Chapter 571: The Moment to Counterattack

Above Red Stone City, wave after wave of world-shaking energy storms swept out unceasingly. Beneath storms of that magnitude, the entire city seemed to tremble.

The battle high in the sky was extremely fierce.

Eight top students of the Tian Zhu Jing realm were giving everything they had to hold back the Blood-Tailed Other. Behind them, resplendent Tian Zhu pearls blazed with abnormal brilliance, breathing in the energies of heaven and earth, their aura staggering. Yet even so, anyone could see that in the clash between the two sides, the Blood-Tailed Other held the absolute upper hand.

Among the eight at this moment, the strongest like Lan Lan, the Princess, and Gong Gong Shenjun were still holding up reasonably well, but people like Qin Yin Yue and Zhao Zhao Beili were beginning to sustain injuries.

Qin Yin Yue had it worst. A gory wound had torn through his clothes, stretching from his right shoulder down to his lower abdomen. The wound was hideously savage, and at its edges one could almost see eerie blood-red hairs writhing. These came from the Blood-Tailed Other's grotesque, gory tail. The blood-red hairs were blocking Qin Yin Yue's wounds from healing, and at the same time bringing him tremendous agony. At this moment his face was pale, his entire head drenched in cold sweat.

But so as not to hold them back, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure.

The Princess and the others understood his situation, so they took it upon themselves to shield him from many of the attacks, to prevent the Blood-Tailed Other from using him as a breakthrough point. Their eight-person alliance was already at a disadvantage; if anyone were seriously injured and forced out, the rest would undoubtedly face even greater pressure.

High in the sky, the Princess's ravishing face was heavy with solemnity. She gripped her jade-green scepter as streaks of green light and silk-like ribbons whistled out unceasingly. Within the green light, the phantom of a blue luan took shape, carrying a terrifying momentum as it attacked the Blood-Tailed Other again and again.

Yet every one of her attacks was swept aside by a single lash of that gory tail.

Gazing at the Blood-Tailed Other's massive tail that kept spilling fresh blood, a deep wariness flashed through the Princess's eyes. That blood tail seemed to be the source of the Blood-Tailed Other's power; the fresh blood flowing along it was filled with an extremely domineering, vicious force. If it invaded one's body, even the flesh would be corroded and difficult to purge.

Every time that blood tail swept past, all eight of them had to scramble out of the way in disarray.

"This situation can't be allowed to drag on much longer..."

The Princess's delicate brows knit tightly. Right now, all eight of them were essentially on the defensive. That wasn't to say they lacked the strength to attack—only that they were waiting for a moment.

That moment was the formation of the Purification Node.

When that happened, the Blood-Tailed Other would be suppressed and weakened by the Purification Node, and that would be their best chance to counterattack.

If they didn't strike, fine; but once they did, they had to seize the opportunity and decisively cut down the Blood-Tailed Other.

Otherwise, the longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable the situation would become for them.

As the Princess continued to launch attacks, her gaze swept over several directions within the city. When she saw those Purification Spirit Pearls rising one after another, a trace of relief surfaced in her narrow phoenix eyes.

"That kid Li Luo really is reassuring." The corners of her crimson lips lifted in a light smile, her face radiant and bright.

Earlier, the incident with Senior Ao Bai had long since been detected by the captains like themselves. At first they had all been somewhat shocked and angry—after all, no one had expected that the strongest person in the Two-Star Academy would inexplicably be

controlled, and that Senior Ao Bai, at the Void General realm, would be nothing less than a road-blocking tiger for Li Luo's four.

If Li Luo and the others were held up there for too long, it might even affect the battle on their end.

But they were all tightly entangled by the Blood-Tailed Other, unable to look after themselves, and naturally had no spare strength to help Li Luo's four. So they could only pray that the four would fend for themselves. Yet who could have thought at the start that the final outcome would be Senior Ao Bai being taken down by Li Luo and the others, four students of the One-Star Academy?

Although there were all sorts of restrictive factors involved, Li Luo's four had undoubtedly given them a tremendous pleasant surprise.

At their current pace, the Purification Node should take shape very soon.

Hee hee!

And just as the Princess was feeling glad about this in her heart, suddenly high in the sky the Blood-Tailed Other's crimson lips let out a soft, coquettish giggle. The giggle sounded utterly enchanting to the ear, but everyone present turned pale at the sound, every one of them tensing up as the phase force within their bodies surged wildly.

Because from their earlier exchanges they had already figured out the Blood-Tailed Other's pattern: every time she let out a giggle like that, it was the moment her power would erupt.

"Careful! It has sensed the Purification Node forming—it may try to break through our blockade!" Lan Lan shouted sharply.

The other seven captains were instantly chilled to the heart. The Tian Zhu pearls spinning behind them erupted with dazzling radiance as the energies of heaven and earth came rolling in, as if forming streams of energy of different colors behind them, and one powerful pressure after another hovered over the high sky.

At the same time, the Blood-Tailed Other's massive blood-red tail behind her swayed gently. Wisp after wisp of bloodlight rose from it, finally condensing in front of the Blood-Tailed Other into eight blood-red skulls.

The skulls drifted about high in the sky, emitting a piercing, creaking sound, with blood-red flames burning in their hollow eye sockets.

Those flames burned ever more fiercely, until finally with a boom they set the skulls alight. Then eight dripping-crimson skull fireballs tore through the air, whistling straight toward the eight captains in the sky.

Facing the skull fireballs rushing at them, even Lan Lan's expression couldn't help but change, because he could sense just how terrifying a power was contained within those skull fireballs.

None of the eight captains dared harbor the slightest contempt. Without hesitation, they drove all the phase force within their bodies to meet the whistling skull fireballs head-on.

A few breaths later, the two sides collided savagely.

Boom boom!

Visible shockwaves of energy ravaged the high sky.

All eight captains were jolted until their blood and qi seethed, their faces changing drastically.

Still, with them going all out to meet it, they barely managed to block the skull fireballs.

And just as they were heaving a sigh of relief at this, at Qin Yin Yue's position, the skull inside the crimson fireball before him suddenly let out a cackling, eerie laugh. Then the skull's mouth snapped open, and a withered, pitch-black finger bone, dripping with black viscous fluid, shot out swift as lightning, aimed straight at Qin Yin Yue's brow.

The sudden ambush turned Qin Yin Yue's face to one of utter horror. Clearly, the Blood-Tailed Other had also noticed that his injuries were the heaviest, and so had chosen him as the breakthrough point.

"Qin Yin Yue, careful!"

At this moment the others also noticed the change on his end, and instantly cried out in alarm.

But they were all entangled by their own skull fireballs and could not lift a finger to help.

At that critical moment, Qin Yin Yue suppressed the panic in his heart and bit hard on the tip of his tongue. Instantly a blood arrow, wrapped in phase force, became a true arrow that tore through the air. The arrow was extremely fast and collided with the pitch-black finger bone shot from the skull's mouth.

Hiss!

Yet at the moment of impact, although the blood arrow melted much of the pitch-black finger bone, it did not fully neutralize its force.

And so, stripped of every means of defense, he could only watch helplessly as the pitch-black finger bone shot toward his brow.

At a time like this, there wasn't even enough time to crush a Spirit Mirror!

Was he, Qin Yin Yue, going to die here today?

And just at the moment Qin Yin Yue was overcome with despair, suddenly a dazzling light bloomed behind him. A heavy sword wreathed in flames of light pierced through from above his shoulder and slammed hard into the pitch-black finger bone, whose power Qin Yin Yue had already greatly depleted.

Clang!

The sound of metal rang out.

The two forces clashed madly, eroding each other.

The flames of light surged up. Amid hissing sounds, the pitch-black finger bone began to melt rapidly, finally turning into a wisp of black smoke that scattered into thin air.

Qin Yin Yue, saved from the jaws of death, was drenched in cold sweat.

The Princess and the others, however, rejoiced greatly. Their gazes looked past Qin Yin Yue to see a slender figure stepping through the air, radiating brilliant light, driving away the malevolent aura that filled the sky.

It was Jiang Qing'e!

Clearly, she had already dealt with the other Others within the city and had begun to reinforce their side.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's jade hand clenched, and the heavy sword fell back into her grip.

Beside her, Qin Yin Yue, his soul still unsettled, said gratefully, "Junior Jiang, thank you for stepping in to save me!"

Jiang Jiang Qinge's breathtakingly beautiful face was perfectly calm. Her gaze swept over the other captains as she said, "Everyone, the time is about right."

Hearing her words, the crowd's hearts stirred at once, and as if sensing something, they turned their eyes toward a certain direction within the city.

There, a Purification Spirit Pearl could be seen slowly rising.

That was the last Purification Spirit Pearl.

And the moment this Purification Spirit Pearl rose, it immediately burst forth with beams of purification light, which weaved through Red Stone City, linking every Purification Spirit Pearl together.

The next instant, a torrent of purification radiance poured down like moonlight.

Then the countless Huan Jing within Red Stone City all began to melt away rapidly at this moment.

The prosperity and bustle faded.

In their place stood a ruined city strewn with withered bones and weeds.

At this sight, everyone's heart was extraordinarily complicated — heavy, yet at the same time letting out a long, heavy sigh of relief.

Because the purification node had taken shape, that meant the moment for their counterattack had finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)