Chapter 340: Spirit Revival? The Great Battle Is About to Begin!

"Boom!"

The time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, the great doors outside the Elders' Hall were kicked flying with a thunderous crash.

A group of fully armed Phantom Knights, their exact appearance unclear, their bodies still stained with splotches of blood and their aura terrifying, slowly walked into this once extraordinarily resplendent hall that only Elders were permitted to enter.

"What are you doing? How dare you break into the Elders' Hall? Aren't you afraid of the clan rules? Having your power stripped away and your family and friends cast into the slums?"

"Guards! Guards!"

Watching the terrifying knights still radiating the heat of fresh blood, some of the Elders sensed something was wrong and rose, mustering their courage to berate them.

"Gu Da?! Gu Da! I recognize you, why have you barged in? Don't you remember me? I'm Wu Liang, the one who just sent you a vial of Frenzied Tiger True Blood not long ago."

Among them, some also spotted familiar faces within this group of knights and, in their panic, tried to play the acquaintance card.

"Have you been bought off by Wu Di? Just what benefits did he give you? I'll give you double! No, triple, quadruple—whatever you want, just say it! Whether it's fine wine, beautiful women, rare treasures, or precious blood essence, I'll satisfy you!"

A relatively calm and shrewd Elder slowly stood up at this moment, looking at the many silent knights, attempting to lure them with profit.

However, faced with all of this, no matter the temptation, not a single Phantom Knight was moved; without a word, they continued to advance like puppets, like machines.

Because they simply did not understand the terror of that lord!

A knight whose youthful face was hidden beneath his armor silently thought this.

At this moment, a stifling, oppressive cold atmosphere slowly spread outward, as if it would freeze one's entire body solid and turn one's blood to ice.

Perhaps Gu Da among them could not bear to let these Elders die without understanding, or perhaps he wished to slightly repay that Elder's generous gift to him, and as he slowly stepped forward and raised the sharp blade in his hand, he said:

"My apologies, all of this is by the lord's command."

"Please, Elders, depart in peace!"

"Lord?!"

As his words fell, that snow-white blade descended from above onto the neck of the Elder who had revealed a look of horror and cried out in bewildered disbelief!

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Seeing this, one Elder furiously snatched up a dinner knife and charged at the group of knights.

This was an Elder who in his youth had also been a member of the Phantom Knights, but alas, a hero in his twilight years—the once powerful physique that had been more than enough to dance with lions, tigers, and wolves had long since, under the erosion of time and the unbridled indulgence of old age, degenerated into a frail, powerless body. In less than a single instant, he had barely charged forward before he was kicked to the ground by a knight.

Crimson blood began to slowly spread, dyeing red this luxurious floor forged from natural precious jade. This day was destined to be an utterly bloody one!

After taking care of the Elder group in a few moves, Baichuan's servants began to clean up the aftermath.

But just then, a solemn voice abruptly rang out:

"Not good, the Grand Elder isn't here!"

"What?! After him!!"

……

At this moment, where was the Grand Elder that all the knights had their eyes on?

He was frantically tugging at his overly long Elder robes, fleeing barefoot in a stumbling rush, glancing back from time to time in dread that those fiends would catch up. The resplendent garments that had once symbolized status and dignity had now, because of their excessive length, become an obstacle in his flight.

"Damn it! Those big brutes have gone mad, gone mad!"

"What kind of bewitching soup did that old bastard feed them! Damnable ahhhh!! I will tear you all into ten thousand pieces!"

Recalling that horrifying scene from before, the Grand Elder was both fearful and resentful—fearful of that old bastard's bewitching soup over the Phantom Knights, which had made a whole group of people serve him so desperately.

If not for a concealed Beast Bone Rune he had obtained by chance in his youth, he too would already be dead in that bloody hall.

Being no fool, upon seeing his faction destroyed, he had also clearly understood that he no longer had any power to turn the situation around.

But even if he failed, he absolutely would not let that old bastard off easy!

At this moment, his twisted face was filled with resentment, jealousy, and venom.

His only chance for revenge now was to race ahead of all the Phantom Knights, kill that old bastard still imprisoned in the dungeon, and then use his own flesh and blood to blood-sacrifice the Spirit!

He would make the Spirit revive, he would borrow the Spirit's power to make every treacherous brute of a knight pay the price one by one!

……

In the dungeon, listening to the huge commotion outside, especially the sounding of the clan's horn.

Gu Ying, leaning against the wall, also somewhat worriedly raised his head to look outside from time to time, occasionally dragging those heavy chains to the cell bars to peer out, or else looking toward Wu, who sat as if his soul had wandered off to somewhere beyond the heavens.

"What are you here for?!"

At this moment, Gu Ying's rather impolite words rang out.

As his words fell, shortly after, an old man in splendid robes who walked unhurriedly and with great deliberation slowly emerged. With a smile on his face, he paid no attention to that young, naive youth, and with composure and elegance opened the door of this cell, triggered the mechanism of the chains binding the youth, dragging the powerless youth backward until he was pressed against the wall, and then gently closed the cell door.

Even at the final moment, the Grand Elder did not wish to lose his sole composure in front of the lifelong rival he had contended with, although he had already lost everything and in his heart wished nothing more than to tear this old bastard into ten thousand pieces.

He approached step by step, unhurried and composed, and after several breaths squatted down before the old man.

"Old bastard, you're quite capable."

A slightly mocking remark rang out.

"?"

Wu, who had been sitting in meditation with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes and looked at this former old friend who appeared graceful and composed but was in truth red-eyed with fury. A trace of bewilderment flashed through those slightly turbid eyes.

"Still putting on an act for me?"

"It's fine, no rush, this time you've won."

"But in the end, you miscalculated one thing."

As he spoke, the Grand Elder, with that half-smiling expression, also extended his withered hands and slowly gripped Wu's neck.

"Old Wu, what are you saying?"

"You damned old fool, let go of my grandfather! Let go! Or I'll take your life! Let go—"

Two voices rang out simultaneously—the former confused and bewildered, the latter anxious and tinged with fear. Gu Ying's intuition told him that this damned old Grand Elder was about to do something terrible to his grandfather!

In his desperation, he struggled frantically, the chains binding him clanking loudly, but he could only watch in despair as this scene gradually unfolded.

"Yes! Yes!! That's exactly how it should be!"

Watching the panicked old and young, the Great Elder finally burst into laughter, his voice brimming with smugness, his deeply wrinkled face beneath that triumphant laughter resembling a chrysanthemum in full bloom, yet his hands only tightened their grip further.

"So what if you win the hearts of the people and defeat me countless times? In the end, don't you still have to die at my hands?!"

"Old fellow, you never expected this, did you? The audacity I have to overturn you? Why did the Spirit God disappear?"

"What?"

As his face grew ever paler, even with his neck tightly clamped, Wu couldn't help but widen his eyes—first shock, then confusion, then gradually dawning understanding, and finally fury bursting forth. With his jaw clenched tight, he forced out the words one syllable at a time: "You~act~ual~ly~be~trayed……"

"Correct!" With a vicious grin, the Great Elder clenched his hand hard.

"Crack~~"

"No——!! Aaaagh!!!"

"Old~Wu~! I, Gu Ying, swear I will not rest until I kill you, or I am no son of man!!!"

A mournful cry, like a cuckoo weeping blood, rang out and lingered long within the cramped cell.

Gu Ying was in despair; nothing in this world was more tragic than watching one's own grandfather strangled to death before one's eyes, powerless to do anything but look on.

His eyes nearly split from their sockets, he struggled ceaselessly, yet could only cause thin trails of blood to seep down.

"Boom!"

The metal prison door burst open with a thunderous crash, and the group of Phantom Knights who had transformed into Baichuan's servants had only just arrived, late as ever.

In the final moment, the knights could only see within the dim, damp, shadowy prison the Great Elder with a vicious grin, tilting his head back as if drinking something down. At the disturbance, he glanced back briefly—his fine robes spontaneously ignited without wind, and countless shadowy figures seemed to emerge from his body—

"Boom boom boom……"

A terrifying commotion appeared, like an earthquake!

Outside, the panicked crowd being evacuated suddenly collapsed to the ground in terror, staring in shock at the horrifying scene unfolding!

"Th-the Spirit God has revived?!"

"A god, a god has come to save us!"

"We're saved, we're saved!"

"God! God! God!"

Amidst the cries of astonishment,

The Earth Dragon turned over, the ground suddenly splitting open with pitch-black, abyssal fissures, and one after another, shapes resembling swimming dragons writhed and probed out from beneath the earth—upon closer inspection, they were revealed to be ancient, gnarled tree roots!

Surrounded by the Beast Tide, the towering ancient tree that seemed to pierce the heavens—the Spirit God's true body—finally moved!

An aged face with a faint sense of familiarity appeared on the tree's trunk; it was not the Spirit God's visage, but the Great Elder's!

Now completely fused with the Spirit God's shell, the Great Elder had gone utterly mad; that aged face was filled with rapture, delirious ravings spilling from his lips without cease.

"Ah~ such mighty power! Power enough to sweep away everything! Is this the power of a god? So glorious! I feel I could destroy everything right now! If only I had known, I should have agreed to that group's deal sooner……"

"Hahaha, come, let us destroy to our heart's content!"

"Destruction precedes creation; after ruin, a new order rises. From now on, I shall build a far greater tribe!"

As the dragon-like tendrils probed outward, the unmoving gnarled masses gathered and coalesced into a pair of giant-like feet. Then the massive tree body suddenly surged upward and stomped down, crushing large numbers of the Forest Folk's houses flat, and the occasional slow-footed escapee was stomped directly into the earth, becoming a smear of flesh.

His feet never ceasing their movement, the Great Elder further controlled the massive tree body to sprout a pair of arms formed from gathered branches and trunks, while countless vine-like things rapidly grew and lashed out at the tiny "mosquitoes" in midair!

Those were the knights mounted on Phantom Beasts!

"No! No!!"

"Th-the Spirit God has gone mad!"

"An evil god! An evil god!!"

The people who had only just been cheering at the Spirit God's revival could never have imagined that their tribe's god had gone mad—not only refusing to protect them, but treating them like ants, wantonly trampling and destroying them.

"Run, run—!"

"The god, the god's gone mad! Quick, quick, run!"

"Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu, where are you?"

"My Niuniu, Niuniu! Where did you run off to? Mommy's here……"

……

In an instant, the entire Forest Folk were thrown into utter chaos. The previously safe sanctuary, under the Spirit God's madness, had become even more dangerous than the outside world. Every person could only look after themselves, and those who had only just entered the sanctuary once again fled in panic toward the outside.

The chaotic crowd, like ants on a hot pan, directly scattered the previously orderly formation, scrambling blindly in every direction, wishing they could grow a few more legs to run faster.

"Young Zhou, girl, this way! This way!"

Within the chaotic crowd, the tall Shan stood like an immovable boulder amid the throng, constantly scanning the people coming and going. After a long while, he finally spotted the separated Zhou Yun siblings and hurriedly called out.

……

"It seems the Beast Tide is about to collapse……"

Behind the Beast Tide, gazing at the towering tree-man in the distant horizon—nearly piercing the clouds—destroying everything like some little monster inside an Ultraman, causing the entire Beast Tide to tremble in terror. Even as the beasts at the front were trampled to death, none dared advance any longer, and they even began to flee in all directions. Baichuan muttered to himself with a hint of regret.

The Beast Tide could no longer be counted on; in fact, before long, they would likely scatter in all directions out of fear.

In that case, let their last shred of value be thoroughly squeezed dry!

A flash of ruthlessness in his eyes, Baichuan directly commanded the little squirrel to drive the bulk of the fleeing Beast Tide in a certain direction—the direction of the territory he had eroded!

The power of this tree-man before him was not to be underestimated; Baichuan's vast experience told him that his strongest Calamity Beast puppet alone would likely not be enough to handle it.

Of course, this did not mean the tree-man's power exceeded that of the Calamity Beast, but rather that a puppet could not unleash its full strength. The control platform he had installed was merely a crude, rudimentary version, and it was being operated by a little squirrel whose intelligence was still insufficient.

Under such circumstances, bullying ordinary beings far weaker than a Calamity Beast would be easy—a trivial matter. But when facing an existence of equal caliber, with this crude, rudimentary control platform unable to fully unleash its power, and with his commands needing to be relayed through multiple layers, it would easily fall behind and be pressed into a losing fight.

Not to mention that the little squirrel perched on the Calamity Beast's body was glaringly obvious up close. Once discovered and targeted, the Calamity Beast's body might be fine, but the operator was not guaranteed the same.

In that case, the final outcome of today's matter would not be so pleasant.

The only plan now was to drive most of the scattered Beast Tide back into the territory he controlled, devour them all completely as prey, and use this massive surge of energy to extend his eroded territory in a straight line toward the target. Only by taking matters into his own hands could he crush the opponent.

Moreover, it was time for him to descend fully before the eyes of the world, in an invincible posture!

With this thought, Baichuan directly used his special connection with the little squirrel to transmit his command.

In an instant, the massive Beast Tide surged forward once more, moving even faster than when it had first arrived.

Until now, the Beast Tide had only been driven by a single disaster beast of modest size, along with a few slightly stronger carnivores mixed in among them. But what now stood before them was a towering tree-person standing three to four hundred meters tall!

A figure of such exaggerated proportions standing upon the earth — the sheer visual impact of that scene was utterly staggering!

Even without any special power, a single stomp from such a being was more than any ordinary creature could bear — let alone the fact that this tree-person was no common thing.

The innate instinct of living beings to seek fortune and avoid harm kept screaming at them — Stay away! Stay away!

……

(End of this chapter)