Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1516. Human Gu

When they saw their gu did not work, they turned to using more ordinary weapons like flying swords, daggers, and not-so-ordinary things like artifact scarves and chains. Still, it didnʼt take long until they did what Mike was waiting for: They sent out their “human gu”.

Humanoid figures with insect-parts grown from or grafted to their bodies emerged from the hole in the barrier. Mike felt reminded of their first grand battle in the Holy Land, when Minas Mar fought a hive of giant bugs. If it werenʼt for the human body parts and faces peeking out here and there, there would have been no difference.

Except for the level, of course. Not all of them were as strong as Gu TangLang. Mike was able to appraise a couple of them, showing their levels started around lv.140, with the lowest he could spot being lv.138.

As the mantis had said, one-on-one, the human gu were able to overwhelm the golems in the long run, but he simply did what he had told Gu TangLang. The Chosen of Maahes kept releasing golems. With 2-3 golems for each insect person, they were able to keep them in check without causing greater harm. His goal was to capture them

But it was not time yet. Mike waited. The fight went on, with the golems being in the clear advantage, but none of the elders made their move. There was no point in saving puppets if the master persisted and could regain control at any time. Had he intimidated them too much? Were they afraid because he kept sending more golems whenever more human gu appeared?

The slaughterer raised his left blade, and the water below churned. The waves below rose and created water sprouts that connected to his blade, forming a giant blade as an extension of his knife.

“!” All the surrounding waters had turned into a gargantuan blade that reached to the heavens and descended onto the barrier like a guillotine. This was both an attack to force them to act and confirm that there were no more golems he could send.

The flood blade cut through the barrier like a hot knife through butter; it did not even slow down. The white dome was blasted apart, and the skill cut a clean line straight through the whole estate. Roofs, walls, beams, and ground were split, as whole palaces were cut in half.

When the water skill crashed into the ground, it cut a gash tens of meters deep before exploding into huge waves of mud and stone that ripped into the damage’s structures in the surroundings. Where the struck, nothing remained standing.

The counterattack followed straight away. A skill this big with such a long build-up was easy to evade for the elites inside the barrier. Using the moment their protection collapsed, they charged out. Two elderly men and one middle-aged guy attacked Mike head-on.

Mike didnʼt need an appraisal to tell him their power; all three were comparable to Gu TangLang. Especially the middle-aged man seemed strong. The Lion showed his fangs before he ripped his mouth wide open and let out a roar that shook the surrounding ruins. The Scarlet Lord released his .

The three cultivators were thrown back, with most of their disciples and human gu that had charged out together with them freezing in place. No matter how briefly it affected them, for this very moment, the whole battle stood still.

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In this very moment, the solid ground below their feet broke apart as if it were a lie and revealed a forest of roots that shot up to entangle all members of the Gu family and their enslaved creatures. The roar had nothing to do with the skill; it was the signal for the tree to attack.

“What is this?!” “Preposterous Weed, die!” The stronger elders, who had not received a proper stun, tried to fight back, using their mysterious bugs and energy attacks to sever roots and free themselves, but there was no escape, as the vines from above also joined the capture.

The Great Gu family relied on their creatures and poison to defend their position among the greater powers. They lacked the canonical Old Ancestor that was close to being a legend. Once it had grown, there was nobody here who could compete with the sapling of the Guardian Tree.

Everything Mike did was simply to ensure a smooth rescue of the potential survivors of Urth. He never intended to fight and get dirty before going home. Soon, the elites of the Gu Family had either been pulled underground or became decorations to the branches of the Hangingtree.

Now, only the human gu, bound by roots, remained. Separated from their masters, they became calm, almost like robots that were set to stand by. Mike looked at them, unsure whether this was worth it. They were indeed different from Gu TangLang.

Were they already too far gone? Maybe, but it didn’t matter. He would just have to try.

“Now then, who wants to go home?”

...

---Sea Clan---

On the Southern Coast of the Xi Guang Province existed the Sea Clan, a medium-sized Martial Family. They reigned over a small island and the city on the nearby coast of the continent. With their close ties to Immortal Feng Island, further off the coast, they had great control over any sea route leading to the east, moving along the coastline.

The family had close ties to the Silk River Sect because of their proximity to the Silk River Delta. It was with their help that they managed to smuggle people past the watchful eyes of Feng Immortal Island and up toward the sects close to the Silk River and even those further away, like the 8 Chakra Temple.

The Sea Clan was not too afraid of Feng Immortal Island. It wasnʼt because they didnʼt know how dangerous individuals from the Immortal Feng Island were. The clan’s throne of power, the island, was heavily fortified.

No foreign sea power dared to even get in range of their attacks. With the money and resources they had “earned”, the clan was able to compete above its league, relying on abundant wealth instead of talent or hard work.

However, in recent months, the activities in the waters around the island had fallen silent. People thought that the Sea Clan might prepare something huge. Others claimed there was internal strife that occupied the island dwellers and kept them from their usual business.

Only a few actually believed the rumors that the Sea Clan had sent many of their forces on a secret exploit into the new province, only to suffer a crushing defeat. Like, who would actually believe that? Even if the Sea Clan was not a great sect, they were among the most powerful factions in the south.

It was all just propaganda from that crazy Immortal Crane Mountain-faction that advocated respecting the wishes of savages and treating them as equals. They just tried to play up the danger of the natives to hog resources in the long run.

However, after this day, when the Sea Clanʼs Ancestral Island was enveloped by a thick bank of fog, many minds of the south changed. Only days later, when allies and trade partners on the mainland lost contact with the island, did experts venture out to look for them.

What they found was an island, steeped in thick fog, covered in corpses, and overshadowed by a massive tree hiding in the misty twilight. All bodies had one thing in common: the way they died.

All people on the island, no matter their cultivation realm or standing, had died from a single wound, caused by a sword or blade stabbed through the back and straight through the heart. The Sea Clan had been completely wiped out, in absolute silence.

To make things even more disturbing, the perfect similarity of the wounds suggested it was the same individual. Every person on the island died at the hands of the same attacker, without showing any signs of resistance.