Section 93: Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast
By Gu Zhenren, February 09, 2013
The bystanders’ exclamations grew louder, causing Zhi Liao Hou’s expression to darken further. He gasped for breath, his eyes shut from the backlash of the Sword Eye’s power, blood trickling from his temples down his pale face, a stark and vibrant contrast.
In contrast, Chu Yun and his companions were visibly drained, their gazes dull from the depletion of their spirit energy. Only Erlang Tian Jun and Chu Yun himself showed minimal signs of fatigue, remaining alert.
Initially, everyone was struggling to cope with the King level spiritual pressure. However, in a head-to-head comparison, any observer could tell the outcome.
“I never imagined that even the Sword Eye would be defeated.”
“This is astonishing. These young men are so young, how many years of spiritual energy have they received? How did they win?”
“Zhi Liao Hou has completely lost face this time. He intended to teach these youngsters a lesson, but ended up being taught one himself. Heh heh heh…”
“Alas, each generation surpasses the last; new talents emerge to replace the old.”
Murmurs of感慨, sighs, and shock filled the air, a constant hum of bewildered whispers.
“Damn it, if I had known, I would have intervened earlier,” Marquis Wu Chang lamented, regretting the missed opportunity. He was the only one besides the four Kings who had the capacity to act. But who could have predicted that Zhi Liao Hou would be the one to fall?
He had hesitated to intervene, fearing Zhi Liao Hou’s disapproval. After all, if he had also attacked, it would have undermined Zhi Liao Hou’s display, creating the impression that the two Marquises were ganging up on the weaker opponents. A shrewd individual like Marquis Wu Chang would never engage in such a thankless task.
The outcome was simply too unexpected.
“Alright, if there are no other issues, we shall depart. Let’s hurry, time is running out. If we delay further, we will have to wait for years. This is the Six-Nine Langya Battle Formation. It requires sixty-nine Beast Masters to deploy. Familiarize yourselves with it.”
Immortal Pouch King tossed out a Jade Slip. In order to eliminate the Gate God Demonic Beast, he took the initiative to make a personal sacrifice, even revealing his secret battle formation.
The Jade Slip was passed around, and the process was smooth, with no one else daring to cause trouble. This was also why Immortal Pouch King had not intervened earlier during the spiritual pressure contest. There had to be some sparring to temporarily ease the complex tensions between the various factions. The recent spiritual pressure contest and the clash of pupils had allowed everyone to gauge each other’s strength more clearly. Figures like Sun Yan and Zhi Liao Hou, after experiencing this small conflict, had abandoned their thoughts of causing further disruption.
Unifying these individuals was no easy feat. Each was a prominent figure in their own right. In this era without an Emperor, such a feat was only possible due to these special circumstances—a colossal fortune lay ahead, luring everyone forward.
The Cloud Sea Heavenly Dragon Gate was not located on the grassy plains exuding the fragrance of spring. Instead, it resided at the other end of the sky, deep within a perpetually swirling, never-dissipating thundercloud. For countless years, many had explored the skies of the sixth level World. However, their progress was hampered by the雷牙暴鸦 (Thunder Fang Rampage Crows) swarming within the thundercloud.
“收!” (Collect!)
Chu Yun, riding the Sky Fox, used Jianmu to sweep away the surrounding Lei Ya Bao Ya, collecting them by the dozens. With the help of others, nearby demonic beasts were soon cleared.
Sixty-nine Beast Master experts and four King level powerhouses, each riding their respective demonic creatures, flew through the deep blue, almost ink-colored clouds. Led by Immortal Pouch King, they gradually approached the Cloud Sea Heavenly Dragon Gate.
“Deploy the Six-Nine Langya Battle Formation here. I will go and disrupt the space to lure out the Heavenly Sea Cloud Dragon Gate,” Immortal Pouch King declared before his figure rapidly vanished.
According to the plan, everyone stopped at a designated spot and deployed the battle formation. Immortal Pouch King, meanwhile, ventured deeper into the clouds to draw out the Gate God Demonic Beast and lure it into the formation. The spatial range of the Langya Battle Formation was much larger than that of the Eight Trigrams Battle Formation. Chu Yun, Erlang Tian Jun, and Jin Bihan each occupied a formation eye, serving as the core strength of the formation along with other Jun level experts, Marquis Wu Chang, and Zhi Liao Hou. The rest, though renowned heroes in their own right, were not Jun level and were merely there to fill the numbers.
“昂吼!”
In less than a moment, a deafening roar, like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, exploded, making everyone’s ears ring and their blood churn. Immortal Pouch King led the way into the formation, followed by a colossal demonic beast that suddenly appeared before their eyes.
Chu Yun’s attention was immediately drawn to it. The demonic beast stood dozens of zhang tall, its muscles taut and powerful. It had the head of a dragon and the body of a human, with bird-like claws for feet and hands, its talons terrifyingly sharp. Its entire body was covered in deep blue, diamond-shaped scales. A pair of broad, powerful wings adorned its back, resembling a dark cape or armor, shining with a dark, metallic luster. Its sheer size was immense; an adult human, standing at 1.8 meters tall, would barely reach its ankle. Most unnerving of all, its entire body pulsed with threads of brilliant electric light, as if clad in a net of lightning, its surging energy charging skyward, exuding an oppressive aura.
“It’s lured! Close the formation!” Immortal Pouch King shouted. Chu Yun and the others immediately shifted their positions, shrinking the Six-Nine Langya Battle Formation into a secure, sealed space.
“Attack!” Following this command, Wine King, Greedy Wolf, and Ten Thousand Poisons Queen attacked in unison, unleashing their Demon Soldiers with a barrage of roaring wind and thunder towards the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast.
Before the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast could react, it was struck squarely. The radiant light of cultivation methods quickly engulfed its massive form. But immediately after, a thunderous roar was heard. Two powerful arms ripped through the divine light, and the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast surged skyward like a demon god. Its eyes glowed crimson, and it let out furious roars that swept outwards in waves, causing the air to explode and the ringing in everyone’s ears to intensify. Its aura was ferociously explosive.
Enraged, it slammed down with a claw, swatting Wine King’s Mountain and River Great Wine Vat flying as if it were a ball. Opening its dragon maw, it spewed out a colossal thunderball, twenty zhang in diameter. Like a meteor, it shot through the sky, striking Greedy Wolf’s Taotie and sending it hurtling away, spitting up blood incessantly. Finally, it flapped its wings with a whoosh, unleashing countless black feathers like arrows that rained down in a dense swarm, firing indiscriminately in all directions.
Chu Yun drew his Drunken Snow Saber, his wrist a blur as he unleashed a torrent of saber light, shattering the incoming feather arrows. “What immense power!” he muttered inwardly, his wrist already numb after blocking over a dozen arrows. Truly, a Tribulation Demon of ten million years was extraordinary. His situation was relatively better; facing this barrage of arrows, most of the others were thrown into disarray, nearly losing their footing.
“Change formation!” Zhi Liao Hou commanded. Though his eyes were injured and still closed, it didn’t impede his fighting capability. The Six-Nine Langya Battle Formation shifted, stabilizing and effectively blocking the arrow rain.
“Attack!” Wine King roared, launching a fierce counter. The Mountain and River Great Wine Vat radiated a powerful divine light, like a meteor chasing the moon, striking again. Simultaneously, Greedy Wolf, Ten Thousand Poisons Queen, and Immortal Pouch King joined the assault. The four Kings, fighting together, began to overpower the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast!
It was a battle that shook Heaven and Earth. Figures darted through the air, various Upper Grade and Supreme Grade cultivation methods erupted, creating a dazzling, multicolored storm of light and energy. No one dared to admire the spectacle; their hearts chilled, and their scalps tingled. They knew that if they were in the midst of that combat, they would be instantly annihilated by those cultivation methods.
Boom, boom, boom… The intense explosions were continuous, merging into a rolling thunder that swept across Heaven and Earth. The soundwaves reverberated, shaking everyone’s souls.
“This ten-million-year-old Tribulation Demon is truly terrifyingly powerful. If I faced it alone, I doubt I could withstand three moves. This gives me a glimpse of how formidable Emperor level experts must be.” Chu Yun, while constantly shifting formations and maintaining the spatial integrity of the formation, watched the battle with awe. It was Emperor level spirit light that could perfectly unleash the full combat power of a ten-million-year-old Tribulation Demon. Most Kings could not achieve this. Even Ten Thousand Beasts King, through their allied contract, could only allow the Tribulation Demon to fight independently, without the ability to command it.
“If it were that Riot Ape King, what would it be capable of?” Chu Yun couldn’t help but wonder. Ten Thousand Beasts King’s Riot Ape King was also a Tribulation Demon of tens of millions of years. Could it contend with King level experts?
Soon, Chu Yun shook his head, realizing he was overthinking things. In terms of specific cultivation, the Riot Ape King was inferior to the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast. In terms of origin, the Ape King was merely the main combat beast of Ten Thousand Beasts King, while the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast had been nurtured by You Huang and was a primeval beast itself. In terms of cultivation methods, the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast’s techniques were endless, many of which Chu Yun had never heard of or seen before. Although he possessed the collection of cultivation methods from Night Emperor City, You Huang’s level was undoubtedly superior to Night Emperor’s.
Most crucially, the four Kings were not going all out. They were holding back, wary of each other. Chu Yun, having witnessed the fierce battles of Wine King and Greedy Wolf, knew this clearly. This was precisely why the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast could fight the four Kings to a standstill. However, this situation was temporary. As time wore on, the Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast would gradually fall into a disadvantage and eventually perish. Despite its tens of millions of years of cultivation, facing the combined might of the four Kings, its fate was sealed.
After a prolonged battle of attrition lasting two days and two nights. The Zhenzi Flying Thunder Beast finally exhausted its strength. After a final desperate struggle, it succumbed to its injuries and crashed down. It then transformed into a massive, deep blue Demonic Crystal.
With its demise, the original thundercloud had transformed into fluffy white clouds. A gate made of white jade stood in the depths of the clouds, exuding an ethereal aura.
