Chapter 199: Assistance
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Elder Zhao and Yu Yun Jun along with the rest of the Elders were all silent. They knew how their Sect Leader could be selfish most of the time. At this point however, he was extremely clear on what he had to do and even sacrificed his life for their sect.
"Elder Zhao, since the Sect Leader has gone to Paradise, you are the stand in Sect Leader. Please lead our troops so as not to let down the Sect Leader and waste his sacrifice." Yu Yun Jun and Zhao Ning were the only Core Elders. According to the rules, both of them had the authority to take over as the Sect Leader in his absence. However, since Yu Yun Jun was a woman, it wasn’t suitable for her to lead in war times. Hence, she hurriedly spoke out to give up her claim.
"I understand. I shall take over from here and lead our disciples. Regardless of what happens, we have to defend our sect stronghold until our Paradise manages to overcome the assailants." Zhao Ning knew that the matter was pressing, and didn’t bother to reject the authority politely. He then continued, "Elder Yu, you’re proficient in Dao arts but not in martial arts. Hence you should let us defend them here. You should take Chu Xia down to the basement."
Yu Yun Jun paused for several moments before speaking out, "Let Chu Xia and the younger generation leave for the underground basement. I am still a Yin Master after all. The Sect had raised me up since I was little. I still have Dao arts to use against our enemies. Let me fight."
"Then you shall fight." Zhao Ning drew his sword as killing intent welled up within his eyes. The wall defending their stronghold had been completely torn down at this point. A dozen of Dark Altar Sect Daoists rushed into the monastery, as the Free Cloud Sect disciples remained in groups. They would occasionally cast some spells or retreat hastily. From time to time, screams of agony could be heard.
"Boom!"
Within Paradise, the Earth Immortal's clone gave out a groan as he fell back. However, the black aura which surrounded the Free Cloud Sect’s True Sovereign was starting to wear him down, and hurting him.
A flash of light soared past, as it started battling with the black energy which was wrapped around him. A sort of red, blood aura with spiritual energy was dripping down onto Paradise. The True Sovereign looked up, "When did you lay down this curse?"
When the Earth Immortal's clone heard this, he laughed out, "You are just a spiritual True Sovereign, how could you ever hope to comprehend the true essence of an Earth Immortal?"
Red bright blood seeped out of the corners of the Earth Immortal's clone’s mouth. Although the blood was red, it was different from the blood of normal humans. The blood was more like blood crystals. It dropped to the ground as he continued laughing, "This isn’t a curse. What you’re seeing is the effects of the attack on your sect stronghold. Looks like your sect won’t be able to hold on for much longer. You're getting hurt as a result of your sect being attacked. I wonder how you’re feeling now?"
As soon as he spoke out, there was a loud blast in Paradise and more cracks started to form. The True Sovereign shouted out to the rest of his Patriarchs, "Hold the spell. Maintain the spell to support our Paradise."
"Mysterious techniques, shine light all over my body and repair it….." The True Sovereign started chanting as small beads of light started to accumulate nearby as they rushed onto his body, repairing it.
Paradise was once a blissful, and beautiful place with a certain calmness and stillness. There were fresh flowers growing everywhere. But right now, everything was withering and dying. The entire place was clearly falling apart. Seeing such a transformation, one of the Daoist shouted out, "It’s now time for us to sacrifice ourselves."
Several Yin Masters hence stopped maintaining the spell as they gripped their swords and advanced.
The leader among the Yin Master wore a dark black robe. He had a three meter longsword which looked extremely sharp. His features were as delicate as glass and he exuded an entire ray of white light. Many people followed behind him.
At this point, there were still many Yin Masters chanting and maintaining the protective spell in order to prevent Paradise from completely crumbling. A Patriarch looked up and saw his Yin Master disciple before hurriedly shouting out to him, "Chen Xi, fall back. We don’t need our disciples to sacrifice themselves yet."
"Master, please forgive this disciple for being unfilial. But without Paradise, what future will we have? We will be like moths in a fire." Chen Xi then shouted out, "Master, please forgive your disciple for disobeying your orders."
As soon as the Daoist spoke out, his entire soul burned up in flames as it transformed into a beam of light. Several other souls behind him did the same, burning up their souls and transforming into rays of lights. The light rays then combined together, forming a large greatsword as it charged across to the enemy.
"So touching." The Earth Immortal's clone spoke out sarcastically as he stretched out a hand and pointed at the sword. The sword which was charging towards him abruptly stopped, but didn’t shatter as he expected it to. Several seconds later, the clone’s body was trembling from exertion of holding the sword in place. His face fell before he spoke out coldly, "A bunch of ants. Since all of you wish to impress, I shall turn you into dust!"
As he spoke, he waved a hand before a pearl appeared. As soon as the pearl was visible, it brought about winds and thunder, which clashed heavily against the illuminated greatsword.
"Boom" The giant greatsword completely broke apart, and was smashed into thousands of fragments of dust. Every particle of dust which landed on the ground turned into dew.
This wasn’t all. The entire sky turned dark, as if all the light from Paradise had been snuffed out. Soon after however, large drops of dew started falling from the sky onto Paradise. This dew caused Paradise to gradually mend itself, and the Yin Masters who were hurt started to recover. The Earth Immortal's clone was still trembling, as blood dripped down from his nose as he took several steps back. He looked at the dew drops warily.
The True Sovereign then watched as Free Cloud Sect’s imperial edict battled with King Lu’s tile as he laughed out. "Did you think that only you had such methods?" Immediately after those words were uttered, a certain vibration started to form throughout the entire Paradise which turned into ripples. The ripples came from all directions and were moving in towards the Earth Immortal's clone, trying to wipe him out with those powerful forces.
The dew kept raining down upon Paradise, causing all the injured Yin Masters to recover. The mortal form of the Earth Immortal's clone kept shivering, as a blood mist started to waft out from his body. The dew was causing him to decompose gradually.
"It’s impressive how you’ve managed to understand Paradise to this extent, and could even muster such skills. The dew drops were probably like your incense, empowering you huh? Indeed you are a True Sovereign." The Earth Immortal's clone spoke out coldly to him.
In that next second, the True Sovereign gave out a shout as he conjured a long spear and charged towards the Earth Immortal's clone.
Watching the True Sovereign charging at him, the Earth Immortal's clone laughed out, "Haven’t you witnessed my strength? I had wanted to kill you from the first second, but was unable to. However, I’ve managed to use that time to charge and accumulate energy for my skill."
"Heavenly Imp!"
Immediately after the clone’s words, the entire sky blew up, causing a rift to form. Behind the True Sovereign, a splat of blood started increasing in volume until it transformed into a blood person. The minute this blood person appeared, it held onto a huge chain, which was also connected to the Earth Immortal's clone. The chained up area had become a prison of sorts.
"How else do you think Imperial Qi is used?" The Earth Immortal's clone then waved a hand. King Lu’s Imperial Qi paused before it swirled over, transforming into a longsword with dragon inscriptions all over it.
"You’re dead!" Just before the longsword was about to descend, the entire sky shook violently and a ring of fire appeared. The minute the ring of fire appeared, the energy within Paradise seemed to increase considerably as energy swarmed into the fire, making it heat up with increased ferocity. The fire then charged towards the Earth Immortal's clone and his sword.
"Eh? There’s a new addition to Paradise? Someone with the requirements to join Paradise?" The Earth Immortal's clone was taken aback as he saw the ring of fire charging straight at him. In an instant he disappeared from view and reappeared some distance away. At this point, a female Daoist snuck up behind the back of the blood person, who was holding onto the chains and imprisoning all of them within the small area. She decapitated him with her sword with a single blow.
"Pu!" The blood person lost his head and crumbled to the ground. Seeing that she had killed him, she was elated. Her happiness gradually turned to shock before turning to anger as she realized that the chains were still preventing anyone from leaving.
"My Heavenly Imp was specially created to deal with the True Sovereigns in Paradise. How can your small sect ever understand such highly skilled magic? The difference in skills between us are too far apart!" The Earth Immortal's clone spoke out coldly, as killing intent welled up in his eyes.
"Boom!"
A streak of lightning flashed out amidst the dark clouds, illuminating the sky brightly. The wind was blowing across, causing trees and plants to sway. Pei Zi Yun was on horseback riding in a hurry toward Free Cloud Sect. From afar, he could tell that the battle was underway due to the sounds of killing and fighting.
All of a sudden, he sensed some danger and his brows twitched. He instantly jumped off his horse in anticipation.
"Pu pu!" Several arrows darted in the air and struck the horse which was still galloping into the distance. The horse took several arrows across its chest and fell to the ground as it neigheed out in pain. In the next second, it turned completely silent, having broken its neck in the fall. Seeing such a situation, Pei Zi Yun’s heart turned icy. Without hesitation, his shadow broke out in hot pursuit, as he darted into the darkness.
"Pu pu!" More arrows flew high overhead, as shouts of agony could be heard. Pei Zi Yun refused to stop as he continued speeding across toward the sect domain. The mountain which the sect was on wasn’t tall at all. After several hundred of meters, he arrived at the main road which led to the sect. He noticed that there were bodies scattered all over, and blood flowed freely from them.
Many injured people were on the ground groaning in pain, but no help arrived to save them. After walking several more steps ahead, there was a sharp curve ahead where the sounds of fighting became more intense.
"People fighting nearby?" Pei Zi Yun thought to himself before he hurriedly charged up.
He then saw a pair of Daoists, with numerous injuries across their bodies. They were standing back to back, trying to defend themselves against a group of swordsmen who had surrounded them.
"Paralysis Technique!" Pei Zi Yun shouted out and used his Dao arts without any hesitation. He accumulated a great amount of energy before unleashing it out at the group of swordsmen. A ray of bright light shot across, as it made a whistling sound and swept across.
These swordsmen also had basic Dao arts which they used to defend himself, as they struggled to break free from the curse. This spell could only last for a second or less before these swordsmen would be able to free themselves. However, this short amount of time was more than enough for Pei Zi Yun.
"Pu pu pu!" Three swordsmen screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. The remaining two swordsmen mustered their courage and slashed across at Pei Zi Yun. "Zhgn" could be heard as a pair of swords collided. Their swords rattled and vibrated with the force used from both side. Pei Zi Yun withdrew and struck so quickly that it caught one of them in the throat. In his next blow, he snuffed the life out of the last remaining swordsman. He died instantly, but some gurgling sounds could still be heard coming from his throat.
At that time, the pair of Daoists then felt the Paralysis Spell, which affected the entire area, subside. They were surprised that a Yin Master was able to cast spells affecting an entire area, their mouths were opened wide in amazement.
"How’s the sect?" Pei Zi Yun asked loudly.
The pair of Daoists hurriedly replied, "Our sect defenses had already been broken through. Elder Zhao is currently holding off the enemy. He instructed us to flee so that we can survive this siege and restart the entire Free Cloud Sect."
Pei Zi Yun pondered for some time before asking, "So what are you going to do now?"
The person on the left who was severely wounded paused before replying, "Senior brother Pei, follow me."
The other Daoist caught hold of him, "Junior brother, the sect wants us to survive, so that we can rebuild the sect after all this has blown over."
The injured Daoist then replied, "Senior brother, our senior brother Zheng saved me from the battle at the cost of his life, and now I’m still breathing. Since senior brother Pei needs someone to show him the way, let me go."
"There is a swordsman up ahead." The swordsman was guarding the main road, not allowing anyone in or out. Pei Zi Yun pointed at him. A flash of light burst forth, causing this person to be stunned.
The injured Daoist then dashed out to attack the swordsman.
"You’re looking for death!" The swordsmen dodged his blow before counterattacking viciously. The sound of swords clanging could be heard. The injured Daoist was forced to retreat several steps due to the viciousness of the swordsman.
The swordsman laughed out sinisterly, when everything in his vision turned dark. Pei Zi Yun jumped up from behind, his sword gleamed brightly. The next moment saw fresh blood spilling out as his head was lopped off and flew high up into the air as the head managed to shout, "Stealth attack!"
As if he didn't understand what had happened. Pei Zi Yun had sent someone out to attract his attention while he attacked from the back.
"Pui!" Pei Zi Yun laughed out coldly. That was the way with fighting tactics, it wasn't fair. Besides, they used more numbers to attack. Was that fair?
Seeing the head fly off from the body, the injured Daoist started hacking at the torso of the headless body in frustration, as if he was venting his anger and sadness out on him. His eyes were red, "That's what you get for killing my senior brother. That's. What. You. Get!"
Seeing something like this happen, Pei Zi Yun couldn't help but give out a sigh, "Follow your other senior brother and get out of here. You're in no condition to continue fighting. You will die."
The Daoist heard Pei Zi Yun’s words as he sat down on the bloodstained ground, hugged his own knees and started sobbing.
Pei Zi Yun looked up at the sky with a heavy heart, "If only we could have eternal peace. How good would that be."
As he finished speaking, he raised his sword and was on his way. The entire road was paved with dead bodies. From time to time he would meet with a swordsman or two, which he killed without hesitation.
Grand Hall
Fires were still burning outside, causing thick, dense smoke to rise high up in the sky. There was still some light within the grand hall. Zhang Yun had returned with many wounds on his body.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The thudding of the Patriarch’s Hall doors rang out. Almost all the surviving members of Free Cloud Sect were congregated within the hall. Several swordsman were outside trying to break the door down. Elder Liu was laughing out, "Knock the door down, and kill everyone in. All of you, follow the first group of guys. The Yin Masters inside have slowed down their spells and are obviously weak. Kill them first. We have to minimize our casualties from this point on."
"We already have many people dead at this point."
As Elder Liu spoke, a Daoist stepped forward and whispered, "Elder, the few swordsman we dispatched to the foot of the mountain have already been killed."
Elder Liu was astonished, "The rest of you follow my earlier instructions and kill your way in. I will go down and see who would dare to have grievances against Dark Altar Sect."
With a wave of his hands, he took several men along with him.
Along the way, screams of pain shook the sky. Pei Zi Yun took a turn and noticed that everything before him was a desolated wasteland. Somewhere in front, houses were being burnt down.
Further up were many more stained corpses. There were bodies of swordsmen, Daoists from both Free Cloud Sect and Dark Altar Sect. After yet another turn, he saw a bright light. More than ten people had surrounded the Patriarch’s Hall.