Chapter 920: Hanging by a Thread
Chapter 920: Hanging by a Thread
Thysnich was also covered in blood. Despite his powerful strength, he struggled to remain unscathed when faced with the attacks of so many beasts at the same level of cultivation. His burly body was covered with tooth marks and slashes from the beasts’ claws, while he had already been dyed red by blood. It was unknown whether this was his own blood or the beasts’.
Nubis was also covered in injuries, becoming bloody all over as well. Perhaps only Jian Chen remained unharmed out of all hundred and sixty experts. The defense of Jian Chen’s Chaotic Body was so great that ordinary Class 7 vicious beasts were unable to cause him any harm, their sharp claws, and teeth unable to pierce his skin. Only the beasts beyond Class 7 could pose some threat to him but Jian Chen would kill them off as soon as possible whenever he discovered any.
Xie Wang, Mo Ji, and the others stuck closely to Jian Chen and Nubis’ back. They were relatively weak compared to Jian Chen and Nubis, so they struggled very much to fend off the attacks from so many beasts. As a result, they too were littered with injuries.
Battle cries resounded everywhere, while the violent rumblings from the collision of energy constantly rang out. Violent energy ripples wreaked havoc throughout the entire hall and the ground was dyed red with blood. There was so much blood that a small pool had basically been formed.
Suddenly, the amount of blood on the ground began to decrease rapidly. It sank into the ground quickly, before it all flowed toward the hall in the barrier.
No one noticed this.
At the same time, an extremely powerful soul rippled through the hall as if a great, sleeping spirit was slowly awakening.
The rippling of the soul was blocked by the barrier so it did not make it out. None of the experts fighting outside could detect it.
“Twenty thousand years. People have finally come in. Kill, kill, kill to your heart’s content. Let the blood dye this divine hall red…” A hazy voice sounded in the empty hall. It was impossible to tell whether it was male or female but it was filled with malevolence.
No one knew about the weird phenomenon inside the hall. The experts fought with the thousands of beasts for three whole days before finally killing off all of them. Countless Class 7 beasts had died in their hands, while even the number of dead Class 8 beasts reached over twenty. However, they were all below the Fifth Heavenly Layer.
Currently, the ground was littered with beast corpses. Over a hundred experts sat on top of the corpses as they breathed heavily; trying to catch their breaths. Their faces were filled with exhaustion. They were covered with terrifying wounds and were currently in a horrendous shape.
The battle was extremely intense. There were many more beasts this time and they were all much more powerful than the horde they had encountered at the start. They had also struck exactly when they were all heavily injured, taking them by surprise. From that battle, almost everyone had expended all of the Saint King’s power stored within them, while barely any medicines and pills were left.
Over forty experts had died in the battle. They had all fallen to the claws of the Class 8 beasts, leaving a little over a hundred alive. If it were not for the armors condensed from the Saint King’s power among the people alive, they probably would have fallen long ago and be dead by now.
Jian Chen was in the best condition out of them all. Although he had been injured by Class 8 Magical Beasts, he could recover automatically without any medicines thanks to his Chaotic Body’s powerful regeneration. Currently, he worked at leisure through the mountainous piles of corpses to collect monster cores.
Thysnich sat cross-legged on the corpse of a Class 8 Magical Beast as he recovered silently. He stared at the busy Jian Chen as he said emotionlessly, “The ruler of the Turtle clan sure has great defense. I’ve witnessed it today.”
Jian Chen raised his head to glance at Thysnich after hearing that but said nothing. He then continued his collection of monster cores; these monster cores seemed to be more important than leaving to Jian Chen.
At this moment, Jian Chen seemed to realize something. He froze as he cried out, “The blood on the ground has actually all disappeared.”
When they heard this, all the remaining experts immediately flipped through the corpses as they ignored their wounds. They uncovered the tough ground after kicking aside a few dead bodies.
The ground was extremely dry. Other than a few pieces of vicious beasts, there was no blood at all, not a single trace.
“Odd. Where’d all the blood from the beasts go? There’s no formation on the ground either. Is it different to escaping from the maze?” said someone in confusion. His voice was very weak.
“Look everyone. There’s no blood in the bodies of the beasts either,” cried out another person. With that, a few people immediately chopped up a few beast corpses. As expected, they found that all the blood had disappeared, without even a droplet remaining.
Jian Chen’s expression changed. He immediately thought back to when he was removing the monster cores from the heads of the corpses. He did not realize it then but thinking carefully now, he actually did not see any blood either.
“Look, their blood has run dry too,” someone else cried out. An old man carried the corpse of a Sea race expert as his face was filled with shock.
All of their faces darkened severely. This was so odd that it had exceeded their knowledge. No one knew whether this event was good or bad.
“If my guess is right, the blood should have all been sucked away by the divine hall,” an old man hypothesised after a while. That was the only way to explain everything that had happened.
“But why does the divine hall have to suck away the blood?” A few confused voices rang out. They could not work it out no matter how hard they thought.
At this very moment, the ground trembled gently once more. Heavy steps rang out from the distance as several vast presences filled the entire sky.
This sudden activity caused the relaxed experts to raise their awareness. When they looked over in the direction that the activity originated from, each and every one of them became pale. Five beasts, all over thirty meters in height, slowly made their way toward them. Each beast radiated with a terrifying aura, all at the 16th Star. They were all of the Fifth Heavenly Layer or greater.
“This bloody Octoterra Divine Hall. Why’re there so many beasts in here? Now we’re done for, we’re doomed.” Every person became despaired. Even at their peak, they would not be able to defeat the five 16th Star beasts, let alone now when they were all exhausted. They did not even have the power to deal with a single one, much less five.
Jian Chen also became grim. His eyes flickered as he secretly ordered the artifact spirit to awaken the white tiger within the saint artifact. If the situation took an irrecoverable turn for the worst, he would use the white tiger to pass through the barrier.
The white tiger’s ability to ignore all formations and barriers was Jian Chen’s greatest trump card. Unless he was forced into a situation with no other choices, he definitely did not want to reveal the white tiger before all these people.
“Jian Chen, what do we do? Those five vicious beasts are not magical beasts we can handle. If we stay here, there’ll only be death. Why don’t we enter the artifact space?” Nubis sent a mental message to Jian Chen. His voice was stern.
Jian Chen stared fixedly at the five beasts as an idea suddenly flashed through his head. He called out, “Everyone, we need to get through the barrier if we want to live. These beasts don’t possess any intelligence. If we use them correctly, we can completely rely on their strengths to break through the barrier.”
Everyone’s eyes lit up when they heard this. Thysnich turned toward Jian Chen and growled, “Ruler, how much confidence in success do you have?”
“Do you have any other better ways then?” Jian Chen countered with a question.
“Alright, since we’re going to die anyway, let’s try it. This is the only way we can live,” boldly said a middle-aged man that was covered in blood. He acted like he had reached the end of his life, about to make one last struggle.
“Alright, ruler of the Turtle clan. I’ll believe you once. I wonder what you would like us to do?” Thysnich said. He thought secretly, “If he can break the barrier, then that would be for the best. Otherwise, I can only use this power to break through for myself.”
Jian Chen said with a deep voice, “We need to split up into two groups. Those who can use Tian Level Saint Techniques will form one. They will cast their techniques simultaneously, while the second group will stand before the barrier and attract the beast’s attention. We need to get the beasts to attack us with their strongest strikes, before immediately dodging out of the way and attacking the barrier as well. When the attacks from the beasts hit the barrier, the first group will immediately strike it with their Tian Level Saint Techniques as well. I believe that over twenty Tian Level Saint Techniques along with attacks from five 16th Star beasts will be enough to break through the barrier.”
Everyone could not help but secretly nod when they heard Jian Chen’s plan, agreeing to it in their hearts. They immediately moved in accordance and all the people who could use Tian Level Saint Techniques gathered together. They took large quantities of medicines that recovered their energy, before beginning to charge up their Tian Level Saint Techniques.
The remaining people stood in a formation, firing off powerful attacks after each other at the beasts that rapidly drew closer.
With the violent booms, the five beasts were immediately enveloped by several dozen powerful ripples of energy. Although the attacks struggled to cause them any harm, it deeply aggravated them.
The five beasts all produced deafening roars, charging toward the people wildly.
The distance between the two groups rapidly decreased. However, just when the beasts were about to collide with the people, everyone dodged to the sides as fast as they could at the same time.
Boom! The five beasts collided heavily with the barrier, producing a violent rumble. At the same time, everyone’s attacks and the Tian Level Saint Techniques landed heavily on the barrier with an aura of destruction. The violent ripples of energy shook up the void, knocking everyone into the air. They all spurted blood wildly, worsening their injuries.
No one paid attention to their wounds. Instead, they all stared unblinkingly at the barrier. It shook violently, before a ten-meter-wide crack finally appeared. It began to close up slowly.
Everyone’s eyes lit up with joy. Without any hesitation, they climbed to their feet as fast as they could and charged recklessly at the crack. The crack was closing up slowly and it would completely recover in a short time. Everyone grasped every moment to charge at the crack. This was their only hope for survival.
Jian Chen was the least injured, so he was the fastest as well. Grabbing Nubis and Xie Wang by the shoulders, he used the Illusory Flash. He left behind a blur and traversed several hundred meters through the crack.
Afterward, the other experts elbowed their ways into the crack as well. However, there was not time for everyone to enter as the barrier healed up very quickly. It blocked the slower, heavily-injured people outside and they were consumed by the beasts in the end.