Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The Sky Pillar Sect was aware of the Great Serpent’s existence, but no one had fought against it before. Naturally, they had no idea what abilities it possessed until now.
First, the Great Serpent had pretended to be weak and lured its enemies about a hundred meters away from their Great Defensive Ward. It was to prevent the cultivators from retreating behind their ward and avoiding its attacks. When the time was right, it launched a series of lightning strikes that destroyed its biggest threat in an instant.
The surprise attack hadn’t just thrown the spell cultivators into disarray, it also earned the Great Serpent a breather. Next, it opened its mouth and spat a puff of green fog at the Spirit Artifacts that were flying circles around it.
Exclamations of surprise broke out from the cultivators immediately. It was because the combat cultivators and ghost cultivators attacking the Great Serpent discovered that their connection to their Spirit Artifacts had been severed.
The reason a cultivator could manipulate a Spirit Artifact remotely was because they gained the ability to control Spiritual Power that was outside their body after they had reached the Seventh-Order. Assuming that the Spirit Artifacts contained a sufficient amount of Spiritual Power, they could be manipulated like an extension of the cultivator’s body. This was the truth behind a cultivator’s telekinesis, at least at the Spirit Creek Realm level.
At higher cultivation realms, cultivators would gain a new power called the Divine Ego. For example, Divine Ocean Realm cultivators could skip this whole process and directly control their Spirit Artifacts with their Divine Ego. The long story short was that telekinesis via the Divine Ego was more powerful and flexible than via Spiritual Power.
At the Spirit Creek Realm level, the key to manipulating a Spiritual Artifact remotely was to control the Spiritual Power within them. However, the green fog spat by the Serpent was so corrosive that even the Sky Pillar Sect’s Grand Defensive Ward couldn’t quite withstand it, much less a mere Spirit Artifact. The second they were caught by the fog, the Spiritual Power within the Spirit Artifacts were immediately corroded to almost nothing. Naturally, the connection between the cultivators and their Spirit Artifacts were severed.
For a time, the sound of metal clattering against the ground filled the ears. That one puff had taken out at least a hundred flying weapons in one go. A couple more puffs later, and no more flying weapons could be seen in the sky. It wasn’t just because the Great Serpent had taken out most of them, but because those lucky enough to avoid being hit had been withdrawn by their cultivators. No one wanted to lose their weapons pointlessly.
Everything was happening so fast that the cultivators were unable to react immediately. The spell cultivators were unable to cast a spell, and the combat cultivators and ghost cultivators had lost the ability to use their flying weapons. This meant that the Great Serpent had completely neutralized the Sky Pillar Sect’s ranged attacks in just a few moments.
Zou Qi felt like something had snapped inside his brain. A chill grew from the sole of his feet all the way up to his skull.
The Great Serpent looked down on the puny cultivators with cruelty in its eyes. It curled its body slightly before swinging its massive tail at the wall of body tempering cultivators.
The body tempering cultivators were ready for this. Vitality churning around their body and their defensive Spirit Artifacts shining like mini suns, they waited patiently and fearlessly for the attack to hit them.
It sounded like a mountain had been sundered when tail clashed against metal and flesh. An entire swathe of Spirit Artifacts dimmed in an instant, and the weaker ones shattered into a million pieces. A good number of body tempering cultivators were also flying through the air, spitting blood and deflating like balloons.
The only ones who managed to block the violent attack properly were a handful of Ninth-Order body tempering cultivators, but the impact was so great that they too were pushed uncontrollably to the back. Their bodies did not stop shaking even after they had come to a stop.
Humans were not meant to go up against a monster like the Great Serpent. If they weren’t as numerous as they were, Ninth-Order or not, that tail flick would’ve killed them already.
The Great Serpent still wasn’t done, however. Next, it lifted its tail high and brought it down on a group of cultivators.
The fast ones managed to escape to safety in time, but the slow ones were flattened like pancakes. It was a terrible way to go, to say the least.
Since the Great Serpent began its counter attack, it had crushed the Sky Pillar Sect’s formation in a scant few attacks. Each time it brought down its tail, someone would depart the world in a most unsightly manner.
Perhaps the bloodlust was starting to get to the creature, but it suddenly pounced forward and caught a leaping combat cultivator with its mouth. While the poor bastard was screaming in shock and terror, It bit him in half and spilled blood all over its mouth.
To say that it was a visually impactful sight would be an understatement. Countless cultivators lost their nerve there and then.
They could accept being electrocuted to a crisp or flattened like a pancake. But eaten alive? That was too much even for people who had fought in countless battlefields.
“Flee! Flee!” Someone lost it completely and screamed.
“Who said that!?” raged Zou Qi while spinning toward the source of the voice. If the situation wasn’t too chaotic already, he would’ve dragged the screamer out into the open and executed them. The last thing they needed was for someone to bring down their morale even more than it already was. “Anyone who flees will be executed! Spell cultivators, cast your spells as soon as you’ve recovered! Combat cultivators and ghost cultivators, use your Spirit Talisman Papers! Body tempering cultivators, follow me to keep the Great Serpent at bay!”
He was supposed to be commanding from the back, but the situation would not allow it anymore. His side was already tethering on the brink of total collapse. It would truly be over if he, the Legate still didn’t do something, anything at all to save the day.
The Great Serpent was undeniably powerful, but it was one versus several hundred cultivators. They still had a chance to turn this around.
After seeing that Zou Qi himself had entered the battlefield, the panicking cultivators slowly but surely regained their cool. The spell cultivators had finally broken free of the lightning strike’s interruption and began channeling their spells once more.
The combat cultivators and ghost cultivators started using their Spirit Talisman Papers, and the group of body tempering cultivators led by Zou Qi wordlessly withstood the Great Serpent’s fury at the forefront.
Looking from a distance, a great number of ant-like cultivators were surrounding the giant Serpent and locking it down to a particular area. Further back, more cultivators were launching an endless stream of colorful lights at it. It was an impressive spectacle if nothing else.
It had to be said that Zou Qi was truly a remarkable cultivator. It took wits and courage to correctly identify when he should step onto the battlefield and actually follow through with the plan, especially considering how hopeless the situation had been. It was even more impressive that he actually managed to retake control of the battle despite having to pay a significant price!
He definitely deserved to be the Legate of this Outpost.
Once the combat cultivators and ghost cultivators had used up their Spirit Talisman Papers, they rushed forth to meet the Great Serpent in a melee. They attacked fearlessly while the body tempering cultivators covered for them as best they could. Although a casual flick was all the Great Serpent needed to crush them to bits, not a single person had backed down from the fight.
The Great Serpent’s scales might be as tough as steel, but no defense could withstand the fearless offense of a bunch of furious cultivators.
The Sky Pillar Sect’s casualties were increasing rapidly, but the Great Serpent was accruing a ton of injuries as well. By now, it was covered from head to toe in wounds, and much of its scales had fallen off to reveal tender, vulnerable flesh.
At this rate, the Sky Pillar Sect might actually be able to repel the Great Serpent, though killing it would be impossible since the Great Serpent would naturally retreat once the threat to its life became too great to ignore.
It was no wonder the Great Serpent was thought to be one of the strongest Spirit Beasts on the Spirit Creek Battlefield. It was impressive enough that it was fighting hundreds of cultivators—a good number of them being at Eighth or Ninth-Order—to a standstill, but it would’ve utterly crushed them with humiliating ease had it been at full strength. Not even Gray could’ve done better.
The Sky Pillar Sect’s morale skyrocketed when they realized they were actually going to repel the Great Serpent. Alas, it was not meant to be. Right before they could press the attack, a massive ship suddenly appeared from the horizon. It was flying about a hundred meters above the ground and moving toward them at a fair speed. Engraved to the bow of the ship was a picture all Sky Pillar Sect cultivators were most familiar with; the symbol of the Silverlight Island!
As if that wasn’t bad enough, they could see Luo Fu standing on the deck of the ship! The forces of Silverlight Island had finally arrived!
On the deck, Luo Fu channeled Spiritual Power into his eyes and observed the great battle that was happening outside the Sky Pillar Sect’s Outpost. When he confirmed that the situation was exactly as Hao Ren had reported it, he started laughing uncontrollably. “Hahaha! The Heavens are on our side today! You are so dead, Sky Pillar Sect!”
Behind him, everyone else was rubbing their hands in anticipation as well.
At the battlefront, Zou Qi’s face had turned a shade of purple. Their Outpost was currently being attacked by the Great Serpent, and they had lost a good amount of people up to this point. As if to pour salt on their wound, their sworn enemy, Silverlight Island had joined the party at the worst possible moment. The situation literally couldn’t get any worse than this.
He already thought that it was the Silverlight Island who attacked their ore vein last night, and he would’ve looked into the situation if the Great Serpent hadn’t appeared out of nowhere and attacked them. He had no choice but to deal with the immediate trouble first.
Now, he was almost certain that it was Silverlight Island who had attacked their ore vein last night. As he predicted, they had been lying in wait for the best opportunity to ambush their forces, and that opportunity was now.
There was only one question left: was the Silverlight Island behind the Great Serpent’s attack?
There was no way to know. If the answer was yes, then he could not even begin to describe how terrifying that was. If the answer was no, then today must be the unluckiest day of the Sky Pillar Sect!
“Retreat to the Outpost!” Zou Qi roared while dodging another fearsome attack from the Great Serpent. He was successful, but the shockwave was still strong enough to launch him to the ground and eject a stream of blood from his mouth.
If the Great Serpent was their only enemy, the Sky Pillar Sect could have emerged as the pyrrhic victor. But the Great Serpent and the Silverlight Island? Only an idiot would insist on doing the absolutely impossible.
An opening appeared on the Great Defensive Ward almost as soon as he gave the order. The spell cultivators hurriedly withdrew back to the Outpost, followed by the ghost cultivators, the combat cultivators, and finally the body tempering cultivators.
By now, the Great Serpent had gone mad with rage from all the wounds it had suffered. There was no chance it was going to allow the Sky Pillar Sect to withdraw peacefully. So, it summoned its lightning once more and blasted the spot in front of the opening again and again. The blood ran like a river in no time at all.
The clash had lasted less than an incense stick, but the Sky Pillar Sect had lost almost a hundred people in total. It showed just how fearsome the creature was.
That said, the Great Serpent seemed a lot weaker after it fired a series of lightning bolts. Clearly, it wasn’t a power that it could use willy-nilly.
The Grand Defensive Ward closed right before the Great Serpent could break through. Beyond furious, the Serpent hammered the ward so hard that some of its wounds had split open once more.
On the other side, the ship carrying Luo Fu and the cultivators of Silverlight Island brazenly flew past the Sky Pillar Sect’s Outpost before landing on the opposite side of the Great Serpent. It was a despair-inducing sight for the Sky Pillar Sect cultivators to say the least. That despair was only grief when they exited the ship and assembled into an army of hundreds.
The Great Serpent was still ramming the Grand Defensive Ward and spitting out green fog from time to time. It seemed that it would stop at nothing to obtain the dragon scale.
The Great Serpent alone was beyond the Sky Pillar Sect’s ability to withstand, much less the forces of the Silverlight Island. Their Grand Defensive Ward was only going to crumble faster when Silverlight Island officially began their assault.
“Are you the one who lured the Great Serpent to our Outpost, Luo Fu?”
Zuo Qi questioned hotly from behind the ward. Luo Fu would be covered in flames right now if his eyes could spit fire. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.
Luo Fu chuckled good-naturedly. “If only. No, we just happen to be at the right place at the right time.”