Volume 5 Chapter 114
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Volume 5 Chapter 114: Strange and Dangerous, a Life-and-Death Battle (Part 3)
Despair is a very strange state; sometimes, it can drive people mad, turning panic into resentment towards others. Other times, it is pure despair, facing an impending disaster without running away, simply closing one’s eyes and waiting for death. But sometimes, despair can also awaken human potential, causing one’s physical strength and intelligence to suddenly increase in a moment.
For example, at this moment, Bai Yu.
Earlier, when faced with the overwhelming attack of demon beasts, Bai Yu was confused and panicked, but with the help of Seventh Brother, he was pulled away to escape, lost and in a daze along the way. When Bai Yu stubbornly wanted to save Fifth Brother despite the situation, it was Seventh Brother who wisely stopped him.
From this viewpoint, it seems that Seventh Brother is much stronger than Bai Yu.
But when Seventh Brother pulled Bai Yu to the barrier, he found that it was already closed and showed no sign of opening for the two of them. Turning around, he saw that the demon beasts were getting closer, and Seventh Brother could almost clearly sense the hot, bloody air coming from their breaths.
In fact, it proved that compared to simple despair, despair after hope is shattered is even more hopeless. For instance, at this moment, Seventh Brother saw his hope vanish and, in an instant, his face turned pale and almost transparent, staring at the closed barrier. His body gradually became stiff, and then he seemed to finally realize his situation, suddenly shaking and collapsing onto the ground, his gaze vacant, losing all his previous decisiveness and clarity.
"Master… Senior Brother… Fifth Brother…"
Seventh Brother murmured, judging from the direction the demon beasts were rushing towards, that not only Fifth Brother, who had been torn apart right before his eyes, but also his proud Master and Senior Brother, would likely meet the same fate.
In the blink of an eye, the demon beasts were less than a mile away from the two of them.
Yet Seventh Brother suddenly stood up, intending to charge at the group of demon beasts. He knew that his counterattack was utterly powerless against the overwhelming number of demon beasts. He realized that before he could even kill one demon beast, he would be torn to pieces by them. He understood that nothing he did now would make any difference.
However, thinking of his eight friends who had been killed, and of his Master and Senior Brother whose fates were unknown, he did not want to just be killed by the demon beasts.
At the very least, even if he could injure a single demon beast before he died, that would count as revenge for his Master, Senior Brother, and those eight friends, right?
But just as Seventh Brother moved, a hand pressed down on his shoulder with such force that he could not move at all.
When he turned to look, it was Bai Yu.
However, at that moment, Bai Yu had changed significantly from his previous confused and helpless state; at least his clear eyes were something Seventh Brother had never seen before.
"What are you doing?!" Seventh Brother shouted angrily, his expression like that of Bai Yu earlier. In his despair, he only wanted revenge, even though it was unlikely to succeed, even if it was just to kill one demon beast.
A massive wave of demon beasts rushed forward, getting closer and closer. The ground shook as if a disaster from the skies had struck. The power created by the gathered demon beasts was astonishing, and Seventh Brother’s angry shout seemed so powerless in this situation.
Bai Yu shook his head and said quickly, "Seventh Brother, don’t do anything foolish. We still have hope."
Seventh Brother paused for a moment, but his expression quickly turned even angrier as he shouted, "What hope is there? The Righteous Alliance has already abandoned us, and those demon beasts are almost here. What hope do we have left? I just want revenge now. What about you, Bai Yu? Are you scared?"
Hearing Seventh Brother’s irrational outburst, Bai Yu felt a flicker of anger in his eyes, but with the demon beasts getting closer, he couldn’t afford to argue with Seventh Brother. He said urgently, "Believe it or not, just follow me and whatever you do, don’t be foolish."
Saying this, Bai Yu ignored Seventh Brother’s shock, quickly walked to the barrier, and raised his right arm. In that moment, Bai Yu’s right arm astonishingly swelled to many times its size, muscles bulging with incredible strength, and from a distance, that arm looked far bigger than an adult’s.
"Hua!"
As he shouted, Bai Yu’s right arm smashed down hard onto the ground near the barrier. The booming sound of impact drowned out the noise of the stampeding beasts nearby.
Stones flew everywhere, and after the dust cleared, a pit about a yard deep appeared before the two of them. But Bai Yu was still not satisfied. He jumped into the pit and punched down again, making the pit several feet deeper.
Seeing Bai Yu continuously throwing the dust and stones out of the hole, Seventh Brother thought he understood Bai Yu’s goal. He shook his head and said, "Bai Yu, it’s useless. This barrier was set by the masters. Even underground, it still exists. Digging a hole won’t help us return to the area of ‘Ronghua Mountain’."
As the demon beast got closer, Bai Yu continued to dig. After hearing Seventh Brother’s words, Bai Yu replied, "I know. I never intended to go back through the hole."
In the face of danger, in his despair, Bai Yu’s Divine Sense became clearer and sharper. In the past, Xu Qingfan taught him not only how to cultivate but also how to analyze situations, though Bai Yu never really paid attention to these lessons.
But now, seeing the demon beast drawing nearer, Xu Qingfan’s previous teachings flooded into Bai Yu’s mind, clear and vivid, leaving Bai Yu quite surprised.
According to Xu Qingfan’s analysis method, Bai Yu’s mind raced, analyzing his situation, advantages, and challenges.
The situation was clear: the path ahead was blocked, and the demon beast was attacking from behind, with death looming at any moment. The challenges were similar, but there were advantages as well: it seemed that the Righteous Alliance had disregarded him and Seventh Brother.
In Bai Yu’s analysis, the reason the Righteous Alliance had sealed the barrier was not merely to abandon the two of them, but because opening the barrier required time. The demon beast approached in an organized formation, clearly still able to move quickly. The Righteous Alliance had yet to react, not knowing how to face the suddenly attacking demon beast. They were also worried that if they put Bai Yu and Seventh Brother inside the barrier, the demon beasts would rush in when the barrier opened, leading to chaos within ‘Ronghua Mountain.’
However, Bai Yu knew that the Righteous Alliance would not let the demon beasts attack freely. Before the demon beasts could strike the barrier, the Righteous Alliance would find a way to stop them. The greatest danger for Bai Yu and Seventh Brother was not being torn apart by the demon beasts, but rather if the Righteous Alliance took action and the demon beasts retaliated. They would find themselves trapped between two attacking forces, where they would quickly turn to ash under such powerful attacks.
But their chance of survival lay here. With the Righteous Alliance intervening, the demon beasts would be unable to get close to the barrier for a while, which was the position they were currently in. As long as they stayed out of the area where the two sides were fighting, Bai Yu and Seventh Brother could survive.
However, the demon beasts were getting closer, and the Righteous Alliance could strike at any moment. It was too late for the two to escape, and the only place left to hide was underground!
So, the reason Bai Yu struck the ground with his fists to create a hole was not to enter the Righteous Alliance’s area but to find a way to hide from the upcoming battle between both sides.
In fact, Bai Yu was completely correct in his analysis. All the Condensed Core Stage cultivators remaining in the Righteous Alliance had gathered together to form a certain formation. It seemed they were about to use the barrier set by the masters to launch some kind of attack. When they looked at Bai Yu and Seventh Brother outside the barrier, their eyes also carried a hint of guilt and regret.
But when the powerful Condensed Core Stage experts saw Bai Yu starting to strike the ground to create a hole, they looked surprised and impressed.
Finally, when a massive swarm of demon beasts was only less than three hundred feet away from the barrier, a powerful wave of Spirit Qi suddenly erupted from within the Righteous Alliance’s barrier, causing the elemental Spirit Qi in the air to become chaotic.
At that moment, Bai Yu managed to create a hole five feet deep with a bend at the end. Without hesitation, he grabbed Seventh Brother, who was astonished by the strong wave of Spirit Qi coming from the barrier, and jumped into the hole.
Just as Bai Yu and Seventh Brother hid inside the bend of the hole, they felt the Spirit Qi wave erupt with great force.
At the same time, outside the hole, the massive barrier formation surrounding "Ronghua Mountain," which stretched three hundred miles, suddenly flashed with dazzling multicolored lights. These lights began to ripple like flowing water, gathering into one point, becoming even more brilliant. The power generated was enough to faintly compete with the force created by the countless demon beasts gathered together.
In this clash of powers, time seemed to freeze.
Then, at the place where the light gathered, it suddenly became a beam of light that attacked the rushing demon beasts. Although the beam shot out without a sound, Bai Yu and Seventh Brother, who were hiding underground, seemed to sense a terrifying wave deep within their hearts, causing them to feel a violent churn and resulting in bleeding from their seven orifices, suffering some serious internal injuries.
When the beam shot out, the demon beasts instinctively felt a wave of panic, but because they were tightly packed, there was no space to escape.
Finally, the beam struck the group of demon beasts. At the same time, the demon beasts counterattacked, opening their bloody mouths, launching various fireballs and ice spikes towards "Ronghua Mountain." But the barrier was very strong; the seemingly powerful attacks caused the ground to shake, yet only made the barrier ripple slightly.
On the other side, although the beam was powerful, after the attack, aside from the dazzling light, it was silent. But moments later, as the light and smoke dissipated, the two or three thousand demon beasts at the front suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving no bones behind.
At this time, there were only three to four hundred Condensed Core Stage cultivators remaining at "Ronghua Mountain." Although the two to three thousand demon beasts that were killed were mostly Human Level, there were still many Earth Level demon beasts. Such an effect was achieved because the combined array set up by the masters was extraordinarily mysterious.
With the sudden death of two to three thousand demon beasts, with no traces or injuries left behind, the shock was immense. Even though demon beasts have weak intelligence, they couldn’t help but stop their advance.
At that moment, the five elements of spiritual light that had appeared before reappeared above the barrier. As the spiritual light gathered again, it seemed that the beam was about to form, causing chaos among the demon beasts.
Just then, a fox’s howl suddenly echoed, and it seemed as if the world was shaken.
Following that, the beasts disregarded the terrifying beam that was about to form and quickly retreated to the sides. Then, under the gaze of thousands of beasts, five distinctly shaped demon beasts slowly walked out from the herd. The leading demon beast was a nine-tailed fox, and the previous fox’s howl clearly came from it.
He saw that the fox called out to a demon beast beside it that looked like a squirrel. Then, it looked deeply at "Ronghua Mountain" and raised its head to let out a loud fox cry that echoed through the land.
With the sound of the fox cry, like a well-trained army, the group of beasts retreated. They moved back three miles, a place that was very special; the Righteous Alliance could no longer attack the beast group, and the beasts gave the Righteous Alliance a basic sense of safety.
After a long time, when the Righteous Alliance was sure that the suddenly attacked demon beast would not strike again, they finally opened a small gap in the barrier. A cultivator ran out to let Bai Yu and Seventh Brother, who were in the cave, go back.
Is that how it ends?
Bai Yu felt a bit incredulous. Just moments ago, both sides were battling, shaking the ground, and the cave almost collapsed. Now, his clothes and hair were full of dust, making him look quite messy.
According to his earlier judgment, even though this battle was just a test between them, it should have taken at least half an hour to finish. He did not expect the leader of the demon beasts to make such a quick decision.
Bai Yu had previously dug a cave about five yards deep to avoid the battle, but when he climbed out, he clearly felt that the cave was now less than four yards deep. It was not that Bai Yu remembered it wrong; rather, the brief battle had actually lowered the ground by more than a yard!
Bai Yu had underestimated the power of the beast counterattack. He did not realize that if this fight had truly lasted half an hour as he had imagined, that seemingly safe cave would only protect him and Seventh Brother for a short time.
He awkwardly entered the barrier and found that the leaders of each sect were standing before it, their expressions serious.
Bai Yu and Seventh Brother showed fear on their faces as they walked slowly to the sect leaders, waiting to be scolded.
However, at this moment, the sect leaders were too busy to pay attention to the two sneaking out; in fact, facing countless demon beasts, the life and death of these two did not stir any feelings among the sect leaders.
How many demon beasts were there in that dark mass? What kind of disaster could they cause? Even though the sect leaders were used to storms, just thinking about it made them quietly scared.
Furthermore, the actions of these demon beasts were very organized, as if they were an army, surely led by a highly skilled leader. At this moment when the beasts retreated, if it was said that these demon beasts feared the Righteous Alliance’s counterattack, it was better to say they were regrouping after a long march. Their next attack could come at any time.
Most importantly, the few demon beasts that had appeared at the last moment carried an aura that even the sect leaders found frightening; those demon beasts were actually the legendary heavenly level demon beasts! Heavenly level demon beasts not only possessed terrifying strength but also had intelligence as sharp as top human talents.
And what should the Righteous Alliance do against this endless wave of demon beasts? Most of the powerful cultivators were on missions across the Shenzhou Continent and could not reunite with the headquarters. Although the formations set by the masters were powerful, their energy would eventually run out, and the masters that the Righteous Alliance relied on had no idea where they were.
Thinking of this, the sect leaders all felt a wave of despair.
Seeing the leader, Qinglingzi, wave his hand, Bai Yu and Seventh Brother quickly stepped aside, secretly relieved to have avoided a scolding.
"Brother Yu!"
Just after leaving the sect leaders, Bai Yu heard Zhang Ningmei’s voice. He turned to look, and Zhang Ningmei was running towards him, with Ting’er following behind. Zhang Ningmei’s eyes showed strong worry and anger, while Ting’er remained indifferent. If you looked closely, you could see a hint of regret in her expression.
"I’m sorry, two elder martial sisters. It was my fault this time, and I made you worry."
When Zhang Ningmei reached Bai Yu’s side, she wanted to scold him. After seeing the scene outside the barrier, she almost fainted. Now that she saw Bai Yu was fine, even the usually calm Zhang Ningmei felt a surge of anger. Just as she was about to speak, Bai Yu spoke first.
His expression was sincere and natural, without the dismissive look he had when he was begging earlier. Most importantly, Bai Yu didn’t make any wild promises like "It will never happen again," as if such words were no longer needed.
Looking at Bai Yu’s serious and thoughtful expression, Zhang Ningmei felt that this little brother, who would never grow up, had changed a bit. He seemed more mature and calmer now.
※※※※
"What’s going on?" Xu Qingfan said, looking at the scene in front of him, filled with doubt.
At that moment, Xu Qingfan, Jin Qinghan, Master Bo Guangyan, and a monk named Bo Hui from the "Mercy Cloud Temple" had come to the blood-red valley, guided by Little Black.
But the scene they saw left Xu Qingfan in shock.
"What is happening?"
Master Bo Guangyan beside him asked.
Xu Qingfan pointed at the empty mountainside in front of him, frowned, and said, "According to Little Black’s scan, there should be about four hundred ‘Beast Madness cultivators’ in this mountainside, but now there isn’t a single one to be seen, not even a trace of their energy. This is truly strange."
"How could this be? Is it possible that there is another way out of this cave, and those ‘Beast Madness cultivators’ left through it before we arrived?"
Jin Qinghan asked curiously.
"How could that be so coincidental?" Xu Qingfan shook his head, then hesitated for a moment, turned to Master Bo Guangyan, and said, "We should go in and investigate."
This time was different; two small teams were working together, and Master Bo Guangyan’s skills and reputation were greater than his, so Xu Qingfan needed to discuss various decisions with Bo Guangyan.
"It must be this way."
Bo Guangyan nodded and led the way into the mountainside, while Xu Qingfan and the others quickly followed.
Inside the mountain, the blood-colored stones around emitted a faint red glow, making the surroundings feel even more eerie and oppressive.
"From the outside, it seems there should be no other exits in this mountain, but we cannot deny the possibility of hidden passages. We should carefully check if there are any hidden paths in the walls or underground," Xu Qingfan quietly suggested.
The others nodded in agreement and spread out to examine the blood-colored walls, tapping and knocking to see if there were any hidden passages.
As they tapped and knocked, time passed unnoticed, and the four of them failed to realize that the glow from the blood stones had grown dimmer.
More importantly, some of the blood stones on the walls and the ground began to loosen slightly. These stones, made of an unknown material, not only concealed the cultivators’ presence but also shifted silently, so unless seen directly, it was impossible to detect them after turning away.
Compared to Master Bo Guangyan, who is called a second-generation disciple but is actually treated the same as a first-generation disciple in terms of treatment, entry time, and cultivation level, Master Bo Hui is truly the top among the real second-generation disciples. Although he has only practiced for two hundred years, he has reached the late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage, which has been observed by many elders at the "Mercy Cloud Temple."
Although Bo Hui has received much praise, he is humble and low-key, acting with caution. In the "Mercy Cloud Temple" team, he is just a second-generation disciple, yet he is highly valued by Bo Guangyan. For instance, during this exploration of the cave, even though there are many first-generation disciples in the team, Bo Guangyan chose to keep him by his side.
Like the other three, Bo Hui was also tapping and knocking around the blood-colored walls in the mountain, using sound to detect if there were empty spaces inside.
Suddenly, Master Bo Hui felt a slight tremor in one of the walls at the corner of his eye. However, the light was dim, and the wall shifted silently. He could not detect it with his Divine Sense, and there was no sound at all. Master Bo Hui hesitated, unsure if it was real or just his imagination.
Then, Master Bo Hui walked towards the loose spot.
When he reached the loose spot, Master Bo Hui hesitated for a moment before getting ready to knock on the wall.
But just as his hand reached out halfway, the wall suddenly exploded, and a Beast Madness cultivator lunged at Master Bo Hui, eyes blood red and drooling, looking fierce.
Master Bo Hui was startled and prepared to step back, but he was horrified to find a pair of bloody hands suddenly appeared under his feet, gripping his legs tightly.
In that brief moment of delay, the Beast Madness cultivator that had emerged from the wall leaped onto Master Bo Hui and started biting him.
More Beast Madness cultivators crawled out from different places in the wall and underground, rushing in front of Master Bo Hui to bite him.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The same scene, though with some differences, was also happening to Xu Qingfan and the others!
