Chapter 143: The Drowned Baiman Disciple

No matter which of them the Heishui Xuanshe attacked, the other seven would either provide support or launch fierce assaults.

If someone could not hold on and saw their Health Points plummet without recovering quickly, they would step back and temporarily withdraw from the fight, with someone else taking their place. This task usually fell to Graceful Dream Butterfly. She was the strongest, and her Taiyi Five Smoke Net was the most difficult to penetrate.

This combat model emphasized attrition, which demanded extremely high requirements from the players involved. Each player needed to have superb operational skills and immense patience.

When dealing with the Heishui Xuanshe, the Long-Legged Lady no longer split her Pale Flame into ten parts but kept it as a single mass to avoid dispersing the attack power. Each strike blasted large sections of the water barrier apart, making it seem that just a little more effort would shatter it completely.

Her two attendant short swords were even more deadly. They did not attack the enemy directly, but instead constantly swung and shot out sword energy beams.

These sword energy beams had boundless potential, appearing soft and tricky. They did not explode immediately but submerged into the water, lying in wait for the moment to erupt.

After one after another was hidden, hundreds of sword energy beams were already embedded in the water, making even Ye Rong feel a bit creeped out. How powerful would the explosion be once triggered?

The seventy-two copper coins swirling around the East Sea God of Wealth began to spin at his command, churning up currents of water and smashing them chaotically at the Heishui Xuanshe. With seventy-two coins in total, each coin struck one by one, only splashing up small sprays of water each time.

The two Wutai brother players actually wielded a glazed-glass large umbrella as their Magic Treasure. Countless pearls, yellow gems, red agates, and other jewels hung from it, shimmering with a dazzling, treasure-like radiance.

The glazed-glass jeweled umbrella kept rotating, automatically pushing away the water around them, and occasionally shot out two pearls that exploded upon hitting the water barrier. However, the seemingly luxurious attack had little practical effect.

If this Magic Treasure had been wielded by the East Sea God of Wealth, it would have been more fitting and matched his name better.

Ye Rong tried attacking several times but failed to break through the water barrier around the Heishui Xuanshe. Frustrated, he realized that among the spells he possessed, very few were effective in this situation; most were only truly useful in battles against other Players. He made a mental note of this.

Fortunately, Blood Colored Poppy finally unleashed a powerful killing move at this time. As a Core Member of the Herbal Hall who had once obtained a secret treasure from the Thirty-three Heavens Ancient Path, his assets were substantial and not to be underestimated.

Moreover, since he had initiated this operation, he must have prepared thoroughly before coming to the Ancient Tomb. If necessary, he could even rent a couple of powerful Magic Treasures from fellow Faction members.

Under the cover of the starlight, a golden glow slowly rose. It was slow yet unstoppable, growing to a height of over a hundred zhang in just a few breaths. Deep within the golden glow, a faint shadow of a five-direction golden banner could be seen.

This hundred-zhang golden glow, carrying an unknown force, slammed into the Heishui Xuanshe and actually broke through the water barrier, directly striking its flesh. The impact caused flesh and blood to fly everywhere, leaving a terrifying wound several zhang wide, from which blood flowed out like a small river.

“This is the chance!”

Ye Rong would not miss such a good opportunity. He merged his body with his sword, and the Cast Snow Sword light followed the gap in the broken water barrier, leaving a deep pit directly on the Heishui Xuanshe’s body. Before leaving, he also tossed a Lesser Yang Divine Thunder inside its body.

Even if your physical defense was incredibly strong, it was impossible for the inside to be equally tough; there were always soft and vulnerable spots.

The Lesser Yang Divine Thunder exploded directly inside the Heishui Xuanshe’s flesh and organs. Ye Rong believed that no matter how strong it was, it would suffer a serious blow.

The others reacted just as quickly. Just as Ye Rong passed through the Heishui Xuanshe’s body, various attacks also arrived.

“Great wind rises, clouds fly high!”

Breeze Clear and Clouds Light shouted lightly. Nine flags in his hands leaped out, growing with the wind, each reaching several zhang in height in the blink of an eye.

Once the nine flags gathered, a fierce wind dragon flew out, heading straight for the wound made by the hundred-zhang golden glow. The hurricane swirled, scraping countless blood marks around the wound.

Fang Geyin threw his book-like Magic Treasure into the air, and pages of seal-script ancient characters turned into light shadows in the water, displaying themselves. Each character, each word, carried a sense of authoritative command and imperial decree.

However, among the hundred or so characters, less than ten shone with golden light, while the rest were dull and dark, silent and inactive.

The golden-glowing seal-script ancient characters shot out, appearing directly in front of the Heishui Xuanshe. They exploded one by one, enlarging its wound several times over.

…

Everyone showed joy on their faces. This series of fierce attacks had dealt over ten thousand points of damage in total, shown by the rows of numbers above the Heishui Xuanshe’s head.

No matter how abundant the Heishui Xuanshe’s Health Points were, it could not easily withstand such damage, and it clearly became much weaker. Although it let out another hiss and raised a new water barrier, the wounds on its body were difficult to heal, and blood continuously gushed out.

Ye Rong let out a long sigh. After severely wounding the Heishui Xuanshe, it proved that the water barrier was not unbreakable.

Although Blood Colored Poppy temporarily lacked the Strength to activate that hundred-zhang golden glow Magic Treasure again, they at least saw hope of victory. By slowly grinding it down, they could kill this giant snake.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Over twenty beams of light flashed, and a new group of Players actually entered the Stone Chamber. However, these people had clearly chosen the wrong time.

Now the entire Stone Chamber had become a world of blue water. These people teleported in through the stone gate and appeared at the bottom of the water. Before they could react, they saw their Qi and Blood dropping steadily. Those who reacted quickly hurriedly took out water-repelling Magic Treasures to drive away the surrounding water flow.

A few faint screams were heard. Among the twenty-some Players, half were directly drowned to death within ten breaths.

This ratio was normal. Given that it was nearly impossible to cultivate a single Sword Art Form to the twentieth level and perfect it at present, unless they were Players who specifically trained in coastal seas or river areas, most inland Players rarely carried water-repelling Magic Treasures or practiced techniques that allowed Sword Flight in water areas.

“People from Baiman Mountain!”

Blood Colored Poppy exclaimed, nearly getting hit directly by a Divine Thunder.

“Be careful, everyone! These people are coming straight for us!”

Ye Rong turned around and saw that the remaining ten Players indeed wore grim and ghostly attire, unlike those from the Righteous Path. Their faces were filled with grief, anger, and ferocity as they charged toward the group. They had entered the Stone Chamber with glee, hoping to take advantage like the oriole behind the mantis, only to find themselves in a water-filled environment. Without even fighting, they had lost half their comrades. Such a turn of events was indeed infuriating and humiliating.

“Blood Colored Poppy, I want all of you to die here and bury my junior disciples!”

The leader had a fierce, falcon-like expression, ruthless and savage. He vigorously shook a large green banner in his hand, and a patch of green cloud, several mu in size, billowed up. The oppressive green cloud swept toward the eight, intending to wipe them out in one move.

-50, -50, -50…

Within the range of the poisonous cloud, the Health Points of everyone on Ye Rong’s side began to drop, seemingly impossible to resist. Only in front of the Long-Legged Lady’s Taiyi Five Smoke Net was the poisonous cloud unable to enter, though it still swirled relentlessly.

Ye Rong immediately switched to the Seven Avian Feather Fan and activated the Seven Avian Divine Light. A flash of colorful light finally pushed the poisonous cloud away, stopping the continuous Health Points loss.

“What a powerful poisonous cloud! What kind of Magic Treasure is that large green banner?”

And this wasn’t even a direct attack—merely the basic toxin damage from the poisonous cloud was enough to overwhelm an average Player.

“Go!”

The Yue Zu and Dai Pao brothers shot out two green-glowing Flying Needles straight at the leading Player of the Baiman disciples.

Clang!

The leading Player reached out and took out a pair of scissors. A frost spirit phantom appeared on them, and with an upward motion, they actually snipped the two green-glowing Flying Needles in half.

“Ah!”

“Villain, how dare you damage our Magic Treasure!”

Yue Zu and Dai Pao’s faces turned deathly pale, as if severely injured. As soon as their angry shouts faded, the pair of frost spirit scissors cut the two brothers in half at the waist. They offered no resistance whatsoever, and the glazed-glass jeweled umbrella also split apart, transforming into light and disappearing.

“Be careful, this person is the Baiman Mountain’s top disciple, Ghost-devouring Taoist. He is highly skilled!”

In just one encounter, two teammates had fallen. Blood Colored Poppy’s eyes widened with rage, and even his delicate face showed bulging veins, clearly enraged to the extreme.

“Baiman Mountain’s top disciple! A large green banner? Frost spirit scissors?”

Ye Rong’s mind raced. “Baiman Mountain’s top disciple” obviously did not mean he was the earliest disciple; it was probably a special Sect status like his own as Tianshu Hall Chief Disciple, indicating a high rank among Baiman Mountain disciples.

Combined with the appearance of the two Magic Treasures, he quickly recalled a notorious set of treasures associated with the Green Robe Ancestor—the Seven Treasures of Hundred Venoms!

If he was not mistaken, that large green banner was the Hundred Venoms Asura Banner, and the frost spirit scissors that easily snipped the two green-glowing Flying Needles were the Hundred Poisons Frost Scissors from the seven treasures.

“Damn, what a day! First, there was the Taiyi Five Smoke Net, but at least that person was a disciple of a hidden expert, so fine. Now even the Hundred Venoms Asura Banner and the Hundred Poisons Frost Scissors have shown up. This is so unfair! I’m the Qingcheng Top Disciple too, so why do I only have a Nine Glazed Golden Lamp, and it’s even sealed? Who knows how many years it will take to unleash its full power!”

Ye Rong grumbled inwardly, already eyeing the Ghost-devouring Taoist with a very unfriendly glare—the kind of judgmental look reserved for class enemies!

“Having such enviable treasures is a crime in itself, but daring to flaunt them in front of a poor commoner like me makes it doubly wrong!”

Ye Rong had already defined the nature of the Ghost-devouring Taoist’s actions and was determined to make this person pay a price.