It was night.
On the steep cliff was a lush broad-leaved forest. Under the moonlight, the roars of some monsters could be heard. White shadows occasionally flashed across the sky, and the sound of flapping wings chilled the already anxious atmosphere.
Looking down through the yellowed leaves, a very steep corridor could be seen halfway up the mountain. From afar, it looked like a dragon twisting its waist. Not far from the “dragon’s” seven-inch spot, black electric arcs could be seen constantly pulsing. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that these electric arcs were emanating from a black oval formation.
The formation was not large, and at both ends of it stood several people dressed as adventurers. Their beastly weapons glinted with a cold light. Those below the formation were holding three unconscious students.
Within the formation, five or six students in blue robes clustered together. Apart from the young man at the front, their faces were pale, and their brows carried a trace of worry. Gripping their beastly weapons, their gazes were fixed on the path above.
Above, on the path, a thin young man stood with his hands behind his back. Illuminated by the electric light, his gloomy face was revealed. His gaze shifted slightly to the figure wrapped in a black robe beside him, and he said with considerable apprehension, “We merely stumbled in here. Once my subordinates catch those who escaped, we will leave immediately.”
“Heh heh… it’s best to be quick. If that adult’s pet gets hungry, you’ll all turn into food.”
The figure in the black robe, encased in a gray-white energy shield, let out a strange, hoarse laugh. Though its form was unseen, a silver-white inverted cross hanging from its neck could be seen reflecting light.
“I know a Shadow from your sect. Please don’t mess around…”
Hearing the figure in the black robe’s words, the gloomy young man’s eyelids twitched. He looked towards the floating place on the cliff where a giant black four-legged sub-dragon circled. The sub-dragon emitted an aura only found at the Half-King Level, and its immense pressure made the surrounding leaves rustle. He could feel the fear emanating from his own beast pet, the aura of a lord monster.
This was brought by the figure in the black robe, apparently because they had intruded into a place they shouldn’t have.
“Shadow? Heh heh, if you reveal what you’ve seen, let alone a Shadow, even your sect’s leader couldn’t protect you!”
The black figure chuckled sinisterly and slowly retreated. With a powerful push of his back leg, he leaped into the chasm. Amidst the swirling mist, only a faint glimpse of the black figure, seemingly vanishing completely, could be seen.
The flower-arm woman rushed over from another direction, scratching at a rash on her face, and said to the gloomy young man with great terror, “Big brother, let’s leave after we deal with these people! I think I’ve contracted skin rot.”
“Let’s deal with these people first.”
The gloomy young man stared intensely at the scene below. He had a feeling that this place might have some unknown connection to the recently prevalent skin rot. If he revealed all of this, it would likely cause a major uproar!
Within the trapped formation, several men and women stood with grim expressions. A woman with a sweet disposition, also wearing a dragon-patterned brocade robe, held her long sword tightly and said in a low voice, “Brother Long, what should we do now? This lightning formation is draining the elemental attributes from our bodies. In at most half an hour, we will have no energy left.”
“Dean Zi’s granddaughter and Sister Cheng have already escaped. As long as they reach a place with a signal, they will notify the strong individuals from our school, and reinforcements will surely come to rescue us.” Hearing this, the young man in the blue dragon-patterned robe at the front turned his head and said in a deep voice.
His gaze then sank, and filled with regret, he glared at the gloomy young man and shouted coldly, “Do you know what it means to offend Magical Capital University?! Never mind that you’re just a minor Master Adventurer; even an Adventurer King cannot bear such wrath.”
“Heh heh… Classmate, the clothes you’re wearing are from the Nine Dragons Alliance in Magical Capital University, aren’t they? I heard your alliance leader has the strength of a Battle King.” The gloomy young man turned his head, looking at Long Lu with interest, and asked with a smile, his gaze like that of someone staring at a treasure.
“I know. Aren’t you going to release us quickly!” Long Lu stared coldly at the gloomy young man and said in a deep voice.
“Release you? Hahaha, Big Brother, aren’t they talking in their sleep?”
Another burst of laughter rang out. It came from the other end of the formation, from a burly man with a broad back. The condensed external qi that was constantly revealed indicated that this person was at least an Intermediate Battle General.
His gaze roamed back and forth between the two people on the path with a rather gloomy expression. Long Lu’s heart sank slightly. His current strength was only High-Rank Battle General. Due to a weak foundation, he could not reach the level of a Peerless Battle General.
Just by looking at their auras, he was confident that he could lead the people behind him, who had just advanced to the War General Level, to resist. However, there were not just two people on the other side, and they were trapped in the formation, constantly being worn down, which was undoubtedly equivalent to the enemy increasing while they weakened!
The reason these people surrounded them but had not yet attacked was clearly due to this, wanting to continuously wear them down with the formation.
Veterans like the opponents would clearly not compete with fearless students like them.
“I know what you’re thinking, but have you ever considered if two semi-Battle General level individuals can truly escape from my second brother, who is close to High-Rank Battle General? You obediently cripple your own cultivation, and I’ll trade you and your families, guaranteeing no harm will come to you.” The gloomy young man smiled faintly, his words already having them completely figured out.
“You damn it! Cripple our cultivation? To cripple ourselves in front of scum like you would be even more tragic than dying in battle!”
Hearing this, Long Lu’s expression changed slightly, and his fists slowly clenched. He slammed them onto the lightning formation, making a “bang!” sound. Faint ripples spread throughout the formation, but like a stone thrown into the sea, there was no other reaction.
His expression turned even gloomier. It was completely over now. He didn’t have any highly destructive alchemical items on him, so he could only be continuously worn down.
“It doesn’t matter. In a little while, after all of you run out of energy, I’ll deal with you one by one. These girls who just started university are quite pleasing to the eye. After all, they look quite good.”
The gloomy young man’s gaze swept over the faces of the female students in the formation, and his mouth curved into a playful smile.
As the gloomy young man spoke, laughter could be heard from all around, which made the leading Long Lu’s expression extremely unpleasant. A cold water-element external qi surged from him towards the sky. He stared intently at the gloomy young man, “Are you daring to release the formation?”
“Release the formation? Haha, in another twenty minutes, we will naturally release the formation and deal with you properly.”
Long Lu’s menacing voice caused the burly Intermediate Battle General on the other side to burst into hearty laughter.
Their arrogant laughter echoed through the mountainside. The three female students were all stunned, their faces ashen. Although they all had some background, such background was useless in such a deep mountain forest; it was more practical to pray to Jesus.
At least that way, there would be a glimmer of hope for a miracle.
As time ticked by, the auras of those under the barrier grew weaker. Just resisting the lightning comparable to the War General Level made it difficult for them to breathe, as many of them had only barely reached the War General Level.
Slowly, many found it difficult to even stand upright, and could only rely on sitting cross-legged to reduce energy consumption. Currently, apart from Long Lu and the glasses youth beside him, everyone else had less than a tenth of their full strength remaining.
Another ten minutes passed.
Outside the formation, the gloomy young man was about to wait a moment longer when he suddenly heard dragon roars coming from below the cliff. His heart trembled, and he glanced at the giant black sub-dragon swimming in the clouds. He quickly shouted to the person controlling the formation beside him, “It’s about time! Open the formation, and we’ll capture them all alive!”
The person controlling the formation quickly manipulated the metal compass in his hand. He also looked greedily at the few girls within the formation and said to the gloomy young man with a smile, “When the time comes, boss, don’t forget to let us have some soup while you guys eat the meat.”
“Stop the nonsense!”
Ignoring him, the gloomy young man looked at the agitated giant sub-dragon below with great concern, praying that the other party would not get hungry!
Hearing the sound of the formation being opened, the few girls looked back at the gloomy young man outside the formation, their faces filled with determination. It was better to fight to the death than to be humiliated and yield to these people!
“You obediently surrender!” The burly man from the other side also surrounded them. A sinister smile appeared on his plump face.
Looking at the people surrounding them, Long Lu’s gaze grew colder. He whispered to the short young man with glasses and a bow tie behind him, “Xiao Mo, you have extraordinary attributes, so your energy consumption should be the least. When the time comes, you take these girls and break through. I’ll hold them off with a few others.”
“This is the only way now, Brother Long. You must be careful.”
The short, bespectacled young man was Shi Mo, who had competed with Su Jiu in a ring match. At this moment, with his back to Long Lu, his face held a determined expression. Holding a slender Western sword, the tip of which lightly touched the ground, a faint blue vortex enveloped the few students behind him.
He knew that Long Lu and the others had decided to fight to the death. All he could do was protect these students who were unable to fly using their qi and break through the encirclement!
“Heh heh, you want to be a hero? Dream on! Third brother, stop that glasses kid for me!”
Seeing Mo Shi and the others’ actions, the gloomy young man smiled coldly. A large saber crackling with lightning appeared in his hand, and he shouted in a deep voice.
“Don’t worry, Big Brother! I definitely won’t let these delicate beauties escape!”
As the shout fell, the burly man let out a mighty roar, and his subordinates also charged forward. With a surge of figures, they gripped their sharp weapons and attacked Shi Mo and the others, who were back-to-back.
“Brother Long, I’ll go first!”
Gazing at the surging crowd of black-clothed figures, Shi Mo let out a roar and fiercely slashed his sword. A crystal-clear wave several meters high, like a pair of giant hands, directly swept away several of the approaching subordinates, sending them off the cliff. He then intended to carry the immense qi liquid to rescue the other three unconscious students.
“Thump thump…”
As the sounds of bodies falling echoed, Long Lu looked at the gloomy young man about to make a move. His gaze immediately sharpened. With a slight flick of his soft sword, he charged forward like a dragon underwater. “Clang, clang, clang!” Amidst flashes of swords and saber light, water vapor and electric light constantly collided and sparked, and for a moment, they fought to a standstill.
“Quickly…”
Long Lu gritted his teeth and slashed again. He glanced at Shi Mo, who was going to rescue people from the other side, and took a few steps back. He knew in his heart that this was not a draw at all. After about thirty more moves, he would surely be defeated. His energy was running low!
On the other side,
With a loud “bang!” on the entire bend, the surrounding walls trembled slightly, and debris kept falling, as if they were about to break.
After clashing with the burly man, Shi Mo’s glasses frame cracked slightly. Gritting his teeth, he forcefully propelled himself up. With a sweep of his Western long sword, the waves carrying a group of students shot upwards, intending to burst out from the sky.
Looking at Shi Mo’s maneuver, the gloomy young man’s expression immediately turned displeased. If these few were allowed to escape successfully, they would surely be thoroughly investigated by the Adventurer’s Guild. After all, although killing each other for profit was an unwritten rule, deliberate murder and extortion like theirs was universally condemned in the gray area!
Just as he was about to fight desperately to stop Mo Shi from leaving, the familiar hoarse voice sounded again, seemingly with a bit of mocking intent.
“As expected of students from Magical Capital University. If you were to get out and spread rumors, it wouldn’t be good.”
A stream of light shot up from the bottom of the cliff, abruptly blocking Shi Mo. The impact of the massive airflow blew away some of the dark clouds.
“It’s that person from the Ancient God Sect…”
Hearing the hoarse laughter, the gloomy young man’s expression immediately showed a hint of joy, while Long Lu and the others’ faces turned ashen. They slowly looked up and saw the figure in the black robe holding a gray-qi-filled long whip. The long whip erupted with an aura comparable to that of the gloomy young man.
Clearly, he was also a High-Rank Battle General!
The gray long whip radiated a fierce aura, and the air seemed to be stirred up by the whip as if parting water. This made the figure in the black robe, under the moonlight, look like a specter reaping lives.
Shi Mo was clearly no match for him. After just one touch, he was repelled to the top of the cliff, and the students he was carrying were all violently thrown onto the bushes.
Without daring to delay, he threw away his broken glasses and used his long sword to support himself. He stared intently at this person in black, his heart filled with anxiety. This person from the Ancient God Sect was also going to help those people. The current situation was that they could only pray that the two who had run away would find help.
In the sky, the figure in the black robe of the Ancient God Sect’s eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty glint. His gaze was somewhat greedy as he looked at Shi Mo and the others. If he could sacrifice these students with high bloodlines, his own bloodline would be purified somewhat, and reaching the Battle King Level would not be a dream.
Thinking this, he chuckled sinisterly again, and lightly landed on a broad-leaved fir tree at the cliff’s summit. Looking down at Shi Mo and the others, he said, “If you are willing to return to the Ancient God Sect with me, I might be able to let you go.”
“Heh heh, surrender to the Ancient God Sect? There are no cowards like that in our Mo University!”
Sensing the greed in the figure in the black robe’s words, Shi Mo’s body tensed up, and he said in a deep voice.
The students behind him managed to straighten up and gritted their teeth, summoning various beast pets. They had no fighting ability left, but their beast pets still did. The earlier woman in brocade robes had a beast pet that was a Raging Flame Heavenly Horse, which even reached the level of an Initial Stage Battle General.
No one was a fool. They clearly knew that even if they surrendered, their fate would not be any better. Since that was the case, it was better to fight to the death.
“Then let’s see if you have the guts for it!”
The figure in the black robe’s gaze gradually turned cold. He smiled coldly, stamped his foot on the fir tree, and his figure leaped down gracefully, instantly leaving behind afterimages as he swooped towards them. In the next moment, he was in front of Shi Mo, and then his long whip swung fiercely.
Seeing the other party attack, Shi Mo tightly gripped his Western long sword. After a moment, he raised his head and roared, stomping on the ground. His figure shot out, and his long sword lunged towards the long whip in front of him.
Unexpectedly, in the next moment, his entire body was sent flying back. He retreated repeatedly like a shrimp, and the beast pets were instantly swept away, almost falling off the cliff.
“Junior Shi Mo, are you alright?!”
Seeing Shi Mo injured and retreating, everyone immediately cried out in alarm. Shi Mo inserted his long sword into the ground to unload the force, coughed twice, and then stopped.
“Just a futile attempt to stop a chariot!” The figure in the black robe sneered and casually walked to his opposite. His gaze swept over the students, and just as he was about to grab one of the girls…
“Extraordinary Water!”
Gritting his teeth fiercely, Shi Mo’s fingers suddenly filled with water vapor. He forcefully wiped it against his long sword, turning into an afterimage and charging up. Behind him, countless water balls followed suit, and the Fire Horse also charged madly from the other side, forming a pincer attack.
“The difference between a High-Rank Battle General and an Initial Stage Battle General is like a chasm. You don’t have much energy left. To think you can reverse the situation with just extraordinary attributes, doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”
Sensing Shi Mo’s sudden surge of power, the figure in the black robe was slightly surprised. Then, with a cold sneer, the long whip in his hand erupted with immense gray-white death energy, which he wildly swung around.
“Bang bang—”
As the three clashed, the Raging Flame Fire Horse was instantly shattered and turned into a stream of light, rushing towards the woman in brocade robes. The long whip also did not lose much force and once again met Shi Mo’s long sword.
Although the gray-white death energy was inferior to the water vapor, the difference in strength between the two was immense. With just a touch, Shi Mo was sent flying back wildly, spitting out blood. He could only rely on his long sword planted in the ground, kneeling on one knee to barely stabilize himself.
“I’ll sacrifice you first. I wonder if I can also get an extraordinary attribute, hehe.”
Looking at Shi Mo with a playful gaze, the figure in the black robe chuckled sinisterly. He extended a withered yet fair hand from within the black robe. A bloody skull-shaped light floated on his hand. He walked step by step towards Shi Mo, coming before him, and was about to heavily slap him on the head.
The withered palm kept enlarging in Shi Mo’s eyes. Facing the immense pressure from the opponent, he could not dodge at all. He could only watch as the palm, carrying a sacrificial method, landed on his skull.
“Chii!”
Under the horrified gazes of everyone around, as the palm got closer and closer to Shi Mo’s head, and just as everyone was mourning him in their hearts, a piercing sound suddenly came from the sky!
A white figure came riding a sword, leaping from the sky like lightning. He instantly arrived behind Shi Mo. A giant scythe kicked up flecks of bloody butterflies, “swoosh!” The entire figure in the black robe was lifted up and then violently slammed onto the ground, sending dust and smoke everywhere!
“Bang!”
Everyone’s gaze was stunned as they looked at the silver-haired figure. It seemed everyone had overlooked her appearance as a girl-next-door in a daisy dress.
