The mysterious expert from the Yun Kingdom commanded his cloud beasts to hold one corner alone, and for that very reason, when the beast tide tore through the wall, no one was there to shield him.
In the instant the stone wall abruptly collapsed, the cultivators at the front had barely any strength left to spare for what happened on either side of them. In a single exchange of blows, nearly half of them fell, swallowed by the horde of ferocious beasts without so much as a bone left behind.
But although the cloud beasts had no fear of death or injury, they possessed only battle instinct, and not a shred of intelligence. Every complex move depended on the manipulation of whoever had summoned them.
It was utterly impossible for them to choose to sacrifice themselves to save their master, and of course, in such a situation, they were never given that chance either.
More than a hundred cloud beasts looked like a great many, yet when the beast tide came rolling in, they were drowned in an instant.
In truth, in the moment those grim beasts charged head-on, Ye Qingyu's mind went completely blank.
She came from a distinguished household. She had taken the finest Meridian-Opening Pills, chosen the most fitting techniques, and every step of her cultivation had been done to perfection. This time she had come out to take a mission on a whim, deliberately avoiding her elders, eager to test her own strength.
And before this, she had never experienced a genuine battle of life and death. Nor had she ever felt any need to.
So she had never imagined that when a true crisis of life and death arrived, the feeling would be so terrifying it made one tremble!
She could almost smell the stench from the giant beast's maw, almost see the crimson behind its fangs.
Then she saw a surge of sword-light, rolling with vast, billowing purple qi.
Purple qi came from the east — all the feudal lords gaze westward!
The raging purple qi decomposed the beast before her, and Jiang Wang arrived with his sword. With one foot, he kicked aside the woman standing frozen there. "What are you standing around for!"
He hurled a Flame Pellet behind him, sent it bursting apart, and with several bounding leaps moved on to another battlefield.
When the beast tide had broken the wall, he was one of the few who had reacted first and launched a counterattack, but the collapse of the first line of defense was already a foregone conclusion. With his strength alone, there was no turning it back.
So he had decisively pulled away and withdrawn, then raced toward where he remembered Zhao Rucheng to be. As for saving that mysterious cultivator from the Yun Kingdom, it had merely been a matter of convenience.
What he truly worried about was Zhao Rucheng. The young man hid many secrets, but he had only recently opened his meridians, and he might not be able to see himself through this.
...
Ye Qingyu flew backward through the air for a while before she finally reacted.
Her first thought: I'm saved!
Her second thought: I was... kicked?
She turned over and steadied herself, casually gathering two cloud beasts around her, then, still shaken, looked around. She found that no one had any energy to spare for her, and the man who had saved her was already out of sight, not even his back visible anymore.
Standing atop a cloud beast, she retreated, gazing around at the figures drenched in blood and battle everywhere.
It was only then that her face felt hot. With her cultivation, with the techniques she had mastered, and with the secret treasures she carried on her person, she ought never to have been so flustered. Had she fought to her full potential, she could not have cut through the beast tide, it was true, but preserving herself would have been no problem at all.
And yet just now she had nearly perished, body and soul!
At the thought, she drew two gleaming golden beans from her sleeve and flung them forward.
The beans swelled and transformed within the golden light, turning into two golden-armored war soldiers, who charged into the beast tide wielding battle sabers.
The ferocious beasts tore at them, only to break their own fangs upon the armor. And each stroke of a golden-armored soldier's saber took down one beast, slaughtering them as easily as chopping melons and vegetables — a rampage that nothing could stop.
Flinging beans, conjuring soldiers!
Except that the bean seeds were hard to come by and costly, the art had not a single shortcoming.
Especially golden beans of this level — even Ye Qingyu felt the pang of loss. One could say that the moment these two golden beans were flung, this mission, even if completed, was already a loss.
...
Meanwhile, Jiang Wang raced headlong with his sword, killing beasts and saving people along the way, but his route was also drifting downhill.
Because the beast tide was surging rapidly downward.
That meant the second line of defense was in dire straits as well.
Anxious at heart, Jiang Wang's eyes suddenly brightened.
Ahead, that figure fighting while retreating, looking utterly at ease — who could it be but Zhao Rucheng?
Though Zhao Rucheng was also retreating, he was nothing like the others, who fled in panic or turned tail and sprinted. Instead, he chose a very bizarre route.
Veering left and right, occasionally even surging forward.
But wherever he passed, either rocky outcrops sheltered him or pitfall channels isolated him. In any case, at no moment did he face more than three ferocious beasts at once.
The combat power he displayed was not strong, yet he seemed far more relaxed than Jiang Wang. It was almost a casual stroll through the garden.
When Zhao Rucheng saw Jiang Wang rushing toward him, he called out over and over, "Hey, hey, don't come over!"
But Jiang Wang had already bounded over, cutting down the beasts before him with several strokes of his sword, and even showing off an Entangling Vine along the way. "Watch Big Brother Three do it!"
By all rights, with the two of them fighting side by side, the battle should have grown easier. Yet somehow, it seemed as if there were even more ferocious beasts to face, and the pressure abruptly mounted instead.
Zhao Rucheng shifted his steps and said sourly, "Follow me."
Jiang Wang considered this for a moment, then matched the rhythm of Zhao Rucheng's retreat. Sure enough, the battle turned easy once more.
"When did you become so fond of using your head, Third Brother?" Zhao Rucheng asked. "These days you're starting to look more and more like Du Tiger."
"Hah, I've always—" Jiang Wang snatched a moment to slap him on the head. "Who are you calling brainless? No respect for your elders!"
"Oh, right, have you seen Huang Azhan?" Jiang Wang asked again.
Zhao Rucheng curled his lip. "He flashed past me. Couldn't hold him back even if I tried. That one runs faster than anyone!"
Then all was well.
As for Li Jianqiu, there was even less for Jiang Wang to worry about. If Li Jianqiu had come to harm, Jiang Wang would have been powerless to help anyway.
Jiang Wang turned and gazed into the distance — the direction of Dou Yuemei, City Lord of the Three Mountains.
If she had a trump card, now would be the time.
...
When the Yin-Yang Two-Headed Eagles had appeared, Sections B and C had been holding the first line of defense, with Sections D and E as reserves making up the second line.
But now, even Section A, which had only just been pulled back, had once more been sent up to the front.
All the cultivators had thrown themselves in, and still, on Dou Yuemei's side, there seemed to be no movement at all.
No — why had it suddenly become so quiet?
Jiang Wang suddenly realized: the eagle-shriek that had persisted for so long had vanished.
That meant the Yin-Yang Two-Headed Eagle had been slain!
The dean of Sanshan City's Dao Academy, standing beside the eagle's corpse, could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The scene was just as it had been two years ago, when Sun Heng had gone alone to the summit of Standing Brush Peak, slain the Yin-Yang Two-Headed Eagle, and secured victory.
The beast tide seemed to pause at that very instant, and then, from amid the cultivators, cheers erupted.
But in the very next instant.
"Yiiii!"
"Gu-gu-gu-gu-gu..."
Wave upon wave of eagle-shrieks rose one after another, drowning out the cultivators' cheers.
The Suspended Bright Lamp clearly revealed, from the direction of Jade Scales Peak's summit, a flock of Yin-Yang Two-Headed Eagles coming on until they blotted out the clouds and shadowed the moon.
"Yiiii!"
"Gu-gu-gu-gu-gu..."
The cries were wicked and crazed.
On Jade Scales Peak, an entire flock of Yin-Yang Two-Headed Eagles had been living!
The dean of Sanshan City's Dao Academy, caught off guard, was torn to shreds in a single clash!
The beasts howled wildly.
Boulders rumbled; great trees snapped and toppled.
A scorching, violent pillar of crimson light blasted head-on, and Jiang Wang and Zhao Rucheng split to either side to dodge it.
Only the very, very rarest of ferocious beasts could wield an innate talent art. And any beast that possessed an innate talent art was bound to be a strong one among the ferocious.
That pillar of light shot between Jiang Wang and Zhao Rucheng, plowing a deep pit in the earth.
And from that moment on, Jiang Wang and Zhao Rucheng would never reunite.
For the surging tide of beasts had already swept over everything!