Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 16

Volume 6 Chapter 16: Observations of the Southern Wasteland (Part 3)

Xu Qingfan thought that most of the Southern Wasteland demon beasts had gone to the Southern Wasteland with the heavenly level demon beasts, but he did not expect that many demon beasts still remained.

At first, only a few nearby demon beasts ignored the gap in strength between the two sides and recklessly charged at Xu Qingfan and his group, but they were easily dealt with. However, soon dozens of demon beasts gathered to attack, followed by hundreds more, and with each wave, the number of incoming demon beasts kept increasing. Within just half an hour, Xu Qingfan and his companions were surrounded by endless demon beasts. All around them, there was a dark mass of fierce-looking demon beasts for miles.

Although most of the incoming demon beasts were only Human Level, and Earth Level demon beasts appeared only occasionally, everyone found it easy to deal with them.

However, while these demon beasts were weak, their numbers were endless. With Xu Qingfan and his friends’ strength, they could easily kill a large group of Human Level demon beasts with a single Taoist spell, but the demon beasts charging at them still seemed endless.

"There were hardly any demon beasts on the way; why have so many suddenly appeared now?"

While using various powers to deal with the endless demon beasts, Xu Qingfan frowned and thought quietly.

At this moment, Xu Qingfan and the others were flying in the air, so they only needed to deal with the flying demon beasts. However, it was still difficult to use their powers while flying, and those flying demon beasts were incredibly agile. Meanwhile, the demon beasts on the ground were also throwing flames and ice at them, continuously attacking. Although their strength was far greater, they did not dare to relax, and everything was chaotic.

Fortunately, Xu Qingfan had anticipated this situation and arranged for everyone to become familiar with each other and coordinate before coming to the Southern Wasteland. They were already well-coordinated and knew when to assist each other, so there was not too much danger.

Among them, Xu Qingfan, Jin Qinghan, and Wang Zegang had the highest cultivation levels and bore the greatest responsibility. Xu Qingfan had reached the middle stage of the Golden Core Stage, and his cultivation method was mysterious and powerful. With a wave of his hands, "Wind of Destruction" violently swirled in front of him, crushing any demon beasts that came within three meters of him without exception.

Jin Qinghan also reached the middle stage of the Golden Core Stage shortly after Xu Qingfan. At this moment, he was not using his powerful and mysterious abilities but was instead using the most basic Taoist spell—"Gold Sword Technique," where his fingers combined to form thousands of golden swords that quickly shot out, instantly causing many deaths and injuries among the demon beasts attacking him.

Wang Zegang, after receiving the cultivation method from Xu Qingfan, had dramatically increased his strength through the fusion of yin and yang and was about to reach the late stage of the Golden Core Stage. He clapped his hands together, sending out countless fierce blasts of energy that injured or killed the nearby demon beasts. Yet, amidst his strength, there was also a gentle energy, causing the bodies of the fallen demon beasts to fly toward others, creating chaos among the attacking demon beasts.

However, even though the situation looked good, Xu Qingfan’s expression gradually became serious.

The demon beasts of the Southern Wasteland were endless, attacking fearlessly, using their own lives in the struggle against Xu Qingfan and the others. While the demon beasts could endure this, Xu Qingfan and his group might not be able to hold out indefinitely. Noticing the consumption of Spirit Qi within him, Xu Qingfan realized that if they continued like this, they could only struggle with the Southern Wasteland demon beasts for four to five days. It was roughly estimated that the heavenly level demon beasts would take about the same amount of time to arrive.

In this way, how could everyone escape after the heavenly level demon beast arrived?

With that thought, Xu Qingfan stopped using the powerful and wide-reaching "Wind of Destruction." Instead, he took out the "Rainbow Ruler." The "Rainbow Ruler" floated in front of Xu Qingfan, and with a flick of his two fingers, it transformed into seven beams of colorful light, shooting rapidly towards the endless demon beasts ahead.

After merging with the "Ice Snow Crazy Leopard" minions, the "Rainbow Ruler" greatly increased in power and was incredibly sharp. As it moved, countless demon beasts were pierced by the colorful light. Often, one beam would pierce through a demon beast and even kill dozens more behind it, splattering blood everywhere.

Deterred by the strength of the "Rainbow Ruler," the demon beasts attacking Xu Qingfan paused. Seizing this opportunity, Xu Qingfan shouted, "We can’t keep fighting these demon beasts like this; we need to break through and battle on the move to conserve our strength!"

Hearing Xu Qingfan’s shout, everyone nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Lv Qingshang waved his hands rapidly, and countless spells shot out from his hands, floating around the group to form a protective shield, which was very strong and could protect everyone from demon beast attacks for a short time.

Then, under Lv Qingshang’s control, the floating spells began to move, creating a gap in a certain direction.

Xu Qingfan and the others gathered together, each using their powers to attack fiercely towards that gap. Their combined strength was enormous, instantly taking down a large number of Southern Wasteland demon beasts coming from that direction, and the previously tight encirclement formed a gap.

"Go!"

Xu Qingfan shouted and led the way towards the gap, and Jin Qinghan and the others quickly followed.

The next situation went quite smoothly. Seeing Xu Qingfan and the others break through, countless Southern Wasteland demon beasts chased after them, but they could not match the speed of these human cultivators, who were truly elite. Thus, they fought and ran, day and night passed, and time went by just as Xu Qingfan had planned. Under the constant skirmishing, everyone’s Spirit Qi consumption was indeed greatly reduced.

However, the world is full of unexpected events. Xu Qingfan had predicted that in four to five days, the heavenly level demon beasts would arrive, and they would face a real crisis. But because of the appearance of one person, a crisis that Xu Qingfan did not foresee arrived ahead of time.

While Xu Qingfan and the others were skirmishing, they unintentionally moved thousands of miles away. The surrounding scenery had greatly changed, and without the group noticing, they were advancing deeper into the Southern Wasteland.

Along the way they traveled, countless Southern Wasteland demon beast corpses formed a line, silently showing the path and distance that the group had moved.

After Xu Qingfan killed the last demon beast that pounced within three strides of him, he looked at the dust rising in the distance caused by the stampede of many hooves and sighed with relief. After this day of skirmishing, the fastest and closest demon beasts still remaining in the Southern Wasteland had already been wiped out. The days ahead would undoubtedly be much easier.

By instinct, Xu Qingfan turned to look at the surrounding environment and suddenly felt a familiar sensation about it.

Suddenly, Xu Qingfan remembered something, and a flash of realization struck him, causing his body to tense up.

When Xu Qingfan’s divination turtle shell was just completed, Master Jiuhuan asked him to test it to see if it was accurate, and what Xu Qingfan had divined was the outcome of this journey to the Southern Wasteland.

After the divination, a scene appeared in Xu Qingfan’s mind.

In the picture, an extremely tall black figure stood before him, its massive shadow covering his entire body, making him seem small like an ant. He had fallen to the ground, his face pale and his expression filled with helplessness. In the distance, a smiling middle-aged scholar was leisurely clapping, as if watching a performance. Further away was a heap of countless corpses, stacked together like a small mountain, some belonging to demon beasts and others to humans. In a haze, he thought he recognized a few of the familiar bodies.

The scene in the picture was exactly the same as the place where Xu Qingfan found himself now. Even the piles of corpses in the corners of the image were identical to those that had accumulated after Xu Qingfan had defeated the demon beasts.

The only difference was that Xu Qingfan was not alone; his companions were still around him. That incredibly tall figure and the smiling middle-aged scholar had not yet appeared.

It seemed that the scene Xu Qingfan had foreseen had not yet happened, but was about to unfold.

Remembering the few familiar bodies in the picture, Xu Qingfan’s heart tightened, and he suddenly shouted, "Danger is coming! We must leave here quickly!"

Though he knew that trying to change fate could backfire, the vision Xu Qingfan saw was not one he wished to witness, so he could not help but want to alter fate.

At this moment, the fastest demon beasts had already been killed by the group, while the slower ones would not arrive for a while. Everyone was sitting on the ground resting when they heard Xu Qingfan’s sudden shout, and they were all very surprised—what danger could there be? But Xu Qingfan looked anxious, and he did not seem like he was just speaking nonsense.

Out of trust in Xu Qingfan, everyone stood up and prepared to fly towards the distance.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened.

Just as Xu Qingfan and the others were about to leave, Little Black on Xu Qingfan’s shoulder suddenly seemed to notice something. It let out a cry and took flight into the air. At the same time, an incredibly powerful energy filled with a strong aura of death formed a black cloud, silently appearing and surrounding everyone, moving closer to them.

This black cloud was entirely made up of death energy. Although it was not pure, it was definitely not something a human cultivator could touch.

"What was meant to happen has happened. It seems we cannot change the fate that was set."

Fortunately, the moment Xu Qingfan felt a sense of danger, he had already taken out the "Five Spirit Bell." When the black cloud appeared and everyone had no time to react, Xu Qingfan was the only one who did. He raised his hand, and the "Five Spirit Bell" instantly grew countless times larger, transforming into a massive ancient bell with a radius of several meters, covering everyone inside and blocking the attack of the black Cloud of Death.

However, Xu Qingfan did not know that his action had already changed the original fate, because according to the original fate, under the attack of the sudden black Cloud of Death, more than half of Xu Qingfan’s nine companions would have already turned to bones from the aura of death.

Under the constraints of fate, a variable had appeared. Would the Heavenly Way return to its original state due to inertia? Or would it completely change direction under a series of variables?

Xu Qingfan could not afford to think about these things now, because their crisis was far from over.