Returning from the Immortal World

In the midst of manipulating the array, Tang Xiu carried out a killing frenzy towards the hundreds of bird-species demonic beast and shouted, “Awu, distribute ten Holy Healing pills to everyone. All of you take a pill and be sure to restore some of your combat power within five minutes!”

“Yes, Sir!” Mo Awu replied and took out lots of Holy Healing pills from the interspatial ring. He had a lot of resources in stockpile due to being often following Tang Xiu. After handing over the pills to everyone, he looked up toward Tang Xiu and asked aloud, “What are we going to do next, Sect Master?”

“Everyone, begin recuperating. You are to leave the array after five minutes towards the outside of the mountain range at your fastest speed!” replied Tang Xiu in a deep voice. “DO NOT engage any demonic beasts you encounter on your way back. Just head to the camp as quickly as possible. Hao Lei, you’re to stay here.”

“Understood!” replied Hao Lei respectfully.

Her cultivation just broke through to the Golden Core Stage, making her very happy inside. She knew that she’d be rewarded handsomely once she survived and left this mountain range since Sect Master Tang Xiu had promised that those who broke through to the Golden Core Stage would be rewarded with a lot of resources.

After she took the Holy Healing pill, enormous energy from the medical efficacy began to restore her injuries, while a small portion of it was absorbed by her Golden Core. The sesame-sized core then doubled in size in just a short while and kept getting bigger at an extremely fast rate.

By this crazy rate of absorption of the True Essence in my body and the world energy from the outside, the volume of my Golden Core should increase to the size of rice shortly. I can feel that I’m at least four times stronger than before.

Hao Lei contentedly looked up and asked Tang Xiu, “Sect Master, would you like me to help you?”

“It won’t be needed for a while. But I want you to gather all the demonic beasts’ corpses in two minutes. Also, remember not to miss any fallen Demon Cores. Awu, give an Invisibility Charm to Hao Lei. I remember you should have a few left,” replied Tang Xiu in a deep voice.

Mo Awu complied and passed the charm to Hao Lei, saying, “Restrain your aura after you wear it and activate it, so no humans nor demonic beasts can see you. But do remember to avoid the demonic beasts.”

Hao Lei only heard the existence of this Invisible Charm before but never saw it, and thus became a bit excited at this moment as she nodded in response.

Mo Awu himself looked at her with a complicated face. He could sense her current cultivation level from the leaking aura.

Breaking through to Golden Core Stage was something he had been dreaming of. He was aware that he was lacking in talent for cultivation and thus dared not to relax in practice. Yet, Hao Lei had unexpectedly advanced to the Golden Core Stage and he lost the chance to snatch the first title for it. Much to his envy, Sect Master Tang Xiu now gave her some tasks due to her breakthrough—the tasks that used to be his before.

I gotta practice and cultivate crazily! I must break through to the Golden Core Stage at the fastest speed. I don’t care if I must pay a price for it. Only after I have advanced to the Golden Core Stage can I be qualified to be Sect Master’s right-hand man again. Clenching his fists, Mo Awu vowed inwardly.

While still operating the array, Tang Xiu kept observing the outside world. Of the thousands of demonic beasts running on the ground, tens of them could rival a demonic beast at Golden Core Stage, and they were less than 200 meters away from the array now. But hundreds of bird-species demonic beasts were now being slaughtered inside the formation despite their desperate struggling.

“Hao Lei, we can’t wait for two minutes. Go collect those demonic beasts’ corpses now!” shouted Tang Xiu.

In a flash, under Tang Xi’s instruction, Hao Lei quickly entered the area where the bird-species demonic beasts were being attacked. Shock was evident on her face when she saw the remaining 100-plus demonic beasts from the previous several hundred were struggling desperately to fend off various attacks.

“Hurry up!” shouted Tang Xiu.

Suppressing the shock and dispersing the thoughts surging in her mind, Hao Lei quickly collected the demonic beasts’ corpses and Demon Cores into the interspatial ring. Since there was no following order from Tang Xiu, she didn’t rush to leave and just watched as the bird-like demonic beasts kept dying while keeping her speed in collecting their corpses.

“It’s done!”

Right at the moment tens of demonic beasts charged into the array, Tang Xiu looked at Hao Lei and shouted.

Hao Lei herself also saw as tens of demonic beasts rushed inside all of sudden, and none of them had an aura weaker than hers. Such a discovery sent a chill down her back and she almost instantly bolted towards the safety zone.

“Awu, get ready to evacuate the rest in two minutes,” ordered Tang Xiu in a deep tone.

The fella glanced at Hao Lei first before nodding. “Understood!”

Time flew by, and about less than 4,000 demonic beasts had all charged into the array. The biggest one who acted as their commander turned more enraged and frenzied after facing the various attacks from the array.

“Focus and centralize the attacks!”

As it ordered with a roar, thousands of demonic beasts suddenly locked on an area over the sky and attacked that spot one after another. They literally unleashed everything, be it their demonic flame or other means, all using their full force.

Tang Xiu, who was still controlling the array, suddenly shook and blood flew out from his seven orifices. He could even feel that his internals was as though burning.

Goddammit! These demonic beasts truly know how to break through the line by brute force. To think that they also know to attack one spot at the same time. If they keep attacking like this, this array will only last for a few minutes more before they fully break it.

As he thought about this point, Tang Xiu raised his hand to wipe off the blood on his face and shouted heavily, “Awu, take everyone and evacuate immediately. There are too many demonic beasts here, and their striking power is beyond my calculations! Hurry up! Hao Lei, go and evacuate with them too. I’ll catch up with you all later.”

Mo Awu and Hao Lei exchanged glances and nodded at the same time, then simultaneously grabbed the comrades who had lost their combat power and were gravely injured. They quickly left the array under Tang Xiu’s guidance. After finding a safe direction, all of them quickly bolted toward the mountain range.

At the epicenter of the array, Tang Xiu stood with a face that was chilling to the extreme. He still didn’t give up even though thousands of demonic beasts attacked the array at the same time and caused a big shock to him. But for each and every second, several demonic beasts were severely injured after getting struck by the array and many weaker ones were even killed directly.

He persevered! Even just half a minute of insisting here would kill and reduce the number of demonic beasts, lessening the threat they would pose to humans in the future.

Time passed by. The array now was as though it had become a meat grinder. Thousands of demonic beasts were shrieking, roaring, and yet still kept attacking. The more creaking and cracks appeared in the array, the heavier Tang Xiu’s injuries became, until the jade set as its base finally shattered.

“Collect!”

As his thought moved, Tang Xiu released his spiritual sense, plundering demonic beasts corpses and its Demon Cores and quickly collecting them into his interspatial ring. It only took him a few seconds to harvest hundreds of demonic beasts’ corpses and their Demon Cores.

There’s only half a minute left.

Based on his judgment, he would lose control of the array and could only hold on for half a minute before the remaining demonic beasts destroyed it. He no longer hesitated and bolted out of the array. His speed burst made him look like a lightning bolt zooming away.

20 seconds later, he appeared several kilometers away. His figure had already escaped into a mountain crevice the moment the array shattered. He was as though smoke above the white snow as he trecked across the mountain crevice and quickly appeared at the end of another mountain.

“Awu, send me your coordinates.”

Tang Xiu took out the communicator and quickly sent a message to Mo Awu. Quickly after, the latter replied.

After heading to the precise coordinates sent by Mo Awu, he quickly caught up with them and gave a helping hand to heal the seriously wounded. Then, he said in a deep tone, “We must race against time to leave the interior of this mountain range. We’ll recuperate later after we are outside. Of those several thousands of demonic beasts, we killed at least 1,000 of them. I’m not sure about their remaining numbers, but we’ve done all we can here, so what happens next is up to fate. But be sure to get ready for action.”

Tens of Tang Sect disciples were crystal clear about the meaning in Tang Xiu’s words. However, all of them were shocked upon hearing the array was able to exterminate nearly 1,000 demonic beasts. The way they saw it, Tang Xiu was now completely different, for they were certainly aware of the power that could be unleashed by an array. It secretly made them decide to visit the Library Pavilion once they came back to Nine Dragons Island, so they could pick up array manuals and study them and strive to become array formation masters.

Two hours later, Tang Xiu led tens of his men and finally came out of the mountain range, appearing near the blockade line. They encountered tens of demonic beasts on the way back, but all of them were personally killed by him.

****

Ugley Town.

Inside the olive-green military tent, Duanmu Lin was sitting cross-legged in recuperation. Just half an hour ago, hundreds of demonic beasts had attacked the western front, forcing him to lead his men in the defense. He suffered injuries as a result but routed the demonic beasts, consuming a lot of his energy.

“We got a new situation, Chief!”

The member of the Special Abilities Bureau responsible for looking at the LCD monitor suddenly turned around and called out loudly.

Duanmu Lin’s eyes instantly opened and looked at him. He dashed towards the LCD screen, looked at it and asked quickly, “What exactly is the situation?”

While pointing to the surveillance screen, that agency member replied, “The previous horde of demonic beasts was just spotted on the 42nd surveillance area, Chief. However, I found it very strange since some of them have been injured and their numbers seem to have been reduced compared to the previous statistic.”