“A Body Integration cultivator isn’t someone you can just kill off so easily. At the very least, the two of us combined wouldn’t stand a chance against one. Enough idle talk—let’s focus on the task at hand. I didn’t expect to encounter human cultivators so soon. This place should be at least half a year’s journey from the human race’s Tianyuan City,” the young woman interrupted her companion’s delusions with a frown.
“What’s so strange about that? They were probably human cultivators out treasure hunting. Since they’ve been dealt with, our mission is complete. Even if there are stragglers, we can leave them to the cleanup crew. Our job was only to eliminate obvious targets,” the demonic ghost sneered, its wings fluttering slightly.
“That’s true enough. Let’s go. The main force should be arriving soon.”
The beautiful woman nodded with a light chuckle, then vanished in a flash. Meanwhile, the demonic ghost suddenly opened its maw wide and inhaled sharply, sucking the headless corpse into its mouth. After a few chews, it swallowed the body whole, then flapped its massive wings and disappeared into the void.
Not long after these two foreign beings departed, a strange buzzing sound emerged from the horizon. At first faint, it quickly grew louder. A black dot appeared at the edge of the sky, then two, then three—until countless dots swarmed into view, dense as locusts, blotting out the heavens.
Though there were thousands of these black dots, each moved with astonishing speed, closing in on the massive mountain in an instant.
Now, their true forms became clear: winged beings identical to the earlier demonic woman and ghost. Bare-legged and scantily clad, they flew past the mountain in a roaring tide, with the demonic ghosts far outnumbering the winged women.
The winged foreigners poured endlessly into the sky, wave after wave, for a full hour, their numbers seemingly infinite.
Then, the sound from the horizon changed—thunderous rumbles joined the buzzing, and an enormous object resembling a mountain appeared. Towering two to three thousand zhang high, it was pale yellow and shaped like a conical beehive, slowly rotating in midair.
Dozens of winged serpents crackling with electricity pulled this colossal structure forward, while squads of armored, blade-wielding winged foreigners flanked it in perfect formation.
Despite its apparent bulk, the “beehive” moved swiftly, its passage stirring a hurricane that churned the mist below, scattering it in all directions.
This disturbance enraged the white avian beasts hidden in the mist. Flocks of birds soared upward, spewing black water arrows at the sky.
The silver-armored foreigners wasted no time. They brandished their massive blades and descended like tigers among sheep, slaughtering half the birds in mere moments. The survivors, sensing danger, screeched and fled back into the mist.
The silver-armored warriors didn’t pursue. They sheathed their weapons and returned to their formation, continuing their escort.
As the first “beehive” vanished into the distance, a second, even larger one appeared, similarly guarded. One after another, nearly a hundred of these gargantuan structures passed overhead before the procession finally ceased, replaced by hordes of bizarre ancient beasts.
Some had three heads and two wings, others dragon heads and bird tails. Some stretched over a hundred zhang, while others were mere feet in length. Each beast bore one or more winged foreigners as riders, their numbers swelling into the tens of thousands.
Once the beasts had passed, sleek black shuttles, each dozens of zhang long and pointed at both ends, streaked across the sky. Though fewer in number—only about a thousand—their speed was staggering, traversing the horizon in a blink.
Soon, even these vanished, leaving the sky momentarily empty.
But not for long. A new swarm of black dots emerged, their approach sending chills down the spines of any who glimpsed them.
Most resembled the earlier winged beings—grotesque males and stunning females—but among them lumbered giants dozens of zhang tall, dwarfing their kin. Their bodies bore golden or silver archaic runes, some sprouting jagged bone spikes from their limbs and faces, giving them the appearance of demonic deities descended from the heavens.
These beings moved far slower than their predecessors. Upon arrival, one group immediately dispersed, vanishing into the surroundings, while two of the giants remained motionless in midair, their expressions blank.
Between them hovered a winged demon of normal stature, arms crossed. Its wings were twice the size of an ordinary foreigner’s, its pupils pale gold, its skin a deep crimson. It observed the search with cold detachment before its gaze settled on the conspicuous mountain below.
Soon, the other foreigners returned, standing obediently before their leader.
“The two human cultivators at the Nascent Soul level encountered by the advance team were in this vicinity, correct?” the golden-eyed foreigner asked tonelessly.
“Lord Mengxiang, the intelligence confirms this location. However, aside from this mountain, we’ve scoured hundreds of li without finding any other humans. The mountain seems to contain a spiritual magnetic vein, making direct detection impossible,” a young female foreigner replied respectfully.
“A spiritual magnetic vein? Then tear it apart and see,” the golden-eyed foreigner sneered. Raising a hand, a crimson glow coalesced into a pulsating blood-red orb.
With a flick of its wrist, the foreigner sent a red light slicing through the air, expanding until it dyed half the sky scarlet.
A downward gesture, and a red line flashed across the mountain’s peak.
Simultaneously, the two giant foreigners struck the mountainside with blows that seemed to rend space itself, their combined force striking like a tidal wave.
The result was catastrophic.
With an earth-shaking roar, half the mountain slid away like soft tofu.
—
Han Li stood in a vast cavern, his body enveloped in swirling gray light, his expression grim as he stared at a spot eight zhang away.
There lay the bisected corpse of a gray-robed man, a silver-flagged banner crackling with lightning beside him.
A chill ran down Han Li’s spine.
A moment ago, a red flash had sliced through the cavern, cleaving the man in two before he could utter a sound.
With the banner-bearer dead, the formation collapsed, allowing a swarm of fist-sized black shadows to escape the dissipating lightning.
The other cultivators, including the Xiao woman clutching a crimson jade ruler, stared in shock and fury. Across the cavern, bursts of light and roars signaled Zhu and the remaining dozen cultivators battling the Emerald-Eyed Toads.
Han Li’s mind raced. He was about to unleash his Magnetic Divine Light to recapture the fleeing shadows when the ground beneath him quaked violently. Half the cavern floor collapsed, and the underground river surged, sending towering waves crashing through the chamber.
The entire cavern began crumbling.
Realizing catastrophe had struck, Han Li instinctively formed a seal. His gray light flared, shielding him as the deluge swallowed him whole.
—
A short while later, over a dozen streaks of light shot from the ruins of the halved mountain, materializing into figures including Zhu and the beautiful woman. Their faces paled as they took in their surroundings.
Hundreds of winged foreigners surrounded them, every one radiating power at least on par with a Nascent Soul cultivator, with six or seven at the Void Refinement stage or higher.
“Quite a few, but only two at Void Refinement. I can’t be bothered—handle them yourselves. Capture them alive if possible; they might have useful information,” the golden-eyed foreigner said dismissively, assessing their strength at a glance.
With a flap of its wings, it vanished, reappearing a hundred zhang away before disappearing entirely.
The being who had split a ten-thousand-zhang mountain with a single strike had truly washed its hands of the matter.
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