Chapter 402: The Spirit Folk Ancestor!
Chapter 402: The Spirit Folk Ancestor!
The complex underground network.
Through the guidance of the Earthly Stars Battle Flag, Yan Hong could determine Chen Mu's location, but this perception was not clear, only a vague sense of direction. Only when they were within a certain distance could the perception become clearer.
A rough estimate placed Chen Mu's position still over a hundred li away.
If they were on the ground, a distance of a hundred li would not be considered far, and for a Grandmaster, it would be a moment's work to cover. However, in this intricate underground network, due to the presence of the Seekwood Root System, even a Grandmaster could not rush recklessly. A hundred li was no longer a short distance.
Yan Zhengyang and his group, led by Yan Hong, headed towards Chen Mu's location. They twisted and turned through the underground tunnels, moving at a rapid pace, but events unfolded even faster. Before they could clearly sense Chen Mu's presence, two more people fell! Yan Hong's face grew even more grim.
Given the current situation, it seemed that the Spirit Folk Ancestor's encounter with their group was not merely a coincidence. It was likely premeditated, and he had probably been aware of them for some time but had been biding his time. Only when they were sufficiently dispersed did he strike, preventing them from gathering in one place and using the terrain and his speed to kill them one by one.
Fortunately, as they continued on their way, Yan Hong finally sensed Chen Mu's location through the main flag of the Earthly Stars Banner, and they had entered within a hundred li of his position.
But just at that moment—
"Your Highness, be careful!"
Yan Zhengyang's warning came as he brandished his white sword in front of Yan Hong, suddenly swinging it forward.
With a resounding boom,
The entire underground tunnel erupted into chaos, collapsing in all directions. No one knew what had happened, but Yan Zhengyang and Yan Hong were both thrown backward, slamming into the tunnel wall behind them. They were almost embedded in the rock, and each spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yan Zhengyang was a top-tier Grandmaster, and although Yan Hong's personal strength was just a hair's breadth away from the top tier, she was a royal descendant and held the main flag of the Earthly Stars Banner, allowing her to display strength no less than Yan Zhengyang's. However, despite their combined efforts, they were instantly overwhelmed and flung backward, unable to match their opponent.
Even the top Grandmasters on the Grandmaster List would be unable to achieve this.
There was no doubt about the identity of the attacker.
The Spirit Folk Ancestor,
Spirit Huan!
"Earthly Stars Formation!"
Yan Hong's mouth was still stained with blood, and her body was embedded in the rock, making her appear disheveled. However, her reaction was swift. Waving the main flag of the Earthly Stars Banner, she instantly enveloped nearby Grandmasters, including Liu Qingyan, in its light.
Everyone present was a Grandmaster, and although the situation was sudden and their minds were shaken, their reactions were equally swift. Almost simultaneously, they all raised their Earthly Stars Banners, and in an instant, a surging wave of Primordial Essence Aura connected through the formation, creating an interwoven Earthly Stars Formation that spread out like a net.
Swoosh!
At that very moment, a residual shadow flashed past, targeting Liu Qingyan, who was at the edge of the group.
The speed of this action was incredibly fast, and even Liu Qingyan, at her level, could barely see a faint shadow. She had no time to discern her opponent's moves and could only wield the Earthly Stars Banner to unleash the Primordial Essence Aura.
Boom!!!
A spreading green light, like a palm imprint, descended and collided with the Earthly Stars light surrounding Liu Qingyan. The impact of the two forces created a deafening boom, like an earthquake, causing the surrounding tunnels to shatter into pieces.
Since the Earthly Stars Banner had been fully activated, the Primordial Essence Aura of the group was interconnected through the formation. Even if they couldn't completely merge their powers, as long as they could blend a tenth or a twelfth of their strength, it would still be far superior to any top-tier Grandmaster. Therefore, Liu Qingyan staggered back several steps, clearly at a disadvantage, but she managed to withstand the attack without being defeated in one blow.
Through this collision,
Everyone also got a clear look at the attacker—a Spirit Folk with green skin and an aged appearance. The pressure emanating from him was terrifying, and as he stood there, he seemed to merge with the surrounding environment. Every move he made seemed to harness the mighty power of heaven and earth. It was indeed Spirit Huan, the Spirit Folk Ancestor!
"..."
The attack failed to kill Liu Qingyan, and instead, it was blocked. A flash of surprise crossed Spirit Huan's eyes, but he didn't hesitate. His figure flickered, and he pointed his finger at another Grandmaster.
Having lived for centuries, Spirit Huan had encountered countless Grandmaster teams that had intruded into the Seekwood Heavenly Realm. He knew that these individuals, from the Great Proclamation and the Outer Sea, possessed various formidable abilities, and he had already experienced many of them.
Humm!
At Spirit Huan's level, it seemed that martial skills and cultivation techniques were no longer important. Every move he made carried immense power, and a casual finger gesture could harness the raging power of heaven and earth, forming a colossal, misty finger that stretched for several zhang and aimed to kill the nearby Grandmaster, Hou Cheng.
Hou Cheng's face paled, and his eyes revealed a hint of gravity. At this moment, he dared not use his own techniques to defend himself and could only raise the Earthly Stars Banner, unleashing pure Primordial Essence Aura to counter the attack.
In an instant,
The yellow-brown light of the Earthly Stars Banner surged forth like a waterfall, colliding with the approaching misty giant finger. With a booming sound, the nearby ground shattered, and even the extremely tough and sturdy Seekwood Root System, buried in the mud and rocks, snapped and broke apart with a loud cracking sound.
Once again, a fierce clash ensued, and Hou Cheng stumbled back several steps, just like Liu Qingyan, managing to block Ling Huan's attacks. However, everyone's expression turned grim.
"Cough..." Yan Hong, holding the main flag of the Earthly Yin Formation, tore herself free from the embedded rock layer. Without hesitation, she reached out and produced a jade-green pill from somewhere, swallowing it in one go. Her pale face finally regained some color.
But her expression, like everyone else's, remained grave.
Yan Zhengyang coughed up a mouthful of blood, quickly regulating his chaotic inner energy. His face also showed discomfort.
The Spirit Race Ancestor, a true master of the Blood Exchange Realm, unleashed fierce and powerful attacks. With just one strike, he inflicted significant injuries on Yan Zhengyang and Yan Hong. If he had targeted the weaker Grandmasters in the group instead, he might have killed one or two of them before the Earthly Yin Formation could fully take shape!
This was the terrifying power of a Blood Exchange Realm expert. Even the top Grandmasters had almost no room for error against such an opponent!
Now, with the Earthly Yin Formation in place, they could withstand the attacks, but this brief clash revealed their clear disadvantage. They couldn't match the opponent's strength!
Firstly, they were short-handed. Even with the Earthly Yin Formation, they were limited as they couldn't use their most proficient techniques or their Spirit Weapons. They could only rely on their Primordial Essence Aura to counter the attacks, which restricted their abilities to some extent.
Secondly, Yan Zhengyang and Yan Hong had been injured by Ling Huan's initial assault. Although their injuries weren't severe and could be fully healed within a few hours, the problem was that Ling Huan wouldn't give them time to recover.
Ling Huan narrowed his eyes, not pausing his movements. His figure flickered, appearing beside another Grandmaster, and he pointed a finger.
The Grandmaster was startled and dared not be careless. He shouted, using the Earthly Yin Formation flag to summon Earthly Yin Energy and counter the attack. He pushed his palm upwards, and upon contact, he felt an immense force, causing him to stumble back several steps.
Ling Huan didn't stop; he stepped forward and pointed again, intending to kill this Grandmaster.
"Halt!" Wei Shuxian, the closest one, shouted coldly. He burst into action, intercepting Ling Huan, although his movements were slower than Ling Huan's. Nonetheless, he managed to take some of the force, easing the pressure on the Grandmaster.
Ling Huan had already figured out the structure of the Earthly Yin Formation and was trying to break through the defense of one of them. Wei Shuxian and the other Grandmasters were well aware of this, so they wouldn't let Ling Huan succeed. They were barely holding their own against Ling Huan's onslaught, and if any of them were severely injured or killed, the situation might collapse immediately!
"Not bad," Ling Huan said indifferently, speaking not in the language of the Spirit Race but in the Outer Sea language that everyone present understood.
At Ling Huan's praise, none of the Grandmasters showed any joy; their faces remained grave. In the next moment, Ling Huan burst into action again, this time targeting Yan Zhengyang, who had been injured earlier!
"Sever!" Yan Zhengyang's eyes flashed, and with a shout, he transformed his Primordial Essence Aura into Earthly Yin Energy, then controlled it to form a sword blade. He slashed forward, clearly more adept at manipulating the Earthly Yin Formation flag than the others.
Despite his injury, Yan Zhengyang managed to block Ling Huan's attack.
Ling Huan glanced at Yan Zhengyang, then disappeared and reappeared, attacking Yan Hong instead. He waved his palm, and a surge of Heaven and Earth Energy condensed into an ancient green palm print that descended upon her. The palm print seemed almost solid, with clear palm lines, and its pressure was suffocating.
Yan Hong's eyes darkened, and she raised the main flag of the Earthly Yin Formation. In an instant, Earthly Yin Energy rose, colliding with the palm print in mid-air. After a loud boom, her body trembled slightly, but she managed to shatter the descending palm print, blocking Ling Huan's attack.
Ling Huan watched this, narrowing his eyes.
His seemingly chaotic attacks were actually probing the power and techniques of the Earthly Yin Formation that Yan Hong and the others had formed. In just a few moves, he had figured out most of its secrets.
This formation... couldn't stop him!
"Very good," Ling Huan said, a cold glint in his eyes.
If he could bury Yan Hong and the others underground, then his previous inaction, allowing the destruction of over a dozen large settlements and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spirit Folk, would be worth it!
Boom! Ling Huan attacked again.
Although his previous moves were ruthless, they were mostly probing. Now, his attacks were more ferocious, as if he had found the formation's weakness. He bypassed the strongest, Yan Zhengyang and Wei Shuxian, and went after the weaker Hou Cheng and Liu Qingyan.
Although the Earthly Yin Formation connected them all, allowing them to summon the same Earthly Yin Energy, each person's control over it varied. With the same amount, the degree of refinement determined the power.
It can be said that the Earthly Yin power, evolved from the Earthly Stars Battle Flag and Formation Array, condensed by over ten Grandmasters, was far more massive in quantity compared to Ling Huan, the Spirit Ancestor of the Spirit Race. However, in terms of refinement and control, they fell far short of Ling Huan.
Fortunately, everyone present was a Grandmaster, seasoned veterans who had experienced countless battles. Even though they might not match Ling Huan in the subtleties of combat, their coordination with each other was still impeccable, supporting and defending each other.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The entire underground chamber reverberated with continuous booms, and the ground collapsed in all directions. This area of the underground chamber was not particularly spacious, but as the combatants clashed, the surrounding area crumbled, gradually forming a massive cave that became their battlefield. The intensity of the battle was no less fierce than a direct confrontation between two Blood Exchange Realm experts.
However, even with their seamless coordination, Yan Hong and the others still struggled to withstand the full-powered assault of the Spirit Ancestor. They could only manage to block and defend, without any opportunity to counterattack.
Among the over ten Grandmaster experts, including some of the top Grandmasters, they combined their powers using the Earthly Stars Formation Array and Primordial Essence Aura. Yet, they were still overwhelmed and forced into retreat by the formidable Ling Huan, who single-handedly suppressed them, leaving them in a perilous situation.
This Spirit Ancestor, comparable to a Blood Exchange Realm expert, demonstrated his terrifying strength without reservation.
Just as the battle reached its most intense moment, a figure swiftly approached through a cave passage from the distance, where the ground was constantly collapsing. It was not Chen Mu, but another top-tier Grandmaster, Zhou Zheng, who was closer to the action.
"This is bad..."
Zhou Zheng sensed the immense disturbance ahead, and his expression turned extremely grave.
At this moment, he still didn't know that the Spirit Ancestor had arrived and was engaged in a fierce battle with Yan Hong and the others. The main reason for their disadvantage was the dispersion of their forces. Even though he hadn't reached the battlefield yet, he could tell that the situation was likely dire.
Zhou Zheng hesitated, torn between abandoning Yan Hong and the others to escape alone or quickly reaching the battlefield to join forces with them. After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to intervene in the battle.
Even if he escaped alone, without finding and joining other teams, he would still be unable to evade the pursuit of the Spirit Ancestor. Moreover, the intensity of the battle ahead indicated that it wasn't a one-sided fight; Yan Hong and the others were holding their own to some extent. With his help, the pressure might be alleviated, and they might even have a chance to repel the Spirit Ancestor.
With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Zheng quickly approached the battlefield, already holding the Earthly Stars Banner in his hand.
But...
Just as he rushed out of the cave and caught sight of the situation on the battlefield, a loud shout suddenly rang out.
"Be careful!"
Zhou Zheng's vision blurred, and before he knew it, a figure appeared in front of him. This person exuded an aura of immense power and oppression, far beyond the reach of a typical Grandmaster.
His heart skipped a beat.
However, Zhou Zheng remained calm in the face of adversity. By the time he had rushed into the battlefield, the Earthly Stars Banner in his hand had already been awakened, and in an instant, it merged with the surrounding Earthly Stars Formation Array.
Without hesitation, he waved the banner, manipulating the Earthly Yin power in an attempt to block the Spirit Ancestor's attack.
But what awaited him were the chilling eyes of Ling Huan.
Ling Huan, who had been fighting barehanded with Yan Hong and the others, now held a green branch in his hand, which had appeared at some point. This branch seemed to emanate a vibrant life force, but as Ling Huan waved it, that vibrant life force transformed into a terrifying force of destruction, surging forward.
Pfft!
The Earthly Yin power manipulated by Zhou Zheng collided with the branch in Ling Huan's hand. It barely managed to withstand the impact for a moment before being completely obliterated. Zhou Zheng's body instantly froze in place.
His pupils contracted sharply, and his eyes reflected a hint of disbelief. He lowered his gaze, and to his horror, he saw that his entire left side, from the chest down, had turned into an empty void, as if erased, leaving only a steady stream of blood dripping from the wound.
Plop.
Zhou Zheng's eyes dimmed, and his body, missing half of its torso, collapsed to the ground, blood gushing out.
Witnessing Zhou Zheng being instantly killed by Ling Huan, Yan Zhengyang and the others' faces paled in shock. Even Yan Hong's pupils contracted, and she felt a chill run down her spine.
Zhou Zheng had already entered the battlefield, and even from a distance of several dozen zhang, he could manipulate the power of the Earthly Stars Formation Array. The strength he displayed was not far behind Liu Qingyan and the others. Yet, he was killed by Ling Huan in a single exchange!
This revealed that their current Earthly Stars Formation Array was not strong enough to withstand Ling Huan. That green branch was clearly a Spirit Weapon refined by Ling Huan, but he had not used it until now, only taking it out at this moment to kill Zhou Zheng in one move.
In other words, Ling Huan could have defeated them individually at any time, but he deliberately prolonged the fight.
This realization sent a chill down the spines of almost everyone present. They now understood Ling Huan's intention—he was using them as bait to lure the remaining members, including Zhou Zheng, into a trap, aiming to capture them all.
(End of Chapter)
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