Soaring the Heavens

In an abrupt move, Su Biao charged his transcendence energy to its limit, and swept his spear full circle—’CLANG! BANG! CLANG!’—knocking back Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan’s relentless a.s.sault! In that instant, he seized the opportunity to send a formless blast of transcendence energy straight at Miao Yi. Both man and steed had charged towards him with a rumble, and were now leaping over to him

Immediately after, he continued to deftly parry the attacks coming from the two adversaries beside him.

The charging Miao Yi abruptly thrust forward the Inversed-Scales spear in his hand—suffused with a dazzling sheen, it hummed loudly in the air before striking through the swift, incoming blast of potent transcendence energy.

If it were still in the past, Miao Yi would never have been able to defend against this attack; but now he had the treasured spear’s formidable power. The Rhinocerous Spirit’s demonic soul in the Inversed-Scales Spear, had enough strength to break through an attack of this level of transcendence energy. What’s more, it had the ability to reduce the force received by two-folds—thus, the attack didn’t faze Miao Yi at all.

If Su Biao had delivered a solid strike instead of his careless blast, Miao Yi definitely would have had difficulty defending against the attack.

After piercing through the strike, Miao Yi and his mount were instantly enveloped in a resplendent white glow—ready to collide violently into Su Biao, the man Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan were doing their best to entangle.

Su Biao was instantly hit with panic.

Truthfully speaking, the gap between a Blue Lotus First Grade and a Second Grade was similar to the gap between a White Lotus First Grade and a Second Grade. It wasn’t that great of a difference. If Su Biao was faced with just one, he would have no trouble defeating that man. However, against the two of them, there was a risk that it wouldn’t be so clear-cut.

Even with Miao Yi joining the fray, he wasn’t really concerned. However, colliding with a dragon steed decked out in a suit of armor wasn’t a laughing matter. Even if he didn’t die, he would still be severely injured. The attacking strength of a dragon steed had always been astonishing; even Blue Lotus cultivators didn’t dare to battle them head on—and Charcoal was even enhanced with power from a set of transcendent artifacts! One could well imagine the result if they were to clash.

His fists alone were not enough to overcome the four of them; Su Biao was rattled. In desperation, he used all his strength to parry Lai Yuhan and Yuang Fang’s attacks, before his mount abruptly leapt into the sky.

Fighting in such close quarters, how could Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan let him off so easily? They thrust their spears at almost the same moment, and together impaled the leaping dragon steed’s belly. Again, their spears moved as one, and in an instant, the air exploded with a rain of blood—along with the dismal whinny of the pitiful dragon steed.

Su Biao’s mount was slaughtered in midair, but Su Biao himself had leapt into the air.

Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan would never let him go. The dragon steeds underneath them shot to the sky simultaneously, attacking him while he was still high up in the air.

Meanwhile, after Miao Yi failed to strike Su Biao and fell down to the ground; the men who had come to save Su Biao from his predicament, immediately charged forth to surround Miao Yi, and engaged him in a fierce a.s.sault from all sides.

Charcoal hastily spun about on the spot whilst carrying Miao Yi. Clad in his armor, Miao Yi struck out with his spear like a dragon from Charcoal’s back, swiftly launching counter attacks against his surroundings; he wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed. The Inversed-Scales Spear in his hand sent out waves of echoing dragon roars to mislead the enemies, as he launched several streams of cold light.

Where the sharp triple-edged spear points struck, pools of blood would gush forth and splattered everywhere. After carrying him through one revolution, about five to six of them had already fallen to their deaths under his dragon steed.

After executing everyone around him, Miao Yi circled about with his steed; then swept his spear around, and coldly scorned in a booming voice, "THE CAVE MASTER OF EAST ARRIVAL CAVE IS HERE! WHO DARES TO CHALLENGE ME?!"

The men who had come up to surround him were frightened by his incomparably devastating might—to the point that they quickly retreated in rapid succession. n.o.body dared to move forth against him again.

Miao Yi wasn’t the least bit courteous. Charcoal carried him forth as they suddenly charged out, with Miao Yi lifting his spear to strike out and kill.

He didn’t bother about Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan’s situation. The enemy no longer had his mount. If those two still couldn’t end him, then they were truly trash.

He only concerned himself with charging forward, helping them to fend off the forces who wanted to rescue Su Biao from his entrapment.

Predictably, once the trio battling in the sky dropped to the ground, Su Biao’s face had turned ghastly pale. Without a mount, he absolutely didn’t dare to force a head on fight—with the two men hot on his trail, he turned on his heels and ran.

However, Lai Yuhan and Yuan Fang wouldn’t let him get away. Their dragon steeds dashed forward like lightning, quickly catching up to him.

Hearing the hurried swish closing in from behind, Su Biao twisted around to return the blow—fueled with grief and indignation—the spear he thrusted out immediately clashed with Lai Yuhan’s longspear.

‘CLANG!’ A loud sound rang out; the force of the clash sparking with white light.

Lai Yuhan’s body swayed a little on his dragon steed. Even with help of the dragon steed’s strength, he was still almost knocked down—the enemy’s strength was still there. Then, he swept past Su Biao’s figure.

Yet, the long spear in Su Biao’s hand was instantly jolted out of his grip. Blood spewed out from the web between thumb and forefinger, as his entire figure stumbled backwards.

In a normal clash of force, Lai Yuhan would never have been able to match him; but with his strike being enhanced by the powerful impact of the dragon steed, the situation was different. Having the additional power and speed on top of Lai Yuhan’s own strength, the resulting attack was astonishingly vicious. In one move alone, Lai Yuhan was able to send Su Biao’s spear flying.

This was the reason why the cultivators still in the Realm of Traversing didn’t dare to wage war without dragon steeds. Battling without a dragon steed was equivalent to losing half of their life.

Even if on the off-chance that a White Lotus First Grade cultivator was faced with a White Lotus Ninth Grade expert, if the latter didn’t have a dragon steed, the former could still borrow the leg strength of the dragon steed to make his escape when he failed to defeat the latter. So for cultivators of the White Lotus and Blue Lotus realms, dragon steeds were a necessity.

Su Biao received such a strong jolt, that his legs jerked about chaotically as he staggered back. He barely had time to steady his footing, before his eyes began to widen in panic at the sight of a ray of cold light hacking right at him. Unarmed and defenseless, he couldn’t hope to block off the attack no matter how desperate he was.

"DIE!" Yuan Fang immediately charged over in a fury. In an instant, his spear impaled Su Biao’s heart. He hoisted it—lifting Su Biao’s body—before immediately flinging his body off.

On the other end, Lai Yuhan had already swiftly turned about, and prompt galloped his dragon steed to gallop back towards them. With a strike of his spear, he slashed through Su Biao’s airborne body, and a rain of blood fell to the ground.

With the death of Su Biao, Mount Returning Loyalty’s men—already being crushed by the forces of East Arrival Cave—instantly fell into a state of panic. Those Cave Masters fortunate to have thus far survived gestured at once, and shouted, "RETREAT!"

Hundreds of men had launched the raid, yet only about thirty were fleeing in disarray.

The men who fled were full of grief and indignation—they had been tricked! How were the forces of a measly East Arrival Cave be so powerful? There was not a cultivator below White Lotus Fifth Grade in sight! Their company of over a hundred men seemed to be clashing with twenty Cave Master, and even experts at the Mountain Chieftain level—their fighting strength couldn’t be compared at all! The enemy were all individuals who would take on several of their own, and even a Mountain Chieftain with Blue Lotus Second Grade cultivation had fallen in battle. There was no way for them to continue fighting this war.

After scanning his surroundings, and seeing there was no one left alive, Miao Yi immediately urged Charcoal into a gallop. With Charcoal’s first-rate leg strength, it didn’t take long for him to take a bite out of a man who was lagging behind the others. Leaning forward, Miao Yi flicked his spear and knocked over the man’s mount. That man was instantly thrown away.

Yuan Fang and Lai Yuhan rushed forward to flank Miao Yi, brandishing their spears in the air. Waves of formless, potent transcendence energy immediately struck out at the man until he spewed blood and collapsed to the ground, rolling around, and writhing.

Miao Yi swept the spear in his hand across and held it out horizontally—stopping the men behind him from continuing to give chase. They still didn’t know the enemy yet, and these group of invaders didn’t seem to be Xiong Xiao’s men. They had to understand the current situation thoroughly first, so they wouldn’t fall into a trap.

Charcoal lightly carried him forward. Reaching out with the Inversed-Scales Spear, Miao Yi flicked the mask off the man’s face. He immediately cried out, begging for mercy, "SURRENDER! SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!"

The sharp triple-edged spear points were pressed against the man’s chest. Miao Yi scornfully questioned, "Who are you to dare a.s.sault my East Arrival Cave? Speak! If you dare lie, I will make you regret being born into this world!"

"Mount Returning Loyalty! We’re Mount Returning Loyalty’s men!" The man pointed to the place where Su Biao was executed. Trembling with fear, he explained, "That’s our Mount Returning Loyalty’s Mountain Chieftain, Su Biao! Everything I said is true! I beg Cave Master to be magnanimous and spare my life!"

He was seriously frightened out of his wits by this Cave Master; his army was truly powerful and well-disciplined. Only about twenty men had appeared and almost wiped out the forces of an entire mountain—was this even a Cave? Or had they been prepared in advance?

"Mount Returning Loyalty?" Miao Yi frowned. Mount Returning Loyalty was his neighbor; it was impossible for him not to know of them. "Are you Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor’s men?"

"Yes, yes, yes! We are!" The man nodded continuously as he lay on the ground with blood coating his mouth.

Yuan Fang and the rest exchanged glances with each other. The men from Ten-Thousand Thriving Manor were truly deplorable. Were they trying to cause a rift between the two halls?

Miao Yi was also slightly puzzled by this turn of events. "Why are you launching a night raid on my East Arrival Cave?"

"I don’t know much of the details." The man shook his head and replied, "I only know that the Mountain Chieftain sent word to us. If anyone of us could capture or kill Mount Calming Sea’s Mountain Chieftain Qin Weiwei, we would be handsomely rewarded!"

"Qin Weiwei?" Miao Yi was caught by surprise.

However, he quickly understood the underlying reason; Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor was trying to seek revenge on Yang Qing!

None of them dared to strike deeply into South Edict Manor for fear of leaving behind any evidence that could be used against them; it would bring them no end of trouble. It had taken them a great deal of difficulty to find out that Qin Weiwei had come to East Arrival Cave. They had felt that it would be a short round trip to quickly end her. With East Arrival Cave’s forces alone, they shouldn’t have been able to stop them. In that one move, they could wipe the slate clean and walk off without a second thought—practically giving Yang Qing a slap in the face.

Their superiors literally hadn’t held East Arrival Cave with any regard at all. What they failed to grasp was that East Arrival Cave had a powerful and well-disciplined army—leading them to crash into an iron wall. They hadn’t managed to kill Qin Weiwei, and instead gave their enemies the opportunity to kill their Mount Returning Loyalty’s Mountain Chieftain.

‘F*ck!’ His birth date truly didn’t align well with the b.i.t.c.h—it was quite the opposite! After she happily left, she had instead brought an unexpected calamity to his East Arrival Cave!

Miao Yi began cursing heavily. His East Arrival Cave had helped Qin Weiwei escape her doom—it was madness! A Cave Master like him had truly done his job well; he ought to get a reward from Yang Qing later...

After interrogating the prisoner for some time, apart from finding out that there were forces from Mount Returning Loyalty providing support at the border of East Arrival Cave, there weren’t any other information of value.

This p.a.w.n wouldn’t know whether the upper echelons had any follow-up operation. Miao Yi didn’t waste any more time. He turned to ask, "Send someone to watch him closely. There’s still some use in keeping him alive. Yuan Fang, send two men to scout out more information about what’s going on in Mount Returning Loyalty."

Yuan Fang immediately selected two White Lotus Fifth Grade cultivators.

The rest quickly clean up the battlefield. Only after cleaning it did was Miao Yi outraged, realizing that he had lost a White Lotus Sixth Grade cultivator, and two White Lotus Fifth Grade cultivators. Losing three in such a short while, along with some of the group being injured, made his heart ache; as he felt that the number of his subordinates weren’t that much to begin with.

However, this wasn’t something that could be helped. The men surrounding them were greater in numbers, and did not lack Cave Masters among them. Casualties were inevitable in the midst of such besiegement.

Under the rules of the game created by the Six Sages, the cultivators in this world continuously fought for the sake of their own interests. Everyone was accustomed to life and death, so there was nothing to grieve for. The ‘so-called’ funeral arrangements were simply just burying the bodies.

At the same time, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Each of them had a look antic.i.p.ation as they focus their attention on the items in Miao Yi’s hand. For the storage rings alone, there were already seven; among them, two belonged to Su Biao.

The most important matter was still the Orbs of Will. Everyone knew that the handover of the Orbs of Will had only just pa.s.sed not long ago, so none of them had a chance to use their Orbs of Will yet. Right then, they had killed about sixty men—among them a Mountain Chieftain and some Cave Masters—so one could well imagine the number of Orbs of Will gathered.