Chapter 93: Time’s Flowing Wine
Chapter 93: Time’s Flowing Wine
As the Chain Sacrificial Detonation Array neared its end, the backup forces from Two Realms Mountain quickly intervened in the war zone from the second and third sectors. Brand new Matrix Towers rose from the ground one by one. The war zones that had previously fallen were rapidly reclaimed at an astonishing speed, becoming stable once again, and they continued to advance deeper into the fourth and fifth sectors.
However…
Just as everyone was waiting for the Two Realms Mountain defenses to stabilize, the Reinforcement Department suddenly received distress signals from the Two Realms Mountain Market.
“The Southern City Market is under attack by a large number of monster beasts!”
“The Northern City Market is under attack by a large number of monster beasts!”
“The Western City Market is under attack by a large number of monster beasts!”
“The Eastern City Market is under attack by a large number of monster beasts!”
“Oh no!”
Chang Baimei and three other Inspector Envoys learned the news from the pale-faced head of the intelligence center. Their expressions changed instantly, and without another word, they rushed out of the Reinforcement Department one after another, while urgently contacting the Spirit Coalescence Elders in charge of their respective marketplaces.
“What happened!”
“Sir! Something’s wrong!! Monster beasts! So many monster beasts are coming out from underground! Many are at the Spirit Condensation Stage! Xiao Gang and Lin Feng died in battle.”
“…”
Chang Baimei took a sharp breath and said solemnly,
“Was the marketplace array not activated? What were the people guarding the protective array and the city gates doing?”
“They’re all dead! I don’t know what happened. The guards were suddenly attacked by some of our own cultivators, and we lost control immediately. Then the monster beasts flooded in.”
“Damnit!”
Chang Baimei’s face was filled with anger:
“It’s that Mystic Light Stage monster beast hiding in the Demon Beast Mist. Only a Mystic Light Stage monster beast can conceal its presence so perfectly.”
“Contact the Seven Great Sects immediately! Ask them to deploy forces to suppress this! I’ll be there right away!!”
In an instant.
The situation at Two Realms Mountain took a sudden turn for the worse.
In the four marketplaces of Two Realms Mountain, the defensive forces and personnel of the Reinforcement Department were left unprecedentedly vulnerable.
The monster beasts chose to attack at this moment, striking precisely at the fatal weakness of the human defense line.
Danger ahead!
And danger behind!
“Honorable sirs, the Two Realms Mountain defense line must not fail on our watch!”
“Baimei, if you have a plan, just say it. Even if it costs me my life, I won’t hesitate!” The voices of the three other Inspector Envoys came through the Messaging Talisman, tense and hurried, yet resolute and grave.
“We absolutely cannot let these monster beasts sneak up from behind and enter the war zone.”
“Good! The four of us will use our own bodies to guard the four directions, ensuring the safety of the war zone until reinforcements from the Seven Great Sects arrive.”
“Agreed!”
“Baimei will go first.”
Stepping on his Flying Sword, Baimei said coldly.
Below was the marketplace.
The once grand and magnificent Southern City Market, which had stood safely for centuries as a secure rear area, was now in ruins, a heartbreaking sight.
Countless monster beasts swarmed, recklessly hunting down the cultivators in the city;
More than half of the buildings were reduced to rubble;
On countless broken walls and ruins, the bodies of human cultivators hung, limbs torn, organs exposed, their faces frozen in disbelief and unwillingness as they stared at the sky.
At the center of the marketplace, the remaining Spirit Coalescence Elders gathered together, resisting the Beast Tide.
Chang Baimei didn’t pause to think and descended to the ground.
He didn’t land in the center of the marketplace but near a large hole outside the city, from which countless monster beasts were pouring out.
The moment he landed.
All the monster beasts around seemed unaware of Chang Baimei’s presence and took no action against him.
Tapping the ground lightly with his toes, Chang Baimei crouched down, pressing his palms reverently against the surface near the hole. His white eyebrows stood upright like swords:
“Shake!”
The deep cave collapsed instantly, crushing countless subterranean monster beasts into paste under the immense force.
The monster beasts on the surface were startled, and then, with horror, noticed the human near the hole. They all turned toward him.
Baimei’s eyebrows suddenly lengthened sharply!
Sword Qi surged fiercely!
Within a fifty-meter radius, all the monster beasts were sliced in half at the waist by Baimei’s eyebrows.
Maintaining his palms pressed down, Baimei uttered another command:
“Condense!”
His face paled.
The ground outside the market suddenly sank by half a meter…
The power was overwhelming!
The earth sank like a mountain!
Crack…
The sound of bones shattering and flesh being torn apart echoed repeatedly from underground.
Numerous monster beasts with strong vitality, trying to break through the surface, had their life force destroyed, their bodies turned to mud and water, dying beneath the earth.
However, this move clearly drained a lot of Baimei’s energy. The moment he stood up, his body swayed slightly.
All around.
Countless monster beasts stood still! They bared their claws but dared not approach easily.
They had intelligence too. They could feel the chilling cold and irresistible powerful aura emanating from Chang Baimei.
At the front of the monster beast crowd stood a human man!
He was at the Early Spirit Concentration Stage, with a faint mocking expression on his face.
Chang Baimei’s eyes suddenly narrowed, his expression becoming extremely grave and dangerous.
Deep in the human man’s eyes, he clearly saw the soul of a monster beast, and there was also a faintly familiar scent about him.
“We meet again.”
The human cultivator spoke.
Chang Baimei’s frown deepened:
“Did you come from the mountaintop?”
“Eighty years ago, my brother descended upon the Barbarian Continent but fell to your hands. After that, I came to the Barbarian Continent with the Demon King’s order, formulating today’s attack plan.”
“…”
Chang Baimei’s brow relaxed slightly:
“So, you are the mastermind behind the monster beasts’ attack plan.”
“To catch the bandits, first capture the leader?”
The Human Cultivator asked with a cold laugh.
“It seems you have learned many things from the Human Race.”
The dangerous expression on Chang Baimei’s face grew stronger; he spoke, one word at a time.
“Then we cannot let you live even more.”
The Human Cultivator ignored him and continued on his own.
“Over eighty years, besides paying attention to everything about you, I practiced day and night, using the flesh and blood of your human cultivators to cultivate. Ten years ago, I successfully broke through to the Mystic Light Stage.”
“…No wonder every time we cleaned the battlefield, the bodies of the fallen cultivators on Two Realms Mountain would inexplicably disappear in part, so that’s…”
Chang Baimei’s gaze darkened, but he was not shocked by the other’s revelation of Mystic Light Stage cultivation. Instead, he took something from his storage ring and put it in his mouth.
“Using your human saying, this behavior of yours is called… putting up a desperate struggle? Or a cornered beast fighting back?”
The Human Cultivator wore an expression of being in full control, looking at Chang Baimei with great interest.
Chang Baimei slowly shook his head.
“Do not think that by occupying a human body and learning a bit of human superficial knowledge, you have surpassed humans. The Human Race has another strategy called luring the snake out of its hole.”
“Oh.”
Chang Baimei said calmly.
“Since you have told me so much, I will waste a little time and let you know the reason for your defeat today.”
“……”
“If I guess correctly, your brother is a Late Concentration Stage Snake Demon.”
“That’s right.”
“It seems you do not know that eighty years ago, I had already reached Concentrated Spirit Peak Stage. Back then, your brother was… nothing in front of me.”
A look of surprise and astonishment flashed across the Human Cultivator’s face.
The next moment, he was startled by Chang Baimei’s words, his eyebrows twitching.
“Eighty years ago, I was only thirty… Did you think that in these eighty years, my cultivation made no progress at all?”
“Impossible!”
The Human Cultivator finally panicked and said sharply.
“According to the memories of this human cultivator, eighty years ago, your cultivation regressed due to injury, and then you lost the chance to advance to Mystic Light, remaining at Concentrated Spirit Peak Stage, stationed at Two Realms Mountain! Trying to fool me?! Prepare to die!”
A ghostly black shadow suddenly slid along the ground and penetrated Chang Baimei’s body.
The latter’s body dissipated upon contact, vanishing like mist.
Chang Baimei appeared about ten meters away, his gaze calm, but the aura around him became indistinct and unpredictable, full of unfathomable mystery.
“Mystic Light?”
The Human Cultivator showed a shocked expression, his face becoming serious and uneasy for the first time.
Chang Baimei looked at the sky and earth before him, and at the ruined Marketplace under his protection for the past eighty years, with a reluctant expression.
“You and your brother are quite similar in your escape techniques and character, shedding skin to save your lives at the first sign of trouble… Too late!”
“No!!”
A black snake rushed out from the Human Cultivator’s body; it had a triangular face and let out a fierce, horrifying scream. “What are you doing! This is not a power you should possess!” Around Chang Baimei, a faint white glow appeared, with a wisp of it faintly connected to him.
“Years!”
As soon as Chang Baimei spoke, wrinkles rapidly appeared on his face. In an instant, he transformed from a middle-aged man with white hair to an old man with wrinkled skin and crane-like white hair.
At the other end of the white glow, the Snake Demon looked horrified.
“Why, why do you possess the power of time? This… no! Stop!” Layers of snake skin peeled off the latter as if they were mud, quickly corroding into ashes.
“I heard that Monster Beasts at Mystic Light Stage have long lives, capable of living a thousand years. Eighty years ago, I comprehended the Time Codex and sealed my Mystic Light Stage cultivation myself for eighty years. At this cost, the time power I unleash reflects back on the enemy tenfold! I wonder how many years you have left.”
The Snake Demon leaped into the air, wailing in agony.
“You are mad! You will die too!!!”
Chang Baimei’s gaze was resolute; he continued to burn his lifespan, using his soul to drive the Years. The glow around him intensified!
“No! Don’t!!”
Time passed.
Years flew by.
Wrinkles gradually increased on Baimei’s body.
The Snake Demon fell from the sky, aging even faster…
Baimei continued to burn his lifespan, driving the Years to affect the Snake Demon. Slowly, signs of old age, like dying spots, appeared on his skin.
The Snake Demon fared even worse!
In just a few moments, it shed over a dozen layers of snake skin.
After the last layer of skin was shed, the Snake Demon’s face turned ashen. Its body aged at an astonishing speed, becoming bloated. Smooth snake skin became layered with wrinkles, and at the peak of the glow, it directly entered a dying state.
“No! No!! I will kill you!!!”
The Snake Demon instantly lost eight hundred years. Time did not return; completely desperate, it screamed hysterically, spitting out its tongue. A mysterious black shadow slammed into the Barrier Chang Baimei had raised around himself.
The Barrier remained completely still.
As the Inspector Envoy of Two Realms Mountain, Chang Baimei possessed many defensive Spiritual Artifacts and Magical Artifacts, which the Snake Demon could not break through in a short time.
Smiling slightly, Chang Baimei showed an expression of reflection and nostalgia.
“Eighty-one years ago, a Late Concentration Stage Snake Demon commanded countless Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts to break into Two Realms Mountain. Tens of thousands of cultivators died; the First and Second Defense Lines were breached. Over sixteen hundred disciples of my Time Sect perished, almost leading to its destruction.”
“Eighty years ago, another Late Concentration Stage Snake Demon descended on Two Realms Mountain and then stayed atop the mountain for years without leaving. Two Realms Mountain identified it as the greatest hidden danger… That day, I was at Concentrated Spirit Peak Stage and could have broken through to Mystic Light. But to deal with you, I willingly sealed my Mystic Light cultivation, sealed for eighty years! Today… I have finally waited for you.”
The Snake Demon’s face was haggard; it could not hide the horror in its eyes and struggled to utter broken, hoarse words.
“You… Madman!!”