Chapter 768

At this moment, however, it was brimming with abundance.

It was as if the great formation he had been straining to maintain for several years consumed not even half of its usual expenditure!

This turn of events left the many experts of the Twelve Earthly Branches even more baffled.

But now was not the time for doubts.

Since even Yan Chixia was treating this as a mortal threat, it was clear that this battle at Lanruo Temple had reached its final, decisive moment.

Over on the other side, in the front courtyard of Lanruo Temple, Yan Chixia was indeed treating this as a mortal threat at this very moment.

He sat upright at the center of the sword formation, ceaselessly chanting Daoist scriptures.

Flying swords were planted around him, and now they trembled without cease.

At this moment, the small mountain suddenly began to shake.

It was as if this small mountain had come alive.

Top experts like the Four Divine Generals of Xuanxin and Mu Huali were naturally unaffected.

But the other Yuan soldiers, Yuan experts, and Xuanxin disciples were all seized with terror.

Such earth-shaking tremors were almost exactly like an earthquake.

If one could not even stand steady, how could one fight?

"The earth is moving! The earth is moving!"

No one knew who shouted it, but the many Yuan experts who had been besieging the Xuanxin disciples all along—

After that shout, could no longer mind their mission and immediately turned tail, fleeing down the mountain.

In an instant, the once-fierce assault on the mountain ended as abruptly as it had begun, a storm that broke off at its head.

Mu Huali had been locked in fierce combat with the Azure Dragon all along, and now he watched the army and Yuan experts scrambling down the mountain in panic.

He was furious beyond words, yet utterly helpless.

After all, faced with such bizarre tremors, he could not hold the soldiers' hearts steady.

After barely weathering a bolt of lightning, he too fled down the mountain without looking back.

With Mu Huali's withdrawal, the Yuan army's offensive was utterly spent.

The disciples of Xuanxinzheng Sect gradually closed in around the Azure Dragon and the other three Divine Generals.

"Azure Dragon Divine General, should we withdraw as well?"

The Xuanxin disciples, feeling the tremors grow ever more violent—as if the mountain itself were about to split apart—looked at the Azure Dragon and the other three with almost pleading eyes.

At this moment, Jin Guang was locked in an immortal death-struggle high in the sky ten thousand miles above, clearly unable to issue orders in time.

The Azure Dragon hesitated, then cast another glance at Lanruo Temple.

He felt that with Yan Chixia and the Twelve Earthly Branches at Lanruo Temple, it could not possibly fall in the short term.

But if the tremors continued and swallowed up these Xuanxinzheng Sect disciples, the thousand-year foundation of the sect would be destroyed in a single morning.

"Withdraw!"

After much hesitation, the Azure Dragon finally gave the order to retreat.

The Xuanxin disciples, who had been on edge all along, cheered with joy at the Azure Dragon's command.

At once the disciples formed up into a formation and, led by the Four Divine Generals, began making their way down the mountain.

572 What on earth is happening to this world?

Once the Xuanxinzheng Sect disciples had descended the mountain, the Yuan army did not dare take the chance to storm back up.

The reason was that the tremors shaking the small mountain where Lanruo Temple stood were as violent as an earthquake.

From the lowliest Yuan foot-soldier up to the Four Divine Generals of Xuanxin, Mu Huali, General Zhebie, and the rest—not a single person knew what this small mountain was about to do.

Only the battle between Long Xiang Seng and Zhang Sanfeng grew ever more white-hot.

"Why is it only this mountain that's shaking? Once you leave the mountain, nothing happens?"

"You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?"

"Ordinary folk call an earthquake the earth-dragon turning over. Looking at this, I reckon there really is an earth-dragon turning over inside this mountain, no?"

In the past, no one had believed that creatures like dragons, those auspicious beasts, truly existed.

But first there had been the Four Auspicious Signs of Yunzhou, and then outside Jingcheng of the Great Ming, the Black Dragon of the War God Hall, summoned by Senior Xiaoyaozi of the Four Dragon Heads.

Most crucially, among the nineteen names tied on the Heavenly Dao Golden List, there was one—a person who had cultivated into a dragon: Lan Mo!

For a time, the people of the world not only knew of dragons, but knew that these dragons could actually cultivate into human form!

Now, with the small mountain's tremors so bizarre, everyone unconsciously thought of dragons.

After all, only a creature like a dragon could stir up such a tremendous commotion.

Rumble rumble rumble…

Just as everyone was guessing it had to do with a dragon, the mountainside near Lanruo Temple suddenly exploded apart.

Then a massive tentacle shot out at tremendous speed from the ruptured ground, like a spear, and hurtled toward Lanruo Temple with an overwhelmingly terrifying momentum.

At the same time, countless flying swords burst forth from within Lanruo Temple and, without waiting for the tentacle to draw near, engaged it in combat.

"What is that?"

All the onlookers at the foot of the mountain exchanged bewildered glances.

That tentacle locked in battle with Yan Chixia did not look like any part of a dragon no matter how one looked at it.

"Looks like some kind of insect's leg…"

Someone said uncertainly.

The tentacle looked bizarre enough on its own, but its surface was covered in barbs, making it appear utterly hideous and terrifying.

Boom…

With another tremendous roar, the mountainside on the other side burst open once more, and a second tentacle flew out.

As the second tendril flew out, more and more tendrils kept bursting off from the small mountain and shooting forth.

At first, when there were only one or two, Yan Chixia could still wield his flying sword to fight against them.

But as more and more tendrils appeared, the attacks grew increasingly terrifying.

Whether it was the Xuanxin Four Divine Generals watching the battle below the mountain, or Mu Huali, General Zhebie and the others, every single one of them had an ashen face.

They could clearly sense that if they themselves faced these tendrils, even one or two would already be extremely difficult to handle.

Let alone now, when the tendrils were densely packed, numbering nearly a hundred.

"A centipede — could this actually be a centipede?"

Someone saw the densely packed insect legs, a thought flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help blurting it out.

This immediately drew laughter from quite a few people.

After all, if he had said it was a dragon, or a Fire Qilin, or some auspicious or fierce beast, the crowd might well have accepted it.

But a centipede — what was that?

Even for ordinary mortals who had never cultivated Wu Gong, most centipedes met the fate of being crushed to death in a single stomp.

Although they were venomous, as long as treatment came in time, it was very hard for them to kill a person through poison — even an ordinary one.

Such a lowly creature, apart from its hideous appearance and slight repulsiveness, how could there be even the slightest possibility of it cultivating to this stage?

The people near him couldn't help but start mocking.

But before the mockery had lasted long, the small mountain of Lanruo Temple completely collapsed apart.

Accompanied by endless dust, a colossal primeval beast revealed itself within.

"That is… a centipede?"

Even though this primeval beast was incomparably hideous, and its aura could intimidate the many experts present even from a great distance.

Yet anyone with a discerning eye could see at a glance — wasn't the appearance of this colossal beast precisely that of a centipede!

A centipede that no one had ever thought much of!

But clearly the centipede was such a lowly creature — why then was this centipede so terrifying?

Compared to before, the aura of the black dragon that had appeared outside Jingcheng of the Great Ming was still far surpassed by this!

What on earth had happened to this world?

For a time, this question lingered in everyone's hearts.

Over there, with the true form of the centipede revealed, Yan Chixia, using Daoist arts combined with flying-sword techniques, instead gradually fell into a disadvantage.

He was almost being beaten down by this primeval centipede.

The small mountain had already collapsed, and the Lanruo Temple that had stood upon it could now be considered utterly gone.

But as the key to the seal, Yue Lingshan was still held suspended in mid-air by a group of people from the Xuanxinzheng Sect, fixed in place through a formation array.