Chapter 344

The situation is very bad.

But we need to be concise, not add extra words. Let's translate each.

The situation is very bad.

But Wu Tie still laughed.

Seeing Xi Qi's sorry state, he boldly struck out, wanting to seize the Drought Demon Witch Altar, but Xuánmíng Die's methods were far harsher than he imagined.

We need to keep meaning, not add. Ensure we don't add extra explanation. Let's produce: "Seeing Xi Qi's sorry state, he boldly struck out, wanting to seize the Drought Demon Witch Altar, but Xuánmíng Die's methods were far harsher than he imagined."

That black bone needle, I don't know what vicious thing it is.

But we need to keep meaning: "That black bone needle, I don't know what vicious thing it is." Could be "That black bone needle, I don't know what vicious thing it is." Acceptable.

But look at Xi Qi's claw.

Pitch black, the whole thing swelled up.

Also, strands of black qi continuously extended from the swollen palm up the arm to the shoulder; even strands of black qi could be seen seeping from the pores, the pores constantly oozing black pus and toxic water.

We need to keep meaning, not add. Let's produce: "Also, strands of black qi continuously extended from the swollen palm up the arm to the shoulder; even strands of black qi could be seen seeping from the pores, the pores constantly oozing black pus and toxic water."

The sons of the Wu Clan are a bunch of rough men who like to settle things with their fists.

But among them there are also several branched-off clans whose methods are more strange, vicious, ruthless, and evil.

For example, the Xuánmíng Clan.

Seeing Xi Qi's unlucky state, Wu Tie laughed. Even though hundreds of tribes around had angrily surrounded the Wu Clan army, and the leaders of hundreds of tribes were anxiously contacting their own people.

We need to keep line breaks? The line includes two sentences separated by a period. We must keep as one line. So translation: "Seeing Xi Qi's unlucky state, Wu Tie laughed. Even though hundreds of tribes around had angrily surrounded the Wu Clan army, and the leaders of hundreds of tribes were anxiously contacting their own people."

But Wu Tie still laughed out: 'Xi Qi, you insist on pinning something we Wu Clan never did on us—this is karma!'

Wu Tie's laughter was loud; everyone present heard his words.

Tribal leaders like Mu Sang and Ao Xuan, already furious, ignored Wu Tie; while those who had not yet received the bad news looked thoughtfully at Wu Tie, then at Xi Qi.

Being able to thrive and become a hegemon in the cruel, harsh underground world, these tribal leaders are not all brainless; many among them can be described as 'old sly and crafty' or even 'treacherous and sinister'.

Wu Tie's laughter made them think of something else.

For example, the irrationality of this siege— the great defensive formation of Demon‑Suppressing City was destroyed right at the start of battle.

Inside Demon‑Suppressing City, there was no sufficiently strong high‑level commander holding the fort.

The elites of Demon‑Suppressing Hall actually surrendered easily.

Some things cannot withstand scrutiny.

Even though the script Xi Qi and they designed was relatively thorough, some clues ultimately cannot withstand scrutiny.

About a hundred tribal leaders signaled their people behind them; their large forces quickly withdrew from Demon‑Suppressing City, leaving the city area and standing far outside to watch the spectacle.

These tribal leaders were certain their people were safe, with no Great Jin Divine State troops found near their secret camp, so they firmly decided to have nothing to do with this muddy situation.

Also, the leaders of hundreds of tribes led their people to withdraw a great distance.

These tribal leaders also contacted the people in their camp, likewise learning that their people had not been attacked.

But they did not want to completely detach themselves from this trouble.

Whether it was Wu Tie or Xi Qi, they felt they could gain some advantage here; so they led their people to slightly open a distance, not directly diving into the trouble, but they could join at any time.

The situation on site was very delicate.

Xingtian Shan was shouting loudly at the one‑eyed giant chieftain Wukui.

Kuafu Heng was mutually roaring with Elder Mu Sang, spitting at each other face to face.

Ao Xuan then led a group of dragon people into a melee with the Wu Clan disciples; no weapons were used, but fists met flesh, each beating until skin split and flesh tore, with many having their limbs broken.

The leaders of the other hundreds of tribes whose people had suffered heavy casualties or even annihilation at the hands of the Great Jin Divine State tacitly encircled the Wu Clan army, and formation masters began urgently laying down formation seals to prevent the Wu Clan army from escaping.

Xi Qi's main army camp also set up an encirclement outside, radiating a fierce aura, with each one staring at the Wu Clan people with murderous eyes.

Luo Lin and Mr. Mu, five people in total, together with nearly a hundred experts from the main army camp, were quickly rushing to Wu Tie's side, adopting a fierce posture of wanting to chop Wu Tie into ten thousand pieces.

Xuánmíng Die held the black bone needle and let out a sharp, piercing cry: 'Everyone, could our Wu Clan possibly have done such a thing? In every extermination war, the number of Great Jin Evil Demons we Wu Clan have slain ranks among the highest.'

'Between our Wu Clan and the Great Jin Evil Demons there is a deep bloody feud, we cannot coexist under the same heaven!' Xuánmíng Die's sharp voice carried a thread of extraordinary divine power that pierced straight to the soul: 'Our Wu Clan, to be so foolish as to collude with the Great Jin Evil Demons?'

Xi Qi let out a low growl, waved his right hand, and the five‑colored divine light corresponding to the five elements flashed rapidly on his palm; large amounts of pus and toxic water kept spurting from the gaps in his nails, and in just a breath his palm returned to normal flesh color.

He forcefully flicked his palm, Xi Qi glanced with great dread at the black bone needle in Xuánmíng Die's hand and shouted sternly: 'The evidence is solid; what else do you have to quibble about? Perhaps it's not your whole Wu Clan, just a small part of your clan.'

Xi Qi shouted with a harsh laugh: 'Every family and clan has unfilial descendants and traitorous scoundrels; I've seen this many times in my long life…… for example, your Wu Clan's this Wu Tie!'

Xi Qi fiercely pointed at Wu Tie, already surrounded by Luo Lin and his men, and shouted sternly: 'This Wu Tie, your Wu Clan's younger generation has many talented ones, yet I've never heard of his name, but he suddenly appeared and his strength is so formidable!'

'Ao Xuan's dragon‑flame breath, even if it were an indestructible vajra, would burn away clean in one gulp, yet it only managed to scorch off a layer of his flesh!'

'This guy, aside from tempering his body with a huge amount of Wu Qu Star Essence, what other explanation is there?'

Xi Qi abruptly turned, stared at Wu Tie and shouted sternly: 'Speak, did you temper your body with a huge amount of Wu Qu Star Essence?'

Not allowing Wu Tie to explain, Xi Qi roared loudly: 'Merely a Life Pool Realm, your flesh is far stronger than that of an ordinary Wu Clan Womb Storage Realm Elder; your Wu Clan's Original Wu Classic, or even the Xingtian Classic, Zhurong Classic, Gonggong Classic…… which of these arts could grant you such heaven‑defying cultivation?'

'Star Essence! A huge amount of Star Essence!' Xi Qi shouted with a harsh laugh: 'Besides that, what other explanation is there?'

All the tribal leaders who had received the bad news roared in grief and indignation, leading their people to surge forward a big step toward the Wu Clan army.

It can only be Star Essence.

It can only be Wu Qu Star Essence.

Of course, it's also possible that Wu Tie repeatedly, for a long time, tempered his body under the night sky when the stars shone down, using the starlight.

But if Wu Tie were an old fellow like Mu Sang, living over ten thousand years and having undergone hundreds of such starlight temperings, he might manage this; yet Wu Tie's age is clearly not great—could he be a hundred years old?

At most he has experienced one period of great starlight flourishing, and in such a period the starlight shines for no more than seven nights!

Seven nights of starlight bathing could not give Wu Tie such a powerful body.

Don't say Wu Tie has extraordinary talent, don't say his cultivation method is supreme.

Everyone knows the Wu Clan's background; the clan has many talents, many outstanding gifted ones who practice the clan's ancestral arts— even if strong, even if monstrous, they are nowhere near as monstrous as Wu Tie.

Therefore, Wu Tie must have colluded with the Great Jin Evil Demons.

Only the Great Jin Evil Demons could possibly provide a huge amount of Star Essence, allowing a mere Life Pool Realm Wu Clan youth to possess such a tyrannical body.

Look, Ao Xuan's single dragon‑flame breath only scorched off a layer of his skin.

Look, Elder Mu Sang's seven azure‑wood divine thunderbolts only blasted away a large chunk of flesh from his chest, not even shattering his ribs!

Star Essence, a huge amount of Star Essence!

On what grounds would the Great Jin Evil Demons give Wu Tie a huge amount of Star Essence?

Now we need to ensure each translation is on a single line, with 【N】 prefix.

Now produce output: each line like 【1】 The situation is very bad.

===TITLE=== Chapter 342: Violent Ambush

Now

But Wu Tie still burst out laughing.

Look at Xi Qi's sorry state; he boldly struck out, trying to seize the drought demon witch altar, but the methods of the Mysterious Darkness Butterfly were far more formidable than he imagined.

That black bone needle—no one knows what vicious thing it is.

But take a look at Xi Qi's claw.

Pitch black, the whole thing swelled up.

Moreover, strands of black qi continuously extended from the swollen palm up the arm toward the shoulder, and one could even see strands of black qi seeping out from the pores, with black pus and toxic water continually seeping from the pores.

The sons of the Wu family are all a bunch of rough fellows who like to settle problems with their fists.

But among them, there are also several branched-off clans whose methods are even more strange, vicious, ruthless, and evil.

For example, the Mysterious Darkness clan.

Seeing Xi Qi's miserable state, Wu Tie laughed. Even though hundreds of tribes around had angrily surrounded the Wu family army, and the leaders of hundreds of tribes were urgently contacting their own people.

But Wu Tie still burst out laughing: "Xi Qi, our Wu family has never done such things, yet you insist on pinning it on us—this is karmic retribution!"

Wu Tie's laughter was loud, and everyone present heard his words.

Elder Mu Sang, Ao Xuan, and other already furious tribal leaders ignored Wu Tie, while those tribal leaders who had not yet received the bad news looked thoughtfully at Wu Tie, then at Xi Qi.

Being able to thrive and grow powerful in the cruel, harsh underground world and become a regional hegemon, these big tribe leaders are not all brainless; many among them can be described as 'old sly and crafty' or even 'treacherous and sinister'.

Wu Tie's laughter made them think of something else.

For example, the irrationality of this siege— the grand defensive formation of Demon-Suppressing City was actually destroyed at the very start of the battle.

Within Demon-Suppressing City, there was no sufficiently strong high-level figure holding down the fort.

The elite of the Demon-Suppressing Hall inside Demon-Suppressing City actually surrendered easily.

Some things cannot withstand scrutiny.

Even though the script that Xi Qi and they designed was relatively thorough, some clues ultimately cannot withstand scrutiny.

About a hundred tribal leaders gestured to their people behind them, and their large forces quickly withdrew from Demon-Suppressing City, leaving the city area entirely and standing far outside the city to watch the spectacle.

These tribal leaders were certain their own people were safe, as no troops of the Great Jin Divine State had been found near their secret camp, so they firmly decided to have nothing to do with this muddy situation.

Furthermore, hundreds of tribal leaders also led their people to retreat a great distance.

These tribal leaders also contacted the people in their camp, likewise learning that their own people had not been attacked.

But they did not want to completely detach themselves from this trouble.

Whether it was Wu Tie or Xi Qi, they felt they could gain some advantage here. So they led their people to slightly distance themselves, not directly diving into the trouble, but they could join at any time.

The situation on the scene was very delicate.

The Xingtian eel loudly shouted at the one-eyed giant leader Wu Kui.

Kuafu Heng was mutually roaring with Elder Mu Sang, spitting at each other face to face.

Ao Xuan, meanwhile, led a group of dragon people into a melee with the Wu family's disciples, both sides fighting without weapons, fist to flesh, each beaten until skin split and flesh tore, with many having their limbs broken.

Other hundreds of tribal leaders who were certain their people had suffered heavy casualties or even total annihilation at the hands of the Great Jin Divine State tacitly encircled the Wu family army, and formation masters began urgently setting up formation restrictions to prevent the Wu family army from escaping.

Xi Qi's Regular Troops Camp further set up an encirclement outside, radiating a fierce aura, with each individual staring at the Wu family members with murderous intent in their eyes.

Luo Lin and Mr. Mu, together with nearly a hundred experts from the Regular Troops Camp, were quickly rushing to Wu Tie's side, adopting a fierce posture of wanting to tear Wu Tie apart.

The Mysterious Darkness Butterfly held the black bone needle and let out a sharp, piercing cry: "Everyone, could our Wu family possibly have done such a thing? In every extermination campaign, the number of Jin evil demons slain by our Wu family has always ranked among the highest."

"'Between our Wu family and the Jin evil demons, there is a deep bloody feud, we cannot coexist under the same heaven!' The Mysterious Darkness Butterfly's sharp voice carried a faint, extraordinary divine power that pierced straight to the soul: 'Could our Wu family really be so foolish as to collude with the Jin evil demons?'"

Xi Qi let out a low growl, waved his right hand, and the five-colored divine light corresponding to the five phases flashed rapidly on his palm; large amounts of pus and blood and toxic water kept spurting from the gaps in his fingernails, but after just a breath, his palm returned to normal flesh color.

He forcefully flicked his palm, Xi Qi glanced with great dread at the black bone needle in the Mysterious Darkness Butterfly's hand, and shouted sternly: "The evidence is solid—what else do you have to quibble about? Perhaps it's not your whole Wu family, but just a small part of your clan."

Xi Qi shouted with a laugh: "Every family and clan has unfilial descendants and traitorous scoundrels; I've seen this many times over the years… for example, your Wu family's Wu Tie!"

Xi Qi fiercely pointed at Wu Tie, already surrounded by Luo Lin and his men, and shouted sternly: "This Wu Tie—your Wu family's younger generation has many talented individuals, yet I've never heard of his name, but he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and his strength is so formidable!"

"Ao Xuan's dragon-flame breath, even if it were an indestructible vajra, would burn it clean in one mouthful, yet it could only burn away a layer of his flesh!"

"This guy, aside from tempering his body with a huge amount of Wu Qu star essence, what other explanation could there be?"

Xi Qi abruptly turned, stared at Wu Tie, and shouted sternly: "Speak, did you temper your body with a huge amount of Wu Qu star essence?"

Without allowing Wu Tie to explain, Xi Qi roared loudly: "Merely a Life Pool Realm cultivator, your flesh is far stronger than that of an ordinary Wu family Womb Storage Realm Elder; even your Wu family's Primordial Witch Classic, let alone the Xingtian Classic, the Zhurong Classic, the Gonggong Classic— which of these techniques could grant you such heaven-defying cultivation?"

"Star essence! A huge amount of star essence!" Xi Qi shouted with a laugh: "Besides that, what other explanation could there be?"

All the tribal leaders who had received the bad news roared in sorrow and indignation, leading their people to surge forward a great step toward the Wu family army.

It can only be star essence.

It can only be Wu Qu star essence.

Of course, it's also possible that Wu Tie repeatedly and for a long time tempered his body under the starlight on nights when the stars shone everywhere.

But if Wu Tie were an old fellow like Mu Sang, living over ten thousand years and having undergone hundreds of such starlight temperings, he might possibly achieve this. Yet Wu Tie's age is clearly not great—could he even be a hundred years old?

At most he has experienced one period of great stellar flourishing, and during such a period, the time of stellar irradiation lasts no more than seven nights!

Seven nights of starlight bathing could not possibly give Wu Tie such a formidable physique.

Don't say Wu Tie has extraordinary talent, don't say his cultivation method is supreme.

Everyone knows the Wu family's background; the family has so many talents, so many exceptionally gifted individuals who cultivate the Wu family's ancestral arts— even if they are powerful or monstrous, they are nowhere near as monstrous as Wu Tie.

Therefore, Wu Tie must have colluded with the Jin evil demons.

Only the Jin evil demons could possibly provide such a huge amount of star essence, enabling a mere Life Pool Realm Wu family youth to possess such a tyrannical physique.

Look, Ao Xuan's single gulp of dragon-flame breath merely scorched off a layer of his skin.

Look, Elder Mu Sang's seven bolts of azure-wood divine thunder merely blasted away a large chunk of flesh from his chest, not even shattering his ribs!

Star essence! A huge amount of star essence!

On what grounds would the Jin evil demons give Wu Tie such a huge amount of star essence?

It must be him… he did some shameful things!

What shameful things did he do?

Look at those letters and scrolls in Xi Qi's hands… tsk tsk, the evidence is solid!

"Kill him, kill him, kill him!" Ao Xuan was fighting a expert of the Gonggong clan of the Wu family, Gonggong Yuan, together.

Gonggong Yuan was ferocious and violent, suddenly opening its huge mouth and biting off one of Ao Xuan's ears; blood covered Ao Xuan's face, and in pain he jerked his head up, staring at Wu Tie and letting out a shrill scream.

Though it sounds long when described, it actually took only a few breaths—just the time it took Wu Tie and Xi Qi to exchange a few words.

Even the formation masters of the major tribes, the formations they used to besiege the Wu family, hadn't even completed a simple Five Elements formation.

After a few breaths of emotional buildup, everyone's mood was on the verge of exploding.

Ao Xuan's roar finally ignited the anger in everyone's hearts.

Luo Lin was the first to laugh and jump up, commanding Mr. Mu and the five others, plus over a hundred experts from the Zhengying camp, to charge at Wu Tie.

Hundreds of tribes' elite troops, ignoring the blazing firelight emanating from the drought demon witch altar, let out strange cries and rushed to slaughter the Wu family's youths.

The one-eyed giant chieftain Wukui let out a furious roar to the heavens, then slammed a fist into Xiang Tian's face.

Elder Mu Sang took a deep breath, transformed into a bolt of azure lightning, and slammed into Kuafu Heng's chest without hesitation: "Kuafu Heng, today this old man will fight to the death with your Wu family!"

Blood and energy shot to the heavens, light flickered chaotically, and the battle erupted suddenly.

Xi Qi chuckled softly, five-colored divine light corresponding to the Five Elements flashing across his body, he spread his palms and gently slapped toward the drought demon witch altar.

Xuanming Butterfly lightly flicked the black bone needle in his hand; the needle turned into a black light ray that shot out with a 'puchi', striking the thighs and arms of the thousands of tribal elites in the front.

The deadly poison spread rapidly, the thighs and arms of the thousands of tribal elites quickly turning black and swelling.

Miserable howls rose one after another; those struck collapsed to the ground, writhing wildly, for they lacked Xi Qi's cultivation to easily force the poison out of their bodies.

Xuanming Butterfly shouted sternly: "Everyone, don't be used by others…"

Tens of thousands of wild attacks slammed down, heavily striking the drought demon witch altar, causing the blazing firelight it emitted to tremble violently.

Xuanming Butterfly and the several hundred Wu family masters seated cross-legged on the drought demon witch altar all shuddered at once; hundreds of tribes joined forces in attack, among them thousands of masters at the Tai Cang realm, and tens of thousands at the peak of the Ming Chi realm or half-step Tai Cang.

Although the drought demon witch altar was immensely powerful, Xuanming Butterfly and the others also suffered severe shock, their vision darkening and their internal organs trembling.

"Everyone, a final word of advice… without solid evidence, you turn against my Wu family—could it be that my Wu family is easy to bully?"

Xi Qi's two five-colored great hands slammed heavily onto the drought demon witch altar.

With a tremendous boom, the drought demon witch altar shook violently; Xi Qi's seemingly casual pat contained the wondrous Five Elements mutual generation and destruction force, the Five Elements powers cycling and instantly erupting with lethal power that was actually a bit stronger than the chaotic attacks of tens of thousands of tribal elites.

Xuanming Butterfly's body was shaken so that it leapt more than a foot off the drought demon witch altar.

A flash of killing intent crossed Xuanming Butterfly's gaunt face; he gave Xi Qi a deep look and broke into a grim smile.

"Then there's nothing more to say… it's either you die or you die!"

Xuanming Butterfly lifted his head and glanced at the vast sea of blood floating in the sky.

That was the blood sea Xi Qi relied on to breach Zhenmo City; the rolling sea of blood, who knows how many cannon fodder soldiers' blood it was condensed from.

The Wu family possesses secret arts; these blood and essence energies, when they fall into their hands, can be transformed into extremely terrifying means of attack. Xuanming Butterfly merely glanced at the sky, and the blood sea within a thousand li suddenly surged violently, then turned into vast sheets of blood mist that continuously rushed toward the drought demon witch altar.

"Gudong!"

A colossal female apparition appeared on the drought demon witch altar; she opened her mouth and deeply swallowed the sky-filling blood mist pouring down, thus absorbing about thirty percent of the blood mist in the heavens.

Xi Qi's eyes twitched violently; he shouted angrily: "Joint attack! Don't let them unleash their secret arts!"

Other tribal leaders also knew its danger, knowing the Wu family possessed some ancestral secret arts that were vicious, fierce, and utterly unreasonable. This sea of blood would be useless in their hands, but in the Wu family's hands it could at any moment become a terrifying weapon of mass destruction.

Hundreds of tribes, each with anywhere from nearly ten thousand to tens of thousands of elite warriors, simultaneously launched a fierce assault on the drought demon witch altar.

Streamers of light pierced the sky, falling like rain upon the firelight emitted by the drought demon witch altar.

The bodies of Xuanming Butterfly and the others trembled violently, yet they gritted their teeth, wore twisted grim smiles, and continuously chanted strange incantations.

Thirty thousand Wu family youths shouted in unison; under the protection of the drought demon witch altar, they brandished spears and halberds, wildly hacking and slashing at the surrounding tribal elites—since they had already broken ties… this bunch of Wu family men never knew what it meant to show mercy!

In the Wu family's bloodline lies a latent violent factor that destroys enemies and can also bring about self-destruction.

When this violent factor deep in the bloodline is aroused, Wu family warriors' strength can instantly surge tens or even hundreds of times… then they stir up a bloody storm, bringing great danger to both foe and themselves.

Such is Wu Jin at this moment.

His body swelled to a height of a hundred zhang; with a downward slap of his left hand holding the Xuanzhu shield, he crushed hundreds of tribal elites into powder.

He swung his right-hand great axe heavily; merely the gust of wind raised by the axe blade sent hundreds of tribal elites flying a hundred li away.

Xi Qi drew a deep breath, about to order his Zhengying camp to launch an attack.

With a tremendous boom, a black coffin appeared out of thin air behind Xi Qi and then slammed heavily into his back.

Xi Qi's armor, battle robe, and close-fitting protective treasure garments shattered inch by inch; his entire upper body split open with countless fine cracks, large swaths of blood gushed out like cheap sewer waste, while he coughed up mouthfuls of blood, a 'whoosh' pulling a straight line of white smoke in the air, and this blow from the massive coffin sent him flying thousands of li.

Covered in blood, Xi Qi flew thousands of li, crashed heavily to the ground, blasting out a huge pit, and a small mushroom cloud slowly rose.