Chapter 1663: Jade-Stone Shell Light

The enemy Nascent Soul cultivator was startled by the sudden appearance of the mountain-like ancient ape. He hadn’t even sensed its arrival; it was as if it had appeared from thin air. Furthermore, the Diamond Net he had released had been smashed apart by its fists, and it hadn’t even retreated a step, only wobbling slightly. His Divine Sense swept over it and realized with shock that this massive ancient ape had no life force, only an abundance of spiritual power.

“A pup… a puppet?”

Though Bai Rou rarely fought, once she controlled her puppet, she had no other thoughts. After blocking one move, she feared it was just luck, so she immediately controlled the ancient ape to attack. This caught the enemy off guard, granting her a brief advantage. The two clashed instantly, their explosions joining the larger battle.

Qianji was stunned, watching the puppet fight the enemy. Although she had the initiative, Bai Rou was still slightly at a disadvantage. However, it would be impossible for the enemy to defeat her quickly.

“Miss Bai truly hides her strength!” Qianji’s eyes were full of wonder. He turned and saw Zi Kun looking equally shocked. But in the next moment, seeing that Bai Rou could hold the enemy for now, they pounced toward Li Wuyi’s battle circle. They couldn’t afford to hesitate.

Inside the mountain gate, Li Zhaoyan watched the battle in the sky, her gaze shifting between Zhao Min and Bai Rou. When she saw her mother pounce toward a Spirit Transformation master, her heart jumped into her throat. Then she saw that Zhao Min’s side hadn’t suffered any casualties after the first exchange, which allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief. But then she realized her master had vanished. She searched through the explosions and light and soon saw the familiar giant puppet. Her master was fighting a late-stage Nascent Soul enemy alone.

‘Both Mother and Master are so strong!’

In the sky, when Bai Rou joined the fight, only three seconds had passed. Gong Chenying and the others also saw the puppet. Seeing Bai Rou holding an enemy alone, they were amazed. They hadn’t expected this Junior Sister Bai’s cultivation to be so strong despite her being an initial-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Looking back, they realized they wouldn’t have been able to do the same at that stage. But to Li Yan, this wouldn’t have been a surprise. Shuang Qingqing was so powerful, and since Bai Rou was her direct disciple, it was only a matter of time before she became a true expert.

‘The Wood Flow Sect is a truly overlooked sect,’ Gong Chenying thought.

Mo Qing and Wei Zhongran had been worried about Gong Chenying’s plan; those two were the strongest below the late-stage Nascent Soul. If they helped the masters, could the other Nascent Soul cultivators manage? But the battlefield was fluid. At that moment, Gong Chenying’s judgment had been correct: the priority was to stall!

After the first clash between the circles, they felt the situation was grim. They were about to send either Zhao Min or Gong Chenying to help, but then Bai Rou appeared out of nowhere and blocked an enemy alone.

“Good!” Wei Zhongran’s eyes shone with a strange light. He smashed his twin hammers together, causing lightning to crackle violently as he charged toward the Spirit Transformation cultivator again. Mo Qing stayed at a distance, preferring ranged attacks. Zhao Min and Gong Chenying attacked with spear and whip.

The initial-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator’s killing intent intensified. Although only three seconds had passed and he had blasted them back, those two women—who showed no demonic qi—were like human-shaped beasts. They were injured, but their combat power remained, and he felt he didn’t have much of an advantage.

The most troublesome one was that plump young man in the dark green robes. He was strong in both close and ranged combat, and his magical power was confirmed to be on par with his own. This tied down too much of his power. One slip, and a strike from that massive magical power could be disastrous.

‘The data said Li Yan’s master was at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Why does he look like he’s stepped halfway into Spirit Transformation?’

The information they had on Little Bamboo Peak was quite extensive, but it was a bit old. Wei Zhongran had reached the Nascent Soul stage centuries ago; how had his magical power become so vast? The enemy wondered if their data was wrong. He didn’t know that even Li Yan, who practiced the Sunflower True Scripture, couldn’t match Wei Zhongran’s magical power. Li Yan’s pride was in his vast power and Divine Sense, but at the same stage, he truly couldn’t compare to Wei Zhongran.

Just then, another change occurred.

“Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Li, go quickly! We will handle this thief!” Zi Kun shouted urgently. Li Wuyi and the others had already seen the situation in the other battle circle and felt a chill. In this short time, Yan Longzi’s circle had taken a turn for the worse. Wang Tian had fallen to the ground, his fate unknown. Du Sanjiang had taken too many hits while defending and had fallen from the clouds, his aura fading to almost nothing. This circle was the first to break.

“You want to leave? No way!” The late-stage Nascent Soul enemy facing Zi Kun and the others was furious at being stalled by two beasts and two people. Seeing his companion in the other circle slaughtering everyone, he knew that once those Nascent Soul cultivators were killed or knocked unconscious, the temporary balance would vanish. He sneered, trying to trap the four of them.

“Seal!” revealed Qianji, letting out a cold cry in his true form. A mass of dense white mist erupted from between his wings, striking the enemy. The moment the mist appeared, Zi Kun, Li Wuyi, and Li Yuyin felt the space around them freeze with a series of cracking sounds. If even they felt it, the enemy facing the attack felt it even more. Despite his high cultivation, Qianji’s strike—fueled by his demon core—caused his movements to lag for a moment. Li Wuyi and Li Yuyin immediately retreated.

“Be careful, you two!” Li Wuyi knew there was no time for pleasantries. He had to stabilize the situation. He and Li Yuyin arrived at Yan Longzi’s side in a flash. With their arrival, the collapsing situation was temporarily stabilized. But all these lightning-fast changes had only taken a few seconds.

Five seconds… six, seven… ten seconds. The six mysterious cultivators grew anxious. Gu Jiuqi’s side was earth-shaking, but he was holding back two of them, and it was impossible for him to win. In Wei Zhongran’s circle, despite their strength, they had fallen into a disadvantage, and their injuries were mounting. Mo Qing, being a ranged attacker, had the fewest injuries. Wei Zhongran’s back had a massive gash, exposing his white bones. Gong Chenying and Zhao Min had scars, but their internal organs were worse; they couldn’t completely shed the force of a Spirit Transformation master’s attack.

But Gong Chenying felt that the enemy was weaker than Xue Longzi. Xue Longzi was a Spirit Transformation sword cultivator, the type with the sharpest attack in the same realm. Her guess was correct. Xue Longzi was a cultivator from a top-tier sect on the Wind God Continent, a terrifying sword cultivator. These enemies were from minor realms. Though they had reached Spirit Transformation, their techniques were far inferior to those of the Sword Cleansing Sect. But Spirit Transformation was still Spirit Transformation; their mastery of the laws made their spells much more powerful. Wei Zhongran and the others were still outmatched.

As for Bai Rou and the two beasts, after seven or eight seconds, Bai Rou’s attacks became even more ferocious. As she became fully immersed, she relaxed, and her control of the puppet became more fluid, almost reaching the point of suppressing the opponent. This was beyond everyone’s expectations; no one thought Bai Rou would be the one to break the stalemate. But at this moment, no side could afford to lose.

The two beasts were fighting with a desperate, primal ferocity. Their situation was similar to Wei Zhongran’s; they were being beaten back, and after ten seconds, they were covered in blood. But the primal nature of the beasts had been triggered. Once that ferocity erupted, they fought with suicidal abandonment. They both revealed their true forms. The Purple-Divine Dragon Elephant let out dragon cries and elephant trumpets with every earth-shaking strike. Despite a large hole in his neck, he was fearless, and his soundwaves forced the late-stage Nascent Soul enemy to defend seriously. At the same time, Zi Kun’s long tusks turned purple-red, his body radiated an intense purple light, and he charged forward, his massive feet crushing the void.

Qianji used his six massive ice swords for support, no longer having them clash directly. In his true form, his long proboscis fired arrow-like ice crystals incessantly. These were the essence of his demon core and couldn’t be sustained for long, or his core would shatter. But at this moment, he didn’t care. This forced the late-stage Nascent Soul enemy to retreat constantly despite his advantage. The purple-red tusks of the elephant seemed to refine his artifacts upon contact; they had already shown signs of melting, which pained the enemy. As for the giant ice-mosquito, its ice crystal arrows carried a strange cold qi. Even with his cultivation, he didn’t dare to take them with his protective aura alone. Those arrows would circle back if they missed. One side of his face and hair was already covered in frost, slowing his Nascent Soul’s reactions. He had to accelerate his magical power to normalize. But then the purple elephant would attack from the other side. One side of his body was freezing, the other burning. This forced him to constantly adjust his power, which was incredibly frustrating. But he was an experienced combatant and knew that these two beasts were at their limit.

On Li Wuyi and Yan Longzi’s side, after ten seconds of being besieged by so many Nascent Soul cultivators, Gu-insects, and beasts, the late-stage Nascent Soul enemy had lost a portion of his body. His roars shook the heavens. The opponents’ cooperation was seamless: some defended, some attacked, and they were hounded by Gu-insects and small, nimble beasts. Furthermore, many of their artifacts were things he would covet. Compared to theirs, his own artifacts could only be described as pathetic. If he had those artifacts, he could have killed them all in ten seconds. But even though he lost a part of his body, he managed to heavily injure another opponent.

It was a sudden saber strike. He had been about to cleave Yan Longzi in two. Seeing the pale face of her Senior Brother, Li Yuyin had flashed in front of him and pulled him away. The sharp saber light struck her back. Her defense had already been damaged, and she fell instantly. But because she blocked the strike, the blood-shot Yan Longzi threw himself into the opening. With Li Wuyi and the others launching a flurry of attacks, the enemy was forced to divide his attention. Yan Longzi poured all his power into his fly-whisk, which pierced the enemy’s shoulder like a thousand white needles. He yanked hard, tearing the opponent’s arm from his body.

The man hissed in pain, and his abdomen was struck by several characters flying from Li Wuyi’s scroll. Li Changting seized the opening to drive a swarm of red beetles onto the enemy. The man let out a inhuman roar, erupting with power to shake off the insects. When he reappeared, he was covered in blood and his dantian area was heavily injured. In those few seconds, a group of Golden Core disciples braved death to rush out from the mountain gate and retrieve the fallen cultivators. Their fates were unknown!

“Three seconds!” Yan Longzi exchanged looks with the remaining Nascent Soul cultivators and sent a transmission to the other battle circles. They intended to kill this person in three seconds. He was telling the others to stall their opponents for just a bit longer.

“Let me!” Wei Chituo said, holding his demon-subduing pestle. He sent a transmission to Yan Longzi and Li Wuyi. Among those here, only he and Li Changting had light injuries. Even Baili Yuan had suffered internal injuries while defending alongside Chu Weili. Li Wuyi understood: they would provide a layer of defense and trap the enemy for a moment while he launched a close-quarters suicide strike. If he could blow up the opponent’s body, the enemy’s strength would plummet, and a mid-stage Nascent Soul could handle the remaining Nascent Soul.

“Junior Brother, be careful!” Li Wuyi agreed. He knew Wei Chituo had the power to blow up the enemy’s body with a single all-out strike, but it required him to get close. He had uncharacteristically called him “Junior Brother.”

“Alright, it always comes down to me at the critical moment!” Wei Chituo grinned, sending a reply. His aura erupted!