Chapter 394: Unexpected Enemy

In this instant, Yu Sheng gained a deeper understanding of the "gaze" directed at his great-nephew—but clearly, now was not the time for such reflections.

He suddenly turned his head, looking in the direction Zheng Zhi pointed; he saw the rain curtain woven like fabric, and in the dim daylight, a bolt of lightning was just now splitting the sky, with seemingly nothing in the rain.

But he finally sensed the source of that gaze.

"Hu Li!" Yu Sheng casually sheathed his Tetanus Staff, turned, and charged toward the distance, shouting at the same time, "Bring a tail!"

No sooner had his words left his lips than a bright firelight suddenly flared, and a silver-white fox tail came whistling in from afar!

Carrying an Erin (Black Iron) on his shoulder and holding a (Rebar) in his hand, Yu Sheng ran over with practiced ease, flipped onto the fox tail, then yanked the fur in his hand, riding this fox-fire-propelled giant tail straight into the sky, flying toward the direction Zheng Zhi had just indicated.

A thunderclap tore across the sky; the pale lightning illuminated the dense rain curtain, the clouds suddenly churned, and powerful energy seemed to be brewing in the air; Yu Sheng clearly saw a layer of crackling electricity rising on the surface of his skin, and immediately after, a bolt of lightning abruptly fell from the high heavens, guided as if by someone, striking straight at his back.

Yet just then, a layer of azure radiance suddenly surged around the fox tail; the protective spiritual energy Hu Li had left on this tail clashed violently with the lightning, creating a shocking explosion in the air.

The deafening roar from close range shook the ears.

But Yu Sheng paid this no heed at all; he simply continued to accelerate, charging straight into the sky like a cannonball amidst the heavy rain!

More thunder brewed in the sky, lightning darted everywhere in the air like wild silver snakes, and Yu Sheng seemed to sense a great shock from those spreading currents and dense thunderbolts—and at almost the same moment, he saw two demonic beasts burst out from the clouds, attacking from left and right, while a black-robed cultivator wearing a strange mask flew in with a sword, the cold light of the blade seeming to condense the roar of wind and thunder, its immense power even swirling the wind and rain around the cultivator into a massive vortex; the person borrowed the wind's momentum, the wind borrowed the person's might, determined to intercept and kill him right there!

Thunder filled the sky, the wind was swift and the rain fierce, demonic beasts roared, and amidst this grand spectacle, a brute with two dolls hanging on his body was leaping through the sky riding a fox tail spewing propulsion flames.

The jade-faced, golden-furred fox girl, holding an iron-colored long flute, stared dumbfounded at this scene, feeling her Dao heart shake along with her worldview; her murmured words drifted through the wind and rain: "... Great-Uncle, I think I finally understand what you meant by 'gods fighting'..."

In the ruins of the collapsed factory, the giant Tibetan fox with six tails finally struggled open its eyes under Yuan Hao Zhenren's treatment, and the very first thing it saw was that shocking scene in the sky; immediately crying out "My life is ended," it tilted its head and fainted once more.

And Yu Sheng knew nothing of what was happening on the ground.

A nameless, intense feeling akin to approaching death tightly gripped his heart; he could almost smell the bloody stench emanating from those demonic beasts' mouths, almost feel the cold killing intent released by the black-robed cultivator intercepting him; he could feel powerful energy gathering in the air again, feel that everything around him was trying to kill him, and even feel that he could die at any moment—the immense power wrapped in that omnipresent killing intent was enough to destroy his fragile flesh and blood shell.

But all of this brought him nothing but immense pleasure, extreme, long-lost pleasure.

Just like the pleasure he felt then when tearing a piece of flesh from the entity called "Hunger."

Black spider silk spread rapidly across the sky, entangling the demonic beasts rushing down; the bone-chilling cold, capable of penetrating the soul, seemed to freeze the beasts' minds, causing them to convulse and fall from the sky, only to be blown apart mid-air by two Fox Radish Missiles from Hu Li;

Beams of blinding, scorching heat swept through the rain curtain; Erin lay on Yu Sheng's shoulder, raising a finger to point at the black-robed cultivator in the half-sky ahead; no matter how the latter dodged like a startled goose, those bright beams containing immense power continuously blocked his movements until one beam pierced the cultivator's chest and abdomen, sending him plummeting to the ground with a cry of pain;

Yu Sheng placed Erin (Steel) on the fox tail, telling her to sit steady and hold on tight, while he himself stood up on the fox tail in an especially perilous posture—his feet stepping on the fluffy, soft fur, which made his body sway a bit, but Yu Sheng still happily grinned, reaching his hand out into the empty air ahead.

He felt he had "touched" something.

It was a boundary, a barrier, a shield between two dimensions.

"I found it!"

Yu Sheng said happily, then immediately pushed with both hands as if pushing open a great door.

A terrible roar erupted in the air, as if the very structure of space had been knocked down by someone; accompanied by this deafening roar, nearly half the sky suddenly displayed the eerie scene of mirror-like collapse and shattering.

In the collapsing, shattered sky, a middle-aged man of imposing stature, wearing a white robe with golden patterns and holding a black leather book in his hands, stood suspended in the wind and rain, staring in shock at Yu Sheng, who had just smashed the spatial barrier with his bare hands.

Yu Sheng also widened his eyes, staring at this enemy who had been hiding in a different space, directing the battlefield.

A white robe with golden patterns carrying a religious aura, rather than the Taoist robes or long gowns commonly worn by cultivators; a ceremonial black leather book held in his hands, rather than some magical treasure or jade disc; this middle-aged man had a majestic face and deep-set eye sockets, yet what he radiated was not the immortal spiritual power of cultivators, but pure and violent thunderous might—standing there in mid-air, countless tiny lightning bolts coursed along his skin, beard, and hair, his entire muscular physique carved like rock, glowing amidst the wind, rain, and lightning.

Like a demigod sculpture stepping out of marble.

After a brief moment of shock, the middle-aged man finally raised a finger pointing at Yu Sheng; his eyes were filled with bright white lightning, his beard and hair bristling in the thunder: "You... what exactly are you?!"

Yu Sheng also reacted, raising his hand at almost the same time, pointing at a particularly obvious emblem on the other's robe: "... It's the Holy Hidden Order!?"

Before his words had fully left his lips, he heard a loud explosion in the air.

Without turning around, Yu Sheng saw a figure dive straight up from the ground; the dense rain curtain across the sky was torn open to form a passage, a blade brimming with cold light emerged from the shadows, and Luna, stepping on the shadows omnipresent in the gloomy rain, rushed forward; amidst the swirling of her nun's long dress, the blade at her fingertips thrust straight at the Hidden Order cleric standing in mid-air.

But Yu Sheng noticed that Luna avoided the other's heart—although she had initially aimed for the heart, she had struggled to adjust the angle of her blade at the very last instant.

She seemed to want to take him alive—or rather, she knew Yu Sheng wanted to take him alive.

The speed of the Artificial Saintess obviously exceeded the limits of human reaction; her ghostly strike, arriving while treading on empty air, appeared to Yu Sheng as unavoidable.

Yet even against such a sudden and flawless attack, the middle-aged man in the white robe standing in mid-air reacted instantly; as if he had sensed it before Luna even approached, his body twisted at a strange angle in advance, dodging the blade at her fingertips, and then, with a flash of lightning, countless bolts of lightning suddenly appeared beside him, raining down densely upon Luna!

Twelve illusory shadows materialized from the air, blocking the thunder from all directions; Luna's figure suddenly halted in mid-air, then without hesitation changed direction and charged up again.

However, her next strike also missed.

The Hidden Order cleric in the white robe was always surrounded by tiny flashes of lightning; every time Luna approached, he seemed able to predict and evade in advance by sensing the electric field—even Erin's spider silk and scorching beams were continuously dodged by him.

But just then, this Hidden Order cleric suddenly frowned: "Soul attack?"

His gaze fell on Luna; his eyes seemed to flicker for an instant, but immediately he reacted sharply; countless thunderbolts suddenly exploded, blocking Luna's subsequent attack paths, and then he quickly retreated, putting distance between himself, Luna, and Yu Sheng.

"There were indeed reports before of an Artificial Saintess detaching from the Cognitive Network for unknown reasons..." the Hidden Order cleric stared fiercely at the "Artificial Saintess" standing in mid-air before him, wearing a nun's long dress, then his gaze shifted to Yu Sheng, his tone exceptionally grave: "It seems... while I was busy with my work, quite a few things have happened 'outside'."

"I'm quite surprised too; you really are like cockroaches, drilling into every nook and cranny wherever you can," Yu Sheng also stared fiercely at the middle-aged man opposite, his vigilance maxed out—though it was only a brief clash, he had already sensed that this fellow was not easy to deal with, even far stronger than the "Sage" he had encountered on the "Pillar of Order" last time; plus, this wind, rain, and thunderstorm were obviously the other's home ground, forcing him to tighten his nerves even more: "What exactly do you want to do—how have you even 'cooperated' with local cultivators?"

But the cleric opposite clearly would not answer his questions honestly.

No sooner had Yu Sheng finished speaking than he felt a dense prickling spread across his skin again; immediately, he saw countless thunderbolts beginning to brew in the sky, and many black-robed cultivators who had been besieging Hu Li, Yuan Hao, and others on the ground seemed to have received orders, all turning their spears and charging down to attack!

The demonic beasts controlled by the black-robed cultivators let out dizzying roars in the wind and rain, surging toward the sky in waves; Luna, intending to continue dealing with the Hidden Order cleric, was forced to deal with the surrounding enemies first; Hu Li's fox-fire barrage swept across the sky, bright fireballs weaving into a net as if to ignite this rain curtain; the white-robed cleric summoned thunder and lightning, making it impossible to approach—what was already a chaotic battlefield once again reached the peak of chaos!

(End of Chapter)