Rumble rumble rumble….The loud noise of stones being smashed could suddenly be heard inside the forest far from the scattered rocks the Qing-Yun disciples were hiding behind. Within that forest, giant trees fell down one after the other, and shards of rock and dust flew upwards while the earth quaked below.
Unfortunately, a few of the Qing-Yun disciples close by were even injured by this, yet they still did not dare to move or make a sound.
A clanging sound rose from beneath the ground as a strange tree-like monster made its way out. Its body was black with a metallic sheen, and it was wide with numerous limbs attached on both sides, each as sharp as a razor. The mouth at the top of its body squirmed in a manner that was disgusting and terrifying at the same time. It was one-hundred-foot-long giant centipede and the king of Mount Desolation—the Mountain-Moving Blue Centipede.
"Aaao…."
The blue centipede threw itself out from the ground, parts of its body reaching higher as it straightened. A stream of air pa.s.sed by, and it suddenly released a frightening cry that caused all of the beasts within the valley to lower themselves in unison and lie still on the ground.
The blue centipede’s body shook before it crawled over and—with a quick movement of its limbs—picked up and swallowed a Golden-Haired Ape whole. The ape didn’t even show any signs of resistance despite releasing a soft whimper of pain, and the beasts surrounding it were all the same, all of them s.h.i.+vering in fear without daring to make a single movement. They were lined up one after another like fresh meat buns, as though they were just waiting to be swallowed up by the centipede.
The blue centipede did not seem to be satisfied even after swallowing the Golden-Haired Ape, and its body began to move once more—this time, towards the cauldron in the center. Once it arrived, two of its sausage-like tentacles came out to the front to test if the cauldron was dangerous. Once it was finished testing, it immediately picked up the cauldron and poured everything into its mouth with so much excitement that it shook with a rustling sound.
However, as the centipede drank from the cauldron, it did not notice that a few jade talismans were consumed as well. It must have a.s.sumed they were bones amidst the b.l.o.o.d.y liquid as it swallowed everything within. It was at this exact moment that Feng Qingwei quietly commanded, "Now!"
Swoosh….
Four or five Shanhe disciples leapt out, each one summoning a spirit tool that they nailed into the stone walls.
BANG
Suddenly, the Qi inside the valley began to coalesce, and an invisible but powerful force soon rushed upward from the ground to create a giant invisible web that enveloped all of the valley. Then, with a command from Pi Junzi, some Shuwen disciples activated a number of talismans, causing a rainbow of colors to s.h.i.+ne and fall from the sky with the blue centipede trapped within.
While this was happening, a bright light began to s.h.i.+ne within the blue centipede right before the fifth segment of its body exploded, splattering black fluid everywhere. The jade talismans it had swallowed before were Explosion Talismans, and they had instantly caused severe wounds to the centipede after igniting inside its body.
"AAAO…" The centipede cried out in pain and straightened its body. All of the other beasts around it went into panic mode as well and began fleeing in all directions. With the trap formation placed around the area, however, they had nowhere to escape and were all trapped inside.
"Haha, caught it in one go. There shouldn’t be many problems now!" The Qing-Yun disciples revealed themselves and began to perform all manner of spells to maintain the formation. Feng Qingwei and Pi Junzi exchanged looks before showing expressions of relief.
It was also at this moment that the loud cry of an eagle could be heard from afar, with Xiao Jianming preparing his sword as he flew closer on his eagle. The blue centipede gave another long shriek, and the lower half of its body dropped into the soil below as it began to quickly descend.
"s.h.i.+xiong Pi, it’s trying to escape underground!" Feng Qingwei yelled out.
"It won’t!" Pi Junzi coldly replied. "Shuwen disciples, prepare Earth-Sealing Talisman now!"
Swoosh swoosh….
All of the Shuwen disciples instantly leapt out as one. Each held a yellow talisman in their hands, and they quickly pasted them against the ground before sending Qi inside.
The moment the talismans were filled with Qi, the ground turned as hard as steel, and the blue centipede could no longer tunnel below. Filled with anger and frustration, the centipede suddenly drew its body back while a dark, faint light soaked into the ground. Within a span of three breaths, the ground suddenly began to ripple like the surface of boiling water and sharp ten-foot-long thorns burst out from below. Numerous beasts were instantly pierced and thrust up into the air while the landscape changed completely, and even the trap formation’s eight pa.s.sageways were destroyed.
"It… it’s an earth-element beast!" Feng Qingwei screamed, the words filled with surprise and excitement. Since the blue centipede was of the earth element, the value of its beast core would double, but its power would also be much greater.
"AAOOO…." Another long shriek from the blue centipede sent the beasts in the valley rus.h.i.+ng towards the Qing-Yun disciples now that the formation was broken. The centipede, on the other hand, traveled in the opposite direction in an attempt to escape, all hundred of its limbs moving together at an extremely fast speed.
"Hurry and block it!" Feng Qingwei yelled, newly filled with regret. If they had had the Duanzhen disciples with them, with their use of various spirit tools, there would be no chance for this beast to escape; the situation wouldn’t have ended up like this even if it was of the earth element.
Directly in the blue centipede’s path were the Danxia disciples, and when they saw the beast coming their way, they were immediately sent into a state of panic. They screamed and scattered in different directions, allowing the centipede to easily escape. Not even the angry screams from Feng Qingwei could command this group of female disciples to risk their lives to stop the centipede.
As the blue centipede was about to head back into the forest, a group of dumbfounded Qing-Yun disciples appeared, and Feng Qingwei determined that they were Duanzhen disciples when she focused her gaze. It seemed as though they’d been excluded from the rest of the group, that they’d no longer wished to hunt any more beasts and—feeling upset—they’d chosen to rest at a nearby location. However, they had not been expecting to hear such loud noises followed by the blue centipede fleeing into them.
"Duanzhen disciples, do not allow that centipede to get away!" Feng Qingwei screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice instantly traveling over to the group.
Upon hearing this and seeing how quickly the blue centipede was moving, the faces of the Duanzhen disciples all twisted.
On the other side, all of the Shanhe, Shuwen, and Danxia Valley disciples all screamed, "Hurry and block that blue centipede!"
The expressions of the Duanzhen disciples changed once more. This blue centipede was so powerful; how could stopping it be easy? Furthermore, even if they did manage to stop it, it was likely that most of the Duanzhen disciples would either die or be heavily wounded.
"Duanzhen disciples, listen up!" the voice of Wu Xiangtong rose. This caused all of the Duanzhen disciples to feel a little more tense, and they tightened their grips on their spirit tools. If Wu Xiangtong gave the command, they would have to follow it no matter what. In situations like this, they couldn’t just ignore what they were ordered to do.
However, Wu Xiangtong continued with the second half of his sentence: "Just as Little s.h.i.+xiong Fang said, your lives are more important!" As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately jumped back some thirty feet away.
"Sh*t, that scared the h.e.l.l out of me…." A few other Duanzhen disciples let out a loud yell and quickly followed Wu Xiangtong’s example.
"Useless!"
When Xiao Jianming had arrived atop his eagle, he saw that the centipede was about to escape into the forest and had given an angry curse, unintentionally including Feng Qingwei in his statement as well. Then, he leapt off of the steel eagle without much thought and began swinging his iron sword in anger. Pinp.r.i.c.ks of dark light fell like rain from the sky against the blue centipede, causing sparks to fly in all directions.
BOOM….
Although the majority of the iron sword’s flickers were fended off by the blue centipede’s black armor, a few managed to make its way into the flesh between the individual segments as well as where it had been damaged from the explosion. Blood began to ooze out from these locations as the blue centipede painfully straightened its body and shot it out like an iron whip towards the airborne Xiao Jianming.
"Haah!" Xiao Jianming released a loud howl and extended his left palm. An invisible barrier formed in front of him while he rode the eagle and tried to dodge the centipede’s attack. The barrier unfortunately did not last more than a few seconds before it was shattered, but the eagle had already started to ascend higher into the sky so the centipede didn’t manage to strike them directly. Only the eagle’s abdomen was scratched, causing a few drops of blood and a couple of feathers to be left behind.
"Still trying to escape, livestock?" Xiao Jianming loudly cursed, feeling sympathy for his eagle. Sword strikes landed one after another in an attempt to force the blue centipede back down. He didn’t have full confidence in being able to fight the centipede alone, and so he was trying to push it back into the formation. If he could do so, he would borrow the Qing-Yun disciples’ combined efforts to send it to its death. As for how many Qing-Yun disciples would be sacrificed in the process, that was none of his concern.
Soon, both the blue centipede and Xiao Jianming had sent a few rounds of attacks towards each other. Although each of Xiao Jianming’s strikes was life-threatening and the blue centipede had already been wounded beforehand, the centipede’s retaliation was still dangerous for Xiao Jianming and his eagle to take, and there were a few close calls where he’d nearly lost. As it so happened, they were rather equal when it came to battle prowess.
It didn’t take long before the blue centipede felt the dangers of taking this any longer. It suddenly shook, and from its entire body came a large amount of poisonous fumes that were released into the air in a strange steam-like form.
"Sh*t…." Xiao Jianming quickly commanded his eagle to fly higher, while the Qing-Yun disciples below were all left in shock. A few of them had already inhaled the poisonous fumes and instantaneously dropped dead while the rest were left distraught and rushed to get out of the way.
As for the blue centipede, it used this opportunity to dash away into the forest at the speed of lightning, all of its hundred limbs clambering against the ground. Next, rock shards and dust flew in all directions to create a screen before it burrowed its way back into the ground, causing loud noises to rise up amidst the forest as trees fell, until silence returned once more.
All signs of the centipede were lost, and Xiao Jianming looked down in hatred from atop his eagle. Although he made a full circle around the area, he knew there was no way he would find traces of the centipede any longer, and he returned in anger. He jumped off his eagle and—before he had even landed—he cursed loudly at the Qing-Yun disciples in his fury. "Bunch of useless trash, spoiling my big moment!"
Feng Qingwei looked on in shame and grew nervous when she saw Xiao Jianming had been angered.
At this moment, someone angrily yelled out, "Duanzhen disciples, you’re all so afraid of death; do you not know shame?" The speaker’s face was as though it had been lit with the flames of fury, and his words were spoken as if only for the sake of righteousness. The speaker was none other than Shen Lo.
Feng Qingwei seemed to take the hint from him and suddenly understood. If the Duanzhen disciples had risked their lives earlier in order to block the blue centipede, it was possible it wouldn’t have escaped, yet they were too timid and afraid of death and had caused her trap to fail. She soon began to feel a degree of hatred as well, and loudly said, "Indeed. Wu Xiangtong, are your Duanzhen disciples truly that afraid of fighting and death?"
The other Qing-Yun disciples were stunned, and glances filled with many different emotions were immediately directed towards the group of Duanzhen disciples. Even Xiao Jianming looked at Wu Xiangtong with a cold gaze, his pupils filled with flames of anger.
Pale-faced, Wu Xiangtong opened his mouth, but no sound was able to come out. It was he who had ordered the Duanzhen disciples to get out of the blue centipede’s path, but in front of Xiao Jianming’s ire, it was hard to justify.
Luckily, a loud cry of a crane rose from the distance, and two stunning streaks of white and gold swept across the sky with haste. As the pair drew closer, it became clear it was two people, one riding atop a white crane with the other atop a golden crow.
Before the pair had even landed, a voice could already be heard. "d.a.m.n you motherf*ckers, all I could hear even while flying was your whining and crying…. Oh, and where’s my underwear?"