Chapter 195: Massacre (1)
Chapter 195: Massacre (1)
After all preparations were made and deemed satisfactory, Jia Longwu unfurled a pair of pristine white wings from her back, descended from the flying chariot, and moved to the forefront of the group.
“Captain Jia, the aura emanating from the person down there is extremely peculiar. Although only at the Mid Core Formation Stage, an overwhelmingly terrifying presence is concealed within his body. It would not be advisable for you not to take the risk right now. Allow this subordinate to go down and question him thoroughly!”
However, just as Jia Longwu was about to step forward and speak, a Cultivator emitting the aura of the Early-stage Golden Core standing beside her transmitted his voice directly.
“Hmm?”
Upon hearing the man’s words, Jia Longwu frowned slightly. She turned her head to look at him, transmitting her voice in return: “Captain Li, what is it? Is there something amiss?”
“Captain Jia, Team Leader Ma detected the aura of a Sixth-Level Demon Beast earlier. Yet now that creature has vanished without a trace, leaving only this person behind. This circumstance is unquestionably suspicious! Captain Jia is the core pillar of our force; you cannot afford any harm. At such a critical moment, it is not prudent for you to take the lead!”
Captain Li, though uncertain of the exact origins of the Red Captain Wang on the ground, his intuition screamed that Red Captain Wang was a dangerous figure.
This sense of danger, of course, permeated the hearts of everyone present there.
“Very well, Captain Li. The task of engaging with him rests upon you!”
Jia Longwu pondered for a moment before agreeing to Captain Li’s request.
Jia Longwu shared a similar feeling. Although the cultivation level pressure radiating from Red Captain Wang on the ground was only at the Mid Core Formation Stage, an utterly horrifying power seemed to dwell within him. Or perhaps it was a primal fear. This lurking dread explained why they had mobilized such a grandiose formation earlier. Yet, the idea for this massive deployment hadn’t been hers; it had come from another.
Deploying the Spirit Annihilation Array right from the start, with sixty-four Core Formation Cultivators serving as array eyes, ensured that even if they faced a Nascent Soul Cultivator, they could certainly give them a hard time.
Though the gulf between a Nascent Soul Cultivator and Core Formation Cultivators was immense, not easily bridged by mere numbers, they possessed overwhelming manpower – hundreds upon hundreds of Cultivators, mostly Foundation Establishment Cultivators, with not an insignificant number at the Core Formation Stage. Therefore, despite her anxieties, Jia Longwu retained her confidence. This confidence was bolstered especially by the presence standing behind her.
“As you command!”
Receiving Jia Longwu’s order, Captain Li acknowledged and swiftly descended towards Red Captain Wang on the ground.
“Heh heh, Humans are indeed foolish, incorrigible fools!”
Red Captain Wang remained standing on the ground with an air of utter calm, hands clasped behind his back, his face wearing an expression of utmost arrogance, regarding Jia Longwu’s group like an emperor staring down a beggar.
Because of the deployment of the Spirit Annihilation Array, the air within a ten-mile radius had ceased its flow, plunging the area into an eerie stillness. Although Jia Longwu’s forces in the sky were numerous, no one dared even to breathe loudly.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The silence was thick and oppressive, quiet to the point of terror. Individual heartbeats seemed audible. Though the battle had yet to commence, a shared premonition gripped everyone’s heart.
Today would witness a bloody massacre!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Red Captain Wang merely stood there, serene. He projected no formidable aura, no cultivation level capable of annihilating heaven and earth. Yet, his simple pose dared anyone to strike first. Above his head, a small red flower limply fluttered in a seemingly boneless dance.
Had Tang Jinbiao been present, observing with his Spirit Eye, he would have been terrified to discover that the small red flower was actually absorbing the Soul Power of everyone present on the field.
“Heh heh, although their cultivation levels are somewhat low, this is excellent sustenance for my recovery. Old immortal… I smell your stench. You’re right there inside!”
Red Captain Wang couldn’t even be bothered to glance at Captain Li, who was advancing towards him. Instead, he turned his gaze towards the direction of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Mountain. A bloodthirsty smirk curled his lips as he whispered faintly.
Thud!
Captain Li, intent on approaching, saw Red Captain Wang’s body shift abruptly. His heart lurched, and he froze mid-flight, hovering ten zhang away.
“Who exactly is this man? Why do I have this bizarre impulse to kneel before him?” Captain Li’s inner turmoil and awe intensified the closer he got to Red Captain Wang.
He glanced back at the densely packed ranks of his comrades. Seeing all eyes fixed on him with expectant gazes, his unease lessened slightly. Mustering his courage, he addressed Red Captain Wang, his tone measured and respectful, neither cowering nor defiant: “Esteemed Daoist companion, may I inquire which sect or faction you belong to? Earlier, we sensed the aura of conflict in this location. Did you perhaps encounter difficulties? Also… where is the Sixth-Level Demon Beast?”
“Hmm?”
Upon hearing Captain Li’s words, Red Captain Wang’s body gave a slight shake. He turned around with an almost-smiling expression on his face and looked at Captain Li.
Thump!
Under Red Captain Wang’s gaze, Captain Li had a fleeting illusion that he was being targeted by a crimson worm.
“No good, Captain Li, return to the team quickly! Everyone, attack, that’s a Demon Creature!”
But just at that moment, a horrified cry rang out suddenly from the dense crowd.
“What?”
Upon hearing that sound, Captain Li felt his heart leap. Instinctively, he immediately activated the Spiritual Energy within him and swiftly retreated backward.
Rustle, rustle, rustle! Glug!
However, Captain Li had barely retreated any distance when the small flower on Red Captain Wang’s head violently shook. His mouth opened slightly, and a crimson tongue shot toward Captain Li’s head at a speed too fast for the eye to catch.
All Captain Li saw was darkness before his eyes. Before he could even discern how Red Captain Wang attacked, he felt a chill on his forehead. A crimson tongue had pierced into his skull.
Glug, glug!
Immediately, Captain Li felt everything within his body being continuously sucked out by a massive suction from that tongue.
Glug, glug!
The crimson tongue retracted and expanded as if transporting something. Captain Li’s face rapidly withered away, his entire body shrank drastically, and his terrified eyes gradually lost all color, turned hollow, and slowly closed.
Swish!
After just three breaths, the tongue withdrew. There was nothing left of Captain Li; he had transformed into a dried corpse that plummeted straight to the ground.
“Heh heh!”
After fully consuming Captain Li, Red Captain Wang seemed to detect something. He narrowed his eyes slightly and scanned the dense crowd, but his gaze landed only on one person—a man whose face was deathly pale, as if he had crawled from a heap of corpses.
“Interesting, it’s a shard of the old immortal’s soul!”
Red Captain Wang spotted that person at a glance, a sarcastic smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
“Damn it, it really is him!”
Once the pale-faced Cultivator in the group was locked onto by Red Captain Wang’s gaze, his heart lurched violently. Without a second thought, he fled into the distance.
This was none other than Young Master Ma, who had been hiding within the group all along.
“Everyone, run!”
“The Demon Creature from the Hundred Thousand Mountains has emerged!”
“Help!”
“Why are you pulling me?”
“Get lost!”
“Monster!”
“Ah, I won’t let you go!”
As Young Master Ma fled, like a stone thrown into a pond stirring countless ripples, all the other Cultivators instantly snapped out of their daze as well. Panic-stricken, they scattered in all directions, fleeing helter-skelter, shooting off in all directions.
Although the sky offered such vast paths, collisions were inevitable. Some Cultivators with lower Cultivation Levels were directly annihilated by those with higher Cultivation Levels.
For a moment, the vast majority of Cultivators scattered like birds and beasts fleeing, while a sizeable portion of lower-level Cultivators were slain by their own companions.
“Hehe, truly unexpected,” Captain Wang, the Red Leader mused internally, his expression impassive. “To awaken and be presented with so generous a ‘gift’ right away! Though it is only a split soul fragment, its contribution to my recovery will be impossible to estimate. But for now, I’ll let you go temporarily. Once I devour all this trash and regain a bit of strength…”
Seeing the Cultivators react so swiftly, Red Captain Wang wasn’t the least bit surprised. He seemed to believe this was the exact expression humans should wear, that on seeing him, they should tremble, they should prostrate themselves.
“No good!” Young Master Ma realized with a jolt as he fled, the chilling thought piercing through his panic. “If I flee like this, the whole group will surely disperse in chaos. I must incite these Cultivators! If they stall him, I have a chance to escape!”
After putting some distance between himself and the danger, Young Master Ma snapped to this grim understanding. Fleeing blindly meant death. Instantly, he whipped his head around, his gaze falling on the small group who hadn’t fled yet – those frozen in spot.
Those standing there, stunned, were uniformly students of the Divine Wind Academy. They were practically flowers raised in a greenhouse, cultivated as geniuses within their families, sent to the Divine Wind Academy for advanced studies, meant to eventually graduate and return home to take over family affairs.
At this critical moment, Young Master Ma could no longer hold anything back. With a teleportation flash, he appeared beside Jia Longwu.
“Come with me!”
Young Master Ma grabbed Jia Longwu’s hand firmly and leaned close to his ear, urgently transmitting his voice directly to Jia Longwu’s mind.
“What?” Jia Longwu stammered, bewildered. Though he preferred to dress in male attire, he simply hadn’t experienced enough chaos to react quickly. It had all happened too fast.
“Don’t speak! Just come with me!” Young Master Ma commanded tersely.
Frantically, he pulled an object from his Storage Pouch – a Jade Slip. With a surge of Spiritual Energy forcefully channeled into it, he shoved the glowing slip into Jia Longwu’s hand.
Sizzling!
In the blink of an eye, Jia Longwu’s form began to waver, growing indistinct, as if starting to merge with the surrounding void. A faint shimmering outline remained where he stood.
“Good! Perfect!” Young Master Ma murmured, his eyes gleaming with a brief flicker of satisfaction as he saw Jia Longwu’s figure vanish completely.
“Attack him quickly!” Young Master Ma bellowed, pouring Spiritual Energy into his voice to amplify it across the chaotic scene. “That man is a ten-thousand-year-old spirit grass given human form! Obliterate his will, and you seize a heaven-shattering opportunity! It doesn’t matter what your Cultivation Level is, what your Spiritual Roots are like, what background you were born into! Seize the Ascension Immortal Grass, and you will ascend directly to the Immortal Realm in broad daylight!”
After taking care of Jia Longwu, Young Master Ma didn’t immediately resume his escape. Instead, he stood his ground, his voice booming with infused power.
“Busily, busily, there was no success without going after it!” (Xīxirǎngrǎng, wú bù lì wǎng!)
The Cultivators, moments before scattered and terror-stricken, hesitated upon hearing Young Master Ma’s exhortation. Their fleeing forms faltered; the urge to stop surged within them. Indeed, Young Master Ma’s words were deeply incendiary.
Opportunity! Talent! Heritage!
These were the three pillars of the Immortal Cultivation world! Possessing these three ensured a brilliant future; lacking them meant a path fraught with hardship.
“It’s working!” Seeing the effect his words had, a faint, cold smirk touched Young Master Ma’s lips. He felt a surge of internal satisfaction.
To solidify their conviction and stoke their greed further, he shouted again: “Stop running! That creature has only just manifested! His Cultivation Level is merely at the Mid-stage Golden Core! With our numbers, we can absolutely overwhelm him! Don’t doubt it! Look! Can’t you see?” He jabbed a finger towards the figure below. “Above his head! A tiny red flower! That is the Ascension Immortal Grass! The true ten-thousand-year Ascension Immortal Grass! Consume it, and you ascend directly to the Immortal Realm in broad daylight!”
“AHH! The Ascension Immortal Grass is MINE! Don’t ANYONE dare fight me for it!” Young Master Ma yelled the moment he stopped shouting. One hand gripped tightly onto Jia Longwu’s wrist.
With his other hand, he swiftly pulled out another Jade Slip identical to the first one from his Storage Pouch. He channeled a flicker of Spiritual Energy into it. Simultaneously, he unleashed his peak Early-stage Golden Core aura – formidable by any measure – not outward in challenge, but as a propellant. Then, incredibly, instead of fleeing away from the source of terror, Young Master Ma deliberately charged downwards, directly towards where Red Captain Wang stood on the ground!
“What?”
“Ascension Immortal Grass?”
“The Ascension Immortal Grass!”
“Right! He’s right! It must be the Ascension Immortal Grass!”
“Look! On that thing’s head! There really is a small red flower!”
Stunned by Young Master Ma’s incitement, the fleeing Cultivators skidded to a halt. As one, they spun around, their eyes locking onto Red Captain Wang below. It was exactly as Young Master Ma described: nestled amidst the unnatural crimson tendrils atop the formidable head sat a tiny, unnaturally bright red flower.
None had seen the true Ascension Immortal Grass before, but every single one had heard the legends: consume it, and even a Mortal could ascend to the Immortal Realm directly in broad daylight. The sheer magnitude of that temptation was overwhelming.
This was equivalent! Seize the Grass, and even without Talent, Heritage, or Opportunity – they could astonish the world! Their life’s ultimate pursuit was suddenly right before their eyes! How could any of them not be stirred?
None were true scions of great, protective clans. Aside from the privileged students of the Divine Wind Academy, the rest had clawed their way to their current level through bitter struggle. Fear triggered their immediate flight instinct – unlike the sheltered students who simply froze.
“It’s Mine!”
“The Ascension Immortal Grass belongs to ME!”
“GET OUT OF MY WAY!”
Seeing such an immense prize offered, the Cultivators ceased their frantic flight, their fear utterly replaced by rapacious greed. Like ravenous wolves spotting prey, they abandoned all caution. En masse, they abandoned their flight paths and charged recklessly towards Red Captain Wang on the ground!
Frenzied! In this moment, the cowards transformed. Fear evaporated, replaced by the single-minded hunger of predators closing in on prey.
Humans die for riches; birds die for food.
In the end, it was all about survival. Better survival. The chance was here. Even knowing it might be a trap, knowing it looked like scaling a mountain of swords or traversing a sea of flames – they had to try! They had to dare! Because only by seizing this impossible chance could they break free from their seemingly predestined, mundane existences.
“Hehe,” Young Master Ma chuckled inwardly, his face a mask of contempt amidst the sudden surge of avarice behind him. “Go on, you fools! Fight! Kill each other! Turn the very heavens and earth dark with your strife! Kill yourselves exhausted… then I’ll simply collect the spoils!”
None of the rampaging Cultivators noticed that Young Master Ma, after charging only a very short distance downwards, simply vanished. Not dissolved, not faded, just… gone. Then, almost simultaneously, a faint ripple shot away from the battlefield at incredible speed – Young Master Ma, now invisible, fleeing at full tilt in the opposite direction.
“Hehe,” Red Captain Wang rumbled, a chilling, ancient amusement resonating within his consciousness as he instantly grasped the unfolding deception. His crimson gaze didn’t follow the vanished Young Master Ma. Instead, it swept across the approaching horde of greedy Cultivators scrambling over each other towards him. “You old weasel. Still as cunning as ever.”
A cold, predatory smirk seemed to form amidst the swirling flames of his visage. He made no move to pursue Young Master Ma. He merely waited. Patiently, silently, radiating immense power, he stood his ground, welcoming the foolhardy charge of the Cultivators blinded by ambition.