Chapter 963: Bloodbath On The Barren Island
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The resplendent sword lotus bloomed hundreds of meters in the sky, creating a scene like the red glowing sun was descending from the firmament while pouring out its brilliant rays, whereas the already dimmed Tenebrous Domain was diluted yet again by the sword beams.
Looking elegant and graceful in his white attire, Tang Guan waved his arm, and his sword blade seemed like a linked rainbow bridge that fell from the sky as it crashed down to impale the gigantic skeleton monster.
This move was Tang Guang’s strongest killing technique. At the moment when the sword beam clashed with the bone knife, a hazy figure seemed to be riding the sword and silently appeared near the skeleton monster. Spatial turbulence then occurred, and that figure suddenly appeared behind Maz Soloch.
“BE CAREFUL!!!”
Astraeus Soloch who was watching in the distance suddenly had his expression drastically change, and he shouted in alarm.
However, the shadowy figure was too fast, like an immortal sword, and silently slashed Maz Soloch’s neck powerfully, beheading him. The powerful slash even made the head that was flying away to explode instantly.
BOOM…
The skeleton monster also exploded and shattered loudly. Although it had wreaked havoc with its crus.h.i.+ng blows to fend off the sword beam shot by the sword lotus, it was only able to do so for a fleeting moment. Now, the sword beam continued striking forward toward Zalegly Soloch.
“Tenebrous Domain!”
Zalegly Soloch crazily blew out mouthful after mouthful of greyish black blood and narrowly avoided the vital parts of his body getting pummeled. Yet, he quickly fled nearly 100 meters away after his left arm was cut off by the sword beam.
With anger and fury visible on his face, Astraeus swiftly dashed to Zalegly and blocked the rest of the sword beams for him. He furiously snarled, “You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You shamelessly resort to a sneak attack?! All my clansmen, KILL THEM ALL! I will reward whomever kills the most and who earns the biggest merit with a Sacred Fruit of Darkness once we return home!”
Sacred Fruit of Darkness?!
Hysteria could be seen in the eyes of the tens experts of the Celestial Wizard Clan. The Sacred Fruit of Darkness was the sacred object of their clan, as it was the fruit of their holy tree. The Sacred Tree of Darkness only bloomed once every 100 years and produced only 10 Sacred Fruit of Darkness each time.
It could be said that the Sacred Fruit of Darkness was among the top three treasures in the Celestial Wizard Clan. Consuming even just one fruit could make one’s strength greatly improve in a short time, even if that person was a newly born child. But for powerhouses, taking this fruit would increase their cultivation for hundreds of years.
“KILL!!!”
“KILL THEM ALL!!!”
A cl.u.s.ter of black fog suddenly burst out, and shadowy figures flung over toward the 9th island. The scene looked like they were evil sp.a.w.ns that rushed out of h.e.l.l, bringing with them boiling killing aura along with the black fog.
Tang Xiu’s eyes were still trained on Astraeus Soloch. After seeing that this man had yet to rush over, he immediately raised his hand and waved forward while shouting, “SLAUGHTER THEM! None of you can step back unless you fight to the death in this battle. The more you kill, the better your reward!”
On the sea in the distance, Daoist Zixuan and her ten disciples just caught up and saw that the battle between the two sides had just begun. Although Daoist Zixuan had experienced several battles, seeing over a hundred powerhouses in the fray at the same time still gave her no small shock.
Her gaze, however, locked on the immortal swords in the hands of the Everlasting Feast Hall’s experts. She spent some time observing those swords and determined that they were immortal swords, and that the number of people who owned them was definitely more than 20.
“Master.”
Jin Chanzi’s complexion looked slightly pale. He and his martial brothers and sisters had never seen such a battle scene and looked nervous.
Deep thought filled Daoist Zixuan’s eyes, and she stayed silent for more than ten seconds before she finally made up her mind. After steeling her heart, she then said in a deep voice, “Daoist Tang and his men from Nine Dragons Island, including Mo Awu, have saved us. Now that they are battling those Celestial Wizard clansmen, we can’t stay still and do nothing. All of you, get ready to join the battle. Even if we must die today, we must help Daoist Tang and his men.”
“Understood!”
Regardless of them feeling nervous and restless, Jin Chanzi’s group of ten still had the courage to instantly release their swords and they flushed away toward the battlefield along with Daoist Zixuan. They were all at the Foundation Establishment Stage and each of them was comparable to the Everlasting Feast Hall’s experts; yet, their lack of experience in combat was instantly revealed after joining the battle and battling against the experts from the Celestial Wizard clan.
In the meantime, neither Tang Xiu nor Astraeus Soloch moved and just coldly observed the battle from the sideline.
The flickering light of the cold blades, as well as the sounds of rattling sabers, were getting louder amid the rain of blood that quickly made the 9th island into a huge battle stage with combatants being engaged in deadly combat everywhere. The barren island had become a field of bloodshed, dyeing the sky with blood and energy.
As time went by, however, Astraeus Soloch’s brows creased and knitted deeper. He was keenly aware that his side would suffer more and more casualties and injuries should the battle continue any longer. Moreover, he could see that his side was gradually having complications.
“How is this possible? These young people’s strength is not that powerful; yet, how can their combat experience be so rich? The most frightening aspect is that the longer they battle, the stronger the power they can unleash. They are even able to easily fix the clumsy moves they were doing previously.”
Fists clenched tightly, Astraeus’s eyes suddenly s.h.i.+fted to Tang Xiu. The words this young man told him before the battle were reverberating in his mind: Training his men.
“He… he’s using my clansmen… to drill his men?! This lunatic b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Doesn’t he know that it’s very difficult to train an expert? Even if the situation is in their favor, they will also suffer heavy casualties, regardless of them being able to kill the experts from my clan in the battle to this extent! Could it be that he doesn’t care about the many experts, like they are just worthless things in his eyes?”
Only at this moment did Astraeus Soloch have a faint regret that he closed all the room for negotiation and tore all the decorum with these people before his eyes. That young man might not care about his own men, but he just couldn’t do the same. One must know that training an expert was very difficult, even for his Celestial Wizard Clan. And yet, more than a dozen experts from his clan had already been killed, while dozens more had been wounded in a little more than ten minutes.
“Four men? Only four men on their side have died?!”
Astraeus Soloch stared at Tang Xiu and said, “Young man, my Celestial Wizard Clan has several thousand clansmen, and over a hundred of them are great wizards. I only brought less than one-tenth of my clan’s experts here. You can let your men continue the battle if you’re not afraid of my clan’s retaliation.”
“Heh? Are you threatening me?” sneered Tang Xiu. “I may be afraid of many things, but threats are not one of them. But I’ll be honest with you. I only have a few experts under me, probably not even one-tenth of what your clan has. But what about it? Only cultivators who have gone through the baptism of slaughter can be regarded as true powerhouses. Those who die in battle mean that they are not good enough, while those who survive will get stronger and stronger in the future.”
“You’re crazy!” snarled Astraeus Soloch angrily.
“I’m a lunatic? You’re right, old fart. I really am a madman,” sneered Tang Xiu yet again. “It’s because I’ve experienced battles and murders—far too many to count. So much so that treading on the line of life and death in battle is nothing to me. This era is just too peaceful. I want to give my men some opponents to gain experience, as such a chance is hard to come by. Your Celestial Wizard Clan has graciously delivered yourselves to my door, so how can I waste this opportunity?”
Gripping his fists tightly, Astraeus Soloch was finally unable to compose himself and unleashed the Tenebrous Domain killing technique as he raised the staff in his hand high and rushed toward the fighting crowd.
Tang Xiu let out wild laughter and slashed his hand forward. The divine sword in his hand turned into a hundred-meter mighty torrent that carved an opening amid the black fog. With the torrential sword energy that blasted forward, he instantly appeared right in front of Astraeus Soloch.
“Lightning…”
“Fire…”
“Wind…”
“Rain…”
Right after he cast the technique, lightning blitzed down from the sky; a flame appeared out of nowhere from the firmament, forming a sea of fire in the blink of an eye; a tornado arrived and violently raged, and finally, a downpour of acidic rain from the floating dark clouds ultimately followed.
“What is this?!”
The scene made Astraeus Soloch’s face enormously change. He felt like he had been transported into a magical world, yet the magic power inside posed a great threat to him.
‘Is this a kind of magic spell?’
Astraeus Soloch bit the tip of his tongue and swung his staff faster, forming layers of black fog to protect himself, while also instantly releasing the Grim Reaper Scythe to chop forward toward Tang Xiu.
Tang Xiu responded with a laugh and controlled the divine sword to clash with it head-on without hesitation.
CRACK! BOOM!!!
A sound like an eggsh.e.l.l being broken was heard, followed by the eruption of a gigantic energy shockwave that made the many battling experts in the surroundings fly upside down. The shockwave even created a huge pit 100-meters wide and seven-plus meters deep.
Astraeus Soloch spurted out a mouthful of blood, and his face turned as pale as paper. His body was trembling as he stared at the shattered Grim Reaper Scythe. The pain of losing it made him almost burst into tears.
This magic weapon was obtained by his father after risking his life in the past, while he had spent more than 300 years to refine it after his father pa.s.sed it down to him. With this Grim Reaper Scythe in his hands, his power had greatly improved, which is the reason why he held it so dear.
Yet now, it had actually been shattered by the enemy’s longsword?
How is this possible?!!
Astraeus Soloch’s eyes were full of hatred as he glared at Tang Xiu. He furiously roared, “All Celestial Wizard clansmen! The enemies have laid a trap for us, and we’ve suffered too many losses here! Heed my order and escape from this place at once!”
In that instant, all the experts of the Celestial Wizard clan lost their fighting spirit. Many of them witnessed the clash between Astraeus and Tang Xiu a moment ago. Never in their wildest dream would their revered Grand Elder, a figure whom they admired, unexpectedly lose to a young man. Even the Grim Reaper Scythe, his iconic magic weapon, also shattered.
“RUN!”
Regardless of the deep humiliation and disgrace they felt inside, they knew that life was more important than fighting here. Choosing to prolong the battle would very likely cost them their lives, while even their Grand Elder no longer had the spirit to continue fighting.
Quickly after, tens of clansmen of the Celestial Wizard clan quickly fled while injured. However, the experts of the Everlasting Feast Hall were hot on their heels and kept pestering them, causing them to be unable to flee to a safe place in a short time.
A smirk was displayed on Tang Xiu’s face since he was quite happy with the toughness and ferociousness shown by his men. Nearly 20 people from the Celestial Wizard Clan died, compared to four men from the Everlasting Feast Hall, after ten minutes of battle.
“Everyone, heed my order! CHASE AND KILL THEM!”
Tang Xiu himself took the lead, and his body streaked forward as fast as a meteor, pursuing the Celestial Wizard Clan’s experts. The divine sword he unleashed was as though a harbinger of death, as each of its attacks would heavily maul some of the Celestial Wizard experts. Even if those who got hit were not killed immediately, it greatly obstructed their movements and delayed their escape.