Chapter 503: Thunder Crystal Beast
After obtaining the Wood Race’s inheritance, Xie Jingxuan’s ability to sense a person’s life force rose to completely new heights.
Now she could a.n.a.lyze a person’s life force and use that to easily deduce the toughness of their physique.
She could more or less identify a person’s realm and tell how strong they actually were.
In her eyes, Du Xiangyang and Xue Moyan were literally naked.
Terrifying blood spirit energy flowed inside of Xue Moyan’s body because she secretly cultivated the Blood Spirit Art. Instead of her dantian’s spirit sea, it was her small, delicate figure that housed that energy.
Even if her dantian’s spirit sea were thrown into disarray, preventing her from unleas.h.i.+ng the spirit arts of Illusory Demon Sect, she would still be able to battle Yan Min with just the Blood Spirit Art.
As for Du Xiangyang...
Qin Lie, Song Tingyu, and the others subconsciously looked at him, unable to hide the curiosity in their eyes.
“Alright, alright.” Du Xiangyang raised his hands and smiled bitterly. “I admit that Miss Xie’s eyes are as bright as a torch. Once upon a time… I put quite a lot of effort into tempering my body.”
Du Xiangyang admitted to the deed, yet he still hadn’t explained how or why.
However, it was at this moment that the situation before the desolate hill changed once more.
Once the eastern barbarian called Yan Min finished running wild in locations that martial pract.i.tioners of Black Voodoo Cult and the three great families were gathered, he turned his attention to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s Yu Men and moved in that direction.
Noticing this, several Ten Thousand Beast Mountain martial pract.i.tioners retreated to Yu Men’s side with grim expressions.
Yu Men unleashed a guttural roar. Every bone in his body began to crack in succession as he instantly grew in size, swelling up like a balloon.
In just ten short breaths of time, Yu Men grew to become over two meters tall. Thick hair now adorned his neck, his cheeks, and his half-exposed arms.
Even his bones had swelled to become abnormally large.
A fierce, domineering aura of bloodl.u.s.t gushed from every pore in Yu Men’s body.
His eyes resembled those of a ferocious beast, cruel and inhuman. Even his teeth seemed to resemble be the fangs of an animal, protruding from his lips and giving him a frightening appearance.
“Beast Manifestation!”
Ye Yihao frowned deeply as he subconsciously gestured for his men to move away as far from Yu Men as possible.
“Stay away from Yu Men. Transforming into a beast completely exposes his bloodthirsty nature. It’ll be extremely difficult for him to control his madness,” Su Yan told her people.
Even when Yu Men first began his beast transformation, the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain martial pract.i.tioners by his side retreated from him step by step.
Yan Min, the eastern barbarian giant, lumbered over to Yu Men like a walking mountain.
For the first time since his unbridled rampage through the three forces of the Land of Chaos had begun, a serious expression appeared on this frightening man’s face. His eyes, the color of which constantly alternated between gray and white, focused on the opponent before him.
He too had noticed how abnormal Yu Men was.
Then, in the next moment, the howl of an ancient predator erupted from Yu Men’s throat as he suddenly charged Yan Min.
Soul shadows of dozens of terrifying beasts appeared behind Yu Men. Among those beasts, one could make out the shapes of a Purple-eyed Flame Lion King, a Deep Seawater Jade Dragon, and a Bloodmane Giant Ape. Every single one of the soul shadows was a violent, berserk creature, all of which roared toward the sky in an astounding display of ferocity.
These were the unbending beast souls hidden within Yu Men’s body!
Yu Men had refined these beast souls into his blood and bones. If he lost his temper and transformed into this b.e.s.t.i.a.l shape, they would automatically appear and greatly enhance his combat power.
As if he were the king of beasts, Yu Men joined the cacophony of beast souls behind him and let out a ferocious, feral roar.
He charged directly at Yan Min.
Like the clash of metal, or a meteor striking a mountain, the two men collided in a deafening shower of sparks.
It was like a fight between two ancient ferocious beasts.
“Amazing! Yu Men practically isn’t human!” Song Tingyu inwardly clicked her tongue.
“Actually, there’s a rumor that claims Yu Men… really does have the bloodline of an ancient beast inside of him,” Du Xiangyang said, his eyes narrowed.
“What?” Song Tingyu covered her mouth as surprise appeared on her lovely face. “He actually has such a bloodline?”
“...according to the rumors.” Du Xiangyang shrugged.
Qin Lie rubbed his chin, a pensive look on his face, then turned to look at Xie Jingxuan.
“Can you sense any proof of this?” he asked.
“Yu Men’s blood does vaguely release howls of a ferocious beast as he fights. It’s almost as if a relentless soul of an ancient beast is influencing him,” Xie Jingxuan said after a moment of thought, but she wasn’t sure of herself. “He may actually possess the bloodline of an ancient beast, but I can’t really confirm it…”
“With Yu Men suppressing the evil flame that is Yan Min, it shouldn’t be too hard for the remainder of the three forces to eliminate the eastern barbarians,” Qin Lie said indifferently.
Yan Min and Yu Men continued to clash against each other like savage beasts, tearing and biting one another. They actually fought each other to a standstill.
Ye Yihao, Feng Yiyou, Huang Zhuli, and the martial pract.i.tioners of the rest of the forces coordinated with Luo Chen’s sword and Chu Li’s golden sandstorm to begin attacking the eastern barbarians in return.
The individual combat power of each eastern barbarian was obviously weaker than those of each Land of Chaos elite. As a result, the eastern barbarians constantly retreated from the attacks of the three forces in defeat.
Judging from the current situation, the martial pract.i.tioners of the three forces were not at a disadvantage at all. They might even be able to slaughter all of the eastern barbarians after a span of blood-soaked fighting.
Of course, the three great forces would have to pay a price to do so.
“Boom boom boom!”
The terrifying sound of thunder erupted from the dark gray sky. An instant later, heavy rain and thunder fell from the sky all at once
This sudden downpour stretched across several hundred kilometers.
Everyone present had no choice but to summon s.h.i.+elds of light for protection and watch out for lightning bolts as they fought.
“Huh!”
Joy suddenly leaped to Qin Lie’s eyes as he looked at the thunder and lightning in the sky above. A smile appeared at the corners of his lips once more.
“What is it?” Du Xiangyang exclaimed softly.
“Let’s move!” Qin Lie said in a low voice. “We’ll retreat, circle around the fighting, then head back to the thunder lagoon!”
Qin Lie’s group reacted to his commands, distracted from the battle below.
“The eastern barbarians are most likely a.s.saulting the thunder spirit and forcing it to lose its grasp over the thunder and lightning energy in the Forbidden Land of Thunder,” Qin Lie explained with a grin. “I’ve regained control of the thunder and lightning!”
This news made everyone jump for joy.
As they were now, if they avoided the struggle between the three forces and the eastern barbarians and charged over to the thunder lagoon, Qin Lie’s group would most likely fail to face Sen Ye and his hundred or so eastern barbarians.
However, having regained his control over thunder and lightning, Qin Lie would be able to work with the thunder spirit to fight the eastern barbarians on two fronts. Since this was the case, they wouldn’t necessarily be at a disadvantage. If Qin Lie regained control of thunder and lightning, he could join hands with the thunder spirit and fight the eastern barbarians both from the inside and outside. In that case, they might not necessarily be at a disadvantage.
“The thunder spirit may be the reason I can now control the power of thunder and lightning. Even if I challenged its authority, it probably thought of me subconsciously in the face of danger. Since my aura is similar to its own, it must consider me the easiest to trust!” Qin Lie said confidently.
“This is great news!” Du Xiangyang’s eyes lit up.
“What about Chu Li? He’s still fighting the eastern barbarians!” Song Tingyu reminded everyone.
“Let’s ignore Chu Li for now. Considering his strength, the eastern barbarians won’t be able to harm him. Besides… in his mind, there probably isn’t anything more important than killing as many of those savages as possible,” Luo Chen said coldly.
As Luo Chen spoke, his sword finished rampaging amidst the eastern barbarians and flew back from its distant location, returning to his hand.
He obviously wasn’t planning to engage these eastern barbarians any longer.
“Alright. We’ll pretend to retreat until we’re out of range of everyone’s tokens, then circle around and return to the thunder lagoon!” Qin Lie exclaimed.
Having come to a consensus, Qin Lie’s group turned tail and pretended to run from the thunder lagoon.
As soon as they were out of range of token detection, they circled around and headed to the thunder lagoon from another direction.
After an hour, they were once again at the outskirts of the thunder lagoon.
Thirty or so eastern barbarians stood guard outside of the thunder lagoon and saw Qin Lie’s group the moment they arrived. All of those barbarians immediately nocked arrows to their huge bows and aimed at them.
Behind the barbarians, all kinds of divine lights shot from the thunder lagoon into the sky. A colorful rain of arrows, harsh sword beams, and various types of spirit energy constantly flashed at the bottom of the lagoon.
“Capture the Thunder Crystal Beast alive! Alive!” Sen Ye’s yells continuously echoed from the lagoon.
Having appeared in the Graveyard of G.o.ds out of nowhere, these eastern barbarians seemed to be familiar with the thunder spirit, its strength, its value, and how to deal with it.
Huang Zhuli, Ye Yihao, Feng Yiyou, Yu Men, and other elites of the Land of Chaos weren’t able to do anything to the thunder spirit. These eastern barbarians, however, seemed to have found a way.
Qin Lie could hear the thunder spirit’s angry roars, but the thunder and lightning in the thunder lagoon were clearly weaker than they had been earlier. They were much weaker than when they had been used against Feng Yiyou and the others.
And it only continued to weaken.
“The eastern barbarians seem to have a way to weaken the thunder and lightning inside the thunder lagoon!” Du Xiangyang cried out.
“These savages actually came prepared. It would appear that they entered the Graveyard of G.o.ds a long time ago... they also knew about the seven spirits and the secrets of the Graveyard of G.o.ds!” Luo Chen said grimly.
Luo Chen’s words made everyone come to a realization.
The eastern barbarians were extremely familiar with the secrets of the Graveyard of G.o.ds! If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have used the thunder spirit’s true name—Thunder Crystal Beast!
The eastern barbarians were obviously trying to capture the Thunder Crystal Beast. They even knew how to weaken the thunder and lightning inside of the thunder lagoon. This meant that they might know more about the Graveyard of G.o.ds than the forces of the Land of Chaos!
Everyone in Qin Lie’s group grew wary as a result of this revelation.
“My renewed control over thunder and lightning might have nothing to do with what the thunder spirit wants… it may have already lost control of the situation!” Qin Lie exclaimed in terror.
The thirty odd eastern barbarians gathered at the edge of the thunder lagoon continued to aim their colorful arrows at Qin Lie’s group.
Yet they didn’t shoot them.
“I think they may be too far from us,” Du Xiangyang said. “The moment they believe we’re close enough for their arrows to destroy our s.h.i.+elds of light, they’ll attack!”
“Let me throw their plan into chaos!” Qin Lie exclaimed in a serious voice.
With that, he circulated Heavenly Thunder Eradication.
“Prak prak prak!”
The thunder and lightning covering the sky and the earth became violent once more. All of it boomed and sparked, converging on Qin Lie from every direction.
After a moment of surprise, everyone else in Qin Lie’s group had no choice but to leave his side.
Qin Lie trembled.
Shock appeared on his face as he raised his head and looked into the dark gray sky. Dazzling streaks of lightning twisted through the sky like dragons with glittering eyes.
“Help me! Please, help me!”
Qin Lie could sense a weak, fleeting aura in every bolt of lightning. The traces of this aura were clearly from the Thunder Crystal Beast inside of the thunder lagoon.
It seemed to be using some unfathomable method to summon him, hoping that he would help it fight off the eastern barbarians.
“Alright! I’ll help you!” Qin Lie focused and unleashed his soul energy, unconcerned with whether or not the Thunder Crystal Beast could sense it.
Immediately afterward, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Dazzling lightning bolts swept toward the group of eastern barbarians as Qin Lie launched himself in their direction.