Chapter 1114: Start From The Place With The Greatest Pressure
In the Preservation Hall.
No one dared to make a sound.
Although Lu Zhou’s tone was as calm as usual, the killing intent it emitted was unmistakable.
“Master, are we still going to Jianbei Circuit?”
“Contact the White Tower Council. Meng Changdong, you’ll stay back to keep an eye on the situation.”
Meng Changdong and Si Wuya bowed at the same time, accepting their tasks.
After Si Wuya turned around and left, Meng Changdong set up the formation and brought the talismans out. Following that, he observed the situations at the four circuits one after another. It could be roughly seen that Jiangdong Circuit was under the greatest treasure.
Everyone in the hall quietly waited for Lu Zhou’s decision.
At this time, Lu Zhou was counting his trump cards. He checked his merit points.
Merit points: 534,610
Lu Zhou sighed inwardly. He did not have the Supreme Mystic Card and the Peak Trial Card now. Without these two cards, he could only rely on the Deadly Strike Card Reduction Card. However, these two cards were incredibly costly. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Start from the Jiangdong Circuit that’s under the most pressure…”
“Understood! We’re willing to follow the Pavilion Master come h.e.l.l or high water!”
Lu Zhou called out, “Zhao Hongfu.”
“Your orders, Pavilion Master?”
“Do these four circuits have runic pa.s.sages?” Lu Zhou asked.
“We have runic pa.s.sages in these places except for Jianbei Circuit. Jianbei Circuit is too remote. Prior to this, I’ve already had plans to open up runic pa.s.sages in Great Tang’s Ten Circuits and to complete the runic pa.s.sage to the golden lotus domain. However, with this matter, I was delayed…” Zhao Hongfu replied.
“It’s fine. Bring Whitzard and follow me.”
“Understood.”
…
At the same time, the fierce fight had already started in Jiangdong Circuit, Shanbei Circuit, Jiannan Circuit, and Jiangbei CircuitJiang.
In the beginning, there were only mid to low-level fierce beasts attacking the cities.
The four circuit’s defenses were relatively stable. However, when the corpses outside the city walls piled up, the fierce beasts stepped on the corpses of their own kind to climb to breach the city walls.
…
Jianbei Circuit’s Northern Sword Canyon.
The reason the Northern Sword Canyon was named as such was due to the two mountains that surrounded the canyon from each side. The gap in the middle looked like a heavenly sword that fell from the sky to the earth.
At this moment, a burly man stood between the mountains, blocking the canyon, as he wielded a long spear in his hand. His bearing was that of someone who could hold off 10,000 enemies.
In front of him were droves and droves of Li Lis. There were so many of them that it was hard to keep count.
“I didn’t think there would be so many of them,” Duan Ling Tian muttered to himself. He had thought there would be a few hundred of them at most; as it turned out, he had seriously underestimated these fierce beasts.
Duanmu Sheng loosened his grip on the Overlord Spear before he tightened it again. Then, he inhaled deeply and said, “Come.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The Li Lis that emitted purple smoke rushed over.
Clank!
Duanmu Sheng began to brandish his spear.
“Scorching Field Hundred Strikes.”
“Thousand Waves.”
In just an instant, dozens of Li Lis were killed by the energy spears.
Nevertheless, the Li Li came in droves, undeterred.
Duanmu Sheng remained unfazed as he said, “I’ll kill all who come…”
In less than the time it took to brew a pot of tea, a ring of Li Lis’ corpses formed around him.
Duanmu Sheng tapped his feet and flew up into the sky. The Li Lis were still charging forward from as far as the eyes could see. Following that, he dove as he released his energy seals.
The energy seals landed, sending hundreds of Li Lis flying back.
“Come on! Keep coming if you have the guts!” After seeing the Li Lis’ number, he knew the battle ahead of him was going to be like a protracted tug-of-war.
…
Jiangdong Circuit.
On a towering city wall.
“Mister Eighth, the sea beasts are here,” a cultivator reported after flying back from the distant sky, cutting through the swarms of flying beasts.
Upon hearing the report, the city guard ordered, “Listen to my orders and defend the city wall to the death.”
“Understood.”
The city guard turned around and said, “Mister Eighth, it’s very dangerous here. You should return to the City Lord’s manor to seek refuge.”
“Seek refuge?” Zhu Honggong was baffled by this suggestion.
At this time, dozens of cultivators rushed over and landed on the city wall as well. They bowed and said in unison, “Mister Eighth, please seek refuge…”
“Why do I need to seek refuge?”
“…”
Zhu Honggong did not pay attention to cultivators. He did not put his armor on and only put on his gloves. He punched his fists together as he looked ahead.
As expected, a large number of sea beasts had appeared at the sh.o.r.e of the eastern sea.
The earth began to tremble.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Birth Chart Beast!”
“A 1,600-year-old Birth Chart Beast! Everyone, follow me to kill it!”
Dozens of cultivators leaped down from the city walls and fought their way through the hordes of beasts. They swept the mid and low-level fierce beasts away and pounced at the sea beasts.
When a fierce beast that resembled a manatee saw more than ten cultivators pouncing toward it, it suddenly shot out dozens of water arrows in all directions.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The force of the water arrows was incredibly strong, sending more than ten flying cultivators flying back in a sorry state.
Zhu Honggong saw this and shook his head. “Brothers, it’s best if you leave it up to me! Your strength isn’t sufficient to deal with it!”
Zhu Honggong punched his fists together before he rushed over.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Zhu Honggong’s energy fists shot out.
The manatee used the same trick again; water arrows shot into the sky.
The cultivators were shocked when they saw Zhu Honggong did bother dodging the water arrows. Instead, he was advancing fearlessly.
Bang!
“He can block the attacks? How did he do it?”
The cultivators had seen Zhu Honggong’s avatar after all. There was no way someone with a Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar was capable of this.
The cultivators watched as Zhu Honggong released chains of energy fists and cast the Nine Tribulations Thunderblast.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
All of Zhu Honggong’s attacks landed on the fierce beast that resembled a manatee. The manatee-like fierce beasts tumbled and rolled on the ground, sending dozens of sea beasts in its path flying.
The cultivators. “???”
The cultivators looked at Zhu Honggong with their mouths agape. What kind of Hundred Tribulations Insight cultivator was this? Were the Hundred Tribulations Insight cultivators they knew fake?
Finally getting the reaction he wanted, Zhu Honggong said smugly, “I’m going to start killing now!”
“Avatar!” Zhu Honggong stomped his feet and shot toward the sea beast like an arrow.
The avatar that was 450 feet tall swept toward the sea beasts.
At this time, the golden halo hanging at the avatar’s back finally appeared before the cultivators’ eyes.
“Eleven leaves! He has eleven leaves!”
Everyone was in an uproar. Indeed, how could an avatar with such a height be just an ordinary Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar? Now that they had seen the golden halo and the eleven leaves surrounding it, they realized the avatar only looked like a Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar, but it was nothing like a Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The mid and low-level beasts could not even withstand a single blow from Zhu Honggong. They scattered like ants and were sent flying by the Eleven-leaf avatar.
Zhu Honggong arrived in front of the manatee-like beast and pushed his hand out. At the same time, the golden halo flew into his hand, and the eleven leaves shot toward the fierce beast’s body.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+
After eleven consecutive attacks, the manatee-like fierce beast was cleaved into two.
Zhu Honggong flew to the fierce beast’s back and slammed his hand forward!
Bam!
A life heart flew toward the city wall.
“Catch it,” Zhu Honggong said in a clear voice.
After watching Zhu Honggong easily kill the Birth Chart Beast, the cultivators and the soldiers’ fighting spirit was greatly roused.
On the other hand, the guard that caught the life heart on the city wall looked at Zhu Honggong who was sweeping through the beasts below in a daze.
More than ten cultivators flew together toward another Birth Chart beast at this moment.
“Mister Eight, there’s another one over there!”
“Let’s open a path up for Mister Eighth!” The more than ten cultivators cut their way forward, clearing the low-level beasts to open up a path for Zhu Honggong.
With the help of the cultivators, Zhu Honggong swiftly arrived in front of the second Birth Chart Beast.
“Heavenly Phenomenon!”
Tens of thousands of energy fists appeared in the surroundings.
“Are these Daoist’s energy fists?” The city guard was overwhelmed by emotions. “Everyone says all of the disciples of the Evil Sky Pavilion are powerful… I really believe it now!”
“I believe it as well!”
Everyone gulped as they watched Zhu Honggong in action.
The energy fists that covered the sky flew toward the second manatee-like fierce beast at top speed.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The manatee-like beast roared in pain before it collapsed, causing the ground to shake.
Just when everyone thought they had won this round and the danger was over for now, a 1,000-foot-long fierce beast that resembled a tiger and a shark leaped over. The fierce beast had a row of spikes on its back; its head was that of a ferocious tiger, and its body was that of a shark. Its eyes shone like the sun and the moon as it snapped its jaws at Zhu Honggong.
“d.a.m.n! It’s so ugly!” Zhu Honggong hurriedly swung his fist at the fierce beast.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The fierce beast managed to withstand Zhu Honggong’s blows and charged forward. In just a second, it appeared in front of Zhu Honggong with its mouth wide open.
“Mister Eighth!” the cultivators cried out.
Zhu Honggong, who was. .h.i.t squarely on the chest, flew away like a ball. He felt his blood and Qi surge, causing him to almost throw up blood. It was unbearable.
Boom!
The tiger-and-shark hybrid fierce beast swept its tail across the cultivators.
Boom!
The fierce beast was too long and big that the cultivators did not have time to dodge and was sent flying by the tail. They looked like kites with broken strings as they flew black in the air. Their Qis and their blood surged as they were a.s.saulted by excruciating pain.
At this time, the city guard cried out, “Beast king! It’s a sea beast king! Retreat!”
The more than ten cultivators retreated immediately.
As soon as these cultivators retreated, tens of thousands of sea beasts advanced, led by the tiger-shark-hybrid fierce beast. With the appearance of the tiger-and-shark-hybrid fierce beast, the tide of the battle had turned.
The archers on the city wall shot their arrows, but the arrows felt just like a tickle when they landed on the tiger-and-shark-hybrid fierce beast. The arrows did not even leave a scratch on its body.
“It’s a Hu Jiao. It has the intelligence of a seven or eight-year-old human child. It won’t be easy to deal with,” the city guard said with a grim expression.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Led by the Hu Jiao, there were fierce beasts that resembled manatees, flying sharks, and other Birth Chart Beasts. The corpses of their kind did not slow them at all. In fact, the flying shark-like beasts would even devour the carca.s.ses of their kind.
The human cultivators continued to retreat.
At the same time, Zhu Honggong endured the pain and rose to his feet. He looked at the Hu Jiao with a grave expression on his face. “I don’t believe this d.a.m.n thing’s tail is so powerful! All of you deal with the weak ones; I’ll deal with the Hu Jiao!”
“Understood!” Based on their voices, they clearly no longer felt as confident as before. How could they not feel pessimistic when most of them were only at the Nine-leaf or Ten-leaf stage? How could they deal with a sea beast king when they were barely able to deal with an ordinary Birth Chart Beast? In front of the Hu Jiao, they were no different from ants.
Boom!
Zhu Honggong moved at lightning speed as he punched his fists out.
“Heavenly Phenomenon!”
The Nine Tribulations Thunderblast’s lightning flashed around Zhu Honggong as his energy fists filled the air. In just a blink of an eye, his attacks converged.
“Avatar.”
The Eleven-leaf golden avatar shot out along with Zhu Honggong.
Upon seeing this, the Hu Jiao stopped moving and opened its mouth.
Splas.h.!.+
A pillar of water shot out of the Hu Jiao’s open mouth.
Bang!
Zhu Honggong and his avatar were hit by the immense force of the pillar of water. He spat out a mouthful of blood as his avatar vanished into thin air.
“F*ck!” Zhu Honggong moved his hand to stabilize his body as he looked at the sea beast king in disbelief.
The city guard cried out, “Mister Eighth, you’ve done your best. Please retreat!”
“Please retreat, Mister Eighth!” the cultivators standing on the city wall called out in unison, clearly anxious.
Seeing Zhu Honggong was unmoved, someone tried to persuade him by saying, “You’ll have a chance to defeat it another time if you survive. Please retreat.”
After a while, all of them joined in to persuade Zhu Honggong. After all, there was no need to make unnecessary sacrifices.
However, Zhu Hong Gong turned around and said, “You can retreat, but where are the common folks going to retreat to? The wilderness is overrun with fierce beasts now. If we retreat, they’ll die!”
“This…” The cultivators’ faces flushed red in embarra.s.sment.
“Don’t forget your duties. Although I’m not a good person, I’m not a rat who runs away when things get difficult!”
Everyone lowered their heads in shame.
“We don’t want to retreat either, but there are too many fierce beasts at the city gates. If this continues, everyone will die.”
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The fierce beasts threw themselves at the gates, trying to force their way in.
In the distance, cultivators with their bodies covered in blood could be seen hovering in the air.
The soldiers on the city walls fell one after another.
At the same time, flying beasts picked off those who remained standing.
The stench of humans and fierce beasts’ blood permeated the entire Jiangdong City.
The huge flying beasts in the sky began to make their way to the other city gates, attacking the humans on the city walls as they flew.
The humans fell deeper and deeper into a disadvantageous position. They were forced to defend and retreat, and their defenses grew weaker and weaker.
Wu!
The Hu Jiao let out a low groan at this moment.
The sea beasts behind it increased their pace immediately.
Zhu Honggong flew back in the air. “Uh, I was just acting heroic earlier. Can I take back my words?”
‘Who the f*ck can withstand this?’
The Hu Jiao raised its head and opened its mouth, spraying another column of water at Zhu Honggong.
“Dodge!” the city guard cried out; his face was pale.
The cultivators immediately scattered in all directions.
The power of the water column was more than enough to destroy the thick city walls.
Even if Zhu Honggong was an Eleven-leaf cultivator, he would definitely be severely injured if the column of water hit him.
“Heavens! Dodge!” Zhu Honggong’s valiant spirit only lasted a few minutes before it vanished completely. He flew toward the city wall with all his might.
At this moment, the Hu Jiao swept its tail out again and spray out another column of water.
Crack!
The place where the column of water landed froze immediately.
“This ability!”
The cultivators’ expressions were one of horror when they saw this.
“Mister Eighth, watch out!”
Just when the column of water was about to hit Zhu Honggong, a blue palm seal suddenly appeared.
Bang!
The blue palm seal was like an all-encompa.s.sing s.h.i.+eld as it protected the Zhu Honggong, the city wall, and the people on it and behind it.
The owner of the blue palm seal could be seen hovering behind the palm seal. His arm was extended with his palm facing outward. His expression was calm as he faced the fierce beasts.
Everyone’s attention was immediately attracted to the old man who was dressed in a long robe and standing with one hand extended and one hand resting on his back. His hair was the color of frost. All in all, he looked like an immortal.
Zhu Hong was overjoyed. He kneeled in the air and cried out, “Master!”
Lu Zhou did not look at Zhu Honggong as he asked, “How are your injuries?”
Zhu Honggong was slightly moved by these words. He touched his thigh lightly and said, “This is just a superficial injury; it’s not serious. I’m just touched that master came!”
“…”
Although there were no lies in those words, why did they seem a little fake?
At the same time, Lu Zhou thought it was a pity that he had used up the supreme mystic power. Not only could he not use it to heal Zhu Honggong, but he would not be able to use it to deal with the Hu Jiao. He had used up his supreme mystic power observing Duanmu Sheng and teleporting here. He could only rely on his own strength now to deal with the Hu Jiao.
On the other side, the cultivators kneeled in unison upon hearing Zhu Honggong’s words.
“Greetings, Pavilion Master Lu!”
“Ding! Wors.h.i.+ped by 150 people. Reward: 150 merit points.”
The column of water finally vanished at this moment.
Lu Zhou turned to look at the soldiers and cultivators guarding the city. He said indifferently, “No need for formalities.”
At this time, Zhao Hongfu, who was standing on the tower, pointed ahead and cried out, “Hu Jiao!”
The city guard said, “Indeed, it’s a Hu Jiao. I’ve summoned all the cultivators from the southern, western, and northern gates here.”
Lu Zhou glanced at the city guard and said, “Tell them to stay where they are.”
“Understood.”
Wu!
The Hu Jian leaped up. One of its leaps covered half the length of the sky. The earth trembled slightly as it leaped up into the heavens, parting the clouds. It swam round and round high up in the sky as it roared.
The sea beasts advanced fiercely as though they had received their orders.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lu Zhou, who had seven Birth Charts, wondered how he should solve the crisis? Moreover, It was not just Jiangdong Circuit; Jiannan Circuit, Jianbei Circuit, and Shanbei Circuit were in danger as well.
Meanwhile, everyone looked at Lu Zhou expectantly, wondering how he was going to turn the tide of the battle.
At the same time, the Hu Jiao swept its tail in the sky.
“Livestock!” Lu Zhou said angrily as he flew into the sky and crushed an ordinary Deadly Strike Card.
A palm seal parted the clouds and flew up toward the Hu Jiao that was partially hidden by the clouds.
The palm seal looked extremely weak; it did not have a sense of existence at all!
Everyone looked at Lu Zhou, baffled.
The city guard could not help but say, “Pavilion Master Lu, this Hu Jiao is a sea beast king!”
What the city guard meant was: Please take this seriously, and don’t attack in such a half-hearted way. Are you trying to tickle the beast king with this palm seal?
As soon as the city guard’s voice fell…
Bang!
Wuuuu!
Along with the sound of an explosion, a miserable shriek rang in the air as well.
Everyone raised their heads instinctively. They saw the Hu Jiao thras.h.i.+ng around with its 1,000-foot-long body in the clouds. It was as though it had gone berserk. Its cries were so loud that they pierced everyone’s eardrums.
Similarly, all the sea beasts looked up at their king, looking much more confused than the humans.
The Hu Jiao continued to trash in the sky as water droplets fell from the sky. It looked like a live fish being thrown into a hot pain at this moment.
Zhu Honggong, Zhao Hongfu, the city guards, and the cultivators looked at Hu Jiao in confusion.
At this moment, the Hu Jiao stopped moving abruptly as though it was frozen in time before it suddenly dropped from the sky.
Boom!
Its 1,000-foot-long body smashed against a large number of fierce beasts. All of the weak land and sea beasts were smashed into meat paste in just an instant; their heads burst open, and their bellies squashed.
“…”
Everyone held their breaths; their eyeb.a.l.l.s almost popped out of their sockets. That weak palm seal that seemed like it would only tickle the Hu Jiao killed it?!
“Ding! Killed the Hu Jiao. Reward: 8,000 merit points.”
While everyone was still stunned, Zhao Hongfu regained her senses and said, “Everyone, be careful. Although the beast king is dead, the beasts will not retreat. Moreover, they will only become chaotic and crazier. Sea beasts are much more vicious than we imagined…”
Indeed, the remaining sea beasts began to pounce toward the city, trampling on the Hu Jiao’s corpse as they went.
Lu Zhou did not retreat. Instead, he advanced.
Everyone held their breaths again.
At this time, Lu Zhou manifested his avatar that towered through the clouds. The flaming lotus under his avatar caught everyone’s attention.
“What’s that thing?”
“I don’t know!”
Lu Zhou charged into the hordes of beasts fearlessly.
“Flaming Golden Lotus.”
The golden lotus under the avatar began to spin. Soon after, mini flaming lotuses shot out one after another.
Lotus started to spin.
Flames wrapped around the Golden Lotus one after another and flew out in all directions, reaping the fierce beasts’ lives.
The fierce beasts were reduced to ashes or cleaved into two as soon as they came in contact with the small flaming lotuses. They flew for 1,000 meters, killing all the beasts in their path.
Lu Zhou could release his Birth Trial ability twice, but he chose to use all of them in one go. The effect was to his satisfaction; the carca.s.ses on the ground were the best proof. With his Birth Trial ability, he had eliminated more than half of the sea beasts.
When the last flaming golden lotus cleaved a flying beast into two, Lu Zhou’s avatar disappeared as the flying beast’s body fell onto a mountain of corpses.
Lu Zhou turned around indifferently and flew back to the city wall.
At this time, the cultivators still had yet to return to their senses; they looked at the mountain of corpses in a daze.
After a long time, the city guard came back to his senses. He took a deep breath and said, “This… Is this the ability of a Twelve Chart expert?”
“I… I think so…”
“Since he has done everything, what’s left for us to do…”
With the expert working, the laymen could only watch the show.
Lu Zhou did not think that way; he still needed the others to do their jobs. He had used up all his powerful moves, and he could not recklessly use the Deadly Strike Cards. For now, he would not attack again. Therefore, he said indifferently, “Don’t let your guard down. This is just the beginning. I’ll leave the rest to all of you.”
With a big shot in charge, everyone’s confidence returned. They answered in unison, “Understood!”
Zhu Honggong said before he rushed toward Hu Jiao’s corpse, “Master, I’ll go and retrieve the life heart.”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Watch out for the black lotus cultivators.”
There was no need to worry about the other fierce beasts now that the beast king was gone.
“Understood.”
Lu Zhou said to Zhao Hongfu, “Let’s go.”
Zhao Hongfu nodded and rushed after Lu Zhou. She seemed to understand his intention. “I will do my best to open a runic pa.s.sage for Pavilion Master. Where are we going next? I can’t wait to see Pavilion Master display his might.”
“Rest.”
“Huh?”
‘Isn’t he going to take advantage of his great victory and continue killing at the next circuit?’ Zhao Hongfu scratched her head, looking confused.
Lu Zhou looked down before he called out, “Whitzard.”
Upon hearing its master’s call, Whitzard arrived on auspicious clouds.
Just as they were about to leave and find a place to rest, Zhao Hongfu suddenly said, “Pavilion Master, look over there!”
In the distant sky of Jiangdong City, countless black-clad cultivators were flying over like a swarm of locusts. They flew in a line, and buzzing noises could be heard from time to time as black astrolabes appeared and disappeared.
The black lotus cultivators had finally shown up, displaying their might.
At the same time, there were still many sea beasts and land beasts on the ground, not counting the fierce beasts in the wild.
Everyone’s mood sank immediately. Was the red lotus domain going to be pushed to its death today?
“The black lotus army! There are many Thousand Realms Whirling cultivators as well!” Zhao Hongfu cried out.
Lu Zhou stroked his beard as he looked at the incoming army; he could not help but shake his head slightly. Let alone the beast emperor, Mu Ertie had yet to show up, but he had already used up most of his cards. How was he going to deal with the army? He had no supreme mystic power, the Supreme Mystic Card, or Peak Trial Card; even the Birth Chart Power had been used up.