The Elven Cultivator

It used the principle of mutual generation as its guide and the Five Camp Divine Soldiers as its foundation, harnessing the world’s Power of the Five Elements for its own.

It was a self-sustaining, endless cycle.

Anyone who entered the formation was like falling into a quagmire; the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.

This was the Five Elements formation.

Nearby, Bazzer and the other three were completely dumbfounded.

They had already lost all hope for the battle and had even prepared to fight to the death.

But who could have imagined that Canglan had an ace like this up his sleeve?

”Wh-what is this?”

Vorn’s three heads stammered in unison.

No one answered him.

The other three were also frozen in place, utterly speechless.

They had seen their fair share of Alchemy Puppets, but never one as strange as this.

Judging by their performance, the individual strength of these bizarre-looking Alchemy Puppets was only at the Silver Peak level.

Normally, they wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single blow from Marcus.

But by simply arranging themselves into a strange battle formation, they had managed to block Marcus’s assault head-on!

They had even trapped him inside, making it difficult for him to break out!

It was simply unbelievable!

Meanwhile, Anton’s expression remained calm.

He knew full well that a Five Elements formation composed of just one hundred and twenty-five Five Camp Divine Soldiers wasn’t enough to completely suppress Marcus.

Marcus was only trapped and charging about looking pathetic because this was his first time encountering something like a Five Elements formation and he couldn’t figure it out.

Once he spent a little more time in the formation and figured out its patterns and principles, he would inevitably break free.

To suppress a Golden Peak expert, he’d need about five times the number of Five Camp Divine Soldiers.

Fortunately, Anton had other aces up his sleeve.

The silver sword light had returned to Anton’s side at some point. After a brief pause, it suddenly split in two. Then, with another flicker, it split again, from two into four.

The four streams of sword light were like four silver drakes, twisting and circling in the air, letting out a clear, sonorous ring.

”Go.”

Anton murmured.

Like flashes of lightning tearing through the sky, the four streams of sword light assailed Marcus from four different directions simultaneously.

Marcus, who was desperately trying to figure out how to break free, suddenly felt an even more acute sense of danger wash over him.

He whipped his head to the side. A glimpse of the four streams of light tearing through the air toward him from the corner of his eye made his expression change drastically. He hastily swung his Long Sword to parry.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

The four sharp reports rang out almost simultaneously as sparks flew like fireworks.

The power of the sword light hadn’t changed, but its number had increased from one to four, instantly doubling the pressure on Marcus.

He was hard-pressed, barely managing to block the first two streams of light. The third, however, sliced past his ribs, shattering his Scale Armor and drawing blood.

The fourth stream of light immediately followed, grazing his shoulder and leaving behind a gash so deep the bone was visible. Hot blood sprayed from the wound.

Marcus grunted and stumbled backward, his slitted pupils filled with shock and fury.

He was injured!

He, a mighty Golden Peak expert who had awakened a Power of Law, had actually been wounded by some guy who hadn’t even comprehended a Law!

The four onlookers—Scott and the others—were even more dumbfounded, their jaws slack enough to fit a fist.

What were they seeing?

Not only had Canglan survived this long against a Golden Peak expert without a scratch, but he had now turned the tables and wounded him?

”I’m not dreaming, am I...” Vorn’s left head mumbled.

”I feel like I’m dreaming,” the middle head agreed.

”So, are we dreaming or not?” the right head asked, completely bewildered.

Scott and Summers had no time for the comedian, their eyes glued to the battlefield, afraid to miss a single detail.

Shock and disbelief were written all over their faces.

SWISH! SWISH!

The four streams of sword light weaved through the formation, relentlessly attacking Marcus from all sides.

He was already struggling under the suppression of the Five Elements formation. Now, with the addition of four unpredictable streams of sword light, he was completely overwhelmed and looked utterly pathetic.

In just a few moments, another seven or eight wounds had appeared on his body.

None of them were fatal, but the feeling of being utterly suppressed was more unbearable to him than any severe injury.

’I can’t let this go on.’

Marcus gritted his teeth, a flicker of resolve in his eyes.

’If this drags on, my stamina and Magic Power will be depleted. Then, I’ll be nothing but a fish on the chopping block, waiting to be slaughtered.’

’I have to get close to Canglan!’

’If I can just get within five meters, I’m absolutely certain I can kill that coward who only knows how to attack from behind!’

’I’ll do it no matter the cost!’

At this thought, Marcus took a deep breath. With a sudden roar, a dense, bloody mist erupted from his body.

The mist congealed in mid-air, rapidly gathering into a great swathe of crimson flames that swept out in all directions like a flood.

The surrounding Five Camp Divine Soldiers had no time to dodge. They were instantly devoured by the raging blood flames, making a SIZZLING sound as they melted away like snow in boiling water.

In a single instant, forty to fifty Five Camp Divine Soldiers vanished.

The smoothly running Five Elements formation collapsed in an instant.

But Marcus was hardly in better shape.

After the blood flames dissipated, his face was as pale as a sheet. The blazing red light covering his body had dimmed considerably, and his once-steady breathing was now ragged and chaotic.

The price of using his own lifeblood to forcibly enhance his Power of Law was one that even a Golden Peak expert like him could barely withstand.

He would never have used such a desperate, life-risking move if it weren’t a matter of life and death.

Seizing the opportunity, Marcus shot forward, hurtling toward Anton.

With the Five Elements formation gone, he met no resistance. In the blink of an eye, he was upon Anton.

A crimson light rapidly coalesced at the tip of his Long Sword, blazing like a miniature sun.

This strike contained all the power he could currently muster.

”Die!”

Marcus roared, his Long Sword sheathed in a blinding red light as he viciously stabbed at Anton’s chest.

The air shrieked where the blade passed, and even light itself seemed to be devoured.

But in the next instant, the vicious sneer on Marcus’s face froze.

CLANG!

A dull clang of metal on metal rang out.

Less than half a meter from Anton’s chest, the Long Sword was stopped cold by a Crimson Gold Light Curtain.

It was a barrier as thin as a cicada’s wing, translucent and almost ethereal. Flame-like patterns could be seen flowing along its edges, like molten rock surging within colored glass.

The light curtain trembled slightly, sending out crimson-gold ripples before returning to its original state.

Marcus’s full-power strike had only managed to create a faint ripple on the light curtain; it hadn’t even left a scratch.

His pupils contracted, his slitted eyes filled with horror and disbelief.

When Scott and the others saw Marcus’s sudden outburst crush the Five Elements formation and reach Anton, their faces had all changed, thinking things had taken a turn for the worse.

Who could have imagined that Anton would actually block Marcus’s assault?

As they stared at the Crimson Gold Light Curtain, a single thought flashed through all four of their minds.

Extraordinary Level Magic Equipment!

Anton calmly regarded the Long Sword before him, his gaze landing on the Flame Pearl embedded in its hilt.

His battle with the Rock-Horned Dragon had already proven that the Separation Fire Shield could withstand a full-power attack from a Golden Peak expert.

Besides, his Cultivation Level was higher now, so the power of the Separation Fire Shield had naturally increased as well.

If Marcus hadn’t also been wielding an Extraordinary Level Magic Long Sword, he likely wouldn’t have been able to make the Separation Fire Shield ripple at all.

Anton sighed inwardly.

’Simultaneously controlling four streams of sword light is incredibly powerful, but the drain is also staggering.’

’If Marcus hadn’t paid such a heavy price to risk breaking out of the Five Elements formation and had just dragged things out, my True Essence would have been nearly depleted. At that point, my only option would have been to use Sword Escape to flee.’

’But now...’

’In the end, it all came down to a lack of information.’

Anton’s calm gaze swept over Marcus’s pale face, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

SWISH! SWISH!

The four silver sword lights struck again, forcing Marcus back.

Anton waved his command flag, recalling the surviving Five Camp Divine Soldiers.

The remaining Divine Soldiers could only form a twenty-five-man Five Elements formation at best. Its power was far weaker than before and it no longer posed a significant threat to Marcus.

There was no need for any further waste.

Fortunately, even without the Five Camp Divine Soldiers, he had more than enough to deal with Marcus now.

Besieged by four streams of sword light, faster than lightning and incomparably sharp, all Marcus could do was take a beating.

Burning his lifeblood for that burst of power had placed an immense strain on his body.

His vitality was now depleted, his Magic Power more than half gone, and he was even struggling to maintain the Blood Burning Law.

He had thought paying such a heavy price would be enough to kill Canglan, but he never expected his opponent to have a piece of Extraordinary Level defensive Magic Equipment.

To have it all come to nothing was a reality Marcus couldn’t accept.

A powerful wave of indignant fury swelled within him.

But the reality of his situation was undeniable.

He couldn’t break through the Crimson Gold Light Curtain, and he was now struggling to even fend off the onslaught of sword light.

As time went on, Marcus’s injuries steadily accumulated.

His movements grew slower, his parries more strained.

Blood seeped from the gaps between his scales, staining the ground a dark red.

He could feel his life force ebbing away.

Meanwhile, the four streams of sword light remained as swift as lightning, weaving through the air without any sign of fatigue.

A profound sense of powerlessness washed over Marcus.

He couldn’t accept it.

He had worked so hard to awaken a Power of Law, so hard to break through to the Golden Peak. Was he really going to die in this desolate canyon before he even had the chance to return to Dragon City and hold his head high?

He just couldn’t accept it!

But reality didn’t care for his feelings.

When another stream of sword light pierced through his chest, Marcus’s body suddenly went rigid.

He looked down at the fist-sized, bloody hole in his chest as the light in his slitted pupils rapidly faded.

”You...”

He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only a choked gasp escaped.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and dripped from his chin.

The four streams of sword light struck simultaneously, piercing his body from different angles.

Blood sprayed through the air. Marcus’s body swayed a few times before it finally gave out, crashing to the ground with a THUD.

The Long Sword slipped from his grasp, falling to the ground with a CLANG.

Hot blood pooled beneath him, spreading out to stain the gray volcanic ash and gravel a shocking shade of dark red.

The crimson Dragon Flame Pearl on the hilt emitted a faint glow in the pool of blood.

Scott and the other three stared blankly at the scene, their mouths agape, not snapping back to reality for a long time.