reaching high into the sky.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Creepy shrieks came over from the grey mist. Countless black shadows were hovering at a low altitude.
Shua!
One of the black shadows suddenly dashed out of the grey mist toward the single tank closest to the mist. In the blink of an eye, the knight on the tank had been snatched into the mist!
The sound of bones being broken and flesh tearing apart immediately echoed inside the grey mist, accompanied by screams and laughter of demon beasts!
"This is—"
The grey mist had come too quickly for anybody to realize that they were being surrounded. The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe and the chief of the Feathered Snakes Tribe looked at each other and said, their faces pale, "An egg of apocalypse has exploded!"
Li Yao gasped in shock. "How is this possible? Didn't one of them just explode?"
Some bizarre-shaped shadows could be vaguely seen inside the grey mist.
They were like giant fetuses that were still stained with wet, thick amniotic fluid. Looking like half-melted apocalyptic beasts, they were even more disgusting than the fully-grown ones.
Many apocalyptic beasts were dragging tubes that looked like bloody vines that extended toward the depths of the grey mist. The tubes were expanding and shrinking nonstop, sending energy into their bodies.
The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe smiled bitterly. "It's true that the eggs of apocalypse in our place have just broken out. But this is the Dark Continent, far away from the territory of the six tribes. The eggs of apocalypse here have absorbed the resources hundreds of kilometers nearby. They do not belong to the system of the eggs of apocalypse in our territory.
"Besides, there are many circumstances that can lead to the explosion of an apocalyptic egg in advance!"
Li Yao narrowed his eyes.
He remembered that Xiong Wuji had told him why the eggs of apocalypse should not be detonated. It was because explosions tended to stimulate the eggs of apocalypse to release the beasts earlier!
"Damn!"
Li Yao gnashed his teeth and thought through many things.
He finally understood why Yan Chifeng had lured him to this valley. As it turned out, the Temple of Immortals still had backup plans here.
A maturing egg of apocalypse must've been somewhere below the valley. When the Temple of Immortals discovered it, they planted a lot of bombs near the egg.
If everything went smoothly, then all was good.
But if their plan did not go well and their scheme was revealed, just like what had happened just now, they would detonate the egg of apocalypse and release the beasts in advance to slay everyone on the spot!
In such a case, the elite warriors of Iron Plateau would all be killed. It was against the purpose of the Temple of Immortals, which was to diminish the strength of both sides. A lot of excellent cannon fodder would be wasted, too. However, the Temple of Immortals' plan could proceed again anyway!
Seeing more and more shadows popping up inside the grey mist and hearing the shrieks around becoming louder and louder, Li Yao squinted and asked in a low voice, "Can we reach out to the outside world?"
The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe shook his head. "We can't!
"Tremendous magnetic minerals are contained inside the hills and block all our signals. We cannot communicate with our home!"
Li Yao took a deep breath and touched the grip of Thunderous Roar.
As the number of the apocalyptic beasts in the grey mist increased, so did his own fighting will.
"Chief."
Li Yao asked another question, "Since the egg of apocalyptic was detonated in advance, it did not ripen, so the apocalyptic beasts inside won't be as strong as those in the previous battle of the apocalypse, right?"
"Of course. When an egg of apocalypse is triggered prematurely, most apocalyptic beasts inside will be killed instantly because they are still merely in the embryo state. Those lucky enough to survive will have no more than one tenth of their capability left."
The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe smiled bitterly. "But we are seriously short of hands, too. Although the best warriors of Iron Plateau have been gathered here, there are only several thousand of us, and we don't have any reinforcements."
"Let us prepare to fight!"
Li Yao remarked, "We might have reinforcements."
After that, Li Yao turned around and rushed toward the valley.
The Cultivators from the Great Horn Exo Society, to avoid a misunderstanding, had been hiding inside the valley.
They had talked with the hostages and learned what had happened to them.
However, the suddenly appearance of the grey mist had surprised all the Exos.
Lei Dalu strode forward and asked, "What's going on?"
"The misunderstanding has been cleared for now, but we've got a new situation."
Li Yao quickly explained everything that happened and the eggs of apocalypse to them. He glanced at the Cultivators and then stared Lei Dalu in the eye. He said one word after another, "Right now, you have two options.
"The first option, go back!
"Your crystal suits all boast amazing short-distance flight abilities. With the Iron Plateau natives fighting ahead, it won't be difficult for you to escape the siege of the apocalyptic beasts!
"The second option, go forward!
"You will fight side by side with the Iron Plateau natives and slay all the pests until we march out from the front!
"I appreciate that so many people who barely know me risked coming such a long way here to rescue me.
"So, I don't want you to die for nothing.
"The situation is unclear now. Both directions entail dangers. But to be honest, I think it is more dangerous to stay and fight!
"To retreat or to fight, it's your call."
Finishing his speech, Li Yao closed his facial cover and turned around.
"Wait!"
Lei Dalu shouted silently, "Are you staying to fight with the Iron Plateau natives?"
Li Yao replied without looking back, "I promised an Iron Plateau native that I would show him what a real Cultivator should be like."
Carrying 'Thunderous Roar' on his shoulder, he strode out of the valley.
Lei Dalu opened his mouth and cursed silently. He returned to the company of the Great Horn Exo Society.
"Captain, what is going on? What did the barbarian of Iron Plateau say?"
"What's happening outside? Where did so many demon beasts come from? They seem very strong!"
"Captain, the hostages have been saved. What do we do now?"
Lei Dalu was silent for a moment. He then rubbed his face hard and said seriously, "Stop yelling. We are going to make a choice now."
…
When Li Yao returned to the outskirts of the valley, the grey mist was much thinner. The grinning, weirdly-shaped apocalyptic beasts were much clearer than before.
Earsplitting roars burst out in the battle formation of the qi-trainers, which even eclipsed the shrieks of the apocalyptic beasts. Everyone's fighting will was soaring higher than ever!
However, there was a hint of grief inside the fighting will.
Li Yao asked around and learned that, when he went to contact the Cultivators inside the valley, Yan Xibei had dashed into the mist on his wheelchair while the other qi-trainers were gathering their tanks and preparing for the battle.
"Master Yan must've found the insult unbearable!"
His eyes red, Shi Meng sighed. "He couldn't bear to see the Burning Sun Tribe as it is now and decided to wash away the dishonor of his tribe with his own death!"
Li Yao opened his mouth but didn't say anything. There were still a lot of questions that were bothering him, but Yan Xibei's sudden death cast him into confusion again. He felt that one of his feet had already stepped into an abyss, and it was quite awful.
However, all the questions could only be answered after the pests in front were cleared!
Click!
Li Yao set Thunderous Roar to burst mode and loaded the explosive bullets the size of a baby's fist made of the cores of apocalyptic beasts!
"Ho! Hooooo!"
Finally, enough apocalyptic beasts were gathered inside the mist. Uttering soul-stirring shrieks, they marched toward the qi-trainers' battle formation. However, their shrieks were soon suppressed by earsplitting explosions!
Li Yao pulled the trigger brutally, and Thunderous Roar roared!
Chapter 619: Breaking the Death Curse! |
Thunderous Roar had been designed to launch Wolf Fangs. But after Li Yao's modification, it was now able to launch super explosive bullets made of apocalyptic beasts' cores continuously!
The super explosive bullets were all refined out of the cores of the dragon-level apocalyptic beasts. Every darting bullet was roaring crazily like a dragon-level apocalyptic beast!
In a moment, the hundreds of square meters in front of Li Yao were enveloped by the blast. Countless enormous tides made of lights and flames overlapped and swept the battlefield each higher than the previous one!
These apocalyptic beasts were all semi-finished products that had been released prematurely. How could they resist the explosion of the cores of the real dragon-level apocalyptic beasts?
In the earth-breaking explosions, countless apocalyptic beasts had been ripped apart into pieces by the unstoppable furious power before they had the chance to stretch their claws!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Thunderous Roar seemed to be alive when it was firing in burst mode. The recoil was so huge that it was struggling hard in Li Yao's arms as it roared earsplittingly like an infuriated primordial animal!
Li Yao's head seemed to have turned into a volcano. His soul was burning so intensely that invisible flames were popping up from his head. The spiritual gas of the 80th level of the Refinement Stage was full unleashed, and he turned into a mobile human-shaped artillery.
Something seemed to be spurting out of Li Yao's body together with each bullet. When the super explosive bullets exploded where the apocalyptic beasts were densest, the pictures of flying flesh and savaging flames made his fighting will soar and his blood simmer. He felt that the deepest part of his soul was tremoring beyond his control!
