Chapter 415: A Fleeting Encounter

Barely five minutes had passed.

Eight early-stage third-tier demonic beasts had already fallen one after another, all perishing beneath Xu Mingwei's arrows.

Xu Mingwei's face was slightly pale. Continuously drawing his bow to shoot down powerful enemies had consumed a massive amount of his mana.

Without hesitation, he took out a grape-sized pill that glistened as white as jade and swallowed it.

This was a high-grade Jade Void Pill.

The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth, sending pure medicinal efficacy surging through his limbs and bones. In an instant, his mana recovered by more than thirty percent!

Then, he continued to draw his bow and fire.

"Roar! To catch the bandits, first catch the ringleader! Kill that human commander!"

A fierce light flashed wildly in the eyes of the Abyssal Poison Flood Dragon.

It believed he might just be fierce in appearance but weak in reality.

If they could take him hostage, the tide of battle might just turn!

"Golden Rhino, block one of the blood corpses for me!"

It charged toward the Earth-Rending Golden Rhino.

The Earth-Rending Golden Rhino did not hesitate, immediately helping it intercept the blood corpse.

With its thick hide and robust defenses, blocking the attacks of two blood corpses for a short time was not a major issue.

The Abyssal Poison Flood Dragon swung its massive body, kicking up a sky full of poisonous miasma. The eerie light on its single horn flickered as it transformed into a bolt of black lightning, lunging straight for Xu Chuan high above!

Xu Deling, Xu Mingwei, and the others remained entirely unmoved.

This was simply courting death!

Facing the lunging poison flood dragon, Xu Chuan's expression remained flat and aloof.

He merely raised his eyes, looking into those increasingly close, ferocious dragon pupils.

A silver glint flashed in his eyes.

"Thrum!"

An invisible, intangible blast of divine sense, like dozens of silver needles, viciously pierced into the Abyssal Poison Flood Dragon's defenseless sea of consciousness!

"Howl!!"

The poison flood dragon's forward momentum abruptly froze, and it let out an incredibly shrill, agonizing shriek!

Its head throbbed with excruciating pain, its soul feeling as if it were being torn apart. Its demonic power instantly slipped out of control, causing the poisonous miasma around its body to scatter in chaotic disarray.

And in this brief instant of its soul suffering trauma and its movements stalling, a large black seal quietly appeared above its head.

Xu Chuan pointed with two fingers together.

"Fall!"

The Heavy Profound Seal fell for the first time, smashing onto the crown of the poison flood dragon's head. Scales shattered, and its skull caved in!

It fell a second time, striking its spine. The dragon bone snapped, and its massive body twisted unnaturally!

The third time it fell, it completely obliterated its life force!

Merely three strikes.

A terrifyingly fierce late-stage third-tier Abyssal Poison Flood Dragon was brutally smashed to death against the ground before it could even unleash its innate divine ability.

Its appearance was incredibly gruesome.

Crisp, clean, and utterly overbearing!

At this moment, the hearts of all the demonic beasts still fighting turned deathly cold!

They finally understood.

This seemingly ordinary human was the most terrifying existence in this place!

The reason he hadn't made a move wasn't because he couldn't.

But rather...

...he disdained to do so!

He had treated these third-tier demonic beasts as whetstones to temper the Xu family's Golden Cores!

"Roar... Flee! Scatter and flee!"

The Earth-Rending Golden Rhino let out a roar of despair, its war intent on the verge of total collapse.

However, trapped within the Cloud Heaven Illusionary Array, where could they possibly flee?

About fifteen minutes later.

As Xu Mingwei shot down the last early-stage third-tier demonic beast.

The Huodou and the Flying Centipede were also slain by Xu Deling.

They began to encircle and hunt down the remaining middle-stage and late-stage third-tier demonic beasts.

Seeing this, Xu Chuan acted.

He recalled the nine blood corpses and the five third-tier ghostly creatures.

Xu Mingxuan also stopped channeling his magic treasure for defense and instead joined the offensive assault.

The Four-Winged Heavy Bright Bird would strike from time to time, spewing out a line of golden fire that scorched a demonic beast with every hit.

'The Xu family's heritage is growing astonishingly fast. It seems my initial choice was not wrong after all. In the future, there might truly be a sliver of hope that they can help me restore my peak strength.'

'But the prerequisite is that this damned heaven and earth must recover first!'

Gazing at the members of the Xu family, the Black Cloud Spirit Leopard had long since transitioned from its initial horror to complete acceptance in its heart.

'This Lord Leopard should be able to live a comfortable life in the future, right?'

'It's just, why haven't I seen Boss Moyue?'

'Wait, it's still a bit risky. If I can become the spirit pet of one of the Xu family's Golden Core elders, then I'll truly secure an iron rice bowl.'

'Yes, every beast for itself, or the heavens will destroy it. During that previous battle, I, Black Cloud, did my utmost for the Zhao family and bled for them.'

'I've done all that could be asked of me.'

'Furthermore, only by gaining a higher status and more authority in the Xu family can I help the Zhao family in the future.'

According to the Black Cloud Spirit Leopard's intuition, with the Xu family's current pace of development, it wasn't impossible for them to become a Nascent Soul power in a century or two.

In another part of the battlefield.

The descendants of the Xu clan, the recruited disciples, guards, servants, children of the vassal families, disciples from the Jiang, Lei, and Lin families, as well as a large number of martial artists.

All of them were fighting with everything they had.

Although the number of demonic beasts and wild beasts was more than five or six times their own.

They were far superior at teamwork.

Between the small groups and squads, if anyone genuinely encountered a life-and-death crisis, others would lend a helping hand.

Combined with their exquisite dharma tools and joint-attack formations.

The death toll was not high.

However, many were injured.

Although Xu Chuan had been observing all along, he did not intervene.

To him, as long as the key clan members the Xu family was heavily investing in did not die, a certain number of casualties among the others was within his acceptable limits.

Within the battlefield.

A few individuals delivered incredibly stellar performances.

Take Xu Chongjian, for instance. Clad in a white robe, he looked like a sword immortal. He killed a beast every ten paces without a single drop of blood staining his clothes.

Then there was Xu Chongfei, wielding an ice phoenix in one hand and a crimson dragon in the other, striking with a combined dragon-phoenix assault.

Even late-stage second-tier demonic beasts would be severely wounded in a single blow.

Within three months after the Annual Sacrifice.

Xu Wenjing's physical body had broken through to the second tier with a little help from Xu Chuan.

Now, clashing head-on with a tier two peak demonic beast, he didn't lose ground in the slightest.

Against anything below the second tier, he essentially blasted them to death with a single punch.

He could even do the same to some early-stage second-tier beasts with weaker defenses.

There was also Xu Jingwu.

Now armed with a clear cultivation method from the late stage to the perfection of the Origin Martial Realm, he could already combine five strands of true qi with three strands of qi and blood.

He wasn't far from the perfect state of five strands of true qi and five strands of qi and blood.

Of course, he still had a long way to go before reaching the absolute zenith of the Origin Martial Realm.

Naturally, his performance was the most dazzling of all.

After all, the martial dao inherently excelled at this kind of close-quarters slaughter.

However, he constantly kept an eye on his brother, Jiang Feng.

He didn't want him to encounter life-threatening danger, yet he refrained from helping excessively.

He could tell that Xu Chuan was intentionally tempering the younger generation of Dongxi.

That was why the third-tier battlefield had been isolated.

If they had been mixed together, the death toll in Dongxi would have been incalculable.

Being even slightly swept up in a Golden Core level battle would result in grievous injuries or death for even mid-to-late Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Within the cloud and mist zone.

Whenever the demonic beasts and wild beasts dwindled to a certain number, Xu Mingxian would manipulate the formation, dropping the defensive light screen to let a new batch of beasts inside.

Time and time again.

In the blink of an eye, eight to ten hours passed.

The roars of the demonic beasts outside Dongxi had gone from deafening to sparse, and now, they had vanished completely.

An army of demonic beasts fully capable of effortlessly crushing a Golden Core power was swallowed up by Dongxi just like that.

The ground in the Foggy Area had been dyed completely crimson by beast blood.

At the peak of a solitary mountain in the distance.

The green-robed young man stood with his hands behind his back. His gaze seemed to pierce through space, landing on that stretch of wilderness.

"It seems I guessed correctly," he spoke slowly, his voice somewhat dry.

The coffin-bearing burly man beside him said, "Several hours for a battle of this scale... how could it end so quickly?"

The group had originally wanted to watch a good show and see if they could plunder a wave of resources along the way.

But they ended up watching nothing at all.

Not a single ripple of combat leaked out.

They had absolutely no idea what was happening inside.

Yet, from the way the Xu family repeatedly let low-tier demonic beasts in, they knew the battle had been ongoing—and handled with abundant ease.

"If you don't believe it, you can go in and see for yourself." The green-robed young man glanced at him, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "Fellow Daoists, I will not keep you company any longer.

This Dongxi Xu clan... heh, I cannot afford to provoke them. I'll take my leave first."

With that said, he didn't drag his feet in the slightest. Transforming into a streak of green light, he sped away in the opposite direction of Dongxi, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

The remaining demonic cultivators exchanged glances, their expressions fluctuating.

"Daoist Friend Tao is far too cowardly!" the woman in colorful clothes forced a smile. "Perhaps both sides suffered utter defeat, and right now is exactly when we..."

"

"If you want to go, go yourself."

The black-robed elder, who was proficient in formations, stared dead-on in the direction of Dongxi.

"That grand array is absolutely a high-grade third-tier composite array. Such a formation is not inferior to a peak-grade third-tier array in the slightest. Without absolute strength, rushing in means certain death."

"The absolute strength Daoist Friend Wu mentions..."

"

"Is naturally the Nascent Soul stage!"

The black-robed elder stated, "Whether the Dongxi Xu clan can survive the Great Tribulation has nothing to do with me. I mainly came this time for the entrance to the Ancient Battlefield. Compared to the fortuitous opportunities there, the heritage of the Dongxi Xu clan is nothing."

He cupped his fists. "Fellow Daoists, I shall take my leave first as well!"

With that said, he too departed.

Immediately after, two more people silently rode their escape lights and left.

In the end, only the woman in colorful clothes, the dwarf cultivator, and the coffin-bearing burly man remained.

The three of them remained silent for a long time.

They waited for over two more hours.

The undisturbed tranquility already explained everything.

Nearly thirty third-tier demonic beasts and a beast tide of hundreds of thousands had been annihilated by the Xu family.

Three streaks of light then departed dejectedly, one after the other.

At the Jade Cold Pool.

Xu Chuan retracted his divine sense and said flatly, "At least they know what's good for them."

"Who is Father speaking of?"

"A few Golden Core demonic cultivators from the Blackwater Region who were coveting our Xu family from the outside. I imagine no one will come to disturb us for a short while."

Xu Chuan said, "However, that Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow actually didn't show up. I wonder if it was held up by someone."

"It is a pity. If it had entered today, we could have avenged Xiaoyao in one fell swoop," Xu Mingxian noted. "That way, Second Brother could also let go of the knot in his heart."

Xu Chuan nodded slightly.

Then, he went into seclusion to refine pills.

With so many demonic beast resources, the Xu family had made a tremendous fortune.

He planned to refine a batch of Demonic Spirit Pills.

Although among the demonic beasts the Xu family was raising, none currently showed third-tier potential.

But that was due to a lack of resources.

Now that they had so many third-tier demonic beasts of various types, refining Demonic Spirit Pills from corresponding third-tier beasts offered a definite chance to help their bloodlines evolve.

At the very least, the four major groups—the tigers, eagles, spiders, and silkworms—all needed to breed third-tier demonic beasts.

Later, after relocating to Heavenly South, they could also consider expanding and developing even more demonic beast groups.

The next day.

Xu Chuan refined a cauldron or two of Demonic Spirit Pills.

Suddenly, an unexpected—yet somewhat expected—demonic beast arrived.

It stopped roughly twenty-five kilometers outside Dongxi.

It stared dead-on at Dongxi.

Bloodshot veins surfaced in its eyes.

Xu Chuan's figure flashed as he appeared outside Dongxi. His pupils constricted slightly as he gazed into the distance.

"It finally showed up—the Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow."

But to his surprise, the Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow did not attack.

It took one look at Xu Chuan, then turned around, flapping its broad wings to transform into a streak of black light as it sped far away.

Xu Chuan controlled his own aura exceptionally well.

However, the Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow had only come because it heard that a massive number of third-tier demonic beasts had died at the hands of the Dongxi Xu clan.

The moment it saw Xu Chuan, even though he gave off an incredibly mundane feeling, alarm bells frantically rang in its heart.

Thus, the Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow turned and left.

Midway, it changed directions multiple times.

It didn't stop until it flew into the borders of Great Jin.

'It seems that human is the True Lord Withered Glory the demonic cultivators spoke of, the leader of a prefecture in Heavenly South, the number one person beneath the Nascent Soul stage.'

'His strength is indeed formidable!'

'Facing him alone gives me the distinct feeling that I would be slain.'

The Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow was the offspring of the Nine Nether Demon Monarch from the Hundred Thousand Mountains and possessed the bloodline of a Nine Nether Sparrow.

Because it was extremely thin, it took the form of a Black Flame Sparrow.

But the Nine Nether connected to the abyss, and it had inherited a trace of that innate talent.

Its intuition was incredibly sharp.

A large part of the reason it could grow to the peak of the third tier was because of this talent.

Among its several siblings, aside from itself, only one other brother—who held the form of a Nine Nether Sparrow—possessed this talent.

The two of them were the strongest competitors for the position of patriarch of the Nine Nether Sparrows.

'However, having such a top-tier cultivator powerhouse around isn't something I can't exploit. Perhaps I can find an opportunity to kill my arrogant older brother.'

'I imagine in a day or two at most, the other offspring of the Demon Monarchs and peak third-tier great demons should be making their appearance.'

Slaughtering the top Golden Core experts of the Blackwater and Heavenly South domains would become their military merits.

The higher their merits, the greater the backing they would receive upon returning to the Hundred Thousand Mountains. They might even hope to obtain resource treasures related to surviving the Lightning Tribulation.

Thinking such beautiful thoughts, the Double-headed Black Flame Sparrow began to leisurely roam around Great Jin once again.

Xu Chuan was slightly surprised by its decisive departure.

"It seems you have some tricks up your sleeve, but since you've appeared in the Land of Imprisonment, you won't be escaping!"

Even though it was just a single glance, Xu Chuan had already assessed its general strength.

It should be evenly matched with Xu Deling when she utilized the Fire Phoenix Manifestation Art.

Following that, Xu Chuan turned and returned to Dongxi.

He continued refining pills.

Over this half-day.

Within Dongxi, there was a mix of joy and sorrow.

The joy came from surviving such a terrifying beast tide and wiping them out completely.

The sorrow stemmed from the deaths of over a hundred martial artists and dozens of Qi Refining cultivators.

Up to a thousand were injured.

They were currently all recovering from their wounds.

Many disciples, guards, and descendants of vassal families gathered together, discussing the battle.

After mutually supporting one another through the battlefield slaughter, their relationships had visibly harmonized significantly.

"No wonder the Ancestor ordered us to seal the mountain. In such a Great Tribulation, if the Xu family ran around trying to rescue everywhere else, our own Golden Core elders might end up perishing out there."

"That's right. Once our Golden Core forces are insufficient, even with the clan protection grand array, we probably wouldn't be able to stop those demonic beasts."

"One can only say that the Ancestor's foresight is profound and far-reaching."

"Without the Ancestor devising strategies and calling the shots, it would have likely been difficult for us to survive this Great Tribulation."

"Wait, aren't you guys curious about exactly how many Golden Core stage elders our Dongxi Xu clan currently has? That was over thirty third-tier demonic beasts.

"At the same realm, demonic beasts are generally a bit stronger than cultivators.

"Yet, they were entirely eradicated by the Ancestor and the elders."

"This is a core secret of Dongxi. You shouldn't go prying into it. Knowing too much does more harm than good in Dongxi. Doing our own duties while remaining united from top to bottom is the true path to stability."

Four hours later.

Outside the Azure Sea Forest.

The sky was gloomy, and the leaden-gray clouds hung low, creating a suffocatingly oppressive atmosphere.

...